Note: One of my father’s favorite expressions was “If you don’t want to know the answer, don’t ask the rebbi.” This would be an excellent day to skip reading if you don’t want to know. Rob Rogers brings up a matter you’re not supposed to bring up, which makes me wonder if any newspapers will […]
Ann Telnaes combines her anguish over the crackdown on women’s rights under the reconstituted Afghan government with her fury over the assault on women’s rights and dignity by JD Vance and his misogynistic followers. Don’t say “It can’t happen here,” because it’s already happening here with the overturning of Roe v Wade, cutbacks to freedom […]
Bob Englehart provides a head-scratcher. There’s nothing wrong with contrasting two presidents, or two speeches, but you have to do it in a way that clearly approves of one and disapproves of the other. Roosevelt used the phrase, which he said was a West African proverb, more than once, starting with a letter written as […]
I’m starting by disagreeing with Paul Berge, but I’ll soften it by linking to his essay on this cartoon where he discusses the sexist comments that have drawn the most attention, while also delving into Harrison Butker’s homophobia and transphobia as well as his defense of antiSemitism. My problem is that his objections repeat a […]
Trigger Warning: The following post includes disturbing images and concepts. Those who find such thoughts upsetting may wish to move to a planet were bad things don’t happen. Jeff Stahler (AMS) summarizes the latest tragedy, in which three vehicles of World Central Kitchen, which had been providing food to starving civilians in Gaza, were attacked […]
“Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” — Friedrich Nietzche Both Nietzche and Joe Heller offer symbolic analogies; Heller’s is harder to misinterpret, but neither makes it easy to answer […]
It’s a lovely morning here in the US for those in the center or somewhat to the left of center, and who ignored the doomsayers and crepe-hangers and negative pollsters, choosing as Clay Bennett (CTFP) points out, to vote and let their voices be heard anyway. Is it “heroic”? Does it deserve a medal? Well, […]
Pat Bagley reached the same conclusion just before it apparently dawned on Congress that Tommy Tuberville’s precious stunt was providing aid and comfort to our opponents, who could become our enemies. Fortunately, even the lockstep Republicans have begun breaking ranks to begin approving the promotions Tuberville has been blocking in his one-man crusade to deny […]
Al Goodwyn (Creators) sets the tone for today’s conversation with what seems a damp squib — that is, a firecracker that fizzles. Contrast it to this Lisa Benson cartoon: Benson’s cartoon misfires rather that fizzles: She’s simply wrong that crime and inflation are increasing, and the polls on Biden are argumentative rather than definite. Still, […]
It can’t get much simpler than Megan Herbert‘s illustration. We know what human rights are, and we claim to respect and revere them, and yet we consistently fail to provide them. It’s a bit like the way we save money: We know we should and we certainly want to, and we fully intend to and […]
Jimmy Margulies (KFS) opens today’s conversation with the plain truth, in a situation in which truth seems anything but plain. The emergence of bigotry and hate in the wake of this sort of tragedy is predictable: It was obvious as soon as the towers fell on 9/11 not only that Muslims would be targeted by […]
Brazilian cartoonist Amorim (Cartoon Movement) leads us off today with a reasonable critique of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza, where Israel’s response to the horrific Hamas attacks has combined air attacks on suspected terrorist sites with warnings to civilians to evacuate an already crowded area, while food, water, fuel and electricity have been cut […]
Cathy Wilcox cites a phenomenon as old as war itself, the need to objectify and make “other” our opponents in order to get past our natural reluctance to attack them. There are times it’s more obvious than others: My father, a WWII vet, remarked on the difference between the European Theater — where the enemy […]
Well, of course it is, David Rowe, but thank you for pointing it out, since we don’t seem to remember, or perhaps care. The idea that “Truth is the first casualty in war” is such a common observation that it makes a fascinating entry for the Quote Investigator, but, appropriately, is a casualty of its […]
Ann Telnaes sent me scrambling for the Googles with this one, because she’d apparently picked up on a NYTimes story I hadn’t: Clarence wants to overturn NYTimes v Sullivan so he can sue people who say mean things about him. That he wants to do it isn’t news; he’s brought that up earlier, along with […]