CSotD: Watch Out For Ice!
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Whoops. Accidentally said something we aren’t supposed to. But as long as we’re on the subject:
I guess the reason we aren’t supposed to say “Watch out for ice” is that ICE will watch out for you, whether you want them to or not.
I said the other day that it’s hard for cartoonists to do multi-panel cartoons without running out of good examples, but if you’ve been following the news, you’ll see that Wuerker faced no such problem in filling a nine-panel layout with items from the news.
There’s plenty to be outraged about, but the one capturing the most attention at the moment is the seizing of a five-year-old as he came home from pre-school, and then the use of him as bait to lure his father out to also be seized.
Granted, Rapé is just across the border in Mexico, but it still seems shameful to have this story go beyond our borders, which it has.
But let me put that another way: While it’s shameful to have a story happen that reflects so poorly on our nation, it’s twice as shameful to see an American cartoonist say that we should not report on what is happening in our country unless it is complimentary and government approved.
Fortunately, the judge who was asked to bring charges against Don Lemon for covering a demonstration at a St. Paul church did Not See it that way. In his report from the scene, Lemon had specifically said he was there as a journalist, not a protester, but the Trump administration didn’t care and apparently neither does Gary Varvel.
IMHO, entering the church was a damned stupid move by the protesters, because it was prime ammunition for the pro-ICE crowd. But I am doubly appalled that a cartoonist would come out against Freedom of the Press, a bulwark of his own profession and the very first guarantee in the Bill of Rights.
However, as Minnesota’s favorite son wrote, “The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast,” and if you didn’t think we’d see people in responsible, mainstream positions turn against the Constitution and our freedoms, well, you’ve better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times, they are a-changing.
Cartoons riffing on Norman Rockwell’s image of Ruby Bridges are never hard to come by, but Whittemore makes particularly good use of it, both because the cases involve young girls being escorted by federal officers, and because the case of Ruby Bridges was a time in which those officers had been dispatched with orders to uphold justice and this case represents a 180o reversal.
Two Bulls also picks up on a familiar refrain, Martin Niemöller‘s well-known warning about those who ignored the Holocaust.
It’s important to emphasize that this could happen to the reader’s children, but it’s also important — and hard to include in a cartoon — that Liam Ramos and his father are both legal immigrants, although their applications for refugee status are still in process.
The original battle cry of the lynch mob was that they were against “illegal aliens,” and that people who wanted to come to this country should obey the law and follow procedures.
However, between Trump stripping legal migrants of their status, ICE being permitted to pick on people by skin color and white supremacists agreeing with the president that non-Europeans are from “shithole countries,” the mask is off and we can stop pretending we don’t know.
In fact, honesty is off the table entirely. Donald Trump posted this altered photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong after her arrest for the church protest — what Trump calls a “riot” — and when called to account for making her look as if she were weeping, not only declined to apologize but brazenly declared that he would continue to post dishonest AI memes.
No matter how incredibly stupid they make the President and his colleagues appear to be. This is one time when you really should read the comments.
Not that honesty has ever been part of their approach. Trump most definitely said “Iceland” more than once in his speech, but Leavitt explains that it was correct in the written remarks, which isn’t what she was asked about.
But then Leavitt insists that Dear Leader hasn’t made any profit while serving as president, despite not only what is obvious to anyone but what has been verified by the New York Times.
Perhaps he’ll want to add that news analysis to the lawsuit he has against the Times, to which he recently added their publishing a poll that showed his approval slipping.
Meanwhile, ICE has gone past seizing five-year-olds and snatched up a two-year-old, sending her to a Texas holding pen despite a judge’s order against it. As in the older child’s case, her father had legally applied for asylum. If this horror story doesn’t make you watch out for ICE, you’ve already slipped.
Still, humor remains a powerful weapon against authoritarians, even if they probably won’t get the joke. Others will, and at this point I should probably offer a disclaimer: I am the son and grandson of Upper Peninsula natives, and my great-grandparents came there from … Ta-Da! … Denmark.
Not only did I laugh at Auchter’s clever plan, but I think it would probably work. Throw in a couple of penguins to convince him.
Meanwhile, I’m afraid Dear Leader is hopelessly, permanently stuck in this generation:
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