Comic Strip of the Day Editorial cartooning

CSotD: Current Events

Clay Bennett (CTFP) might instead have used a four-word slogan on that second shirt that ends “Find Out,” but it would have considerably reduced the number of editors willing to run it.

The point is the same anyway: They listened to Trump, they did as he bade them, and, whatever happens to him, we’re seeing what is happening to them, the latest example being Enrique Tarrio drawing a 22-year sentence for his part in encouraging tourists to visit the Capitol on January 6.

Not everyone is cheering this example of the majesty of the law, as one would expect in the midst of a centerless civil war, but Mrs. Betty Bowers had a pretty good answer for one of the rebs who protested Tarrio being sentenced without having been at the scene of the attempted coup:

She’s correct that you don’t have to be at the scene of a crime in order to bear responsibility for it, and I don’t think you even have to have wanted to be at the scene, demanded to be taken to the scene and to have reportedly attempted to lunge for the steering wheel in order to force someone to take you to the scene.

But I guess we’re gonna find out.

Meanwhile, it’s good to see the number of convictions for the rioters, with maybe a little bit of pity that, for all the millions raised to defend Trump in his role, he hasn’t seen fit to share any with his foot soldiers and has been stingy in assisting the co-conspirators who assisted in fomenting the rebellion.

Though having Dear Leader pay your attorneys seems to come with strings that could lead to serving time for perjury.

It all seems further proof of what Dean Swift wrote: β€œIt is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he never was reasoned into.”

And the hornswoggled seem to resent being told they were idiots for believing a con man, whether or not you add “I told you so” to your observation.

All of which indicates that we can’t expect a few jail sentences, no matter how far up the ladder of justice may reach, to quell the war within our country. Those who have chosen to rise up against the Constitution will see jail sentences not as looming justice but as more proof of the Dark State’s repression.

Which brings us to our

Juxtaposition of the Day

Nick Anderson

Michael Ramirez — Creators

Vivek Ramaswamy is being touted as the next Donald Trump, mostly by his biggest fan, Vivek Ramaswamy, but by others as well.

He’s built solid name recognition in New Hampshire and, while nobody seems to be able to touch Trump’s lead in the polls, Ramaswamy is doing about as well as anyone and better than several, despite, as Ramirez notes, his transparently fake pretense of even having beliefs, much less any genuine, workable policies.

And if this cycle’s GOP Primaries are a race for the vice-presidency, Ramaswamy’s praise of Trump has already won him praise from Dear Leader and so may, as Anderson hints, give him an inside shot at the Number Two position on the ticket.

Though poll numbers won’t matter if Dear Leader declares his choice for that vice-presidential slot, regardless of who it is. If he chose Enrique Tarrio, Danelo Cavalcante or Arnold Ziffel, his GOP lickspittles would cheer and make it so, as they did when John McCain settled on Sarah Palin.

For my part, I think nominating Trump would guarantee a loss in November, but, then again, I thought nominating a light-weight like George W. Bush would do the same, as would nominating a con man from a reality TV show.

So I’m not making any predictions and simply being grateful to the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v Wade, which might be the key to ending my string of losses.

Juxtaposition of the Day #2

Bob Gorrell — Creators

Gary Varvel — Counterpoint

Adam Zyglis

Cartoonists on the left side of the aisle have long noted the advancing ages of both Diane Feinstein and Mitch McConnell, admittedly with more mirth over McConnell’s slippage than hers, but, still, with a sort of bipartisan sense that people should know when to step aside.

But Feinstein’s lack of mental presence has been accompanied by a frequent lack of physical presence, while McConnell has frozen up twice in front of the cameras and, as Senate Minority Leader, cannot really hide whatever slippage is at hand.

It is encouraging to see rightwing cartoonists take up the issue of an aging Congress in a bipartisan fashion, or at least, in Varvel’s case, a non-partisan way.

No doubt, as Clay Jones points out, they will continue to go after Biden as being far, far older than Trump, who is a youthful three years younger. But having McConnell on that list is a start.

Elsewhere in the News

There’s been scant coverage by American news of the formation of BRICS, an alliance of non-Western nations which hopes to counter the dominance of the American and European economies, a task Rico Schacherl, cartooning for South Africa’s Maverick business pages, suggests is, well, quixotic.

Russia started the group, whose original acronym, BRIC, stood for Brazil-Russia-India-China, but then added both South Africa and an S, becoming BRICS, at which point they represented 40% of the world population and 24% of its economy.

That dubious ratio either explains why they needed to come together or it reinforces Rico’s view of their chances.

While Australian cartoonist Alan Moir points out that China has a lot of internal economic issues to work out before they will be able to lead anyone else to glory.

However, as the above-linked explainer says, “Over 40 countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Algeria, Bolivia, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan have expressed interest in joining the forum.”

Okay, but I hope they come up with a different naming convention before that happens, because I would be helpless if I had to start writing BRICSISUEAABIEECCCGK whenever I mentioned these guys.

Besides, it would mess up their anthem.

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Comments 6

  1. Mike, excellent column today. One correction: McConnell is the Minority Leader. And the Arnold Ziffel reference is great!

    1. You can be forgiven for overlooking that fresh youngster, Chuck Schumer, though.

  2. Ziffel and Tull in one day.
    Agronomics on our minds.

  3. I would find counterpoints on this forum more constructive if a comparable number of Left and Right leaning tooners faced similar scrutiny for their “deceptive” spins. Most folks would agree that citing legacy media or mammoth search engine propaganda as factual “analysis” hardly constitutes empirical research. I’m in agreement when it comes to not making predictions, but the obvious effort to “disappear” a popular leading contender for the White House, along with skyrocketing interest rates and gas prices, may be enough to overcome any perceived Roe factor.

    1. A pity that, as Stephen Colbert said, “reality has liberal bias.”

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