Cartoons: let's get this straight

Have our priorities been undermined by Twitter?

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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Or is it just the con man in the White House?

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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Nine months in captivity for many of us.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Drugs--where democracy and wanting a better reality intersect for some. What is a drug czar anyway?

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: let the TV cameras roll

This week we take a look at Trump's ever-more-closed empire; GOP senators as downed Confederate soldiers; and Trump's idea that he can pardon himself and his cronies, if worse comes to worse.

Felix Salmon at Salon says Scaramucci may be Trump’s most dangerous enabler yet.

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RJ Matson, The Week

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Scaramucci seems to have absorbed the Donald's approach to news.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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And we're back to the semi-repeal of Obamacare, again.

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Milt Priggee, The Week

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According to Trump he can pardon himself and his cohorts if the need arises. Others disagree.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: brutality in the aisle

Just to be clear, United Flight 3411--the one where Dr. David Dao was ejected--was not overbooked (money.cnn.com, usatoday.com, inc.com, and forbes.com). Christine Negroni in the Forbes article says:

On Tuesday, United appeared to acknowledge that this was not technically an overbooked flight. And the reason for that equivocation is also clear. The four airline employees who needed the seats, presented themselves to the gate agent after the flight was boarded. Further, they were not fare-paying passengers, therefore not "booked."

Some argue this parsing of words is irrelevant and that the airline's contract of carriage is meant to be applied more broadly. Not true. Airlines are required to present bumped passengers with the written document explaining their rights. I would not bet on the success of a legal argument that begins, "what the document intended to express."

 So much for legalities, here are some cartoonists' takes on the incident.

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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And, if only...

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: for many the doctor is out

After 7 years of trying to repeal Obamacare, the House Republicans have come up with its replacement-- the  American Health Care Act (AHCA).  The Atlantic reports in The People Helped by the Republican Health-Care Bill stating:

Though most old and sick people will be worse off under the GOP bill, it might be a boon—real or perceived—for people earning just above the Obamacare subsidy cutoff.

If it doesn't help sick people, what's it for? They could have spent the time working to make Obamacare better. Wikipedia gives a history of the GOP's efforts to repeal Obamacare (ACA).

Here are some of the editorial cartoonists' comments.

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Steve Sack, The Week

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RJ Matson, The Week

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Adam Zyglis, The Week

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Meanwhile President Trump lives in a conspiracy theorist's world.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: Trump's first war is with the press

Trump, the guy who appointed the former head of Breibart, known propagator of conspiracy theories, as chief strategist and senior counselor, loves to accuse any reporter who challenges him of reporting "fake news."

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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Meanwhile, Trump is winning GOP converts with Cabinet picks.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: Americans ARE watching

Something very interesting happened this week--Americans altered the course of GOP congressmen. On January 3rd there was this headline: With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office. Then American voters reacted: Amid Ethics Office Debacle, Googling Congress Members Spiked. Sort Of. Then, Under fire, Republicans back off vote on House ethics changes. Here's a small collection of some cartoonists' takes on the ethics situation.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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John Darkow, The Week

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Meanwhile, North Korea's "supreme leader Kim Jong Un warned that the nation was in the "final stage" of preparations to test an intercontinental ballistic missile." The Atlantic has this article, How to Stop a Nuclear Missile, in the technology section.

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Chris Britt, The Week

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As a reminder (as if one is needed), here's David Horsey's summary of American politics.

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David Horsey, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: grope this

This week's batch of cartoons has three about politics and one about Samsung's flaming Galaxy Note 7.

Since the second presidential debate featured Donald's "locker room talk," be warned. Here's a transcript.

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Bob Gorrell, The Week

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As a woman, this is how I plan to handle Donald's loose talk. There's a word for his communication problems; it's 'logorrhoea,' or diarrhea of the mouth. I'm not saying anything about the accusations of sexual misconduct, enough has already been said.

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John Deering, The Week

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Making lemonade from a lemon... Here's a video about why the Samsung catches fire.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Funny, but I was thinking about this the other day.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: it's on.

Today's cartoons are takes on Bernie and Hillary; the presidential race in general; Powerball; and one cartoonist's farewell to David Bowie.

This cartoon about the race between Bernie and Hillary cracked me up. Seeing candidate Sanders associated with the latest Mad Max movie is, well, a shock.

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Pat Bagley, The Week

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Imagine, if you will, the presidential candidates as car models.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Powerball seems to be on everyone's mind. The most recent jackpot was 1.5 billion, split between 3 tickets. Powerball has a website.

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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David Bowie, a man of many interests, created the fictional astronaut Major Tom. (There's a video that plays the song Space Oddity and gives the lyrics.)

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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Farewell also to British actor Alan Rickman. Here's a video discussing his role in Galaxy Quest.

-- Marge

Cartoons: Trumped and terrorized

Seems to me Donald Trump's current popularity is due to his talent for saying out loud what many people in America feel but don't have the courage to say. Pretty sad, huh? Today's cartoons look at Trump and terrorism. Also sad is how we're being educated in the language of terrorism: radicalized (also look at the talk page) and suicide belt.

Remember when Trump said that, as President, he would build a wall between the US and Mexico and make Mexico pay for it?

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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We've progressed from Trump the Petty and Petulant Isolationist to Trump the Terrorist.

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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Meanwhile, 'ISIS' (vs. 'ISIL' vs. 'Islamic State') gloats.

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Walt Handelsman, The Week

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Republicans, especially the Tea Party, have been radicalized for some time now.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Meanwhile, Earth bears our misdeeds.

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Mike Keefe, The Week

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I quote Thomas Paine (The Crisis):

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

Terrorism is tyranny from within.


-- Marge

Cartoons: only the 2016 GOP presidential race is funny (and that not so much)

Today's comments include Bernie Sanders on climate change and terrorism, ISIS, a no-Syrians policy in America, innocent Muslim bystanders, and the 2012 vs. 2015 presidential races.

While some scoff, Bernie has a good point and doubles down on [the] climate change-terrorism link in a CBS news piece, which reported:

"If we are going to see an increase in drought, in flood, and extreme weather disturbances as a result of climate change, what that means is that people all over the world are going to be fighting over limited natural resources," the Vermont senator said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," elaborating on an argument he made during the CBS News Democratic debate Saturday night. "If there is not enough water, if there is not enough land to grow your crops, then you're going to see migrations of people fighting over land that will sustain them. And that will lead to international conflict."

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Chip Bok, The Week

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I must admit it feels good to reduce ISIS to cockroaches.

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David Horsey, The Week

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The New York Times reports: G.O.P. Governors Vow to Close Doors to Syrian Refugees. I take exception to the word 'prudent' in the video; sounds like doublespeak to me.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Molenbeek, a Muslim community in Belgium, is where Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected architect of the Paris attacks, lived. The residents of  Molenbeek are telling us, 'We are not terrorists'.

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Chan Lowe, The Week

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I keep wondering, if I were to vote for a Republican candidate, who could I possibly vote for?

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John Cole, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: how about "politically enlightened"?

Just two topics this week: Playboy Magazine's departure from nudity and the question of who will be the next Speaker of the House.

As The American Spectator puts it, Playboy puts its clothes on. What, Guys, you weren't reading Playboy for the articles?

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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Dana Summers, The Week

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From the Wall Street Journal there's this--GOP Presses Paul Ryan as Republicans Search for Next House Speaker. He says he's not interested. The tea party group has its own agenda. Meanwhile, the GOP side of the House is leaderless and rudderless. Warning: this Jay Bookman article is strongly opinionated. However, there's a great video with Groucho Marx.

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Steve Sack, The Week

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: so many options, some down the drain

Greece's economic crisis is big news with editorial cartoonists now, followed by Trump's racist comments, and Hillary's manipulations of the truth, whatever it is. Here are the editorial pieces that caught my attention.

Glitch Freezes NYSE Trading for Hours (Wall Street Journal).

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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Confederate flag comes down on South Carolina’s statehouse grounds (The Washington Post).

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Jack Ohman, The Week

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Greek Economy Under Siege, With Fears That the Worst Is Coming (The New York Times). The Huffington Post echoes other reports on ...The Terrible State Of Greece's Austerity Economy...

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Steve Sack, The Week

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Meanwhile, GOP candidate Chris Christie Bypassed Traffic In New Hampshire With Sirens: 'Bridgegate' Gov Doesn't Get Stuck In Traffic Jams (International Business Times).

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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-- Marge