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: in the belly of the beast

To say that we're living in the belly of the beast sounds overly dramatic, but think about it. There's an election reasonable people can do little about; a tyrant decimating his own population; and school systems so underfunded that the teachers have to supply some necessities out of their own pockets. Then there's the U.S. Congress, so ineffectual that when a cartoonist refers to them as creepy clowns, many of us nod in agreement. Sadly, those elected representatives who make an effort to get something worthwhile accomplished are undermined by those that are there for the perks and/or power.

Here are the visuals for today's comments.

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David Fitzsimmons, The Week

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Steve Breen, The Week

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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Joe Heller, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: what are they good for?

Seems to me you can look at editorial cartoons several ways: they give a humorous take on current evens; they reveal corruption; they attempt to assuage/salt wounds felt due to recent events; they double-down on our outrage at current events; [add you own reason for liking cartoons here].

If you're unhappy with the current state of the U.S. Congress, this one's for you.

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David Fitzsimmons, The Week

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Can Fox News be represented as a hen house? Maybe. I'm reminded of The Musicman's

Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little,
Cheep cheep cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more (LyricsMode)

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Tom Toles, The Week

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Big Pharma is always a good target, especially since it's so greedy.

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Milt Priggee, The Week

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And Smokey the Bear brings us the message of the day.

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Dan Wasserman, The Week

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--Marge

It's Congress vs. Post Office

A while back I received a request from Credo, full name Credo Action, to sign a petition titled "The post office isn't broke -- it's being robbed."  Credo's parent company is Working Assets.  The home page for this petition states:

It's true the post office faces financial challenges. But the financial problems are in large part a direct result of an onerous and ill-considered 2006 law called the "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act" (PAEA) that mandates pre-funding the postal service retiree health care and pension benefits for 75 years — something that no other government agency or private company is forced to do.

The vast majority — 85% — of the budget red ink comes from this pre-funding mandate despite the fact that, according to the post office Inspector General, the pension is over-funded and reserves for retiree health care are far higher than the federal government as a whole, the military and almost all Fortune 1000 companies.

In October 2012, the USPS (United States Postal Service) hit its debt limit, as reported by Jennifer Liberto at CNN Money.  In an effort to handle its money woes the USPS has proposed ending Saturday mail delivery.  Details on the request to alter its business model presented to a Senate committee hearing can be found in this article by Ron Nixon at the New York Times.

For some background on the U.S. Postal Service, take a look at "5 things you need to know about..." by Brianna Lee at PBS.org.  Delaware Senator Tom Carper also offers some information on his web page about "Reforming the Postal Service," including the following factoid:

[The postal service is] an industry that employs some 8.5 million people and generates more than $1 trillion in sales and revenue each year.

As noted earlier grassroots efforts are afoot.  Freelance journalist Diana Reese posted the question "Will social media help save the Postal Service and Saturday delivery?" this last Valentine's Day at She The People, a blog about politics and culture by Melinda Henneberger.  Sorry, we missed the Saturday event at Facebook.

And where would we be without a cartoon?  This one is by Chan Lowe:

-- Marge