Giant Faces On Storefronts In Jerusalem

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Ampersand

Yesterday was a great day in Jersusalem. I visited the Wall, but in an unexpected place; visited an archeological dig that’s not open to the public (!); and got very lost in the old city. I’ll be posting more details and photos of that as I have time.

I also spent some time wandering shops at and near Shuk Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem yesterday. I especially enjoyed the number of gigantic faces painted on stores, often on the security awnings that were pulled down when the stores were closed. So here’s a few of those:

Continue reading →

Posted in Mind-blowing Miscellania and other Neat Stuff | Leave a comment  

Cartoon: Politicizing Tragedy

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Ampersand

If you enjoy these cartoons, and can spare it, please support my Patreon! A $1 pledge really matters.

The topic that’s been on everyone’s minds this month.

It so often feels like there’s nothing to say… The country goes through unendurable tragedy after unendurable tragedy. But a significant portion of the country (a third? a quarter? Enough to act as a veto on the rest of us) will accept any number of shootings, even shootings of children, as long as they can keep their guns and even assault rifles nearly unregulated.

It’s one of those issues (and there are more and more of them lately) which makes me feel as if there might not be a point to discussion with the opposition at all.

Meanwhile, the clown-in-chief blarbles that if he had been there, he would have run into the school, unarmed, to rescue the kids. It’s hard to imagine a less intelligent, more off-key response. I genuinely feel betrayed that almost half the voters in this country decided that Trump should be President.

Artwise, I’m really enjoying this new coloring approach, so I hope you guys like it! I’m fond of the art in this one, especially the full-figures in the first and last panels. I should do more full-figure panels – they look really nice, especially with big-head characters, and allow for a lot of expressive body language.

TRANSCRIPT

PANEL 1
A man and a woman stand in a field. From off-panel, there is the sound of gunfire – “Bang! Bang! Bang!”
WOMAN: Oh God. There’s another mass shooting! We need gun control laws!
MAN: You ghoul! Stop politicizing tragedy!

PANEL 2
The man pontificates, fingertips of one hand on his breast, the other hand pointing off into the distance.
MAN: We have to wait a respectful amount of time…

PANEL 3
The woman’s arms are akimbo, looking impatient. The man holds up one hand in a “wait” gesture, while looking at a watch on his other wrist.
WOMAN: Okay, NOW can we talk about gun control?
MAN: Just a moment….
MAN (small print to indicate something mumbled to himself): C’mon, c’mon…

PANEL 4
The woman jumps, suprrised by a new round of gunfire from off panel. BANG! BANG! BANG! The man speaks, looking very self-satisfied.
MAN: What a shame. Looks like we can’t discuss it now, either.

KICKER PANEL AT BOTTOM:
MAN: I’m not the one who makes up the rules.
WOMAN: Yes you are!

Posted in Cartooning & comics | 27 Comments  

Open Thread and Link Farm, They’re Both Dumplings Edition

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Ampersand

  1. Trans kids massively benefit from being allowed to socially transition – ThinkProgress
  2. Support for free speech is rising, and is higher among liberals and college graduates. – Vox
  3. Someone is wrong on the internet, millennial savings edition | FT Alphaville
    “In other words, you probably aren’t bad at saving. You are normal at saving. The people who seem good at saving, on the other hand, are actually also normal at saving, but very good at receiving.”
  4. Study: Feminists Are Less Hostile To Men Than Non-Feminists
    At least, among a sample of about 500 college students.
  5. Catapult | What My Godfather’s Glass Eye Taught Me About Disability Humor | s.e. smith
    “Here’s a thing about disability that some non-disabled people find deeply disturbing: It can be pretty funny, actually, especially in retrospect.”
  6. These Trans Women Are Fighting for Insurance Coverage as Trump Unravels Their Right to Care – Rewire
  7. The AR-15 Is Different: What I Learned Treating Parkland Victims – The Atlantic
    “A typical AR-15 bullet leaves the barrel traveling almost three times faster than, and imparting more than three times the energy of, a typical 9mm bullet from a handgun.”
  8. This Man Is on Death Row for Killing a 6-Month-Old. But What If We’re Wrong About Shaken Baby Syndrome? – Reason.com
    Another infuriating story of a justice system railroading a defendant. Co-written by Radley Balko, you won’t be surprised to hear.
  9. There is no campus free speech crisis.
    I think for the most part Jeffrey Sachs makes good arguments. But I think his citation of FIRE data to say that most successful de-invitings come from the right lies by omission; that’s fair to mention, but he should have acknowledged that the same data shows that the great majority of attempted de-invitings come from the left.
  10. Leftist Critiques of Identity Politics – Julia Serano – Medium
    In a very long article, Serano critiques the critiques.
  11. A Former SWAT Operator Says the Cop Who Stood Outside Is Another Victim of the Parkland Massacre
  12. The Adipositivity Project
    Hundreds of photos celebrating the fat naked body. (Most of the photos are of women, from what I saw skimming through, but there are a bunch of men as well.)
  13. New report shows continued growth of Catholic health systems that refuse to provide essential care | Eclectablog
    Some of these hospitals are for profit hospitals. Hospitals that don’t provide needed lifesaving care shouldn’t be legal to operate, regardless of the beliefs of the hospital’s owners.
  14. It’s Time to Abolish ICE | The Nation
    “ICE as it presently exists is an agency devoted almost solely to cruelly and wantonly breaking up families. The agency talks about, and treats, human beings like they’re animals.”
  15. (94) ‘The Hamilton Polka’ – Weird Al Yankovic – YouTube
  16. Report: The U.S. Border Patrol is deliberately destroying emergency water supplies.
    (The link goes to a 24 page pdf file.) This is hatred. This is evil. This is our tax dollars at work.
  17. The Private Life of Power
    Some employers are demanding to see applicants’ private facebook posts.
  18. SAva from “Ex Machina” and Amazon’s Alexa
    “To use the critic Alex West’s formulation, there’s a difference between a violent movie and a movie about violence, and there’s also a difference between a sexist movie and a movie about sexism.”
  19. American Democracy Is an Easy Target – Foreign Policy
    ” If a semi-incompetent social media campaign is all that one needs to send American politics into a halting state, then America’s troubles are far more fundamental than Russian interference.”
  20. How Employers Already Compel Speech From Workers
    Conservatives on the Supreme Court only seem interested in protecting workers’ free speech when doing so hurts unions.
  21. Labels aren’t Just for Jars: Give Kids the Words to Understand their Lives | crippledscholar
    “Part of the problem of the ‘labels are for jars’ argument is that it inextricably links the label with diagnosis and pathology. It completely ignores the possibility that the label can be part of a disabled identity.”
  22. Lesbian Couple Sues Federal Government & Catholic Church After Being Blocked From Fostering Refugee Child
    The Catholic agency, which turned the couple down because “they don’t mirror the holy family,” is paid millions of dollars by the Federal government for their foster care service. A prominent conservative called the lawsuit “gay bullying.”
  23. I’m a Campus Sexual Assault Activist. It’s Time to Reimagine How We Punish Sex Crimes. – The New York Times
    One factoid I didn’t know: The Obama Administration was encouraging Mary Koss and her collaborators to look into expanding “restorative justice”; the Trump administration rescinded that offer.
  24. What’s Actually Behind Cape Town’s Water Crisis – The AtlanticThe article blames “austerity-obsessed technocrats, irresponsible development, and willful ignorance.”
  25. The Crazy Fight Over Pennsylvania’s Congressional Map: Round 2 | Brennan Center for Justice
  26. Charles Gaba’s explains the “Medicare Extra for All” proposal.
    A bit long, but great reading if you want to understand the case for “Medicare Extra” in detail.
  27. ‘Medicare Extra For All’ And The Tectonic Shift Among (centrist) Democrats
  28. In Photos: ‘Faceless’ Fish Rediscovered After More Than a Century
    Actually, the others were found in the 1950s. But it’s been more than a century since this fish was last seen near Australia. And it does have eyes, but they’re buried beneath the skin. (The fish lives in a lightless environment.)
  29. This Deep Sea Fisherman Posts His Discoveries on Twitter and OH MY GOD KILL IT WITH FIRE
    Just a page full of photos of neat looking deep-sea creatures.

Posted in Link farms | 10 Comments  

Cartoon: Liberal Pundit Opposes Identity Politics! What a Shock!

Posted on March 11, 2018 by Ampersand

If you enjoy these cartoons, and can spare it, please support them on Patreon.

A $1 pledge really matters.

The pundit march against “identity politics” never gets old, does it? Oh, wait.

In a way, this is something I did a cartoon about last year, although that one was less specific – the tendency of Democrats to paint their own policy preferences as the necessary strategy to win elections.

It’s just motivated reasoning, of course – but it’s still super annoying. I’m particularly needled by the claim that Clinton lost the election because she talked about Blacks/Women/Gays/etc too much, when she should have been talking jobs and the economy.  Because objectively, Clinton spoke MUCH more about jobs and the economy than she did about “identity politics.” It wasn’t even close.

So when pundits say that Clinton spoke too much about identity politics, what that suggests, to me, is those pundits believe that if a Democrat mentions “identity politics” at all that’s too much.

Artwise, I like the last panel best – it’s a very simple panel (basically no background), but I think the figure looks relaxed and expressive and the Watterson influence shows but that’s okay.

I continue to like this approach to color, so I may stick with it for a while. :-)

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

PANEL 1

A white man sits behind the desk of a spacious office. He has a laptop open in front of him and books on either side of him; behind him are windows facing some trees, and some flowers in a vase. He’s wearing glasses and a button up shirt without a tie.
MAN: I have a message for all the identity politics liberals!
As long as idenitty politics exist, Democrats can’t win elections. And if we cna’t win elections, then we can’t make the changes you want.

PANEL 2

A closer shot of the man, as he drinks from his cofee cup.
MAN: Take Black Lives Matter. That alienates working class whites. So just be quiet about it.
Just like trans activists, and feminists, and student protestors… you people are why Trump is president!

PANEL 3

The man raises one finger as he pontificates.
MAN: The only way to get elected is to say nothing that could alienate white Trump voters.
Trump voters will flock to Democrats if liberals just quit mentioning Blacks or gays or trans or women or any other identity politics CRAP!

PANEL 4

The man leans back in his desk chair, one foot on the other knee, his hands behind his head, smiling.
MAN: But don’t worry! Once the Democrats are elected, we’ll be in power, and then… you people should continue shutting up.
Because we’ve got to get re-elected, right?

KICKER PANEL

A tiny panel below the bottom of the strip shows the man smiling, one hand placed on his chest in a “I’m good at this but also modest” sort of gesture.
MAN: I’m just saying we have to look at things objectively! And white men like me are ACES at objhectivity!

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments  

Cartoon: Farrakhan in the Nest

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Ampersand

If you enjoy these cartoons, and can spare it, please support my patreon. A #1 pledge really matters.

Like many progressives – especially Jewish and queer progressives – I’ve been pretty unhappy with the Women’s March organization this week.

For those of you unfamiliar with this story, this Atlantic article offers a recap. It’s a story that I felt I HAD to comment on. I expect this kind of behavior from the right, but not from allies.

All of the things “Louis” says in this cartoon, are close paraphrases of things Louis Farrakhan has actually said; making the characters into bizarre bird creatures is my way of making his cartoonish bigotry into comedy. At least, that’s what I’m attempting.

I’ve been a fan of the women’s march organization in the past. But I don’t think their goals are compatible with their leadership accepting, and praising, the left’s most prominent antisemite, homophobe, and transphobe.

I don’t believe that the Women’s March is beyond redemption. With luck, the pressure and criticism they’ve been getting from the left will convince them to make needed changes; I’m hoping this cartoon can be a small drop in that larger torrent.

“Jewbird out!” is one of those punchlines that I just can’t explain. The line cracked me up, but will other humans find it funny? I can’t tell until I put the cartoon out there and see how people respond.

You’ll notice the lack of colors; I wanted to get this cartoon out quickly, and skipping the color seemed like a reasonable place to streamline my process for this cartoon. That aside, and despite being drawn in a rush, I think this cartoon looks pretty good.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Cartooning & comics | 32 Comments  

Cartoon: “Too Much Foam”

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Ampersand

If you enjoy these cartoons, and can spare it, please support my Patreon!

This is one of a couple of cartoons I’ve  recently written on the subject of abled people putting the disabled up on a pedestal. (After getting some feedback from some disabled advance readers, I’m rethinking how to write the other one). In this case, I ended up focusing on privileged anxiety, always a gold mine for comedy.

Lately, I’ve been doing life drawing from nude models (there’s a place near my house which has a monthly drawing session), and I’ve been using brown paper and drawing with both black and white ink. (You can see a couple of those drawings here.) I’ve enjoyed having the white for highlights so much, I’m trying to bring that approach into my cartoons.

The coloring approach in this cartoon is very similar to last week’s. I want to include color – it really helps make a cartoon pop, and many readers prefer color. But I also don’t want to cover up the black and white linework, which is my favorite part. And I don’t want to do “this object would be brown, so I’ll color it brown” literal coloring, because once I do that my cartoons look so similar to other people’s cartoons.

So I’m always trying to find a way to eat my cake and have it too, when it comes to color. I hope you like how it looks (but let me know if you don’t).

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

Panel one shows a woman in a polka-dot dress sitting in a coffee shop, glaring down at her cappuccino.

WOMAN (thought): Aw, darn it. They put too much foam on my cappuccino!

Panel 2 shows a bald man in the foreground, sitting at a different table, reading something on his smartphone. He is sitting on a power chair, and he has no right arm. There’s a cappuccino in front of him. In the background, we can see the woman from panel one, staring at the bald man with a shocked expression.

WOMAN (thought): Oh wow – that guy has no legs and only one arm! How does he even get out of bed in the morning?

Panel 3 shows the woman, head in hands, looking aghast.

WOMAN (thought): He has to psend every minute of his life figuring out how to manage with just one arm… and I’m thinking about foam! I SUCK!

Panel 4 shows the bald man again. He has picked up his cappuccino and is looking annoyed.

MAN (thought): They put too much foam on my cappuccino!

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Disability Issues, Disabled Rights & Issues | 10 Comments  

Cartoon: Welfare vs Wealthfare

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Ampersand

If you enjoy these cartoons, and can spare it, please support my Patreon! A $1 pledge really matters.

Another collaboration with Rachel Swirsky!

I don’t have much to say about the politics of this issue that isn’t covered in the cartoon. Accepting help from the government is seen as morally shameful for the poor – but routine for the ultra-wealthy.

The script for this one was one of those back-and-forth collaborations in which it becomes difficult to recall who wrote what. The initial idea came from Rachel, and the idea for the specific format and layout came from me. The particular gags were written by both of us. I remember that I wrote the kicker gag as “Queen of England,” and Rachel changed it to “Beyonce,” which definitely made it funnier.

Oh, and if anyone’s wondering, there really were thousand-dollar bills once, but the government hasn’t printed any since 1945. If you happen to come across one, it’s still legal tender – but you’d probably get more than a thousand dollars by selling it to a collector. Several different designs were used for thousand dollar bills, including one featuring Alexander Hamilton.

A special thanks on the sidebar to patron N.K. Jemisin, who – among many other accomplishments – recently won the Hugo Award for “best novel” two years running. Rachel and I are both big fans of N.K.’s novels, and you should check out her website.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

At the top of the cartoon, in large letters, is the title “WELFARE vs WEALTHFARE.”

Below that, the cartoon is divided into three columns. The columns on the left and right show regular cartoon images; the middle column only contains a caption for each row. The left column is underneath the word “Welfare” in the title; the right-hand column is underneath the word “Wealthfare” in the title.

ROW 1: HANDOUTS

Welfare Panel: A man holding a grocery bag is startled by an angry man in a necktie yelling at him.
NECKTIE MAN: Let me see those groceries! You better not have spent your food stamps on anything nice!

Wealthfare Panel: A well-off looking man in a jacket and tie stands looking aloof, with his arms crossed and his nose up in the air. Behind him, a man wearing a tie is kneeling on the ground and begging.
KNEELING MAN: PLEEEEASE let us buy you a new stadium! We’ll give you $200 million dollars!

ROW 2: HOUSING

Welfare Panel: A woman stands at a pay phone, the phone held to her ear. She has luggage with her, and an anxious looking ten year old son.
VOICE FROM PHONE: Sure, we can help with housing. Looks like we’ll have space for you in… Four years.

Wealthfare Panel: A wealthy-looking older couple, wearing sunglasses and casual-nice clothes, stands in front of an enormous yacht.
WOMAN: We legally declared our million-dollar yacht our second home.
MAN: So now we deduct its mortgage from our taxes!

ROW 3: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Welfare Panel: A building with a sign, which says “welfare office.” Voices come from inside the building.
FIRST VOICE: Pee into this cup.
SECOND VOICE: But I don’t use drugs!
FIRST VOICE: Exactly what a druggie would say!

Wealthfare Panel: A wealthy looking businessman sits in a large executive chair, reading some papers. Behind him, two younger, slightly nerdy looking people talk to his back, looking anxious.
NERD 1: Look at all these crimes! I’m sorry, but you’ll have to pay a modest fine.
NERD 2: But you can deduct it from your taxes!
BUSINESSMAN (unconcerned, barely paying attention): Uh-huh.

ROW 4: BANKRUPTCY

Welfare Panel: A security guard in a brown uniform lounges in front of a house, leaning on a sign that says “For Sale By Bank.” A father holding an infant, and his young daughter at his side, look aghast.
GUARD: The bank says “thanks for the swell house!”

Wealthfare Panel: Another businessman, seated behyind an enormous desk; the desktop is mostly empty, although he does have a laptop and a desk calendar. Behind him is a big window with a cityscape view.
BUSINESSMAN: Hello, government? I gambled away billions of my bank’s assets. Give me my bailout in thousand dollar bills.

ROW 5:THE BOTTOM LINE

Welfare Panel: Uncle Sam has his back turned towards a mother carrying an infant. His expression shows contempt. He holds out a tiny check to her like it’s a dead fish. A line from the check points to a little ¢ symbol.
UNCLE SAM: Take your welfare, MOOCHER.

Wealthfare Panel: A smiling wealthy man looks on as a smiling Uncle Sam brings in a wheelbarrow overflowing with piles and bags of cash.
UNCLE SAM: Here’s this month’s delivery, sir!

Kicker panel at bottom of strip
We see the necktie man and the food stamps user from the first panel. The necktie man is yelling again.
NECKTIE MAN: You have a refrigerator AND a cell phone? What are you, Beyonce?

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Economics and the like | 10 Comments  

Cartoon: Radfem Clubhouse

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Ampersand

If you enjoy these cartoons, please help there be more by supporting my Patreon. A $1 pledge really matters.

You can read lots more cartoons, for free, here. Or click here to see a bunch of lgbt themed cartoons.

(I wonder if I’ll lose any supporters over this cartoon? If so, thanks for your support, and goodbye.)

I used to be part of the no longer existent Ms Boards, back in the dark ages of the web (2003 or so). It was a active and fun forum for feminists, found on Ms Magazine’s website. Eventually, of course, it turned into a morass and grudges and anger, because that’s how the internet works. (But we didn’t know that yet).

But before Ms Magazine mercifully pulled the plug, and before things went bad, the Ms Boards were really important to me. I spent an embarrassing amount of time on the boards, discussing, socializing, arguing.

What most hastened the Ms Boards’ decline was when the largest contingent of radical feminists on the boards (who called themselves “radfems” for short) became openly dedicated to rejecting transsexual women.

It was a wave of ugliness and sometimes gleeful bigotry that I responded to with my reflexive “keep it mild, keep civil, try to see all sides” approach. I really regret that now; from my position of privilege, it took me too long to understand how gross and damaging that group of radfems were to our trans friends and the entire community.

Over the time, that genre of radfem developed into what’s now called TERFs – short for “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist” – and, much as they poisoned the Ms Boards, they’ve poisoned much of radical feminism. A feminism that stands for bigotry against one of the most oppressed and marginalized groups in society is not viable.

Of course, many radical feminists – including some of the best known, such as MacKinnon, Dworkin, Judith Butler and (eventually) Gloria Steinem – have rejected bigotry against trans people. Being anti-trans is by no means a universal position among radicals

In the early seventies, some feminists thought lesbians needed to be excluded from feminism. That view was eventually rejected from feminism, and I believe trans-exclusionary feminism will go the same route.

This cartoon is a straightforward expression of my anger at what TERFs have done to some of feminism. But artwise, it’s my little tribute to the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” in the proportions of the figures and in the use of the treehouse setting. I also experimented with using a rougher brush, to get a bit closer to the wild and awesome lines Bill Watterson uses.

Of course, I can’t draw nearly as well as Watterson, one of the greatest cartoonists in the world. But it was sure fun trying to ape his style.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

PANEL 1
This cartoon is colored mostly in a desaturated orange, except for dark orange shading and white highlights.
On a woody hillside, a light-haired woman in a black tank top and a skirt stands in a crude treehouse, which is nestled in the crook of a tree, ten feet or so above the ground. Slats are nailed to the tree trunk to form a crude ladder up to the treehouse. The light-haired woman is talking to a black-haired woman wearing glasses, who is standing on the ground looking up at the treehouse.

GLASSES WOMAN: I want to join your radical feminist club! But only if it has no Jews.
TREEHOUSE WOMAN: What? NO! That’s NOT what our radfem club is about.

PANEL 2
GLASSES WOMAN: To be radical feminists, we must put WHITE feminists first and sideline feminists of color.
TREEHOUSE WOMAN: No, NO! WE might DO that, but never EVER say so aloud!

Panel 3
GLASSES WOMAN: As radical feminists, it’s our duty to align with the Christian right to oppose lesbian and gay rights!
TREEHOUSE WOMAN: STOP this! Our radical feminist club does NOT stand for bigotry!

Panel 4
In contrast to her stern, angry expressions in the first three panels, the treehouse woman is now smiling broadly, opening her arms in welcome.

GLASSES WOMAN: TRANS PEOPLE ARE GARBAGE!
TREEHOUSE WOMAN: Except for that bigotry. Welcome to our club!

Small kicker panel at the bottom of the strip:
A new character, a woman with short hair, talks to the treehouse woman. The treehouse woman yells back at her.
SHORT HAIRED WOMAN: Lots of key radical feminists are pro-trans! Look at Andrea Dworkin.
TREEHOUSE WOMAN: Dworkin was a FAKE feminist!

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Feminism, sexism, etc, Transsexual and Transgender related issues | 55 Comments  

Open Thread and Link Farm, Abe Lincoln Disguised As A Beggar Edition

Posted on February 18, 2018 by Ampersand

  1. Trans Women Face Extreme Levels of Abuse in Men’s Prisons.
    “For trans women in prison, it’s often the abuse by the guards that is the most abhorrent, and that abuse doesn’t stop at misgendering or inappropriate strip searches. According to a 2012 Department of Justice survey, 16.7% of trans inmates have experienced sexual misconduct at the hands of a prison staff member.”
  2. Let’s Stop Comparing Campus Sexual Assault Proceedings to Criminal Trials — Konidaris Law
  3. #Me Too is about more than stopping rape. We demand more | Jessica Valenti | Opinion | The Guardian
  4. (89) Dinner Discussion – SNL – YouTube
    Sketch about some friends at dinner being scared to discuss Aziz Ansari. I think there’s something to this – people are too scared of messing up.
  5. Gallery removes naked nymphs painting to ‘prompt conversation’ | Art and design | The Guardian
    The article explains that this artificially created controversy is intended to be a conceptual art piece, and that the gallery intends to resume displaying the painting at some point. I’m skeptical of the value of this exercise at all; critically examining the painting is fine, but doing it this way seems designed to generate more heat than light.
  6. Give all immigrants the right to vote
    “Between 1776 and 1926, Hayduk’s research shows, up to 40 states permitted immigrants to vote in local, state and federal elections.”
  7. Turning a Unicorn into a Bat: the Post in Which We Announce the End of our Marriage | The Weed
    A Mormon couple, one of whom came out as gay five years ago, reaches a turning point.
  8. Achtung Baby by Sara Zaske, reviewed.
    “…contemporary German parents give their children a great deal of freedom—to do dangerous stuff; to go places alone; to make their own mistakes, most of which involve nudity, fire, or both.”
  9. But see also Jane Yager’s comments on that German parenting article.
  10. This four minute video by a Palestinian Israeli, of his encounter with a Jewish family, is very striking.
  11. The Weaponization of Nostalgia: How Afghan Miniskirts Became the Latest Salvo in the War on Terror – Ajam Media Collective
  12. The Dark Art of Stealing from Self-Checkouts – The Atlantic
    In my twenties, I definitely would have shoplifted something via the self-checkout, because I was poor, and just because I could. But now, it honestly didn’t occur to me… until I read this article. (Still won’t do it, though.)
  13. Kansas Scrambles To Change Rules After 6 Teens Enter Governor’s Race : The Two-Way : NPR
  14. Single Mothers Are Not the Problem – The New York Times
    “Ultimately, there simply aren’t enough single mothers to explain our high poverty. Even if they all married or never had children, poverty would not be substantially lower.”
  15. All of Groundhog Day shown as a single Groundhog day.
    “I wanted to see what it would be like if the events of the movie Groundhog Day all took place simultaneously. The film shows 37 separate days from Phil’s thousands of Groundhog Days in Punxsutawney.” The video is a half-hour long, and is oddly compelling… or at least, it is to met I’ve seen that movie a kazillion times.
  16. Nigel, the world’s loneliest bird, dies next to the concrete decoy he loved – The Washington Post
    He built it a nest.
  17. A new Vox poll reveals surprising nuance in public opinion on abortion
    “…18 percent of Americans, like King, pick “both” when you ask them to choose between pro-life and pro-choice. Another 21 percent choose neither. Taken together, about four in 10 Americans are eschewing the labels that we typically see as defining the abortion policy debate.”
  18. I’m sort of obsessed with this The Invisible Man poster by Jonathan Burton. I tried to buy one, but it sold out in two minutes. I can still get it on Ebay for four times the price….
  19. What no politician wants to admit about gun control – Vox
    The very mild measures that Democrats have proposed, would probably have only mild effects on the gun death rate.
  20. She killed 115 people before the last Korean Olympics. Now she wonders: ‘Can my sins be pardoned?’ – The Washington Post
  21. GOP lawmakers take aim at WHO agency over Roundup ingredient
  22. First modern Britons had ‘dark to black’ skin, Cheddar Man DNA analysis reveals | Science | The Guardian
  23. North Korea: what war with the US would look like – Vox
    “A full-blown war with North Korea wouldn’t be as bad as you think. It would be much, much worse.”
  24. N.Y. landlord obliterated dozens of graffiti murals. Now he owes the artists $6.75 million. – The Washington Post
  25. I Spent Two Years Trying to Fix the Gender Imbalance in My Stories – The Atlantic
  26. This Mutant Crayfish Clones Itself, and It’s Taking Over Europe – The New York Times
    “Before about 25 years ago, the species simply did not exist. A single drastic mutation in a single crayfish produced the marbled crayfish in an instant.”
  27. The Minimum Wage And The Price of Comics.
    The real cost of buying a comic book has been going up much faster than the minimum wage – or the cost of going to a movie. No wonder sales have plummeted.
  28. Speaking of which, I wrote a thread on Twitter arguing that it’s ridiculous to think that the sales problems of comics are due to more diverse characters and a few pros being rude on Twitter. This is in response to #ComicsGate, which is an attempt to take the failures of GamerGate and the Rabid/Sad Puppies and make them happen for comics, too.
  29. Why this economist thinks public education is mostly pointless – Vox
  30. Former Slaves’ Folklore of Abraham Lincoln in the South – The Atlantic
    “They said he came in disguise as a beggar or a peddler, bummed free meals off his unsuspecting white hosts, snooped around to find out what slavery was like, and told the slaves they would soon be free.”
  31. Trump slump? Remington files for bankruptcy amid declining gun sales. – The Washington Post
  32. What’s the difference between sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment and rape?
  33. And another twitter rant from me: A thread about the misuse of trans suicide statistics by Ryan Anderson. Anderson just wrote a book about (well, against) trans issues, called “When Harry Became Sally,” so it would have been nice if he’d at least read the studies he cites.
  34. Woman Adopts Senior Dog, Who Turns Out To Be Her Childhood Pet – The Dodo
  35. Trump concocted a story about a border agent’s death. The truth won’t catch up. – The Washington Post
  36. We had a great day at the park with our autistic son, until someone called the police – The Washington Post
    His hair wasn’t brushed and someone was worried that his parents weren’t taking good care of him.
  37. You Can Call Yourself Fat – Kiva Bay – Medium
    “I worry that fat activism has begun to build a new version of the Good Fatty, that within fat activism there is a certain excessive pushback against fat people who don’t perform their fatness with as much purity as we would prefer.”
  38. Artist creates bizarre characters by getting models to bend over and drawing faces on them

Posted in Link farms | 79 Comments  

Cartoon: The Puerto Rico Loop

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Ampersand

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The ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico is being mostly ignored by virtually all institutions on the mainland. It’s impossible to imagine that the crisis would have been allowed to go on so long, with so little attention, had it happened in Connecticut.

The cycle of no attention is frustrating and it makes me feel helpless – which usually means, time to draw a cartoon. I’ve done cartoons before in which the last panel repeated the first panel, implying a loop, but this time I wanted to try drawing it as a literal loop.

I’m pretty pleased with how this one looks – big heads and lots of cross hatching is increasingly becoming my jam.

Transcript of cartoon.

The main body of this cartoon shows three groupings of figures. Large arrows point counterclockwise from each group to the next group.

At the top of the loop, a balding man in an expensive suit speaks directly to the readers, while shrugging.
SUIT DUDE: We can’t put tax dollars into helping Puerto Rico if the voters don’t care about it.

A big arrow leads from the man in the suit, to a television set, showing two news anchors, a man and a woman. They are both shrugging and looking into the camera. The anchorwoman speaks.

ANCHORWOMAN: If the government does nothing about Puerto Rico, there’s nothing for us to report.

A large arrow leads from the television set to a man and a woman standing on a hillside. The man is wearing a plaid shirt and scratching his head in bewilderment; the woman, wearing a hoodie and a skirt with a dotted pattern, looks directly at the reader and speaks while shrugging.

WOMAN: If it’s constantly on the news, we forget it exists.

A large arrow leads from the two people, back up to the politician in a suit.

At the very bottom of the cartoon, a small “kicker” panel shows a fat man with a beard and glasses speaking directly to the readers.
BARRY: There’s no way to break out of this cycle! …Unless the victims are white.

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Media, Media criticism | 8 Comments