Now, about socialism... I don't get the problem. What the guys in charge want to do for wealthy people, financiers, and corporations is truly socialism. Yeah, they want to socialize the risk (while they privatize the rewards). They want others to share what they have, so the wealthy can have more. Without the wealthy sharing anything, of course. Just who is "entitled" here?
I guess socialism got a bad name because of that Union of Soviet Social Republics name thing. As if that was actually socialism. BTW, DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Does anybody believe that gives Democracy a bad name? Hands???
For the record, I truly believe that if that Jesus Christ fellow was alive today, he'd be branded as a socialist - which was completely true. That would make him a radical left wing extremist. A wuss. He'd get beaten down by ICE and company and deported to someplace considered inhospitable and foreign, in every way. Nobody'd call it antisemitism, either.
Oh, yeah. As much as Republicans like to invoke the name Jesus, if the actual historic figure showed up they wouldn't give him the time of day. Probably arrest him and deport him, if anything.
Back in the day, Jesus was a "socialist" because he said his Father God, welcomed ALL to the Kingdom of Heaven, regardless of social status. He was going against the Jewish orthodoxy of those times (the Pharisees) who believed only they had the right to determine how to worship God. They were also probably ticked off about Jesus messing up their business deals when he went ballistic about money lending happening inside the Temple. The Romans weren't bothered initially until the Pharisees probably went to King Herod and did some misinformation and propaganda about someone messing with the power arrangement because they were threatened by the socialist populism tone of the teachings of Jesus. So they accused Jesus of crimes after they (the Pharisees? The Romans?) paid Judas Iscariot 30 pieces of silver to snitch on his whereabouts in the Garden of Gethsemane. The parallels to modern day politics continue. Anyone who threatens the status quo by telling people that they have power and rights is a threat to the orthodoxy (business, religion, politics, education, health, etc...) and will be labelled whatever counts as the current term for "pariah" for fascists.
The Islamophobia in those cartoons is disgusting beyond belief. Sharia law? Just like former mayors imposed the "law" of their religion on all New Yorkers? Uh Huh. Remember when no New Yorker could eat meat on Fridays or ember days? Or had to forgo shellfish? Me neither.
Damn … I didn’t know about your stroke. On July 6 at 1:40am I had a full up heart attack…. Luckily the 911 guys (not 9-11) got there quickly and I was in the ICU in Charleston within twenty minutes — the docs at MUSC cardiac really know their stuff. I was out and back home in three days with a double stack of stents and feeling incredibly better and grateful.
I hope your recovery goes well—we need you back to cartoon us out of this mess! As a former Northern. Virginian I really appreciate your local jabs. Keep it up (when you are able).
Thanks Jean — my “myocardial infarction” was a complete surprise—but in reflection there were indications of an incipient blockage. These didn’t show up on an EKG or my blood pressure. They were more subtle and neither I nor my doctors identified that they were related to a future heart attack.
It might help others to know that I had the following indicators:
Some “brain fog” and decrease in energy
Notable tingling (neuropathy) in my hands
Increased midday tiredness
Now since I’m 81 some of this is to expected, but I believe that this combination should have been seen as indications of circulatory problems. I did point these out to my docs but these were treated (or not treated) as separate and unrelated. I was intolerant of cholesterol medications so stopped taking them although my numbers were a bit elevated. Otherwise I was healthy and active. Who knew?
So the reason I’m writing this here is that others might recognize similar indicators and be more proactive in communicating them to their doctors.
I was lucky — the EMTs came within 15 minutes and I was in the emergency room with a cardio specialist within another 20 minutes. MUSC in Charleston has a phenomenal cardio care facility.
Hopefully Clay will continue to recover and rehabilitate. There are great facilities for this in NOVA ( I lived there for over 40 years).
What troubles me is his difficulties with post release medications. It distresses me that his were so badly bolloxed up. Hopefully that’s been corrected, but someone should talk to these providers to determine how this happened.
Hopefully others might learn from my experience and be more aware of what their body is trying to tell them.
If your cholesterol is even modestly high find and take a statin you can tolerate
Take a lo-dose aspirin daily.
Monitor your BP and be cognizant of anything indicating circulation impairment
Thanks for this. I have lots of the same symptoms about which you wrote. Plus others, all attributed to long covid. Had multiple EKGs, echocardiogram, and nothing seen. I take & do all you suggest. More conversations to be had. Thank you for discussing this. Added benefit of you, Clay, being so open.
And about pharmacy screwup: strongly concur. That was stunningly terrifying. Add it to your list please, Clay, cause it can’t happen again.
Laura, thank you for all you are doing. I can only imagine the angle wings you must have. Big hugs to you and positive thoughts. Hope you do not have to wipe Clay's hairy bum any time soon! (Sorry Clay! to personal but hey it is in black n white here and in other posts).
Interesting. I almost never see cartoons from the right wing. Well, except when an old classmate who turns out to be a MAGAt posts one on his FB page. I still like him despite his being a MAGAt wingnut. I hope he recovers. Anyway, your review of MAGAt cartoons was eye-opening. Maybe they will recover too, someday. In the meantime, I'm rooting for YOUR recovery from the f**king stroke. Work harder ... I'm getting impatient.
I must say that I'm really glad this is election day. The ads on TV for the Va. elections are stomach-turning. But I have missed your presence on Gocomics and the requisite touch of sanity you provide.
Once a week I gather with church ladies to crochet together to make prayer shawls. I am the heathen of the group.
Today I had to listen to the church ladies repeat what they heard /saw recently on Fox regarding the AI SNAP videos.
I try to remind them they have to get the full story. There is always more to the story. There are exceptions. But, nope, they do believe that Fox preaches the word of god. Also our president (sic) is god. Not sent by god, but the man himself.
By the time I got home at 11:00 am, it was being reported that the videos that were shown on Fox were AI generated.
I do not bring up how evil non-republicans are when we are together. They bring it up. Usually I can bite my tongue. Besides one of our own crocheters is on assistance, living in subsidized housing, she's just made bad choices. Today something was said, I had to say something, and a raucous discussion ensued. I tried reasoning with the leader of the bunch. Don't know why I try.
Here is my conundrum. I would love to bring up a discussion on how Fox used AI to disparage those receiving SNAP. Just don't know how to start the conversation. Any ideas?
Get a good profile of SNAP users. I saw a figure that a great percentage are people who work. Remember the Walmart story of their employees on SNAP?
Since it’s a church group, use Biblical quotes about feeding the hungry. Or ask what they would do if suddenly they lost the ability to buy food on who they’d rely. None of this may work - I can anticipate responses. So perhaps is yiu know the improv techniques of “yes and” and “tell me more” said very openly, they might think about it. Thanks for trying.
Yeah, we wish you were able to cartoon right now, too. But: You at least have the power of pointed commentary. Not bad for a scant month since you had a stroke.
As for those cartoons.... JFHC3, Inc. 🤦♀️ Got Bigotry, right-wingers??? Though the Dracula one made me burst out laughing, it was that stupid.
Jesus Christ! Those MAGA-esque cartoonists are horrible. Thanks for showing what they are up to. Disgusting. The racism and islamophobia and fear-mongering are disgusting.
Your brain is still going 100% even if you can't cartoon, Clay. Glad to see it!!! Keep working at it and being kind to yourself. I hope you feel like you are improving. Take care of yourself, Clay. We need you!❤️❤️
That was fantastic! A blistering review and so fun to read. With that much fire and energy you will be back exercising your creative art, probably with some new twists as my experience has shown. I loved the column style as well. Keep working, get better and sending you all of the love.
i used to get a newsletter with political cartoons from across the spectrum. a few years ago the right wing cartoons became so vile that i canceled the subscription and hunted artists like you down to follow directly.
The last few days, as I read the collective crap of the country, I've been envisioning the possible toons you'd draw about all this chaos. I'm really seeing them in my mind's eye. And, you are nailing it, as usual! Thanks for the fabulous blog! I think you could get a side-hustle going as a "cartoon critic." Continued T's & P's going your way. Hang in there. 🩷
Progress! Good for you. No; great, not just good.
Now, about socialism... I don't get the problem. What the guys in charge want to do for wealthy people, financiers, and corporations is truly socialism. Yeah, they want to socialize the risk (while they privatize the rewards). They want others to share what they have, so the wealthy can have more. Without the wealthy sharing anything, of course. Just who is "entitled" here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKMNPQ35OUc
I guess socialism got a bad name because of that Union of Soviet Social Republics name thing. As if that was actually socialism. BTW, DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Does anybody believe that gives Democracy a bad name? Hands???
For the record, I truly believe that if that Jesus Christ fellow was alive today, he'd be branded as a socialist - which was completely true. That would make him a radical left wing extremist. A wuss. He'd get beaten down by ICE and company and deported to someplace considered inhospitable and foreign, in every way. Nobody'd call it antisemitism, either.
Oh, yeah. As much as Republicans like to invoke the name Jesus, if the actual historic figure showed up they wouldn't give him the time of day. Probably arrest him and deport him, if anything.
Back in the day, Jesus was a "socialist" because he said his Father God, welcomed ALL to the Kingdom of Heaven, regardless of social status. He was going against the Jewish orthodoxy of those times (the Pharisees) who believed only they had the right to determine how to worship God. They were also probably ticked off about Jesus messing up their business deals when he went ballistic about money lending happening inside the Temple. The Romans weren't bothered initially until the Pharisees probably went to King Herod and did some misinformation and propaganda about someone messing with the power arrangement because they were threatened by the socialist populism tone of the teachings of Jesus. So they accused Jesus of crimes after they (the Pharisees? The Romans?) paid Judas Iscariot 30 pieces of silver to snitch on his whereabouts in the Garden of Gethsemane. The parallels to modern day politics continue. Anyone who threatens the status quo by telling people that they have power and rights is a threat to the orthodoxy (business, religion, politics, education, health, etc...) and will be labelled whatever counts as the current term for "pariah" for fascists.
glad you are seeing progress.
The Islamophobia in those cartoons is disgusting beyond belief. Sharia law? Just like former mayors imposed the "law" of their religion on all New Yorkers? Uh Huh. Remember when no New Yorker could eat meat on Fridays or ember days? Or had to forgo shellfish? Me neither.
the people shoving their misogynistic christofascist agenda have been screeching about “sharia law” when it’s LITERALLY exactly what they’re doing.
yep. Our way or the highway. You shall have all the choice you want so long as it is choice we approve of.
Clay—
Damn … I didn’t know about your stroke. On July 6 at 1:40am I had a full up heart attack…. Luckily the 911 guys (not 9-11) got there quickly and I was in the ICU in Charleston within twenty minutes — the docs at MUSC cardiac really know their stuff. I was out and back home in three days with a double stack of stents and feeling incredibly better and grateful.
I hope your recovery goes well—we need you back to cartoon us out of this mess! As a former Northern. Virginian I really appreciate your local jabs. Keep it up (when you are able).
Thanks Jean — my “myocardial infarction” was a complete surprise—but in reflection there were indications of an incipient blockage. These didn’t show up on an EKG or my blood pressure. They were more subtle and neither I nor my doctors identified that they were related to a future heart attack.
It might help others to know that I had the following indicators:
Some “brain fog” and decrease in energy
Notable tingling (neuropathy) in my hands
Increased midday tiredness
Now since I’m 81 some of this is to expected, but I believe that this combination should have been seen as indications of circulatory problems. I did point these out to my docs but these were treated (or not treated) as separate and unrelated. I was intolerant of cholesterol medications so stopped taking them although my numbers were a bit elevated. Otherwise I was healthy and active. Who knew?
So the reason I’m writing this here is that others might recognize similar indicators and be more proactive in communicating them to their doctors.
I was lucky — the EMTs came within 15 minutes and I was in the emergency room with a cardio specialist within another 20 minutes. MUSC in Charleston has a phenomenal cardio care facility.
Hopefully Clay will continue to recover and rehabilitate. There are great facilities for this in NOVA ( I lived there for over 40 years).
What troubles me is his difficulties with post release medications. It distresses me that his were so badly bolloxed up. Hopefully that’s been corrected, but someone should talk to these providers to determine how this happened.
Hopefully others might learn from my experience and be more aware of what their body is trying to tell them.
If your cholesterol is even modestly high find and take a statin you can tolerate
Take a lo-dose aspirin daily.
Monitor your BP and be cognizant of anything indicating circulation impairment
Eat healthy—Mediterranean diet
Cut back on alcohol
Good luck and good health!
Thanks for this. I have lots of the same symptoms about which you wrote. Plus others, all attributed to long covid. Had multiple EKGs, echocardiogram, and nothing seen. I take & do all you suggest. More conversations to be had. Thank you for discussing this. Added benefit of you, Clay, being so open.
And about pharmacy screwup: strongly concur. That was stunningly terrifying. Add it to your list please, Clay, cause it can’t happen again.
Most important—be your own advocate (and it helps having someone like my spouse Betsy who advocates — sometimes “aggressively” for you as well).
Best wishes to you as you continue your recovery. 🙂
Thnxx. Doing good … with the stents my blood flow is much improved v
No wonder far right cartoonists are so bad at cartooning, they lack a sense of humor, or,they think cruel is funny 🥴 oei very...
For the record, I did not wipe Clay's bum. I did try, unsuccessfully, to figure out the walker. Also not my strong suit.
Walkers can be a pain in the you-know-what to use or manage.
Laura, thank you for all you are doing. I can only imagine the angle wings you must have. Big hugs to you and positive thoughts. Hope you do not have to wipe Clay's hairy bum any time soon! (Sorry Clay! to personal but hey it is in black n white here and in other posts).
They make bumpers. Or maybe a portable bidet to attach to the toilet, Clay. If you know a good plumber ask for best make of add on bidets.
Interesting. I almost never see cartoons from the right wing. Well, except when an old classmate who turns out to be a MAGAt posts one on his FB page. I still like him despite his being a MAGAt wingnut. I hope he recovers. Anyway, your review of MAGAt cartoons was eye-opening. Maybe they will recover too, someday. In the meantime, I'm rooting for YOUR recovery from the f**king stroke. Work harder ... I'm getting impatient.
GoComics has most of the names Clay mentioned.
I must say that I'm really glad this is election day. The ads on TV for the Va. elections are stomach-turning. But I have missed your presence on Gocomics and the requisite touch of sanity you provide.
Sorry for this being a little long, but …
Once a week I gather with church ladies to crochet together to make prayer shawls. I am the heathen of the group.
Today I had to listen to the church ladies repeat what they heard /saw recently on Fox regarding the AI SNAP videos.
I try to remind them they have to get the full story. There is always more to the story. There are exceptions. But, nope, they do believe that Fox preaches the word of god. Also our president (sic) is god. Not sent by god, but the man himself.
By the time I got home at 11:00 am, it was being reported that the videos that were shown on Fox were AI generated.
I do not bring up how evil non-republicans are when we are together. They bring it up. Usually I can bite my tongue. Besides one of our own crocheters is on assistance, living in subsidized housing, she's just made bad choices. Today something was said, I had to say something, and a raucous discussion ensued. I tried reasoning with the leader of the bunch. Don't know why I try.
Here is my conundrum. I would love to bring up a discussion on how Fox used AI to disparage those receiving SNAP. Just don't know how to start the conversation. Any ideas?
P.S. Continue taking good care of yourself, Clay.
Get a good profile of SNAP users. I saw a figure that a great percentage are people who work. Remember the Walmart story of their employees on SNAP?
Since it’s a church group, use Biblical quotes about feeding the hungry. Or ask what they would do if suddenly they lost the ability to buy food on who they’d rely. None of this may work - I can anticipate responses. So perhaps is yiu know the improv techniques of “yes and” and “tell me more” said very openly, they might think about it. Thanks for trying.
Yeah, we wish you were able to cartoon right now, too. But: You at least have the power of pointed commentary. Not bad for a scant month since you had a stroke.
As for those cartoons.... JFHC3, Inc. 🤦♀️ Got Bigotry, right-wingers??? Though the Dracula one made me burst out laughing, it was that stupid.
Jesus Christ! Those MAGA-esque cartoonists are horrible. Thanks for showing what they are up to. Disgusting. The racism and islamophobia and fear-mongering are disgusting.
Your brain is still going 100% even if you can't cartoon, Clay. Glad to see it!!! Keep working at it and being kind to yourself. I hope you feel like you are improving. Take care of yourself, Clay. We need you!❤️❤️
Hi Clay,
That was fantastic! A blistering review and so fun to read. With that much fire and energy you will be back exercising your creative art, probably with some new twists as my experience has shown. I loved the column style as well. Keep working, get better and sending you all of the love.
i used to get a newsletter with political cartoons from across the spectrum. a few years ago the right wing cartoons became so vile that i canceled the subscription and hunted artists like you down to follow directly.
Clay, you are so cool.
Sending you all the good vibes I can muster. Love your positive reports!
The last few days, as I read the collective crap of the country, I've been envisioning the possible toons you'd draw about all this chaos. I'm really seeing them in my mind's eye. And, you are nailing it, as usual! Thanks for the fabulous blog! I think you could get a side-hustle going as a "cartoon critic." Continued T's & P's going your way. Hang in there. 🩷