I had no idea that cauliflower even had wings!!! But seriously, Clay, I'm glad you're staying to fight ... I considered fleeing, but it's people like you who convince me that this nation is still worth fighting for. At 73, I have little left to fight with other than my words, but I shall give it my best shot.
At almost 78, and living with long COVID (which is far worse than cancer for me having had treatment for cancer & none for this) I only have words not the ability to demonstrate as I did from age very young.
Clay, and all, last night on PBSNewshour’s Crossroads segment, Judy Woodruff’s interviews were interesting. An historical perspective I do not have to love this country. Will you, Clay, love it when the predicted next pandemic comes & the idiots that may be confirmed tell us it’s nothing & all the healthcare providers have been deported? When Kari Lake broadcasts who know what over VOA, once a beacon of hope? When the IRS is abolished and we’re told contribute what you like & then no more Social Security or Medicare?
How exactly will the Resistance resist? What will we love if it’s all abolished?
Maybe the cockroaches deserve to inherit the Earth. I'm trying to find hope for the human race, find hope in the human race, but I tell ya, it's not easy these days. My inner optimist is struggling to stay lit.
Completely agree. And there are at least 70 million of us who do as well. I blame a good part of the media for the people who don't know who the Orange Snake actually is and what he plans. Fox, the Sinclair group, Newsmax, etc. are all Putin's assets. Then throw in those who "think" they should sane-wash the Snake: CNN, other stations, NYT, WaPo, LA Times, etc. All of the Snake's crimes were buried under inane "celebrity" stories on the video media or buried on page 8 under the fold. Thank God for people like you, Jack, Bulwark, Politicususa, Robert Hubble and others. The problem is that the people that most (?) viewers/readers look at or read don't bother pointing out what the Orange Snake, the billionaires in his Cabinet and his other enablers are/have been really doing.
This is exactly the point I was going to bring up. The media is so saturated with extreme right-wing propaganda that most people only hear that and absolutely nothing about what the Dems have been doing - there really is nothing equivalent on the left side (if you can call the Dems left at all). And, most people are so overwhelmed working and taking care of family (children and elders), that they don't have the time or inclination to do the research most of us here are willing to do. I would bet that most of us here are retirees. Before retiring, I never had time to deep dive into what is going on. So, while I agree that many are intellectually stupid and lazy, I don't think it applies to all. Not defending them; just trying to be realistic here. How often has it been brought up in the media all the wonderful things that Joe Biden has done or any countering of the false claims of the rightwing media?
Completely agree. Unfortunately, some of the anti-MAGA folks completely dismiss those facts and act downright elitist by dissing all the people who voted for the Orange Snake (some of the Politicususa folks are being very "superior"). Heck, I'm a retiree and a history-poli-sci major 50 years ago (which I have a hard time believing!), and am very alert to trends in both parties. Then again, the only "children" I had had 4 legs and a tail, and 2 very gradually declining parents. Again, the media shares an enormous amount of the blame for the Orange Snake, and I'm including left wing media as well.
It is definitely mind-boggling! I'm sure I'll never understand it. I'll continue to TRY to understand and will TRY to get used to being frustrated by the fact that it makes no sense how people can continue to think the Orange Guy will fix anything. I won't give up, or give in. I'm sure I'll probably die with the very same amount of confusion around it all as I have now. I'm grateful for Substack 'friends' and the support here so that I don't feel like a total outcast! :) You all keep me sane!
It is disappointing. But I guess in the end, all we can do is get up every day and make the choices we believe in, over and over again. We may be taking a dark turn in our history, and who knows if it will be short or very long, but what else is there to do but choose every day. We won’t be standing alone, at least.
The family of CEO Brian Thompson not only has to deal with the grief of losing their husband and father but hear that Luigi Mangione has become the darling of many people on social media. Totally appalling.
I rather appreciate Josh Johnson's take on the whole thing. He's not sympathetic to Mangione, but he understands what motivates the assassination. Ford Frick?
This toon and blog are brilliant...you remember so many things that need to be remembered. I recently spoke to a cousin who I used to play with as a child. She informed me that liberals are killing this country, and I need to watch fox or news one to get the truths. So, yep, it sure is mind-boggling. I remain very scared.
Clay, I'm gonna explain something to you, and I hope it doesn't break your heart.
Half the people are below average in anything you can measure, even if it's only in theory. Doesn't matter what it is, that's just how the math works, half are and will always be below average. Some are a little below average, some are a lot below average, but half are above and half are below.
That's why it's important to keep averages high, because we really get hurt by the folks who fall below that average line.
After decades of FAUX tearing down trust in the USA, after decades of characters like Alex Jones tearing down the USA on the Internet, after decades of constant TV preacher scandals - we're at one of the lowest ebbs in faith in the USA to do right by us, and trust in the USA to do the right thing in our entire history.
And half the people fall below that low average.
So yeah, they'll vote for a guy who swears he'll tear it all down and "fix it". And they did.
You forgot to add in the dumbing-down of the education. All those experiments of how to teach kids since the 70s on and the weakening of tax support for schools have a lot to do with it. An example: I was researching the size of small rural schools in OK a few years ago. The OK education website was very helpful. One link led to another to another to another, etc. And it ended up showing that reading/math scores that were in the 80% range state-wide back at the turn of the century began sliding down into the 20% range now. And the taxes used for education did the exact same thing. High support into the bare minimum. Reagan, the Tea Party, Norquist, Prop 13 (in CA), anti-gov't, etc. overtook lots of support for schools, including free state colleges in most states, including red states. We're willing to spend ungodly amounts on entertainment but refuse to pay for educating kids.
The way we pay for schools is horrible. Generally speaking, 90% of school funding comes from local property taxes. So if the property locally isn't worth much, the schools don't get much. If people vote against property tax increases, they're voting against the schools, and usually don't realize that.
Our tax systems are locked into the 18th century, and that really is one of the worst things about the USA.
Agree. Except that in the 18th/19th centuries, the local communities supported their local schools. Schools were normally the first things supported by the small towns that sprang up in those centuries. That expanded in the 19th century to state colleges supported even in incredibly low population rural states.
Luigi is a typical American hero. White, young, good looking. If his name was Luis or if he was (gasp!) black, he wouldn’t be revered as a “hero”. Once again this is the Ted Bundy effect. Ted was good looking and wore designer clothes. When he was his own defense, the women were sending him love letters and piling into the courtroom. All seemed to forget that he was a serial killer. Although he was found guilty of his heinous crimes more than once, he was allowed to have conjugal visits and even got his “wife” who he got married to in prison (who caught the bouquet!) pregnant. If Ted was black and poor he mostly likely would have been executed.
I still couldn’t find the Pendejo cartoon on your website. I would still like to purchase a T-shirt or a poster.
Luigi is more of the type of anti hero that Bonnie and Clyde were.
In the 30's, they were seen as sticking it to the bankers who were responsible for the Great Depression. Luigi is seen as the guy who killed someone who profited off of killing people by denying them medical services.
I had no idea that cauliflower even had wings!!! But seriously, Clay, I'm glad you're staying to fight ... I considered fleeing, but it's people like you who convince me that this nation is still worth fighting for. At 73, I have little left to fight with other than my words, but I shall give it my best shot.
At almost 78, and living with long COVID (which is far worse than cancer for me having had treatment for cancer & none for this) I only have words not the ability to demonstrate as I did from age very young.
Clay, and all, last night on PBSNewshour’s Crossroads segment, Judy Woodruff’s interviews were interesting. An historical perspective I do not have to love this country. Will you, Clay, love it when the predicted next pandemic comes & the idiots that may be confirmed tell us it’s nothing & all the healthcare providers have been deported? When Kari Lake broadcasts who know what over VOA, once a beacon of hope? When the IRS is abolished and we’re told contribute what you like & then no more Social Security or Medicare?
How exactly will the Resistance resist? What will we love if it’s all abolished?
I honestly don't know. Having any love at all is me not giving up on it....yet.
Here's another 73-yr-old that agrees.
Maybe the cockroaches deserve to inherit the Earth. I'm trying to find hope for the human race, find hope in the human race, but I tell ya, it's not easy these days. My inner optimist is struggling to stay lit.
Glad you’re back Clay!
Completely agree. And there are at least 70 million of us who do as well. I blame a good part of the media for the people who don't know who the Orange Snake actually is and what he plans. Fox, the Sinclair group, Newsmax, etc. are all Putin's assets. Then throw in those who "think" they should sane-wash the Snake: CNN, other stations, NYT, WaPo, LA Times, etc. All of the Snake's crimes were buried under inane "celebrity" stories on the video media or buried on page 8 under the fold. Thank God for people like you, Jack, Bulwark, Politicususa, Robert Hubble and others. The problem is that the people that most (?) viewers/readers look at or read don't bother pointing out what the Orange Snake, the billionaires in his Cabinet and his other enablers are/have been really doing.
This is exactly the point I was going to bring up. The media is so saturated with extreme right-wing propaganda that most people only hear that and absolutely nothing about what the Dems have been doing - there really is nothing equivalent on the left side (if you can call the Dems left at all). And, most people are so overwhelmed working and taking care of family (children and elders), that they don't have the time or inclination to do the research most of us here are willing to do. I would bet that most of us here are retirees. Before retiring, I never had time to deep dive into what is going on. So, while I agree that many are intellectually stupid and lazy, I don't think it applies to all. Not defending them; just trying to be realistic here. How often has it been brought up in the media all the wonderful things that Joe Biden has done or any countering of the false claims of the rightwing media?
Completely agree. Unfortunately, some of the anti-MAGA folks completely dismiss those facts and act downright elitist by dissing all the people who voted for the Orange Snake (some of the Politicususa folks are being very "superior"). Heck, I'm a retiree and a history-poli-sci major 50 years ago (which I have a hard time believing!), and am very alert to trends in both parties. Then again, the only "children" I had had 4 legs and a tail, and 2 very gradually declining parents. Again, the media shares an enormous amount of the blame for the Orange Snake, and I'm including left wing media as well.
It is definitely mind-boggling! I'm sure I'll never understand it. I'll continue to TRY to understand and will TRY to get used to being frustrated by the fact that it makes no sense how people can continue to think the Orange Guy will fix anything. I won't give up, or give in. I'm sure I'll probably die with the very same amount of confusion around it all as I have now. I'm grateful for Substack 'friends' and the support here so that I don't feel like a total outcast! :) You all keep me sane!
It is disappointing. But I guess in the end, all we can do is get up every day and make the choices we believe in, over and over again. We may be taking a dark turn in our history, and who knows if it will be short or very long, but what else is there to do but choose every day. We won’t be standing alone, at least.
Cauliflower wings (and fish fingers) sound so perfect for alternative facts this time around.
The family of CEO Brian Thompson not only has to deal with the grief of losing their husband and father but hear that Luigi Mangione has become the darling of many people on social media. Totally appalling.
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/hero-murderer-luigi-mangione-case-sparks-polarizing-reactions-online
I rather appreciate Josh Johnson's take on the whole thing. He's not sympathetic to Mangione, but he understands what motivates the assassination. Ford Frick?
This toon and blog are brilliant...you remember so many things that need to be remembered. I recently spoke to a cousin who I used to play with as a child. She informed me that liberals are killing this country, and I need to watch fox or news one to get the truths. So, yep, it sure is mind-boggling. I remain very scared.
Clay, I'm gonna explain something to you, and I hope it doesn't break your heart.
Half the people are below average in anything you can measure, even if it's only in theory. Doesn't matter what it is, that's just how the math works, half are and will always be below average. Some are a little below average, some are a lot below average, but half are above and half are below.
That's why it's important to keep averages high, because we really get hurt by the folks who fall below that average line.
After decades of FAUX tearing down trust in the USA, after decades of characters like Alex Jones tearing down the USA on the Internet, after decades of constant TV preacher scandals - we're at one of the lowest ebbs in faith in the USA to do right by us, and trust in the USA to do the right thing in our entire history.
And half the people fall below that low average.
So yeah, they'll vote for a guy who swears he'll tear it all down and "fix it". And they did.
You forgot to add in the dumbing-down of the education. All those experiments of how to teach kids since the 70s on and the weakening of tax support for schools have a lot to do with it. An example: I was researching the size of small rural schools in OK a few years ago. The OK education website was very helpful. One link led to another to another to another, etc. And it ended up showing that reading/math scores that were in the 80% range state-wide back at the turn of the century began sliding down into the 20% range now. And the taxes used for education did the exact same thing. High support into the bare minimum. Reagan, the Tea Party, Norquist, Prop 13 (in CA), anti-gov't, etc. overtook lots of support for schools, including free state colleges in most states, including red states. We're willing to spend ungodly amounts on entertainment but refuse to pay for educating kids.
The way we pay for schools is horrible. Generally speaking, 90% of school funding comes from local property taxes. So if the property locally isn't worth much, the schools don't get much. If people vote against property tax increases, they're voting against the schools, and usually don't realize that.
Our tax systems are locked into the 18th century, and that really is one of the worst things about the USA.
Agree. Except that in the 18th/19th centuries, the local communities supported their local schools. Schools were normally the first things supported by the small towns that sprang up in those centuries. That expanded in the 19th century to state colleges supported even in incredibly low population rural states.
There used to be small colleges at most county seats. The building where I went to middle school still had "Hartford College" over the main entrance.
Luigi is a typical American hero. White, young, good looking. If his name was Luis or if he was (gasp!) black, he wouldn’t be revered as a “hero”. Once again this is the Ted Bundy effect. Ted was good looking and wore designer clothes. When he was his own defense, the women were sending him love letters and piling into the courtroom. All seemed to forget that he was a serial killer. Although he was found guilty of his heinous crimes more than once, he was allowed to have conjugal visits and even got his “wife” who he got married to in prison (who caught the bouquet!) pregnant. If Ted was black and poor he mostly likely would have been executed.
I still couldn’t find the Pendejo cartoon on your website. I would still like to purchase a T-shirt or a poster.
Ted was executed. The pendejo T-shirt is at Redbubble. I thought I sent a link. Here it is again. https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/166271331
Luigi is more of the type of anti hero that Bonnie and Clyde were.
In the 30's, they were seen as sticking it to the bankers who were responsible for the Great Depression. Luigi is seen as the guy who killed someone who profited off of killing people by denying them medical services.
Not much difference.