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Michael informed me this morning that my drawing is this week’s Cartoon Caption Contest drawing (in fact he told everyone this morning in his Substack Ink Spill, all about New Yorker cartoons). Sadly, I don’t remember what my caption was. The way it works is: if you agree, the editors buy your drawing and then take your caption off. A little painful, but hey, people like the contest!
For fun, tell me your caption ideas in the comments below!
Some news.
Trump subpoenaed reporters from the New York Times over a story the newspaper published last week. The Secret Service had security concerns about the new Air Force One Boeing 747-8 given to Trump by Qatar. Trump didn’t like that journalists were reporting about that, so he directed Kash Patel, the FBI Director to investigate and ultimately authorize the DOJ to issue subpoenas. Trump had spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money renovating the gifted plane, yet it was not safe enough. After he touted its magnificence, the reporting was embarrassing for Trump so he lashed out.
Issuing subpoenas to U.S. journalists, who are protected from government interference by the First Amendment, is a huge red flag. As former Time magazine editor Rick Stengel noted: “The reporting that the Times journalists have been subpoenaed for is exactly the kind of journalism the First Amendment is designed to protect: matters involving national security and taxpayer dollars. Reporting that embarrasses a president is protected speech.”
David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Times, said: “The appearance of Federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects. Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used. This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”
Lindsey Graham is dead. I have very little to say about him except he was spineless and lacked a moral compass. He was a war mongerer, and many other things. As Republican chair, he pushed through the delay of a Supreme Court nomination from Democrats after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
NY Times journalist Jamelle Bouie sums it up in the video above. I quote him here: Lindsay Graham was
“someone who knew better. Who told us he knew better. Who understood what Trump was. Out of venal self interest, or some deep psychological need to attach himself to a powerful man, for whatever reason….he decided to join Trump as he waged war against our democracy….he will be remembered as Trump’s little assistant.”
As we emerge from the Maine Senate race debaucle, I and so many other writers are grappling with why it happened. It made me furious and I’ve been stewing for days. Guys like Platner are sadly a dime a dozen, I fear. The fact that he got as far as he did, being hand picked as some kind of burly, manly white savior (do we need one?) by very young, non-Maine recruiters, given acting lessons and a script, and that people bought it hook line and sinker is disheartening. But: so many in the press and on social media are interested in exposing what happened and that is a good thing.
In some ways, the far left is behaving like the far right. In an opinion article by David French today, the writer expresses much of what I have been thinking. It’s been on my mind since Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders emerged on the national stage.
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From French: “Worst of all, when you’re convinced that you’re righteous — and you are surrounded by fellow zealots — it is easy to see yourself and your allies as inherently virtuous and your opponents (no matter how much they may profess good intentions) as fundamentally corrupt, perhaps even evil.”
MAGA demonizes liberals. Many on the far left demonize those who disagree with them. Just because you believe in a set of principles that you think are the right ones, it doesn’t mean you can behave poorly or bully others. It does not give you license.
Remember Bernie Bros? The arrogant bullying they projected when Bernie was running for president hasn’t totally gone away; indirectly I still feel intimidation. Always a liberal thinker, I hesitate before I criticize Sanders. It’s not his policies, I agree with many. But it’s the way he has gone about it, and the problems he has caused over the last decade, all for the cause of his viewpoint.
Here’s an animation I did back when he was running against Hillary Clinton. Bernie was fun to tease.