Muellerotchka

With the 30-odd new indictments against Paul Manafort and however many against his sidekick, Rick Gates, it looks like special counsel Robert Mueller is slowly working his way to finally draw the noose around the Big Orange One. It's really no surprise that all of his hissy fits and blustery cries of "No collusion!" and "Fake News" are increasingly sounding more and more desperate. 

Good.

I'm looking forward to the day, if it ever comes, when no amount of lying, misdirection or bombast will be of any further use. On that day, it will be as plain as day for all, even for Trump's gun clinging knucklehead genetic miscreants stewing in their bunkers, trailer parks and tiki torch marches, that Trump has (a) obstructed justice and (b) colluded with the Russian government in its efforts to delegitimize the 2016 elections. 

On that day, we'll finally...well, we'll probably just be disappointed again by the utter failure of the Republican-led Congress to assume its role responsibilities. Since they've yet to lift a finger to protect whatever is left of the institutional integrity of the U.S. government I doubt they'll bother to do so this time around, even when there'll be incontrovertible evidence that would otherwise compel them. Paul "If I'm Lyin', I've always been Lyin'" Ryan and Mitch "Triple Chinned, Twice as Smooth" McConnell will look the other way and sweep some more swamp scum under the rug. Nothing to see here, folks!

Oh well, it'll still be worth the wait to watch Trump's head explode. Mind the hair plugs. 

New Normal

I recently re-posted a couple of cartoons that I had inked following the Sandy Hook mass shooting. It was the quickest response I could muster, because I was just too upset and furious to sit down, reflect and put brush to paper. Oh what a difference a day makes. Now, I'm fired up and ready to go.

Donald Trump and his enabling minions in the Republican (and all too often, Democratic) Party have no soul. Or to be more precise, they are all self-centered and self-seeking with not a single whit of interest in promoting the common good, never mind protecting our children, our society's most vulnerable. Instead, they are much more focused on gobbling up as much money as they can from the NRA and the arms industry.

Protect the Second Amendment? What-EVER. As long as the campaign contributions keep rolling in, they're not going to lose any sleep if a few more dozen children are slaughtered. It's a small price to pay to be able to hold onto power and use it to further their immoral, twisted vision of a militarized, re-segregated white supremacist America.

And let's please dispense with all of these bogus self-righteous offers of thoughts and prayers. They don't mean jack. The only thing these heartless criminals are thinking and praying about is that we'll all just go back to our couches, stream our favorite videos and forget all about the 17 children who lost their lives in Parkland, Florida.

And while we're at it, let's tell all of those anti-intellectual, anti-reality blowhards to stick all of their cockamamie theories of why children are routinely massacred in the United States. Social science research is clear: 8 million AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifles and 300 million total guns in this country are the only reason why the United States has more gun deaths than any other comparable country by multiple factors of 10. If you hear a politician or pundit looking to convince anyone to the contrary, just put a cork in it and accept responsibility for being a big fat liar spreading more self-serving lies.

Enough politician bashing. What about us? What are we willing to do? When are we willing to say "enough is enough"? Sure, those in power have the power to resist our demands, but let us not forget Fredrick Douglas' timeless reminder: "Power never cedes anything without a demand. Never has. Never will."

It's time to start demanding an end to unregulated, unrestrained supply and commerce in deadly weapons. Get out there and write to your local, state and national representatives. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Protest in front of gun shops in your community. Work with allies in the faith and law enforcement communities to give you some moral and street creds, respectively. Don't stop even when you're turned back. Keep at it. It's hard work, and it's the only thing that is going to produce an end to this insanity.

Why Support Trump? Beats the Heck Out of Me...

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...It just gets better and better with the Donald weighing in and inveighing against the entire MeToo# movement and any person who has ever survived sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse. I'd say that the Republican Party leaders have all collectively bit their lip but I'm not sure they have much lip left to bite after they've kept silent for any number of his other vile utterances. Actually, they haven't kept silent. They've defended him and the indefensible.

Of course, this the same GOP that has gone along with Trump in his or rather their collective (policy) assault against women, eliminating and de-funding major programs that would otherwise be considered a civil right in most other civilized countries. But with the Right Wahhabi Wing firmly in control of the GOP, it's doubtful we'll see anything besides this continued rollback of any of the recent efforts to ensure women enjoyed equal access to justice. Oh well, but I'm not giving up hope.

I'm putting my money on those women who have decided to get mad AND get even and are now running for office. And I hope they do hit back, figuratively speaking of course, at the GOP's decades' long policy assault against women and equal rights. And for those who actually support the GOP's misogyny, well, go on ahead, I say. Stand by your men. Take that left hook to the jaw, and show the whole world just how much you love 'em.

Him Too?!

It seems as if the White House has become (or rather has always been) the last refuge for cowards, for men who are so insecure about themselves that the only way they can find meaning in their miserable, small lives is to abuse and violate those who are more vulnerable - in this case, their wives.

We always knew that we had the self-avowed genital grabber in chief as president but now it has been revealed that shit birds of a feather flock together with the departure of two wife-beating White House aides. And the shit show is only getting worse as, once again, Trump focuses his public pronouncements on his sadness for the situation the outgoing employees now find themselves in with nary a word for the women they beat and abused. Here we have more that Trump, a textbook narcissistic sociopath has attracted and surrounded himself with more of the same.

And, of course, the sanctimonious self-appointed morality police in the Republican Party have suddenly gone all silent, or worse, proclaim what good, upstanding people these abusers really and truly are. Quelle surprise! I'm convinced now that Trump knew exactly what he was saying when he proclaimed during his campaign that he could murder someone on the street and get away with it. And if he did so tomorrow, I'm pretty sure that these same Republicans as well as other Trump supporters wouldn't so much as blink an eye. He's not God after all, right?

I can only imagine that what's next from the enterprises of the Trump Organization...maybe a new line of "Make America Great Again" shirts...

Colors?

They'll come in black and blue...

And style?

They'll all be wife beaters.

Chasstoons out.

The Cowardly Lyin'

With the release of Nunes report, Trump has taken another whack with his lead pipe at the kneecaps of yet another one of our institutions. I have to admit it's difficult for me to muster much sympathy for the FBI, but that's not what this is about. And it's certainly not about transparency to protect our rights, as Speaker of the House, Paul "Cheez Wizz" Ryan, would have us believe. No, it's just some more ill-intentioned, poorly thought through bullying of political opponents by the Bully-in-Chief.

And at the heart of it all is more lies, lies, and more lies, all to cover Trump's prodigious backside over the Mueller investigation of his and his brood's collusion with Mother Russia and Trump's very own Sugar Daddy, Vladimir Putin. At this rate, you really have to wonder if there's anything Trump would hesitate to destroying in order to save his skin. Continue to expose our electoral system to tampering and manipulation? Sure! Start a nuclear war with North Korea, using his stubby fingers on his big beautiful nuclear button. Why not?

And, I guess I'll have to make this point, again, and will continue to do so even at the risk of beating a whole herd of horses: nary a Republican, with the sole exception of John McCain, has spoken up or spoken out against Trump's (re-?) politicizing the nation's domestic intelligence agency for his own personal gain. I guess they're all in to gain whatever additional victories they might score as Trump does his best to destroy, denigrate and debilitate whatever progress we had made in improving our institutions of governance. And the only thing that's keeping me from going to a dark, scary place is the schadenfreude I will get to experience when karmic justice finally comes a-knockin' on the GOP's door. 

Meanwhile, if you have a chance, watch Bert Lahr singing, "If I Were King of the Forest." It'll put a smile on your face and chuckle in your belly, as will this cartoon, or so I hope.