Yup, it’s that time again. It’s time for roughs. And there’s a lot of them this week.

You may recall Thanksgiving was last week. You may also be aware that Thanksgiving typically lands on Thursdays. Thursdays and Fridays are my CNN days (they’re also the days when everyone I know wants to contact me about frivolous bullshit). So, we moved last week’s CNN day to Wednesday so we could all eat turkey without facing a deadline. All the topics covered in today’s blog were drawn before the Ahmaud Arbery verdict came in. After that, every rough was on the verdict. Keep in mind, the cartoon had to still be relevant five days later because we publish on Sundays. I didn’t think that’d be a problem after the verdict came in.

As for this cartoon, it was a warmup without any real intention of it being picked. I had done something similar a year or so ago. I do like the setting at the crosswalk.

This was actually one of my favorites of the batch. I did a lot with Lady Justice in this batch.

Looking at this one again, it made me laugh. Maybe I should have done it.

We went with this one but changed the shirt to read “Ahmaud Arbery’s Life Mattered.” Funny creative story: I did a Google Image search to see if anyone had drawn this cartoon already. I didn’t find any. After I drew it, I searched again and I found one by Nick Anderson, though it was a pin on Lady Liberty reading “Black Lives Matter” and not a shirt, which is probably why I missed it the first time. I was going to tell my editor after Thanksgiving at the risk of not having a cartoon in the newsletter, but they called me and wanted to change the shirt. That solved the problem. I later messaged Nick and told him, just to share. He said it wouldn’t have been a big deal and that he also did not remember his own cartoon. That I can relate to. I don’t remember what I drew yesterday.

Even though similarities happens to every cartoonist, I’m very particular about this, and I know a few other who are as well. It’s bad enough I see cartoonists drawing cartoons they know have already been done…but then they boast about how awesome they are. I hate that guy…I mean, I hate them.

I don’t like this one.

I did this one for my clients. I thought it was just OK but it did fit the moment.

I hate this one so much that I’m not sure if I sent it to my editor or not.

This was OK.

Right about the time of the verdict, Baby Ammo Rittenhouse went to Mar-A-Lago for a photo-op with Donald Trump. I’m sure if the three men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery had beaten the rap, they too would have gotten one of those sweet orange Nazi photo-op invites.

I loved this one so I did it for my clients.

My proofreader Laura liked this one but I chose the Trump/Kyle one over it.

The rest of this batch was drawn before the verdict. See how fast I switched gears? Get ready for a Santa’s Lap stream.

I was gonna do this one but then Jeff Stahler did something similar with Santa’s lap and shooting your eye out. I don’t remember it exactly, but I thought it migh be too close. Still, I may return to this concept in some way, especially after what happened in Michigan.

This is how Republicans would ask Santa to help the country if they actually gave two shits about the country. So, I was using creative license here.

The initial idea of this had the same dialogue, but it was being said by two guys in a bar. But the cops on horses saved me from the bar setting which I admittedly use a lot. Don’t worry. I’m still going to keep using it.

This is the first one I drew on Thanksgiving week for my batch of roughs. I later saw Ann Telnaes do something on the rich that reminded me this was still in my back pocket. Maybe I should have hung onto it before showing it to you here. I might bring it back which will be OK because you’ll forget you ever saw it by then.

Occasionally, I’ll tell you there are more roughs but I’m holding onto them for now. This is one of those. This was thought up and sketched out two weeks ago. I made an official cartoon out of it at the beginning of last week.

There’s a digital notepad full of ideas I’ll never get to in addition to a maybe folder full of roughs that I may do in the future, like when the topic returns to the headlines. Like the ideas in the notepad, I won’t get to do most of those in the maybe folder.

This was a big batch and next week’s is even larger. Trust me on this, there’s a lot of crap in next week’s batch. There’s not a lot in it I like. But with this batch, what your faves?

Creative note: I don’t listen to any music while roughing out ideas. My TV is always on CNN while doing these but it’s usually on mute.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 18 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw: