deregulation

Conjunction Misfunction

Silicone Valley Bank crashed Saturday with $212 billion in assets. It’s the second-largest bank failure in history. This prompted Cocaine Bear, I mean Donald Trump Jr, to tweet, “I don’t remember banks collapsing under Trump.”

Seaway Bank and Trust Company, Proficio Bank, First NBC Bank, Guaranty Bank, Fayette County Bank, The Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Argonia, Washington Federal Bank for Savings, The Enloe State Bank, Louisa Community Bank, Resolute Bank, City National Bank of New Jersey, Ericson State Bank, The First State Bank, First City Bank of Florida, Almena State Bank all collapsed during the Trump administration. In case you’re counting, that’s 15 banks that collapsed during the Trump administration. Just because Sniffles Jr doesn’t remember something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Ten years from now and he won’t remember dating Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted, “They give money to Silicon Valley Bank. They give money to Ukraine. But no money for East Palestine.” MTG’s received a bailout of over $183,504 which she didn’t refuse. And why should taxpayers pay for a corporation’s fuck up in East Palestine? The government paying to clean up the disaster in East Palestine, Ohio would be a taxpayer-paid bailout for a corporation. Norfolk Southern is a huge campaign contributor to Republicans.

On Sunday, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC announced they were taking “decisive actions” to protect the economy and shore up confidence in the banking system. This is so there isn’t a panic and everyone in the nation pulls their money out of their banks, which is what happened to SVB. This is a bailout but it’s not a taxpayer bailout like the one we saw in 2008.

SVB is not going to be revived and lenders and shareholders won’t be getting any government money. But depositors will be paid back from a fund that banks pay into called the “Depositors Insurance Fund.”

Conservatives are blaming the bank’s collapse on…wait for it…”wokeism.” Wait, what? Seriously? Yes, seriously. It’s because the bank hired gay bank tellers and trans security guards. No, really, they blame investments that promote environmental and social goals and SVB’s commitment to diversity and equity programs. The reason conservatives hate SVB so much is that it was a bank used by the tech industry, which of course they believe discriminates against them. For them, it’s an easy target if you don’t look at the details.

And yes, Trump’s deregulation of the banking industry is a contributing factor in SVB’s collapse.

President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 which was designed to prevent another collapse like the one we saw in 2018. Dodd-Frank mandated stricter capital and liquidity standards for institutions with $50 billion in assets. Trump’s rewrite raised the minimum to $250 billion in assets.

SVB’s CEO was a huge supporter to raise that minimum and at the time, SVG had less than $50 billion in assets. When SVB crashed last week, it had $212 billion.

If Republicans want to scream and hootin’ and hollerin’ (I’m in Tennesse) about the bank’s collapse, then they need to scream at themselves.

You can’t keep deregulating banks and railroads and then wonder why they crash…or blame wokeism.

Creative note: This cartoon was drawn at a Starbucks in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I wrote the blog back in my hotel room.

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 19 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.

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Trump Train Wreck

Republicans have politicized the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, blasting President Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and other Democrats while never mentioning Norfolk Southern, the Republican-lobbying railway corporation responsible for this mess.

This week’s talking point was attacking President Biden for visiting Ukraine before visiting East Palestine as if it’s not an American president’s job to oppose fascism and stand up for democracy. Others, like MAGAt cartoonists Steve Kelley and Dana Summers, blast him for directing taxpayer money to help Ukraine fight Russia while not sending any to East Palestine.

Steve and Dana are great examples of how partisan and inconsistent the Right is. They oppose funding infrastructure while screaming for public funds to go into cleaning up a toxic train derailment. They gripe about public debt but want taxpayer money spent to clean up a toxic disaster created by a corporation that spends millions lobbying Republicans to cut regulations that create toxic train derailments. Republicans who scream about debt are just fine with tax cuts for billionaire assholes, spending millions on racist walls, and cleaning up disasters created by corporations. Steve and Dana would rather taxpayers clean up the toxicity than the corporation that made it.

By the way, we can care about both, the war in Ukraine and the train derailment. One doesn’t actually have anything to do with the other. But, goons gotta goon. Take in point, Donald Trump.

Donald Trump visited East Palestine this week and brought MAGA hats and Trump-branded water even though there isn’t a brand of Trump water. This is like the time when candidate Trump sent Play-Doh to hurricane survivors in 2016.

Here’s a clue for you MAGAts: If a candidate visits your disaster area and hands out products with his name on them, he doesn’t actually care about you. He’s campaigning. And in Trump’s case, he’s probably also grifting.

Trump, who won’t go out in the rain less enough walk through a war zone while air raids sirens are going off, said while posing in front of crates of “Trump Water,” “You are not forgotten. We stand with you. We pray for you. And we will stand with you and your fight to help ensure the accountability that you deserve.”

Trump refuses to “ensure the accountability” they deserve. He’s the guy who deregulated the railway industry making it easier for toxic train derailments to happen. He demands accountability while refusing to say “Norfolk Southern.” He shouldn’t be handing out bottles of water with his name on them. He should be handing out checks.

How can Republicans spend so much time and energy howling about a corporate-made disaster without mentioning the corporation? If you listen to these goons, you’d think Pete Buttigieg’s gay marriage caused the train derailment. Or maybe it was Pete and his husband adopting babies.

And as if East Palestine hadn’t suffered enough from leaking toxic chemicals, Rudy Giuliani and his hair dye made a visit.

Marco Rubio says Buttigieg is more focused on his political future than his job as Transportation Secretary, but remember that Rubio ran for president during his first term as a U.S. Senator.

Every single Republican who has tried to score political points from this needs to put up or shut up. Notice that none of them have offered solutions. But I got one. each of them, from Marco Rubio to Sean Hannity to Marjorie Taylor Greene to Jim “Gym” Jordan to Donald Trump, and even MAGAt cartoonists need to throw their support for heavier regulations on the railway industry. And they all need to support stiffer fines on these greedy corporate bastards when they make these messes.

How about a new law that whenever a railway company creates a toxic disaster they have to spend at least the same amount on the cleanup that they did on stock buybacks?

Everything President Biden is cleaning up now is leftover from Trump. We have a recession because of Trump. We had a supply-chain crisis because of Trump. We have high gas prices because of Trump. the high cost of eggs we’re paying today is because of Trump. We’re still cleaning up the mess from Trump ignoring the coronavirus pandemic. Even the war in Ukraine is partly because of Trump. And this toxic train derailment belongs to Trump too.

The entire Trump presidency (sic) was a toxic train wreck that we’re still cleaning up and that motherfucker shows up with a straight orange face in the middle of it for a photo-op.

And here’s another piece of advice: Don’t drink Trump water.

Music Note: I listened to Billy Joel.

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 19 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.

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Mutated Toxic Train Spill Bear

When I first saw one Republican after another expressing outrage over a toxic chemical spill from a train derailment, I thought maybe I was having a stroke. My second thought was that maybe it was derailed by drag queens with Hunter’s laptop and black history books (don’t steal that cartoon idea, fuckers).

Republicans care about the environment? Republicans get upset over a corporation dumping toxic waste? Republicans taking a position in favor of more regulations and funding for the environment? Republicans maybe being in favor of stiff fines for corporations that crap on the environment? No. They aren’t in favor of any of that. But I knew this was a heavy topic on Fox News after I saw about six cartoons from the goons on it.

Don’t tell me that the goons who want to give contracts to oil corporations to drill for oil in national parks care about a toxic chemical spill.

Norfolk Southern Railroad had a train derailment and spilled toxins in East Palestine, Ohio. People are sick. One person said he can’t get the taste of batteries out of his mouth. I’ve never eaten a battery but I can’t imagine that tastes good. What Republicans are doing is using this disaster to attack political opponents. This time, they’re going after the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, because blah blah blah he’s a member of the Biden administration and he’s gay. If you listen to Republicans long enough, you’d think Mayor Pete had hijacked the train and derailed it himself.

Most of the howls coming from the GOP about this spill are about Buttigieg, and not exactly about the spill. They’re not talking about cleaning this up, preventing future train derailments, helping those affected, or concerns about the environment. Everything they’re saying is about Buttigieg. This is only about politics for them. Jim “Gym” Jordan doesn’t give a shit about a toxic chemical spill in Ohio, and that’s his state.

Just a few months ago, there was a threat of a railway strike. Rail workers got just about everything they wanted but the one thing they didn’t get was paid time off. They didn’t get it because one party voted against it. Guess which party that was. Yup, Republicans.

Over the past six years, railways have laid off 30 percent of their workforce. One way the rail companies save money is by adding as many cars to a train as possible because a 100-car train does not require more workers than a 50-car train. The train that derailed in East Palestine was a 150-car train.

Republicans voted against helping railway workers and then act surprised when something fucks up. Why didn’t someone warn them this would happen? Oh, yeah. Railway workers warned them. But Republicans don’t listen to the workers. They only listen to CEOs, board members, lobbyists, and male hookers through the glory holes in airport bathroom stalls.

Senator Marco Rubio has called for Buttigieg’s resignation, claiming the oversight from his department caused this crash. But you know who Republicans aren’t blaming? The one name I’m not seeing in any of their tweets is Norfolk Southern.

They’re not blaming the corporation. They’re not blaming Donald Trump, whom they worked with to cut regulations making the transportation of toxic chemicals even more dangerous. They’re not blaming themselves for cutting regulations. They’re not blaming themselves for defending corporations from being fined for destroying the environment. They’re not blaming themselves for voting against the infrastructure package. They’re not blaming themselves for voting against paid time off for railway workers.

Workers need rest. People need to sleep. People who don’t get enough rest can seriously mess up at work. Take me for example. I never get enough sleep and came dangerously close to giving that two-headed bear a dick.

Blaming Buttigieg is the same strategy Republicans have been using over the past several years. They yell and scream while not offering actual solutions or finding anything specific to scream about. It’s like Wokeism. They’re gonna fight it, just don’t ask them what it is. They’re gonna go to war to make cuts before they raise the debt ceiling, just don’t ask them what they’re gonna cut. They say a black history course is hateful, just don’t ask them which part. They howl about President Biden shooting down objects over Lake Huron when they don’t know what he shot down or where Lake Huron is. And they’re screaming for Mayor Pete’s head, claiming his oversight of the railway industry led to this derailment, while they can’t point out what he did to cause this derailment.

I think Cocaine Bear would be better at legislating than Republicans.

Music note: I really got into the crosshatching and coloring of this and took my time, which is the best way to do it. And the best way to be patient and relaxed while drawing is to listen to music. I was all over the place with this one, listening to Frankie Valli, The Fray, Garbage, Finger Eleven, Rihanna, Marshall Tucker, M, The Breeders, and stuff I can’t recall now.

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 19 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.

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Moo Deregulations

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In case you live in Florida, southern California, or Hawaii, there’s a major winter storm whipping across most of the nation. It’s even hitting the southern states where snow is less welcome than Yankee agitators and instant grits. And if you live in Texas, I’m so sorry.

Texas is unique in a lot of ways, but also in how they operate power. Their power grid is not connected to other states. It’s totally independent of other states. And with this winter storm hitting the state, over four million people went without power Monday and Tuesday. Whom does Texas blame? Wind turbines. Last summer when California had this same problem during a heat wave, Texas scoffed and blamed liberals.

Texas conservatives, climate change denialists, and people who are anti-clean energy (which is most of Texas) say the wind turbines froze so four million people went without power and people died. Really? Is that what happened, Slim?

Cartoonist Antonio Branco, a staunch pro-Trump Qanon cartoonist whose work is distributed by Creators Syndicate, published a cartoon this morning blaming wind turbines. In the cartoon, the fault for Texas’ power outage is blamed on windmills, climate change believers, President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris. Now keep in mind, and I say this with all due respect, Branco is an idiot.

The thing is, if you’re a conservative cartoonist, you don’t need facts. You don’t even need to read the story…just read the headline of your daily talking points. It’s bad enough when a stupid cartoonist in a cult doesn’t rely on facts and science, but it’s even worse when a congressman does it.

Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw (guess which party he’s in) tweeted, “This is what happens when you force the grid to rely in part on wind as a power source. When weather conditions get bad as they did this week, intermittent renewable energy like wind isn’t there when you need it.”

With all due respect, Crenshaw is an idiot. Or if he’s not an idiot and he knows wind turbines aren’t too blame, then shouldn’t he at least be honest with his constituents? I understand since he’s a Texas Republican, that a lot of his campaign money comes from oil and PACS that anti having any sort of climate, but shouldn’t a member of the United States House of Representatives put aside his personal greedy interests and focus on his constituents first? I’m sorry. I forgot we were talking about Republicans.

And honestly, Mr. Crenshaw, Danny boy, Texas did NOT run out of wind this week.

Tucker Carlson said in his usual Tucker style, “So it was all working great until the day it got cold outside. The windmills failed like the silly fashion accessories they are, and people in Texas died.” With all due respect, Tucker Carlson is an idiot. Something tells me Branco watches Tucker.

The thing is, we’re talking about Texas. Do you really believe Texas’ energy is all run by wind turbines and solar panels? Wind turbines only account for 13 percent of the state’s energy production according to ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. And even then, while wind turbines do freeze, they are being used in places like Maine, Canada, Scandinavia, Siberia etc. If you get a wind turbine to keep working during winter in Greenland, you should be able to keep them churning in Texas.

You can NOT blame wind for the power outage in Texas. Also, while we’re on the subject: Stop with the turbines-bird-killing argument. First off, you’re a conservative. You’re not going to convince me that you suddenly care about birds now. Also, cats kill more birds each year than wind turbines do. Fact.

Back to the power outage in Texas, what really happened? It was cats. Sorry. No. It was the inability of Texas power grids, mostly using fossil fuels, being unable to keep up with demand.

It comes down to this: Texas deregulated energy grids and power companies. Texas deregulates everything. It’s why there are occasional fertilizer plant explosions that kill 15 people in Texas.

But with power, Texas counts on the weather not getting too cold, so they can sell a lot of power cheaply. When it does get cold, like really cold, it can be very hard to produce energy. Texas decided it was worth it to sell cheap energy with the tradeoff being that every ten years or so, everybody’s power goes out and grandma freezes to death.

There are no incentives for power companies in Texas to prepare for winter. It’s all cheap. Governor Greg Abbott was screaming this week for reform to the power grids, but Abbot’s been governor since 2015. He waited six years and for a cold snap before he calls for reforms? That’s how they do it in Texas. And when that cold snap hits, you can be fucked. When it gets back to the 60s next week, Texas will forget about this. The state legislature is planning to conduct committee hearings on the problem, but by the time they get started, the hearings will be held in an Austin broom closet.

Houston saw the wholesale prices of megawatt-hours go from $22 to over $9,000. Griddy, which sounds like a fast food flapjack restaurant, but is actually a company that sells power to retail customers without locking in prices in advance, told its customers to find another source before they got “socked with tremendous bills.”

Do you know what happens when your bill goes from $22 to $9,000? You don’t have power. Edward Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, said the disinvestment in electricity production reminds him of the last years of the Soviet Union, or of the oil sector today in Venezuela. “They hate it when I say that,” he said.

And Texans would rather blame wind turbines or Kamala Harris than even look at the actual problem. And honestly, I’m surprised they haven’t blamed it on Mexicans. And a lot of people in Texas keep talking about seceding and becoming their own nation while they can barely tie their own shoelaces.

Energy is part of our infrastructure, like roads and bridges. A lot of our plants are outdated. Even one nuclear plant in Texas lost power earlier this week because of the cold. Unfortunately, to fix things, it costs money. If you own a house or a car, you know this.

What Texas needs to do is deregulate their deregulation. They’re going to have to charge higher prices to reform their energy sector. Also, maybe rely more on alternative energy like, oh…I don’t know…maybe wind turbines? How about solar energy? Contrary to fucknut beliefs, solar works on rays from the sun, not heat. Solar does work when it’s cold. Somebody go tell Congressman Crenshaw.

But, hey. It’s OK if you don’t reform your power grids in Texas as long as you accept that occasionally, you’re gonna lose power and freeze unless you sleep with the cattle. And why not? You’re already full of bullshit.

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 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. 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: I have 10 copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling 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 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw: