Europe

Futbol, Covid, and Snails

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There is a new surge of COVID in Europe, and the new variant, Omnicron from South Africa, has been detected on the continent. Fortunately, western Europe has a high vaccination rate. Eastern Europe, well, it’s a lot like West Virginia, but with more teeth.

While there are new cases of COVID in western Europe, the death rate is low…at least for now. That’s because most people in western Europe are vaccinated. Vaccines are not a guarantee you won’t catch COVID but most cases are mild in people who have received them.

If the United States is hit by a new wave, or this new variant arrives and it’s as badass as we fear, we’re not going to do as well with it as western Europe has. Only about 62 percent of our nation is vaccinated, and that’s not enough. The take here is: Get vaccinated. I’m due for my booster this week.

Does the fact I’m vaccinated make me better than those who are not? Yes. Yes, it does.

There is no excuse not to be vaccinated in this nation. The availability is everywhere. Vaccines have been approved for children. It’s very effective against COVID. Also, it’s free.

A lot of stereotypes about nations are not entirely true. Not everyone in England walks around with a stick up their butt. Not everyone in Ireland is a drunk (right?). I’m sure not every Frenchman has a mistress or is a rude smelly snail eater. I’m pretty positive every girl in Switzerland doesn’t dress like the Swiss Miss, no matter how much you fantasize about it. Has everyone in Iceland slept with one of their cousins? Does everyone in Holland wear wooden shoes? Is every Italian male an ass pincher? Is everyone in Greece naked on a beach? And I’m sure not every European believes the United States is full of yokels who eat a ton of bacon each morning with an AR-15 strapped to their backs while being too stupid to get vaccinated against a virus that’s killed over 700,000 in this nation.

OK, maybe some stereotypes are true.

Note: Short blog today because I’m not really feeling it after receiving some devastating news about one of my best friends last night. More information on that later.

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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.

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Europe Is A Hoax

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I drew this last Friday shortly after my editor approved it after viewing the rough. Usually, I create a brand new canvas and start all over. I usually open the rough to view as a guide on my other computer screen, though I may change the entire layout. I never trace a rough because that kills the spontaneity. A lot of cartoonists do trace their own outline of a cartoon and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just never liked it much. But sometimes, I’ll really like the vibe of the rough and instead of opening a new canvas, go back to the rough and draw on top of it. That’s what I did with this one.

I couldn’t recapture the faces in the new drawing the way I did in the rough…so I just kept the faces in the rough. I went back over them, altered a few features, and sharpened it up. The rest of it was redrawn and of course, I had to do the lettering all over again because the lettering in the rough is always crap.

Most of all, I had to keep the ponytail. I was thinking about the character Paul Reiser plays in the Netflex series, The Kominsky Method.

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:

Stupid American

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Here’s your cartoon for this week’s CNN Opinion newsletter. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday.

Europeans often look down on Americans and make fun of us. That in itself may be more of a stereotype and a joke than it is real…or at least it was before Donald Trump became president.

The idea of Donald Trump being president was a joke. The Simpsons had it as a joke in one episode because it was so ridiculous. Lisa Simpson was president, who is a cartoon and not a real person, and that’s less ridiculous than a Trump presidency. Though in that episode, Lisa had to rebuild the nation after a Trump presidency.

But yeah, Donald Trump is a joke. But Europe, like American liberals and the few Republicans who put their nation before a cult, recognize he’s more than a joke. He’s dangerous. However, as dangerous as he is, gatherings of world leaders are still caught on hot mics mocking the guy who claims he’s restored international respect to our nation.

Europe has done a much better job with the coronavirus than our nation. While we have 4 percent of the world’s population, we have 25% of coronavirus cases. The virus is spiking in the deep south and our more liberal states in the northeast are enacting quarantines for visitors from those states. Europe may take it one step further.

Europe looks at us and they see our president, the ultimate ugly, stupid, arrogant American. And what do they see now? They see an ugly American denying a virus isn’t as bad as it is. They see a stupid American telling people to drink bleach and take a medication that can kill them (Hey, if Europe is afraid of a drug, you don’t wanna go near it). They see an arrogant American mock people for wearing facemasks. They see an incredibly ugly, stupid, arrogant American president (sic) say we have fewer cases of coronavirus when we have fewer tests. They see an idiot who believes tests create cases.

And now, the entire continent is considering banning each of us from entering. What’s next? Stiffed by Canada? Will Mexico build a wall and make us pay for it (probably)?

Europe may not like us very much but they love our money and for us to come over and eat their snails. But when they see our leader (sic) exhibit the very worst of us, Europe is all like, “Nope!” They don’t want dirty Americans to re-contaminate their nations where people actually believe in science.

I don’t blame them.

Tip Jar: This pandemic is hitting everyone, including your favorite goofy cartoonist. I have lost clients and I’m afraid I might lose more. The PayPal button has always been included here for those who can and want to voluntarily support what I do. I understand this time is hard on everyone. If you can’t, don’t contribute. Take care of yourself and your family first.

But, all and any help is greatly appreciated and it helps keep me going. Think of me like a street performer busking out tunes on a corner (I won’t play “Wonderwall.” I promise). If you like the tune, or in this case, toon, throw a buck into the tip jar. It’ll help me play another song, draw another toon, write another blog, make another video, and post another snarky post on social media. It’ll help keep me alive. You can also order a signed print for $40. And if you don’t like the PayPal option, you can snail mail it to my P.O. Box.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From the Trumpster Fire

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