Global Warming

Concrete Evidence

Lake Mead is a Colorado River reservoir just 30 minutes outside Las Vegas. Former Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Monday. “It’s not a bad place to dump a body.” Well, now it is.

Climate Change is an international crisis and it’s affecting everyone, whether they know it or not. Republicans in fucknut Florida claim it doesn’t exist while their state is slowly going underwater. In other locations, lakes and rivers are drying up. In the United States, we’re slowly losing Tulare Lake, Salton Sea, Pyramid Lake, Owens Lake, Mono Lake, and Lake Mead. Lake Mead is starting to reveal secrets.

The water level in Lake Mead has dropped more than 170 feet since 1983. Mayor Goodman is a lawyer who used to have Vegas mobsters as clients, and he said they were always very interested in “climate control,” which was mob code for keeping the lake level up and bodies down in their watery graves. Two sets of human remains have emerged in Lake Mead over the past week.

One of the bodies was found in a barrel and authorities say the person was shot.

Michael Green, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas history professor whose father dealt blackjack for decades at the Stardust and the Showboat, said, “If the lake goes down much farther, it’s very possible we’re going to have some very interesting things surface. I wouldn’t bet the mortgage that we’re going to solve who killed Bugsy Siegel, but I would be willing to bet there are going to be a few more bodies.”

Las Vegas was founded by the mafia with Bugsy Siegel being a driving force behind it. This isn’t a whispered-about secret. There’s a mob museum in Las Vegas. What was once a dried-up little desert town founded in 1905 started to grow with the construction of the nearby Hoover Dam, reduced residency for divorce, and the legalization of casino gambling, all in 1931. Now the U.S. Census predicts Nevada (in case you’re a Republican, that’s where Las Vegas is located) will be the fastest-growing state for the next two decades and by 2030, Las Vegas will have over four million residents. Right now, the population of the city is a little over 640,000.

The mafia is responsible for the creation of the nation’s most popular gambling destination, but the days of celebrity mobsters may be over. The bodies people are finding are from decades ago and while there are predictions more bodies will be found as Lake Mead dries up, most won’t be from mob hits. Sorry to ruin it for you.

Sure, a body in a barrel is a pretty good sign the mob was responsible, but most bodies may be from other murders or just swimming and boating accidents. Professor Green pointed out, “People will talk about this for the right reasons and the wrong reasons. They’re going to think we’re going to solve every mob murder. In fact, we may see some. But it’s also worth remembering that the mob did not like murders to take place in the Las Vegas area because they did not like bad publicity going out under the Las Vegas dateline.” Ever hear the expression, “Don’t shit where you eat?”

While discovering bodies in barrels is intriguing and adds to mob folklore, it’s the wrong focus on a lake evaporating. The real focus here should be Climate Change.

The mob will never kill as many people as Climate Change kills, which is blamed for over 250,000 deaths annually.

A grandmother dying from heatstroke in August because she can’t afford air conditioning may not be as glamorous as goons shooting Bugsy Siegel in the back of his head in Beverly Hills, but it’s the death we should be talking about. We still don’t know who killed Bugsy or why, but we know who’s killing grandma. Not to mention that cities like Las Vegas are having to find alternative sources of water.

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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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Blame It On Meghan

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Congratulation, Meghan Markle. You are now Yoko Ono.

Is it fair? Of course not. Last week I thought, “Here come the Yoko comparisons,” and within ten minutes, I saw the memes. A staunch conservative friend of mine who doesn’t fit the stereotype (not religious, has gay friends, appreciates good music, has never posted anything about Trump EVER on social media, helped me build this website years ago, not an asshole) posted that it was the funniest thing he’d seen all week. It was NOT the funniest thing I had seen all week. For starters, since I was expecting it, I saw it coming. It was obvious. The other thing is, why are sexism and racism still funny?

Yes. Not only is blaming Meghan Markle for Prince Harry wanting to be less involved with his royal family sexist, but it’s also racist. How so? You never heard anyone blame Linda McCartney for the breakup for The Beatles. What does that have to do with Meghan Markle? Bear with.

Yoko Ono, the wife of John Lennon (duh), is blamed for breaking up the world’s greatest band and songwriting team in history. But the person who officially broke up the band was Paul McCartney, who made the public announcement and filed for the legal dissolution of the band’s partnership. Sure, every member had left the group in a tantrum in the middle of a recording session at some point, but it was Paul who officially killed The Beatles. Should we blame his wife?

I don’t think Linda McCartney broke up The Beatles, but if you’re going to take blame away from the people who were actually in the band and lay it on a wife, then why poor Yoko? Is it because she’s artistic and played music with John? Uh, Linda did that too. The reason Yoko is blamed is that she’s not white. And if you go with that she wasn’t British and cast her as an outsider nationally, Linda wasn’t British either.

And why would Yoko break up The Beatles? Did she manipulate John to believe he didn’t need Paul? He already knew he didn’t need Paul. Hell, even Ringo didn’t need Paul as he had his own number one hits (he needed George, who wrote “Photograph” for him). Paul didn’t need John either. They were geniuses and they both wrote incredible music post-Beatles (despite “Silly Love Songs” and “The Girl Is Mine”). But if it was Yoko’s desire for John to be a bigger star than The Beatles, she failed as John spent the bulk of his time between the band’s breakup and his untimely death holed up in the Dakota being a house husband and recording uncompleted songs on cassette tapes in his living for the band to finish up a decade and a half after his death (still better than “Silly Love Songs”).

If you’re going to blame Yoko for breaking up The Beatles, then maybe we should give her credit for the solo songs “Baby, I’m Amazed,” “Band On The Run,” “War Is Over,” and finally…”Imagine.” Instead, today her name is synonymous with women who break up good things. If we’re going to hate anyone for what they did to the greatest rock and roll band of all time, hate Phil Specter (rapist, indeed). People were blaming Yoko Ono for breaking up The Beatles before The Beatles ever broke up. But The Beatles were never going to last forever. You can’t keep two genius songwriters from flying out on their own. For example: Look at the rock band Kiss and their two main songwriters, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. After nearly 50 years, they’re still together.

John Lennon was an adult at the time capable of making his own decisions. No “tiger woman” had him under a spell forcing his hand, which he joked about in “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” But the fact is, the only one who broke up The Beatles were The Beatles.

But going with a narrative without information is par for the course when it comes to being a conservative. If you design a meme correctly and blame Meghan Markle for pissing off the Queen, Republicans will probably believe she’s the reason we’ll never get another “Bohemian Rhapsody.” At this very moment, conservative bots are sharing bullshit all over the internet claiming that arson in Australia is proof climate change doesn’t exist.

And it’s not just the bots. Rupert Murdoch’s news empire in Australia, where his empire started, is hot (no pun intended) on the false narrative too. While scientists state 3 to 5% of Australia’s wildfires are caused by arson, Murdoch’s outlets are claiming it’s not a climate emergency, but an arson emergency.

Climate change still exists. Even if all of the fires could be blamed on arson, drier and hotter seasons enable these fires to spread further, last longer and destroy more of our environment. Climate change causes it to destroy more personal property and lives. Saying arson is proof climate change doesn’t exist is really just as stupid as blaming Meghan Markle for the wildfires…or Harry distancing himself from his royal responsibilities.

And dammit, right-wing fucknuts. Stop blaming the black girl every time.

Support the cartoonist.

You can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print). I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From The Trumpster Fire

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Weather The Stupid

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It’s not just the majority of scientists who believe in climate change. It’s a massive majority. According to NASA, “97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities.” Additionally, most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position. It’s what you would call a mandate. In case you’re a Republican, 97 percent is a LOT. It’s only three percent away from 100 (start at 100 and count backwards).

The only way to disagree with 97 percent of the world’s scientists is if you want to disagree and you’re not going to apply logic to the science. You have to politicize the science to claim 97 percent of the world’s scientists are politically biased. I would wager that while 97 percent of the world’s scientists believe in climate change, that nearly every one of them hates the film, “The Day After Tomorrow.” Now that was a real dog.

Even if you’re going to argue against science, you could at least understand the difference between climate and weather. If someone tells you climate change is a hoax because it’s snowing, their statement proves their opinion isn’t based in fact. Snow in Boston today is short term. Short term is weather. How the atmosphere behaves over a longer period of time is climate. While it’s snowing in Boston, it’s sunny in Los Angeles. To further complicate the matter, your argument against climate science is that it’s cold during the winter.

I know. Explaining this to a Republican, or even worse, a full-fledged Trump supporter, is like explaining photosynthesis to a Beagle. He’ll just cock his head, go “aroo?” while he’s thinking about cheese. Although, the Beagle has a better shot at getting it than a Republican. Plus, Beagles at least have personality and are much more likeable. Nobody wants a Republican to lick their face.

Every year, my conservative colleagues draw their annual anti-climate change cartoons. They usually wait until the first major snowstorm hits somewhere in the country and then it’s all, “A-ha!” It’s been explained to them over and over again. Just like their cartoons, we have to make our explanations on an annual basis.

Facts are not biased, but liberals are biased toward facts. Another fact: Dogs are smarter than Republicans.

Support the cartoonist.

You can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print). I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From The Trumpster Fire

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Costa Rica Vortex

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This cartoon was first published February 1, 2019, in The Costa Rica Star.

It always amazes me that conservatives don’t understand the difference between climate and weather. For years, we used the term “global warming.” But Republicans would only focus on the “warming” and miss the “global” part. So we started using “climate change,” so maybe dumb people, Republicans, would focus more on the change than the warming. Nope.

If it’s cold in Buffalo or Cleveland in the winter, they start screaming, “Where’s this climate change you promised?”

While the polar vortex was hitting the United States last week, it was in the 80s in Costa Rica. In case you’re not aware of this, Costa Rica is part of the globe. The climate is not just what’s going on outside your window. It’s kinda like another thing Republicans haven’t figured out; there are people in this world who are not you.

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

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Just Another Weather Cartoon

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I’ll be honest. I used to do these kinds of crappy cartoons. In my case, it was a compromise with my editor. I’d do the anti-climate change cartoon and go home early, and the next day he had to leave me alone to do whatever I wanted. Of course, he didn’t know that but I kinda trained him that way. It was how I justified it to myself. Then something happened. I got bored.

I got bored with the way I was working. I spent the majority of my career trying to think like a political cartoonist which influenced me to race my cartooning colleagues to be the first with commonly used analogies, like sinking ships, mazes, Lucy holding the football, people going over cliffs and ledges. I decided to change the way I approached my job which meant I had to change the way I thought. I spent nearly twenty years training my brain to think like other cartoonists. From that point, I was going to train it to think differently. I’m still training it. That was around 2009. But it meant no more clichés and definitely no more cartoons I didn’t really believe in. The clichéd weather cartoons were gone.

I’m still bored. Not of my work but of the entire genre of crapping out clichés. I think the best political cartoons in history are being produced in this era, and by just a few cartoonists. The rest, meh. I’m just as tough on myself. At the end of the year when I have to go through every cartoon over the past 365 days, I end up cringing looking at my own work. Then I get bored with my work all over again.

The majority of cartoonists are still rushing to be the first with the lame cliché. Liberal cartoonists do it too. Over the past month, I’ve seen about a dozen cartoons each of Trump boxed in a wall and as Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall. Several cartoonists have done both of those analogies. The worst part of all of this is that the newspaper industry supports this lazy tripe. If you look at any of the weekend roundups of the nation’s political cartoonists in The Washington Post, USA Today, or Politico, you will see the clichés every single time. Editors love them. I’m not really worried about pissing off those editors because they rarely run me anyway.

And as bad as liberal cartoonists can be about it, I find the conservative cartoonists much more egregious in this area.

There is not a conservative cartoonist who hasn’t drawn Elizabeth Warren in Native-American garb and at least 39 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cartoons since the election. They all got the Venezuela/socialism talking point. And of course, they all have to do the Climate-change-doesn’t-exist-because-it’s-cold-outside cartoons. They do those every year. You would think after thirty or forty years in the business they would understand there is a difference between climate and weather.

Sure, the president of the United States doesn’t understand the difference between climate and weather, but he also thinks wheels are older than walls. Here’s a tip; don’t get your talking points from a guy who doesn’t know the differences between “their,” “there,” and “they’re.” Don’t believe me? Go look at yesterday’s Trump tweets.

I’d like to say, at least these conservative cartoonists were able to take a day off from drawing about Ocasio-Cortez in order to draw their yearly anti-climate change cartoons except this morning, I’ve seen two that included her. Seriously.

Did I tell you I get bored with my industry?

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch me draw.

Know Your Poles

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Those Coca Cola commercials that appear around Christmas where polar bears are playing with penguins have always pissed me off. A few years ago, a colleague of mine drew a cartoon that had both polar bears and penguins in it, without any reference to that being part of the joke. Ugh. I also saw a cartoon today of Kim Jong Un’s shadow being cast over the United States…and it was coming from Europe.

I know I can be a real stick in the mud over such things that may seem trivial to others. But, I think it’s kinda important to know a few details, whether you’re writing commercials, drawing editorial cartoons, or heading up the Environmental Protection Agency.

A report put together by several government agencies warning about climate change was leaked to the press this week. Why would something like that have to be leaked? Because, some people in those agencies are worried the Trump administration will suppress the report…or worse yet, deliver it to him underneath the stack of pro-Trump propaganda binders he receives twice a day.

Creative Notes: Short blog for this as it’s a bonus cartoon. I’ll be drawing again later tonight or super early in the morning. I really liked this idea and I wanted to do it.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print. All donations will receive my eternal gratitude.

Gatlinburg Wildfires

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Parts of the South are currently suffering from record droughts and wildfires are burning in every southeastern state. Wildfires in Gatlinburg and surrounding communities in eastern Tennessee has damaged hundreds of buildings and forced thousands to evacuate their homes overnight. More than 14,000 people have evacuated Gatlinburg alone.

A big cause for all of this is Climate Change. Drier summers lead to more fires. Ignoring and denying Climate Change doesn’t work as the world literally will burn around you.

Conservatives love to point at snowfall and cold winters as proof Climate Change isn’t real and it’s all a big hoax. Republican senator Jim Inhofe is actually the ranking member of the Senate committee for the environment. This knucklehead once threw a snowball on the senate floor to prove Climate Change doesn’t exist. I challenge Senator Inhofe to take a snowball to Gatlinburg this week and give it a toss there.

Our planet has gone through ages of discovering and enlightenment. I’m concerned that we’re entering one in this nation that’s an age of denial and stupidity.  Stupidity has lobbyists.

Did you like this cartoon? Want to help a cartoonist make a living? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. I need to buy pens, paper, sandwiches, and dog food. The starving cartoonist and his Beagle appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!

A Climate To Talk About Climate

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I really enjoyed not wearing a jacket in Northern Virginia on Christmas day. It was nice but I know we’ll pay for it down the road…or the next generation will.

I dedicate this cartoon to all my conservative cartooning colleagues who love to draw anti-Climate Change cartoons every time it snows in Buffalo in January. I feel bad for them as they have to wait longer this year to draw their traditional “it’s cold so Global Warming doesn’t exist” cartoons. How many more Hillary email server cartoons came they come up with until then?

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas but I am really glad it’s over. No more Christmas music or whining about people saying “happy holidays.” In less than a week 2016 will be here, and it feels like 2015 was just getting started. Now things will heat up. The presidential campaign will get more heated and more ridiculous. Obama will spend his last year trying to prove he’s not a lame duck. The NFL playoffs are about to start. There may be a two or three ethnic groups Donald Trump hasn’t insulted yet (look out, Eskimos!). Plus, January is a busy time for cartoonists as we have to put contest submissions together which is a huge distracting chore. I will probably start finding my groove in February.

I had difficulty staying away from my drawing board for three days, so you got this on a Saturday night.

Did you like this cartoon? Want to help a cartoonist make a living? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. I need to buy pens, paper, sandwiches, and dog food. The starving cartoonist and his Beagle appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!

Greater Threat Than ISIS

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Ever since Obama said Climate Change is a greater threat than ISIS, conservatives have been giving him a lot of grief. The thing is, he’s right.

Stating the threat of Climate Change doesn’t discount the real danger ISIS poses. The dangers of Climate Change will last centuries. It can devastate cities and populations. I know we don’t like to think long term, especially at the cost of profit, but this is something that can’t be ignored. The problem is we have to think intelligently and as a culture, we’re not really that smart. Half of us can’t grasp the difference between climate and weather. Climate Change is also a lot more difficult to combat than terrorism. You can’t drop bombs on it or put a reward on its head.

This doesn’t mean we should ignore terrorism. Terrorism is another problem we have to deal with, but groups of Jihadists are not going to last as long as our climate. ISIS doesn’t even pose the most risks to us in the form of terrorism. You’re more likely to die from someone born in the United States who is not a Muslim and doesn’t give a crap about Palestine or Allah. But yet, half of us only want to focus on Islam. It’s easier to hate bad guys who don’t look like us. They’re also organized and even have a flag. That gives us a target. Domestic terrorists are not as organized. They tend to work alone and if they wave a flag, it’s the Gadsden or Confederate flag which just confuses everybody.

We need to focus on what’s more dangerous. That includes the climate. It also includes domestic terrorists and our proliferation of guns. Let’s put politics aside and forget the color, religion, and race of the terrorists. Let’s talk about it. Let’s propose solutions. Half of us won’t even acknowledge there is a crisis and fight any effort to make it more difficult for bad guys to buy guns.

I agree with conservatives that the president’s comments that ISIS was a JV team was pretty stupid and a sign he underestimated them. But he’s right about Climate Change. You can continue to mock him for it, but you’re laughing at him for being smarter than you. That makes you pretty stupid.

I had fun drawing this cartoon since I’m from Louisiana. I took a few creative liberties, the first being that Katrina happened before Obama’s presidency and the water has since lowered. The other liberty is the ability to see the Superdome from Bourbon Street. Yeah, it’s less than two miles from the French Quarter but you can’t really see it from the street. I especially had fun drawing the balconies and the assorted colors of some of the houses and buildings in the Big Easy. Now I just made myself homesick.

Did you like this cartoon? Want to help a cartoonist make a living? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. I need to buy pens, paper, sandwiches, and dog food. The starving cartoonist and his Beagle appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!

Slithering Republicans

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I don’t think it’s entirely fair to compare Republicans to snakes. I like snakes. In my early 20’s I worked in a couple of pet shops and even a zoo. I had pet snakes until I was hired by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1997. I couldn’t take my two Boa Constrictors to Hawaii as snakes are not allowed there. Since then I never got another one. I don’t think I’ll ever have another snake as I’m not in the zone for the maintenance. I still love snakes and I’m usually fascinated by all animals.

I don’t think Chubbs, my Beagle, will allow me to give attention to another animal (not that he thinks he’s an animal).