gun violence

Looking Up

I called a goon a “goon” yesterday and it upset him.

I enjoy reading the comments my cartoons get at GoComics but I don’t always interact with the readers there. But sometimes I’ll see a comment that I feel needs addressing. Yesterday, one of the right-wingers suggested a topic that fit his narrative, like that’s what I’m here for. I don’t see these guys telling the Boks, Varvels, and Lesters to draw on gun control, equal rights, Black Lives Matter, or women’s rights. Maybe someone should suggest a cartoon about climate change to Ben Garrison.

But this reader suggested a draw a cartoon that would feed his narrative, something he obviously saw while watching Tucker. I replied that it’s funny he found that to be an important issue while totally ignoring the mass shooting on Monday night that occurred at Michigan State University which resulted in three deaths from the killer. I also told him that I don’t take suggestions from goons.

He was upset at being called a goon and that he was flagging my reply, and what happened at Michigan State was “just another mass shooting.” I let him know that referring to what happened at Michigan State as “just another mass shooting” is why he gets called a “goon.”

Goons don’t care about mass shootings. They’d rather we ignore them.

Since the shooting on Monday night, Lauren Boebert has tweeted about a toxic chemical spill (while not proposing heavier regulations or punishment for corporations who create these spills), attacks on Pete Buttigieg, that it is OK to flash your penis at teenage girls in bowling alleys, Joe Biden, and spy balloons, but nothing about the shooting.

Since the shooting on Monday night, Marjorie Taylor Greene has tweeted about the chemical spill (while not proposing heavier regulations or punishment for corporations who create these spills), Hunter Biden, her white coat, the likelihood of being hit in the face with a banjo in her district, Jesus, but nothing about the shooting.

Since the shooting on Monday night, Ted Cruz has tweeted about Buttigieg, the chemical spill (while not proposing heavier regulations or punishment for corporations who create these spills), the border, his love for shoegaze, and big tech censoring free speech, yet no tweets about the shooting.

Since the shooting on Monday night, Jim “Gym” Jordan has tweeted about the chemical spill (while not proposing heavier regulations or punishment for corporations who create these spills), the border, big tech censorship, how much he hates it when he gets a run in his pantyhose, and a ton of tweets about balloons, but none about the shooting.

Since the shooting on Monday night, Matt Gaetz has tweeted about the chemical spill (while not proposing heavier regulations or punishment for corporations who create these spills), Elon Musk, hating that we are sending aid to Ukraine, the difficulty in finding extra-small condoms, big tech censorship, but nothing about the shooting.

I believe I research my subjects more than most cartoonists do, and for this blog…but I did make up one tweet for each of those MAGAts mentioned. See if you can find them.

The film “Don’t Look Up” is a metaphor for how right-wingers, conservatives, MAGAts, and your run-of-the-mill pigfuckers ignore science, facts, and impending doom if it’s something they don’t want to hear. As a meteor hurtles toward Earth that’ll destroy all life on the planet, the Republican response is simply, don’t look up. It’s a great metaphor after the coronavirus pandemic.

When it comes to science, Republicans don’t want us to “look up.” But now, they do want us to look up and see all the UFOs invading our airspace, but whatever you do…don’t look down. If you look down, you might see all the bodies from mass shootings. Republicans would rather look up than see those bodies or find solutions for mass shootings beyond “thoughts and prayers.” It’s why people like Jim “Gym” Jordan keep asking about spy balloons.

The day after the shooting inside a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas that left 25 dead in 2017, I read a post from a MAGAt cartoonist proclaiming it’s why we need stricter immigration policies, or maybe just ban all immigration. The shooter wasn’t an immigrant. He was a white guy born and bred right here in the good ole U.S. of A. He was a Texan.

I also looked at the official NRA Twitter account. Did you know the NRA describes itself as a “civil rights” organization? I know! Get the fuck out of here. Since the shooting on Monday night, the NRA has tweeted about new guns for 2023, President Biden “coming for your guns,” more gun reviews, how not to blow your dick off while fucking an uzi, and the University of Tennessee’s rifle program, but nothing the shooting.

Don’t look up. Don’t look down. Just don’t look.

Music note: I listened to a few tunes by Lenny Kravitz but spent most of my time drawing and coloring this while watching CNN and Nikki Haley’s presidential announcement.

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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Dragging On Black History

Did you know that February is Black History Month? In the future, no one in Florida is going to know because its fascist governor Ron Scumface DeSantis is attempting to outlaw black history from being taught in public schools, and you know private schools in that state aren’t going to teach it.

Republicans are more concerned about protecting children from things that aren’t going to get them or don’t even exist at all.

Ron McRacist DeSantis says Florida is where “woke goes to die.” What the hell is “woke”? Basically, it’s having a social conscience and trying to understand situations you’ll never be in. It’s trying to understand prejudice, racism, discrimination, and sexism. If you’re a white person and you know you have white privilege then congratulations. You’re woke. Republicans use “woke” like they used to use the word “liberal,” as a bad word. A lot of Republicans still use “liberal” to attack someone but as more of the public has come to learn the definition of that word and realized that being liberal is a good thing, more and more Republicans are now starting to use “woke” to attack liberals, despite the fact that “woke” is also a good thing. Anyway, Ron DeSatan DeSantis is trying to outlaw “woke” in his state and protect children from having a social conscience.

He’s also trying to protect children from Mickey Mouse and has waged war with Disney which you would think is a dumb thing to do in Florida, but whatever. You do you, Ron DeScumbucket DeSantis.

Republicans are trying to protect children from drag queens unless that drag queen is George Santos. Yeah, that’s weird…and the GOP thinks drag queens are the weird ones.

Ron DeStupid DeSantis also tried to protect kids from science. What he was protecting was the coronavirus. Florida is where the coronavirus goes to thrive.

Ron DeHumanTrafficker DeSantis is trying to protect Florida’s school children from immigrants…in Texas.

And now, Ron DeShithead DeSantis is trying to protect children from history, specifically, black history. Why? Because learning black history might make a little white kid feel bad.

White conservatives who don’t believe white privilege, racism, or discrimination exist and don’t understand why Colin Kaepernick was kneeling shouldn’t be the ones restricting any history lessons.

Now when it comes to protecting children from gun violence, Republicans refuse to do anything except accept checks from the National GoStickItInYourAss Rifle Association.

Ron GoFuckYourself DeSantis is doing everything he can to turn his state into a fascist shithole, believing it’s his route to the presidency. Those who know history will be those who don’t vote for Ron DeIhaveLessCharmThanAhoneyBadgerWithAflamingHemorrhoid DeSantis.

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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Bullies for Baldwin

A 72-year-old man is the suspect in a mass shooting yesterday that killed ten and injured ten more in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California. The shooting occurred while the city’s large Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year weekend. The suspected shooter killed himself in a van after a standoff with police. The first reaction from the right was “Yay, the shooter’s not a white guy.”

Look at what Donald Trump Jr tweeted. “You think you’d hear a lot more about the mass shooting of 10 people in California… But don’t worry you won’t hear anything about it because it wasn’t done by a white conservative man with an assault rifle. Doesn’t work for the narrative so it basically never happened!”

Trumpy Jr didn’t even pause to phone in thoughts and prayers. He immediately politicized it to attack the media. And the reason he feels the need to post that tweet is because most mass shootings usually are committed by white conservative men. What did he tweet after Tops in Buffalo? Also, CNN has been covering the shooting a LOT.

None of the regular House goons, Jim “Gym” Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, or Marjorie Taylor Greene have tweeted about the shooting in Monterey. Although Gaetz did retweet a photo of him and Boebert posing with assault rifles. They were mostly preoccupied with tweeting condemnations at Antifa for the riots and protests yesterday in Atlanta, which is truly contrary to how they support the white nationalist MAGA terrorists who attacked our nation on January 6, 2021.

The only gun death these goons appear to care about is that of Halyna Hutchins, a cinematographer on the set of the film “Rust,” who was shot by actor Alec Baldwin after he was handed a prop gun that he was told was “cold,” meaning it was empty. But I bet none of them know her name.

Baldwin has been charged with two counts of manslaughter in Santa Fe, New Mexico which Republicans are euphoric over. Many have tweeted their excitement over Baldwin going to prison before a trial has even begun. Of course, Republicans don’t know how the justice system works. They believe Donald Trump is entitled to steal government property to keep as “cool keepsakes” … or sell to Russia.

The armorer on “Rust,” Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is also facing charges of involuntary manslaughter. She might be the one who’s in real trouble.

The district attorney for Santa Fe County, Mary Carmack-Altwies, said she plans to argue in court that Baldwin did not take “due caution or circumspection” with the weapon he was handed. She’s going to lose this case.

I’m not an Alec Baldwin fanboy and I’m not defending him because he’s a liberal or impersonated Donald Trump so brilliantly on Saturday Night Live. I think he was great in “30 Rock,” but if he was responsible for this death, I’d want him prosecuted.

And the only reason Republicans are excited to see Baldwin prosecuted is that he’s a Hollywood liberal actor who impersonated Donald Trump so well. They don’t want him punished for the death of the cinematographer…they want him sent to prison for making Donald Trump look ridiculous.

It’s not the actor’s responsibility to make sure what someone hands them is safe. It’s the job of the armorer on the set. As Kirk Acevedo, an actor who has worked with guns on shows like “Band of Brothers” and in the film “The Thin Red Line,” said about responsibility, “It can’t be me. If you have never fired a weapon before, how would you know how to do all of that? For some people, it’s hard to even pull back the slide.”

How can an actor be responsible for the safety of a gun being used on a film set when that actor doesn’t know anything about guns? How can he be responsible when he’s unqualified?

This case may not even make it to trial. There is responsibility for the death of Hutchins, but it’s not on Baldwin.

What’s telling about Republicans is all the noise they’re making about Alec Baldwin while not caring about Halyna Hutchins or the ten people who were killed in a mass shooting yesterday. They also don’t care about the victims in the other 34 mass shootings over the past three weeks.

For Republicans, it’s always “too soon” to talk about gun control after a mass shooting, but it’s never too soon to politicize it when the shooter’s non-white or a Hollywood liberal.

This week’s cartoon for the CNN Opinion newsletter was on Alec Baldwin and gun control (I haven’t published it on the blog yet). And what were the odds it would be published the same day another mass shooting occurred? In a nation with 35 mass shootings over three weeks, the odds are pretty good.

Now, if only Republicans could care about deaths from guns other than for political points.

Music note: I listened to Pink Floyd and the Alan Parsons Project.

Facebook Suspension Update: My suspension is over and I want to thank everyone who shared my cartoons, blogs, and videos on the platform during my absence. Since I only had about ten days between 30-day suspensions, some of my readers are talking about having a pool on how long until my next suspension.

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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No Sleep ‘Til Gun Control

I love trains. I don’t have a love affair with them the way President Joe Biden does, who commuted on Amtrak daily when he was a Senator from Delaware, but I really like trains.

It’s easier to travel on a train than on a plane, and so much better than a bus. Airports are huge hassles while to get on a train, you just show the ticket guy your ticket. Actually, you get on the train first and then you show him your ticket. It’s so easy when I have a trip to Washington, DC as I don’t have to screw with traffic or parking. It’s the same with going to New York City. And the greatest thing about going to those cities on a train is that after you arrive, you get on another train to your destination. If you work it right, you leave your house, get on a train, and you’re dropped off a few blocks from your hotel (unless your hotel is in Georgetown). It’s easy.

Amtrak has moments where it’s a pain, like the time the air conditioning went out during summer on a trip home from North Carolina while I was trying to meet my CNN deadline in the cafe car, but it’s still a great way to travel. The trains I really love are subways. I still have NYC and DC train cards with a few bucks on them. I want to live in a city with a huge train system, but I can’t afford it.

Subways get a bad rap. A lot of people have told me they’ll never get on the New York subway because it’s not safe. I’ve had people in New York City tell me to never take the subway. I was at an Irish bar in midtown Manhattan and two brothers I was in a conversation with told me that whatever I do, to “never take the subway.” They were way too late with their advice. I’ve taken the New York subway all over Manhattan, through the Bronx, and into Brooklyn. I haven’t gone through Queens yet, but I will when I go see the Mets. But I’ve taken the subway through the Bronx at night and wasn’t afraid (there’s a train system on Staten Island but it’s not connected to the other four boroughs). And yeah, you see freaks talking very loudly to themselves and there are smelly people, but you also see women alone with their babies. I’ve seen groups of kids without adults on the Washington Metro. The Metro is pretty safe, and despite the recent increase in violence, the New York subway system is usually safe. My biggest hassle with subways is that they can be confusing.

Washington’s train system can be confusing but it’s a lot easier to figure out. The Metro has six lines, 91 stations, and 117 miles of routes. New York City’s subway has 36 lines, 472 stations, and 850 miles of track. You can get lost. I had a conversation with a different guy in that same Irish bar who was NYC born and raised, and he told me he got confused with the train system. But, there are now apps for that kind of stuff. I would look on my phone while in my hotel room to see when the next train was arriving at the station around the corner.

I used to get confused with the Metro until I traveled on the Subway. I don’t have any more problems understanding Washington’s Metro.

To me, it doesn’t make sense not to take the trains if you’re in a city that has them. Do I feel safe in the stations? I’ve drawn cartoons in NYC’s underground stations.

You may need to make adjustments as circumstances change, like during the COVID pandemic, but I refuse to allow lunatics to dictate how I live my life. I refuse to live in fear. I still rode in cars after being in car accidents, I still flew in planes after 9/11, and I’ll still ride in trains despite the shooting yesterday in Brooklyn.

A friend I grew up with will never go to Washington or New York City because he refuses to go anywhere without his guns. To me, that kind of fear is worse than living with the very small chance you’re going to be attacked on a train.

Giving everyone a gun is the NRA solution to gun violence. Didn’t a mass shooting on a military base disprove that solution? And in the few instances when a “good guy with a gun” showed up to a mass shooting, the good guy doesn’t actually save any lives. The “good guy with a gun” in Sutherland, Texas in 2017 showed up AFTER the shooter had already killed 26 people when the good guy started chasing him. The shooter was done shooting. And the good guy went on a car chase after the shooter instead of tending to the wounded bleeding to death. Arriving at the scene of a mass shooting is the sick fantasy of every gun fetishist. I think the main reason for them to carry a gun isn’t for their own personal safety, but more for the day when they get to shoot somebody.

Also, how can police tell the difference between the good guy with a gun and the bad guy?

There’s a better solution than the yee-haw cure and that is….let’s get rid of guns. It’ll be hard to shoot someone with a gun if there are no guns.

We don’t have to get rid of all guns but let’s get rid of the guns that make it easier to shoot a high number of people in a short period of time. The Second Amendment gives you the right to bear arms, but it doesn’t state you have the right to own machine guns, which is basically what these assault rifles are. If nothing else, let’s put more control, requirements, and regulations into owning these weapons that are made strictly for the purpose of killing human beings.

“Gun control” is like the word “liberal” for conservatives. No pun intended, but it’s a trigger word meaning bad, much in the same way conservatives now use “groomer,” “woke,” “cancel culture,” “book,” and “personal hygiene.”

While there are people in this nation afraid of getting on a train or traveling to a large city, there are people in other nations afraid to come to our nation because of our sick fetish for guns.

Gun fetishists are afraid gun control will disrupt their entitled white-privileged gun-humping lifestyle. But their guns are disrupting people’s lives while they’re just trying to get to work.

The gun fetishists, the so-called “constitutionalists,” want us to live in fear. They want us to be afraid of getting on a train or going to a donut shop. But like I said before, I refuse to allow lunatics to dictate how I live my life.

Music note: I listened to Pearl Jam while drawing this cartoon. And I bet you thought it would be the Beastie Boys.

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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Say All Their Names

cjones08192020

A child was killed with a gun last Sunday and conservatives are rightly upset. They’re not upset Cannon Hinnant, who was just 5-years-old, was killed in his front yard in Wilson, North Carolina by a man with a gun. He was shot in the head by a neighbor who was friends with his father. If they’re not upset over him being killed with a gun, then what are they upset over?

Conservatives are not upset because the man wasn’t captured or because authorities refused to charge him. The suspect is currently being held without bond and many expect him to receive the death penalty.

Conservatives are upset that while the media ran stories about George Floyd, and who they say was a “thug” and was murdered by a cop, the media has refused to run stories about Cannon. Except the national media has run stories about Cannon.

Conservatives keep saying, “Say his name,” in response to Black Lives Matter protesters chanting, “Say his name” during their protests. Conservatives have taken “Say his name” and turned it into just another of their three-syllable hate chants like, “Lock her up,” “Build the wall,” “Send them back,” etc.

Conservatives are saying, “Say his name” for the little white boy killed by a black man. Conservatives are pushing a narrative that black people kill white people. It’s kinda like Donald Trump saying Mexico is sending us “rapists and murderers,” except now, Republicans are saying that black Americans are all murderers.

What I haven’t heard is outrage from the right over the gun. I haven’t heard anyone ask how the suspect acquired the gun. I haven’t even heard them ask what type of gun. It’s almost like Cannon was murdered with a gun but not with a gun. But when they finally get around to the gun aspect of this, they’ll probably argue that five-year-old Cannon would still be alive if only he had a gun.

Cannon was killed with a gun on August 9, 2020. Since that day, 15 other children have been killed by guns. When you see someone on social media post a meme about Cannon, ask them if they can say the name of any of the other 15 children killed by guns since Cannon’s murder? If they’re so upset about a child being murdered, then they’ll be able to say all 15 of those names in addition to Cannon’s. In case you’re a conservative, 15 plus 1 equals 16.

If your outrage isn’t solely based on racism and that the suspect is black, then say all their names. Better yet, why don’t you say all the names of the over 40,000 children killed by guns since 1999?

Are you trying to tell me the deaths of those children aren’t anything to be outraged about but Cannon’s is? Were all those children “crisis actors?” Was Cannon the first child to be murdered by a gun ever? I don’t recall you getting this upset over a child’s murder in the past. Where were those memes? What you’re refusing to acknowledge is that too many children are being killed by guns in this country.

In 2017, there were 144 police officers who died in the line of duty and about 1,000 active-duty military throughout the world who died. Whereas, in that same year, 2,462 school-age children were killed by your beloved guns. More children died from guns that cops, soldiers, and Marines combined. It’s more dangerous to be a child in the United States of America than it is to be a U.S. soldier in a war zone because of your cherished guns.

If you could bring Cannon back by giving up your gun, would you do it? No. You wouldn’t. You decided a long time ago that you can live with the death of school children to keep your gun. You decided the lives of children was a worthwhile sacrifice.

The truth is, you don’t give a damn about Cannon’s life. He’s just a political talking point to you. For you and your racist troglodyte Trump-supporting friends, Cannon is just a Facebook meme.

Again, why are you only upset about this ONE death out of over 40,000? If your outrage isn’t based on racism, then why aren’t you saying the other names?

If you’re upset over a child being murdered by a gun, then from this moment on, I demand that you create and post a meme for each new death of a child on a daily basis. Guess what. You’re going to be busy because it happens nearly every day. Hell, 2 died yesterday and 2 died the day before that. In case you’re a Republican, 2 plus 2 equals 4.

Say all their names unless you’re just saying the names of while kids killed by black people.

Say his name? Yes. Say his name. But say all their names.

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.

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New Book: Tales From the Trumpster Fire

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F’ed Up

cjones09092019

America’s latest mass shooting killed 7 and injured 22.

A 36-year-old man, fired from his job hours earlier on Saturday, led police on a high-speed chase where he fired an AR-15 style assault rifle indiscriminately at motorists and officers. Police initially tried to pull the suspect over for failing to use a turn signal, which turned into a chase that created 15 crime scenes along the highway between Midland and Odessa which included car dealerships and shopping mall. The man hijacked a postal van before he was finally shot and killed in the parking lot of a movie theater.

Those killed raned in age from 15 to 57, including the driver of the postal van. One of the injured was a 17-month-old toddler who is recovering from shrapnel in her chest. This occurred one day before 10 new laws loosening gun restrictions took effect in Texas. Some of the new laws are that renters can’t prohibit guns from being stored or carried onto their properties and schools can’t enforce gun safety rules for staff and visitors.

The governor argued that the new laws were enacted “for the purpose of making the community safer.” The National Rifle Association praised the governor and state legislature for “protecting your Second Amendment rights.” There have been five mass shootings in Texas over the past three years. Apparently, the state with the most guns doesn’t have enough guns yet to make it safe (and the majority of gun owners are white men). Texas has the most lax gun laws in the nation and they haven’t made the connection yet as to why they also lead the country in mass shootings.

Donald Trump said Saturday’s shooting could have been worse and that background checks wouldn’t have stopped Saturday’s shooting spree. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was “heartbroken” and “tired of the dying of the people of the state of Texas,” and then he cried about the threat to gun rights.

And then, conservatives and gun owners finally found something about a mass shooting to get upset about. Beto O’Rourke dropped an F-bomb.

O’Rourke told CNN’s Dana Bash. “The rhetoric that we’ve used — the thoughts and prayers that you just referred to — it has done nothing to stop the epidemic of gun violence to protect our kids, our families, our fellow Americans in public places — at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, where 22 were killed, in Sutherland Springs — in a church. One or two a day all over this country; 100 killed daily in the United States of America. We’re averaging about 300 mass shootings a year. No other country comes close.” And then he said, “So yes, this is fucked up.” He used the word again while campaigning in Virginia.

Immediately, Fox News ran a segment on CNN’s failure to bleep out the F-bomb. Conservatives took to social media, pausing from defending guns, to express outrage at Beto’s profanity.

Beto later tweeted, “Profanity is not the f-bomb. What is profane is a 17 month-old baby being shot in the face.”

Beto’s language isn’t the outrage.

If you’re still defending private ownership of assault weapons, that’s fucked up.

If you’re more upset over talk about gun control than deaths from mass shootings, that’s fucked up.

If you value guns over the lives of children, that’s fucked up.

If you’re a member of the National Rifle Association, that’s fucked up.

If you’re OK that we have to have metal detectors at school entrances and we have to send our children to class in bulletproof backpacks, that’s fucked up.

If you’re more upset over Beto saying “fuck” than you are about murder victims, that’s fucked up.

If you think it’s more upsetting for children to hear the F word on TV than to have to endure coverage of another mass shooting, that’s fucked up.

If you think a mass shooter being shot by a “good guy with a gun” after he kills 26 and injures 20 (Sutherland Springs, Texas, 2017) is proof the “good guy with a gun” argument works, that’s fucked up.

Quite frankly, you “Second Amendment” people’s priorities are fucked up.

The shooters neighbor said, “Although I feel bad about the situation, I feel at ease knowing that he was killed. That tells me the threat has been removed and my family is safe again.”

Here’s the thing. His family isn’t safe again (especially in Texas), and THAT’S FUCKED UP.

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As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But 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.

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How Did You Spend Your Summer?

CNN09012019

Here’s your cartoon for CNN’s weekly newsletter, Provoke/Persuade. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday for the rest of your life.

For this week’s newsletter, CNN Opinion turned it over to their readers to share how they spent their summer. My editors asked me to come up with something on the topic. This was my very first idea but we weren’t sure if we should go with it as the subject has some overlap with a cartoon I drew for them two weeks ago. Now, I think it’s more than appropriate because events are overlapping.

Yesterday, there was another mass shooting. Another mass shooting in Texas. A gunman killed seven and wounded 22.

A colleague of mine published a cartoon on gun violence a few hours before the El Paso shooting. A lot of readers praised him for his timing. The same thing is happening to me today. But, c’mon. This is America. If you draw a cartoon about gun violence, you have a pretty good (no pun intended) shot of that cartoon landing on the same day as a mass shooting. We’re not psychics. Gun violence is as common in this country as Donald Trump saying something idiotic or racist. There is too much gun violence in this country. Why?

Because it’s too easy to get a gun. Because there are too many guns. Because there are too many people valuing their “gun rights” over lives.

Beto O’Rourke said, “This is fucked up.” I don’t have anything to add to that.

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As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But 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.

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The Doctors’ Lane

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When the National Rifle Association told doctors they’re not qualified to have an opinion on gun violence by tweeting, “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane,” there was a backlash.

Dr. Marianne Haughey, who works in the Bronx, tweeted back, “I see no one from the @nra next to me in the trauma bay as I have cared for victims of gun violence for the past 25 years. THAT must be MY lane. COME INTO MY LANE. Tell one mother her child is dead with me, then we can talk.”

Another doctor tweeted, “Single GSW to the head as a drive by. Surprisingly little blood, but plenty of blood curdling screams from this middle schoolers mother when we told her that her baby was dead. Tell me how do I get her screams out of my head 4 years later? ”

The NRA was angry that the American College of Physicians issued a paper on firearm injuries and deaths. The paper stated, “Firearm violence continues to be a public health crisis in the United States that requires the nation’s immediate attention. Restrictions should be lifted on gun-violence research conducted by the C.D.C. and other government agencies.”

The NRA accused the doctors of being “biased” and “anti-gun.” Dr. Christine Laine, the editor in chief of Annals of Internal Medicine, replied, “Annals of Internal Medicine is not anti-gun; we are anti-bullet holes in people. And if we are biased, the bias is toward counseling our patients to reduce their risk of firearm injury and toward evidence-based solutions to the public health crisis that firearm injury has become.”

The NRA’s lane is defending the weapons that put bullet holes in people. It’s not their lane where the holes are removed, or where parents are told their children are dead.

The NRA should just park it.

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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Jump In This

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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!!!

The McCain Blame

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On Thursday Senator John McCain blamed President Obama for creating ISIS and having a hand in the attack in Orlando. I guess he forgot about that entire episode where President Bush invaded the wrong country, destabilizing it and creating a world class recruitment center and haven for terrorists. It must have slipped his mind.

After accusing the president of treason and coming off as ridiculous as Donald Trump, McCain attempted to clarify his statement. He said his intention was to blame Obama’s policies, not as if Obama was personally cutting off journalists’ heads in the desert outside Raqqa.

McCain is in a tough primary race for his senate seat in Arizona. Now may not be the best time for him to make stupid statements. To retain his seat he needs to distance himself as far as possible from Donald Trump, not mimic him. What’s McCain’s next move, a photo op with a taco bowl while accusing himself of not being a war hero?

Before McCain picked a running mate in his failed presidential attempt in 2008, nobody outside Alaska has ever heard of Sarah Palin. Since that time we’ve suffered eight years of a tidal wave of stupidity that even Donald Trump has had trouble duplicating. Thanks, Senator. It’s the stupid that keeps on giving.

Speaking of stupid, Sarah Palin also had some criticism of President Obama this week. She probably does that every week but this one was noticeable. She said the president is a “special kind of stupid” over his efforts toward gun control. Seriously. Miss Right Winger Bitter Clinger has called someone else stupid. Next, her daughter will start lecturing about abstinence.

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!!!