Iran

Iranian MAGA

Republicans are noisy about free speech but all about oppressing statements they don’t want to hear. Republicans and MAGAts are all over Twitter celebrating Elon Musk bringing “free speech” back to the platform, which to them includes conspiracy theories, lies, covid misinformation, and organizing terrorist attacks by white nationalists in order to overturn the government and install a fascist Oompa Loompa as a dictator. But free speech-loving right-wingers were all behind Donald Trump saying, “Fire that sonofabitch” regarding NFL athletes who kneeled during the national anthem. They’re all supportive of the NFL blackballing a Super Bowl quarterback who protests racism. They’re all behind the governor of Florida in his attempts to literally outlaw “wokeism,” as he says his state is where “woke goes to die,” and a court just ruled against his attempts to make it illegal for corporations to have “woke” policies.

It seems that Republicans are all about free speech but only if the speech is what they want to hear. It seems they would love us to be a nation that bans free speech and the right to protest, like Iran.

Iran is an oppressive fundamentalist government. Protests have been erupting in cities across the nation since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in custody after being arrested for not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards. The United Nations says over 300 people have been killed and over 14,000 have been arrested during the protests. Now, the government is giving the death penalty to protesters in a nation that’s already murdered over 400 of its citizens with its death penalty.

The protests have even reached the World Cup in Qatar as players for the Iranian national team refused to sing the nation’s national anthem before its game against England. Some players reported that government officials threatened members of the players’ families, saying they would receive “violence and torture” if they refused to sing at the next game or engaged in any protests against the regime. When the next game came up, against Wales, the players sang the national anthem. Smile unless you want a headless grandmother.

A source told CNN that players were promised “presents and cars” if they played well, but that switched to violent threats against their families. The source also claimed, “In the last game against Wales, the regime sent over hundreds of these actor supporters in order to create a false sense of support and favor amongst the fans. For the next game against the U.S., the regime is planning to significantly increase the number of actors into the thousands.” That game is happening today at 2 p.m.

I wonder where Iran got the idea to put actors in the stands to give a false impression of support? That’s a trick Donald Trump did when he announced his 2016 presidential campaign. I hope the Iranian actors are paid more than what Trump paid his fake supporters, which was $50.

Here in the United States, our government doesn’t threaten athletes for protesting the government and refusing to participate in the national anthem while it’s played before games. Our government only intimidates them and coordinates with leagues to have them blackballed.

For four years, Donald Trump was the federal government. While he was president (sic), he called for NFL players who refused to stand during the national anthem to be fired. The NFL was listening and Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback who took his team to the Super Bowl, didn’t receive even one official tryout with an NFL team from 2017 until this year, which was with the Las Vegas Raiders (who didn’t sign him). Not only has no team signed the guy, even to a backup position, but 31 of the 32 teams won’t even look at him. And it took six years for one of them to do that.

The NFL has banned a player for silently protesting while allowing another to continue playing despite over two dozen accusations from women of sexual harassment and sexual assault, even after the player, DeShaun Watson, settled 20 lawsuits with his accusers. The NFL did suspend the guy for 11 games with a fine of $5 million after the Cleveland Browns signed him to a $230 million contract.

We are better than Iran, but I don’t know how much better.

Music Note: I listened to Better than Ezra, Oasis, and The Black Keys.

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.

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Burqa, Hijab, Handmaid

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman was detained for allegedly failing to adhere to hijab (headscarf) rules in Iran. She died at a morality police detainment center. Protests have broken out in Iran following Amini’s death with thousands of women burning their veils and hijabs.

President Ebrahim Raisi warned that protesters would be dealt with “decisively” after days of nationwide unrest. Over 35 people have died during these protests that have broken out in over 40 cities. Protesters are demanding an end to violence and discrimination against women as well as an end to compulsory wearing of the hijab.

Women in Iran and Afghanistan don’t want to be suppressed any longer by their ultra-conservative governments. Here in the USA, ultra-conservatives are also working hard to subjugate women and take choices away from them. It’s all about control.

Republicans want the United States to be governed like Iran and Afghanistan, with religion. They want to force their “values” on the rest of us. First, they take away the right to choose, then the right to vote, and ultimately, the right to choose what to wear.

The morality police in all three nations need to be done away with.

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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Drippy With Bibi

cjones12012020

There is no law prohibiting the United States government from assassinating foreign leaders and officials. There is an executive order issued in the 1970s by President Gerald Ford that has been upheld by every American president except Donald Trump, though to be fair, Trump probably isn’t aware of it. But that order isn’t enough to stop our government from murdering people overseas. Have you see Osama bin Laden around lately?

In the 1980s, Reagan had our military bomb Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s tent. A tent. If he wasn’t the target, what did we think was in that tent threatening the United States? As it turns out, Gaddafi’s 6-month-old daughter was in the tent…or she wasn’t…or she wasn’t even his daughter. Information from the 1980s Libyan government is sketchier than a Rudy Giuliani Dildo-store-parking-lot press conference.

During our war with Iraq in 1990/1991, our second war with Iraq in 2003, and all the military strikes in between, our government never officially targeted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But we did target his many houses, mansions, palaces, compounds…whatever you want to call them. The reasoning being given was that he may have been storing chemical weapons inside his homes, like you would keep weed killer in your garage. If one of those strikes had killed Saddam, then we could have said it was just a lucky coincidence. Even when we did catch him, we handed him over to a government we knew would kill him. There are western nations that refuse to hand over any prisoners to any nation if there is a possibility they will receive a death sentence.

Israel is not one of those nations either except they probably wouldn’t extradite anyone. They’d just kill them themselves. In fact, Israel had a practice of kidnapping people on foreign soil, dragging them back to Israel without the host nation being aware, conducting a trial of the suspect, then killing them. Do you know who else goes overseas and kidnaps people? North Korea and the United States. We took the leader of Panama and today, he’s rotting in a Florida prison. Hey, we didn’t kill him. North Korea just nabs people…or they murder them in airports on foreign soil.

To be fair, Israel wasn’t just grabbing ordinary civilians off the streets and throwing them into unmarked vans. They were grabbing Nazis hiding in South America. I am fine with going to Argentina and grabbing Nazis off the street and throwing them into unmarked vans then having them taken to Israel to stand trial. But to be honest, I don’t think anyone accused of being a Nazi is going to received a fair trial in Israel. If you were accused of being a Nazi, you wouldn’t any Jews on the jury except Stephen Miller.

That doesn’t make me anti-Israel…but people will say I am for this cartoon. Any time you criticize Israel, you’re often accused of being anti-Semitic. And our nation rarely criticizes Israel. The nation of Israel basically has a free pass with the U.S.

I’m criticizing Israel like I criticize the United States. What, am I anti-American now?

Foreign policy experts warn of our enemies engaging in bad behavior between the time of an American presidential election and a new administration taking over. Will Russia invade the rest of Ukraine? Will North Korea attack South Korea? Will Iranian-backed terrorists strike an embassy? Will South Korea unleash more anti-Trump TikTok videos? Will Canada increase imports of their cheese? Will the Prime Minister of Denmark laugh at pictures of Trump at his tiny desk? But…what happens when our allies take advantage of us during a presidential transition?

Last week, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who once led Iran’s military nuclear program when they had one, was assassinated. Who did it? Nobody has taken credit. And, neither Israel or the United states has issued a denial. There hasn’t even been an official, “Don’t look at me. I was at home washing my hair.”

Israel has been accused of assassinating Iranian scientist in the past. What would they have to gain by doing it now? It creates another headache on day one of President Joe Biden’s administration. Already, Iranians are burning pictures of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the streets of Tehran. Biden isn’t even president yet but they’re extending blame to him. And if they think Israel did it, then why are they mad at us? Because we coddle Israel and support their actions like this. Hell, we probably paid for the bullets and explosives used in the act.

Iran is blaming Israel, but they know the United States has already killed one of their generals this year. So if they retaliate against us and it’s proven later we didn’t have anything to do with the killing of the scientist, Iran won’t lose any sleep over it. We’re still the Great Satan. If nothing else, we boasted about killing that general so I’m sure Donald Trump couldn’t have been silent over murdering an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Trump would have tweeted, “Best scientist murder ever. People are saying it’s nothing that’s ever been seen before. Obama never killed such important scientist. Sleepy Joe would have only sniffed the scientist’s hair.”

The other thing Israel gets out of this is that it hurts our negotiating position when we resume peace talks preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons. We had a deal and it was working. Donald Trump removed us without any reasoning other than catering to his right-wing base and Israel didn’t like the treaty. The treaty kept us out of war with Iran. Israel views a war between the United States and Iran in their best interest. The Israeli government will not mind us spilling our blood in their national interest.

And when it comes to dealing with the incoming administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has congratulated Joe Biden…we just don’t know what for.

Bibi tweeted, 12 hours after U.S. media called the election for Biden, “Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel.”

So, what did he congratulate them for? Netanyahu is playing it safe and parsing his words. He’s congratulating his old friend while not angering Donald Trump…which has to be one of the most ridiculous positions a foreign leader feels he has to take. It’s also cowardly. Wait until Bibi finds out his dogs are German Shepherds.

Shortly after the mysterious congratulatory tweet to Biden, Bibi tweeted a thank you to Donald Trump without mentioning the fact Trump is a loser who will be leaving the White House very soon.

Joe Biden has to come in and fix things Donald Trump has fucked up. He has to work on our immigration policies. He has to clean up a lot of bullshit funding for Trump’s racist border wall. He has to get us back into the Paris Climate Accords. He has to fix the treaty with Iran that made the world a safer place. He has to smack Putin around a little just so he knows his place. He has to remove us from Kim Jong Un’s butthole. He has to get our allies to stop laughing at us. He has to repair our relationship with NATO and show the world we favor our allies over dictators. And eventually, he has to declare Canadian cheese is not a threat to our national security. And now, he has to include crap Netanyahu is doing.

Israel may not be to blame…but they probably are. If they were a true ally, they would have waited until Joe Biden was in office. He wasn’t even receiving security briefings that president-elects usually receive. Those didn’t start until today. I predict Israel and Iran will be mentioned in every briefing Biden receives between now and the end of his presidency.

We give Israel over $3 billion a year. Unlike other nations where we give aid to in quarterly installments, we give our yearly donation to Israel all at once and at the beginning of the year. We give Israel more than we give to sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined. And when we give money to Israel, they turn around and put it into New York Federal Reserve so it can start earning interest immediately. We have to borrow to give Israel this money which means we spend over $100 million paying interest on it. And our aid to Egypt and Jordan is contingent upon their treaties with Israel. Our aid to the Palestinians is so they can rebuild their communities after Israel destroys them with weapons we paid for. Additionally, Israel can and has blocked our sales of weapons to other Middle East nations while selling weapons to China that can be used against us…and they do this without telling us.

And then, they murder top officials in nation’s hostile to the U.S, dragging us into their bullshit. And they’re our friends?

One thing President Joe Biden should do, which he won’t, is cut the amount of aid we give to Israel.

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Blame It On Nancy

cjones01172020

Yesterday, A Canadian CEO blamed Donald Trump for the lives lost by Iran shooting down the Ukrainian airliner.

Iran was responding to the United States killing its top general while he was on his way to the airport in Baghdad. The general was killed after Donald Trump ordered his assassination. The CEO, Michael McCain, chief executive of Canadian food packaging company Maple Leaf Foods, says one of his colleagues lost his wife and 11-year-old son when the airliner was shot down.

Iran has taken responsibility for shooting down the plane a few hours after shooting rockets at bases in Iraq where American troops where stationed. Iran’s attack was a response to Trump’s ordered hit.

McCain, who’s probably going to incur Republican wrath for his last name alone, lashed out on Trump through Twitter, and not just his private account, but his company’s. He said the 57 Canadians killed in this strike were “collateral damage” of a “narcissist in Washington.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “I think if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families.”

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said that innocent civilians died because they were caught in Trump’s “unwanted military tit for tat.”

I think they’re all correct unless Donald Trump proves them wrong and shows us the “imminent attack” the general was planning on “four embassies.” Now, Trump says that imminent attack doesn’t matter. It does. If Trump can’t prove Iran was planning an imminent attack against the United States, then he’s responsible for the deaths of 176 people (not counting all the children dying at the border, people killed by Nazis, or right-wing mass shooters).

What was Donald Trump’s reason for ordering an assassination on Iran’s highest-ranking general? It was impeachment. Donald Trump has shown his poker face and referenced impeachment while talking about assassinating the general.

While Iran is to blame for the plane being shot down, so is Donald Trump. He escalated this even before the assassination.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a deal in place that kept Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and part of that deal was that United Nations inspectors had access to their nuclear facilities? What if that deal mothballed 80% of their nuclear enrichment program? What if those aspects of the deal lasted decades and Iran was abiding by it? We had that. What sort of dumbass would ditch that? Donald Trump ditched it and increased sanctions on Iran. Now, Iran is abandoning all promises of the deal and is revving up its nuclear program again. Donald Trump says the world is a safer place. Seriously.

I’m actually surprised that Trump hasn’t felt cornered enough to blame Nancy Pelosi for the crisis in Iran. After all, he wouldn’t have ordered that hit if impeachment hadn’t passed.

Trump can’t blame Nancy, but his response to impeachment is the reason for this current crisis with Iran and why 176 people in a Ukrainian airliner are now dead. There was no “imminent attack.” There was only impeachment.

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.

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In Love With Terrorists

CNN01122020

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.

Do you recall the buildup to the invasion of Iraq? The nation was unified after 9/11 and there was little opposition to going to war in Afghanistan, where we are still at war. After that, the Bush/Cheney administration wanted to invade Iraq and tried to blame that nation for 9/11 on top of a lot of other lies, like weapons of mass destruction and a nuclear program. As we found out later, none of that was true. But during the buildup, if you even asked a question about the validity of invading a nation that never attacked us, there was a good chance you’d be castigated for “enabling” or supporting the enemy. Americans who were skeptical, such as myself, were accused of not supporting the troops. George W. Bush himself said, “You’re either with us or against us.”

They used that sort of pressure to build a brand new government agency and a massive privacy-invasive law.

Today, if you ask for a justification for why Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iran’s top general, you may be accused of “being in love with the enemy,” which is what Republican Doug Collins said on Fox News.

Or, if you ask anyone in the administration if Donald Trump is telling the truth that four embassies were being targeted by that general, Republican Nikki Haley might say you’re “mourning Soleimani.”

Or, if you point out the administration has yet to provide any information on what they claim was an “imminent attack,” Republican Lindsey Graham will accuse you of “enabling the enemy.”

We have the right to ask questions and demand accountability from our government. As Dave Mustaine once famously asked, “It’s still ‘We the people,’ right?”

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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Worst Security Briefing Ever

cjones01142020

We’ve talked about this.

You can’t just lie nilly-willy regarding national security and foreign policy the same way you do about crowd sizes and TV ratings.

Wednesday in a closed-door briefing for Congress, officials in the Trump administration laid out the justifications for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran’s top military commander. Many representatives left that briefing saying, “What the fuck?”

The briefings were led by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which doesn’t give you a lot of confidence that they were honest and straightforward.

While one Democrat said the briefing hadn’t disclosed anything they didn’t already know from watching cable news, one Republican described it as “insulting and demeaning.”

Utah Senator Mike Lee said it was the “worst briefing I’ve seen” on a military issue in his entire nine years serving in the Senate and that he, along with Rand Paul, is now going to support Senator Tim Kaine’s proposal to limit the president’s military authority.

One representative said, “They gave us no time, place, or method” when describing the Soleimani threat the administration keeps claiming was “imminent.” Instead of an explanation or a timeline of how imminent the threat was, the congressman said, “we got a historical overview of decades-long malign activities from Iran. It begs the question: Was the attack on Soleimani more in retribution for what he’s done, or what he was planning?” And, if you listen to the Trump team, that’s what they do every time. They go into Soleimani and Iran’s past. We know they’re bad. Tell us what bad stuff was about to happen.

For that, Trump went from one embassy was going to be attacked to four. No one who attended those briefings, including those who gave it, has backed up that claim.

It’s been reported that during the briefing, Haspel told one representative to “read the report,” when asked about the “imminent” threat. After being asked a tough question by a Democrat, she ignored the question to take a softball from a Republican. It’s even been reported that she “shushed” a representative.

I won’t be shushed. Not by the likes of these people. You put our nation in more danger and you need to explain why. According to Senator Lee, the briefers told them that they “need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public.” Lindsey Graham, who later compared Trump’s slurred address on the attack to Ronald Reagan’s tear-down-this-wall speech, said anyone who doesn’t fall into lockstep behind Trump on this is “empowering the enemy.” This after Republican Doug Collins accused Democrats of being in love with terrorists and former United Nation’s Ambassador Nikki Haley claiming they were mourning Soleimani.

Keep in mind, Trump, his administration, and Republicans are telling us to trust information (they won’t share) from the sources whose credibility they’ve spent the past three years destroying. That’s like making fun of Rand Paul’s hair, which Trump has done, then asking his advice for a stylist.

Since we can give up all hope of Donald Trump and his base ever realizing it, then the adults in his room should: You can’t just spout off a lie to lawmakers regarding national security, terrorism, and foreign policy as if you’re speaking at one of Trump’s hate rallies where you can just make shit up on the spot and not worry about anyone you’re selling it to asking for a follow-up. You can’t tell lawmakers, even some Republicans (shockingly), don’t worry about the details and just trust us.

The security of this nation is a lot more important than Donald Trump’s ego. For that matter, the safety of this country is more important than Donald Trump’s presidency.

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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Imminent Lies

cjones01132020

Would Donald Trump blame Meghan Markle for her and Prince Harry’s decision to leave the Royal Family? Trump? Blame a black woman for something? Duh! It’s not like it’d be the first time…or the second, or the third, or the fourth, or the…etc, etc. After all, he is afraid of strong black women. They’re “nasty.”

I expect Donald Trump to issue a public opinion about Harry and Meghan any time now. It’s something that doesn’t concern or affect him, so it’s right up his alley. Let me remind you, back in the 80’s, he openly discussed having sex with Harry’s mother and wrote in The Art of the Comeback: “I only have one regret in the women department, that I never had the opportunity to court Lady Diana Spencer.” Court? That’s how you know he used a ghostwriter. According some royal sources, Diana felt “stalked” by Trump and it was “creepy.” Yeah, we know the feeling.

He also expressed LOTS of opinions about Kate Middleton being caught by the paparazzi sunbathing in the nude. But maybe that’s acceptable because he’s also expressed several opinions about his two daughters’ bodies.

As Trump scrambles to justify his assassination of Soleimani, he builds one lie on top of another without regard to the appearance of tell-tale signs. As it’s been proven multiple times, Donald Trump is NOT a good negotiator, having been owned by people from Nancy Pelosi to Kim Jong Un to the plaintiffs in lawsuits against the Trump Foundation and Trump University. The man doesn’t have a poker face. So when Trump goes from the claim that Soleimani was targeting one American embassy…to FOUR the very next day, you know he’s making it up as he goes along. It makes you wonder why he didn’t go ahead and claim a thousand? We don’t have a thousand embassies, but who cares? He made the claim at a Trump rally. Next thing you know, Lou Dobbs would be on TV claiming we have a thousand embassies and anyone who doesn’t agree loves terrorists.

This “four embassies” claim presents two of the problems with having Donald Trump as president (sic) of the United States of America. His history of lying has destroyed any credibility the office may have given him. Even in an international crisis, friends, allies, and enemies alike are skeptical of anything Trump claims.

The other problem is that he can’t negotiate or sell. Sure, stupid people buy his shit. There’s probably a Trump shirt-wearing fucknut right now purchasing $15.00 plastic straws to sock it to snowflakes, but the mullahs of Iran may not be as gullible, stupid, or pathetic.

Trump’s own administration has refused to say if four embassies were targeted. They claim it’s classified, even though Trump has declassified it by saying it. They say the president is correct about “imminent threats,” go into a long repeat of Soleimani’s past crimes and never back up Trump on the four embassies thing. They never explicitly state Soleimani was targeting “FOUR” American embassies. There’s gotta be someone in the administration dumb and gung ho enough with a quote to repeat Trump’s claim. Where’s Kellyanne?

And, with the way Trump projects, I’m waiting to find out it was him who was targetting four American embassies.

When will we find out if Trump’s claim is true? Never. Even Iran would step first to admit they were wrong and messed up before Donald Trump ever would. Look at the airliner situation? Iran finally claimed credit last night after initially denying it.

If it was Trump, he would have blamed a black woman.

Creative note: I’ve been sitting on the Cats! joke for two weeks. Originally, it was going to be for George Soros. Then earlier this week, Trevor Noah used it for Soleimani. Damn him! But I figured after a few days had past and it’s not my punchline, that I can still use it.

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

Watch me draw.

More Fun With Sharpies

cjones01122020

You would think if someone is justified in their actions, then they wouldn’t have to lie to support them. Even with issues as serious as foreign policy and national security, Donald Trump lies.

This week, Donald Trump’s lies and misrepresentation of President Barack Obama’s record resembles what he did to that weather map with a Sharpie. Donald Trump lies.

Donald Trump claimed the nuclear agreement with Iran would have paved the way for them to build a nuclear weapon. Yet for some reason, if you’re a Republican, an agreement that Iran was abiding with that prohibited them from building nuclear weapons and imposed international inspections is much worse than no agreement. Now, Iran says they will no longer abide by the agreement Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of merely because it was an Obama thing. Donald Trump lies

Donald Trump claimed the agreement expires shortly anyway. If shortly is five years, then yes. Several aspects of the agreement do expire. But, the agreement is still in place leaving at least another 20 years of international inspections on Iran. Donald Trump lies.

Donald Trump claimed that President Obama gave Iran $150 billion…and then another billion, as part of the agreement. This is an old one repeated too much from Republicans. What Obama gave them were Iranian assets frozen since 1979. It was their money. On top of that, it’s closer to $60 billion than $150. Donald Trump lies.

Then, Donald Trump claimed the money “Obama gave them” funded the missiles that rained on bases in Iraq this week. Iran has had a ballistic missile program for decades. If you can blame Obama for that, then you can blame Donald Trump for instigating this entire mess that shot down a Ukrainian airliner.

Not only is Trump not taking national security seriously, but he’s also using this crisis to continue his petty and jealous crusade against Obama. Donald Trump should spend more time actually working as president than simmering in jealousy that Obama is better looking, better read, a better family man, more popular, more accomplished, smarter, more honest, and just an all-around better person than he is.

Republican congressman Doug Collins, who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, went on Lou Dobbs’ idiotic show this week and said, “Democrats are in love with terrorists. We see that they mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families who are the ones who suffered under Soleimani. That’s a problem.” Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations also claimed Democrats were mourning for Soleimani.

I haven’t seen any Democrats mourn for Soleimani but I do know of one politician who has attacked Gold Star families. That politician is Donald Trump.

Trump butt-poodle Lindsey Graham said that questioning the briefing lawmakers received and voting to remove Trump’s authority to assassinate government officials from other nations as “enabling the enemy.” Lindsey knows a thing or two about enabling.

After Osama bin Laden was killed by direct order from President Obama, Republicans lost their shit trying to take away all credit from the president. I don’t recall any Democrat accusing them of enabling or mourning for bin Laden.

In case you’re a Republican, let me give you a short tutorial: When Donald Trump and other Republicans lie to justify their actions, they’re not justified.

Donald Trump lies.

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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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Reasonable Radicals

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I am not defending Iran. They have instigated a lot of what’s happening right now. They are radical and religious fundamentalists. They will probably strike again but through their proxies. And we will probably strike back through our proxies (Yes. We have them too).

But you have irrational Iran, with whom it took months if not years to negotiate the nuclear treaty, and then you have Donald Trump. The man who tore up that agreement because it was negotiated by the Obama administration. Keep in mind, Iran was in compliance with this agreement which Trump said wasn’t good enough…and who then signed a piece of paper with North Korea that didn’t say anything, and then proclaimed it a great success.

Donald Trump is an idiot. He was given the option of taking out Iran’s top general to guide him to select a more rational and viable option. Of course, the U.S. military forgot for just a minute whom they were dealing with.

Now, Trump actually has an opportunity for a win. Iran hit back, just like they promised. They get to save face because they hit us in Iraq and at the bases where the U.S. attack on their general occurred. And, nobody was hurt. Iran actually informed Iraq, who shares those bases with us, of the impending attack two hours beforehand. Iraq then informed us. It’s like that time Donald Trump bombed runways in Syria and let Russia know first, who then told Syria. Iran wanted to hit us without it actually being the “harsh revenge” they were promising. They purposely aimed to avoid casualties.

Iran has a supposed victory and so does Trump if he takes it. Nobody was hurt. Trump can claim it’s not worth a retaliation. But, he can screw that up too by taking too much of a victory lap.

The most fun thing out of this will be how the Trump fucknuts react. If Trump doesn’t do anything, they will defend that as he won and a response wasn’t necessary. If he strikes back at Iraq, they’ll scream he’s defending America and didn’t have a choice. Why, only a weak president wouldn’t strike back. In about an hour after this blog is posted, we’ll find out which way they have to go.

The only problem here is if Trump does declare it a victory and the crisis is over, we’ll forget about it tomorrow and the focus will go back to his impeachment. Ya’ know, that Kim Jong Un sure has been getting mouthy lately.

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

Watch me draw.

The Iran Card

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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.

Donald Trump has made it clear his assassination (and yes. It was an assassination) has nothing to do with anything except his impeachment.

Donald Trump can’t stop his impeachment because it’s already happened. He and his supporters just don’t seem to understand that part yet. Donald Trump is an impeached president.

And once again, Donald Trump projects. As soon as he claimed Obama would start a war with Iran to get reelected, we should have known he’d start a war with Iran to get reelected. I’m telling you, I think the guy was born in Kenya.

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

Watch me draw.