Lies

Santoscchio

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s another Pinocchio cliché. I’m sorry. Even I’m not a fan of using Pinocchio for liars, but I made an exception for this.

When George Santos pleaded “not guilty,” my first thought was, “There’s another lie.” And when Santos met the press yesterday, he lied again. First, copying Donald Trump, he called it a “witch hunt.” You would think that if it was just a “witch hunt,” then federal investigators wouldn’t have been able to come up with 13 counts on four charges. Then, Santos whined that he was being charged while the Biden family collected millions from foreign governments.

Let’s address that. Sure, members of the Biden family have done business with foreign governments. That’s not a crime, but if you listen to Republicans, Hunter Biden owning a laptop is a crime. And while the president’s son and brother have done business with foreign companies, there’s no evidence President Joe Biden has EVER collected money from a foreign government or foreign business. And if he has in the past, it would have to be proved that he committed a crime. If doing business and raking in millions from foreign entities is illegal, then how come the entire Trump family isn’t currently in prison for doing it? Donald Trump collected money from foreign businesses and governments WHILE he was president (sic). Jared Kushner, who worked directly with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was given $2 billion directly from the Crown Prince immediately after leaving his job at the White House. Hunter Biden has NEVER worked in a presidential administration.

And, even if Hunter’s laptop produced evidence of President Biden taking in money from China while smoking crack with teenage hookers, it doesn’t let George Santos off the hook. We don’t stop charging people with murder because OJ got away with it.

Santos has played the whatabout before. When asked where the $700,000 came from that he lent to his own congressional campaign, Santos dodged with a whatabout, saying, “I’ll tell you where it didn’t come from. It didn’t come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma.” Take note that none of that answers the question…Where did the $700,000 come from?

And George Santos should be charged. Santos is notorious for lying. He lied about where he went to high school. He lied about where he went to college. He lied about working on Wall Street. He lied about being Jewish. He lied about running an animal charity. He lied about being married. He lied about his mother dying in 9/11. He lied about ripping off veterans. He lied about bouncing checks. He lied about being a landlord. He’s lied about his own name. He lied about being a drag queen. He lied about his grandmother dying in the Holocaust. He lied about having employees dying in the Pulse nightclub shooting. He lied about being in Hannah Montana. He lied about being in a movie with Uma Thurman (too bad it wasn’t Kill George). He lied about being a Broadway producer. He lied about being a journalist in Brazil. He lied about being an assassination target. He lied about getting support from Senator Kyrsten Sinema saying, “Hang in there, George.” But, lying in itself isn’t a crime but, sometimes it is.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is charging Santos with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. Does that sound like a witch hunt?

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a press release, “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself. He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives.”

Santos has been accused of fraudulently collecting more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits while he was employed. These benefits were created for people who lost their jobs due to Covid. Ironically, Santos has sponsored a bill to clamp down on abuse of unemployment benefits. I guess he would know how the cheaters cheat it.

He’s also been accused of using campaign funds for personal expenses and lying on ethics forms about his income. The use of campaign funds is a very complicated web he wove of lies and tricks that were used like a shell game.

But the seven charges of wire fraud are the most serious as it carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. And if Santos is found guilty, then the judge gets to choose whether he serves the sentences concurrently or consecutively. In case you’re a Republican, “concurrently” means at the same time, and “consecutively” means one after the other. In case you’re a Republican, you really should know this.

Santos pleaded not guilty yesterday and was released on $500,000 bail. He was ordered to turn in his passport, but even if he was going to flee the country, he wouldn’t be able to return to Brazil because guess what. He’s wanted there too.

Guess what again. More charges may be in Santo’s future as he’s also being investigated by the state of New York, the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, and the Nassau County district attorney. Another thing you should know if you’re a Republican is all the nations that don’t have an extradition treaty with the United States.

When you lie, scheme, and worm as much as Santos does, the odds are some of that shit is going to be illegal. Nobody is shocked that Santos has committed crimes. The only thing shocking is that the system appears to be working. It’s just too bad that neither political party worked during the 2022 campaigns to expose Santos.

And when you look at George Santos, Donald Trump, Duncan Hunter, and Chris Collins, fraud is a Republican thing.

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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Debating MAGA

During the debate between Democratic candidate Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance for the open Ohio senate seat, Ryan pointed out that Vance has claimed Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is a “credible” news source. Vance lied and said he had never said that.

During the debate between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican candidate Herschel Walker for Georgia’s senate seat, Walker lied about being a cop. He’s also lied about how many children he’s had, graduating at the top of his class when he never did graduate from college, beating his wife, and paying for abortions.

During the debate between Democratic candidate Val Demmings and Republican Senator Marco Rubio for Florida’s senate seat, Rubio lied and said Demmings supported abortion “on demand, for any reason, at any time, including the moment before birth.” 

During the debate between Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, Dixon lied about supporting election results after she cast doubts on the 2020 election.

During the debate for the governorship of Wisconsin between Democratic Governor Tony Evers and GOP candidate Tim Michels, Michels claimed that abortions are being committed “at the time of birth” and Evers favors allowing “a doctor to murder a baby after birth.”

During the debate between Utah Senator Mike Lee and Independent Evan McMullin, Lee lied about working with the White House to overturn the 2020 election.

These are just a few examples of Republican lies in debates leading up to the midterm elections.

Republicans lie, especially the ones who tie themselves to the MAGA agenda of fascism. They lie about election results, their records, and their opponents’ records. They will lie about abortion, guns, and climate change. They will lie about the color of the sky if it suits their purposes. And that’s probably why Arizona Democratic candidate for governor Katie Hobbs refuses to debate Republican MAGA goon Kari Lake, who still insists there was massive election fraud in 2020 and that Donald Trump won.

Donald Trump has taught Republicans that they can lie and say pretty much whatever they want. While their opponents and the media will fact-check them, MAGA media will support their lies. Besides, their supporters don’t listen to legitimate news outlets anyway.

Donald Trump told over 30,000 lies when he was president (sic) yet his supporters believed every single one of them. Trump supporters believe he created the Obama economy despite being alive throughout the entire Obama administration. They believe there are invisible airplanes. They believe there were invisible airports during the American Revolution. They believe Trump had the largest inauguration crowd ever. They believe it didn’t rain during the inauguration. They believed his lies about the coronavirus, that it was “under control,” “disappearing,” “like the flu,” and that hydroxychloroquine and bleach up your ass were solutions. They believe he moved a hurricane with a Sharpie. They believe Trump didn’t know about payments to Stormy Daniels. They believe President Obama started the family-separation policy. They believe the noise from windmills causes cancer. They believe he’s the one who got Veterans Choice health care signed into law, and not President Obama. They still believe his big healthcare plan was coming in “two weeks.” They believe he was named “Michigan Man of the Year.” And they believe Trump won the 2020 election.

There are millions of Americans who believe Donald Trump won the 2020 election despite there being zero evidence to support the claim. There are millions of Republicans who believe whatever’s on Hunter Biden’s laptop proves his dad is corrupt, despite the fact they’ve never seen any evidence to support their belief or can tell you what exactly is on the laptop. And there are still millions of Republicans who believe President Obama was born in Kenya.

The most dangerous thing about these lies is that they’re using them to destroy democracy. They’re using the voter fraud lies of 2020 to make voting and even registering to vote more difficult for non-white Americans. Even the Republicans who admit Biden won are using the voter fraud lies to make it harder to vote in elections.

America, don’t vote for liars. Don’t vote for people who are full of shit. Don’t vote for people who are trying to destroy our democracy. Basically, don’t vote for Republicans.

Music Note: I listened to The Cars, Audioslave, and the B-52’s.

Creative note: I didn’t think of this idea until after I woke up this morning.

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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Disinformation Board

In their criticism of the Department of Homeland Security’s newly-created Disinformation Governance Board, Republicans have one thing right. It’s a stupid name. Maybe the agency thought that “governance” would explain the anti-disinformation part, but they failed to take into account that Republicans don’t do well with the comprehension of things. And it’s not like they want to comprehend anything anyway when they have a new talking point or red meat to throw out to their rabid base.

So, what is this disinformation board stuff? I had the same question when I saw a conservative cartoon on it, and then another and another and another, etc, etc, which meant Fox News must be all over it. If you want to know what Fox News is talking about, just read the conservative political cartoons at GoComics. It’ll save you a lot of time and you’ll get a huge laugh out of it as conservative cartoons are hilarious, though that’s inadvertent.

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified in multiple Congressional hearings last week where he mentioned the Disinformation Governance Board. Yeah, it’s a stupid name. Mayorkas said the board was created to combat misinformation from human smugglers and to counter Russian cyber and election misinformation.

Mayorkas said, “We have just established a mis- and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat, not only to election security but to our homeland security.”

Why, golly gee willikers, that sounds like a good idea. Who doesn’t want to fight coyotes smuggling humans in from the southern border and Russian attacks on our country? Republicans, that’s who.

Elon Musk said the creation of the board was “messed up.” Elon might as well be a Republican now because as the GOP became more racist, tried to overturn a Democratic election to install an Oompa-Loompa fascist dictator, defended Russia for attacking our nation’s elections, banned abortion by stealing Supreme Court seats, created new laws to stop black people from voting, and is now at war with a cartoon mouse, has found the Democratic Party too extreme.

Republicans also have issues with the board’s executive director, Nina Jankowicz, because she’s praised efforts to combat coronavirus misinformation on social media and expressed skepticism about the relevance of Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Republicans are also comparing this to the “Ministry of Truth” in George Orwell’s novel, “1984.”

Senator and white nationalist terrorist power-fister Josh Hawley said, “Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans’ speech its top priority.”

Senator Rob Portman said, “I do not believe that the United States government should turn the tools that we have used to assist our allies counter foreign adversaries onto the American people. Our focus should be on bad actors like Russia and China, not our own citizens.”

But the board isn’t policing speech from citizens of this nation. Its focus is on foreign actors like Russian election meddlers and human smugglers from south of the border. Was the Mayorkas’ microphone not turned on during the hearings? Actually, Republicans didn’t ask a lot of questions about the board during those hearings choosing to instead express anger and gaslight it. And there’s the irony.

The Republicans are lying about a board created to combat lies. Republicans don’t get irony.

And just like the way Republicans were angrier with the FBI for going after suspected Russian spies than they were angry with the actual Russian spies, they’re more upset at a board created to combat lies than they are with the lies. Republicans are more upset with this board than they were with Pizzagate.

Republicans are way off base here and are claiming (another lie) that the board is going to have some sort of authority or ability to shut Americans up. Yeah, I wish. It’s more of that typical Republican doomsday shit where they tell their base, “They’re coming to getcha. Vote Republican.”

Mayorkas has explained, “The board does not have any operational authority or capability,” he said. “What it will do is gather together best practices in addressing the threat of disinformation from foreign state adversaries, from the cartels, and disseminate those best practices to the operators that have been executing in addressing this threat for years.”

Mayorkas said the board was part of an effort whose “goal is to bring the resources of the department together to address this threat,” specifically citing misinformation disseminated to Spanish speakers. 

As I said, Republicans weren’t listening. Jim Jordan asked the director if the board would look into “misinformation” spread by Dr. Anthony Fauci and…wait for it…Hunter Biden’s laptop. Seriously. You can’t talk about shit in Washington without a Republican bringing up Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Jordan is especially opposed to Jankowicz leading the board as she once tweeted that Hunter Biden’s laptop should be viewed as a “Trump campaign product” because of top Trump allies’ role in pushing it. Again, this Republican was missing the irony that during his questioning, he was a Trump ally pushing Hunter Biden’s laptop as a campaign product.

Jankowica tweeted last week, “one of the key reasons the Board was established, is to maintain the [DHS’s] commitment to protecting free speech, privacy, civil rights, & civil liberties.” So, pushing right-wing bullshit is NOT part of the board’s agenda?

Republicans don’t understand free speech. They don’t understand that no one owes them a platform to lie. They don’t understand that organizing a terrorist attack to topple our government isn’t free speech or protected in the Constitution. They don’t comprehend that accusing a political opponent of a crime, like raping children, isn’t freedom of speech and is actually libelous.

Republicans are the party of lies, conspiracy theories, and bullshit. They tell us that Russia didn’t attack our nation to help Donald Trump win an election, except Russia did exactly that. They tell us there are millions of incidents of voter fraud in the 2020 election, which is another lie. They’re changing voting laws based on the election fraud lie. They lie that public schools are teaching Critical Race Theory and are indoctrinating elementary students into becoming gay. It has become impossible for a Republican to talk about any issue without lying. Don’t believe me? Then why don’t you have a nice tall glass of bleach?

Let’s not even look at the lunatics in the party like Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, or Madison Cawthorn. Ignore Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Rand Paul for a minute. Let’s look at the leaders. Mitch McConnell lied about Supreme Court seats as he was stealing them. He’s currently lying about the filibuster because he’s going to destroy that after the GOP takes the Senate in order to ban abortion. Kevin McCarthy lies about telling Trump he’s responsible for the January 6 attack, despite there being tapes of him saying that. And speaking of Trump, he told over 30,000 while he was president (sic).

If there’s a new agency created to go after liars, then why are Republicans so afraid? Oh, yeah. Because they’re liars. Republicans are the enemies of truth.

Music Note: Today’s cartooning music was Better Than Ezra which might be some more disinformation because I don’t know if they’re actually better than someone named Ezra.

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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Don’t Look Up

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Did you miss me? I took a couple days off through Christmas. Do you remember the last time a day went by, less enough two when you didn’t get a new cartoon from me? I can’t. Instead of drawing cartoons, I hung out by myself during Christmas weekend eating Chinese food and watching movies.

I can’t remember everything I watched but what stood out for me was Klaus, a Boy Called Christmas, Hawkeye (the Marvel series), Encanto, Love Hard, and Don’t Look Up.

Don’t Look Up has been the subject of a lot of conversations since it premiered on Netflix. It’s trending on Twitter. There’s a lot of debate, not just over the message in it, but whether it’s a good movie or not. It seems that most critics hate it. But what do critics know?

If you haven’t seen it or heard about it, Don’t Look Up is a comedy on Netflix that is a parody of a lot of the shit we’ve lived through over the past few years.

I’m going to try not to give any spoilers, but if you haven’t seen the movie and want to be totally surprised and entertained, don’t read the rest of the blog:

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as an astronomer and he and his grad student, played by Jennifer Lawrence, discover a planet-killing comet headed directly to Earth and giving our planet six months before its doomsday. The world reacts with indifference.

Meryl Streep is president and after being informed of this planet-killing comet, she wants to “sit tight and assess.” She talks about her poll numbers during a briefing (who does that remind you of?). Her chief-of-staff is her son (who does that remind you of?), played by John Hill. They ignore the impending disaster (what does that remind you of?), they politicize the comet (what does that remind you of?), when the administration does want to focus on the comet, it’s only to distract from a political scandal (what does that remind you of?), they try to make money off the comet (would we do that?), and one of the scientists is villainized by the press and administration for alerting the public of the coming disaster (who does that remind you of?).

Eventually, two sides emerge. Those who believe the comet is coming and those who think it’s a hoax. “Don’t look up” becomes a right-wing slogan.

The film has an amazing cast. I think the best performances came from Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep. I felt Leo was out of his element in a comedy and failed to really deliver a great performance, which is unlike him. I guess as great of an actor as he is, he’s no Tom Hanks, or even a Will Ferrell, who can bounce back and forth from comedies to dramas. In fact, Will Ferrell’s movie-making partner, Adam McKay, wrote, directed, and produced this movie. Do NOT let that scare you off as he’s made other tongue-in-cheek dramedies like Vice. I hope Adam McKay keeps making political movies.

Despite this great cast of heavyweights, I didn’t think the movie was that good. At first, I felt that maybe just because it’s making an important point about climate change, the pandemic, Trumpers, capitalism, an unequal economic system, and just how vile the last administration was, that liberals are supposed to like it, never mind if it sucks. It’s a great concept. I made a post about it on Facebook and invited my friends to give their own reviews. They were mixed.

One friend asked me what it was that I didn’t like about it. That made me think. In fact, the entire thread made me think and I realized that even though it’s not a great movie, there were aspects I did like. Maybe this is another Big Lebowski where nobody likes it until years later.

Another friend on Twitter compared it to Dr. Strangelove, which many others have compared it to as well, except my pal called it a “TikTok Strangelove.” I think that’s pretty accurate. But, I think I found the real problem with this movie.

When Donald Trump began his presidential campaign in 2015, I struggled to caricature the guy. Then I realized I was trying to draw a cartoon of someone who was already a cartoon. I was trying to lampoon a human being who was more a collection of vile personality traits than he was a human being. So, I went crazier with the caricature. A lot of Republicans have pointed out that my Trump caricature doesn’t physically look like Trump, but they all know it’s Trump.

Often with Trump and his goons, I found it hard to draw satire on what was already insane. I would sometimes draw a cartoon of exactly what happened, without adding any spin. What I learned was that it’s hard to satirize satire. How do you parody insanity? So, I learned how to draw cartoons making fun of what was already a satire. It was a problem other cartoonists and Saturday Night Live had to figure out as well. What do you do when newspaper headlines look like they came from The Onion?

The problem with Don’t Look Up is that it doesn’t ever fully figure out how to satirize satire. People refusing to look up and see what’s coming straight at them isn’t that far removed from people voting for Donald Trump even after hundreds of thousands die from his ineptitude. This paradoy of denial isn’t that far removed from Republicans saying vaccines don’t work while the virus is literally killing the unvaccinated, most of whom are Republicans. The denial in the movie isn’t that far removed from people denying they lost an election.

It’s hard to use Don’t Look Up as satire when here in reality, people are refusing to look up. People in this nation refuse to see what’s right in front of them. Documentaries of the Trump administration are funnier, in a scary way, than the movie Don’t Look Up.

Don’t Look Up uses the tagline, “Based on truly possible events.” But here in the real world, the Trump administration was an actual event. The storming of the Capitol by white nationalists to overturn the election and install Trump as a fascist dictator was an actual event.

The film Don’t Look Up probably hopes to make people look up instead of just entertaining those who have been looking up for the past six years. This film will not change minds. I know this from experience as I don’t think I’ve changed one mind with my cartoons over the past six years. Don’t Look Up will remain a film for the choir it preaches to. It’s not like Trumpers would understand this movie or see themselves in it anyway.

But, this much analysis means this movie deserves another chance. I’m going to watch it again. If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to watch it. Don’t just settle for my impression of it. Watch it, then let me know in the comments what you think.

Look up.

Music note: Today’s tunes to toon to were The Shins and the Smashing Pumpkins.

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 18 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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One America Haters

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According to a report by Reuters, which is an actual news source, AT&T helped create the far-right NON-news source One America News (OAN). Reuters’ report has been confirmed by CNN another legitimate news source. Why is this significant? Because AT&T owns CNN.

Full disclosure time: I work for CNN. I am a freelancer who provides one cartoon each week for the CNN Opinion newsletter. But I’m still a small fish in the grand scheme of things and I’m probably more on AT&T’s radar as a customer than I am as a freelance employee. Ya’ see, my wireless service is through AT&T. My iPhone was purchased at AT&T. My iPad was also purchased at AT&T. I am making payments to AT&T each month for my wireless service, iPhone, and iPad. Fun fact: This cartoon poking fun at AT&T was drawn on an iPad purchased from AT&T. Also, this cartoon making fun of Facebook has already been posted on Facebook. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Anyway…CNN has covered this story as they should. They cover criticism of competing networks and other news outlets all the time. As fair and responsible journalists, they are required to cover it. Check out this clip of Don Lemon and Oliver Darcy. Lemon and Darcy are not the only CNN people to tackle this subject. Don Lemon said what airs from OAN is as “corrosive as anything that comes from Facebook.”

One America News is NOT a news source. It’s a conspiracy network, but AT&T, which owns Time Warner, probably views it as just another revenue stream to put on TV like Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodean (I don’t know who owns those but they’re on AT&T platforms). Now, with OAN, we have the Yee-Haw Network.

Robert Herring, who is the founder and chief executive of OAN, has testified that the inspiration to launch his network in 2013 came from AT&T executives.

AT&T-owns television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV. AT&T is the largest communications company on the planet. They’re bigger than Oprah. According to Herring in a 2019 deposition, “They (AT&T) told us they wanted a conservative network. They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other (liberals) side. When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.” Now, according to a 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant, AT&T accounts for 90 percent of OAN’s revenue.

Herring has testified he was offered $250 million for OAN in 2019. Without the DirecTV deal, the accountant said under oath, the network’s value “would be zero.”

Take one moment to let this sink in: If it wasn’t for the owners of CNN, how much would Fox News be worth? Fox News is on those same platforms.

AT&T may be looking to break CNN off from Time Warner and sell it to pay off debts, which makes you wonder if AT&T views CNN, one of the nation’s best news outlets, the same way they view OAN, one of America’s most notorious bullshit outlets. Corporations may only see dollar signs.

While AT&T can claim responsibility for facts and journalism being provided to the world from the USA’s best news network, they’re also responsible for helping push lies and conspiracy theories about the Big Lie Trump won the election and spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.

AT&T defended itself saying it’s not a revenue stream for OAN and they initially refused to carry the network on DirecTV, but did cave after OAN sued them. AT&T says they don’t control any programming and any decisions to continue carrying OAN will be up to DirecTV, which has been spun off into its own separate company….with 70 percent still owned by AT&T (somebody does research. Cough. Cough).

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement issued on Wednesday, “We are outraged to learn that AT&T has been funneling tens of millions of dollars into OAN since the network’s inception. As a result, AT&T has caused irreparable damage to our democracy. The press should inform the American public with facts, not far-right propaganda and conspiracy theories.”

AT&T may not be the press, but they are caretakers of journalism and a media giant. There should be corporate responsibility. Hell, I get mad at news outlets for publishing far-right conspiracy MAGAt cartoons, and the syndicates that distribute them. For syndicates like Cagle Cartoon and my former agency, Creators Syndicate, there’s no accepted responsibility for poisoning our nation with toxic bullshit. While all sides should be presented equally, there should be a line that stops at conspiracy theories. It’s bad enough news outlets have to quote Donald Trump.

I’m sure executives at AT&T aren’t writing copy for OAN, which is a network for people who find Tucker Carlson too woke. But, according to these reports, there wouldn’t be an OAN to poison our nation if it wasn’t for the efforts and enthusiasm of executives at AT&T.

And if AT&T gets mad at me for this, Hey, AT&T guys….I’m just an insignificant small fry. Nobody cares about me. Nobody reads this blog. Look at Don Lemon! Yeah, that guy was doing all sorts of smack-talking about you, and he was doing it in front of millions of viewers. Did you hear him say “corrosive”? You should go deal with him and ignore what’s going on over here. Tomorrow, I might go back to making jokes about Nickelback. I’m crazy. Nobody listens to me. Also, have I told you how much I love the iPad you sold me? It’s really wonderful and the iPhone, don’t get me started. I love the way my iPad rides on my iPhone’s hotspot when I leave my home…and did I mention I bought Airpods too? See? I’m not that bad. Right? Hello?

Another fun fact: It’s time for me to draw this week’s cartoon for CNN. Pray for me.

Creative note: I was going to put AT&T’s spokesperson, Lilly, in this cartoon. She’s to AT&T what Flo is to that insurance company and the gecko is to that other insurance company (see how well advertising works?). But, I didn’t know if Lilly was known well enough and I kinda have a crush on her. So, she escaped my wrath unscathed this time. Lilly, call me.

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 FIVE 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 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw:

Republican Confessions

Cjones07262021

Republicans will usually pick a lie, or rather a stream of bullshit, if you will…and stick to it for a few decades, like trickle-down theory. They don’t usually fold and collapse on a lie within a year and a half. But that’s exactly what they’re doing regarding vaccines.

Republican bullshit is inconsistent as well. Since President Biden came into office, they’ve been attacking vaccines as unsafe and the product of an overreaching tyrannical government gone wild while at the same time, demanding that everyone thank Donald Trump for giving us the vaccines. Trust me on this, Donald Trump didn’t give us the vaccines. Donald Trump is more the type who will give you something that will require you take a vaccine to kill it later.

But as I was saying, GOP bullshit is inconsistent. Right now at this very moment, a majority of Republicans believe there was massive election fraud in the 2020 election which switched ballots from Trump to Joe Biden, yet they don’t question the very same ballots for Republican victories in other offices. Maybe instead of checking Arizona ballots for traces of bamboo, they should be looking for White-Out.

But after months and months of being anti-vaxxers, Republicans are finally on board and are stressing that everyone should get the vaccine. They’re even pushing it on Fox News. Hell, even Sean Hannity is pushing it. That’s like Hannity admitting Earth isn’t flat. Wow!

Steve Scalise, the number two Republican moron in the House, did a photo-op this week of himself getting the vaccine. Scalise was eligible for the vaccine for the past six months, but hey…better late than stupid…or something like that. This is the same guy who nearly lost his life to gun violence who is still doing all he can to protect gun violence.

Why are Republicans, most of them, now promoting the vaccine after spending months of spreading misinformation? Because the delta variant is sweeping across the country, and with only 48 percent vaccinated, it may hit us hard. It may lead back to mask mandates. It may lead to another shutdown.

Or, it may lead to shutdowns only in places where the delta variant hits. Guess where it’s hitting. It’s hitting places where vaccination rates are low. Hmmmm…now where could those places be?

Over 86 percent of Democrats have received at least one shot. Only 52 percent of Republicans have taken at least one shot. In counties that voted for Joe Biden, 47 percent of the population have been vaccinated. In counties that went stupid, for Trump, only 35 percent have been vaxxed.

The numbers for infected are spiking again, and they’re spiking in places like Arkansas, Missouri, and…wait for it…Florida. They’re hitting Trump states.

Florida was the GOP success story. The state and its racist governor, Ron DeSantis, disregarded health guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. Large cities in the state followed guidelines, which kept infected numbers down, which the DeStupid took credit for while banning local governments from issuing mask mandates. Now his state is one of the hardest being hit and he’s pushing for vaccinations.

Republicans were faced with pissing off their base by promoting vaccines or watching their base die…literally. The Republican Party politicized the virus and campaigned for months to make it partisan and now…guess what. They succeeded and made it partisan. The virus is only killing Republicans. Good job, numbnuts.

But since Republicans are coming clean and finally admitting vaccines work, they should come clean on a bunch of other shit too, like tax cuts for the rich won’t increase deficits or that trickle-down works. How about financing two wars with tax cuts? Shouldn’t you guys admit the truth about this kind of stuff?

Oh yeah, how about climate change? The sun is being blocked out in Iceland from fires in western North America. You can literally see climate change. Admit it’s real and then, I don’t know…do something about it?

How about admitting you’re only changing voting laws because you can’t win elections anymore? Tell us the truth, assholes. You can admit that black lives matter…and maybe say it without the racist “all lives matter” bullshit. While we’re on the subject of race and civil rights, stop freaking out about critical race theory and trans athletes. Maybe admit your bathroom bills were homophobic hater bills.

Admit you never really cared about family values or evangelical stuff. Supporting Donald Trump just made you all a bunch of hypocrites. Stop attacking Dr. Fauci and making him public enemy number one.

Since it only took six months for Steve Scalise to get vaccinated, ask him about gun control. He’s had four years since he was shot so maybe now he can reconsider his stance on the issue.

Oh yeah…here’s a doozy: Trump lost.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are ZERO copies of my book in stock, which usually go for $45.00 each, signed. Another order will be placed soon. You may pre-order if you want. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Welcoming A Crisis

Cjones03232021

Fox News and other assorted devious evil fuckers are spreading lies about immigrants crashing our southern border while carrying the coronavirus because Joe Biden invited them. They did something similar to this in 2018 when they screamed about migrant caravans being funded by George Soros. That was a hat trick for Republicans because it was a lie, anti-Semitic, and racist.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s do it.

President Joe Biden did NOT invite immigrants to come here illegally. He didn’t even invite refugees to come to our border and legally request amnesty. Despite what Republicans and other idiots are saying, those are the facts.

Speaking of facts, it is legal to come to our border and request amnesty. What Donald Trump did was bar people from being able to request amnesty and stay in our country while waiting on a hearing. So, Donald Trump forced very desperate people to sneak into our nation. Some people died attempting this. Some children died attempting this. Donald Trump has blood on his hands.

Joe Biden did NOT open borders. This is a huge lie for Republicans and they can’t stop repeating it. He has talked about pathways to citizenship but he hasn’t made that promise to people who were not in this nation.

There is not a flood of immigrants bringing covid to our nation. It’s just not happening. This is another Fox News bullshit talking point. What do they think the quarantine is for that President Biden has implemented? You can’t scream that President Biden is allowing immigrants to bring the coronavirus here then complain about detaining immigrants. You can’t have both. Pick one. By the way, migrants are being tested at a positive rate of less than six percent. That’s a lower positive rate than Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Immigration has increased since President Biden stepped into office. And yes, a lot of it has do to with there being hope in Central America that there is a friendlier administration…or at least one that’s not going to dehumanize immigrants. Rumor is, unlike the last president (sic), President Joe Biden is NOT a racist asshole. We have had a hard time hiding this fact from Central America. President Biden is a nice guy. He wears a face mask to protect others. He doesn’t demonize or demagogue people. He owns dogs. Even Republicans like him. Ask Lindsey Graham.

The majority of immigrants being detained are children who arrived at the border alone. While we can be unhappy with the way they’re being detained, and where, the situation is not equivalent to the Trump policy where they ripped families apart and threw babies into jails to sleep on floors with tinfoil blankets. It’s not like where Trump and Stephen Miller forced children, children dammit, to go to court alone and represent themselves when they don’t even speak English. The Biden policy is NOT equivalent to the Trump policy that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions laid out as one of separating families in order to deter immigration. You don’t see anyone from the Biden administration pushing a policy designed to be cruel and giggling while explaining it, as Sessions did.

There are real issues to confront with the border. There are real issues with how the Biden administration is handling it. There are real issues about the transparency of this…but Republicans would rather use lies because President Biden is actually trying to do something about it. Again, he’s a good guy.

For Republicans, the only answer to this problem would be to deny everyone who isn’t white entry into this nation and to be as cruel as possible to the ones who do slip in. You have to remember, Donald Trump didn’t just try to combat illegal immigration. He tried to eliminate legal immigration for non-white people. This is the guy who said we need more people from Norway, described nations in Africa, Central America, and Haiti as “shithole” countries. He talked about people coming over here after living in grass huts. He enacted a ban on people entering from Muslim countries.

For Republicans, the only good immigration policy is a racist policy. How racist are Republicans? The Department of Homeland Security estimates there are over ten million people in this nation illegally. The majority of them entered legally, not crossing through a desert. The majority of drugs and weapons that enter this nation come through legal checkpoints. These are facts. So, with over ten million people here illegally, why are we freaking out over 13,000 brown children at the border? In case you’re a Republican, 13,000 is less than ten million.

By the way, is Trump’s wall not working?

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have FIVE copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw: