Scalia

Obama’s Nominee

cjones02182016

The Republicans have truly lost their minds.

They’re screaming against Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court before he’s even made one. With all the vitriol you would think Obama had already submitted his choice and it was a black-Puerto Rican lesbian atheist, abortion provider with a cold sore…or Kanye West.

The GOP says the people need to have a vote in this. They do and they made that vote in 2008 and again in 2012. Maybe only white presidents get a full eight years out of two terms. Black guys only get seven. What’s next? Are they going to demand that he not use Air Force One, the White House, the White House china, the plumbing, for the rest of the year?

It’s a dumb argument to have and yet we have to have it. Why? Because the Republican is full of people who are not rational and lack the ability to comprehend.

I know the GOP doesn’t respect the president but with this tactic they’re disrespecting the presidency and the Constitution. Shame on all of them.

“What’s the deal with Kanye West?” My older, unhip, white readers might be asking. Hey, I’m not that hip either. But I know who Kanye is and that he’s a grade A Plus ass. He’s the guy that makes black people say we won’t blame all white people for Donald Trump if you don’t blame us for Kanye.

Kanye is making the news for saying he wouldn’t attend the Grammys if he didn’t win the award for Best Album, even though he wasn’t nominated. He also talked about how he made Taylor Swift and stands a good chance of shagging her. THEN…yes, there’s a then…he went on Twitter and asked Mark Zuckerberg for a billion dollars. Yeah, Twitter is the social media tool you want to use to connect to Mark Zuckerberg. He probably goes to McDonalds and asks for free Whoppers.

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Good Riddance

cjones02162016

Within minutes of the announcement of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia’s death a lot of liberals went to town expressing their excitement and happiness in the event. A lot of those people are friends and readers of mine. I’m not comfortable with that. I understand not liking the guy and I didn’t. I was not a fan of his rulings and opinions. I do view his tenure on the Supreme Court as detrimental to the country, but I also believe he still deserves a level of respect. I am not opposed to voicing a negative opinion about the dead, if I believe it’s based on fact, but I will not celebrate. I wouldn’t want it to happen to someone I like.

And it has happened to someone I like. What I’m attacking here is the belief by many conservatives that insulting the dead, and vulgar comments, is a new thing that’s exclusive to liberals. That alone is another reason not to make a social media ass out of yourself. You just give your political opposition ammunition to use against you, and they’re not entirely wrong. I don’t like helping them.

They have done it too, whether they want to admit it or not. Conservatives suffer from short memories. A conservative friend of mine I enjoy going back and forth with stated he had never seen conservatives react the way liberals did in regards to Scalia. What you choose to believe doesn’t determine facts. What amazed me is my friend is a huge fan of Breitbart. He posts stories from that site on a daily basis and if you ever need confirmation that conservatives can be vile and vulgar human beings just scroll down to the comments section. Then take a shower.

Andrew Breitbart, who has since passed away lived long enough to rejoice at the passing of Ted Kennedy. He stated that Kennedy was a “villain,” a “duplicitous bastard” and a “prick.” He continued with “Kennedy was a special pile of human excrement.” He wasn’t the only one. In addition to media personalities Twitter lit up from conservative Kennedy haters.

At least Kennedy is the only example, right? No. Of course not. They trolled Beau Biden  to the point that Fox News had to shut down it’s comment section on the story.  Even Jimmy Carter’s cancer news got the conservative troll treatment. There are other examples but I’m tired of posting this stuff.

My point is, there are jerks on both sides. I would rather talk about the atmosphere at the moment than the dead, which is what I did with my first cartoon on Scalia’s death.

My advice toward the dead in the immediate aftermath, if you can’t say anything nice….

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Scalia

cjones02142016

I am not rejoicing the death of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Yes, he wrote opinions I strong disagreed with. I viewed many of his views as hostile, racist, and anti-constitutional. I felt he favored partisanship over law.

But I also do not want to just write nice things about the dead. Even when Glen Frey died I wanted to scream at people “no, he sucked! He wrote cheesy songs and overpriced concert tickets.” But we love to glamorize the dead.

Within minutes of Scalia’s death I saw posts saying “hey, don’t get all nasty int the comments.” A minute later people were making posts on social media about Scalia burning in Hell and so happy Obama will have another Supreme Court appointment. I felt it was a bit too soon for that. But then the Republicans chimed in.

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, and others chimed in real quick about how Obama shouldn’t have the right to appoint the next Supreme Court Justice. Talk about not politicizing it.

Here’s the thing: The President is elected to four year terms. His term is not suspended because we’re in the political cycle or Ted Cruz pictures himself in the Oval Office. Obama doesn’t just have the right, he has the duty, to appoint a Supreme Court justice. That’s the consequence of elections. Republicans, you lost. Yes, you won the Senate and Congress but you can’t obstruct just to wait for a Republican president, which you’re not going to get in 2017.

Keep in mind that a president’s appointment doesn’t always work out the way he expects. John Roberts validated Obamacare. Sandra Day O’Connor, appointed by Reagan, often sided with liberals.

I know my cartoon focuses on the politics of Scalia’s death. That’s the environment right now. It wasn’t the environment within the first 24 hours. It was minutes. Scalia was a very intelligent scholar. He was actually friends with the liberals on the court (they had a lot in common, being on the Supreme Court), and he wrote opinions I hated. I mocked him. I re-posted the two cartoons I drew on him in 2015. But I do respect him. None of this “burning in Hell” shit. He wasn’t Hitler. I hated his views but I don’t think any of them validate wordings celebrating his death.

Supreme Court justices are the political figures we know the least. We only know them from their written opinions. The Justices tend to be pals with their colleagues who disagree with them, who often write dissenting opinions and vote differently from them. Scalia, for example, always employed a liberal clerk. He wasn’t living entirely in a bubble. l

Obama has 361 days to get a replacement in. The Senate should let that happen.

I planned to take Saturday off. I actually cancelled plans to cover this story. Woe is I, the measly cartoonist.

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Scalia Educates On Race

cjones12102015

The Supreme Court is hearing a case on Affirmative Action concerning the University of Texas. Associate Justice Antonin Scalia made a very unusual comment that made a lot of people gasp.

Scalia seemed to imply that some minority students don’t do as well at upper-level universities, as if blacks should only attend “slower” colleges. Scalia stated “There are those who contend that it does not benefit African Americans to — to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a less — a slower-track school where they do well.”

Was Scalia being racist? There’s some defense that he’s not and only talking about lower testing students getting into a school they can’t handle. The Los Angeles Times is defending him in an editorial. We should also consider that perhaps Scalia was playing devil’s advocate.

I totally understand the argument that students with low SAT scores don’t do as well at an upper level university, but why focus on black students? Scalia might have had a good point but he messed it up with an awkward statement. It shows he doesn’t really understand race relations, despite having at least one “black” friend.

Scalia has always voted against the interest of African Americans, but he’s also voted against anyone who’s not a rich white guy. He has a consistent record defending white privilege. I’m not sure if he’s racist but I do believe he’s prejudice and a bigot.

Scalia gives progressives and moderates another reason why we can’t have a bigot as president. We have enough on the Supreme Court and we don’t need any more.

A reader wrote me last night that he was speculating on what issue I would draw next. I was flattered. I was thinking the same thing. It doesn’t take much to wonder what issues I’m considering and he mentioned each I was pondering. I almost went with an idea on Rahm. Maybe tomorrow. I have two more ideas in my head and if too much time passes before I draw them then I won’t ever draw them. He also guessed correctly I’d take a Trump break.

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!!!