Uncle Sam

Shinzo

Japan is in shock over the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He was a towering figure in the nation having served as Prime Minister twice, stepping down both times for health reasons. He was shot while campaigning for the Liberal Democratic Party, which is actually the conservative party of Japan that consists of right-wing nationalists. Abe was the longest-serving Prime Minister in post-war history.

The nation isn’t just shocked over the assassination, which many are comparing to the assassination of JFK, but that he was murdered with a gun in broad daylight and that the shooter was able to get so close to him.

Japan has strict gun control laws and shootings are rare. Japan doesn’t have a gun-worshiping culture as we do here in the United States. Even the Yakuza, Japan’s mafia, refrains from using guns. Just one person was killed by gun violence in Japan in 2021. The United States has a much larger population than Japan, but it’s still lopsided that there were over 45,000 gun deaths here last year.

Japan has about 0.25 guns per 100 people and the U.S. has 125.5 guns per 100 people. Cops in Japan can deny gun ownership to a citizen just on suspicion he or she may do something dangerous. Gun control is so strict in Japan that it’s against the law to own a gun if you have declared bankruptcy.

Japan is a peaceful nation and even gunless homicides are rare with a rate of 0.26 per 100,000 people in 2020 while here in the United States, it was 7.5 per 100,000.

There are 12 steps to getting a gun in Japan. You have to join a hunting or shooting club, take a firearm class, pass a written exam and have at least a 95% accuracy in a shooting-range test, get a doctor’s note stating you are mentally fit and have no history of drug dependency, apply to take a full-day course in how to safely fire and store a gun, complete a police interview explaining why you want a firearm, pass a background check in which police review your criminal record, employment history, financial status and relationships with family/friends/neighbors, apply for a gunpowder permit, obtain a certificate from a gun dealer describing the gun you want, buy a gun safe and ammunition locker that meet safety regulations, allow the police to inspect your gun storage, and last but not least, conduct another background check.

After a Japanese civilian successfully purchases a gun, the police must inspect the gun annually and the owner must retake the class and a license renewal exam every three years. Most of the nation’s prefectures are limited to three gun stores each. In order for a gun owner to purchase new bullets, he must return the used rounds he bought during his last visit.

In the U.S, you basically just go to the gun store and point out the boom stick you want. The National Rifle Association would lose their shit if U.S. gun humpers had to go through even one of the steps gun owners have to take in Japan.

Japan is fine with us importing Big Macs and Whoppers, but they don’t want our gun fetish. Either do I. In fact, the rest of the world rejects our gun fetish. What’s our deal? Are we just a stupid simplistic nation? Probably. We did make Donald Trump president (sic).

Here, we refuse to get rid of guns even after mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting. We have chosen our gun fetish over the lives of children. Conservatives like to blame culture and they point out that gun violence this is extreme is fairly new, having increased just over the past 20 years or so…ignoring that the Assault Weapons Ban expired in 1994. Huh. I wonder if the increase in mass shootings since 1994 is somehow related to the expiration of that ban?

So, how did Abe’s killer get a gun in Japan? He didn’t buy it. He built it. Here in the U.S, you can buy a gun building kit without any sort of regulations getting in your way.

The gun used in Abe’s assassination looked like a barrel attached to a box with black electrical tape. Police found more guns and explosives at the killer’s home.

The United States is used as an example by gun-control proponents in other nations. Anytime a right-wing goon in another nation brings up a proposal to make owning a gun easier, his opponents bring up mass shootings in the USA.

Gun lovers here say you can’t compare us to other nations where they have very few gun deaths because those are extreme comparisons. But the fact is, we are the extreme comparison.

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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Slithering SCOTUS

I love that conservatives are strict constitutionalists except when they’re not. Conservatives say they love the Constitution and it needs to be interpreted as it was written by the Founding Fathers, but they really only care about one amendment, the Second, and they even ignore half of that one. Hell, they can’t even say the complete sentence they’re always quoting.

Texas Republicans want to throw out the 16th Amendment which means they’re not constitutionalists at all. And when it comes to the First Amendment, conservatives love to take a crap on that one. They don’t care about freedom of speech except when it’s their speech. They don’t care about freedom of the press and want today’s media severely restricted. And, they truly believe in the separation of church and state only when it applies to other religions.

Case in point, the Supreme Court took a huge dump on the separation of church and state this week by ruling that taxpayers should fund church schools. I don’t think six religious zealots on the court interpreted “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State” the way Thomas Jefferson intended.

I don’t believe those six justices combined are as intelligent as Jefferson.

The 6-3 fucknut religious zealot majority ruled on a case in Maine, that if that public funds intended to support the education of students for whom a public option was not available, then those funds be made available to parents who wished to use them to pay for a religious school’s tuition. The court just ruled that taxpayer money must be used on religious education. What happened to no establishment of religion?

Under the Establishment Clause, the federal government and all governments under it, cities, states, territories, etc, are prohibited from establishing or sponsoring religion. Giving taxpayer money to church schools is the very definition of sponsoring.

Justice Stephen Breyer argues in the dissenting opinion, the opinion that makes sense, “The very point of the Establishment Clause is to prevent the government from sponsoring religious activity itself, thereby favoring one religion over another or favoring religion over nonreligion.”

This ruling by the court orders states to sponsor religion. But, can you see Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, or Florida pumping tax money into a private Muslim school? Hell, funding a private Jewish school is probably out of the question in yee-haw states. This ruling will be abused. It’s not just that yee-haw fuckers will favor one religion over another religion, they’ll also favor their religion over no religion. So much for being a secular government.

I’m agnostic and I love that the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion because that means we have the freedom FROM religion…but maybe we don’t anymore because six religious fucknuts just based a Supreme Court decision on their dogma.

How would these six justices have ruled if the school in Maine was a Muslim school? They wouldn’t have ruled at all because they would have refused to hear the case. So, no public funding for Hogwarts.

We’re joining Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and many other authoritarian nations in setting laws based on religious mandates.

This country needs more people like Thomas Jefferson…and less like Amy Coney Barrett.

Music note: I decided to give Taylor Swift’s “Evermore” album a chance so I listened to about five songs from it while drawing this. I didn’t really get into it but it might be one of those things that grow on 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 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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Flushles The President

CjonesRGB02162022

Wouldn’t it be funny if the flushed documents thing is just a ruse to cover up that it’s Donald Trump naturally clogging all the White House toilets? Think about it. He can’t keep his teeth in his mouth and he eats nothing but Big Macs and KFC. It’s highly unlikely he’s chewing his food.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman has a new book, Confidence Man, which reports that White House staffers would periodically find toilets in the president’s (sic) residence clogged with paper.

While in office, Trump would tear up documents and staffers would routinely tape them back together. After he was defeated in the 2020 election and left town before the Biden inauguration, he took at least 15 boxes of documents with him to Mar-a-Lago, perhaps to feed to bedbugs. Now, we find out he was also flushing documents while in the White House.

Naturally, Donald Trump issued a statement denying the flushing which means he probably left floaters for others to discover throughout his entire life. Trump was here. He could probably take a dump on 5th Avenue and not lose any supporters.

Trump’s statement said, “Another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.” If this continues the pattern from every Trump statement before it, that means the allegations in Haberman’s book are true.

Destroying these documents is a violation of the Presidential Records Act. The House Oversight Committee is investigating the 15 boxes Trump stole and took to Mar-a-Lago and the National Archives have asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Trump’s handling of these official records violated federal law. Joe the Plumber has not released a statement.

In 2019 at a business roundtable, Donald Trump went on a rant about showers, sinks, faucets, and toilets. Everyone speculated that he was probably talking about water flow when he said, “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.” But now, I guess he was talking about the great difficulty in flushing government documents and not just undigested chicken bones from KFC.

I guess what Poopsie was talking about was that America needs larger toilets for larger loads. Big ass toilets made with big flushes for big asses would truly make American great again.

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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Kabul’s Reapers

Cjones08292021

How bad is ISIS-K? The Taliban hates them.

We spent the past two decades fighting the Taliban. The Taliban created a safe haven for al Qaida to train and conduct their terrorism. Al Qaida attacked the United States at least three times from the comfort and safety of the Taliban’s Afghanistan. So when you hear the Taliban are upset over a terrorist attack by ISIS-K, it’s not that the Taliban hates terrorism…they just hate that brand of terrorism.

It’s like pumpkin spice coffee. Hating pumpkin spice coffee doesn’t mean I hate all coffee. ISIS-K is the pumpkin spice of terrorism just like Donald Trump is the pumpkin spice of American presidents.

The Taliban claims they are the new-and-improved Taliban. Donald Trump wanted a photo-op with them. Mike Pompeo did get a photo-op with them. Donald Trump wanted their leader released from an Afghanistan prison, and he’s now ruling over the entire nation. Donald Trump negotiated our exit from Afghanistan, not with the government of Afghanistan, but with the Taliban. Today, we’re allowing the Taliban to manage security outside the Kabul Airport. The Taliban has assured us they will not attack U.S. forces during the withdrawal.

And then yesterday, a terrorist attack hit the airport. At this time (around 9:00 AM EST, 08/27/2021), at least 110 people are dead, including 13 Americans. ISIS-K has claimed responsibility. There was a warning the day before that ISIS-K might attack the airport. So yeah, I believe it was ISIS-K. How horrible do you have to be for the Taliban to think you’re an extremist? And there isn’t a guarantee the Taliban won’t create another safe haven for al Qaida.

One thing I despise about this is the nationalism we inject when there were so many other losses. I’ve already seen at least three cartoons with crying Uncle Sams and folding American flags. There will be more. I’m not against mourning the Americans who died. I’m against only mourning the Americans who died. Most headlines are saying, “13 Americans dead…and some other people.”

The other thing I despise is the immediate pile-on by Republicans to attack Biden, and I’ve already seen cartoons doing that. Liberals and Democrats didn’t do that to George W. Bush on 9/11. Can Republicans give it a day before they politicize 110 deaths? Did Democrats attack Ronald Reagan the day terrorists killed 241 Americans in Beirut, or did they give that a day? When a Republican is president during a terrorist attack, we’re supposed to rally around the flag. When a Democrat is president during a terrorist attack, then we need to start impeachment hearings. The exception to this is Donald Trump because when terrorists committed attacks during his presidency (sic), they were his terrorists.

President Biden said to the terrorists responsible for this attack, “We will hunt you down.” He’s continuing the evacuations despite more threats. He said this is the worst day of his presidency. That is leadership. We will continue to evacuate Americans and refugees, and looking at our track record at finding and killing terrorists, we will hunt them down.

The worst thing that could come from this terrorist attack is that it makes us stay in Afghanistan longer. Quite frankly, that’s what terrorists want. It’s a lot easier to kill Americans over there than over here. We still have to leave Afghanistan…now.

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: here are SIX 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.

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Lost in Afghan Translation

Cjones07142021

The United States is finally pulling out of Afghanistan. I don’t care who’s saying it’s too soon to leave Afghanistan and we’re allowing the Taliban to take it back because 20 years is more than enough time to spend on that nation. How much more is the United States supposed to sacrifice for that nation?

We were in Iraq and Vietnam too long, and never should have stepped one American soldier foot in either of those nations. Enough with the nation building. Afghanistan has to set its own course now. But what about the people in Afghanistan who risked their lives to help us? It seems we would have prepared for their safety before we left Afghanistan…not just talk about it after. Even before they get here, they’ll get a full taste of American bureaucracy. If you think standing in line at the DMV is a sonofabitch, oh boy.

President Joe Biden said we have approved about 2,500 special immigrant visas for the translators, drivers, escorts, guides, security guards, and others, which will allow them to come to the United States. But there are 18,000 applications from these personnel and their families. The number of applicants may reach as high as 50,000. On top of all that, there’s a congressionally mandated cap that currently means there are under 11,000 visas even available…so about 7,000 fewer than the applicants already waiting. Did I say, “Welcome to American bureaucracy”?

The U.S. is planning to house some of these Afghans in Guam (a U.S. territory) and are in negotiations to temporarily set them up in nations like Qatar and the United Emirates Republic. They say there is an immediate focus to get about 9,000 of the 18,000 out of the nation quickly, but what happens to them if while they’re waiting, they’re in territory recaptured by the Taliban? It’s not like the Taliban is known for leniency and compassion. Why are we just now talking to these other nations about accepting refugees? Maybe we were planning on staying in Afghanistan forever.

After the fall of Vietnam, the United States accepted close to 120,000 refugees (one of them was a best man at my wedding). As you saw from the historic photos, refugees were climbing aboard helicopters with U.S. troops during the withdrawal…and escape before Saigon fell. President Gerald Ford said at the time, “To ignore the refugees in their hour of need would be to repudiate the values we cherish as a nation of immigrants.” But since we’re a nation that allowed Donald Trump to become its leader (sic), and so many of us are demanding he be “reinstated” over democracy, what exactly are our values?

We are a nation of immigrants which is something we need to keep in mind when it comes to immigration and people seeking asylum and refugee status. We also need to keep in mind our international reputation.

After Donald Trump pulled forces out of Syria, breaking a promise to the Kurds who trusted us enough to fight with us only to eventually be abandoned to the wrath of Turkey, our word isn’t as good as it used to be. We can argue that was more Donald Trump than it was the United States, but unfortunately at that time, Donald Trump was the United States. Unfortunately, Donald Trump was the president (sic) of the United States of America. Quite frankly, just the fact Donald Trump was president and over 74 million voted for him in 2020, has hurt our reputation. As many of us have learned from personal experience, you can not trust anyone who supports Donald Trump or enter into any agreement or relationship with them.

People who support Donald Trump don’t have values, morals, ethics, principles, or integrity. They will like and burn you. Cruelty is their shits and giggles. When the international community looks at the United States, that’s what they see. They see an old racist narcissistic billionaire laugh while throwing babies into cages.

We were in Afghanistan for 20 years. That war is almost old enough to legally drink. It seems to me that at some point during those two decades (in case you’re a Republican, ten years is a decade and ten plus ten equals 20), we would have started the asylum process for those who were risking their lives to help us.

Over the past four years during the Trump presidency (sic), we abandoned our Kurdish allies, we bailed on a nuclear treaty with Iran and a climate treaty with the word. We bailed on other nuclear treaties along with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Educational Council. We threatened to pull out of NATO while clamoring for Russia to be readmitted into the G7. We pulled out of several other organizations and treaties. Our nation criticized allies while buddying up with bullies. Our president (sic) gave secrets provided by allies to Russians. Our president (sic) hung out with Kim Jong Un while attacking Canada over its cheese. Our president (sic) called a female leader of a democratic nation “nasty” for not selling us Greenland. Our president claimed “good people” march with Nazis.

It’s our fault the world does not trust us. We gave them every reason they have to not believe in us. The world thinks our word is crap…and the world is right.

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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Pandemic Tan Lines

CNN05162021

Here’s your cartoon for this week’s CNN Opinion newsletter. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday. 

If you think you have already seen this cartoon, you’re probably right. Last Friday, cartoonist Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times Free Press did a cartoon of President Joe Biden with the mask tan line. It’s an excellent cartoon. Bennett has a Pulitzer Prize, has been a finalist for the award about 87 times, and has won or placed in every cartoon contest there is. He’s probably won state awards in states he’s never lived in. I think he even placed in a dog contest once for best groomed. Seriously, he may be the most awarded political cartoonist in the history of political cartooning. He’s good.

I drew my cartoon on Friday. The idea was submitted along with seven other ideas. My CNN cartoons run with the opinion newsletter on Sunday. In case you’re a Republican, that means I have a day to wait between drawing and publication of the cartoon. In that gap on Saturday, I saw Clay Bennett’s tan-line cartoon. I checked the time he posted his cartoon on Facebook Friday and compared it to when I sent my rough to my editor, just to cover my tracks. I sent my idea two hours earlier than Bennett had posted his. Trust me, I’m not psychic. Cartoonists can’t worry too much about this stuff because you can’t do much about it, but you still check just to cover your ass later.

Sometimes, you’re the cartoonist who gets there first and other times, you follow. Every cartoonist has been on both ends of it while always wanting to avoid the whole thing altogether. You want to draw a cartoon so original that no one else is capable of thinking of it. That’s what I try to do every day even though I don’t always succeed.

I first saw Bennett’s at GoComics early Saturday morning. I decided to send the link to my editor and let him decide if we should pull it or not. If mine had come out at the same time as Bennett’s, I wouldn’t have worried about it, but I had a whole day to wait behind his before my cartoon would be published. I also contacted Clay Bennett to let him know what was happening and to let him know I didn’t swipe from him, which I knew he would know, but I still wanted to give him the professional courtesy of a heads-up. He was very professional about it and said he actually expected someone else to come up with the same idea. It happens.

Still, I was irrationally angry at Clay Bennett for having the same idea as me even though he had no idea what I was drawing. I’m also mad at his mother for naming him Clay nearly a decade before I was born.

The opinion staff at CNN decided to keep my version since it did feature different characters and had a different message. You can argue that Bennett’s version triumphed a victory for President Biden while mine was documenting it as a national achievement, not just a personal one. We also decided to throw in the vaccination card which I now believe makes the cartoon stronger. Adding that detail a day later is the reason why the hand is so tiny, in case you were wondering about that Trumpian detail.

I wanted to say something about both cartoons because I know some readers will think I stole this from Clay Bennett. Hell, some readers will think he stole his from me even though he published first. So maybe writing this helps him out too. Trust me on this: I know I don’t steal ideas and I know Clay Bennett doesn’t either, at least not from other cartoonists. Good cartoonists only steal from themselves…and not very often.

Maybe next Friday I’ll call Clay Bennett and ask, “Hey, what are you doing?” just to make sure I’m not doing the same thing. And then I’ll call his mom.

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 Three 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.

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Buh-Bye, Blubber

cjones01012021

I know. I know. Donald Trump weighs more than 243 pounds, but I’m going with what his doctor claims.

When I came up with this idea (while trying to get one on another subject, as usual), my first thought was on how much to list his weight. I do my research so I looked up the last lie that came from his physical and it’s listed at 243. We all know that’s a lie. If you have eyes, you know that’s a lie.

Political cartoons do make fun of people’s appearances but that should never be the point (even though I made an entire cartoon recently on Kelly Loeffler’s extremely long neck). But the rules on making fun of someone’s weight can change depending upon their character. Like, if they’re just generally a rotten human being, you can make fun of their weight. If they made fun of other people’s weight, for example, calling a woman a “fat pig,” you can make fun of their weight. And, if they make their weight an issue, you can make fun of their weight. Also, if they choose to look like an orange clown with a bleached ferret on their head, you can make fun of them.

Donald Trump’s weight and health became another part of the chaos and insanity he brought to this nation. When his doctor comes out and says Donald Trump can live up to 200 years, you can go after them. Even his last physical became a major news item because they didn’t just lie about the results, they lied about taking the physical.

Donald Trump unexpectedly went to the hospital in 2019 and no one knows why. The White House claimed he was taking his physical on different dates, like they were chopping it up. One day, he steps on a scale. The next day, they stick a finger in his ass. No, they don’t do it like that. They do it all at once. Have you ever had a physical? If so, then you know the entire unpleasant experience is all at once. And for Donald Trump’s doctor, really unpleasant for him.

The subject of Donald Trump’s weight, his lying about it, and other people lying about it (how does he get people to do that?), is just one more bonus of dropping Donald Trump. There’s a lot of crazy stupid shit we’re getting rid of while also having a lot to clean up too.

And yeah, 243 can’t be accurate and I know I’ll be getting shit about it all day. The cartoon is dated for the first day of the year (in case you’re a Republican, that’s January 1), so I’ll be getting additional shit then on GoComics. I already posted this cartoon on Facebook, and I swear I’m not exaggerating but within a minute, someone gave me shit about the 243. By now, there are about 20 comments about the 243 not being right. It has turned into a guessing game. 285? 340? 400? There should be a national contest for it. If you guess the correct weight, you get the coronavirus vaccine.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter how much orange blubber there is, on January 20, it’s gone.

Buh-bye, blubber.

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 an order of 20 copies of my book (12 are left to purchase) on the way, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. The books won’t arrive until after the new year, but orders are being taken and they’ll be shipped as soon as I receive them. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Update on book: They’re here but…I forgot to order envelopes. Shit. Envelopes are on the way. I’m sorry and I shouldn’t have assumed I had enough on hand. I swear that about 30 book envelopes disappeared out of my apartment.

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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Hate Your Face

cjones07252019

Why in the world would you want to see what you’re going to look like when you get older decades before it happens? Trust me. You’re probably going to find out and you may not like it. I’m not liking the results I’m seeing now.

FaceApp is a photo-altering smartphone app that is a new social media trend. Everyone from your brother to celebrities you don’t care about are posting pics of what they’ll look like in the future. I don’t care what the Jonas Brothers look like now so why would I care about their faces in the future?

There may be greater concerns with the app other than how decrepit and raggly you’re going to look as an old fogey. The app is owned by a Russian company and there are concerns about how much information you’re handing over to participate in a useless online endeavor.

The Democratic National Committee, who has every right to be wary of Russians having access to their information, sent out an alert to staffers on presidential campaigns to delete the app immediately. Quite frankly, I’m tired of Russians on the internet engaging in activities that put lines on the faces of Americans.

Since Russia helped install Donald Trump into the White House, everyone who has actual concerns for this nation has aged a lot more than two and a half years. After last night’s hate rally, I feel like I’ve aged about ten.

I got lines on my face on election night in 2016 when I saw 62 million Americans vote for a stupid, narcissistic, sexist racist for president. Watching an arena engage in a racist chant last night put even more lines on it. My faith in my country is being replaced by wrinkles.

I don’t need an app to see my face age. I have a mirror for that. What I wonder about the cultists shouting, “Send her back” at the hate rally is if they own mirrors, and how are they able to look in them.

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As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. 

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Jared Says “Nyet”

cjones04282019

Trust-fund baby and poster child for nepotism Jared Kushner said the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election was worse for our country than the interference.

Jared said, “The whole thing is just a big distraction for the country. You look at what Russia did — buying some Facebook ads to try and sow dissent. And it’s a terrible thing, but I think the investigation and all the speculation that’s happened over the past two years has had a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple of Facebook ads.”

A couple of Facebook ads? According to the Mueller Report and American Intelligence agencies, the Russias did a little more than buying a couple of Facebook ads in order to disrupt our country, hurt the Clinton campaign, and help Donald Trump. Jared should know. He was in the Trump Tower meeting with Russians. He saw first hand and up close how they were offering to help Trump win the election.

After the election, Jared went to the Russian embassy and attempted to establish a back channel to Moscow in order to communicate with Russia without our intelligence agencies detecting it. The idea was so stupid that it shocked the Russians, who passed on the idea. Up to that point, they thought Carter Page was the dumbest fuck to come out of the Trump campaign…other than Trump himself.

A Kremlin-backed entity called the Internet Research Agency, or IRA, ran the social media campaign out of St. Petersburg, Russia. The IRA purchased over 3,500 Facebook advertisements and spent some $100,000 on the political ads. According to the Mueller Report, the group also controlled multiple Facebook groups and Instagram accounts that “had hundreds of thousands of U.S. participants.” If you believe the Mueller Report exonerated Trump and have ignored the findings on Trump’s obstruction and willingness to accept help from Russians, then you were probably one of those participants. You are the cattle from the Russian troll farms.

After the election, a Facebook executive told Congress that the IRA controlled some 470 accounts that generated 80,000 posts between January 2015 and August 2017.

Mueller also reported, “Facebook estimated the IRA reached as many as 126 million persons through its Facebook accounts.” The IRA controlled Twitter accounts with “tens of thousands of followers.” Among the followers were “multiple U.S. political figures who retweeted IRA-created content.” You know, Republicans.

Twitter says the IRA controlled more than 3,800 accounts, and likely reached nearly 1.5 million Twitter users.

These are not the only facts Jared is ignoring. He didn’t mention Russia’s hacking and dumping of material belong to the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton Campaign. He also failed to mention his father-in-law publicly asking Russia to do this. He also didn’t mention Donald Trump Jr. saying in a reply to the Russians offering help, “I love it.”

Saying it was just a couple of Facebook ads that were used in a hostile nation’s attack against our country is like saying 9/11 was one or two planes flying into buildings, but who’s counting?

Jared got the job as Senior Adviser to the president based on his high qualifications of marrying Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, who is also on staff at the White House as an adviser based upon her qualifications of being Trump’s daughter and designing handbags.

You would think a guy serving as a senior adviser to the president would advise him on the facts, not feed his confirmation bias. Then again, Jared isn’t qualified for the job. He didn’t even qualify for his security clearance and needed Trump to overrule the FBI’s decision not to give him one.

Jared has been compromised by Russia and his financial ties to nations in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia. Upon receiving his security clearance, he proved he wasn’t qualified for it or had our nation’s interest at heart because he started conversating with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman through WhatsApp, hoping conversations would be deleted, and undetected by U.S. intelligence. What the hell are you and MBS talking about, Jared?  Many professionals in American intelligence are shocked at Jared’s attempts to skip protocol and security in talking to foreign officials.

After Saudi Arabia killed a Washington Post journalist by hacking him to death inside one of their embassies, Jared didn’t call it murder. He would only go so far as to call it a “tragedy,” as though the journalist slipped into the bone saw.

An author of a new book on Jared, Ivanka, and their special privilege says that Jared couldn’t get a “TSA pre-check” without Trump’s help.

The Trump administration is dangerous. Donald Trump has yet to publicly call for Russia not to interfere in our elections. Am I the only one to notice that? It’s been reported that former Homeland Security Director Kirstjen Nielsen was instructed not to mention Russian meddling to Trump as it would hurt his fragile ego. Thank God FDR’s advisers didn’t feel that way about Pearl Harbor.

Reading Jared’s description of Russian interference, it sounds like he’d rather soothe Trump’s insecurities than defend the United States. This is why they’re dangerous. They’re not protecting America. In fact, they are encouraging Russia to do it again. They’ve already made it clear there will be no consequences for their actions.

Being a trust-fund baby who marries a trust-fund baby who’s the daughter of a trust-fund baby doesn’t qualify one for the position of Senior Adviser to the president of the United States. Jared also doesn’t qualify for a security clearance, and the man who granted it, the president of the United States, doesn’t qualify for one either.

Congress shouldn’t stop at Trump’s tax returns. They should go after Jared’s too. Jared does not belong in Washington. Soon, just like Trump, he’ll belong in prison.

Be Complicit

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

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch the video.

Mueller Time

cjones03272019

While talking to my producer at CNN on Thursday afternoon, we were discussing the best subjects for this Sunday’s cartoon. We both liked one particular issue and thought it had the most potential for humor while acknowledging the Mueller Report was hanging over our heads. I told her, “those fuckers will probably release it at 5:00 P.M. Friday afternoon and screw us up.”

Those fuckers released it at 5:00 P.M. Friday afternoon and screwed us up.

Actually, I don’t think they screwed us up and we’re going to stick with the cartoon I finished for them Friday, which I’m really happy with. But, I had just finished my last cartoon for the day, which was my third. On Fridays, I have to draw for CNN, The Costa Rica Star, and my syndication which is what you see here on the blog. By the time I was done yesterday evening, I just wanted to eat dinner and go to sleep…then Mueller happened.

I did eat. My friend Dallas and I went out and talked about it. As I was walking out the door, I got my first idea…and then my second. This is the second, though Dallas really liked my first. I felt this one summed up the moment best. Of course, this cartoon is dated and will probably be worthless in a couple of days…maybe.

Regarding what we know, the Trump team are celebrating because there are to be no more indictments. That sucks. I was really hoping to see them delivered to Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and perhaps even Ivanka and Hope Hicks. We know they lied and did their best to obstruct and collude with Russia. These are people who deserve to be charged for crimes.

I don’t know what’s in the Mueller Report yet but I do know there was collusion. What Mueller may not have been able to find is direct evidence that Trump was personally involved. But, the campaign hosted Russians at Trump Tower, had access to the stuff Wikileaks was stealing from the Clinton Campaign, and Donald Trump himself asked publicly for Russia to help him. We know that over a dozen people were in direct contact with Russia during the campaign.

We also know Trump obstructed justice. The guy told Lester Holt straight out that he fired Comey to end the investigation, then he told the same thing to…wait for it…RUSSIANS. Unfortunately, Mueller was never able to get Trump to testify verbally, and the written questions didn’t include any on obstruction. I feel no matter what’s in the report, we’re getting the shaft. We have a criminal in the White House, and while the Senate of sycophants would probably never convict him, I hate to see a corrupt president skate.

What I predict is that the Mueller report will NOT clear Trump, even if it doesn’t “indict” him. I don’t expect it to say there wasn’t any collusion or obstruction. I expect it to say they couldn’t gather all the facts…which is because of obstruction. Donald Trump and his cult will point at the report and claim it vindicates him, even though it won’t. But, these jerks have made those claims before, twisting statements from judges and politicians and at times, just making them up.

Mueller’s time may be over but our’s is just beginning. Whether Trump is impeached or voted out of office, he has to be removed from office. A stupid, racist, game show host kneedeep in corruption is in charge of our government and we can’t let this stand. I don’t care what the Mueller Report says, Donald Trump is more than just a bad president. He’s a danger and a national security risk. His move yesterday, recognizing the Golan Heights as a political favor proves that.

Mueller can retire in peace now, play golf, and sleep in. We gotta go to work.

Be Complicit

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

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch the video.