BEWARE the NARCO TERRORISTS!

Posted on December 19, 2025 by Ampersand

This cartoon is by me and Nadine Scholtes.

Like a lot of people, I’ve been reading the news about Trump’s attacks on so-called “narco terrorists” with horror.

From an ACLU press release:

Not only does the administration claim to have sweeping power to target and kill U.S. citizens anywhere in the world, but it makes the extraordinary claim that the court has no role in reviewing that power or the legal standards that apply… If the Constitution means anything, it surely means that the president does not have unreviewable authority to summarily execute any American whom he concludes is an enemy of the state.

Quoting that press release is a bit sneaky of me, because it’s from 2010, about the Obama administration’s drone strikes outside of combat zones. Those drone strikes killed hundreds or thousands of civilians; it’s hard to know precisely how many civilians were killed, since the official Obama administration numbers simply counted all adult men, without regard for who they were or what they did, as fighters and legitimate targets.

I do see some distinction between Obama’s drone strikes and Trump’s. At one level, I simply trust Obama more than I do Trump (a bar so low you’d need a shovel). I find it easier to imagine Trump calling for his peaceful political enemies to be killed. (Oh, wait, I don’t have to imagine it.)

Another difference: Obama’s strikes were aimed, at least in theory, at the Taliban and Al Qaeda, two groups that actually exist and had committed serious terrorist attacks on Americans. In contrast, Trump’s strikes are against the Cartel de lose Soles, a group that “is probably not a terrorist organisation as most people understand them. Whether it is even an organisation in a formal sense is also up for debate.”

But I’m also disturbed at the similarities. Both campaigns killed innocent civilians (a definite fact for Obama, and highly likely for Trump).

Both Obama and Trump claimed a legally murky right to pick targets for extrajudicial killing without any review from courts or Congress. That’s more power than I wanted Obama to have, and it’s certainly more power than I want Trump to have.

Even if you think that Obama’s drone strikes were justifiable, it’s hard to deny that the way they were done – without oversight, and with claims of being unanswerable to other branches of government – set a terrible precedent.

The U.S. shouldn’t be ruled by an emperor who can arbitrarily choose to kill people with a thumb’s down.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has five panels. They show two people, a Black woman wearing a white turtleneck, and a white woman wearing a red MAGA cap, talking in a park.

PANEL 1

Turtleneck is holding a smartphone and speaking angrily. Red Cap is taken a bit aback.

TURTLENECK: Look at this! Trump had the Navy shoot another boat of “narco-terrorists” in international waters! No evidence, no trial, just an execution!

PANEL 2

Turtleneck points at Red Cap accusingly; Red Cap raises her palms placatingly.

TURTLENECK: How can you condone this? What’s wrong with you?

RED CAP: Calm down! There’s no need to be uncivil! We can disagree and still be reasonable.

PANEL 3

Turtleneck, still angry, walks away muttering; Red Cap smiles and waves bye.

TURTLENECK: Mumble grumble stupidnazi fascists

RED CAP: Go touch some grass. Bye!

PANEL 4

Red Cap continues smiling and waving bye.

PANEL 5

Still smiling and waving, Red Cap is making a call on her cell phone.

RED CAP: Hello, U.S. Navy? I’m calling to report a narco-terrorist.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken Fat” is obsolete cartoonists’ lingo for Eater Eggs.

PANEL 1 – A happy little mouse is holding a pink balloon. Far in the background, a bird soars.

PANEL 2 – The mouse, now sad, has lost its balloon, which floats into the sky. The bird flies to the balloon.

PANEL 3 – The bird returns the balloon to the again-happy mouse.

PANEL 4 – The MAGA hat reads “Make America Spell Agian”

PANEL 5 – The MAGA hat reads “Mash America’s Grapes Again”

Beware The Narco Terrorists | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics | 8 Comments

Bankruptcy Lane

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Ampersand

This cartoon is by me and Becky Hawkins.

Becky writes:

This comic was inspired by current events. Some background: 82nd Ave is a 4-lane road that cuts through East Portland. It’s flanked on both sides by shopping centers and grocery stores, car dealerships and auto repairs. It services the busiest bus line in Oregon, which is often delayed by traffic. It’s also one of the most dangerous streets in the city for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. The city is thinking about turning the outer lanes of 82nd into bus lanes that double as right turn lanes for accessing the businesses. This has several perks, in my opinion. If you want to hear me testify about it, you can watch the public meeting on YouTube. (The link goes right to my 2-minute talk. I value your time as well as your money.)

Some business owners on 82nd are up in arms, threatening to sue, convinced that bus lanes will drive their customers away and destroy their businesses. I’d be more sympathetic, but we just went through this about a mile away. In 2019, SE Foster Rd was transformed from a 4-lane street into a 2-lane street with bike lanes. Local business leaders made their objections known.

I hope I did it justice in the comic.

Barry and I saw this store regularly. It was quite the neighborhood fixture. After the bike lanes went in, the posters slowly came down. Here’s a more recent photo of the store, apparently thriving:

You’ll notice I drew a lot more people on the sidewalk in panel 4, as well as bicyclists in the bike lane. Study after study shows that bike lanes and walkable streets are good for businesses. When there’s a buffer between the sidewalk and the cars and trucks zooming by, sidewalks feel safer and more pleasant to walk on. Anyone can get hit by a car, but old people, young people, and disabled people are especially vulnerable to traffic violence. I made sure to include them on the sidewalk. Similarly, the bike lane will attract those “lycra guys” that people love to hate, but it will also allow a safety-conscious woman to do her grocery shopping by bike.

Barry’s stage directions for panel 4 were “Same dude and same store, obviously. Maybe the season has changed, though?”  I went back and forth on what kind of weather to draw in panel 4. Will critics claim that bike lanes are only for summertime, or that Becky the cartoonist thinks bike lanes magically make the weather nicer? Maybe. In the end, I wanted panel 4 to look much more vibrant than panels 1-3, so I went with it.

I decided to draw the bike lane supporter walking into the store, having biked there. Readers needed to recognize them from panels 1-3, despite being fairly small and facing away from the reader. That’s why I gave them red hair. I also decided they needed a really bold design on the back of their jacket. This is what inspired the general look of the jacket. I loved those lapels. The jacket seemed like something you’d find in a thrift store, so I thought about what organization the jacket might have come from. A bowling team! I’m so happy with the result.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels, all showing the sidewalk and part of the street in front of a store called “The Furniture KING.”

PANEL 1

A guy in a green jacket is taking a bag out the back of his hatchback. In the background, The Furniture King’s huge display windows are completely covered with signs such as “Call You Mayor We Need All 4 Lanes” and “How Will YOU Get Home?” There’s a tree with pretty autumn leaves.

GREEN JACKET: I can’t wait for the new bike lanes.

STORE OWNER: Noooo!

PANEL 2

The store owner has grabbed the Green Jacket’s shirt and is yelling at him.

STORE OWNER: The new bike lane is supposed to pass right in front of my store! How are my customers supposed to get in? How?

PANEL 3

Green Jacket tries to reassure the store owner, who has fallen to his knees and is weeping.

GREEN JACKET: Er, I don’t think it’ll be-

STORE OWNER: Six months from now my poor store will be out of business! BANKRUPT!

PANEL 4

The same scene, but now the tree leaves are green, and a green bike lane has been installed in front of the store. There are pedestrians and bikers. Store Owner stands on the sidewalk, talking into a bullhorn and shaking a fist in the air.

CAPTION: Two Years Later

STORE OWNER: If they build that new bus lane, it will definitely destroy my store!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken Fat” is old fashioned cartoonist parlance for what we now call “Easter Eggs.”

PANEL 1 – The back of the man’s jacket shows a bowling ball lovingly hugging a bowling pin. The rear view mirror of a car is completely filled with a green monster eye, a reference to the famous “Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear” Far Side cartoon.

PANEL 4 – The customer walking into the store in the background, is Green Jacket guy from the first three panels.

Bankruptcy Lane | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics | 3 Comments

Reasons To Support Trump

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Ampersand

I’m generally against “bothsidesism,” but one thing I believe conservatives and liberals have in common in the U.S.: We both find the other side’s choices completely, utterly incomprehensible.

And nothing is harder to comprehend, in the lefty (a.k.a. my) mindset, then why so many Americans support goddamn fucking Donald Trump. He’s lost some supporters, to be sure, but he seems to have a solid core of followers who will not be shaken off, no matter what he says or does. Even Trump has sometimes seemed impressed by his followers’ loyalty, famously joking, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”

Nearly all of the reasons given in this cartoon – although I’ve written them in an exaggerated and mocking way – are real reasons I’ve seen Trump supporters give. The exception is the white supremacy panel – I’ve never seen someone outright admit that white identity politics is why they support Trump. But research shows it’s a major factor.

It’s not the deepest cartoon I’ve ever done, but it’s always fun to draw one of my “Nine Jerks” cartoons (as Becky calls them). Not needing to keep characters or settings consistent from panel to panel is so relaxing and frankly makes it faster, making it practical to do nine panels instead of my usual four. And drawing over-the-top angry expressions never fails to be fun.

Also, lots of room for chicken fat, even though it slows me down. Doing the chicken fat has added a lot to my enjoyment of my work.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has nine panels.

PANEL 1

A grinning man stands in his living room.

MAN: That TV Star billionaire son of a billionaire is an underdog like me!

PANEL 2

A woman standing behind a fence gestures at her phone.

WOMAN: Trump kills random Venezuelans on boats with no trial or evidence… But Democrats seem smug, which is much worse.

PANEL 3

A man in a suit is overcome with fury and shouting.

MAN: Because filthy pet-eating invaders are poisoning America with their dirty blood! (But I’ve got nothing against immigrants).

PANEL 4

A man in a compound surrounded by barbed wire hugs a gigantic gun and yells.

MAN: Because Democrats wanna take our guns!

PANEL 5

This central panel contains the title, “Reasons To Support Trump.” Below that, a nice looking smiling woman talks, and in the background a Klansman adds something.

WOMAN: Not because I’m a closet white supremacist! Heck no!

KLANSMAN: Same!

PANEL 6

A housewife in an apron, surrounded by children, happily talks.

HOUSEWIFE: I like that the President has traditional family values! Like Donald with Ivana Marla Melania.

PANEL 7

A man looks up from reading a newspaper.

MAN: Because Trump is fighting “cancel culture” by getting people we don’t like fired or deported!

PANEL 8

A man in a suit gestures towards a teacher in the background, who looks indignant.

MAN: Because woke “teachers” indoctrinate our kids into being trans!

TEACHER (thought): Yeah, right. I can’t even get them to use deodorant.

PANEL 9

An woman in her living room talks to us angrily.

WOMAN: Liberals are evil terrorist loving pathetic loser cucks who hate freedom! And they say such mean things about Trump!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken Fat” is long-dormant cartoonist speak for irrelevant details we stick in because it amuses us.

Panel 1: Igor, Marty Feldman’s Young Frankenstein character, is peering in the window. (He’s drawn in black and white, like the film). There’s a framed picture of Montgomery Burns on the wall. The man’s sports shirt says “42,” a reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy novels.

Panel 2: A flyer taped to the tree says “WANTED: A poem as lovely as this tree. Contact Joyce.” A groundhog wearing a top hat and a scarf has popped out from the ground.

Panel 4: A poster taped to the wall shows an adorable mom holding a gun; the caption says “My other mom is the NRA.” One of the gun crates has a sign on it saying “Caution: Bang! Bang!”

Panel 6: A surprised looking infant hangs from one of the hooks on the wall. One of the children is smoking a cigarette. One is Little Orphan Annie, as she looked early in that comic strip. One has a t-shirt with a superhero named “I.P. Man.”

Panel 7: The newspaper, entitled “The Right News,” has a giant headline saying “Is Zohran Secretly Hamas?” A smaller subhead says “We imply yes!”

Panel 8: On the blackboard, below a complex looking algebra equation, it says “You’re right. You’ll never use this math in real life. Ha ha suckers!” Elsewhere, it says “E=M.C. Hammer” and, in a list format, “1. Fee 2. Fie 3. Foe 4. Fum”.

Panel 9: The cat is a pirate, with a big loop earring in one ear, an eyepatch, and a wooden leg. The vase has Charlie Brown’s shirt’s stripe on it.

Reasons To Support Trump | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Elections and politics | 14 Comments

The Benefit of Colorblindness

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Ampersand

This cartoon is by me and Nadine Scholtes.

This cartoon was inspired by an exchange I read on Twitter (as it was called back then) and saved. Unfortunately, the account no longer exists, so I can’t link to it. But “Rebecca53109068” wrote:

Stop saying “defined by.” My race/culture is a part of who I am. It’s a part of my identity and I’m proud of it. Native Americans feel the same, and so do many other folks. Just because it means nothing to you doesn’t mean it should be dismissed or ignored.

Question: why must you pretend I’m not Black in order to treat me fairly and judge me by the content of my character?

This is not at all a new debate. Back in 2003, in Jennifer Richeson and Richard Nussbaum conducted a study, comparing white people’s reactions to being exposed to messages “advocating either a color-blind or a multicultural” view.

Relative to the multicultural perspective, exposure to the color-blind perspective generated greater automatic racial bias… , the present findings echo the vast majority of non-experimental research in education finding that multiculturalism yields more positive outcomes for intergroup relations than color-blindness.

More to the point of this cartoon, Adia Harvey Wingfield wrote:

Many Americans purport not to see color. However, their color blindness comes at a cost. By claiming that they do not see race, they also can avert their eyes from the ways in which well-meaning people engage in practices that reproduce neighborhood and school segregation, rely on “soft skills” in ways that disadvantage racial minorities in the job market, and hoard opportunities in ways that reserve access to better jobs for white peers.

Colorblindness, in a society with racism, perpetuates racism. And if there was a society with no racism, then that society wouldn’t need colorblindness. There is no context in which colorblindness makes sense.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels. They all so two people – BOB, a white guy with glasses, and JOE, a Black guy wearing a tan zip jacket – talking as they walk on a suburban sidewalk.

PANEL 1

BOB: I’ve got the solution to racism: Colorblindness!

JOE: Where we all pretend not to see race? That won’t fix things like police brutality or the racial wealth gap.

PANEL 2

Bob raises a finger to make a point.

BOB: But is the problem really nonwhites being treated badly by police and employers and banks and landlords and so on?

PANEL 3

A close up on a pleased-looking Bob.

BOB: Or is the real problem that when whites like me hear about racism we feel implicated and we resent that?

PANEL 4

Joe folds his arms, annoyed, while Bob looks very smug.

JOE: I’m guessing you’re gonna say the second one is the problem.

BOB: Not out loud.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is obsolete cartoonists’ lingo for fun but unimportant details in the art. I’m determined to bring it back. (“Gretchen, stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen, it’s NOT going to happen!”)

Panel 1: A flyer stapled to a tree shows a dog wearing a yellow bowtie, with the caption “LOST DOG.” The same dog, with a sneaky expression, peeks out from behind the tree.

Panel 2: A sun-headed and a moon-headed person are sitting at a bus stop in the background, both just reading their phones.

Panel 4: The dog from panel 1 flees as a butterfly net reaches for it.

The Benefit of Colorblindness | Patreon

 

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Race, racism and related issues | 1 Comment

Crap You Hear In A Wheelchair

Posted on November 21, 2025 by Ampersand

This cartoon is by me and Becky Hawkins.

Becky writes:

As a cartoonist in the internet age, I’m really lucky to have access to drawing tutorials as well as reference photos! I found wheelchairs really hard to draw from photos (what are all those bars for? WHAT’S HAPPENING UNDER THERE?!). But I knew there were some tips and drawing tutorials out there. I saw them on timeline every once in a while, when a cartoonist hadn’t done their due diligence before a comic went to print.  So I wanted to thank Art Resources & Tutorials on Tumblr, and Aurelia Ceitinn, who created this image.

Barry writes:

(Makes a mental note to review all the stuff Becky linked the next time I need to draw someone in a wheelchair.)

Speaking of research: I’m not a wheelchair user. When I write strips like this, research is essential. Because my imagination just is no match for the real shit ablebodied people say to disabled people in real life. (In the case of panel seven, it’s combining lots of similar experiences into a single panel).

For instance, one of the better strips I’ve made (in my opinion, anyway) is You’re So Brave, I’d Rather Be Dead. Once, I wouldn’t have believed that this was a common experience. It’s still hard to believe. But I’ve read dozens of responses from disabled people to that cartoon, saying “this is spot on” or chiming in with their similar experiences.

A user on Reddit wryly replied:

My favorite is when someone suddenly feels the need to pontificate in my general direction and how the medical community keeps people alive when they have no quality of life and it’s just tragic. That people should just be allowed to die.

My go to is always “you first.”

Every panel in this cartoon is based on real things people have said, as reported by disabled people on social media.

When I first began doing strips like this one, years ago, I was worried that people wouldn’t like me putting their experiences of discrimination into cartoons – that they might find it appropriative. And of course, I remain concerned that I’ll screw up and say something stupid. But what I’ve found over the years is that most people, far from being mad, really enjoy seeing things that reflect their experiences in a comic.

(And writing that out, it seems very much like saying ‘I’ve discovered that the floor will keep me from falling through to the basement.” Obviously many people enjoy seeing their own experiences reflect in media. But it took me a while to absorb that, as applied to my own work.)

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has nine panels. In the center of the cartoon is the title: CRAP YOU HEAR IN A WHEELCHAIR

PANEL 1

A woman in a cardigan spreads her hands beatifically.

WOMAN: Open your heart and Jesus will heal your legs!

PANEL 2

A passenger sitting on a plane grouses to the person next to him.

MAN: I saw this guy get pushed onto the plane in a wheelchair and then he stood up! This whole “disability” thing is a scam!

PANEL 3

A man rushes through an airport, rolling a suitcase:

MAN: You’re so lucky you don’t have to walk places like normal people!

PANEL 4

A man points and laughs.

MAN: You got a license for that thing? Haw haw!

PANEL 5

Below the title of the strip, a smiling woman clasps her hands.

WOMAN: You’re so brave!

PANEL 6

A woman in a wheelchair angrily speaks to a cheery woman pushing the chair.

WOMAN: Let go of me!

PUSHER: But I’m helping you!

PANEL 7

A man rubs his chin as he rambles. He’s drawn in front of his words, so we can’t see every word.

MAN: Have you really tried to walk? Have you tried seeing a doctor? Have you tried yoga? Have you tried going gluten free? Have you tried exercise? Or this thing I saw on YouTube? Have you tried positivity? Have you tried healing crystals? Have you… alkaline water? Maybe… diet? Have you tried… more water? …for Munchausens? …essential oils? …superfoods can… have you…

PANEL 8

A woman smiles eagerly and leans in.

WOMAN: So can you have sex?

PANEL 9

Two men walk away from a store carrying a bunch of grocery bags, and looking at a disabled parking sign. Nearby, a wheelchair user overhears and looks annoyed.

MAN: Man, I wish I was disabled!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is an obsolete but beloved (by me) term for fun but unimportant details in a cartoon.

In panel 3, the sign shows a flying saucer next to the bus and rental car icons.

In panel 6, the sign to the bus has an arrow that, instead of pointing in one direction, shows a circuitous and zigzagging route, because public space is not designed with the convenience of transit riders in mind!

Crap You Hear In A Wheelchair | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Disability Issues, Disabled Rights & Issues | 10 Comments

Blame Immigrants!

Posted on November 15, 2025 by Ampersand

As many people have written, one way powerful people and institutions stay in power is by scapegoating immigrants. Dick Dowdell sums it up well:

When wages stagnate, when health premiums rise faster than paychecks, when rent eats a third of take‑home income, people look for a reason. The top 0.01% — and the political entrepreneurs who orbit them — are more than happy to supply one.

Immigrants become the universal scapegoat: they are easy to see, easy to caricature, and, critically, politically voiceless. If you can convince the public that migrants, not monopolies; refugees, not stock buybacks; asylum seekers, not tax arbitrage, are the cause of their shrinking slice, you can keep the real machinery running without interruption.

This general strategy is nothing new – in the U.S., it’s at least as old as slavery. Cristina Jiménez, herself an immigrant, writes:

This is exactly what the president and his administration are doing. They are blaming immigrants for the costs of eggs, housing, a failing healthcare system and an economy that benefits only the rich. They are scapegoating immigrants to distract us from this administration’s cruelty and fealty to rich men like Elon Musk, who are stealing our resources, our data and our money while the majority of Americans are struggling to make ends meet.

“Bad” immigrants being the nation’s scapegoat is not new, but the faces and cultures of who we define as such have. In the 1920s, during the Prohibition Era, German, Italian and Irish immigrants were also labeled as immoral, un-American drunks and blamed for threatening public welfare and deteriorating American values. Ironically, many of those same immigrants have now become “white” in America’s story, and some of their descendants are now saying the same things about people like me, and calling for the mass deportation of immigrants.

The only thing startling about the current round of scapegoating is how overt and gross it is. Alarming and obviously ridiculous stories about immigrants – like the claim that they are stealing and eating our housepets – are made, not by anonymous nobodies on the internet, but by the leeches bleeding the country from the White House.

It’s infuriating. And it harms America – bad morally, bad culturally, and bad economically. We will all be worse off for it. I’m just hoping that eventually the damage Republicans are doing can be undone or at least mitigated.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels, all set in an industrial-looking urban area.

PANEL 1

Two characters – a wealthy businessman, and a worker – are speaking. The businessman is dropping a couple of coins into the worker’s palm, and the worker is angry.

BOSS: Here’s this week’s pay.

WORKER: I can’t live on this, you greedy-

PANEL 2

The Bossman puts his arm around the worker’s shoulders and points to another man standing a little distance off. That man, who has brown skin, is facing another way and reading his phone.

BOSS: Whoa! Listen, friend, I’m on your side! It’s not me keeping your pay low! It’s immigrants like that guy!

PANEL 3

The Bossman gets right in the worker’s face as he rattles off things he’s blaming the immigrant for. The Worker looks panicked.

BOSS: He’s stealing the good jobs! Taking all the housing! He’s lazy! Doesn’t even work! Living off welfare! Eating your pets! Doing all the crime!

PANEL 4

The worker is now lying prone on the pavement, with the Bossman’s foot on his back. The worker angrily shakes his fist at the immigrant, and yells.

WORKER: HEY YOU! YEAH, YOU! GET OUT!

BOSS: Good boy.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is an archaic cartoonists’ term for unimportant and often silly things drawn into comics.

The signs in the background are filled with references to the classic children’s novel Charlotte’s Web: “Some Pig,” “Terrific,” “Radiant,” and “Humble” are things Charlotte writes about Wilber the pig with her webbing. The names of three characters from Charlotte’s Web – Wilbur, Templeton Rat, and Fern – are also on signage.

In panel one, a rat examines a beer bottle on the sidewalk. In panel two, the rat guzzles from the bottle. In panel four, the rat has passed out with a big stupid grin.

In panel one, a scrap of paper on the sidewalk has a picture of Matt Feazell’s character Cynicalman. A newspaper lying on the sidewalk, entitled “The Daily Weekly,” has a headline that says “Study: 91% of Headlines on Litter Not Germane.” A subheadline says “Subheadlines also found meaningless.”

Blame The Immigrants! | Patreon

 

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Immigration, Migrant Rights, etc | 30 Comments

What Freedom Looks Like

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Ampersand

Another collab between me and Nadine Scholtes.

I have a big and overwhelming project with a deadline in just a bit over a month; I don’t expect to be participating much in Alas comments until it’s turned in, or  at least until I’m close enough to the end that I’m confident I’ll make it on time. I’ll still be reading comments, of course.

Think I’m exaggerating? Well, sure, I am – but not as much as you think.

The Cato Institute’s David Kopel once wrote that “the gun prohibition movement is ultimately based on an authoritarian wish.” According to Kopel, the real question of gun control is “whether the American people are the sovereigns in their own country.” J.D. Tuccille in Reason Magazine wrote “Obamacare is fascism.” Anti-trans bigot Meghan Murphy wrote that “preferred pronouns” are a way “of grooming people to accept totalitarianism.”

These are prominent people – but thoughts like theirs are echoed all over MAGAworld, on Xitter and Reddit and whatever the Hell Trump’s social media site is called. For the most part, they are considerably more sanguine about Trump’s masked ICE troops grabbing people off the street.

It’s hard to express how disappointed I am in the right wing of America. I’ve been furious at them for decades, but for most of my life I believed there was some limit to what they’d support, some basic common denominator that we could all agree on. An unaccountable police force going around masked and disappearing people off the streets – surely that’s something we’d all oppose, right?

Guess not.

I wonder why they’re not bothered by the massive expansion of the President’s powers under Trump – after all, Trump will not be President forever (although it kind of feels like he already has been). Are they confident that a Democrat would never use these powers against them? Or are they just confident that no Democrat will ever be allowed to win the White House again?

 

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels, all showing the same two people talking in a park.

PANEL 1

A bearded man wearing a red MAGA cap is talking to a earnest young woman. The MAGA man is angry, waving his hands in the air.

WOMAN: If guns are legal at all, they need to be regulated.

MAGA: GUN REGULATION IS AUTHORITARIAN!

PANEL 2

An older man with a cane is handing out fliers; the same MAGA guy, furious, slaps a flier to the ground.

CANE MAN: We’re holding a rally for universal health care.

MAGA: UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IS FASCISM.

PANEL 3

A nonbinary person wearing a pinback that says “THEY / THEM” is a bit bewildered as the MAGA guy points at the pinback, hiding his face like he’s frightened.

MAGA: PREFERRED PRONOUNS ARE TOTALITARIAN!

PANEL 4

All three of the characters from the previous panels, looking panicked, are yelling in unison. The MAGA guy calmly laughs it off.

THREE CHARACTERS: MASKED GOVERNMENT AGENTS ARE DISAPPEARING PEOPLE!

MAGA: That’s what freedom looks like.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken Fat” is a long-dormant cartoonists’ term for unimportant but perhaps amusing details.

Panel 1 – In the background, a pigeon paints an owl’s portrait.

Panel 2 – The pigeon, painting tucked under one wing, runs away from a cat. The MAGA cap now says “Make ‘Merica Mate Mermen.” The flier the MAGA guy slapped says “Reading this tiny print makes you special & smart!”

Panel 3 – The pigeon has stopped to show the painting to the cat, who is surprised and impressed. The MAGA cap says “Make America Grout Again.”

Panel 4 – The cat poses as the pigeon paints its portrait. In the tree above, the owl sits next to where it’s hung the pigeon’s painting of the owl. The MAGA cap says “Erica’s A Hen.”

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc. | 2 Comments

Why Are You Singling Out Israel?

Posted on October 27, 2025 by Ampersand

If you publicly criticize Israel, you’ll sooner or later be confronted with the “why are you singling out Israel” critique. “There are so many nations in the world – so picking on the world’s one and only Jewish state must be motivated by antisemitism, right?”

Sometimes the “motivated by antisemitism” part is implied rather than said, as in this essay by Professor Jeroen Bruggeman.

First, why were there far more demonstrations than against other wars with far more casualties, such as Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Congo, Myanmar and Ukraine? Are Israelis and Palestinians more special than everyone else who uses and/or endures violence?

At less rarified levels, it’s often stated more baldly, as in this question on Quora.

On hypocrisy, why are we not protesting as hard for Yemen and Syria which is utterly far worse compared to Gaza/Palestine because villainizing Jews seems to be more politically correct than villainizing Muslims?

The IHRA definition of antisemitism, which has been taken up by many states and cities, the Trump administration and (under pressure from Trump) universities including Harvard and Columbia, includes “Applying double standards by requiring of Israel behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

The Nexus Task Force, an academic group focused on opposing antisemitism, replied:

Paying disproportionate attention to Israel and treating Israel differently than other countries is not prima facie proof of antisemitism. (There are numerous reasons for devoting special attention to Israel and treating Israel differently, e.g., some people care about Israel more; others may pay more attention because Israel has a special relationship with the United States and receives $4 billion in American aid).

Few if any of Israel’s apologists who raise the “why single out Israel?” argument could honestly say they personally give equal attention to all the worlds’ crises; they typically pay far more attention to Israel than any other country.

Which is fine! People are allowed to care more about one issue than another. Even critics of Israel.

I’m pleased with (if you’re less charitable, you might even say “smug about”) the five-panel bunny narrative in the big guy’s tattoos in this strip.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has six panels.

PANEL 1

An outdoor park environment. In the background, a bearded man with a blue shirt holds a “Save Gaza” sign. In the foreground, a man in a polo shirt and a woman in a red skirt and black vest are talking about the bearded man.

POLO: Why does that guy single out Israel for criticism? Lots of countries do bad things!

VEST: I’ll ask him.

PANEL 2

The woman in the vest has approached the bearded man. From this angle, we can see that under the vest, she’s wearing a shirt with the Israeli flag on it.

VEST: There are so many evil governments, and yet you’ve decided to protest the only Jewish state. Do you have something against Jews?

PANEL 3

The bearded man earnestly replies.

BEARD: Huh. I guess I was raised to care about Israel. We talked about Israel a lot in Hebrew school. When other kids fundraised for UNICEF we donated our allowances for growing trees in Israel.

PANEL 4

The bearded man looks angrier.

BEARD: Also, I’m American. We give tons of weapons to Israel. So when Israel commits genocide, my tax dollars enable it.

PANEL 5

The bearded man smiles; the vest woman looks unconvinced.

BEARD: Besides, no one can focus equally on everything. I bet you pay more attention to Israel. If it’s okay for you to prioritize some issues, why isn’t it okay for me?

PANEL 6

The vest woman has returned to talking with the guy in the polo shirt.

POLO: So what did he say?

VEST: It’s like we thought, he just hates Jews.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is antiquated cartoonists’ slang for amusing but unimportant details in the art.

SHIRT: The bearded guy’s t-shirt has an image of a lit candle, then an image of a light bulb, then an image of the sun.

TATTOOS: The tattoos on bearded guy’s arms tell a little five panel story, showing a baby bunny growing up, falling in love, having oodles of babies, and finally dying.

PANEL 2: Charlie Brown is in the background.

PANEL 3: A flyer tapes to the tree says “LOST: Bad Dog,” in in smaller print, “Bad bad doggie! No! If found, do not give treats.” The photo shows a dog smoking a cigarette.

PANEL 6: The plant on the windowsill is Audrey II from “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Graffiti on the wall says “Why are you reading this?” and “BG is here.” (BG stands for “background”). It’s impossible to read, but the graffiti behind the woman says “Bilbo Lives.”

Why Are You Singling Out Israel? | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Palestine & Israel | 22 Comments

They Think They Own The Road!

Posted on October 6, 2025 by Ampersand

A cartoon by me and Becky Hawkins.

Becky writes:

In recent years, I’ve become involved with local organizing efforts around safer streets. I’ve had some galvanizing experiences, like witnessing a hit and run during a group bike ride on the way to a memorial for victims of traffic violence. Another time, a driver in front of me stopped at a stop sign, signaled a left turn, and drove directly into a cyclist who had the right of way. The cyclist was okay, just bruised. I stuck around, and the driver a) exclaimed that the cyclist had come out of nowhere and b) asked if the cyclist and I had been riding together. I was like “…No? He was across the street from you, and I’ve been right behind you for a minute or so?!?!” Drawing panel 2 was very cathartic for me.

This comic was a beast to lay out. It was tough to decide on the placement of characters and vehicles so that the conversation flowed naturally. Which direction is the reader looking? How could the driver of the car be on the reader’s left (and therefore speaking first) in panel 1? If they’re leaning out the driver’s side window, the truck that’s pulled over will be on the passenger side of the car, and there will be a ton of wasted space between the two drivers. If we’re viewing the vehicles from the front, the truck will be on our left. But then the truck driver’s word balloon would be read first. And so on.

This cartoon languished in our unfinished folder for months because I couldn’t figure out the layout for the life of me. The answer came to me on my commute.

There’s a spot on the Hawthorne bridge where drivers have to cross the eastbound bike lane to get to an exit ramp. The bureau of transit has been adding green paint, white flex-posts, and yellow signs for the past few years. They’re still considering other ways to make that crossing less dicey. The real-life placement of the warning signs and lights was perfect for framing the driver’s face in panel 2.

Once I had that location in mind, I went on google street view and took a bunch of screenshots looking in all directions. I dropped different views of the intersection into each panel, looking for the best way to convey what was going on. In retrospect, the staging I went with seems obvious, but I only found it after much experimentation. That’s how it works sometimes.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels.

PANEL 1

A car and a pickup truck are pulled over on the side of an overpass. There’s an exit ramp with white and green stripes going across it, which in some cities indicates pedestrian and bicyclist crossings. The driver of the car, a woman in an orange top, is walking towards the driver of the pickup, who has gotten out of the truck. He’s wearing a blue cap and a red tshirt.

WOMAN: Hey there. I see you’re pulled over. You need me to call for help?
MAN: Thanks. I’m having the worst day ever!

PANEL 2

A closer shot of the truck driver as he rants. His face is framed by two yellow caution signs with bicycle icons and arrows pointing to the green and white crosswalk lines. The concerned woman is behind him.

MAN: I was just driving along and bam! A bike came out of nowhere! No chance for me to see it coming! Stupid bike riders think they own the road!

PANEL 3

Looking worried, the man points to a dent on his truck’s front grill.

MAN: I got a big truck so I’d be safe on the road — and see what happens? Just look at this ding on my truck!

PANEL 4

From the ground in front of the truck, a hand comes up, forefinger raised to get attention. The woman is shocked; the man is annoyed.

BIKER (weak shaky voice): Sorry to interrupt but could you call me an ambulance?
MAN: Hey! It’s not all about you!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

Chicken fat is obsolete cartoonists’ lingo for unimportant but amusing details in the art.

PANEL 2: A highway sign says “Highway to Heck.” The font is called “Highway Gothic.”
(“Highway to heck” is a reference to a Foxtrot comic. “Some songs just weren’t made for Muzak.” “Some ears weren’t, either.”)

PANEL 3: The logo on the front of the truck says “Dodge SLAM.”

They Think They Own The Road! | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics | 4 Comments

Doin’ Discourse With Ezra and Charlie

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Ampersand

Seemingly obligatory disclaimer: Of course I don’t approve of murdering Charlie Kirk.

But we can be against assassinating a hateful bigot without whitewashing him.

All of the things said by suit guy in this cartoon, are things Kirk actually said in life, paraphrased to fit in the four-panel format. But in the weeks since Kirk’s death, too many centrist liberals – including Ezra Klein, who infamously praised Kirk in The New York Times for “practicing politics in exactly the right way” – have ignored his actual messages. As Ta-Nehisi Coates points out, it’s telling that Klein didn’t quote Kirk’s own words anywhere in the op-ed.

Klein wrote that “Kirk and I were on different sides of most political arguments. We were on the same side on the continued possibility of American politics.” But Nicholas Grossman pointed out that this really wasn’t the case.

Were they? Charlie Kirk repeatedly lied about the 2020 election, bussed people to Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, and defended Trump pardoning convicted seditionists by lying that normal court proceedings were somehow denial of due process. Kirk recently celebrated Trump’s illegal military deployments against U.S. cities as “shock and awe” that is “taking our country back from these cockroaches.” Those stances oppose the continued possibility of American politics, at least as a rule of law democracy.

In the middle of drawing this cartoon, I did something to my shoulder – I have no idea what – and my shoulder quite unreasonably responded by refusing to move much for a few days. It basically went on strike but refused to tell me what its demands are. It’s still hurting today, actually, but the pain is now very minor, and I was finally able to finish up drawing this strip.

I tried to write this strip so it would make sense even for people who have no idea who either Charlie Kirk or Ezra Klein are – after all, centrist liberals emphasizing civility over substance is a decades old problem, not a passing news story.

Having decided it didn’t matter that the characters were Ezra Klein and Charlie Kirk made drawing caricatures of them a lot more fun for me, because I could just draw them without worrying about if I was achieving good likenesses. (I have prosopagnosia – popularly known as “face blindness” – and I wonder if that accounts for my difficulty being sure if I’ve drawn a decent likeness of someone or not).

I think of Klein as a clean-shaven guy, but in recent photos he’s got a thick beard, and including the beard was both interesting for me to draw and helped differentiate the two characters visually.

RECIEPTS

Since I know from experience that I will probably be accused of lying about what Kirk said, here are some receipts.

Panel one: Kirk used anti-trans slurs on his podcast. And he called for “a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor.”

Panel two: Kirk said “Mexico could close their border in an afternoon, but we’re allowing Mexico and the cartels to overrun the country because, of course, the American Democrat party wants that to happen. The American Democrat Party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.”

Panel three: This panel combines two Kirk statements. First, “Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more. ” And second, “…The Haitians that are in Huntsville that are raping your women and hunting you down at night — it’s only gonna get worse if — unless Donald Trump wins.”

Panel four: Kirk called for deporting Mehdi Hasan. “Who is that neurotic lunatic? Who is that guy? Send him back to the country he came from. Holy cow. Get him off TV. Revoke his visa. ”

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels, all featuring the same three characters. Charlie, a white man in a suit and tie. Ezra, a white man in more casual clothing. And Reader, a Latina wearing shorts and a black tank.

PANEL 1

Charlie and Ezra are walking together. Nearby, Reader sits at the base of a tree, reading a book, and overhears.

CHARLIE: We need Nuremberg-style trials for tranny-affirming clinic doctors.

EZRA: As a liberal centrist, I can’t agree with that. But what matters is that we’re talking.

PANEL 2

The woman looks annoyed.

CHARLIE: Democrats want Mexicans to overrun us because they hate America and wanna see it become less white and collapse!

EZRA: That’s not true. But again, we’re talking! Thank you for practicing politics the right way!

PANEL 3

The woman stands up, yelling angrily at the two men.

CHARLIE: You know what happens in the cities? Blacks prowl around attacking white people for fun! Haitians rape your women and hunt you!

EZRA: Again, I can’t agree. But I–

READER: Fuck that racist bullcrap!

PANEL 4

Ezra and Charlie walk on, not speaking to the woman, who watches them leave with an annoyed expression.

EZRA: Tsk! So uncivil! That’s the kind of intolerance that’s ruining America.

CHARLIE: They should deport her!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is forgotten cartoonist lingo for unimportant but hopefully amusing stuff in the art.

PANEL 1: A notice taped to the tree says “DON’T don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t forget about me baby,” a reference to a song by Simple Minds made famous in The Breakfast Club.

PANEL 4: A heart carved into the tree trunk says “N.L. + S.T.” Another heart says “J.T. + J.B.,” but has been crossed out. A third heart says “A.H. + J.B.” All of these hearts refer to one of my favorite musicals, Sweeney Todd.
Beaker from The Muppets is sticking his head out a hole in the ground.
A rat is walking on the street next to the sidewalk, looking distressed as it reads something on its phone. It’s wearing a shirt with a hearts pattern.
A piece of litter on the ground says “REPENT. Panel 4 is upon us!”

Doin’ Discourse With Ezra and Charlie | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Civility, Civility & norms of discourse, Race, racism and related issues | 61 Comments