Was talking with Jarret Berenstein today and he made an excellent point I hadn’t realized. Trump will finish with about the same number of votes as he did in 2020. While commentators were stumbling all over themselves to give Trump credit for reaching new voters and forming coalitions and all kinds of other stuff that never happened, the truth is that Trump won because 15 million people who voted for Biden didn’t vote for Harris. The good news is that the feeling of dread from Trump growing his base is unfounded. But that doesn’t change the outcome. 15 million people made the choice to let someone else decide this for them and the rest of us have to live with that choice. My predictions for this were wrong. I’m not upset about being wrong but I am upset about why. 15million people decided that apathy or “protest” or indecision was more important than being a part of democracy. There are no more Trumpers than there were 4 years ago. But something I couldn’t predict was 15 million non-Trumpers who simply couldn’t be bothered. Any emotion you’re feeling today is valid. I am a mix of sad and angry and frustrated and a dozen other things. Sending all my love and support to those in marginalized communities who need it most. And blocking those who don’t. Hugs, -Steve
it’s too cold here for butterflies. As it should be, in November.
Oooookay. I’ve got little to offer right now. We lost, we seem to have lost by not much numbers-wise, but big as to our government. So there are likely to be changes coming. I’ve got very little because while most of the ones who won lie constantly, sometimes they don’t lie. It’s easy to take all the very bad things they’ve said and decide they weren’t telling lies then, but they were otherwise. But, one could choose to take the opposite outlook, as well, deciding that they said the very bad stuff to get the ugly vote, but didn’t mean it. Or, we can just take care of ourselves now and for the future instead of worrying about changes that aren’t here yet. I hope we decide to retain our power to put ourselves in good positions to withstand any adversities that might be on the way.
David Gilliver creates amazing light paintings — one of his latest was just shortlisted in the British Photography Awards. This article says he uses a lightsaber while dressed all in black; the pinnacle of Sith expression.
Halfbakery is “a communal database of original, fictitious inventions, edited by its users”. For example, the beardaclava, which is “a carefully woven balaclava that hangs as a thick and luxurious seamless extension to your existing beard, perfectly matching its colour and hair quality”.
Godchecker is here for you if you need to check a god. “Our legendary mythology encyclopedia now includes nearly four thousand weird and wonderful Gods, Supreme Beings, Demons, Spirits and Fabulous Beasts from all over the world.” Comprehensive.
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This is a stressful week for a lot of us and that’s probably why this came out of me when I turned off the world and stopped to draw…
Normally I alway write words on every drawing but I don’t have them for this doodle yet. What I do have though is the knowledge that even though the future is a place we can never see clearly, so many of you hold a light up in the world…so many of you are a light in this world. We may not be able to see what comes ahead but I know that no matter what, I’m here with you…around a flickering candle that will continue to shine. And I know that when my candle goes out you’ll lend me your flame…and vice versa. That’s how hope grows. That’s how kindness spreads.
Thank you for shining in a world that sometimes appears dark. It may seem such a small ember, but it glows like a lighthouse in the world, reminding us that we are so very far from being alone.
Beautiful art and non-snarky commentary. If the Support Free Content banner is up (I use AdBlock plus, but I turn it off on many sites, including SBTB,) just tell it you’ll fix it next time. It should only pop up if your ad blocker is on. This is worth it, and the ads, well, after I turned my blocker off, I still didn’t get ads. These covers are fabulous.)
A broken window on an LGBTQ fashion boutique storefront in Manhattan, New York on June 12, 2023.Photo: Shutterstock
There has been a 112% increase in documented attacks on LGBTQ+ people nationwide, according to a newly unveiled Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker (ALERT) from the queer media watchdog organization GLAAD. GLAAD hopes to use the tracker to provide comprehensive reporting and analysis detailing anti-LGBTQ+ hate in the U.S. and the specific communities and targets affected by it.
ALERT recorded 524 such incidents between June 2022 and 2023 and 1,109 incidents from June 2023 to 2024. These attacks have included over 450 protests, 330 propaganda drops, 320 acts of vandalism, 200 bomb & mass shooting threats, 130 assaults, and 45 cases of arson that have resulted in at least 161 injuries and 21 deaths, GLAAD’s ALERT Desk reported.
While the cases focus on drag bans and trans protections, they address larger issues of free speech and civil rights.
The attacks have also included over 567 attacks on transgender and gender non-conforming people, 360 incidents targeting educational institutions and libraries, 325 incidents targeting Pride flags and other LGBTQ+ community symbols, 160 protests and violent threats against drag performers, and 140 incidents targeting health care providers of gender-affirming care and their patients.
The tracker, which will be updated quarterly, includes data on criminal and non-criminal acts of hate from sources like news media, partner organizations (like the Human Rights Campaign or Anti-Defamtion League’s Center on Extremism), right-wing forums on social media sites like Gab or chat apps like Telegram as well as incident reports submitted via GLAAD’s website. All documented incidents must occur against groups or individuals within the U.S. and must include harassment, threats, or actual violence specifically targeting LGBTQ+ people.
GLAAD’s ALERT team will verify the validity of each incident to maintain credibility, remove duplicates, and exclude spam and trolling, the organization said.
“The ALERT Desk tells a story not entirely captured by the FBI’s hate crime statistics because many of these incidents, like protests at Pride events, don’t meet the criteria necessary to bring legal charges [and] aren’t included in most official hate crime counts,” GLAAD wrote in its recently released report on ALERT’s findings. “However, we must recognize that the impact of these acts on local LGBTQ communities is felt regardless of whether or not the incident is prosecuted.”
“We must recognize that the impact of these acts on local LGBTQ communities is felt regardless of whether or not the incident is prosecuted.”
GLAAD’s 2024 report on ALERT’s findings
During a press call, Barbara Simon, senior director of news and campaigns at GLAAD, noted that ALERT seeks to contextualize anti-LGBTQ+ incidents to help media and other experts understand larger systems of violence.
“[Recently], there was a bomb threat against a library in Massachusetts,” Simon said, a threat against a Drag Queen Story Hour at the public library in Somerville. “But it’s not just about that library. It’s not just about the inclusive materials and programs they had, about how the bomb squad had to come in and sweep the library, how children and families and patrons had to evacuate the library.”
“Our data shows how that incident is connected to the bigger picture, which is more of a broad-based, systemic attack against LGBTQ people, our visibility, our equality and our allies,” Simon added. “It is one of 365 attacks nationwide against drag artisan events. It’s one of 63 anti-LGBTQ attacks in Massachusetts alone, one of 15 attacks specifically against drag in Massachusetts.”
The quarterly reports will also include stories from those affected by the incidents.
GLAADA bar graph showing anti-LGBTQ+ hate incidents from GLAAD’s ALERT Desk. | GLAAD
For example, Dr. Jack Turban, pediatric psychiatrist and director of the gender psychiatry program at the University of California in San Francisco, said during the press call that bans on gender-affirming care for youth in 26 states have worsened the mental health of his young trans patients even though they live in a state where such health care is protected. Their mental health has been worsened, Turban said, because of an increase in anti-trans rhetoric nationwide whose indirect effects cross state lines.
“Kids are hearing things like being trans is a mental illness, or being trans is bad, or you shouldn’t be allowed to use the bathroom that aligns with your gender identity because trans people are sexual assaulters, or you shouldn’t be allowed to play on sports teams with your friends because you’re going to physically hurt them,” Turban said. “My patients know that none of those things are true, right? They can know that, but if you’re hearing it every single day, all over social media and all over the news and now right in their communities, even it’s impossible to not be impacted by that.”
GLAAD pointed out that media coverage tends to falsely frame medical care for transgender people as a “debate” despite every major medical association supporting the care. This coverage compounds the effect of hateful rhetoric from anti-trans politicians, protestors, and pundits.
ShutterstockSalina EsTitties attends the 35th Annual GLAAD Awards on March 14, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. | Shutterstock
The hateful rhetoric affects even LGBTQ+ celebrities and their fans, like Salina EsTitties, a competitor who appeared in Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. EsTitties told the press call that she’s generally insulated from hatred against gender non-conforming people since she lives in the very gay city of West Hollywood, California. However, she sees its impact whenever she travels to other states or posts social media videos about LGBTQ+ issues.
“There’s comments every single day of people being like, ‘This is not what God created. God created two genders. Oh, they keep adding alphabets. Oh, just shoot it between the eyes and get rid of it,’” EsTitties said. “The online hate is insane and there’s so much of it, and people are so willing to just let it all out, but it’s a clear representation of how people actually feel in America and across, you know, the U.S. here.”
“Not only are our LGBT community dealing with having to be their authentic selves,” she continued. “Being their authentic selves with just who they are outside of their queer identity is a lot to navigate, and it’s not easy, especially when people are telling you, ‘You’re the Devil, you’re a demon,’ or ‘It’s not acceptable to be that.’”
Hate crimes typically increase during presidential election years. Marie Cottrell, executive director for the New Jersey-based LGBTQ+ advocacy center Out Montclair, said she hopes that increased awareness of anti-LGBTQ+ hate incidents will empower communities to build intersectional coalitions between other demographic groups whose members are targeted by similar hate.
“I think that it’s really important that you be the person that the community needs,” Cottrell told the press call. “They need to see you stand for and with them. Find folks who in your community who will stand with you in the face of intolerance, build a community of support within your township — whether that’s forging a relationship with your LGBTQ liaison within the local police department … working with the township, the mayor, the town council, and really having open conversations … having conversations that address really hard questions and topics and that starts the process of understanding and healing in your community.”
“It’s a small step, but it’s a step forward and a step forward in helping others understand the community,” she said.
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For me, baseball takes too long and also I’m a lifer Cubbies fan, but I remember really enjoying listening to my Opa’s Cardinals on the radio in the backyard when visiting in St. Louis, and I enjoyed getting an afternoon in the all-purpose room watching TV as the Mets won the World Series in 1969. Just now, I enjoyed this poem, and I hope everyone else does; it’s about baseball, yet more. Click through, and read a bit about this poem from the author.
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my ancestors rose and cheered. From their ancient graves,
pairs of arms rose to make the wave. Every burial site, a stadium and,
for every one of his at-bats Mayon Volcano spat a puff of smoke
visible for miles. Children in T-shirts with the number 50, hand-scrawled by Sharpies
would run into the streets and clang on metal pans calling all to feast
and when Benny’s cleats dug into the box, the little cloud of dust rising from his spikes
would drift across continents, into the living room of every Filipino, issuing a sneeze
which would be followed by a blessing. The diaspora, a flood of blessings,
watching the orange, blue, and white uniforms pixelated into millions of screens.
Tens of thousands of nurses held their breaths when they looked up between shifts
and saw him rest the bat on his shoulder staring down the pitcher. When Benny Agbayani
was a Met, whole families, once torn apart by distance held each other close, wrapped
together tightly in the embrace of phone cords, the web of telephone lines crisscrossing the nation.
Each long distance call the shimmering pulse of a wrist bracing for the recoil of the bat making contact.
When Benny fielded fly balls we’d all look into the sun for the speck of something—
something to ease us into the heartbeat of Americana where it was always
summer and the lawn markings formed grids visible from space.
When Benny Agbayani was a Met we thought the organ’s roar was for us and the syncopated applause
put us into a rhythm in tune to our hearts. When Benny Agbayani put his mitt to the ground
to stop a daisy cutter, millions of us put our ears to the earth to hear the rumblings
of what we hoped would be thousands of footsteps, following his path. But instead they were galloping
towards home. We’d raise the brim of our caps and nod our chins at a cool breeze
or the smell of fryer oil. And when Shea sang in one voice “B-B-B-Benny and the Mets”
we stood and put are hands to our hearts. We rocked back and forth on our heels
watching the strike zone get smaller and smaller. Watched as the sun made
our shadows grow and we waited until the roster made room for us in the show, now and in the ever after.
“The Nib” still comes in email sometimes. This is an item that could be of interest, also not about very current US election news (though there could be a tad here and there. I mean this item; “The Nib” still has plenty political for right now.) Anyway, back to this; I keep thinking there are people reading here who don’t comment, and that maybe any of us is an artist interested in moving forward with their art, and this can help. -A
So, I can’t tell what’s showing and what isn’t. On the posting page, I can see the little block with the title, the hyperlink, and the tiny blurb. When I look at the preview, though, all I can see is “Home” as a hyperlink; it goes to Crucial Comix. So, below, is a snip from Crucial Comix’s “About” page. Check it out!
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home for essential nonfiction comics and zines.
Founded in 2024, we are a cartoonist-run small press that publishes narrative nonfiction comics and offers compelling classes on comics-making and practice.
Our Values
We believe that comics are a powerful way to shape how we perceive ourselves and the world. Comics can capture emotional realities, offering a profound way express feelings and experiences that are impossible to depict in words alone. Comics connect with readers, drawing new eyes to stories about politics, history, and identity. Comics are made around the world by people who want to share their ideas and dreams. In short, comics are crucial.
As cartoonists face down book bans, political censorship, and financial difficulty in publishing boundary-pushing work, it’s more important than ever to build a community of artists that is rooted in mutual support and enthusiasm.
Crucial Comix is all about skill-sharing, accessibility, flexibility, and experimentation. We are a small press that aims to be always evolving so we can be a relevant and reliable resource for artists. Our pitches are always open. Our classes are all offered sliding-scale. Our comics are all free to read. Each season, we welcome a cohort of volunteer editors to guide up-and-coming artists through the process of making a nonfiction comic.
Get Involved
Are you looking to make comics based on real life? You take a class, submit or pitch a comic, or hire Crucial artists and writers to work on your project. You can also hire us to come teach classes or workshops at your school, library, or workplace.
Are you an artist or writer who wants to get involved in our community? You’re welcome to join our mailing list to find out about upcoming events and fun stuff. Everyone who completes a workshop or class with Crucial is invited to join our private Discord. If you’re interested in becoming an editor for Crucial someday, consider taking our editing class.
Want to ask us a question about your particular situation? Feel free to email us at editors@crucialcomix.com. If you’re looking to submit a comic, check out our submission guidelines.
Want to send us a copy of your zines? You can upload a zine to our submissions form or drop them in the snail mail: Crucial Comix, PO Box 17253, Portland, OR 97217
Scottie's Playtime 