I like that in this video Ben Shapiro tries his uninformed anti-trans ideas on Neil deGrasse Tyson. He learns the hard way between bullying a student and talking on a profession who understands and knows science. Not only does Tyson turn Shapiro’s anti-trans people in sports completely around on him, he asks Shapiro why the issue even matters to him. Trans people are no threat and are not in large numbers so why is Ben beating that fear drum. It is wonderful. Hugs
Cenk Uygur NEGATIVE Opinion Segment Casts Trans-Activism in NEGATIVE Light AGAIN!
This is a video from the Letterhack. I like the host’s clam informative delivery. I don’t know how anyone who watches Play Time feel about Cenk and Anna, but I do know how I feel. When this situation first erupted and Anna went ballistic on something that was only used on select medical forms and when criticized about it Cenk acted like a teen boy defending his hot girlfriend and went way over board defending her against anyone even vaguely critical and making threats claiming things that were said that never were. But here is the thing that because they refused to accept any criticism of that they claimed, they were supported by republicans and championed the cause republicans would use to win. From there Cenk and Anna branched into bashing Biden while claiming that crime was soaring echoing the right wing media talking point about crime and homelessness. Cenk then went so far as to attack trans supporters and advocates while trying to cozy up to republicans like tRump. I left TYT when Cenk said that the only way to win nation elections was to drop support for the T in LGBTQ+. He was so adamant in that, just throw them under the bus and when we win we can go back and get them. Yet the years that Cenk was pushing this all the republicans trying to run on trans hate lost. They lost by huge margins. But Cenk and Anna never admitted they were wrong using the time to go further right on other republican issues like housing the unhoused and finding ways to deal with crime. They ignored the real reasons for these problems adopting a hard right republican view of the issues. Anyone who disagreed with them was attacked vigorously.
So here is a video and I am not sure at what point in the saga this was videoed at. All I know is Cenk, Anna, and most of TYT has lost the mantel of “Home of the Progressives” and taken on a more smarmy look. Look this is an important video on supporting the trans community and not on attacking Cenk. But we can not let anyone on the left claim to be the home of the progressive left and then give the haters room to attack trans people. Trans rights, trans people, are far more important today than maybe they ever had been. But if you know your history, congratulation you survived the educational purges, then you know that the Stonewall riots where the LGBTQ+ rose to defend themselves and their rights wouldn’t have happened without the valiant drag queens and trans people who used their high heels as weapons to defend the rights of all the LGBTQ+. We need to keep that in mind knowing we still and will always need them and their courage. Hugs
Cenk Uygur continues to use anti-activist rhetoric when discussing Trans-Rights in dehumanizing ways while neglecting to include facts in his wild opinions about gender affirming care for minors.
Peace & Justice History for 1/5
| January 5, 1916 With the Great War (World War I) entering its third year, British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith introduced the first conscription law in British history to the House of Commons, the Military Service Act.  World War I Conscientious Objectors, Dyce Camp, UK About 16,000 conscientious objectors refused to fight. Most believed that even during wartime it was wrong to kill another human being. About 7,000 agreed to perform non-combat service; more than 1,500 refused all compulsory service. They were usually drafted into military units and, upon refusing to obey orders, were court-martialed. Consequences of conscription |
| January 5, 1968 A mass movement advocating political and economic reforms, including increased freedom of speech, travel and an end to state censorship, began in Czechoslovakia when Alexander Dubcek came to power as the head of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party. “We shall have to remove everything that strangles artistic and scientific creativeness,” he said. The time later became known as “Prague Spring.” Alexander Dubcek, ”Socialism with a human face”   Soviet tanks enter Prague, August 1968 Read more |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjanuary.htm#january5
A Nice Old Poem
Find out all about it by clicking the title to see it all. (Also not proselytizing.)
January by Robert Bridges 1844 – 1930
Cold is the winter day, misty and dark:
The sunless sky with faded gleams is rent:
And patches of thin snow outlying, mark
The landscape with a drear disfigurement.
The trees their mournful branches lift aloft:
The oak with knotty twigs is full of trust,
With bud-thronged bough the cherry in the croft;
The chestnut holds her gluey knops upthrust.
No birds sing, but the starling chaps his bill
And chatters mockingly; the newborn lambs
Within their strawbuilt fold beneath the hill
Answer with plaintive cry their bleating dams.
Their voices melt in welcome dreams of spring,
Green grass and leafy trees and sunny skies:
My fancy decks the woods, the thrushes sing,
Meadows are gay, bees hum and scents arise.
And God the Maker doth my heart grow bold
To praise wintry works not understood,
Who all the worlds and ages doth behold,
Evil and good as one, and all as good.
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on January 4, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
Music in the Morning
It’s a slideshow, with links. I love The Isley Brothers’s work!
Heard of The Isley Brothers? The Legendary Group is the Only Musical Act in History to Achieve This One Feat
After decades in the music business, the Cincinnati-born siblings have been covered by everyone from The Notorious B.I.G. to Ice Cube.
Even if you weren’t around when the band got their start in the late 1950s, you’ve definitely experienced the music of The Isley Brothers. With a sound that combines R&B, rock, funk and soul, their music has been been heavily sampled and covered by the likes of Ice Cube, The Beatles and Whitney Houston.
But while you surely know their music, you may not know that the Cincinnati, Ohio-born siblings who were known for producing sexy love ballads actually started singing gospel music as teens. Despite label changes, family tragedies and a lawsuit between two of the original members, founding member Ronald and younger brother Ernie Isley still entertain fans with the songs that first made them famous in the 1960s.
To this day, The Isley Brothers are the only act in history to hit the Billboard Hot 100 in six consecutive decades: The 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Here is their story. (snip-go see the photos, listen to the music. While going through the early slides, why not turn on this? or this? )
https://www.theroot.com/heard-of-the-isley-brothers-the-legendary-group-is-the-1851732498
Can we try to get the memes out on time this week
I have a question of the people who like these meme posts. What day should I do them on. I can post them on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It makes no difference to me. I do enjoy if others can use any of the memes or cartoons I post, and I know that Jill and I share a few back and forth. So let me know what day gives you the most for enjoyment and ability to use them, and I will go with the majority. I love the meme / cartoon posts also. Hugs
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The Nancy Mace baby picture. In all these years nothing whatever has changed. What a tragedy that she never grew up!
Timely Toon
Bezo’s Sacrifice by Clay Jones
This one’s for Ann Read on Substack
“Democracy dies in darkness” is a phrase popularized by Washington Post investigative reporter Bob Woodward who used it in an article about government secrecy. After billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post and Donald Trump assumed the presidency (sic), it became the newspaper’s first slogan in its 140-year history. Today, democracy is dying.
When Bezos purchased the paper, many felt he was saving the Post and journalism. He stood out of the way and allowed his journalists to defend democracy because there is no democracy without journalism.
After Trump lost the 2020 election by being soundly and squarely defeated by Joe Biden, the Post started to get a little flaky. It laid off and bought out prominent journalists. It started running whimsical New Yorker-like cartoons by Edith Pritchett on its opinion page. It hired right-wing Nixon/Reagan lover Michael Ramirez to draw political cartoons for its opinion page. It refused to make an endorsement in the 2024 election. but it still had Ann.
Herblock Award, Pulitzer Prize, and Rueben Award-winning political cartoonist Ann Telnaes had been freelancing for the Post for years. She was freelancing for the Post when the excellent Tom Toles retired in 2020. The Post promised to hire a full-time cartoonist to replace Toles who had replaced the legendary Herblock. Many felt the Post would hire Ann full-time as she was the most qualified and deserving. But the Post backtracked (lied) and didn’t hire a staffer. Instead, they brought in a freelancer who worked from Canada.
No offense to Michael de Adder, but this is the legendary Washington Post. The person filling Herblock’s spot should be expected to live in Washington, DC, or at the very least, the United States. I believe political cartoons are better if the person drawing them is actually affected by the issues he or she is drawing about. Ann was living in Washington at the time.
For the past few decades, Ann has been one of the best political cartoonists in the world. The Washington Post never fully respected that, and they disrespected her again this week.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, The Post has been flaky. Bezos issued statements before election day about having high expectations from a second Trump administration. Never mind that Donald Trump has attacked the Post, calling it the “Amazon” Washington Post. Never mind that Trump continues to call journalists the “enemy of the American people.” Never mind that Trump calls legitimate news “fake news” while pushing lies over and over again. Never mind that Trump sues journalism outlets for reporting facts about him. Never mind that Trump threatens and wants to do away with the basic tenets of democracy.
After the election, Bezos and other tech billionaires started dumping money into Trump’s “inauguration” fund with many, such as Bezos, making treks to MAGA-Lardo to kiss Trump’s ass.
As the owner of Amazon, which has government contracts, and with the threat of Elon Musk in a position to make cuts to government spending, it’s in Bezos’ financial interest, or so he believes, to play up to Donald Trump. Jeff Bezos had dinner with Trump, probably sitting in the same spot as all the white nationalists who had dinner with Trump at MAGA-Lardo. Trump was launching a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register for a poll while Bezos was sitting at MAGA-Lardo chomping on his Cobb salad.
This week, Ann drew a cartoon that depicted the billionaires groveling to Trump, and among them was Jeff Bezos. Guess what her editor did with that cartoon? He killed it. Guess what Ann did. She quit.
That’s right. Ann Telnaes got up and quit working for the most prominent publication for political cartoonists. In her substack piece, Why I’m Quitting The Washington Post, Ann, who has been with the Post since 2008, writes, “In all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now.”
Ann called the spiking of the cartoon a “gamechanger,” that was “dangerous for a free press.”
She’s correct. When newspaper owners are afraid of presidents to the point they start killing critical political cartoons, a free press is in danger. Bezos and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong both killed editorials endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president over Trump. Why? Because it was bad for business.
Ann’s editor, David Shipley, called her a liar for her “interpretation of events and said in a statement, “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” Mr. Shipley said in the statement, “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column — this one a satire — for publication. The only bias was against repetition.”
As a political cartoonist who’s worked with editors, I smell bullshit. In my experience, editors LOVE it when cartoons coincide with editorials. Now, these are columns but still, they typically like it when they run together or close together. Shipley says one of those columns had already been published and the second is scheduled for publication. Since one of those hasn’t been published yet, then he should have given deference to Ann’s cartoon, that is if he’s not lying. Ann is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Why would he kill her piece for something else?
Shipley said he respects Ann but he clearly doesn’t.
His excuse is nearly as bad as the paper’s when Bezos killed its endorsement of Kamala Harris.
Trump spent his entire campaign promising to weaponize the Justice Department to go after his enemies. Look at his nominees to lead the DOJ. First, it was Matt Gaetz and now it’s Pam Bondi. His pick to lead the FBI is Kash Patel. These are goons.
Ann took a principled stand that will cost her financially. I can’t think of an outlet that would hire her and pay more than the Post. It may have hurt her professionally as I can’t think of an outlet that would hire her and be more prominent than the Post. But she’s established that she’s a badass.
The last time something like this happened was when the Pittsburgh Gazette fired Rob Rogers for refusing to stop criticizing Donald Trump. His replacement was goosestepping Steve Kelley (who was later quietly let go). Someone should tell the Post that Steve’s available, who’s probably already FedEx’ed his resume.
I drew a cartoon in 2015 when Ted Cruz attacked Ann which provoked thousands of death threats and threats of other despicable things I won’t mention here.
I drew a cartoon in 2019 that featured the firing of Rogers. When Rogers was fired, Michael Cavna, who wrote about cartoon issues did a piece about that. He’s not there anymore to write about Ann’s departure.
I drew a cartoon in 2023 about McClatchy laying off three Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonists on the same day.
And last June, I hit the Post’s editor.
This profession needs more journalists with backbones like Ann Telnaes and Rob Rogers.
When I stand up and speak out for my colleagues, I’m not just speaking out for my profession. I’m also standing up for journalism.
Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go watch!)
Kinda.
(Probably been reading too much, but not enough comics, yet. Miss Scarlet’s Mysteries and Sherlock are helping. Enjoy.)
C’est la Vie by Jennifer Babcock for January 04, 2025
