Good morning, and Happy Sunday! Here were my top five favorite political cartoons for the week. Be sure to vote for your fav in the poll at the bottom of this post!
by Michael Ramirez at Townhall.com…
by Glenn McCoy at Townhall.com…
by Gary Varvel at Townhall.com…
by Steve Kelley at Townhall.com…
by Lisa Benson at Townhall.com…
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I guess I’ll vote for #4 this week.
With yet another strong job report…with gas well under $3….with the lowest number of uninsured Americans in years…
…I think it is time for us to seriously start considering how we get Obama to stay for a third term. Make it happen congress (would be the first thing you’ve done in years!)
EGV,
Be very careful what you wish for…being Obama has so little regard for the Constitution, I don’t doubt he’ll find a way to stay for a third term.
Make it happen Congress? Don’t stand on one leg. The American people sent many of Obama’s minions in the House and Senate packing just a month ago, giving his opponents a majority. In fact, another one just bit the dust in Louisiana.
Mary – I’m just interested in the country moving forward – and it definitely is. Great to see a lot of positive indicators. Those who liked Reagan most really love Obama!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2014/09/18/the-obama-economy-vs-the-reagan-economy-its-literally-no-contest/2/
Keep dreaming EGV,
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-official-america-is-now-no-2-2014-12-04
Mary
1) IMF has the US much bigger than China – 6.5 trillion larger
2) That stat has very little to do with anything that we’ve been talking about.
EGV,
I imagine that stat is a little inconvenient.
EGV — Honestly, does anyone give credit to Obama for the economy or for gas prices?
If he could control these things for us, we should worship him as a god. Maybe he should change the weather, too.
Obamacare still scares the crap out of most people. Even if more people have insurance now, most of us are concerned about the quality and cost of our healthcare. The only thing worse would be total coverage under a single-payer system — which would soon resemble soviet-style lack of cost controls and quality of care.
=============================
I voted for #3: The accelerating debt is the primary danger that threatens our future. Obama deserves some blame for exceeding the debt of Bush and all other presidents before him, but we are doomed if our current legislators fail to reign in the problem before it spirals out of control.
Del
I posted an article. You can find numerous others as well if you’re truly interested in the answer to your question.
Universal health care is the future. You should start looking into it. It isn’t as bad as you think, I mean, if you look at actual stats, numbers, or facts.
I saw the article, Ex-G.
My point is that people are not so stupid to believe that presidents control the economy. The recoveries under Reagan and Obama are not their credit. The depressions under Carter and Bush were not their fault.
The one guy who deserves any credit for governing a strong economy well is Bill Clinton — because he dropped his agenda when America voted against him, and he worked with the Republicans that we elected. Together, they forged a balanced federal budget. In response to this competent governance, our economy thrived with strength and confidence.
There are many who credit Reagan’s inspiration for strengthening our economy. And many who are surprised at America’s resilience in the face of Obama’s incompetence. I’m not ready to admit that the White House Occupant has that much power over us and our economy.
And yes… you are right. Socialized medicine is as inevitable as Hillary’s nomination. Sooner or later, it’s coming…. with all of its stats and numbers and facts to announce how great it will be.
Del –
I’d agree that they don’t control the entire economy, but they do have a massive impact. For instance, if a new president came in and said they wanted to pay off the debt in 3 years, and raised taxes massively while cutting spending massively – we’d probably see a lot of very negative economic impacts.
The same way, Reagan and Obama’s tax policies, spending policies, and other monetary policies effected the economy. To your point (I think), they don’t do it all themselves – it is in coordination with congress, and there are factors outside of their control (the internet boom really helped Clinton).
The ‘many’ who link incompetence and Obama are a shrinking crowd. It just isn’t an argument supported by facts. Has he been the best or worst president ever? Certainly not – but those who think everything he’s done is terrible – they simply don’t have a balanced mind on this.
I’d like to see Hillary bounced by an actual progressive – somebody to shake things up. Universal healthcare is coming though – just not sure if we want the system to collapse first, or if we’ll fix it pre-bubble.
I don’t think that America wants any more progressives. We are tired of being conned by elitists and their “better” ideas.
Anyhow, the debt collapse is coming…. doesn’t matter what we do about socialized healthcare or any other progressive program, before or after. Our future is going to look like a whole lot more of Ferguson… we will realize it is not about race. It is the problem of a huge, welfare-dependent class of fatherless youths. This is the most pressing need demanding reform.
We need a middle class uprising – we have the right who only cares about the rich, and the left that only cares about the poor. Meanwhile, the middle and issues that matter are shoved to the side. Time for somebody to shake things up.
Dick Cheney taught us all the deficits don’t matter anyway.
“we have the right who only cares about the rich, and the left that only cares about the poor”
I call B S. Do you actually know any REAL people that could be characterized as “right” or “left”? People other than politicians? If so, you’d know your broad brush statement above is complete B S. And since many politicians on the “left” and their favorite supporters are rich as can be, how can you possibly say the left only cares about the poor? What a joke. You seem to think almost entirely in labels and stereotypes with no regard for individuals at all. It’s maddening.
Lrning
Did you even read the comments back and forth between Del and I? We’re clearly talking about politicians. I talked about a more progressive candidate than Hillary – we were then talking options – and I expressed how the two parties ignore the middle class.
So yes, seems fair that I’m characterizing politicians.
No need to apologize.
I read all the comments. Your statement fails even regarding politicians, as I mentioned in my comment above. Perhaps it makes you feel better to believe such things, but it’s still B S.
Lrning –
Okay – can you give your thoughts on some specific legislation that has been offered in the past couple of years that you feel gets to the heart of issues that really impact a middle class family?
Ok, wow. That second cartoon has some really unfortunate messages there. That was poorly thought out, if not deliberately racist.
And not that I like rioting, but at least the folks in Ferguson are standing for something substantial. Not hockey games, or pumpkins.
Ex-RINO,
The House voted multiple times to help the middle class by repealing Obamacare which would remove the IRS boogey-man mandates and promote good paying jobs for everyone.
The people ‘of’ Ferguson may be standing for something but the poeple ‘in’ the Ferguson roits are race baiters and Occupy Wall Street anarchists.
DLPR –
Amen!
Ex-RINO,
Can I hear an Amen! Amen! for the man who broke the window with the baseball bat. And an Amen! for the ones who stole five cartons of cigarettes and four bottles of gin! And Amen! for the ones who burned the businesses down!
truth –
you know the drill – if you can’t even apologize when needed, I’m not going to waste my time with conversation.
Ex-RINO – if I though that calling you a phony required an apology then one would be forthcoming.
Ex-RINO, Can I get an Amen for the Ferguson ‘protesters’ who carjacked the Bosnian immigrant and bludgeoned him to death with a hammer?
Ex-RINO,
Can I get an Amen for the gang–bangers like Michael Brown who molest and rob their local shopkeepers. “hands up, don’t shoot” my ass.
Deluded Lib,
What do you think was the Ferguson protester’s were ‘standing for’?
The youth of a culture that condones the killing of unborn children will not have a healthy respect for life. Progressive statists and race hustlers are a twisted bunch of bedfellows.
DLPL and EGV,
So what are the rioters and looters standing for, other than ripping off and destroying businesses? Peaceful demonstrations are one thing, destroying peoples’ livelihoods and hard work are quite another and prove only that one is a thug.
truthseeker,
Maybe an “Amen” would be appropriate for the woman with the milk bottle who doused a fire set by an arsonist, who was of course standing for “something substantial” when, after looting the store he spread accelerent and attempted to burn the store down. I hope either EGV or DLPL will tell us what the “something substantial” was.
Mary –
The folks in Ferguson were upset because there was an 18 year old unarmed man who got into a fight/confrontation with a policeman and was shot and killed. The perception of the general protesters in Ferguson was that there was an injustice done. Some people rioted and looted, which I don’t think is a representation of the majority of protesters. The majority of protesters peacefully protested what they saw as racial injustice.
What DLPL is referring to is that when white people riot, the media coverage and terminology is way different. This cartoon being referenced definitely reflected some racial images.
If you disagree, I’d like you to describe the ‘typical’ Ferguson protestor.
Thanks
I think the majority of the protesters were ginned up by left wing race baiters and the left wing Occupy movement. It was outside race baiters and anarcharists that misrepresented this as a race based shooting and the left wing progressives and the accomplice media who perpetuated it. Any white punk who went after a cops gun and then charged at him when the cop told him to stop would have met the same fate.
EGV,
The Grand Jury ruled self defense but who cares about facts, right?
Black witnesses supported Wilson. Why would they? Someone goes for your weapon, then turns around and charges you, tell me EGV, would you stand there and ask him nicely not to?
I said I have no issue with peaceful protest. Also, when DLPL said he doesn’t like rioting, but at least the folks in Ferguson were standing for “something substantial”, you gave a resounding “Amen”. So do you agree EGV, you may not like rioting and its destruction, but hey, they folks are standing for something.
Is that what DLPL is saying, that its different when white folks riot? Please give some specific examples.
I don’t believe there’s “typical Ferguson protester”. In fact I think that’s kind of an absurd question.
Mary –
Many around saw a system in which a black, unarmed man was shot multiple times and died – and there was no trial. I’m not arguing that it was unjust – but I’m not going to say it was unreasonable that people didn’t have a beef with it.
I gave an amen to the post – yes – I think the cartoon had racial aspects of it, and I think that there’s a difference in media coverage and our terminology when discussing whites vs blacks in these situations.
Look up the Keene Pumpkin Festival coverage – the very fact that you had to ask for examples shows differences in coverage.
The typical protester was a peaceful individual.
EGV,
People may see it that way and have a beef. Then you make your objections known peacefully, that goes for white as well as black. Also, there is no guarantee it would have gone to trial.
EGV, in the city of Chicago little black girls get gunned down by warring gangs. Do you hear anything about them? Where’s the outrage? Did you see the video where the Milwaukee police chief asked a group of reporters if anyone could name the city’s most recent murder victims? But they could name the few people that police had killed.
I agree, our priorities are screwed up and “concern” for victims is highly selective and agenda driven.
BTW, if you followed a conversation between ts and me some time ago, I speculated that Wilson, who I am not unsympathetic to, was asked to resign from the police department for panic firing. Firing 6 shots like that is indicative of panic and is not acceptable for a police officer, even if it is self defense. If an officer decides to use lethal force, he is to aim, shoot, and kill.
Mary –
Very much agree with you that there’s not enough outrage over murder victims – you know my thoughts on violence in society, and how I’d like to decrease it. I feel that we’ve become so used to it – so many people killed.
I don’t think it’s wrong for these protesters to be mad about this though even if they aren’t protesting other murders.
Yeah – I actually haven’t read too many details on the Wilson case – but it seems odd for an officer to get into that sort of situation with a 17, 18 year old his own size – and then just start panic shooting. The case in New York is even more screwed up.
EGV,
We will have to disagree on this point. The Grand Jury ruled that Wilson shot in self defense. I don’t care if its an 18 y/o or a 48y/o, his size or not, he was caught on tape knocking over a convenience store and assaulting a clerk. He went for an officer’s gun, and then charged the officer, who he certainly knew was armed. Black witnesses testified in support of the officer. Brown was definitely a candidate for the Darwin Award.
Panic shooting does not mean he didn’t fire in self defense, it means he panicked and kept firing, understandable for a frightened homeowner facing an intruder, not acceptable for a police officer.
The New York case is one I definitely have issues with. Garner was an enormous man and obstructing his airway would not take much effort. Also, the EMS response, or I should say lack of, made my jaw drop.
“The New York case is one I definitely have issues with. Garner was an enormous man and obstructing his airway would not take much effort. Also, the EMS response, or I should say lack of, made my jaw drop.”
I’m really glad we agree on this. There’s no reason Garnner shouldn’t have access to an EMT immediately, not a million years after he started saying he couldn’t breathe. He had asthma for goodness sake.
Not responding to whether or not Brown deserved to die because everyone but Ex-Gop is making my heart hurt. I still think the cartoon is at least borderline racists. The nice blonde white family wringing their hands over how the country has gone “downhill” while standing under black stereotypes…. anyone who knows any American history at all knows we live in the least violent time ever.
Truthseeker, I have more sympathy for rioters who are responded to decades of poverty and injustice than a bunch of privileged folks rioting over pumpkins or who lost a sports game, was my original comment.
Deluded,
I think these rioters overshadowed any real ’cause’. They are nothing but blood-suckers who found an opportunity to feed.
I do agree with you and Mary that there is injustice in the Garner case…he did not appear to me to be a danger to others.
Hi DLPL and ts,
I would be willing to bet my mortgage that Garner suffered sleep apnea and as such could not tolerate lying flat, much less with several men on him. He said he couldn’t breathe, at that point they should have immediately sat him up. Good grief the man was enormous, he’s not going to jump up and sprint off like a gazelle, especially when he’s just trying to catch his breath.
The EMTs did show up, but their “care” was beyond appalling. I saw no assessment of patient status, no monitors, no oxygen, and no CPR. I also saw Garner handled like a sack of potatoes when he was put on the stretcher. When someone falls or is in an accident, you use a spinal board and you stabilize the neck with a collar. They did neither.
The issue isn’t whether Brown deserved to die. The Grand Jury ruled Wilson shot in self defense. An unarmed person can kill you. Black witnesses supported Wilson. Why would they? If anything they put themselves in danger doing so. You will note I have also been critical of Wilson, though I am sympathetic to him. Even firing in self defense an officer is expected to shoot to kill, not keep firing until he does. I suspect Wilson was asked to leave rather than face police disciplinary action, but that’s just speculation on my part.
I see your point about the cartoon.
Also, DLPL, don’t dignify these rioters, who destroyed the businesses and livelihoods of people who have sought the right way out of poverty and offered others a way out by creating jobs.
Rioters and looters, whatever their color, are nothing but thugs.
I’m glad we agree on the Garner case Mary. It was appalling.
I wasn’t defending rioters. My point was, no one gives a crap or makes racist cartoons when white people riot over concerts, pummpkins, or ball games, but when black people riot over perceived injustice apparently they are just thugs and cretins and apparently represent their entire race according to FOX news. You can’t pretend the media coverage on these things is anywhere near fair or non-biased.
Hi DLPL,
I had a concern with you saying the people of Ferguson may be standing for something. Those who peacefully protested..yes, thugs who looted and terrorized..no.
My opinion of rioters and looters doesn’t change with their color.
I agree the media is very selective, but not just the media. Little black girls are gunned down in Chicago by gangs while selling Girl Scout cookies. Where’s Sharpton? Apparently their deaths aren’t politically expedient.
I said “perceived injustices”. I was not in the grand jury room (though I have some unkind thoughts about Wilson I don’t have all the information so cannot judge). My point is that a lot of the protesters were reacting to YEARS of racism, redlining, police brutality, lack of opportunity, etc. It hit a tipping point with the Brown case and there was no stopping it. Did some people take advantage of the valid protesting and loot? Of course, it happens. Doesn’t change the fact that minorities, especially black people, have reasons to be upset with the way laws and “justice” is enforced in this country.
And with the second part of your comment, you’re referring to “white woman syndrome” where no one really cares too much about murder victims (unless police kill them) unless they are female, young, white, and usually pretty. It just sucks all around.
But none of this has anything to do with my original point that white people rioting over pumpkins and sports games don’t get the same treatment by the media, even when the black rioters have much, much more reason to be upset.
Hi DLPL,
With the Garner case, and being that I am an “expert” on airway management, no brag, its a fact, I immediately spot this as a potential problem. I’m sure the police officers have minimal training in this area and would not be aware that an enormous man like this can obstruct his airway very easily when lying flat, especially when other men pile one him. The poor man was no doubt desperate to breathe, while the officers have heard this before and thought he was pulling a fast one. Also, I understand it was determined this was not a chokehold. Still, forcing the man to lie flat can be fatal.
I think like a medical person, the officers thinks like cops.
I think this was a tragic accidental death. Totally senseless. Had they just let the poor man sit up we might not be having this discussion.
Hi DLPL,
I believe the peaceful protesters. The looters were just thugs, and the people they victimized no less victims of years of racism.
I have already made my opinion of Wilson’s situation known. Brown shouldn’t have been knocking over a convenience store, assaulting a clerk, and going for an officer’s gun.
I don’t know if its the “white woman syndrome” or that blacks killing blacks is viewed as irrelevant. Even to Sharpton.
I agree with you on Garner. I still get tears in my eyes thinking about it. His poor mother and wife. Did you see the video where they refused to accept the apology from the cop? They are in so much pain. If that were my kid I don’t know if I could handle it. Cops should be trained better on medical things.
About Brown, I don’t think thieves automatically forfeit their lives (unless you think I deserve to be dead when I was a teen, which is your right to think so). I don’t know all the facts because no one else was there, but panic shooting is a sign of a crappy cop and I am glad Wilson is off the force. That’s all I can say about the actual case.
I wish the rioters would have organized and marched instead.
No one takes black and black shootings or hispanic on hispanic shootings seriously because gun and gang culture is seen as a “thug” problem, and not the issue with urban racism and lack of opportunity it is, in my opinion. I grew up in similar situations and that is what I saw. It’s only fixable with early intervention and strong role models, good drug treatment, better schools, and a lot more. :( Feels impossible sometimes.
Hi DLPL,
No I don’t believe thieves automatically forfeit their lives, but those who go for an officer’s gun and then charge him might. Sorry, but you’re either freaking stupid or have a death wish.
Panic shooting isn’t necessarily the sign of a crappy cop. Wilson may have exercised his duties very well up to that point. Even with a justified shooting an officer is to aim, shoot, and kill. Wilson, while defending himself, panicked. This is understandable for a frightened homeowner confronting an intruder, it is not acceptable for a police officer.
My brother describes the first time he pulled a gun as a moment of sheer terror. Thankfully he did not have to shoot, but he would have to explain why he pumped the guy full of lead instead of taking him down with one shot. That would indicate panic shooting, which is unacceptable.
Two thoughts on the great conversation:
– I never see ‘thug’ used for white people. Never.
– I wonder if we’ll see more and more protests spin out of control. I don’t know what the way to get people’s attention is – especially lawmakers who seem so tone deaf to the public these days. I agree that protests should be peaceful. It seems like peaceful doesn’t even register these days on the radar.
EGV,
Well keep looking. I’ve seen “thug” used plenty, I’ve never attached any racial connotation to it, and I don’t hesitate to call a thug a thug, whatever the color.
The “problem” with peaceful protesting is that it does not get attention. Which is not to say that rioting is acceptable. Just that you can see how people get to that point. I’ve heard very little in the media about this weekend’s peaceful protest in NYC, for example, even though it was pretty huge: http://gothamist.com/2014/12/14/photos_protesters_shut_down_brookly.php#photo-1
time-lapse video of 6th ave, not very close to many of the pictures in the previous link, many of which are further downtown or in another borough entirely: http://rt.com/usa/214351-millions-march-nyc-timelapse/
But even the NYPD admitted that the massive protest was overwhelmingly peaceful, so it just didn’t really make much news at all. You can see how people might escalate out of frustration, anger, and helplessness.
I am not really sure how I feel about the previous, more disruptive NYC protests (the ones that blocked traffic to the bridges, tunnels, or major highways). People need to be able to get home, for very valid reasons. But at the same time, NYC has been coping with – and peacefully opposing – aggressive police over-reach for quite some time now, with no attention and no results. Arrests or fines for what essentially amount to misunderstandings are common, so common that you can truly understand how people might just snap and say, “Don’t touch me,” and end up pinned to the ground before they even know what’s happening. I mean truly stupid things like, I remember a few years ago, all the subways had work on their tracks on a weekend, so all the lines were messed up. The NYPD stationed officers at tables in many subway stations to help people figure out how to get where they were going. The officers, in many stations, propped open the exit door near the turnstiles, and set their table up directly opposite that door, so that people saw them and went directly to the table to get help from the police – who then ticketed and fined every person who walked through the door, since those people, in their confusion and their search for help, had forgotten to go OUT of their way (given the intentional placement of the tables by the officers) and swipe through the turnstile. Many of the people who were fined – myself included – had unlimited pre-paid metrocards, and thus had no financial incentive to “skip the stile,” making it a pretty clear case of a misunderstanding and a mistake. But that was the point, in the end. Setting people up to break a minor law so that they could fine us all. It cost me a few hundred dollars just to trust the police that one Saturday morning. Because I am young, white, and female, that’s all it cost me. Heaven only knows what such a minor offense may have potentially cost me otherwise.
I also once got a ticket for having my backpack on the subway seat next to me….on an empty train, at 2 in the morning. To add insult to injury, they pulled me off the train to give me my ticket, at a time of night when the trains run sporadically and infrequently. I’d worked a long day and had an early morning; after waiting 20 minutes for the next train, I gave up and blew $30 on a cab, adding to the $50 fine I’d gotten for putting my backpack next to me. Clearly the ticketable offense is meant to prevent people from taking up seats unnecessarily on crowded trains, but funny thing, I never, ever saw or heard of the NYPD ticketing ANYONE for such an offense during rush hour. I know several people who got ticketed late in the night, though, when people are perhaps most likely to relax, stretch out, and put their bag on the empty seat next to them. You can find articles on this from about 2010 – they would go onto nearly-empty late-night trains and round up everyone who dared to rest their bag next to them, pull them off the train, and ticket them. What a wonderful use of the police force.
The idiocy of NYC’s aggressive pursuit of pocket knives is a subject I can’t even talk rationally about. Here is a thorough and infuriating article on the subject: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/10/nyc-gravity-knife-law-arrests.php?page=all I am always EXTREMELY careful to remove my knife and hide it in my work bag, but I have several co-workers who have been arrested for having a pocket knife on their person. Which is absurd, since we are required to have them at work. What’s truly offensive about the pocket-knife idiocy is that the NYPD is counting confiscated pocket knives as “weapons removed from the street,” thereby seriously inflating the numbers of “crime” they are allegedly “preventing” by their actions. They could wait at the stage door of every theater on Broadway between 10pm-11pm, and probably remove several hundred “weapons from the street,” without making anyone safer in any way whatsoever.
These are all incredibly minor stories in comparison to those faced by New Yorkers who are ACTUALLY targeted and harassed by NY police. I grew up against the backdrop of controversies like Amadou Diallo and others; I grew up nearly accepting and complacent when it came to occasional incidents of violence by the police. What has struck me in recent years is that despite the occasional protests that took place during my youth, things have been getting more oppressive, not less. In my adulthood I have seen NYPD officers acquitted of raping a drunk woman, and broadly supported even as they went on trial for raping a teacher on her way to work in broad daylight. I have been fined and ticketed for making the mistake of walking towards a smiling police officer who had set up a station to help me find my way to work. I’ve been hauled off my train home and ticketed for putting my backpack in a place where I could comfortably rest it. Once, when a car struck me gently as I crossed a street (with the right of way), I ran to a police officer standing nearby and pointed the car out. He shrugged and said, “You look okay to me.” I think of all of these times – all these times I have felt unjustly hassled or fined or mistreated – and I think of how I reacted. Usually not with total subservience. Usually I made some sort of comment, a futile attempt at sticking up for myself. Occasionally I cried. Mostly I just got really, really angry. I did what they told me to do, but I’ll be damned if I was going to do a single thing to make their jobs easier, at that point in time.
I could be dead right now. If I were black, and male, maybe I would be, and maybe everyone would say I deserved it, since I broke the law and then got belligerent about it. All that separates me from someone like Eric Garner, really, is luck – lucky that I was born looking the way I do, and lucky that I never crossed paths with a cop who was having a bad day.
And I absolutely recognize the absolute privilege of my position, and know that I am one of the lucky members of this society; it almost embarrasses me to say that I am fed up with the NYPD, because my experiences, frustrating as they may be, are so minor. I truly, I mean honestly, cannot even fathom how absolutely, completely frustrated and angry the people who actually cope with DISCRIMINATION from the police must feel. When I, as a young, small, middle-class educated white woman with a prestigious job, feel like I truly cannot breathe beneath the weight of the city’s boot on my back, I remember that I am one of the lucky people and it honestly just blows my mind that we don’t already have rioting and looting in this city. Sometimes I think we don’t deserve not to.