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GOP Rants at Obama

Today’s cartoon was inspired by this nice column about Ted Cruz in Slate.com, my old Web partner for Cagle.comhttp://tinyurl.com/nkkr6uo

I like simple, black line art in editorial cartoons best – there is something more elegant about it, and it is a shame to see it disappearing as editorial cartoonists gin everything up in Photoshop. I’m certain to get complaints about this one because it is wordy and liberal. Here it is in the more elegant black and white version.

 

A conservative reader posted this comment under the cartoon on my Facebook page:

How about Obama and his attitude toward Israel? How about the fact Obama said he would lower our debt? How about the fact that he lied about health care costs going down? I think it’s clear who is blind

I don’t like Obama, but I like seeing his position seem to evolve on Israel. Obama hasn’t lowered the debt, but he certainly lowered the deficit, I don’t think anyone expected him to lower the debt, particularly given how the Bush administration had tanked the economy. And I think he did lie about health care, still, I like Obamacare better than nothing.

I’d like to see Obama stand up and make more happen. Republicans had a point some time ago, when I drew the “spineless” cartoon below. Obama could start by throwing the 2008 Wall Street crooks into jail – something I think Elizabeth Warren might do if she was president. I don’t have much higher hopes for Hillary.

 

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GOP Rants at Obama

GOP Rants at Obama © Daryl Cagle,CagleCartoons.com,elephant, Republican, global warming, poverty, hunger, race, racial, colorblind, war, bad guys, ISIS, ISIL, Dash, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lybiarepublican, president, Barack Obama, climate change, GOP

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More Troops for Iraq

I voted for Obama because he promised to get the US out of Iraq – now he’s creeping us back in. With the Republicans controlling Congress, I’m guessing that the mission creep will continue. What is so bizarre is that everyone seems to recognize that Iraq (and the rest of the Middle East for that matter) is an endless quagmire – but still public opinion is solidly behind jumping back in to bash “ISIS-ISIL-IS-Islamic State-Daesh”.

It is fascinating to me that the vast majority of editorial cartoonists draw cartoon after cartoon about how bad the “ISIS-ISIL-IS-Islamic State-Daesh” guys are, and seem to be on the mission creep bandwagon, headed back to Iraq. Here’s today’s cartoon about the 1,500 additional troops Obama is sending to Iraq now.

Here’s a tiny detail, so we don’t lose track of the troops.

TrropDetail600wide

We’re bombing “ISIS-ISIL-IS-Islamic State-Daesh” in Syria also – but not bombing Bashar Assad. It wasn’t long ago that Obama was eager to bomb the Assad regime, after they used chemical weapons and crossed his “red line”. At the time, I drew this one …

and this one …

maybe these two cartoons were right for a few minutes – Obama seemed to back off and lose interest in bombing Assad. That red line nonsense seemed less important.

But now it has gone full circle – and the press, reflecting public opinion seems to be pushing Obama. I can’t really tell if Obama is reluctant or not. I suppose it doesn’t matter whether he’s being pushed or leading the charge when the direction is clear.

 

 

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Renee Zellweger and ISIS

155294 600 Renee Zellweger and ISIS cartoons

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ISIS The Media and Ebola

154927 600 ISIS  The Media and Ebola cartoons

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Hong Kong, War and Apple!

Sorry to neglect the blog! I’ve been away on two cartoonist convention trips and I need to catch up!  Here’s the new one today on Hong Kong.

Most people will see this in newspapers in black and white – and I think it is better in black and white.

I drew this as a riff on an oldie. I have lots of problems with Chinese hackers attacking my web sites, and I drew this self-portrait some time ago. I don’t think it got reprinted much, because it was a personal cartoon – better as a Hong Kong cartoon.

Here are a couple of recent cartoons that I forgot to post in the blog. Here’s Obama transforming into George W. Bush. I’m a little late on this one; I should have drawn it a couple of years ago. It probably wouldn’t have been reprinted much two years ago. Now that’s we’re back in Iraq, more and more, the transformation is clear.

The media’s march to war also matches the old march to war in Iraq under George W. Bush. People don’t seem to get that every party that is fighting over there is a bad guy, and bad guys fighting other bad guys is something we should leave alone. We have our priorities out of place, which is the point of the carton below.

The new smart watch from Apple looks pretty cool, but the emphasis on counting steps and the anal focus on health apps seems unpleasant. Here’s my take on it.

While I was away at the cartoonists convention in France for two weeks, I re-posted an oldie. This “evergreen” dove-bomber cartoon is appropriate all too often.

Here’s another one I missed – another riff on Obama and his pen annoying the Republicans. That’s the last one. Now I’m caught up!

 

 

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Nobel Peace Prize Regrets

154630 600 Nobel Peace Prize Regrets cartoons

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This Means WAR

154086 600 This Means WAR cartoons

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ISIS or ISIL or IS or Islamic State, War and Opinion Poll Zombies

Public opinion polls show the vast majority of Americans support our jumping into the war in Syria and Iraq. No wonder. TV news nowadays is constant cheerleading for war. I wonder if cable news is as successful in selling us adult diapers, catheters, supplemental health insurance and gold. See our Obama and ISIS or ISIL or IS or Islamic State cartoons here:http://www.cagle.com/news/obama-and-isis/

The vast majority of hypnotized, zombie, idiot Americans support the war in Syria and Iraq.
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Popular Support for War

153643 600 Popular Support for War cartoons

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All My Favorite Putins!

I’m going to the big, euro-editorial-cartoonists convention in St. Just France again this year, along with four Cagle Cartoons star cartoonists, Nate Beeler, Adam Zyglis, Rick McKee and Steve Sack.

We’re putting together a show at the St. Just cartoon museum on American Views of Vladimir Putin and I’ve been scouring my own archives for my favorite, recent Putin cartoons, some are posted below, there will be a lot more in the show.

Putin is a wonderful cartoon character.  I like how Putin looks bored in every meeting.  Putin is funny for being macho and taking off his shirt.  Like Bill Clinton, who had his pants down, showing his underwear enblazoned with little hearts almost all of the new Putin cartoons have him shirtless. Putin has been a big cartoon character recently, with his annexation of Crimea, the downing of the Malaysian Airlines jet, economic sanctions, the Winter Olympics, and Putin’s support for Syria’s Assad regime.  Putin pokes his spooky nose into lots of current events.

I researched traditional Ukrainian dress for the cartoon below, with a standard, shirtless, caveman Putin.

caveman

I like this Ukrainian chick as my symbol for Ukraine.  I used her again in the cartoon below, with shirtless Putin robbing her of her Crimea purse, with hapless Obama standing by.

UkrainePurse

I draw digestion/cross-section cartoons every so often.  Here’s shirtless Putin below, digesting little countries and pooping out a stinky, new Soviet Union!

digest

Maybe I should draw Putin with no pants too.  I drew this cartoon when Miley Cyrus did her TV “twerking,” which was much bigger news than the antics Putin was pulling at the time. Twerking amuses me. I wonder if the media covers all the twerking news in Russia, as they do here.

Cyrus

Obama was eager to invade Syria, to help out those ISIS rebels, before Putin pulled the rug out from under Obama, with a plan for Syria to destroy their chemical weapons.  This is one of there rare occasions where I like what Putin does.  The news was all about Putin “putting Obama in a box.”

mime

Here’s Putin pulling the old-Syria-switcheroo on Obama like the Alien movies.
alien

Here’s my most recent Putin cartoon, featuring Putin with his Ukrainian rebel puppet.
puppet

My cartoonist daughter, Susie, just sent me some new Photoshop brushes that she’s urging me to use.  I may be getting away from these sponge/stamp textures soon. I really need to improve my color.  I know.  I’m on the case.

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A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime

I am saddened to write that Cartoonists Rights Network reports that Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan has been executed by the Syrian regime after a sham trial.

StJustAkram A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons

Click on the photo to see a larger view. That’s me sitting on the stage at the lower right. Such sad news for the cartooning community.

Just last week, at the Humor Salon in St Just, I joined a nice assembly and demonstration by world cartoonists in support of Akram – at the time we all thought Akram was imprisoned, but he had already been murdered. Akram’s crime was to make people laugh at the Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad in his cartoons.

Truly tragic news.  From the Cartoonists Rights Network report:

 A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons     We’ve learned that on July 26, Akram Raslan and other prisoners of conscience including journalists, artists, singers and other intellectuals were secretly put on trial with no witnesses, no defense attorneys, no appeal, and no hope for justice.  From unconfirmed and sketchy reports we learned that they were all condemned to life imprisonment.
     Somehow, along the way to prison young 28-year-old Akram Raslan (and possibly others) was peeled off,  taken out and executed. He is reported to be in a mass grave somewhere near Damascus. Our reliable but for obvious reasons anonymous sources further allege that the murder of Akram and other condemned prisoners was carried out by Mohammad Nassif Kheir Bek, currently the Deputy Vice President for Security Affairs in Syria.  He has already been sanctioned by the European Union for the use of violence against protesters and the Syrian civil war.
     Akram Raslan was the winner of the Cartoonists Rights Network International, Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2013.  Past award winners have hailed from Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey, Palestine, Iran, and India,  including last year’s winner, Ali Ferzat, also from Syria.
     Here in the United States we are experts in the knowledge that editorial cartooning is a dying art.  In other areas of the world, however, it is an art that people die for.
     CRNI has been monitoring and assisting political cartoonists in trouble for the last 20 years.  They are often victims of failing regimes stamping out criticism, drug cartels squashing investigations, corporate interest protecting money and political manipulation, and religious zealots stamping out thinking.
     About nine months ago young Akram Raslan was abducted from the offices of his newspaper and “disappeared” into the Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad’s prisons for the next six months.  Readers might remember the case of Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat who in 2011 had his hands broken by the Syrian regime’s thugs. As they finished the job they told Ali that his broken hands would prevent him from disrespecting their master through his cartoons.  Ali Ferzat was lucky.  He survived the beating and eventually found safe haven in another Middle Eastern country.   His revenge was to live to draw again.
     The hue and cry over this attack that grew from the world’s journalists and cartoonists must have made an impression on Bashir al-Assad. This time, a beating wasn’t enough. This time he decided to “disappear” the cartoonist permanently.
Here are a couple of Akram Raslan cartoons that likely angered his murderers, from the Cartoonists Movement site …
AkramRaslanToonAssadOrBurnTheCountry A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons
 A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons