Ann Telnaes has worked for The Washington Post since 2008 as a Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist. In that role she has occasionally received some pushback from editors regarding submissions. However, all of it without exception was productive stuff, for example “I don’t think this conveys the message you intended“.
Never ever has it been “You can’t criticise this guy“
That has all now just changed. Her latest cartoon was (in her own words) censored by the editors before it could be published…
The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump. There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.
Here is the censored cartoon that the Washington Post did not want you to see …
I have a horrendous confession, and I do hope that you will forgive me. To my great shame I kept my WaPo subscription. My finger had hovered over the cancel button last time, but I chickened out by telling myself that there were still a few great writers I followed and wanted to read.
My father used to smoke and so he ended up being one more lung cancer statistic. In some respects I get it. The message was clear, “Smoking kills“, and so it was a combination of both the nicotine addiction and also his optimistic nature that enabled him to keep going with … “Just one more, it has not got me yet, so I will be fine” … until it was too late.
Who am I to criticise him, because when it comes to the WaPo, I’d been doing the exact same.
Well … no more, I’m standing with Ann Telnaes who has resigned …
Will they care?
Probably not. But I do care about my own integrity and so this was a step I should have taken last time, but failed to do so. I’ve now corrected that.
OK, let’s move on from this and see what other crazy stuff has popped up during the past week.
Some excellent thoughts regarding Co-President Musk
Journalist, Lawyer, and best selling Biographer, Seth Abramson has a few key and vitally important points to make about the national conversation that we should be having right now, but have utterly failed to do so …
A Bit more on H-1B Visas
REPORTER: “Why’d you change your mind on H-1B Visas?” TRUMP: “I didn’t… we need smart people… we need a lot of people coming in…”. See here for a clip of that exchange.
Now that he sides with Musk and the oligarchs on bringing in foreign workers that make them money he claims this was always his position. He really has changed his stance, but then this is a guy who is a habitual, shameless liar, so it is not really a surprise. There are receipts …
It’s also easy to understand why. It’s all about having cheap workers who will work long hours and never complain …
New Orleans & Las Vegas
Trump Snr, Jnr, Fox, Marge, etc. all rushed to pin New Orleans on immigrants, and Trump also lied about the crime rate — but, for those that actually care about facts, the suspect was a U.S.-born veteran who grew up in Texas, … oh and yes, the crime rate is down.
Newsmax host was also making same false claim and has now deleted this tweet …
When asked why, this is what he said, this was his “Evidence” …
- He really should get to the bathroom before that “gut feeling” comes running down the back of his pants.
Meanwhile, here is the guy they are all decrying as the Las Vegas terrorist …
Well gosh, now that this is coming out, his motivation becomes a bit clearer …
Tariffs
When it comes to tariffs, he still does not get it … or perhaps he does, and understands that it will benefit him and screw everybody else, and so he will inflict it on us all …
Letter from Canada
The following is not some random Canadian, he is an elected official …
Yes, but is it really free healthcare?
Yes, yes, it really is. Being seriously ill does not mean being bankrupted …
- Canadian Quote: “I can’t get my head around how shitty your government treats you. You are the poorest rich country ever.“
It’s also not just Canada. The US really is the exception …
- Literally everywhere else the only financial burden is the concern about the cost of the hospital car park.
Meanwhile in the good old USA …
Lies, Damned Lies, and Christian Nationalists
- It’s akin to watching a car crash … from the back seat of the car.
- “Mike Johnson sucks harder than a Shop-Vac“– George Washington, 1776.
- “Never elect a functionally illiterate businessman who went bankrupt six times, including casinos, to be president of the United States.” —James Madison
The False Profit$
Lance Wallnau says that when Trump takes office, “the prophets are going to be collaborating with government officials.” Therefore, Wallnau is launching “The Nehemiah Project” to use the Trump White House to spread Christian nationalism globally
- It’s a cult … of greed and grifting.
Mario Murillo asserts that God orchestrated Donald Trump’s election “to spare America from disaster“: “Trump is here to give the church the time to reform America morally.”
- I don’t need to tell you this, but Trump is by literally every measure a disaster
Johnny Enlow claims that 80-90 percent of world leaders “have been people either involved in the worst type of pedophilia [and] Luciferianism that you can imagine, or they’re blackmailed by it.“
- When it comes to world leaders, I don’t know about the others, but I do know that Trump is credibly guilty of raping a 13 year olds multiple times – See here for one example, see here for another example, and see here for yet one more example. This is the guy bElow promotes as the chosen one.
Weirdest of the Weird
- For those wondering “Who?” – she is the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos and is worth about $42 billion, so with far more money than she needs, she has been giving it away. By 2022 she had already donated roughly about $14 billion to over 1600 charities.
- The main complaint of the article is how she gives – No requirements for how the groups spend the money. No burdensome reporting that takes full-time staff. Just verify up front that groups do work aligned with her goals, then write them a huge check. That’s like winning the lottery if you’re a nonprofit … which is indeed far far different than the usual massive reporting requirements, significant restrictions on how the money can be used, and that all of it adds up to big cost, and big hassle.
- This article is particularly weird and is taking the stance – “groups that just got the biggest grant they ever received with no strings attached don’t know if they’ll get another check from her and that’s very bad.” … but you rarely know if you’ll get another check from a foundation, either. Scott is refusing to play the usual games, so good on her for doing that even if it does piss off a lot of people.
These people are being totally scammed and will be wiped out when Crypto crashes …
Tesla sales have fallen, gosh I wonder what motivated people to not buy a Tesla?
- I’m not a marketing expert … but … the thought does not escape even me that calling half the country woke libtards and the other half subtards might not have been the sharpest best ever sales strategy.
Defrauding voters is not a problem … it really needs to be …
- The good news here is that she is no longer a senator, and so you no longer need to hear about or care about what she says or does.
Yes, just like Trump, Elon also just makes shit up …
- A good lie contains a grain of truth to enable it to fly. Gangs that groom and rape 13 year old girls do exist in the UK, there have been several high-profile cases … but … they were not raping 1 out of every 13, nor are they migrants, those convicted have all been British Citizens. (I just googled it, BBC has the facts).
QAnon conspiracy theorists Steve Shultz and Johnny Enlow claim that Jimmy Carter actually died years ago “but they saved the announcement” until now just so Trump would have to be inaugurated with the flags at half mast.
- If he died years ago, then how did a dead guy attend his wife’s funeral, and who was Melania sitting a few seats away from during that funeral?
- What he is asking us to believe is that the unnamed people in charge of this sweet little ruse knew, for many years, that Trump would be inaugurated again and their sinister plan was to keep Carter’s death under wraps so they could unveil it at just the right time to upset big boy Trump on his very special day. How exactly does that make any sense in any universe?
- It is claims like this that make flat-earth claims look intellectual.
Political Cartoons from the past week
As always, there are many excellent cartoons. Here are a few samples. Each comes with a link to the cartoonist putting the cartoon out via BlueSky. If you are on Bluesky then you can use the link to follow them.
un-Social Media
Here is one more reason to migrate to Bluesky …
- “We decided to make the user experience even worse” is an interesting business strategy.
Waving goodbye to 2024
He really was an above average POTUS …
- And so now we have decided to replace one of the very best with the absolute worst because too many believed the lies and dismissed the truth.
The Stuff they don’t want you to read
He tried to get the article removed …
- … and here is a link to the article.
- One line summary: “I will kill you, unless you allow me to kill women.“
Finally…
Well hey, there are some patterns we can copy out there …
- Apparently the best we can do is an angry letter … but who knows, his utterly corrupt abuses just might begin to test the limits of even the GOP (don’t hold your breath).
There was also this ever so symbolic event this past week. Are the fates trying to tell us something we all already know about all that is coming in 2025?
- Weird how the “It’s a sign from God” crowd have failed to spot this rather obvious one.