This Week's Sneak Peek

Sunday morning, at 3:15, we were awakened by my phone.

It wasn't a phone call.

Or an amber, silver, or severe weather alert.

It was some "Health" app that had decided that 3:15 a.m. was when I ought to get out of bed and start my day.

I have no recollection of installing the "Health" app on my phone. Did it show up when I enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan? Or, since it's on the first screen of the app listings, has it been there since I first bought the phone? Either way, I most certainly never told it to wake me up in the middle of the night — or to go to bed at 9:43 p.m., which I noticed it doing while I was watching TV Saturday night.

The 3:15 alarm used the same ring tone that I had selected back last October on the last night of the AAEC convention in Montréal, the one and only time that I have ever asked my phone to wake me up. It's a sound that resembles a piano, starting very softly and gradually increasing in volume.

I used to have an alarm clock that would wake me up by playing a selected track from a CD. One of my favorite tracks to wake up to was the second movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, which starts out with a soft, slow, minimalist piano passage, eventually joined by woodwinds and the rest of the orchestra. That alarm feature stopped working reliably several months ago, and the alarm clock I bought to replace it with doesn't let me select the wake-up track. It starts playing at the point that I last turned it off.

Anyway, back in Montréal: I'm quite sure that I used the clock app on the phone, not some Health app I was totally unfamiliar with,  to set the alarm so I wouldn't miss my red-eye flight home. It worked, and good thing, too: I never got the wake-up call I had requested from the hotel front desk, and the room alarm clock, sounding a few minutes after my phone, was an unpleasant BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP that would have left me in a foul mood for the whole day.

It's still a mystery why this Health app would suddenly have resurrected that alarm setting five months after the one and only time I had ever used it. Opening the app, I found that it was keeping track of how many flights of stairs I had climbed every day for the past week. It might have logged my time on the exercise bicycle if I owned a smart watch or perhaps strapped the phone to my leg. 

What else might it have been up to? Was it counting my drinks when we were in New Orleans last month? All that southern fried food? Has it been analyzing my trips to the toilet?

Do I really want my phone nagging me to go to bed at 9:43?

I think I've succeeded in turning that wake-up alarm off, or at least changing the time to 8:00. It didn't poke me to go to bed last night while I was still drawing this week's cartoon, and it wasn't alarming after I got up today.

But maybe five months from now...

Inaugural Addresses, and Justice Denied

Our Graphical History Tour arrives in March of 1925 today, just in time for the inauguration of John Calvin Coolidge for his very own full term as President of the United States.

"The Inaugural Address..." by William Ceperley in Davenport Democrat, March 4, 1925

Coolidge's address focused on lauding the peacetime economic boom the country was enjoying. His themes of personal liberties and free markets are bound to show up again and again in Jeff Bezos-approved Washington Post editorials.

American editorial cartoonists paid more attention to Vice President Dawes, who used his inaugural speech to lambaste the Senate rules for "unlimited debate," more commonly known as the filibuster.

"Say, Listen" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, March 5, 1925

Senate rules at the time allowed any one senator or group of senators to prevent any measure from coming to a vote, which the Coolidge administration blamed for failure to get some of its priorities passed into law. A two-thirds vote of the Senate was required to end a filibuster; and invoking cloture against any one Senator's wishes dated back only to 1917. 

Even after 1917, invoking cloture needed bipartisan support; although Republicans held a solid majority in the chamber most of that time, their majority fell short of the two-thirds threshold.

"It's Going to Be a Terrible Strain" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, March 6, 1925

The two-thirds rule survived Vice President Dawes's objections, and wasn't reduced to three-fifths until 1975. That threshold remains in effect today, except for approving judicial and cabinet nominations (lowered to 50% in 2010).

"Something Tells Us This Will Be Worth Watching" by Bill Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, March 6, 1925

When the Senate convened in March of 1925 to establish its rules for the upcoming session, however, Vice President Dawes was not present to swear the members in. (Remember how Kamala Harris was responsible for swearing in our current Senators in January?) No matter, decided the world's most deliberative body. The Senators decided to consider themselves all sworn into office regardless.

"But Sheridan Was Forty Miles Away" by Harold Talburt for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. March 13, 1925

Meanwhile, most of Coolidge's new cabinet easily passed congressional approval, with one prominent exception.

His Attorney General nominee, Charles B. Warren, could have been easily confirmed for any other post in Coolidge's cabinet. But he was suspected of not supporting the Sherman Anti-Trust Act dating because of his role as counsel in 1902 for Michigan sugar interests. When the Senate rejected Warren's nomination by a tie vote, Vice President Dawes was again absent — reportedly taking a nap — and did not cast his tie-breaking vote.

"Bet I Know One Vote That'll Be on Hand" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, March 13, 1925

President Coolidge simply resubmitted Warren's nomination, but the confirmation vote in the Senate fell short a second time — even with the Vice President awake and presiding. 

"Maybe Charlie Gave Old Dobbin an Overdose" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, March 18, 1925

Just one day after that stinging defeat, the Senate consented to Coolidge's nomination of John G. Sargent, a childhood friend of Coolidge's and a former Vermont Attorney General, to head the U.S. Justice Department.

"Never Stab an Elephant in the Back" by Ed Gale in Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1925

Progressive Republicans had employed their gains in the 1922 elections to take some congressional committee chairmanships. Those deals were now off; Senate leaders punished Wisconsin Senator Robert LaFollette and other "insurgents" who had supported his third-party presidential bid, deposing them from those chair positions and transferring them to less influential committees.

"Al, and William, Come Out" by William C. Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, ca. March 6, 1925

As for the Democrats, Coolidge's landslide victory left them a party in the wilderness. Nominal leaders of the Democratic Party Al Smith and William MacAdoo were still licking their wounds from their bruising convention battle. And as far as cartoonists were concerned, The Democrats' last two presidential candidates, Cox and John Davis, had already returned to the obscurity whence they had come.

"Wouldn't It Be Easier to Catch a New One" by Wm. Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 1925

The GOP-aligned Philadelphia Inquirer editors and their cartoonist, William Hanny, appear to have spotted an up-and-comer in the opposition. (Even if Hanny didn't quite have a convincing caricature of FDR just yet.)

Q Toon: The Center for Deforming Arts

Unsatisfied with crowning himself Emperor of the United States and Canada, Donald Joffrey Trump last month executed a hostile takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Trump seized control of the Center's board, firing its chair and several members of its board of trustees and its president. In their place, he named himself chairman, and Ric Grenell, who was Ambassador to Germany, Special Envoy to Kosovo and Serbia, and White House liason to the LGB-minus-T community in Trump's first term, the Kennedy Center's president. Attorney General Pam Bondi, musician Lee Greenwood and Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles are among the new board members.

Trump, who boycotted all four Kennedy Center Honors award ceremonies during his first term, ostensibly launched his Kennedy Center Coup because a drag performance with the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington D.C. had been scheduled May 21 and 22. Promptly canceling the show, the Philistine in Chief screamposted on Trump Social:

"The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation .... For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!"

Trump's idea of the brightest STARS from all across our Nation? Why, the J6 Insurrectionist Felons Glee Club, of course. And possibly another 39-minute concert from Trump's campaign rally iPod playlist.

In response, several other members of the Center's board quit in protest, including actress-producer Issa Rae and TV producer Shonda Rhimes, and as artistic advisor, musician Ben Folds. Mystery novelist Louise Penny, the cast of "Finn," and and the Alfred Street Baptist Church Christmas Show were among artists announcing that they would cancel their scheduled appearances.

JFK Center ticket sales for remaining shows have plummeted by half. 

It will be interesting to see how the JFK Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony for Conan O'Brien (host of Sunday's Academy Awards) comes off less than a month from today. Given that Trump and his sugar daddy Elon Musk consider themselves hilariously witty, this may be the last Mark Twain award ceremony worth watching for at least four years.

✍

I had some difficulty drawing the bust of Kennedy in this week's cartoon. Trying to depict the rough surface of the bronze casting in pen and ink utterly obscured the facial features. Attempting to portray the bust's texture in Photoshop, first in grayscale and then in color (I provide both versions separately), took hours. 

Later that day, well after I had sent my cartoon to Q Syndicate, I read a column by Jack Ohman about the death of Clint Hill, the last survivor of John and Jacqueline Kennedy's Secret Service detail that fatal day in Dallas. Jack's column includes a graphic description of President Kennedy's assassination, and it occurred to me that my drawing of that bronze bust lying on the floor might be upsetting to readers for reasons I had not intended.

I am not quite old enough to have my own memories of JFK, and most of my editors are even younger. It will be up to them to decide whether or not to print my cartoon, and I will respect their decisions either way.

Readers are likewise free to complain. That's what free speech is all about. 

I only ask that they do not call for a boycotts, firings, and banning my or anyone else's cartoons from syndication. (Or here on Blogger.) That is what cancel culture is all about.

This Week's Sneak Peek

Howdy, folks! I'm officially back from vacation, so this week's cartoon will not have been waiting for nearly a month to see the light of publication. 

My better half and I put over 2,900 miles on his car traveling down to Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and back, taking in a lot of live music and fried seafood. We're batting 1,000 on having cold weather follow us to New Orleans, but we did catch some sun along the way. An overnight tornado watch while we were on a Pensacola barrier island passed without incident.

The snowstorm that barreled through upper Dixieland had time to melt off roadways by the time we headed home, although there was still ice beneath overpasses in Memphis. We passed half a dozen or so cars and a semi still off the road there.

Aside from diligently following the weather forecasts, we avoided the news as much as possible (Hampton Inns' insistence upon foisting Fox News on everyone in the complimentary breakfast area was most unwelcome), so I'm glad to learn that Trump has not — yet — traded Alaska to Russia for a handful of magic beans.

Saturday at the Party with George

"To Be Alone — Be Great" by Hal Coffman for International Features Service, Feb. 22, 1925

If Hal Coffman's cartoon strikes you as an odd way to commemorate George Washington's birthday, yes, it is. 

So before anyone gets any bright ideas about including Napoleon Bonaparte in Felonious Trump’s Garden of Heroes, let me explain. 

February 22, 1925 fell on a Sunday, and in those days, the front page of the Sunday editorial section in every Hearst newspaper was topped by a cartoon illustration stretching all the way across the page illustrating a lengthy editorial-cum-sermon from corporate headquarters. Coffman's cartoon accompanied an essay that argued that Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln were all great-minded men, but that Napoleon lacked the modesty of the Americans and thus overstepped the limits of leadership.

Napoleon also differed from Washington and Lincoln by having his birthday in August.

"Where're You Going, Cal" by Wm. A. Ceperley in Davenport Democrat, Feb. 22, 1925

Washington's birthday is usually a time to compare and contrast our first President with the current occupant of the office. The comparison pretty much always favors Mr. Washington, although I fully expect today's Brancos and Varvels to echo Mr. Trump's egomaniacal self-aggrandizement.

Returning to 1925, I didn't run across any other editorial cartoonists joining William Ceperley in trash-drawing President Coolidge.

"The Cherry Tree Moral" by Jesse Taylor Cargill in Sacramento Bee, Feb. 21, 1925

The editorial cartoonists' go-to George Washington reference has long been the entirely apocryphal tale of not lying about chopping down his father's cherry tree. Drawing Washington saying "I cannot tell a lie" and a modern-day politician responding "I cannot tell the truth" dates at least as far back as the Nixon administration; subsequent cartoonists have added later presidents chiming in "I cannot tell the difference."

I'll bet there are a bunch of such cartoons today to balance the Varvels and Brancos.

"Washington, D.C. and the Cherry Tree" by Edward Gale in Los Angeles Times, Feb. 22, 1925

Speaking of whom, is this where they get their ideas?

"It's Strange How It Keeps On Sprouting After All These Years" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, Feb. 22, 1925

I found it interesting that several cartoonists in 1925 pictured chopping down the cherry tree in a positive light. Carey Orr at the vociferously isolationist Chicago Tribune laments the "foreign entanglements" that kept sprouting from the stump of "foreign alliances."

Everything old is new again again.

"The Cherry Tree Incident Up to Date" by T.E. Powers for Star Feature Syndicate, ca. Feb. 23, 1925

Continuing the motif of Everybody Hates Cherry Trees, T.E. Powers, whose modus operandi was to present readers with multiple choice of cartoons each day,  tosses in a couple other classic George Washington references besides the Cherry Tree Incident. If one idea didn't appeal to the reader, perhaps another one would.

The bottom two panels refer to President Coolidge getting the cabinet picks for his own full term through Congress (the Republican majority presented few obstacles, although there would be resistance to Coolidge's nominee for Attorney General), and a contemporary complaint that leftists wielded too much influence in children's education. 

"George W. Legislature" by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Daily Star, Feb. 23, 1925

Tom Foley used the cherry tree analogy to twit his Minnesota legislature for accomplishing so little "needed legislation."

That can't be a cherry tree, however. I don't think they are able to grow anywhere near that big.

"Hacking Away at It" by Grover Page in Louisville Courier-Journal, Feb. 22, 1925

That didn't stop Grover Page from drawing this cartoon, even while viewing the damage to his tree very differently than Tom Foley did his. What a relief to find a cartoon in which the tree didn't deserve to be chopped down!

It's not clear to me whether Page was arguing again against the proposed Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution (see here), or some other issue. Certainly the Eighteenth Amendment had been the work of "professional reformers"; but he might have wanted to depict more damage to the tree from an already ratified amendment.

"Why the Family didn't Get the Radio Program" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Feb. 21, 1925

So not all the editorial cartoonists reached for political topics that Sunday.

I have not discovered what specific radio program Dorman Smith might have had in mind when he drew the above cartoon. Coolidge's inauguration would be broadcast live on March 4, the first live broadcast of a presidential inauguration; but of course, that hadn't happened just yet.

According to a survey by the Sears-Roebuck Agricultural Broadcasting Stations WLS (Chicago) reported in the February 19, 1925 Indianapolis News, 33% of respondents listened to broadcast radio regularly. The most popular programs were classical music, followed closely by vocal music. After that came farm and home programs — not surprisingly, considering the survey base — and bringing up the rear, dramas, readings, and — again, no surprise — political speeches. 

"Not Skeptical But" by Chas Kuhn in Indianapolis News, Feb. 21, 1925

I don't know how common the practice was in 1925 of reading books by tossing them onto a nearby carpet. The fellow in Charles Kuhn's cartoon may have been far-sighted, I suppose.

In any case, the font of the book's text was large enough for Kuhn's readers to make out; but in case it's too small for you, it says "Washington never told a lie." 

"How Proud He Must Be of Some of His Children" by William Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 22, 1925

I don't know what it is that editorial cartoonists of 1925 had against crossword puzzles, but virtually all of them kept throwing shade at them.

Q Toon: Censor Sensibility

Earlier this month, the Fraudulent Trump Maladministration has scrubbed any mention of LGBTQ+ issues, vaccines, climate change, Black History Month, the Fourteenth Amendment, and God knows what else from U.S. government websites from the Department of Agriculture to the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe.

The National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) seems to have disappeared from its landing pages. The ongoing study focused on topics such as nutrition, mental health, physical activity, and sexual activity for high school students.

The tool used to explore the data is now offline.

A version of the page, captured by the internet archive the WayBack Machine, shows the page was live as recently as mid-January.

The archived pages show that one aspect of study included children who "felt that they were ever treated badly or unfairly because they are or people think they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning".

Another page dedicated to "Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth" was also not available on Saturday morning, though the page is archived by the WayBack Machine.

A page that collated data related to "Health Disparities Among LGBTQ Youth" also appears to be gone.

"Stigma, discrimination, and other factors put them at increased risk for negative health and life outcomes," an archived version of the page states.

The "T" and "Q" were erased from every mention of "LGBTQ" on the National Parks Service webpage for the Stonewall Inn National Monument. Timothy Leonard, Northeast Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, responded to community objections to the move, stating,

 “The National Park Service exists to not only protect and preserve our most cherished places but to educate its millions of annual national park visitors about the inclusive, full history of America. Erasing letters or webpages does not change the history or the contributions of our transgender community members at Stonewall or anywhere else. History was made here and civil rights were earned because of Stonewall. And we’re committed to ensuring more people know that story and how it continues to influence America today. Stonewall inspires and our parks must continue to include diverse stories that welcome and represent the people that shaped our nation.”

Even census data were disappeared, presumably because there were data in there that acknowledged the existence of persons who identify as LGBTQ, non-white, or female.

At the same time, the Pentagon announced a new program of "rotating" media access to its press briefing room, booting out NBC News, The New York Times, National Public Radio and Politico from their dedicated workspaces in favor of right-wing propaganda outlets One America Noise Nutwork, the New York Post, Breitbart Noise, and the Tinfoil Haberdashery fan page on Trump Social.

Just kidding with that last one. That spot goes to the Huffington Post, which I was not aware did any actual reporting of its own. (Apparently, they don't.)

Now we also have the White House evicting the Associated Press from Oval Office events and Air Force One because it wouldn’t go along with Mercurial President Trump’s unilateral decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

The squabble over the Gulf of Mexico, of course, is a lot of trumpery designed to distract everyone from all the truly horrible stuff out of this Most Corrupt Administration — from Trump's weaponization of the Justice Department, to the leaving of tons and tons of food aid shipments to rot at U.S. ports, to Trump's abject capitulation to Putin's aggression in Ukraine, to the millions of Latino Americans prisoned without trial in U.S. concentration camps, to Elon's unvetted Twitler Youth taking control of all your financial data at the Treasury Department. 

Yet it's also a test from the Trumpsters to test how far they can go coercing news media to go along with their arbitrarily renaming things. Like telling us that War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.

Stop the presses; I want to get off.

The Gulf of Mexico

Presidents' Day Sneak Peek

I've been on the road lately, so my cartoon for this week was drawn weeks ago on the assumption that we'd still be in the throes of our national nightmare next Thursday.

Tune back in to find out how well my putative powers of prognostication will have fared.

Our vista from room 322 of the Almost Exotic Marigold Hotel, Savannah