Hello, You Must Be Going

This week's Graphical History Tour remembers Canada's King-Byng affair, and the extremely brief and forgettable Meighen era.

For U.S. readers, it will be useful to know that Canada's Liberal and Conservative (and Labour) parties were kissing cousins of their British counterparts. Its Progressive Party was akin to the same named party in the U.S. at the time: agrarian, anti-tariff, with its base in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. 

The Conservative Party had more seats in Parliament after November, 1925 elections, but was still shy of a majority. The incumbent coalition of Liberals and Progressives came out of the election with even fewer seats than the Conservatives, but with the support of Labour and other splinter parties were able to form a government.

Arthur G. Racey in Maclean's Magazine, June 15, 1926

The scandal that brought down the Liberal-Progressive coalition government of William Mackenzie King grew out of the Department of Customs and Excise. Minister George Boivin was found to have interfered in the case of one Moses Aziz, convicted three times of smuggling liquor into the United States. Charges of bribery on behalf of Aziz led to King firing Boivin (but appointing him to a seat in the Senate) and to investigations of further graft and fraud in the Customs Department.

The above cartoon is A.G. Racey's only cartoon about the scandal in the month of June, 1926, in spite of his longstanding opposition to King and cheerleading for Conservatives. It appears to me that he went on vacation for the entire month, completely missing out on the King government's fall. Instead, he left behind for his Montreal Star readers a selection of anodyne cartoons about June weddings, cigarette-smoking youth, new-fangled fashions, reckless drivers, and other evergreen topics.

"Clean-up Wanted" by George Shields in Evening Telegram, Toronto, June 4, 1926

This leaves George Shields as the Conservative Party cartoonist to take us through the the gathering storm from the starboard side. There is an amateurish quality to his work, but it was enough to keep his cartoons in the Telegram for 62 years — at this point, on its front page.

Here Shields added a controversy over the Toronto Harbor Board to the Conservatives' list of indictments against the King government. As far as I've been able to figure out, the Liberal head of the Harbor Board had fired two hold-over board members, one of them Toronto's former mayor, who claimed that their dismissal had taken place at an illegal meeting of the board after its regular business had been concluded.

As for the "Peace River Rascality," Conservatives charged that the election Progressive Member of Parliament from Peace River, Alberta, was due to voters being kept from the polls. M.P. D.M. Kennedy replied to calls for him to surrender his seat, "I wouldn't resign if I could, and I couldn't if I would."

"Cold Picnicking" by Sam Hunter in Toronto Daily Star, June 7, 1926

Pro-Liberal cartoonist Sam Hunter left the Customs Department and other scandals largely ignored during the month of June, save for twitting Conservative leader Meighen and his Conservative Party Board of Strategy. Liberals charged that Meighen's Board of Strategy (a group of party leaders who determined party priorities and messaging) was unduly politicizing the Customs Department investigation. An April 30 editorial in Ottawa Evening Citizen sniffed,

"It is a form of crass political humbug. From the point of view of the people of Canada who are interested in getting a strong, business-like report, to clean up the Department of Customs, it has the appearance of putting sand in the bearings."

Hunter appears to have gone on vacation in time for Dominion Day, too, just as the Liberal Party's troubles came to a head. It was, after all, the end of the legislative session, as good a time as any for a cartoonist to lay down one's pen.

"The Tight-Rope Walker" by Douglas H.N. Russell in Vancouver Daily Province, June 24, 1926

"This parasol of mine's not very reliable," says P.M. King of "Progressive Support" in Douglas Russell's cartoon. The breaking point came as Progressive leader Robert Forke withdrew his party's support of King's Liberals, leaving them well short of a majority in Parliament. 

King asked Governor General Baron Byng of Vimy to dissolve Parliament and to call for new elections. Instead, Lord Byng took the unusual step of asking Arthur Meighen to form a Conservative government.

"Canned" by George Shields in Evening Telegram, Toronto, June 29, 1926

Meanwhile, with the Progressives splintering among radical and moderate factions, Forke (one of the moderates) resigned as his party's leader on June 30. 

"Dominion Day" by George Shields in Evening Telegram, Toronto, June 30, 1926

The Conservative Evening Telegram celebrated Prime Minister King's ouster, of course; but I come up short in finding any explanation that ties all the elements of George Shields's cartoon together. Yes, it was Dominion Day Eve; the oak leaf is a well-known symbol of the nation; and King, so Shields thought, was through. But do they make a coherent cartoon? And what's with "Peek-a-boo"?

"Climbing Aboard" by Douglas Russell in Vancouver Daily Province, June 30, 1926

D.H.N. Russell welcomed Mr. Meighen onto the saddle of the government in the only cartoon I've come across to do so. Brevity was not the soul of Russell's cartoons, so in case you are reading this on a tiny screen, Mr. The People says, "That's right Sir. You ride him for a bit... It's time you were in the saddle again, and I hope you stay there!"

"Going Home" by D.H.N. Russell in Vancouver Daily Province, July 4, 1926

Barely back in town from the Dominion Day holiday, however, the Meighen government lost a motion of no confidence on July 2, 1926. Lord Byng had no choice but to dissolve parliament, setting a new general election for September.

I apologize for the gray stripe over the right side of  this last cartoon; it appears that a strip of adhesive tape or other not-quite transparent object might have been affixed to the right edge of the page when it was scanned, and I have found no other print copy of the cartoon. It's also the only cartoon I've come across about the end of the abortive Meighen government — although, since July 4, 1926 was a Sunday, it could well have been drawn before the no confidence vote on Friday.

Judge for yourself. As the party leaders headed home with speeches in hand, here's the cartoon dialogue:

Lib. [King]: "Of course I'm glad it's all over, and I can take a rest, - but I find this air of uncertainty about the future rather depressing!"

Con. [Meighen]: "Good-bye, old chap. Take care of yourself until I come back!"

Prog. [Forke]: "Well, that was certainly pretty trying. I feel as if I were dis — disintegrating as it were!"

Lab. [J.S. Woodsworth]: "So that's that. I wonder if my seat will be there when I come back — or shall I come back?"

Ottawa [Baptiste Ladébauche]: "Well, goodbye, gentlemen — hope to see you again — most of you."

Capt. D.H.N. Russell (1878-1961), by the way, was a British-born immigrant to Vancouver, and a veteran of the Boer War. He retired as the Province's front page cartoonist in 1931.

Frou Frou Dining

 They were particularly impressed with the plush toilet seat covers.

Q Toon: He's Also (Gasp!) a Serial Perambulator

Democrats keep wishing upon a star that they can flip one of Texas's Senate seats. This year, their star is named James Talarico, a former seminarian currently serving in the state House of Representatives.

Democrats' hopes are up because Republicans tossed incumbent Senator Cornyn in favor of scandal-ridden Texas Attorney General Kenneth Paxton, indicted for fraud, and impeached by the state house but not convicted of abusing the power of his office and accepting bribes. He has been roundly criticized for a plea deal he struck for a politically-connected pedophile to serve only a single day in jail. (He's also a serial adulterer, but nobody besides Mrs. Paxton cares about that kind of thing any more.)

Without anything Republicans can say in favor of Mr. Paxton other than he has the enthusiastic endorsement of likewise ethically lacking Donald Trump, the GOP's talking point is to question Talarico's manhood. They seized on his having ordered a pair of vegetarian breakfast tacos to falsely label him a "soy boy vegan"; they pretend that he's gay, forcing his girlfriend to be more public about their relationship than she wanted to be.

Paxton himself calls his rival "Low-T Talarico," "Tofu Talarico," and "Talafreako." Trump declared his assessment that Talarico “can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas.” Senator Ted Cruz quipped that Talarico risks getting blown away by any stiff breeze. White House Deputy Ghoul of Staff Stephen Miller lied that Talarico is "the first transgender Senate candidate." 

Yeah, these Republican hate-mongers think that kind of thing is funny. Like that roid-rage meathead calling Michelle Obama a man at the White Waffle House Cage Match on Trump's octogenarian birthday party on Sunday.

For the record, she isn't. Not that there's something wrong with that.

I’d post some photos of the current First Lady here, but slutshaming is wrong.

Anyway, it's hard for Talarico to deny being gay, vegan, or transgender without offending gays, vegans, or transes (what the hell is the plural of trans anyway?). His campaign did tweet an “Official Statement from James Talarico on Vegan Accusations” that consisted entirely of a picture of him taking a bite out of a turkey leg at the Texas State Fair.

He has yet to drop his drawers to disprove the transgender slur.

The right-wing echo chamber wouldn't accept that as proof anyway.

Toon: Icing the Vote

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was asked on Face the Nation over the weekend whether he had plans to send ICE thugs to polling places in Democratic-leaning areas, where they were likely to deter some citizens from voting. 

He hedged on what his department's plans are, and offered talking points about making sure non-citizens weren't voting (an infinitessimal problem) so that only approved citizens get to exercise their constitutional rights.

As we have seen over and over again under the Absolutely Corrupt Trump Regime™, ICE frequently abducts citizens and legal residents as well as undocumented aliens, quickly spiriting them far away from family and legal representation, making no attempt to notify their loved ones what has happened to them. Even having proof of citizenship is of no avail if one's skin happens to be the wrong color.

The deterrent effect of ICE thugs at the polls, especially on people targeted by the present regime's ethnic cleansing policy, cannot be discounted.

Add to that the Republican playbook of shouting unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud any time an election doesn't go the way Republicans like, plus the Trumpsters' unconstitutional demands to states to turn over their voter rolls and equipment, and I worry that as soon as polls close, ICE agents will be seizing voting machines and ballots before anyone has a chance to stop them. 

From razing the East Wing to renaming the Kennedy Center to countless examples of graft and fraud to stealing box upon box upon box of classified papers off to Mar-a-lago, it's the way the Trump regime works.

This Week's Sneak Peek

Sorry, I didn't bother to watch Trump's no-rules no-holds-barred no-class rasslin' match last night. I don't know who won, and I wouldn't know who the guy was if I had.

I kinda wish somebody had smacked Trump over the head with a ringside chair, but there's no way that got approved for last night's script.

June Toons

Today's Graphical History Tour head down into the Bergetoon vaults in search of cartoons from ten, twenty, thirty, and forty Junes ago. 

2016

June, 2016

I noticed that the Philadelphia Gay News, which usually runs my cartoons in grayscale, chose to print my Barney Frank tribute cartoon in full color in their annual Pride issue currently on newsstands. I did offer a grayscale version of it, which I did not do for the cartoon I drew ten years ago this week in response to the Pulse nightclub massacre.

Rainbows do not translate well into grayscale or black-and-white. For the first 16 years or so when I began drawing for the LGBTQ+ press, I didn't incorporate color except for special projects. At first, whenever I put a rainbow flag in a cartoon, I could only suggest the colors by drawing six shades of cross-hatching. Around 2005, I started employing computer-generated halftones in my work, but it was another seven years before I began regularly colorizing my drawings.

Changing the mood entirely:

2006

for Q Syndicate, June, 2006

Some guys just aren't second date material. And some other guys just don't know how to break it to them.

The non-topical nature of this cartoon suggests to me that although I drew it in June, it may have been sent to Q Syndicate as a reserve for a later date when I might be on vacation or any other reason miss deadline.

So I assume it was published sooner or later, because if it is still languishing in the retired computer back-up files at syndicate offices, I ought to change the Q in the final panel to an N in order to keep it relevant.

1996

June, 1996

Here's a cartoon I drew for the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee student newspaper, the UWM Post, and drove it up to their office only to discover that they had no plans to publish during summer break.

Previously, the Post put out three issues each summer, publishing biweekly instead of its regular semiweekly schedule.

As for the content of the cartoon: Sen. Bob Dole, having secured the Republican presidential nomination with a record of supporting the party priority of criminalizing abortion, now sought to appeal to supporters of abortion rights. Not by softening his position on reproductive rights, but by welcoming the support of pro-choice Americans willing to have that choice taken away from them.

Standing behind Dole in this cartoon are House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Senators Phil Gramm and Jesse Helms, and theocratic activists Gary Bauer, Pat Robertson, and Ralph Reed.

1986

June, 1986

Speaking of cartoons that never saw print, I have not been able to determine whether or where this cartoon might have been published. It stars my congressman, Les Aspin, after he had voted in favor of President Reagan's military aid package for the right-wing Nicaraguan rebels, the Contras.

Aspin's vote stunned liberals at home and in Washington. Elected on a peacenik platform during the Vietnam War in 1970, his prior experience in the Pentagon garnered him the chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee in 1985.

I populated this cartoon with a number of actual Democratic politicians: I can be certain of Alan Cranston, Daniel Inouye, Majority Leader Jim Wright, House Speaker Tip O'Neil, 1984 vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, and future President Joe Biden (which means that I was wrong about when I first drew him according to this Graphical History Stop). Some that I'm less sure of might be Representatives Barbara Mikulski and Dick Gephardt, Party Chair Paul Kirk, and Senator Robert Byrd.

Jumping back to 2016, I'd like to end up with a cartoon that I'm fairly certain got published somewhere.

for Q Syndicate, June, 2016

Republicans' mythical Big Tent popped up in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, when he claimed to have great support among the LGBT community while simultaneously wooing the antigay evangelical vote that had become so critical to becoming a GOP nominee. Since then, the evangelicals have bowed before the Baal of Trumpism, ceding their dominance to the oligarchs and broligarchs, Nazis and apartheiders.

By the way, I couldn't find the file of the colorized version of the Friends with Benefits cartoon, so I've recolored the original scan. I probably didn't originally paint Trump's face orange like I do now, since I also hadn't drawn tiny hands or the overlong necktie in this cartoon. The pig snout came a bit later.

Now, I don't know what LGBT supporters Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee at this point, had in mind, aside from Ric Grenell, Scott Bessent, Milos Yiannopoulos, and Caitlyn Jenner. But Trump's campaign message after the Pulse Nightclub massacre was that Hillary Clinton would "bring[] in more people who will threaten your freedoms and beliefs" (his tweet). He also told an audience in Atlanta: 

"The LGBT community, the gay community, the lesbian community — they are so much in favor of what I've been saying over the last three or four days. Ask the gays what they think and what they do, in, not only Saudi Arabia, but many of these countries, and then you tell me — who's your friend, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?"

This ties in, not just to the cartoon at the top of today's post, but also to the Bob Dole cartoon. I doubt that Dole, or any of the guys drawn behind him, seriously thought that he had fans of the pro-choice persuasion. Inviting them to vote Republican was just one of those things politicians used to do even in the days when we were sorting ourselves into irreconcilable adversaries.

But one does get the impression that Donald Trump lives in a fantasy world where facts become true (or crooked) simply because he says so. He hears the LGBT community, the gay community, the lesbian community agreeing with him in his head, so they must be his bigliest friends, that he can tell you.

Ditto the adulating crowds at Madison Square Garden, the praise for his gilded ballroom, any number of big men who have come up to him with tears in their eyes, and those peace negotiations about to bring Iran's surrender any minute now.

Q Toon: Ogles Tweets the Silent Part

Congresscritter Andrew Ogles (R-TN) greeted the start of LGBTQ+ Pride Month by tweeting (since it hasn't been "Twitter" for some time now, should we say xitting?), "Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month."

Criticism of Ogles from Democrats was predictably harsh, but Congress members from his own side of the aisle also distanced themselves from Ogle's xitpost. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the post "untoward." House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) called it "inappropriate." Rep. Mike Lawler  (R-NY) went further, calling it "idiotic" and "fucking stupid." Even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) averred that "I think the behavior of consenting adults is their business."

Ogles responded by deleting the xitpost and blaming it on “a member of my comms team” who has since "been reprimanded."

Republicans and Democrats both criticized Ogles just three months ago when he (or that naughty comms person) posted a pile of xits over several days that "Muslims don't belong in American society" and "America is for people named Andrew Jackson, NOT Mohamed Mohamed."

Ogles didn't bother to delete those xitposts.

By the way, as for the "Nuclear Family Month" crack, well, that's just Tennessee's (and Indiana's) version of Let's Call It Something Else Month, red states' attempt to cross out LGBTQ+ Pride Month by decreeing that June instead celebrates cisgender heterosexual breeders. 

Governor Spencer Cox declared June "Fidelity Month" in Utah; ditto Governor Sarah Succubus Sanders in Arkansas. It's "Strong Families Month" in Alabama, by which Governor Kay Ivey's declaration specifies "Homes led by stable parents, a father and a mother."

It's not unlike insisting "All Non-Black Lives Matter."

When folks observe Father's Day in a couple weeks from now, these Republicans would like you to know that two-father families have no place in America.

Not that they would actually say so. That's just a little secret between D, E, and I.