Eight Days' and Nights' Sneak Peek

Must be cold in these guys' apartment.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Again?!

I still think I had probably posted last week's Thanksgiving leftovers some years ago, so here are some old Thanksgiving editorial cartoons from 1921. I know I've never rewarmed these before.

"His First Thanksgiving Away from Home" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in New York Tribune, Nov. 24, 1921

Nearly all of the political cartoons that Thanksgiving Day were about the arms limitation talks then underway in Washington, D.C. Of chief concern was the three-way naval arms race underway among the U.S., Great Britain, and Japan.

"All the Fixin's for a Real Thanksgiving" by Herbert Johnson in North American, Philadelphia PA, ca. Nov. 24, 1921

Republican stalwart Herbert Johnson was quick to give credit to the GOP administration and Congress not only for Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes's proposal to freeze warship building for ten years, but also for yet-to-be-seen tax cuts and economic prosperity.

"All for World Peace" by John Cassel in New York World, Nov. 23, 1921

Democratic-leaning John Cassel also lauded the disarmament conference, but reminded his readers that former President Woodrow Wilson's idealism had produced the League of Nations, with the promise that future wars could be averted there.

That promise of peace would not outlast the promise of prosperity by all that much.

"The Proof of the Dinner, Etc." by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov. 23, 1921

The Hungry World, like "Ding" Darling's diners, looked forward to its Thanksgiving feast; yet Nelson Harding left open the possibility that the dinner might not live up to the menu.

"I'm Bubbling Over..." by Clifford Berryman in Washington (DC) Evening Star, Nov. 23, 1921

The holiday produced lots and lots of turkey jokes, as it does every year.

"The Idea of World Disarmament Is a Beautiful Thing..." by Wm. Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, ca. Nov. 24, 1921

The disarmament talks hit a snag just before Thanksgiving, which might explain a tiny bit of skepticism in the cartoons of Harding, Berryman, and Morris.

"The Barnyard Delegates..." possibly by Elmer Bushnell for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca.Nov. 24, 1921

I could not find a copy of this cartoon with the cartoonist's signature; I'm guessing that it might be Elmer Bushnell largely because the original caption (which I have replaced to make it more legible) was in the font and box style that I've seen over many of his cartoons. The heavy border also suggests Mr. Bushnell to me.

"The First Move to Curb Excessive Immigration" by G. Burr Inwood in Life magazine, Nov. 24, 1921

Aside from family dinners and turkeys, the other leitmotif in Thanksgiving cartoons is of Indians and Pilgrims. Here G.B. Inwood gets all sorts of ethnic details wrong, but it does show that the cartoon idea of Native Americans Against Immigration is older than you probably thought.

"Thanksgiving 1621 and 1921" by unknown cartoonist, ca. Nov. 24, 1921

I was hoping to find this cartoon in a newspaper that did not crop out the cartoonist's signature; but other than in the Miami (OK) Record-Herald of November 25, I have only found it in two New York newspapers, one of which also cropped out the signature and the other in which it is completely illegible. 

The cartoon's depiction of Native Americans is only slightly less fanciful than Inwood's. To my 2021 sensibilities, it seems to mark the 300th anniversary of Thanksgiving by giving thanks that Uncle Sam no longer needs to worry about hostile Injuns lurking behind trees. Given Oklahoma had been created from what was officially "Indian Territory" only fourteen years before this cartoon appeared, its thankfulness strikes me as being at the very least, smug. And at worst, racist. 

Most certainly, confident that no Native Americans subscribed to the Miami Record-Herald.

"The End of a Perfect Day" by Magnus Kettner, for Western Newspaper Union, ca. Nov. 23, 1921

Let us, however, turn to the non-political cartoonists end on a lighter note. Magnus Kettner trafficked in the quaint and gentle — most of the time — as in his "The End of a Perfect Day" series. Kettner's Thanksgiving proved to be a perfect day for Fido; not so much for Tom Turkey.

"Naturally You Feel Terrible" by Alfred "Zere" Ablitzere in New York Evening Post, Nov. 23, 1921

For the meleagrically sympathetic, Alfred Ablitzere's cartoon offers a happier ending.

Finally, I had expected to find many daily comic strips celebrating Thanksgiving 1921, but most strips' gags were no different than any other day of the year. A marked exception was "Doings of the Duffs," a family cartoon that paid attention to current events. (For example, the older son in the family, Wilbur, joined the Army during the Great War, although he didn't see much action.)

On Thanksgiving Day 1921, The Duff family were sucked through a hole in the space-time continuum and emerged three centuries earlier.

"Doings of the Duffs" by Walter R. Allman for NEA, Nov. 24, 1921

But only for one day.

Happy Hanukkah!

Q Toon: He/Him/Hissy Fit

Newly elected Republican darling Glenn Youngkin hasn't even been sworn in as Governor of Virginia yet, and already the Trumpist-CrazyAss wing of the party is pissed at him.

To begin with, Youngkin is promising not to overrule local COVID-19 protective measures. Republicans who believe in small government except when they are in charge of it are upset that he won't dictate that local municipalities must allow COVID-19 to spread like wildfire.

They also have their panties in a wad over Joshua Marin-Mora, a 2021 Georgetown University graduate whom Youngkin brought over from his campaign staff to work under his Press Secretary. It seems that young Mr. Marin-Mora is openly  LGBTQ+ and openly Latinx, and — horrors! — lists "he/him" as his preferred pronouns in his Twitter bio.

“So, Youngkin chose a guy with pronouns in his bio to do his comms who also served on the Georgetown Latinx Leadership Forum and supports virtually everything Youngkin's voters voted against,” blared Pedro L. Gonzalez, a writer for the influential conservative think tank Claremont Institute, in a series of tweets. When other Twitter users unearthed pictures of Marin-Mora wearing LGBTQ Pride clothing, Gonzalez snarled, “The new GOP is actually worse than the old GOP.”

The lengthy thread attacking Marin-Mora was elevated by the likes of Pizzagate conspiracy [fabulist] Jack Posobiec and far-right activist Lauren Witzke.

Not every conservative shares the umbrage of the right-wing wackosphere. Some of them can actually conceive of the possibility that attracting LGBTQ+ Latinxes might help Republicans hold onto Arizona or Texas someday. (I can hear the campaign rally music already: "All My Latinxes Live In Texas.")

I have no doubt that Gonzalez, Posibiec, Witzke and their ilk will soon forget all about the underlings in Youngkin's press office anyway. Before you know it, they'll be back attacking Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Larry Hogan, and whatever other counterrevolutionary criminals they root out of  the Republican ranks.

This Week's Sneak Pique

 Bergetoons issues another Angry White Guy alert:

Subject is considered ill-informed and dangerous.

Toon: The Verdict

I've been hesitant to weigh in on this story. I feel too close to it.

I work just up the street from the used car lot Kyle Rittenhouse was supposedly trying to defend, and just around the corner from Kenosha's Uptown district, which was almost completely destroyed as a result of the riot. The Kenosha Fire Department was still trying to put out the flames when I arrived at work the next morning. While our building was untouched by fire, the air inside reeked of smoke.

I know people who no longer speak to each other because of the Jacob Blake shooting, the riot, and the deaths that came from it all.

And yes, I call it a riot, not a protest.

There were protests that night. People may riot in protest.

But to call what happened a protest is like calling a hurricane "a weather event."

That said, a riot is no place for a 17-year-old boy to be gallivanting around with an AK-15. I really don't care if he had a father who lived in Kenosha once upon a time, or that he wanted practice being an Emergency Medical Technician. This was not the movies. It was not a video game.

Real people were bound to get hurt or killed.

Young Master Rittenhouse could just as easily have been one of them.

And his killer would have claimed self-defense.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Already?

It's Saturday, so time to rummage through the archives and post a bunch of old cartoons; so let's get ready for Thanksgiving.

I thought I had posted a Thanksgiving retrospective of my own cartoons before this —as a matter of fact, I'm 99.44% sure I have— but I apparently didn't give the post a "Thanksgiving" tag. What the heck, then; Thanksgiving is a time for traditions, so let's just go ahead and thaw these turkeys again.

in The Chalice, Racine, Wis., 1977 or '78

This was an illustration I drew for the church newsletter sometime in the late 1970's. It might not even have been for Thanksgiving; the reference is clearly to the parable of Lazarus and Dives. But there is a turkey on the table, so, yeah, let's go with saying it's a Thanksgiving cartoon.

in Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee, Nov. 2003

Here's a more traditional Thanksgiving cartoon, with pilgrims and Wampanoags and more food than you can legally shake a stick at. The story of the First Thanksgiving is acknowledged these days to be a heavily ornamented myth, but one that is firmly ingrained into American culture — and thus the setting of many a cartoon the product of cartoonists and editors needing to get over the river and through the woods with their whole family before the snow starts falling.

for Q Syndicate, Nov. 2006

I have occasionally found ways to make the traditional myths relevant to my readers of the LGBTQ+ press.

in InStep News, Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 27-Dec. 12, 1996

 

Since Turkey Day follows so closely after Election Day, defeated candidates are an easy holiday target.

Dornan in this cartoon was flamboyantly antigay Bob Dornan (R-CA), a D-list actor elected to Congress in 1984. He publicly outed Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-WI) as gay on the floor of the House, accusing him of having "a revolving door on his closet." Dornan made a laughable stab at running for President in 1996, then lost reelection to his House seat that November. Setting the standard for a certain future presidential loser, Dornan claimed that Democrat Loretta Sanchez only won because of illegal votes cast by undocumented immigrants.

The other turkeys in the cartoon, by the way, are Republicans Mark Neumann, Phil Gramm, Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, Jim Sensenbrenner, and Dick Armey.

for Q Syndicate, Nov. 1998

Two years later, when voters failed to reward congressional Republicans for pressing the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, I took advantage of his name to depict Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich as something other than a turkey.

for Q Syndicate, Dec., 2000

Two years later, when an Arizona soup kitchen snubbed the district's Congressman, Republican Jim Kolbe because they objected to his being gay, their eventual apology opened up the opportunity to draw a Thanksgiving cartoon that departed from the usual pilgrims and turkeys.

In closing, whether you will spend your Thanksgiving celebrating with a houseful of family, or on your own over pizza or dim sum, may your holiday be healthy, happy and harmonious!

for Q Syndicate, Nov., 2018

All things being relative.

Tales from the Crypto.com Stadium

 

Dulce Sloan threw off this idea during the ad-libbed banter with Trevor Noah on the Daily Show the other night, and I thought the image was too good not to put together visually.

But, since it's not my own idea, not good enough to spend a couple hours at the drawing board for.