I credit Pres. John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro for politicizing me. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis came out of nowhere. I was a typical teenager thinking about art, sex, school, sex, my future, sex, money, sex, rock and roll, sex and...sex. I had plans. I would work hard to win a scholarship to the American Academy of Art in Chicago and if that failed, I’d attend Ft. Wayne Art School, but one way or another, I was going to be a professional artist. My family subscribed to two newspapers, morning and evening, the only two papers we had in Ft. Wayne, Ind. and I read the comics pages faithfully and the sports pages occasionally. There were only three network TV news outlets t

When I started as a newspaperman in Chicago, newspapers were leading the charge against an unpopular war in Vietnam, supporting the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and bringing down corrupt Pres. Richard Nixon. Many newspapers didn’t make a profit back then but it didn’t matter because it was all about public service. Being a self-starter, I thought working for a newspaper was as close as I could get to being a freelancer and still get a steady paycheck. Forty-eight years later, newspapers struggle to survive. After turning corporate, the newspaper mantra became “profit is not a dirty word” and a new phrase crept into the newsroom, ROI––return on investment. Then the

God, Speak to the souls of the Electoral College. Give them the courage to deny Trump the presidency on December 19th. Back in the day (before last year) when people read stories about the rise of the Nazis in Germany before the war, they liked to say it can’t happen here. Well, it can. It’s happening now. We need our unique Democratic system to save us, unless you have something better up your robed sleeve. You are a constant source of surprises. Hey, you’re in charge. Thy will be done, not Trump’s. Amen

The shortest president was James Madison at 5’ 4”, but Trump stands to be the smallest. Every time he tweets, he reveals himself to be small and petty. I said it often during the campaign, “Trust God and trust the people.” Well, the people have a long way to go to regain my trust. The task of the people has shifted from picking a new president to holding Trump’s feet to the fire. The ACLU’s comment after Trump won the election was, “See you in court.” That’s why my charitable contributions this year will include them. They and the Southern Poverty Law Center have been fighting white nationalists like Trump and monsters like Bannon for eons. They know how to do it and I’ll help anyway I can.

Don’t let Trump’s appointments of racists, bigots, white supremacists and other monsters from the bottom of the swamp distract us from the many, many other important issues, like his and Rep. Paul Ryan’s plans to destroy Medicare and Medicaid. In typical Trump fashion, he was all over the map during his campaign, first saying he wouldn’t touch it and now saying he would, and that includes privatizing Social Security. Ryan is focused, where Trump is not. Ryan is by nature, an affable social program ax murderer. He’ll do it if he can get it passed through Congress, and I have no reason to think that everything the conservatives, tea party and the GOP in general want, they will get. They’re in

It’s good to see the racists are finally happy. They’ve had a difficult eight years, what with Pres. Obama and his family in the White House. Their hatred consumed them and they had no one to talk to but each other. But now, with Trump sending a profound signal by appointing Stephen Bannon, the racists are free to give voice and actions to their hatred. What a relief for them. No more PC. I know thinking before you speak takes a lot of energy. That’s the core behind political correctness, that and the fact that some groups historically harassed and picked on by the majority are just tired of the abuse. Now, the lid’s off. The racists––not to mention the homophobes, white supremacists and m

When will we dump this anarchic, unnecessary, costly institution? I’ve drawn cartoons about it in the past and I’m not drawing another because I’m done with wasting my time. I’m also done with wasting my time voting for President of the United States. When I darken that little oval, I’m not voting for who I want to be president. I’m voting for some anonymous “elector” somewhere in Connecticut who is entrusted––but not required––to vote for my choice when they get together sometime in the future. The founding fathers set up this cockamamie system because they regarded the voting public as uneducated, superstitious, ignorant, backwards, uninformed, emotional jerk-offs. And, they were right.

I’ve never been more wrong about political prognostication. I’ve never read the tea leaves more inaccurately. My instincts have never been more switched off, but I’ve ben educated. I’ll never trust public opinion polls again. I’ve always told people to lie when a pollster asks their opinion. That way, when polls become completely unreliable, politicians and the corrupt news media––Trumpanoia got one thing right––would stop relying on them and just might make decisions based on their own convictions. Speaking of polls, I’m dropping fivethirtyeight.com from my radar. Why? It’s unreliable. I’ve never felt more alienated from the slim majority who made Trumpanoia the leader of our land. I thou

Thank God It’s Finished Tuesday. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough. We’ll be having friends over in the evening to celebrate electing the first woman president of the United States. And speaking of firsts, we shall be celebrating the wisdom of the American people in defeating the first fascist candidate and the destruction of the Republican Party. The people who voted for Trumpanoia can carry their shame with them the rest of their miserable lives. What takes its place? I don’t know, but I hope it’s more traditional, you know, the way it was before the religious extremists took over, before the racists took over, before the sexist, hate-filled hypocrites took over. Let them start their own p

You’ve heard the old trope, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” Well, Donald J. Trumpanoia is right about one thing. The media, specifically cable news, is crooked and dishonest and I’m done with it. MSNBC, CNN, HLN, Fox News Channel; I’m finished with them. More and more they’re hiring scabbed over spokespersons from political campaigns and then giving them credibility for their opinions, which are far from honest. They’re trying to sell their party faction, period. Meantime, the news channel owners try to sell “news” on the cheap. In other words, because of layoffs and buyouts on the 24-7 hysteria channels, propagandists are replacing journalists. Donna Brazile being caught as a s