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Kurds Screwed!

I’m back from our annual CagleCartoons trip to France!  I’ll post about that soon.  Sorry for the time away from the blog!

While I was gone, President Trump betrayed the Kurds and invited Turkey to invade Syria, setting up a chain of events that essentially hand all of Syria to Russia and Iran. Right when I should have been at the drawing board, I was away, and then bogged down in doing the quarterly artists royalties. Arrgh! Here’s my “Kurds Screwed” cartoon.

A lot of cartoonists drew the Kurds being stabbed in the back. I liked this one by Adam Zyglis …

This is a nice one from Rick McKee

This realistic cartoon by Bart van Leeuwen –I’m not sure I understand this one, but I know how much it hurts to step on Legos.

This one by RJ Matson made me laugh and cry.

Everything by Steve Sack is great …

 

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Blog Syndicate

Apple vs. the FBI and Third World Despots

The legal battle between the FBI and Apple promises to be epic. I come down on Apple’s side; we’ve seen how important technology is in undermining evil despotic regimes around the world. If courts can force tech companies to become foot soldiers in regime efforts to spy on their populations that will be a loss for freedom around the world.

apple-despots

I drew this one as a live stream. Watch me color it in Photoshop in real time in the YouTube video below (scroll past the timer at the beginning).

Click on the YouTube video below and it should start at 2:48:40 where I start drawing the Apple vs Despots cartoon. This was a long afternoon of work, and I drew the previous cartoon before this one. Sorry for the lack of editing, but hey, you see everything. I have nothing to hide.

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Blog

Obama, Putin, Assad and Doggies

I think all world issues can be boiled down to doggies.

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Blog

More Troops for Iraq

I voted for Obama because he promised to get the US out of Iraq – now he’s creeping us back in. With the Republicans controlling Congress, I’m guessing that the mission creep will continue. What is so bizarre is that everyone seems to recognize that Iraq (and the rest of the Middle East for that matter) is an endless quagmire – but still public opinion is solidly behind jumping back in to bash “ISIS-ISIL-IS-Islamic State-Daesh”.

It is fascinating to me that the vast majority of editorial cartoonists draw cartoon after cartoon about how bad the “ISIS-ISIL-IS-Islamic State-Daesh” guys are, and seem to be on the mission creep bandwagon, headed back to Iraq. Here’s today’s cartoon about the 1,500 additional troops Obama is sending to Iraq now.

Here’s a tiny detail, so we don’t lose track of the troops.

TrropDetail600wide

We’re bombing “ISIS-ISIL-IS-Islamic State-Daesh” in Syria also – but not bombing Bashar Assad. It wasn’t long ago that Obama was eager to bomb the Assad regime, after they used chemical weapons and crossed his “red line”. At the time, I drew this one …

and this one …

maybe these two cartoons were right for a few minutes – Obama seemed to back off and lose interest in bombing Assad. That red line nonsense seemed less important.

But now it has gone full circle – and the press, reflecting public opinion seems to be pushing Obama. I can’t really tell if Obama is reluctant or not. I suppose it doesn’t matter whether he’s being pushed or leading the charge when the direction is clear.

 

 

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Blog Columns

All My Favorite Putins!

I’m going to the big, euro-editorial-cartoonists convention in St. Just France again this year, along with four Cagle Cartoons star cartoonists, Nate Beeler, Adam Zyglis, Rick McKee and Steve Sack.

We’re putting together a show at the St. Just cartoon museum on American Views of Vladimir Putin and I’ve been scouring my own archives for my favorite, recent Putin cartoons, some are posted below, there will be a lot more in the show.

Putin is a wonderful cartoon character.  I like how Putin looks bored in every meeting.  Putin is funny for being macho and taking off his shirt.  Like Bill Clinton, who had his pants down, showing his underwear enblazoned with little hearts almost all of the new Putin cartoons have him shirtless. Putin has been a big cartoon character recently, with his annexation of Crimea, the downing of the Malaysian Airlines jet, economic sanctions, the Winter Olympics, and Putin’s support for Syria’s Assad regime.  Putin pokes his spooky nose into lots of current events.

I researched traditional Ukrainian dress for the cartoon below, with a standard, shirtless, caveman Putin.

caveman

I like this Ukrainian chick as my symbol for Ukraine.  I used her again in the cartoon below, with shirtless Putin robbing her of her Crimea purse, with hapless Obama standing by.

UkrainePurse

I draw digestion/cross-section cartoons every so often.  Here’s shirtless Putin below, digesting little countries and pooping out a stinky, new Soviet Union!

digest

Maybe I should draw Putin with no pants too.  I drew this cartoon when Miley Cyrus did her TV “twerking,” which was much bigger news than the antics Putin was pulling at the time. Twerking amuses me. I wonder if the media covers all the twerking news in Russia, as they do here.

Cyrus

Obama was eager to invade Syria, to help out those ISIS rebels, before Putin pulled the rug out from under Obama, with a plan for Syria to destroy their chemical weapons.  This is one of there rare occasions where I like what Putin does.  The news was all about Putin “putting Obama in a box.”

mime

Here’s Putin pulling the old-Syria-switcheroo on Obama like the Alien movies.
alien

Here’s my most recent Putin cartoon, featuring Putin with his Ukrainian rebel puppet.
puppet

My cartoonist daughter, Susie, just sent me some new Photoshop brushes that she’s urging me to use.  I may be getting away from these sponge/stamp textures soon. I really need to improve my color.  I know.  I’m on the case.

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Blog

A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime

I am saddened to write that Cartoonists Rights Network reports that Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan has been executed by the Syrian regime after a sham trial.

StJustAkram A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons

Click on the photo to see a larger view. That’s me sitting on the stage at the lower right. Such sad news for the cartooning community.

Just last week, at the Humor Salon in St Just, I joined a nice assembly and demonstration by world cartoonists in support of Akram – at the time we all thought Akram was imprisoned, but he had already been murdered. Akram’s crime was to make people laugh at the Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad in his cartoons.

Truly tragic news.  From the Cartoonists Rights Network report:

 A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons     We’ve learned that on July 26, Akram Raslan and other prisoners of conscience including journalists, artists, singers and other intellectuals were secretly put on trial with no witnesses, no defense attorneys, no appeal, and no hope for justice.  From unconfirmed and sketchy reports we learned that they were all condemned to life imprisonment.
     Somehow, along the way to prison young 28-year-old Akram Raslan (and possibly others) was peeled off,  taken out and executed. He is reported to be in a mass grave somewhere near Damascus. Our reliable but for obvious reasons anonymous sources further allege that the murder of Akram and other condemned prisoners was carried out by Mohammad Nassif Kheir Bek, currently the Deputy Vice President for Security Affairs in Syria.  He has already been sanctioned by the European Union for the use of violence against protesters and the Syrian civil war.
     Akram Raslan was the winner of the Cartoonists Rights Network International, Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2013.  Past award winners have hailed from Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey, Palestine, Iran, and India,  including last year’s winner, Ali Ferzat, also from Syria.
     Here in the United States we are experts in the knowledge that editorial cartooning is a dying art.  In other areas of the world, however, it is an art that people die for.
     CRNI has been monitoring and assisting political cartoonists in trouble for the last 20 years.  They are often victims of failing regimes stamping out criticism, drug cartels squashing investigations, corporate interest protecting money and political manipulation, and religious zealots stamping out thinking.
     About nine months ago young Akram Raslan was abducted from the offices of his newspaper and “disappeared” into the Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad’s prisons for the next six months.  Readers might remember the case of Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat who in 2011 had his hands broken by the Syrian regime’s thugs. As they finished the job they told Ali that his broken hands would prevent him from disrespecting their master through his cartoons.  Ali Ferzat was lucky.  He survived the beating and eventually found safe haven in another Middle Eastern country.   His revenge was to live to draw again.
     The hue and cry over this attack that grew from the world’s journalists and cartoonists must have made an impression on Bashir al-Assad. This time, a beating wasn’t enough. This time he decided to “disappear” the cartoonist permanently.
Here are a couple of Akram Raslan cartoons that likely angered his murderers, from the Cartoonists Movement site …
AkramRaslanToonAssadOrBurnTheCountry A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons
 A Brave Cartoonist is Murdered by the Syrian Regime cartoons
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Blog

Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More!

Here are my new cartoons!  The big news the past couple of weeks has been the run up to war, and the run down from the rup up to war with Syria. Obama pitched the idea as hard as he could to a war-weary nation.

136862 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

137026 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

Putin saw an opportunity to jump in with a plan to get Syria to give up their chemical weapons, putting a damper on Obama’s bombing plans.

137234 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

I see that I have fallen behind on posting these.  I’ll try to do better … so, there was a lot of Putin this week.  Putin is fun, he’s easy to draw and he’s a funny character with his shirtless macho swagger that reminds me of Miley Cyrus’ twerking.

137408 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

A lot of pundits were talking about how Putin and Russia had “put America into a box.” which reminded me of Marcel Marceau.

137468 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

Putin looks pretty French in this cartoon, huh?  Here’s Putin and Assad as the “Alien” from the “Alien” movies.

137307 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

I notice whenever the cartoons are about foreign news, our traffic goes down.  We need more Miley Cyrus.  Here’s my most recent cartoon, about the budget showdown in Congress, that hasn’t been getting as much news as it would if other things weren’t always happening.

137579 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

This one is a little surreal, a little disturbing, and a little stinky.  The last one is an oldie that I drew fifteen years ago when I was a local cartoonist in Hawaii, and there was a controversy about how gifted kids were treated in schools – as conscripted labor because they “didn’t need to study with the others.” This is something I recall with my gifted daughter, Susie, who was often put to work tutoring other students, by her lazy public school teachers.
137066 600 Putin, Obama, Talking Butts and More! cartoons

That’s it for this week.  Now I’m back to life in Nashville.  For a guy who doesn’t go to church, doesn’t like football, doesn’t care about music and shouldn’t eat too much bacon – remind me, why am I in Nashville again?

 

 

 

 

 

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Russia Putting the USA Into a Box

137468 600 Russia Putting the USA Into a Box cartoons

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Putin Twerking

137408 600 Putin Twerking cartoons

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Syrian Alien Daddies

137307 600 Syrian Alien Daddies cartoons