Happy Halloween

 Give us all a treat this year and vote this rotting, orange vegetable out of office. #VoteBlue

A bit of video

 

Who JD Vance really serves.

 If had any doubts about who (or what ) JD Vance really serves.

Get to the polls!

 We don't have much time. So get to the polls, and if you can five a lift to a neighbor or friend, do it!

Visual Walz Winning!

 I don't really believe in sympathetic magic. But, what the heck? For the debate, let's all visualize Tim Walz slicing up JD Vance like a Thanksgiving Turkey. #TimWalz #BigDadEnergy

He really is just a sad, sick, pathetic little clown, isn't he?

 

What he wants

 Trump wants to be an American Caesar. Do not let him succeed. We could not survive an American Nero. Or Caligula. 

and some MORE Billy Blues

 And some more Bill Blues. Feel free to forward if you think they'd do any good.

Some Billy Blues

 Here are some more Billy Blue cartoons. Feel free to forward to anyone who might need a little push to get them to the polls.

Trump is sad, sick, and senile

 You know he is. #VoteBlue

Do it for them...#VoteBlue

 In light of Springfield, Ohio, now more than ever...

#VoteBlue

In my current theme

 As always, feel free to forward

Do it for them

 As always, feel free to forward if you think it would help.

Do it for them. #VoteBlue

 

Another child

 Once more, do it for them.

Some more young people

 And another do it for the children post. As always, please feel to forward.

Me on twitter

 Just in case you don't know, you can also see my postings on Twitter...or, at least, you will able to until I get kicked off. Thanks Elon.

Anyway, go here:

https://twitter.com/crisis_cure

Trump as the Antichrist

 I've been doing images of Trump as the antichrist. I don't mean it, of course, but I'm surprised by how popular these are.

Always, feel free to forward. 

Another child...do it for her sake.

 Another in my series of children.

Do it for them!

 Something new. I'm doing portraits of children (these are all stock or AI generated) with the slogan: "Vote as if their lives depended on it. Because they do." As always, feel free to forward if you think it would help.

A Project 2025 Post

 As always, feel free to forward.

Some more Billy Blues!

 Hi, Everyone, 

Here are some more Billy Blues. As always, feel free to forward if you think it would help get someone to the polls.

Tim Walz's church...and its enemies.

I was appalled to discover that Tim Walz’s church has come under attack by the Right. It seems that he is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which is a perfectly normal, mainstream, Protestant church. 

But not according to the Right and MAGAheads everywhere. One “conservative” publication went so far as to say that ELCA is “a Trainwreck of Heresy and Blasphemy” -- this, I think, mostly because the ELCA talks about things like feeding the hungry and healing the sick.

There is no little irony in this. We have here enemies of Walz, that goodly man, unable to attack the man himself, and instead pillorying his Church for the crime of actually practicing what Jesus taught.

References:

Tim Walz’s Lutheran Church is a Trainwreck of Heresy and Blasphemy, Protestia,  https://protestia.com/2024/08/07/vice-president-pick-tim-walzs-lutheran-church-is-a-trainwreck-of-heresy-and-blasphemy/#google_vignette

“Political Attacks on Walz’s Church? Good Grief,” Brian Kaylor, Word&Way, August 8, 2024. https://wordandway.org/2024/08/08/political-attacks-on-walzs-church-good-grief/

“Attacks on Tim Walz’s Lutheran Denomination are Undermined by Reality — I Mean, Is ELCA Even Exciting Enough for Controversy?” By Daniel Schultz, Religious Dispatches, August 13, 2024, https://religiondispatches.org/attacks-on-tim-walzs-lutheran-denomination-are-undermined-by-reality-i-mean-is-elca-even-exciting-enough-for-controversy/

 

I'm So Proud

So, great news on my personal front! Like a lot of people, I’m texting for Kamala and Tim. Most of the time, we get civil responses, even from Republicans. Sometimes we do get a few swear words in response, but those are fairly rare.

But, day before yesterday...I got my very first death threat! 

Some mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, reactionary troglodyte said if he could just get at me with his AR-15, I’d be toast.

Wow.

I’m so proud. 

I mean, some people go their whole lives without getting an affirmation like that. 

 

An Open Letter To President Joe Biden

 Dear Mr. President

I cannot express how deeply I regret your exit from the presidential race. Frankly, I have long believed that you could have beaten Trump, and, moreover, that you could have led the country with wisdom and strength for another four years.

Again speaking frankly, I am certain that you are among the greatest presidents this country has known for the last fifty years. Indeed, as I look at your accomplishments--at the way that you took a shattered economy and a divided nation after Donald Trump’s disastrous term in the White House--I am convinced that you worked wonders. I am certain that historians will regard you as among the last great disciples of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and that you, like him, worked tirelessly for the well-being of all Americans.

Alas, those same historians will record that you were brought down by those who could not understand you, and, even if they could, were not worthy of your leadership. 

Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Michael Jay Tucker 

An American Hero

July 21, 2024

Like many other Democrats, I was appalled and ashamed when I heard this morning that Joe Biden had withdrawn. First, I was appalled because I think he is a good and a noble man, and I believe he could have easily won against Donald Trump.

Second, I was ashamed because I know that his withdrawal had nothing with his own performance in office -- which, let’s face it, was stellar -- but because the party elite and several hugely wealthy individuals had united against him, and used means both fair and foul to force his hand. 

I will, of course, support whoever is the Democratic nominee in November--which looks to be Kamala Harris. Donald Trump is simply too dangerous for me to do otherwise. I will, therefore, be on Team Blue without reservation. I will volunteer, I will donate money, I will text other democrats, I will canvas...

But, there is also a part of me that will always be aware that the will of the Party Faithful, of the men and women who went to the polls and selected Biden, was simply disregarded by Those Who Think They Know Best.

And, I will know that such people cannot be allowed to remain in charge of the Party...if only because the party of democracy must not be governed by autocrats.

So, yes...I will do everything I can to defeat Trump.

But after that...?

I must take stock. And think long.

And hard.

Once again, from one of the wisest people I know...

 About today's news, my wise wife, Martha, writes as follows:

"I am deeply saddened by President Biden's decision to not seek re-election. He has had my utmost respect and support. The process by which it was done also disturbs me because it was disrespectful toward the president, created uncertainty among Democratic voters, played into Trump's hand, and was a public bullying. If the elitist players are truly concerned about Biden's health & mental capacity, they should have acted in private rather than via social media. Further, I'm afraid, because I have little confidence in the Democratic Party to move forward in a unified and responsible way to select another candidate and VP candidate and to conduct the massive organization that will be required before the convention occurs. I still feel that the emphasis should be on how to defeat Trump and ramping up the extreme danger he presents to us all. Emphasizing the various parties that will be in danger, itemizing the rights that will be lost, rather than just saying that democracy will be jeopardized, should be a large focus of the remaining time. Also, a focus on Trump's mental incompetence, is inability to build and describe policy, and his choice of a VP candidate who is himself very dangerous to our rights and well-being is desperately needed."

I see no way I could improve on her text. She says what we all should be thinking. 

Joe Manchin

 Joe Manchin...the man without a future.

Once more, Billy Blue...the Big Friendly Dragon

As you know, some time back I invented a character, Billy Blue, the Big Friendly Dragon (BFD...from Joe Biden's Big F**king Deal comment when the AHC came in). Billy is a cartoon dragon who urges Democrats to vote. 

Here's some more Billy Blues. Feel free to forward if you know of anyone would could use a little encouragement to get to the polls.

cheers

mjt

About Clooney

I don’t have any particular ill-will toward George Clooney. He has the right to his opinion. He can say what he wants about Biden and the election.

And yet...

As I look at his mansions and his private planes, I wonder.

What has this man to say to me?

A Media Mystery

I’m writing this on July 12, 2024. Yesterday, Joe Biden gave what was, according to all reports, a killer press conference in which he was calm, cool, knowledgeable, and in-charge. He certainly looked that way when I watched clips of the event. 

Yet, when I glanced at the news this morning, I found that almost every mainstream media outlet reported the press conference as a tragic failure. It was as though we had seen completely different incidents. 

Bluntly, what the hell is going on? What accounts for the negativity, and the unanimity, of these reports? Why has the mainstream decided to provide only this (false) narrative? A story of Biden’s incapacity even when the evidence so obviously demonstrates that he is vital and strong.

I can only assume that powerful forces are at work here. Somewhere, somehow, important people have decided that this story that shall be told, regardless of the truth or the consequences--consequences that might include putting Trump back into the White House, and the end of American democracy.

And I’m guessing the motive is economic. Biden’s policies have not favored the favored the rich powerful, and have been to the advantage of everyone else. I’m guessing that doesn’t sit well with certain member of our elite...who also own the news media.

Which means...which means...

If we get out of this...somehow...with something like our freedom intact...then we are going to have to take a very close look at who was behind all of this. Why they acted as they did.

And what we shall do about them...

Before they can strike again.

The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

In 1995, Hilary Clinton referenced the “vast right wing conspiracy” that had targeted herself and her husband. For this, she was roundly mocked and ridiculed.

Yet, here we are, just about 30 years later, and what have we discovered? Well, that there really was and is now a vast network of right wing think tanks, PACs, activists, politicized churches, schools, and organizations all of them directed and funded by a small coterie of extremely wealthy, extremely right-wing individuals. 

And moreover, this group is within a hair’s breadth of imposing an entirely new form of government on the United States--the plutocratic, theocratic, oligarchy envisioned in Project 2025 and embodied in Donald Trump.

So what do we do about it? Honestly, I don’t know. I do know that we have to keep fighting. And we have to make absolutely certain that never again does the GOP control all three branches of the government. Or, if possible, any of them.

And I also know this. Our Republic will not again be safe until we have confronted “the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.” And the people who created it.

The people who for some reason believed that their right to obscenely great wealth, and enormous power...outweighed our right to truth, justice, well-being, and, indeed...

To life itself.

The vast right wing conspiracy...is real. 

Anthony Fauci, American Hero

 So I’m reading Dr. Anthony Fauci’s new book, On Call. It is fascinating, and reading it makes you realize that Fauci has quietly labored for decades, often against impossible odds, to keep people healthy and well all over the world. 

He’s fought against, AIDS, Zika, Ebola, flus of a hundred kinds, and, of course, Covid.

You would think that no one could object to that, yet, somehow, the Right tried to make him public enemy #1, and did their best to frustrate his work. 

That’s distressing, particularly when you compare him, and all that he has done, with his chief tormentors, such as Rand Paul and Marjorie Taylor Greene. You look at the lives and careers of people like Paul and Greene, and you know that they have done basically nothing.

They’ve feathered their own nests. They’ve gained power and used it, sometimes ruthlessly. They’ve hurt others when they could. And they’ve blocked progress wherever they could.

But otherwise, nothing. They’ve done absolutely nothing. They have helped no one. They have barely noticed their constituents, much less served them. They have introduced no important legislation.

For all that they have actually achieved, they might as well have never been born at all. 

And maybe that’s really why they hate Fauci with such passion. For they know, to their shame, that in his quiet way, he has achieved greatness.

Where-as they...are nothing. Mere voids in a vacuum. Just shadows in the dark.

J.D. Vance...

 So now we know 45's pick for VP.

We also know he can't get anywhere near real power.

Feel free to forward this image to others.

The Chicken and The Times

So I saw the other day that the New York Times had shut down its account on Threads, the Twitter-alternative owned by Meta. The account’s been turned back on, and Times’ people are implying that it was removed “by accident.” But, the general betting is that was a little white lie and that the account was shut down because they did not like the way they were being treated by the other Threads-users, many of whom objected fiercely to the editorial board’s fantastically stupid and irresponsible idea of dumping Joe Biden a mere few months ahead of the election--a move which would almost certainly put Trump back in the White House.

But, rather than read the comments on Threads, and perhaps learn from them, or at the very least, crafting counter-arguments, the Times just left the platform.

This is either cowardice of the highest order, or pure arrogance. The Times Editorial Board does not, you see, deign to debate with little people.

Either way, I wonder what happened to “without fear or favor.” Or, in other words, the Times seems to have lost the courage and the humility required for true journalism.

That is terrifically sad, both for the Times, which was once a great newspaper, and for our nation, which desperately needs a bit more hard-hitting journalism, instead of pomposity, spinelessness, and inanity. 

Trump IS Project 2025

 Project 2025 is, of course, the blueprint for an authoritarian America crafted by, among others, the Heritage Foundation. Donald Trump has denied any involvement with it. But, of course, we know that to be one of his more creative untruths. As such, I am constructing little AI cartoons to stress his relationship to it. Here are some of them.

Probably more to come.

In the meantime, remember, 45 = 25.