The hormone is indeed the news. But first, this:

Todd Blanche, Trump’s (former) lawyer who wants to be Attorney General. If one GOP Senator votes no on his confirmation, he might not get it. The hearing for his confirmation yesteray was contentious, which I was unable to watch. As usual, Democrats grueled him hard, while Republicans sweet talked him.

At one point, when asked by Senator John Kennedy whether or not he is friends with Trump, Blanche said: “I’m his lawyer.” Then caught himself and said, “I’m his former lawyer.”

That sums it up.

Here is a good wrap-up of the hearing from NPR.

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In an astounding announcement, Pete Hegseth said that the Department of Defense (which he calls the “High-T Department of War”) will be running a testosterone screening program for testosterone deficiency on military personel. He said, “…to make sure YOU (as he points at the camera) have the right testosterone levels so you can operate at your absolute best. If treatment is recommended, it’s entirely your choice to recieve testosterone replacement therapy.” Annual testosterone screening at the Pentagon. You can’t make this up. If you are a military person, and your levels are low, will you be fired if you don’t take the replacement therapy? This is so discriminatory and in a creepy, creepy way. He is crazy.

“Our most decisive tactical advantage will always be the individual warfighter,” Mr. Hegseth said in a video from his Pentagon office. “We have a sacred duty to maintain that advantage.”

Doesn’t he have more important things to take care of, other than this stupid PR stunt? This is why he wants to exclude women from the miliary.

Apparently, the word is that when Trump goes on prime time to address the nation tonight, he will claim China interfered with the 2020 election. This is leading up to the midterms, which Trump hopes to steal, citing election security concerns that he will claim exist. The Parnas Perspective (via the Daily Beast) reports that major networks have not cleared their schedules for the address, indicating concern that it will be primarliy political in nature (with Trump is it possible NOT to be primarily political?) and confuse the public.

A cartoon I did of Hegseth when he first was in his job as Pentagon head, using his actual words.

That’s it for me today. I am in San Francisco for a few days. Hope you are having a good Thursday!! Thanks for being here.

I took the train today, and during a layover in Yonkers, NY, I drew this woman on my iPhone as she gazed out at the Hudson River. Video grab is below.

I start with good news

A federal judge issued a scathing ruling against Trump on Monday, saying that his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service was an “improper exercise in self-dealing,” barring him from claiming that the large tax protections he received were part of a legitimate settlement agreement. The judge also referred the lawyer who brought Trump’s case to the Florida Bar for potential disciplinary proceedings. Double whammy, always good.

I am incredulous. There was another shooting death at the hands of ICE yesterday, this time in Maine. This is the eleventh shooting of someone in the US by Homeland Security. The victim’s name was Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a Columbian father on his way to work. Witnesses said he did not “weaponize his vehicle,” as ICE has claimed.

This follows a similar shooting death in Houston. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man, died after a traffic stop in Houston. ICE officers were not wearing body cameras, but witnesses say he did not “weaponize his vehicle.”

I just cannot stand this, it’s horrible. It’s murder. From the NY Times, here are the 20 people who have been shot in their cars since Trump took office.

In Minneapolis, where other victims were shot and killed by ICE, local lawmakers finally got the evidence they were seeking in those cases. “Through the cooperation of our federal partners, we have obtained hard drives of previously withheld evidence in the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis,” the Hennepin county attorney, Mary Moriarty, said in a video statement. This is very good news, officials are analyzing it as I write.

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Peace lasted what, a few hours, if that? Trump is launching new strikes on Iran today, all over control of the Strait of Hormuz. He notified Congress that the war had recommenced and says he will start charging a toll for ships when they pass through the Strait, despite his own administration’s position that such fees violate international law.

Epstein surivors put out a new PSA in advance of Trump’s person lawyer Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearings for Attorney General today. I share it below.

That’s it for me today. I travel to California tomorrow for the 40th San Francisco Jewish International Film Festival where our documentary, WOMEN LAUGHING will be screening on Friday! Looking forward to it.

Thanks for being here, you guys are great. Stay strong, and take time to look at the water if you can, like this woman. It’s calming.

Michael informed me this morning that my drawing is this week’s Cartoon Caption Contest drawing (in fact he told everyone this morning in his Substack Ink Spill, all about New Yorker cartoons). Sadly, I don’t remember what my caption was. The way it works is: if you agree, the editors buy your drawing and then take your caption off. A little painful, but hey, people like the contest!

For fun, tell me your caption ideas in the comments below!

Some news.

Trump subpoenaed reporters from the New York Times over a story the newspaper published last week. The Secret Service had security concerns about the new Air Force One Boeing 747-8 given to Trump by Qatar. Trump didn’t like that journalists were reporting about that, so he directed Kash Patel, the FBI Director to investigate and ultimately authorize the DOJ to issue subpoenas. Trump had spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money renovating the gifted plane, yet it was not safe enough. After he touted its magnificence, the reporting was embarrassing for Trump so he lashed out.

Issuing subpoenas to U.S. journalists, who are protected from government interference by the First Amendment, is a huge red flag. As former Time magazine editor Rick Stengel noted: “The reporting that the Times journalists have been subpoenaed for is exactly the kind of journalism the First Amendment is designed to protect: matters involving national security and taxpayer dollars. Reporting that embarrasses a president is protected speech.”

David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Times, said: “The appearance of Federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects. Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used. This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”

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Lindsey Graham is dead. I have very little to say about him except he was spineless and lacked a moral compass. He was a war mongerer, and many other things. As Republican chair, he pushed through the delay of a Supreme Court nomination from Democrats after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

NY Times journalist Jamelle Bouie sums it up in the video above. I quote him here: Lindsay Graham was

“someone who knew better. Who told us he knew better. Who understood what Trump was. Out of venal self interest, or some deep psychological need to attach himself to a powerful man, for whatever reason….he decided to join Trump as he waged war against our democracy….he will be remembered as Trump’s little assistant.”

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As we emerge from the Maine Senate race debaucle, I and so many other writers are grappling with why it happened. It made me furious and I’ve been stewing for days. Guys like Platner are sadly a dime a dozen, I fear. The fact that he got as far as he did, being hand picked as some kind of burly, manly white savior (do we need one?) by very young, non-Maine recruiters, given acting lessons and a script, and that people bought it hook line and sinker is disheartening. But: so many in the press and on social media are interested in exposing what happened and that is a good thing.

In some ways, the far left is behaving like the far right. In an opinion article by David French today, the writer expresses much of what I have been thinking. It’s been on my mind since Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders emerged on the national stage.

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From French: “Worst of all, when you’re convinced that you’re righteous — and you are surrounded by fellow zealots — it is easy to see yourself and your allies as inherently virtuous and your opponents (no matter how much they may profess good intentions) as fundamentally corrupt, perhaps even evil.”

MAGA demonizes liberals. Many on the far left demonize those who disagree with them. Just because you believe in a set of principles that you think are the right ones, it doesn’t mean you can behave poorly or bully others. It does not give you license.

Remember Bernie Bros? The arrogant bullying they projected when Bernie was running for president hasn’t totally gone away; indirectly I still feel intimidation. Always a liberal thinker, I hesitate before I criticize Sanders. It’s not his policies, I agree with many. But it’s the way he has gone about it, and the problems he has caused over the last decade, all for the cause of his viewpoint.

Here’s an animation I did back when he was running against Hillary Clinton. Bernie was fun to tease.

Thanks for being here! Have a good Monday, see you tomorrow.

The above is a take-off of the original cartoon I did for Cartooning for Peace, below.

Here’s another about peace.

And another:

I just am so upset how Trump has caused so much world turmoil. The Iran war he started seems unsolvable. Maybe with a skilled, thoughtful, intelligent negotiator, we could get out of this mess. But….

Thanks for being here, see you tomorrow. Hope you have an enjoyable Sunday! I very much appreciate your support and company as we go through all this.

More tomorrow on the news. Get some rest!

The above is one of my New Yorker cartoons from 1993 about the candidacy of Ross Perot. I won’t go into the details of why this man is scrubbing his bumper sticker off, you can read about it here. It’s a drawing that illustrates the whims of political campaigns, and our passions.

I know politics is nasty and messy, way more than I realize. I am an idealist, and like to think of the system as all about people who are passionate for helping others by becoming public servants, people who honestly represent our democracy. This Platner mess really made it clear to me that it’s not always that way it has worked.

A team of recruiters “found” this Maine guy (who suspended his campaign last night) and told him he was an ideal candidate, convinced him to run for the Maine Senate seat to beat incumbant Susan Collins. They appealed to his ego. The recruiters involved are three young individuals (two Ivy League educated, one an ad man from New York) who thought they knew who would appeal to the Maine working class, progressive voters. It’s cynical, what they did—and they’ve done it before in a few other states. They did not fully vet Platner and as a consequence have possibly ruined the Democrats chances at getting the Senate back, and disillusioned thousands of Maine voters.

Perhaps this nascent American socialist movement is damaged by this chapter. Not the good ideas that come out of it—health care rights, workers rights, etc.—those are important, as are women’s rights and Black rights. But I am hopeful that what is damaged is the cynical and forced manipulation of voters for an agenda, and for power. Candidates hand-picked by a group of (perhaps priviledged, I’m not clear on that) people. One of them, Morris Katz, a strategist for Mamdani and part of a group who recruited John Fetterman, said to CNN a few weeks ago, “Our government doesn’t work, it works for the wealthy who can buy power.” I want to point out that while Katz may not be buying power (maybe he is), he is manipulating people to get power.

I know, of course this is not new. But I don’t like it nonetheless.

These young strategists all have been a part of the Bernie Sanders movement. I am proud of AOC for not endorsing Platner.

I want candidates to emerge organically! I want people to use their hearts AND their minds when supporting a candidate. Maine native and historian Heather Cox Richardson was mentioned as someone who could run for this Senate seat. She could, and she would win, and she would beat Susan Collins. But she publicly has announced she is not considering it, saying that while she could run well, she feels she doesn’t have the skill set to be a Senator. Here is her video.

I spoke with a friend this morning who has been in politics, and she said it’s those people who make good public servants.

Thanks for being here. This is a short post because I am spending time with family today for a fun museum visit. I hope you have a good day!!

On the subway today, I saw these two people and decided to draw them. I love doing subway drawings, profiling ordinary people. I do these quietly and sneakily on my iPhone with my finger— for some reason, I would rather my subjects not know I am drawing them!

As I began drawing them, and I looked down to see what the man was holding, A bag of lemons! Perfect touch.

Video grab below.

Back tomorrow with news.

Hope you’re well. It’s a gorgeous day in NYC today. Thanks for being here!!

From the start, I had a bad feeling about him. I tried not to. I tried to believe Graham Platner, telling myself people can change. Maybe I was wrong, I said to myself, maybe my judgement is too harsh. I really want the Democrats to take control of the Senate in the midterms; the enthusiasm for this Maine Democrat seemed to make that a possbility.

But from the moment I laid eyes on him and heard him speak, I was wary.

I believe that many of us women have radar for men like him, particularly if we’ve been around a while. Not only a woman, I have been a political observer my whole life since a teenager. First, Platner was brought onto the scene fast, and we now know wasn’t vetted thoroughly. His personae seemed too constructed to me, his politial positions too perfect. I love Maine, and wanted to believe him because so many of the state’s citizens thought he was perfect. I’ve trusted Mainer’s judgement in the past, but I admit I was suspect of the giddy support of Platner.

Then slowly, we learned more about him.

Platner admitted to a few “lapses in judgement” in his past. I call them something else. Here are just two:

—a tatoo he said didn’t know was a Nazi symbol. I find it hard to believe him

—In a Reddit post he said that victims of rape should “just take some responsibility for themselves” to avoid attacks and “act like an adult for f–cks sake.” He said people should avoid alcohol so they don’t end up in a “compromising situation” and downplayed the challenges servicemembers face in reporting sexual assault.

Woah, that should be disqualifying. People who say that kind of thing don’t change so quickly.

Weeks ago, several women accused him of inappropriate behavior towards them. While married, he sexted some (6? 12?) women, which is not a crime, but tells you something. Platner’s explanation was he now is a “changed man,” has learned from his mistakes. He claimed his erratic behavior was in part due to his PTSD from his service in the military, which I am sure is real.

Now one of his acusers, Jenny Racicot, has provided more details, and alleges Platner raped her in 2021. This was reported on Politico, and yesterday CNN did an interview with the woman (below). They had been dating for a few years, when one night, while deeply intoxicated he entered her house uninvited and proceeded to assault her after she repeatedly said no. After watching the interview with Racicot, listening to her words, I find her very credible. Since this came out, Platner announced he is “taking some time” to consider his campaign. Meanwhile, all of his Democratic backing has vanished; they have withdrawn their support and urge him to withdraw from the race.

He denies the rape.

It baffles me why or how we let this happen. I really can’t get my head around it. Perhaps it comes from people desperately wanting change, and grasping at the shiny coin in front of them. We just got finished talking about Eric Swalwell and his nightmarish behavior, not to mention Trump’s repeated reprehensible, indicted behavior towards women.

When will we learn?

I am incredulous that after all these years we haven’t learned our lesson. Men who seek political office are indeed often incredible people: scholars, dedicated and passionate public servants, patriots, committed and charismatic. But we know that anyone—no matter the gender— who runs for office must have a huge ego, and we have to be wary. It’s about power, and abuse of women is usually about power.

I am hopeful that someone, a terrific candidate can step in and take his place and beat Susan Collins. Platner must and will drop out, and he must instruct his followers to vote. Garner their enthusiasm for change and guide them to support a great person to run for Senate. Maine has time to get someone else on the ballot.

Platner was a friggin’ walking red flag!!!

Thanks for letting me rant.

I hope you have a good Tuesday, all. Thank you for being here, as always!

Trump is going to the NATO Summit, this year held in Turkey. I often wonder what goes on in his head when he goes to these things. Does he realize how many world leaders don’t like him (or worse)? Trump has threatened to reduce the U.S. role in NATO and accused allies of disloyalty for not supporting his Iran war.

If that weren’t enough, Trump had his creepy fingers in the World Cup the other day. A suspension that was given to one of US team’s top scoring player was lifted after Trump called FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, and asked the association to review the suspension. This is important news only in that it underscores yet again how corrupt he is, and how he thinks it’s admirable. Remember when he said years ago that he was smart because he knew how evade taxes?

The suspension reversal is apparently highly unusual and a boost to the American team before it plays Belgium in a Round of 16 game. Infantino has curried favor with Mr. Trump, and last year awarded him the first FIFA Peace Prize.

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There are so many stories right now about Trump’s financial gain and corrupt practices since he has taken office. I read the articles as they came out, but today Heather Cox Richardson sums up those reports. I share part of her post today:

“Last Tuesday, new financial disclosures showed that Trump has made an eye-popping $1.4 billion in his family’s cryptocurrency ventures since he took office. On Thursday, Trump appeared to feel the need to defend those profits, telling CNBC:

“There’s nothing illegal. There’s nothing wrong with it I could know.”

Julia Manchester of The Hill noted that Trump went on to say that the nature of the presidency means that his children “have inside information” about almost any business decision they make. He said:

“Almost anything they do, if they want to buy a truck, if they buy an energy efficient truck, they have inside information.”

Richardson continued: “As of the end of June, nearly a million people who bought Trump’s memecoin lost a total of $3.81 billion while Trump walked away with $636 million. Trump took transaction fees up front, so he made money no matter what happened with the coin. For his followers, though, his advice that “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!” and to “Join my very special Trump community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW!” cost them dearly as the coin slid from trading at $75.35 to trading at $1.76, a drop of 97%.”

Not caring what anyone thinks, Trump’s grabbing as much money as he can. It seems desperate. He’s using government to enrich himself and hurt others. What should be done about all this fraud is that we gain back the House and Senate in the midterms, and then Democrats impeach the heck out of Trump in a way that will work this time. Unfortunately, his followers will never see their money again.

I don’t envy the next president and all she/he will have to clean up.

I don’t know if you saw this photo from July 4th. Hundreds of masked White Supremists marched around Washington carrying Confederate flags. In the photo below from The Guardian, we witness them riding the DC Metro, along with a Black woman. Chilling photo, worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.

Yesterday, I had the wonderful pleasure of lunching with fellow New Yorker artists (covers and cartoons) at the country home of Ed Sorel. In the photo below, we are sitting in Ed’s studio, and despite the apparent vibe from this photo, we had a lot of laughs. We talked shop, politics, gossiped, Ed told stores from his years in the business (he was one of the founders of Push Pin Studios, and works for most major publications). Traditionally, cartoonists who contributed to The New Yorker would get together weekly, but the magazine stopped inviting cartoonists to the magazine on Tuesdays to meet with the editor. This was a tradition for my entire career (and well before I joined). We would then all go out to lunch, sometimes hang out for the entire afternoon — a few times we played pool, went on the Circle Line boat around Manhattan, or to a Mets game. It fostered camraderie, and helped us weather the challenging winds of such a solitary career choice. So, gatherings such as yesterday are especially great.

Thanks for being here, you all. See you tomorrow! Happy Monday.

Perhaps my favorite word in the Declaration of Independence is “self-evident.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”

I went in search of stories behind the phrase. Here is a recent Brookings Institute podcast: two women scholars, Katie Dunn Tenpas and Vanessa Williamson tell us some stories. Williamson begins,

“One of the things that this document does is present the moral case for independence and to place the case of the United States…in a much bigger moral, ethical, philosophical framework that explained what justified what would become the United States to the world.

Britain was indisputably the most powerful empire the world had ever known….there is sort of a romantic story that we we sometimes forget now– we’re sort of cynical– about how brave fundamentally it was to decide to challenge that great military force. And what were these little colonies thinking they were gonna do?

Their mindset was against all odds. They had taken their lives in their hands. [This document] was in a sense a point of no return.”

For an idea.

The Declaration was one small step towards unification, it would be a decade before the Constitution was written. This unification is something that we are still working on, and probably always will. That’s part of who we are.

The phrase was written by Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin in a matter of days. Apparently, Jefferson, the aristocrat, first wrote, “these truths as sacred and undeniable.” The story is Franklin, the print shop worker, came up with “these truths are self-evident.” The change made the idea more grounded, without a religious undertone. Williamson puts it this way:

“That transition from sort of a highfalutin magical orientation for the basis for human rights, and a much more practical sort of basically science-based approach to the concept of democracy is of the great achievements, I think, of the document."

“[The Declaration] gave freedom fighters throughout our history, from the abolitionist to the women’s movement to today, a language to draw upon.”

Self-evident means obvious, not needing proof. In essence, the Declartion states that no matter race, gender, religion or ethnicity, everyone is created equal as a truth. Something everyone should know, agree on; end of story.

I am well aware the founders were not perfect, and equality was far from a reality in their time. They had a good idea. We are still trying to be a better union and live up to that idea. Can we rise above our current reality of distortion or ignoring of the truth? As we think of this phrase, let’s come together. We are all equal.

In order to save our Constitution, which is currently under attack, we have to repudiate Trump and unite. This is crucial.

Thanks for being here, I hope you are enjoying the day!!

Here in the Northeast, we have been hit with a massive heatwave, you might have read about it.

Still in it. We aren’t used to this. Help us.

Once I was invited to speak in Arizona during the summer. I could not believe how the heat just assaulted me in the face when I got out of whatever air-conditioned sanctuary I was in. How you all do it, I don’t know!

Trump’s Great American Fair has been very sparsely attended, and I know he will blame the heat. Did you hear that the Olympian was indicted for vandalism of the Reflecting Pool? From all I heard, he just stuck his hand in the pool and flicked the already peeling floor. Trump is using him. It will fail in court.

Have a terrific Friday, and I will most likely write and draw something tomorrow to honor the 250th anniverary of our wonderful democracy.

Thanks for being here!!! Stay strong.

The event was a fundraiser for our Women Laughing Documentary. At the time, we were mid-way through the production process and needed to raise money to complete the film. Heather generously donated her time, intellect and humor, while The Lincoln donated the magnificent theater space.

It was such a wonderful evening that I’ve put together a 50-minute video capturing the magic.

We would like to share it with you!

The money we raised helped us complete Women Laughing. It’s being seen by (often sold out) audiences at festivals and community screenings around the country. People are laughing, cheering and applauding, telling their friends and creating buzz.

But to keep the ball rolling, we need to continue raising funds.

This will go to helping to pay for the cartoonists and the film team to attend events and participate in talks and panels nationwide, as well as to cover promotional costs for a week-long theatrical run in New York at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema starting on September 18th.

If you would like to help with a donation of $35 or more, we will share the video of my conversation with Heather. Just go to the link below to contribute. When I get notified of your donation, I will send you a screener to the Lincoln Theater event, which will expire in a week.

Meanwhile, Women Laughing is now finished and screening at festivals around the country. For information on where you can see the documentary, visit our website.

Here’s the DONATION LINK to watch the conversation with Heather and Liza.

Thanks for being here. If you watch the video (thank you so much for your donation), let me know what you think of our conversation!

I am so relieved.

The fact that a person or family can immigrate to the US, start a family, and then give birth to a child who is automatically an American citizen has always been the backbone of who our country is. It is a joyous, generous, important part of our Constitution.

Yesterday, Birthright Citizenship was saved by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. “The framers of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’”

He added: “We keep that promise today.”

I love that this case is called Trump v Barbara. Trump versus an individual. While it was three families that sued the administration (with the help of the ACLU) over his efforts to end birthright citizenship, the case is named after one woman, an applicant for asylum from Honduras whose baby was due after the order was set to go into effect.

Of course all countries are comprised of individuals; I believe they are what makes a country unique. Yes, their governments do too, but not as much as the people. Over the last few days, I have been seeing heartwarming stories about the World Cup here in the US. It’s so wonderful to read and see how welcoming our towns and cities are to the foreigners, and reaffirms my faith in Americans at their heart. Yes, we have racists, misogynists, homophobes, xenophobes, grifters and con-men (whom might I be referring to?). But apparently those people are being overwhelmed by kind, generous, fun-loving Americans who are welcoming players from across the world. This makes me proud.

Trump has been uninvolved with the World Cup, which is strange. But I’m so glad he’s staying out of a joyous thing.

We are a people, not one man.

Thanks for being here, see you tomorrow! You all are the best, you keep me going.

I drew the above about six years ago, I don’t recall the context. It’s a cartoon meant to make you smile, and doesn’t reflect my attitude towards men, nor do I want anyone on the court to lose their life. As we know, and these little girls will learn, not all women are like-minded, nor are all men.

The Supreme Court ruled on a few cases yesterday, more will come later today:

—state laws allowing ballots to arrive after Election Day are legal. The decision is the latest in a series of setbacks for Trump’s efforts to regulate elections. This is a big relief.

—in favor of E. Jean Carroll, again. They declined a request by Trump to review a $5 million civil judgment against him after a jury found in 2023 that he sexually abused and defamed her. No reasoning or dissent reported. This is terrific news not only for E Jean, but for women around the country

—Trump can now fire government independent regulators for any reason, but the ruling explicitly affirmed the Fed’s independence and said its leaders could not be fired at will. This expands presidential power, the three liberal justices dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her dissent that the majority’s ruling would unleash “chaos” by transforming independent agencies, undoing centuries of political practice and concluding that “all three branches of government have been acting in open defiance of the Constitution all this time.” This ruling overturns “90 years of court precedent curbing executive power.” Experts are quite upset about this.

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Economist Paul Krugman in his Substack this morning calls the ruling “alarming.”

The case ruling on Slaughter v Trump began in 2025. Rebecca Slaughter was the last Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, and Trump fired her without cause. Since 1935 the Supreme Court has said the president does not have the power to fire members of independent agencies created by Congress, except for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” What this ruling allows is for a president to gut the agencies in Congress that protect us, and fill them with loyalists.

The three dissenters, Justices Brown Jackson, Kagan and Sotomayor, argued that the some agencies that make our government run should not be politically based. Financial management, workplace safety, consumer safety, addressing environmental hazards, and managing nuclear energy, for example, should not depend “on who is in office—much less on who is disfavored or owed a favor by those in office—but also on judgment, expertise, and the public good.” Their dissent went on:

“Since the founding, Congress has created agencies that in various ways have embodied this goal of independence. Over the last 140 years especially, the political branches have done so by establishing agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): bipartisan, multimember bodies with “for-cause” removal protections. This structure allows the agencies to address complex problems while enjoying some independence from Presidential removal and thus absolute partisan control.”

“Today,” though, they write, “this Court undoes centuries of political practice and concludes that all three branches of Government have been acting in open defiance of the Constitution all this time. Its conclusion is wrong…. [T]he Court gives the President a power unknown even to the English Crown against which the Founders revolted, elevating him above his once-coequal branches by transforming a duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed into a license to act in defiance of those very laws.”

Lisa Graves, founder and Executive Director of True North Research, a national investigative watchdog group, spoke with Krugman last night. She said that this ruling “has enormous implications for the American people and American consumers, because, in essence, consolidating power in this way in a president is not required by the Constitution.”

The question I ask is: with this newfound power given to Trump by the Roberts court, how much damage can Trump do before the midterms? Because I am hopeful that after the midterms we will be impeaching him and maybe that will restrict his actions.

What this ruling will do, I believe, is fire up those who believe this is wrong, and we will elect an incredibly strong Congress to undo so much.

I hope you have an okay Tuesday, considering the news. I remain hopeful, this will not set us back, but rather empower us.

See you later, thank you so very much for being here.

I am getting increasingly disturbed by the notion of “trad wives.” I don’t know how many women consider themselves in this category, but it’s worrisome and I fear that so many are so young. The right-wing organization Turning Point USA held a woman’s conference the other day for women, and the headliner/emcee/organizer was Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, the conservative podcaster and founder of TPUSA who was killed last year. It is clear to me that this is a concerted effort to start a movement to control women. From what I am learning, Erika Kirk and others promote the message that women can be strong, have careers, run for office even: just be subservient to your husband. And of course marriage is required. They seem to paint feminists as man-haters and as people who hate women who stay at home to raise children. They think in a married household, men should do the voting for the household, and these women are okay with that.

I am definitely not one to tell other women what to do. Staying home to raise children is a choice, no judgement from me whatsover. Working and choosing not to bear children, also a choice, no judgment. But this movement (if I can call it that) is misleading young women by painting feminism as something it is not. They promote the notion that women shouldn’t vote.

Don’t vote if you don’t want to. But every living, breathing adult person who is a citizen of the US should be allowed to vote; no one can take that away from women. There is a movement to do just that. Maybe it is small enough to not worry about— to change our suffrage would take a major effort and probably would never pass.

But it saddens me. I have lived a long time and seen the ups and downs of our country’s attitudes towards women, and cyclical demonization of feminists. Here is a cartoon I drew for The New Yorker in the 1990’s when “feminism” was in a phase of being a dirty word. The difference now is there are more openly identifying feminists, both men and women, than ever in my lifetime.

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In an Atlantic podcast interview with Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi reassured us that our elections are safe. I certainly hope so. Trump’s efforts to rig our elections are running into a lot of roadblocks. Republican senators rebuffed him and court after court has hindered his plans to try to mess with our right to vote. Courts have dealt five rulings last week against Trump’s efforts.

“The administration is doing as much as possible to inject chaos into the election cycle,” said Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, a voting rights organization that has sued the administration over election policies. “A top priority for this administration is to try to interfere in this election.”

He has tried to effect elections by 1. issuing an executive order that seeks to limit who can receive mail ballots, 2. trying to pass a bill that would require voters to bring a passport or birth certificate, 3. sow seeds of confusion, 4. require that mail-in ballots only be counted if they are in the hands of election officials on election day, 5. obtain voter records. Many of these have been thwarted by the courts. One woman who voted in a Republican primary said she thinks bringing an ID to vote would make her feel “safer, knowing only Americans were voting.” I interpret that she feels this way because Trump has for a decades drummed it into voters that large numbers of non-Americans are voting, which is not true.

Leading up to July 4th and the 250th birthday of the US, Trump spent who knows how much of our money constructing his “Great American State Fair” on the Washington Mall. Each state has a little pavillion that showcases what they like best about their state; some states didn’t want to send anything due to cost (but they are represented, minimally so). There is a huge ferris wheel and a replica of the arch Trump wants to build for himself. There is a rodeo and displays from companies and organizations, many Trump-aligned. Cowboy themes are apparently in abundance, which I have learned from Heather Cox Richardson is no surprise. Trump and company seek to promote and glorify that era: the lone male white cowboy hero, saving everyone, mostly white people.

From The Guardian and the Parnas Perspective, we learn that Trump is redesigning government websites so that his people can track visitors’ information and activity on the site. “An opaque White House office staffed largely by veterans of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” has quietly rebuilt some of the federal government’s most sensitive websites – for passport applications, voter registration, prescription-drug pricing and children’s savings – in ways critics say appear to violate federal law.” Privacy experts argue the tracking may conflict with federal privacy requirements because required public disclosures and privacy assessments were not posted.

I post a more recent New Yorker cartoon of mine. This woman I drew doesn’t hate men, she is just figuring out her marriage, or at least how to look at a party they are dressing up for. It’s her choice.

Thanks for being here. Apparently the Supreme Court may weigh in on a lot of things today. I will report back tomorrow.

I thought I’d share a New Yorker cartoon of mine. I don’t use a lot of tropes in my work, things like crawling people lost in the desert. But sometimes they are fun to play around with. Here’s a great one by Sam Gross.

It’s going to get hot in the northeast this week, they say up to 100 degrees!! It will feel like a humid desert, so drink your water, might as well start now.

See you tomorrow with politics, I have a lot on my mind. Hang in there, things are not looking good for Trump and the midterms are not that far away. Really.

Thanks for being here.

On a train.

From the train.

In a train.

I love experimenting with my camera, and am going to start branching out to short videos that tell a story.

Thanks for being here!! I will do a live live-draw session from my studio this weekend. I am frankly a bit tired today, I know you get it. See you this weekend, I hope you have a good one.

This is an undated drawing from the archives. When I found it, I slightly rewrote the caption to flow better (looking at old drawings, you can see the errors of your past thinking). Young people are struggling to find jobs, but how many others? This kid is happy that his dad isn’t working, it makes his summer more care-free.

Trump is causing families stress and hardship.

News:

And he is causing stress in his party again. Yesterday, Trump stoked chaos in Congress. Screaming was reported.

In a closed-door session he lambasted Senate Republicans for agreeing to a housing bill that is uniquely bi-partisan, and had actually passed; it was poised for Trump’s signature. A stage, a table, pens and American flags were put together for a public signing (which Trump likes). But he canceled it at the last moment. He declared that he would not sign the housing measure. The bill was intended to project the image ahead of the midterms of a unified Republican Party that thinks about Americans’ concerns over high costs. The bill should be sent to Trump and, if he vetoes it, Congress has the votes to override it. If he does nothing, it will go into effect after some time.

In his refusal to sign, Trump demanded that Congress pass his Save America Act, which experts agree has no chance of being passed. This is what he is saying to voters, in essence: he won’t pass a bill to help Americans unless the Congress passes a bill to help himself, one that will help him rig the elections. Which is what the SAVE act is.

“Right now we have a period of government by tantrum and impulse.” David Axelrod said last night on CNN.

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Another thing that may be making Trump fly off the handle (even more than usual) is the three primary wins in New York City by Democratic Socialists. Mayor Mamdani endorsed the candidates; the media is calling Mamdani a “king maker.” He certainly seems to be stepping into Bernie Sander’s role as the socialist leader in our country, although he cannot run for president because he was not born here. Is this socialist leaning a trend?

When I first registered to vote many years ago, I did not see a difference between the two parties, nor did I want to be “labeled” as a member of a party— I registered as Independent. I think that’s what we are seeing. People are tired of a system that perpetuates the status quo and doesn’t fully help the middle class or underclasses. Many Democrats try, but perhaps not enough, or don’t think outside of the box enough. I am not saying socialists are the answer, but its a good idea to question the status quo periodically. There was a button that was popular when I was young which said “Question Authority.” I own the button.

I like Dem Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, he is doing the best he can trying to bridge moderates and the far left of his party. It can’t be easy. One of the socialists elected yesterday in New York, Brad Landers, said in a CNN interview that he supported Jeffries as Speaker, which I was glad to hear.

A least one of those newly elected to the House worries me due to her past extreme views; I hope, like AOC, she moderates some of those extemist views. AOC did not endorse her candidacy. The House often elects people—in both parties—who are either extreme or inept.

No one should be starving in this country. Socialism can co-exist with capitalism. Was FDR a socialist when he created the New Deal and established Social Security?

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Good news:

A federal judge blocked Trump’s efforts to make voters show citizenship at the polls. I voted yesterday in the primary in NY, and took note that I did not need to show ANYTHING. Just my signature. I don’t take that for granted.

Another judge ordered Trump to expain by July 31st why there is a tarp covering the Kennedy Center, hiding where his name was removed. July 31st? That’s too long a wait, I want to know now.

Thanks for being here, all. You keep me going, give me hope. Stay strong! See you tomorrow for a live drawing session!

I haven’t done one of these in a while, so I thought I would share with you what I just drew in my notebook with a brush pen.

Have a good rest of your Wednesday, see you tomorrow. Thanks for being here!

Beware algae, and possibly ducks.

Does Trump even know he’s sandbagging peace talks? I frankly do not have much faith in Vance’s ability to negotiate with Iran. But Trump weighing in from his diet coke-fueled perch in Mar-a-Lago or Washington with threats of killing negotiators certainly won’t help.

"You close it, and you won't have a country. You won't even make it back to your f---ing country."

He can’t control himself.

“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit,” Trump said of the peace deal last week. “If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD.”

In Trump’s battle with the truth and algae, he is out-and-out lying that there are vandals slicing cuts into the base of the Reflecting Pool. Without any proof, he says vandals are responsible for the failing pool renovation.

“It’s not a lot of damage, but we’ll probably have to let the water out and refix it. They went in there with a knife,” describing what he first said was a 290- to 300ft slit in the paint but then later amended to a 350ft slit. He also said someone had put fertilizer into the water, which caused the algae to grow. None of this has basis in fact. He called them “Sick, derranged people.”

Former Olympian David Hearn was arrested for “destruction of government property” after he simply touched the floating, detached liner of the pool.

To justify it all, Trump continuously lies through his teeth, saying that the Biden and Obama administrations spent “hundreds of millions” on repairs and renovations to the pool. According to the NY Times, only about $35.5 million on major repairs and proposals to rehabilitate the reflecting pool were spent by Obama and Biden. Trump’s renovation has cost more than $14 million to reseal the pool and add blue-tinted coating, an update that may not address other underlying problems.

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On top of this nightmare, the Washington Post reports two ducks were found dead in and near the pool. Wildlife officials in D.C. said that all the construction activity is placing additional stress and “drama” on the ducks and their habitat. Algae containing toxins called cyanobacteria, or chemicals from the paint in the Reflecting Pool, could harm or be toxic to wildlife. Studies are being conducted on the dead birds to determine why they died.

If it is determined that these ducks died because of Trump’s actions, there would be major public outcry.

After everything, all the destruction, suffering and death under his watch, it could become the straw that breaks the country’s back.

He went to war on a whim, spends millions on things that don’t help American citizens. The Kennedy Center is still covered by tarps, the Epstein Files are still not released and our voting rights are in danger. And our president is a serial liar and grifter.

Thanks for being here! Have a good Tuesday if you can. Thanks for letting me rant, see you very soon.

But aside from that, waiting for…

—a peace deal for Trump’s Iran War

—Epstein Files to be fully released (and Trump held accountable)

—who will be England’s new PM

—Putin to go away

—the midterms

—finding out if Gavin Newsom is the nominee (unsure if I want that)

—who wins out, Vance or Rubio

—the next firing of a woman by Trump

—the tarp to come off the Kennedy Center

—the algae to take over the White House

—the Knicks to play again

—the World Series (with Yankees)

—the next season of Widow’s Bay (mostly for Matthew Rhys)

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This post came about because I was complaining to Michael that I didn’t see any news that I really wanted to write about today. He said, why not do a post called “Waiting….” ? So much of today’s news is about waiting.

Speaking of which, I put the word “waiting” in my search box to see if I had done any drawings about waiting. Nothing came up except this drawing below. I drew it on my iPhone with my finger while at the commuter station in Yonkers: a father with his daughters waiting for the train.

Happy Monday! We are in the car as I write, heading home from some time away in Maine. Thanks for being here! See you tomorrow.

Here is the video grab of the drawing above.