The nominees for Best Play included one called “Liberation.” I was aware of the production, and was planning to see it because it’s about the Suffrage Movement and women’s lives. Happy to hear it was nominated, I expected it to lose.

It won.

This is good news because it is the first win by an American playwright, Bess Wohl, since 1989 when Wendy Wasserstein won for best “The Heidi Chronicles.” But I see it as a continued sign of the push back from women and male allies in the fight for women’s rights and equality. The political ethos for women is bad, and Trump’s attitude towards women gives so many permission to be misogynistic. We’ve seen it before, but things are getting better, bit by bit.

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Speaking of how he treats women, yesterday things were not going his way, so Trump walked out on an inteview with Kristin Welker, who was doing a great job pushing back on his claims about rigged elections in 2020 and now in California. In the interview, you can see that Trump is incredibly stressed, acting more angry than normal. Welker repeatedly tells Trump, “that’s not true, how can you say that?” “What proof do you have?” Trump says,

“What proof? I just have to look.”

Here is a portion of the interview.

Take note of the body language. Leaning into his anger, he is red in the face, unhinged because Welker she is not playing along with his “script,” and was challenging him. He calls her “either stupid or crooked.”

Right before he walks out, Trump says, “Let’s call it quits. Thank you darling. Have a good time.” Welker was so strong and showed great courage, I applaud her. As we know, in recent months Trump has verbally gone after female reporters, consistently calling them names and attempting to belittle them.

By the way, the elections in California are going just fine, not rigged and while it is a long process, it’s not late.

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Another significant interview was in the news over the weekend. Scott Pelley sat down with the NY Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro—another powerful female journalist— and spoke about the significance of his firing from “60 Minutes” last week.

“There was a thumb on the scale for the president’s version of events,” Scott Pelley told The Interview after he was fired last week from CBS. He also said, “We can save this. It’s possible to land this plane.”

That’s it for today. But before you go, here is another drawing I did on my phone while I waited to go into the Tonys in 2017. That year, it was held at the Beacon Theater. I love drawing on my phone with my finger.

Thanks for being here, all. I hope you have a good Monday!!

And I did this drawing. Sorry to put the image of Trump wearing flip flops in your brain….

Have a great Saturday and Sunday, thanks for being here!

See you Monday for news.

This brief post is about Iran in two ways. First, Trump is being taken to task for starting his war with Iran. And ground-breaking Iranian artist and author of Persepolis, Majane Satrapi has died at 56.

The House of Representatives decided to hold Trump accountable. I am amazed. Yesterday, they put forward the War Powers Resolution, and voted to require Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the conflict with Iran or win approval from Congress to continue the war. Four Republicans sided with Democrats in a “striking sign of growing opposition to a military campaign now in its fourth month.”

What the House voted on has to go to the Senate next. Trump and his cronies say this is unconstitutional. Of course they do. Also, Marco Rubio claims the war is over anyway. Haha.

Some sad news: Marjane Satrapi has died at the young age of 56. She was a very influential Iranian-French graphic novelist who penned the autobiographical novel “Persepolis,” about a young woman growing up during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Published in 2004, Persepolis was an exciting addition to the burgeoning graphic novel genre; exciting because it depicted a woman’s story. Even in 2004, this was uncommon in cartoons, and for me it was huge. Historically, I would argue it was ground-breaking.

The NY Times reported that French president Macron announced her passing in a statement:

“Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure in French culture and a freedom-loving artist whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim.”

I loved Persepolis, originally two volumes. It is an important book about a girl’s/woman’s experience, which we taught at Vassar in Women’s Studies courses when I was a professor there. It is about life in Iran in the late 1970’s, a political revolution and the new regime’s oppression of women. Persepolis shows us the political/cultural/personal dynamics of such control. The ideas in Persepolis can be extrapolated to the experience of women globally, which is partly why it is such an important book. It also gives readers insight into the fierce independence of the Iranian people.

The story was made into an animated film, which is very good, but I recommend reading he book first.

Here is an article I wrote about the 2022 at a time of uprising of women in Iran, during which some burned their headscarves and proudly showed their hair. The resistance was in response to the arrest by Iran’s “Guidance Patrol” of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, for not wearing her hijab properly. She was killed while in detention.

Below is another version of my drawing at the top of this piece.

Thanks for being here. Stay strong, stay together, stay loud.

I hope your Thursday is a good one, and I will see you tomorrow for some live-drawing!

CBS News fired veteran journalist and anchor Scott Pelley yesterday. They did so today after he spoke out at a contentious staff meeting. He accused Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, of “murdering” 60 MInutes.

From a report in the NY Times:

At the Monday staff meeting, which Weiss did not attend, Pelley said that Weiss had been “brought in to kill” the long-running Sunday program, “and she’s been doing exactly that.” He told Nick Bilton, the new Executive Producer, who has never worked in broadcast news, that he had “slender qualifications for this job.”

Bilton said he did not have plans to change 60 Minutes, but “warned that the broadcast television industry that incubated 60 Minutes would soon be obsolete. “Broadcast is an ice cube that is melting, OK?” Bilton said, saying the show had to adapt. “Bari loves this institution. She loves ’60 Minutes.’”

At that, Mr. Pelley interrupted.

“She is murdering 60 Minutes, she does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”

Maybe the format of nightly news is no longer relavent, as I wonder how many people watch the weekday news wrap-ups that networks put out. Perhaps more than I realize, but they are are no longer the nightly must-see shows that we remember from before the internet. Certainly from my youth.

But 60 Minutes is something unique. It has never been nightly summary of news. Pelley, with CBS since 1989, had been a correspondant for the show for years, and it has been an important investigative television show since its inception.

There have been a lot of firings at CBS News and 60 Minutes in recent weeks, and Pelley’s words at the meeting were certain to get him fired. I can imagine he knew that and planned to go out with a purpose and with class.

Journalism is under attack. Trump has gutted the powerful institution that was CBS News and replaced those in charge with inexperienced people. My only hope is that once Trump is gone, the ground breaking CBS News and award winning 60 Minutes can be rebuilt. But because of the environment for legacy media as it exists now, I worry that that’s not possible.

I applaud Pelley for being loud.

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I have been in journalism all my professional life. I grew up on journalism, living in Washington DC during the Watergate era, the Vietnam War, assassinations, Nixon’s resignation, Civil Rights, the Women’s Movement. Writers, photographers, reporters, cartoonists, anchors, photographers at their host newspapers and magazines, while not perfect, kept an eye on the world and kept leaders in check. My father was a physician, but he was close friends with David Brinkley, the co-anchor on NBC of the Huntley Brinkley Report. I felt close to journalism from when I first watched the Cuban Missile Crisis on our paneled, stand-alone television.

I believe cartoons are journalism, at least the kind I do. They reflect what’s going on in our world and the culture. They poke at people in charge. They are at risk of being irrelevant now.

I worked at CBS News from 2016-2021 as Resident Cartoonist for CBS This Morning. The show was a serious news show, although not without fun guests from film and publishing. I live-drew the guests, the hosts, and was sent on assignment to draw political and cultural events—the White House, The DNC, Grammys, Oscars, and even Yankee Stadium and more. Unfortunately, the combination of the pandemic and the sexual harassment by the show’s host Charlie Rose of several women (not myself), and similar behavior by Les Moonves (CBS CEO), CBS went into a nose dive. Those who had hired me, my champions (Head David Rhodes, Executive Producer Ryan Kadro and Producer Kevin Prince) left for greener pastures, and I was no longer a part of the show.

While at CBS News, I met so many amazing people, one of whom was Scott Pelley. Forgive me for posting the photos below: I was genuinely star struck throughout those years I worked at CBS News. You can see it in my face.

On old cartoon which is kind of sad, but, we now know to be true:

Thanks for being here, I am grateful to you for letting me share my thoughts, drawings, and photos here. I hope your Wednesday is going well and continues that way.

It seems like we are all just waiting for the end of a nightmare. The dream we are in is just like dreams: weird, inconguous, unrealistically bizarre.

I write about things I see in the news as each day begins, and there is upsetting stuff happening. Secretary of Defense head honcho Pete Hegseth struck a number of women and Black officers from promotion lists in the military, an apparent violation of the U.S. military's apolitical and merit-based promotion rules. He’s messing with people’s lives. But there is good stuff, too. Seven Democratic-controlled states sued Trump today over a move to block a planned wind farm off the coast of New York.

Things are falling apart for Trump, you can read it in his lengthy posts. In Heather Cox Richardson’s letter this morning, she discusses many of Trump’s posts from last night. Some visual, which I share below.

He says he is “thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate “Artists,” and give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President!” He continued: “Two years ago, the United States was DEAD. Now we have the “HOTTEST” Country anywhere in the World. I don’t want so-called “Artists” that get paid far too much money, who aren’t happy. I only want to be surrounded by Happy People, Smart People, Successful People, and People that know how to WIN. So, by copy of this TRUTH, I am ordering my Representatives to look at the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally on Wednesday, Washington, D.C., same time, same location. Only Great Patriots invited—It will be a Wild and Beautiful Celebration of America! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

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Richardson describes some of the AI generated images Trump has posted on his Truth Social account. While her words depicting the pictures, I needed to see them for myself. So I went to all the links Richardson provided (and they are also all below). The attempt at propaganda is horrifying. Trump is clearly seeking to indoctrinate his followers— further than they already have been— by using AI imagery, and by repeating the imagery so often. Of course, putting his face on buildings in DC is another form of propaganda, as is his attempt at putting his name on money. The list goes on.

Here is some of what I saw, all in the last few days. Ugly, crude, racist stuff.

I post this last one below, which is not a visual, but it stood out to me. It shows how little he thinks of his followers’ intelligence.

When this is all over—or even before—I would love to know who in his orbit creates these. Are they believers, or just hacks that know what he wants? Is there a process, i.e. do they generate hundreds of these images and send them to him for approval? Is Trump even involved with these decisions? Not that it matters, I am just curious.

Michael asked me the other day if I knew how AI is helpful in science. We had been discussing the pros and cons of AI, and I said I know it’s good for some things— I assume that well-intentioned people are trying to make it a tool for positive uses. I know in my world of cartooning, illustrations, film, and other art forms, it is an immediate threat to creativity and jobs.

During college, I traveled to the USSR and Soviet block countries and studied the art and posters of the time. While one can strongly disagree with the messages, some of it is graphically powerful. What Trump is doing with AI is not in any way graphically interesting, and of course it’s (probably) not done by an artist. At least Soviet propaganda artists were talented.

Of course, Lenin did not have social media, the art was distributed in other ways. Would his followers’ art work well on twitter? Perhaps not, it’s not mean enough.

Thanks for being here! I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday. Here is a drawing I did during my trip to the USSR while in college. I did not see a woman wearing a Lenin dress, I imagined it!

Links to Trump’s social posts:

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It’s always hard to come back to reality after a nice weekend! I thought I’d share a drawing I did in Ireland a few years ago. A chef collecting herbs. Can’t wait to go back to Ireland.

Trump certainly had a bad week last week, so… a good week for us. He is being forced to take his name off the Kennedy Center, his slush fund idea is frozen for now (frozen slush), and musical artists are bailing on his 250th celebration. He has suggested in a social post that he is giving up control (that he never officially really had) of the Kennedy Center, and wants to call off the muscial event and do a rally with just him.

Iran and the US traded attacks, testing the cease-fire. One might say that kind of behavior ENDS the cease fire, no? The US has been quietly guiding commercial ships throught the Strait of Hormuz, following routes closer to Oman and away from the Iran coast. Before the war, well over 100 commercial ships passed through the strait, so this movement of perhaps 3 a day is very small, and risky.

Trump of course wants everyone to shut up about it, so he can do his social media negotiations without any criticism. So he can spread lies, and deceive as a dictator might.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is continuing offensive operations in Lebanon. Iran says it will not continue any negotiations until Bibi stops. What a mess.

Trump keeps attacking boats. Friday and Saturday, six more men were killed in these lawless attacks. Altogether, he has killed 200 people in these strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats.

Things are escalating at a Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, NJ. Protesters have gathered for days outside the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility where inhumane conditions have been alleged for months. There was a curfew last night that protesters didn’t heed. This is a developing story that I don’t see any coverage about in the NY Times right now. CNN.com reports that some of the detainees’ lawyers said tensions first escalated over Memorial Day weekend when hundreds of detainees went on a hunger strike to protest spoiled food and wretched conditions. The Department of Homeland Security has denied that there was a hunger strike.

A lot of media is talking about elections, i.e. who is going to run for president in 2028. As for the midterms, I am very concerned with the Democrat running to unseat Senator Collins in Maine, Graham Platner. It’s a very complicated situation, and he calls it “gossip,” but he has admitted to sending sexual texts to 6 or 12 women (depending on who you talk to) during his marriage, and apologized, and to having made “inflammatory statements online about women and having a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that he has covered up.”

On ABC News yesterday, Senator Booker said, “Yeah, I have concerns,” Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey said on ABC’s “This Week,” when asked if he was worried that Mr. Platner’s messy personal history could hurt Democrats in the midterms. “That guy has questions to answer. And that’s what campaigns are for.”

Senator Chris Murphy said on CBS yesterday: “He has certainly admitted that he has made mistakes. But I think this is going to be a pretty clear contrast in Maine between somebody who has spent his life protecting us versus somebody who seems to be protecting Donald Trump’s corruption.”

Platner, a veteran, has suffered from PTSD, and says he’s changed. I believe people can change. But I keep wondering why we have candidates— and seated politicians— who are not the best of the best. Platner’s statement:

“Amy [his wife] and I went through something hard — because of me. We did the work, and I’m grateful for her every hour of every day. Our opponents want politics to be empty of content and empty of actual change — and beating that is exactly what our movement is about.”

I am so tired of this kind of thing.

Have a good Monday! Thanks for being here. I leave you with a spring cartoon.

I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday, perhaps streaming what you want to watch and not what the cats want to watch.

See you tomorrow, thank you as always, for being here!

I won’t stop writing about politics, of course, or writing about creativity. But what’s more fun than to talk and draw while we talk about the news? And you can watch me make mistakes, which happens often.

I’m looking for a good title for this regular feature. Below are two thoughts, send me others in the comments!

Thanks for being here, have a great Friday and relaxing weekend. You all are the best.

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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We lost a great artist this week, Sonny Rollins. More on him below.

The current Pope is kind of great. In a recent address, he apologized specifically for the Vatican’s role in the slave trade. In the same breath, he spoke at length about the dangers of AI. In a report from AP News, the Pope’s sweeping “manifesto” is about safeguarding humanity in an era of increasing reliance on artificial intelligence. Leo raised the slave trade in relation to what he called the new forms of slavery and colonialism that the digital revolution is fueling. This is incredibly forward thinking, and just what we need. I am not a religious person, but this to me is the perfect blend of religious belief and contemporary problems.

Another big shift happened last night in primary elections, this time in Texas. In the GOP Primary for the Senate, Texans decided they would rather have a scandal-plagued, corrupt candidate backed by Trump than the incumbent John Cornyn. Cornyn was an old-fashioned Republican who worked to negotiate with the other side. I am not saying this form of legislative work is gone forever, but under Trump it is dwindling. It’s my way or no way is the MAGA moto. From Politico:

“Paxton’s supporters have long shrugged off his long trail of criminal and ethics investigations, impeachment by the state legislature and ongoing divorce, complete with accusations of infidelity, believing that his commitment to carrying the MAGA torch was more important than corruption allegations or a messy personal life.”

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Analysts are trying to gage whether or not last night’s election of Paxton is a good thing for Dems. He will be up against Rep. James Talarico, a faith-on-his-sleeve politician who has been campaigning with the likes of Barack Obama. Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994. The Democrats need to keep all their Senate seats and win four new ones to take back control of the Senate from the GOP. We shall see, it’s going to be nasty leading up to November.

But I think Trump Effect, his influence on these races, will fail.

Rep Al Green was defeated last night, ending his 20 years in the House. Rep. Christian Menefee defeated Green on Tuesday in the Democratic runoff for Houston’s newly redrawn 18th Congressional District. The above is a drawing I did of Green during one of Trump’s State of The Union Addresses, when Green was escorted out for being loud and passionate about his hatred towards Trump.

Sonny Rollins died at age 95 this week; he was one of the jazz giants. Here is a good piece in The New Yorker about him, and here is the NY Times Obit. While I don’t pretend to know a lot about him, I have been aware of Rollins all my life. I love his work.

Rollins seemed to be someone who was always searching, experimenting, which speaks to me as an artist. Reading his obit, I learned that as a young man, he considered being a painter, even while playing music also at an early age. The arts are not as different from one another as we want to believe sometimes.

“The music I play is too big to be put into any one style,” he told an interviewer in 2002. “Every time I pick up the horn, I want to hear something fresh.”

In 2017, a bill was introduced in the New York City Council to rename the Williamsburg Bridge in his honor, a bridge he spent a lot of time practicing under. The bill did not pass, but the campaign to have the bridge renamed has continued. Hope it happens, that would be so great.

I bought the poster of this historic photo years ago. I grew up with jazz, and became a huge fan of Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner and other pianists—because I played the piano as a kid. I told my patient teacher I did not want to play classical so he taught me ragtime. Rollins was someone I admired, the saxaphone being my second favorite jazz instrument after the piano.

Thanks for being here! I hope your Wednesday is a good one. Keep experimenting, this is the only life you get.

With Memorial Day behind us, summer has unofficially begun. I don’t go on many vacations, and won’t take my computer and drawing supplies to Maine for another month or so. But I thought I’d share one of my personal favorite cartoons that was published by The New Yorker. I don’t know what the little girl’s angle is, but she’s showing her baby brother some beach behavior etiquette.

All eyes are again on Iran. Trump wants a deal badly because the war he started is going very poorly, Americans do not approve of it and oil prices are causing higher prices for everyone, here and abroad. The war continues to eat away at any of Trump’s chances in the midterms.

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Yet as Heather Cox Richardson reports, Trump puts out lies on social media that he almosts has a deal, that he’s talked to all the players and then some, and he claims that the calls “went very well.”

Iran State media says the US violated the ceasefire with strikes overnight.

And Iran’s state media immediately posted that Trump’s claim that the strait would reopen as it was before the war was “not true,” adding that “it should be noted that American officials have acknowledged in multiple messages to Iran that Trump’s tweets are primarily for promotional purposes and media consumption within the United States, and they have recommended that no attention be paid to these statements.”

Leaks of the deal from Al Jazeera indicate that if signed, it would be “total surrender” by the US. Trump posted on his social media account endless missives about the deal (no details), and attacked Obama and others as “losers.” We have come to expect this from him, but my observation is that it’s gotten worse.

Social media in the hands of such a powerful man is extremely dangerous. But while it may have “worked” for Trump in the past, it is not working as a negotiating tool for him now at all. Everyone is on to him and his craziness. His aministration excluded— they still seem to think he’s just fine. Or perhaps they believe he’s nuts and don’t care, just hoping to leverage the situation.

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Two sources (HCR and the Parnass Perspective) tell me that Rep Thomas Massie will begin naming names in the Epstein Files. Massie lost his re-election primary to a Trump-backed Republican in a race that was the costliest in recorded Congressional history (Trump et al threw $35 million on the race). Along with Rep Ro Khana, Massie is one of the co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. He says he plans to read names soon. YES. Massie also just filed to run in 2028, but he said he’s not decided on what office to run for.

Hopeful news: Federal judges blocked new Republican-friendly voting maps in Alabama, saying it discriminates against Black voters. The state cannot use these maps in the upcoming midterms.

“We cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the court wrote in its opinion. “We again cannot understand the 2023 Plan as anything other than intentionally discriminatory.”

We know there are good people constantly pushing back.

Thanks for being here, and thank you for all your very kind responses to my post yesterday about my uncle who died in WWII. It means a lot to me, truly. I will respond soon.

I hope your Tuesday is going well, see you tomorrow.

I know many of you have relatives who died in war, and I send my very best wishes to all of you.

This Memorial Day is painful because of the senseless war Trump has put us in. I find it just horrendous that he has such disregard for human life, disregard for the ultimate sacrifice men and women have given for freedom. They died for the cause, and he is attempting to rip it appart.

This originally appeared in Medium. I added some photos today.

For as long as I can remember, my family compared me to my Uncle Bill. I was told that I looked like him, sounded like him, and laughed like him — and that my sense of humor was apparently just like his. I wouldn’t know; Uncle Bill died in April of 1945. But I felt like I knew him.

His Purple Heart and folded American flag sit in a cabinet in my home now. I am the keeper of records, since both my parents are gone. Bill was my mother’s only brother, a younger sibling who was killed at age 19, in World War II. He died just after the Battle of the Bulge, in which 19,276 servicemen and women and lost their lives, making it the third most deadly battle in US history, after Normandy and the WWI Battle of Meuse-Argonne.

My grandfather was an amateur photographer, so I have many pictures of Bill. Growing up, I would study them: Was I living the life he was unable to? He was so beloved — am I living up to him, to his memory, to who he was?

Would I sacrifice my life as he did?

A friend of mine wrote a book, called Second Generation, about his father who survived the concentration camps. In it, he writes about the burden that the war and his father’s suffering placed on him, the son of a Holocaust survivor. It got me thinking about my own relationship with the war. I don’t bear a burden as he does, but I am connected to the war intimately in ways that I wanted to explore. Thousands died, my uncle among them. What does that mean to me?

I decided to go to where my uncle is buried in the Netherlands. By being in the area where he was killed, I thought — maybe if I sat at his graveside — I could understand. It was something I had always planned to do, and now I was going to do it.

The easiest way to get to Margraten, Netherlands, is to rent a car. My mother always told us that she hated Germans because Hitler killed her brother, and she never wanted to own any products made in Germany. So I found it ironic that when I arrived in Brussels, I was given a German car for my trip.

Once I got outside the city limits, the calm of the country set in, and cows along the road were my constant companions. As I grew closer to the area where the battles were fought, I looked at the buildings for clues to … what, I am not sure. I tried to picture the servicemen, my uncle, walking through these streets and towns as they headed to war. I looked for buildings that appeared to be 70 years old, buildings that my uncle might also have walked past.

I got to my hotel in Norbeek early enough that I could visit Uncle Bill’s grave that afternoon.

I kept asking myself: Why had I not come here earlier in my life?

When I walked up to the cemetery, I entered the visitors’ center first because I had no idea how to find a grave. A man greeted me warmly. As I told him I was looking for my uncle’s grave, my eyes unexpectedly filled with tears. I handed him a piece of paper that I had printed from the internet, that had information on my uncle’s rank and division.

The man — Mr. Gutierez — told me to wait a moment, as he went into the back room. I gathered my emotions. Upon his return, he had a packet for me, and he said he would like to go with me and show me where the grave was. At first I didn’t want any company. But he explained that it was their policy to accompany family members to graves at their first visit. Also, he explained, they like to rub sand into the engraving on the stone, so it’s easier to photograph the white gravestone. He had a little container of sand, which he explained is donated for this specific purpose from the beaches of Normandy.

It wasn’t my first visit to a military cemetery in Europe. I visited Normandy a few years ago, and I was struck then by the visual power of all the crosses and Stars of David. Row after row. Sometimes images are the most powerful way to communicate something: The multitude of graves shocked me into realizing the magnitude of sacrifice. Here at Margraten, I was not as shocked by the visual of the rows, although I felt compelled to walk by every one of the 10,000 graves. I didn’t; my focus was on one.

We reached Bill’s grave. It wasn’t far from the visitor center, and it was right next to a main pathway. Mr. Gutierez rubbed sand into my uncle’s engraving and placed two flags in front, one American and one Dutch. He offered to take a photo of me at the grave, and then left me alone. I cried.

I sat down and talked to my uncle a good bit. I am not one who believes in after-life, or in talking to the dead. I apologized to him for not coming sooner, and I thanked him. I shared family news with him, and I told him he was missed terribly. I told him I thought he had a very good spot, near all the action, and that he probably got many visitors walking by because of his location. I told him I hoped he wasn’t lonely.

The following day when I returned, I noticed a sign I hadn’t previously seen: “Please don’t sit on the graves.” I was glad I hadn’t seen it, because I had enjoyed sitting on my uncle’s grave the day before. As I returned to his grave, an official spoke to me, saying he’d noticed I’d been there the day before. He invited me to return on Sunday, when they would be celebrating Memorial Day at the cemetery. He was clearly very proud of their annual event; he told me he’d heard that in America, we celebrated with six-packs of beer and a picnic. I laughed and said I would very much like to return on Sunday. The man — his name was Frenk — told me he would reserve a place for me in the seating set aside for family members.

The ceremony on Sunday for Memorial Day was indeed something to be proud of, and Frenk was the master of ceremonies. There were hundreds of people there in attendance — general public, dignitaries, and members of the military. I found my seat — it bore a taped-on sign with my uncle’s family name, Gawthrop. I felt so proud.

I was seated behind many of the military representatives from numerous countries, many were representing our allies in the war. Speeches were made; I remember the Ambassador to Holland’s remarks were particularly poignant:

“Margraten is an unfinished story — it’s about continuing work towards a world of freedom and justice. Our work did not end in 1945. That is the commitment and the best thank-you. We are continuing the commitment for a better world.”

Around 30 large wreaths were laid, each being offered by a different country, including Germany. Throughout the ceremony, a military band played. The band was situated adjacent to Uncle Bill’s grave; the clarinet section — the instrument he played — was closest to his grave. That made me very happy.

When the event concluded and guests streamed out of the cemetery, I went back to my uncle’s grave one last time. I told him I would return every year for as long as I was able. I thanked him again.

My family is Quaker, and because of the faith’s core pacifist beliefs, my uncle could have chosen to be a Conscientious Objector. Many Quakers served in non-military roles during the war. When I visited him at Margraten, I said to him that I selfishly wished he had chosen that route. I wonder how difficult the decision had been for him, or whether it was simple. I have often questioned my pacifist beliefs: Could they be reconciled with such evil? Had I been confronted with this choice, what would I have done?

As young people, we often take our parents’ lives for granted — we hear stories of previous generations, who they were, what they did, how they endured. But when we are young, we are so focussed on ourselves that we often don’t try to understand how our parents lived. Generations pass, experiences are shared, but they’re often not deeply felt. My uncle’s death changed everything in my family. I knew that before I visited Margraten; I know it more deeply now.

A few years ago, I received a letter from a serviceman who was with Bill when he died. The man wrote to me that while they were in a bunker, his friend Bill stood up to pull him down, saying “Debbie (a girl back home) would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you.” At that moment, Bill was struck by a bullet and killed.

The streets and buildings of the towns around Margraten still carry the memories of those killed. I like to think that during the bloody and chaotic battle, Bill would have found humor where he could, and brightness in the people he served with and met.

Embracing what I know of him as part of me, I hope to carry on Bill’s commitment for a better world.

It continues to be an unfinished story.

It’s been very rainy here where I live, so I thought I’d share some drawings I did about rain. The above is about not being prepared. That’s me. Maybe I’m an eternal optimist, and never really believe it’s going to rain.

Here’s another one, a rather old cartoon.

This one below is a more recent drawing, and unlike the above two, was published in The New Yorker. I really enjoyed drawing the rain.

And this was done during a live drawing session during Trump’s first time in office.

Have a great rest of your Sunday. Back tomorrow with politics, enjoy the break. Thank you so much for being here!

My tribute to my favorite serious humorist, Stephen Colbert, is at the bottom of this letter. But first…

With all that has been happening in the last few days, I began to think about how what Trump is currently doing is actually even more sinister than we might imagine (can you imagine? Sorry to even suggest you try).

Trump envisions his ballroom as a fortress, and his potentail payment to Jan 6th rioters (and other allies in the form of restitution) is to create an army for the insurrection in 2028 when he refuses to leave the White House.

But we are hearing that the ballroom funding from the government is in trouble, if not dead, according to Politico. Trump will find donors, but the question is: is it legal? Is any of this legal? I am sure it’s not, the courts might prevail. If the lower courts find the ballroom building and DOJ slush fund illegal, it will go to the Supreme Court. Ugh, that’s a crap shoot.

From Heather Cox Richardson: “Trump’s comments in [a] press conference have invited commentary suggesting he is turning the White House into a fortress. Describing the ballroom, he said:

“Between the drone-proofing, the missile-proofing, we have ah, and the drone capacity upstairs, we can have all sorts of military—I hate to use the word snipers—but we have great sniper capacity. It’s built for our snipers, not enemy’s snipers, our snipers. And because of the height we get a very clear view of everything all over Washington.”

Trump’s allies are already lining up to get money from this 1.8 million slush fund. Jan. 6 rioters, George Santos, Mark McCloskey and Rod Blagojevich. The Washingon Post reports that at wide range of figures are eyeing the new settlement fund.

But some good news: Along with hints that Senate Republicans pushing back on the slush fund idea, the Senate is working to pass the Iran War Powers Act and potentially stop Trump’s idiotic, harmful, insane war.

Tonight is the last taping of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. Trump got his show canceled. But comedy will of course continue and I look forward to seeing what Colbert does next.

Humor is about laughing, of course. But it is also about connecting hearts.

In recent history—say the last 20 years— we’ve learned that short video clips from late-night talk shows can make us laugh as they keep us up on news. These clips have sadly suplanted editorial cartoons on social media. Don’t get me wrong, I love the late show bits. I don’t love that they are STILL all men, of course (I have written about that extensively and will again. Humor remains a male dominated field).

Endless jokes can get tiring, particularly in this current climate, a time that calls for more.

My favorite guy in this world that calls for more is Stephen Colbert.

I think good, successful humor needs to have a moral compass. Colbert has that. His humor is informed by his morality and his outrage. Of course he was and is great at getting us to laugh at silly things. I love silly humor— I was a big fan of Letterman and his bizarreness. Velcro walls, dropping things from the top of buildings, stupid pet tricks — they were hillarious. But those were set in a different time.

Right now we also need serious, heartfelt humor. Jokes that come from someone we know cares. Humor that connects us as humans trying to get by, human who care about other humans.

That’s what Stephen Colbert gave us.

Thank you, Mr. Colbert.

And thanks to you for being here! There’s lots more news I will save for tomorrow. I am signing off for the day to tend to a project I can’t wait to tell you about.

Enjoy your Thursday if you can. I am grateful for your support in every way.

It was a fascinating conversation about the trial, but also how feminism has changed since the 1980’s, and also since #MeToo, immediately preceeding Ms. Carroll’s decision to take Trump to trial. The film opens with Carroll telling Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, after she asks her why are you doing this, Carroll says,

“Because he called me a liar, and I couldn’t let that stand.”

The jury convicted Trump for sexual abuse in a NYC Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, awarding Carroll $5 million, then subsequently $83 million for defamation. Here is an Opinion essay by Meeropol in today’s NY Times, and she explains what happened, as well as the difficulties in making the film. It’s not an easy time to make documentaries for a lot of reasons, but this film— about someone who stood up to Trump and won—encountered more difficulties… as one might imagine.

I attended the Trump v Carroll trial to live-draw it. Here is a Substack live I did with E Jean last year, during which I share some of my drawings. I was well aware of E Jean in NYC in the 1980’s, and met her around 2020.

Ms. Carroll was a journalist and advice columnist for major magazines, and had her own television show in the 1990’s. All that was lost when she went after Trump. Throughout her work, she cheered women on, gave them strength and hope and helped them find their power. At the end of every show, she said to viewers,

“Remember: fate loves the fearless!”

Here is E Jean Carroll’s Substack, which I highly recommend. And go see the documentary, ASK E JEAN!

Thanks for being here, all. Keep faith, be loud and stick together!

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It is satisfying ,yet frightening, to watch Trump fail. Frightening because as he fails (and he is), he is trying to take as much as he can from the American people before he goes. And I am sure he and those around him hope to continue to take, too, as long as they can. That’s what this new plan of Trump’s slush fund (that he wants us to pay for) is about.

“So the Trump administration is creating a $1.776 billion slush fund — 1776, get it? — to pay off victims of “lawfare and weaponization.” Just to be clear, if you’re a U.S. taxpayer, this action means that almost $1.8 billion of your money will be handed out to whomever a panel appointed by Donald Trump decides to reward. The beneficiaries are likely to include January 6 insurrectionists, as well as Trump, his family, and his allies.” —Paul Krugman

“This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” said Donald K. Sherman, president of the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Krugman goes on to say that Trump’s polling is so bad that he and his minions are aware that the midterms will be bad for Trump. The GOP might even lose the Senate along with the House. But 2028 is still in play, and the GOP is trying to mess the voting system with that in mind. That’s why as important as it is to focus on the midterms, we also need to focus on the next presidential election.

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On one level, what Trump does doesn’t suprise me, although I hope it always does. On another level I am astounded that a person could have so little regard for the people he is meant to protect. Trump is either a horrible man, or completely delusional. Or both. I believe that he has surrounded himself with corrupt and ruthless people who simply “yes” him all the time so that they can gain wealth and power. And he thinks he’s doing a great job.

His base is still there for him, but their numbers have dwindled. They will follow him anywhere. They are uninformed and motivated by a form of identity politics: they believe he represents who they are. These Trumpers are like how Swifties are to Taylor Swift. It’s who they are. They worship him, and don’t pay attention to any facts that point to how Trump in actuality could care less about them. I don’t think they are “bad” people.

It’s the power hungry perhaps who are sadly more numerous. They are not supporting Trump out of any identity need or belief system, except belief in themselves. They are informed and know what they are doing. Trump people in the power-hungry category have convinced themselves of a way of thinking that I just do not understand.

I believe government exists to help people. Really actively help people.

I had an uncle whom I loved who was a Republican. He would argue politics with his Democrat brother, my father. Uncle Fred was a CEO of a major corporation, and his GOP thought Reagan’s trickle-down theory made sense. I believe Reagan was the modern culprit of our current mess, although I am sure it’s also pure racism and sexism which are as old as the hills in this country. It’s the notion that those with money (white men) should be given tax breaks, etc, so that they invest, eventually trickling down to help the common man/woman.

Trump doesn’t even pretend that a theory is at the heart of his actions: he just wants the money for his family and friends, period. He wants vengence. It’s not about an economic system. Of course, that’s assuming Reagan was a believer in the system, I don’t really know what was in his heart.

The greedy are always with us. It’s those who believe in helping others and not just ourselves who have to be strong. And LOUD. There are plenty such people in our government, and we need to support them.

Thanks for letting me rant, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And thanks for being here! It is a long slog, and there are days when I feel I can’t write or draw about this anymore.

But I think we are getting there and I have hope.

A seasonal New Yorker cartoon of mine that I hope makes you smile! I figure we need the smiles as we fight this mess of a president.

However, the good news is is that Trump’s approval rating is getting worse by the minute. A front page NY Times article provides details of his continued drop in polularity.

Last week, the Supreme Court granted a temporary stay that will allow the abortion pill mifepristone to continue to be sent out by providers through the postal service. This is following a ruling on May 1 by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked a Biden-era policy allowing patients to get the drug online and through the mail. According to Politico, it was the “biggest rollback of access to abortion since the fall of Roe vs. Wade, and it hit patients in red and blue states alike.” In the meantime, justices are considering a case brought by Louisiana, which claimed that federal rules allowing prescription and mail delivery of the drug “violated its sovereignty by helping its residents circumvent the state’s abortion ban.” Providers can keep sending mifepristone by mail for now as lower courts work through the Louisiana lawsuit against the FDA.

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The White House was part of a Christian prayer festival on the Mall the other day. It lasted eight hours and was funded by taxpayer’s money. Outrageous! This is all part of an effort on Trump’s part to use the 250th anniversary of our consitution to get votes. "Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” was the name of the event, which portrayed the US as a Christian nation and sought to erase the line between church and state. Trump, Rubio, Johnson, Hegseth, Vance all gave lengthy remarks by video.

“We’ve witnessed attacks on our history, on our heroes, and the cherished moral and spiritual identity of this great nation,” Johnson said. “These voices insist to the young and impressionable that our story, the American story, is one of oppression and hypocrisy and failure, and that this story can only be understood through the lens of our sins. Father, we reject that.”

In other words, what they want is to whitewash everything and push out anyone who is different. anyone who is not Christian. As Heather Cox Richardson said today, they want to re-write American history. I’d like to quote her from her letter today:

“Rather than basing the United States on religion, the nation’s founders and framers, as well as Americans of later generations, sought to instill in Americans reverence for the nation’s core political values, especially the right of self-government and the checks and balances that made that self-government possible. In speeches and memorials, novels and poems, they emphasized the sacrifices Americans had made to protect the values embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

That civic religion unified the nation, but it did more than that. It also instructed Americans on the rights and duties of citizens who live in a nation that rests on “We the People.” They must think for themselves, question elected officials, and take an active role in their government.

Replacing Americans’ civic identity with Christian nationalism destroys that vitally important understanding of the role of citizens in a democracy. Instead, it demands that Americans do as they are told, turning them into subjects.

But blindly obeying authority has never been the story of America.”

Finally, this just in: Trump announced today he’s setting up a fund of $1.776 billion to compensate people who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department, creating a potential pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to his allies and supporters. The fund is meant “to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”

We have so much work to do.

That’s it for me today. I hope your Monday is going well so far. Thanks for being here, as always!

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Our documentary about women cartoonists, Women Laughing, is screening all over the country; it’s wonderful to hear the laughter. I created a shop for merhandise based on the film, I hope you enjoy!

Here is our Etsy Shop for Women Laughing. All proceeds go directly to our efforts to have screenings in more venues (libraries, schools, colleges, universities, theaters, museums, etc…) and to bring cartoonists to the screenings. We want more people to know about these amazing women!

Last weekend, we were at The Church in Sag Harbor, NY, an arts venue created by artists April Gornik and Eric Fischl.

Question: does this photo below look more interesting in color? How do the two speak differently?

Thank you so very much for being here! Have a good Sunday. See you tomorrow with, yes, politics.

I think these two women were mother and daughter, judging by their faces and how their hands touched on the train pole. The young woman’s hair was gorgeous, and is what prompted me to draw them — on my phone with my finger. Usually people don’t notice (or I don’t think they do), but the woman seated by my left elbow remarked positively to me after I was done.

A quick post today, as I’m in Sag Harbor for a screening of our documentary, WOMEN LAUGHING. It will be at The Church, a venue for cultural events, started by April Gornick annd Eric Fischl. After the screening, I will be in conversation with The New Yorker’s cartoon editor, Emma Allen, and my fellow director Kathleen Hughes. It will be moderated by former ABC anchor Lynn Sherr! Thrilled.

Thanks for being here! See you later.

I am old enough to remember when President Nixon went to China in 1972. Even though our family hated Nixon, that trip was a big deal because no US president had visited China before. It was confusing to a young person, that we could dislike a president so much and then watch the media praise him. But it was somewhat hopeful at a time when the world seemed so frightening.

Trump’s trip to China is not confusing, it seems blatently opportunistic. I am not an historian of presidential visits to China, but I am sure visits like this are always opportunistic. But in Trump’s case, it seems more obvious: he has clearly gotten himself into a global mess and is looking for ways out. He has lost the support all our allies, and so now is friendly —and not in a peace/diplomacy way— with Russia and China. Trump is all about the short term here; Xi Jinping is about the long term. Ironically, China seems to be the stable power and very much on the move upwards (I do not mean human rights). We are declining, and Xi knows it.

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Both countries want business deals in tech, trade and AI. US support of Taiwan is the only card we hold. We shall see what happens today, but I am not expecting much. It would be horrifying if Trump gave up Taiwan. Can he do that?

Trump’s form of diplomacy is to “make friends” with male leaders, schmooze with them; it makes him feel like he’s acheived something. This won’t work with Xi, I cannot imagine Xi playing that game the way Putin has. Both men—Putin and Xi- are probably laughing at Trump behind his back.

In fact at the very outset of the summit, amidst all the pagentry (children waving flags and cheering Trump) and warm sentiment (Trump called Xi a “great leader”), Xi warned Trump on Taiwan.

“If handled poorly, the two countries will collide or even clash, putting the entire U.S.-China relationship in an extremely dangerous situation,” Xi said while referring to Taiwan, according to a readout from Xinhua, China’s official news agency.

Trump is looking for a powerful ally in his Iran war. Chinese media reported that “the Middle East” was discussed this morning. The US readout of the meeting reported: “Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.” But the Chinese state media’s summary of the meeting did not mention Iran’s nuclear program or the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is trying to force his narratives and excuses for the war and/or China is not playing along.

Speaking of which, there was a video circulating yesterday which highlights Trump’s lack of understanding of the damage he is doing as he attempts to justify the incredibly costly war he started.

David Pierson of the NY Times reports that during a tour of the Temple of Heaven, Xi took the opportunity to “enlighten Trump about Chinese philosophy and the Communist Party’s role in preserving it. Xi told Trump that ancient Chinese rulers held sacrificial ceremonies at the 600-year-old site to pray for national prosperity, peace and favorable weather.”

“The Communist Party of China inherits and develops this people-centered philosophy of Chinese civilization,” Xi said. He has a penchant for extolling the splendor of Chinese history and culture in the presence of other world leaders as a way to legitimize the party’s rule and push back against Western pressure.”

This is the kind of leadership Trump adores and aspires to: power and complete control over people. Xi knows this and is attempting to exploit it, pandering to Trump’s ego. He said “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand.”

They did not discuss human rights.

It was primarily white men and no women among the contingent accompanying Trump to China. Lots of CEOs.

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I traveled to Beijing and a few other cities in China in 2019 as part of a speaking tour about cartoons and women’s rights, and I was fortunate to go to the USSR and Eastern Europe in 1976 as a college student to study politics and art. Much has changed, yet much has stayed the same. I am embarassed by our president and worried about the alliance of these three powers. With Trump as our president, I have little hope for dimplomacy that has any meaning other than money for Trump and the wealthy.

Here is a piece I wrote about my trip to China, and all of the drawings I did during that visit: Drawing In China.

And here are some drawings I did on my iPhone with my finger on the street.

Below is a drawing in the same folder, I must have drawn it on my trip.

I’ll share my drawings from my trip to the USSR on another post at some point.

Thanks for being here! I hope your Thursday is a good one. I am grateful for you all.

Because of some news today, I though I’d repost this. It was not published anywhere but online. I say that because I still believe the patriarchy controls way too much.

We won’t get justice for the women who were taken advantage of by Epstein until Trump is removed from office, or possibly when the Democrats take control of Congress.

House Democrats are holding a “shadow hearing” in Florida today, where survivors of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell will testify publicly under oath for the first time about their abuse. Thanks to the Parnas Report for alerting me to this news, as it is not on the NY Times homepage (I recommend following Aaron Parnas).

This is the first time speaking publicly for many of them. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be. This story is not being cover by the mainstream legacy media, only The New Republic and locally in Flordia, where it is being live-streamed here.

In Manhattan, a pop-up installation called "The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room," has been created where people can go in and see the Epstein Files, all roughly 3.5 million of them. Because the Department of Justice failed to redact the names of some of the victims included in the documents, the general public is not allowed to consult the files.

Speaking to a reporter at the French newspaper, Le Monde, one of the creators said, “We’re a pro-democracy organization, with the goal of educating the public using these kinds of sort of pop-up museums and other in-real-life experiences to help people understand the corruption in the United States, the dangers to democracy,” David Garrett, one of the creators behind the project, told Agence France-Presse.

Garrett said he believes “there needs to be real public outcry” about how the Trump administration has handled the document release, with many accusing justice officials of covering up Trump’s ties to Epstein. “And what we attempted to do here was to create, or help to create public outcry to have real accountability,” he added. The exhibit is open to the public until May 21.

To view the room, reservations are required and can be made on the website of the organizers. I’m going next week and will film it for you, maybe do a live broadcast if they let me.

Also on the site, there are action suggestions:

Across the country, organizers and advocates are working every day to support survivors of sexual assault — and to change the laws, systems, and culture that let this violence continue. We hope you’ll support them with your time, your money, and your voice.

• me too. International is a convener, thought leader, and organizer in the global movement to end sexual and gender-based violence, grounded in Black feminist principles and survivor-led healing and action.

• SOAR (Speak Out. Act. Reclaim) Founded by Virginia Giuffre, SOAR empowers survivors to reclaim their stories and bring an end to sex trafficking.

• World Without Exploitation is the largest national coalition in the United States dedicated to ending the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adults, both online and offline.

• NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault The Alliance leads New York City’s mission to end sexual violence through education, prevention programming, research, and policy advocacy.

It’s a gorgeous day here, I hope you are enjoying the nice spring weather like I am. Thank you for being here, see you tomorrow! Closing out with a lighter cartoon for you. Don’t ask what these creatures are, I have no idea.