38 Comments
Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

What if I’m a truth affirmer only when I wear my shoes?

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Jan 13·edited Jan 14Liked by Liza Donnelly

Biden is a believer. He believes in the bible which no one reads so they don't know what Christopher Hitchens said is true: religion is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children." And if the cartoon showed some wellness scams-- the new religion-- then it would be clearer.

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Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

The Brothers Grimm were amateurs compared to the Bible. Nightmares since Day 1 of Sunday school.

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Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

Yes. Religion is violent, irrational, et al. We would all do well to remember that.

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Joan - the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus are actually quite beautiful. I am not a Christian, but I appreciate the idea of a loving force in the Universe as opposed to the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament. The problem with most Christians is that they forgot that the religion was founded on Jesus' teachings which were contrary to much of the Old Testament.

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founding

Huh?? Speak English, please ;-)

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Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

Liza - did they like the evolution of the scarf?

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author

Did who? The New Yorker? Nope.

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Jan 16Liked by Liza Donnelly

Another phrase of my mom’s comes to mind: “They’re big dopes.’

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author

hahahaha!

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Jan 18Liked by Liza Donnelly

Mom was the queen of quips, at one time my older brother was collecting her sayings, such as they were. One of her favored words was “Moxie”. Try it, you can substitute a plethora of admiring words with it. (As in the petite girly cat next door who terrorize our brute. )Mom on observing the beast’s flight into our house., nodding “She’s got moxie”..

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author

Well, the word "dope" is really funny and I have not heard it in a while! Love your mom. Moxie was one of those words I never fully understood, but your suggested usage makes sense!

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Jan 18Liked by Liza Donnelly

Mom’s a legend, no lie.

So think “dope” as in the 7 dwarves. Not bright, but not malicious.

‘Moxie’ was a prize mom bestowed. Standing up for yourself. Girls needed moxie. Mom had it down to her born in nyc’s lower east side toes.

You’ve got it too. Lots of it.

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Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

I love the idea for this cartoon, and I also love that it is clearly a multi-racial, multi-cultural party (aside from a couple of restrictions that are not strictly cultural). Naturally, Trump and Trumpists are claiming verismilitude with their TruthSocial social-media site, which I don't think is consciously 1984-ish, though it so IS. People trying to sell something (politics, religion, drugs, lawnmowers) always claim Truth as their ally. It's so sad that MAGA people disavow science and history, because that's where truth is most easily found. Not your Papa, not your Mama, not Trump - but science and history. But even those havens are not entirely safe, which is why schools started teaching Critical Thinking and why most republicans hate that concept so much. They prefer comfortable traditional lies and criticize "wokeness," which is a clumsy term, but stands for truth. I think MAGA will eventually flame out, because people who actually prefer lies to truths are Losers in a Darwinian sense. It's a shame that so many conservatives embrace Trump and they will have to reinvent themselves, as MAGA becomes the political equivalent of "baby boomer" for upcoming generations. I'm sorry to be so serious about this. Only Liza can be humorous about it. Though apparently not The New Yorker itself. To be quite honest, I wish the old writers and artists from MAD magazine were still alive and in business in this MAGA world..

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Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

Thanks for sharing this Liza; I did enjoy the calm tone of the interview; such a departure from the shouting and baiting that has become the norm. Biden makes a good point about media-driven negativity--which can be infectious.

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Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

I am so happy Joe Biden is our President. Too bad the orange clown has skewed everyone's idea of what a President is supposed to be like.

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author

I agree. Negativity is easier....and may sell more product and content, sadly.

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In our cat house, the next line would be, "Practice hairball vigilant.

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Jan 13·edited Jan 19Liked by Liza Donnelly

I love love the cartoon. And wondering did the NYer not take it because they felt it too "political?" Is that possible in a magazine like theirs? What I'm finding these days that really frightens me is people seem to be more and more afraid of voicing their opinions; they seem to think it's better to have those feelings, but keep them to themselves. It's as though a thug from the orange man's camp will pop out, put a hood over their heads, and like in third world countries, whisk them away. It's scary because we stand to elect a president whose mantra is "vengeance" instead of "unity." I just hope sanity will somehow prevail and we will valley forge away. Thanks for a thoughtful, bold, cartoon.

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author

They have been trending away from political cartoons, why I don't know. I used to sell political to them, but not any more. Thank you, Allia.

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Jan 13Liked by Liza Donnelly

There is no proof that jc even lived. If he did, he would be a 5'5" semite which dark kinky hair and a big nose. No Christians would pray to him. And if he existed and had followers they should have negated the Torah. But they didn't since jc who might have been an itinerant preacher was just one of so many then when the entire area was teeming with religious nuts. Even the Sermon on the Mount is nothing but cliches. The New Testament is less violent, but it is still my way or the highway. Or maybe that is only jc and god but not the Holy Ghost. Where is he now? Rebranded as the Holy Spirit.

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founding

Whew !!!! :-(. 🥲

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As an artist, I am most interested in acceptance/rejection. I assume you have cartoons that are rejected from time to time. Still I assume it never feels great. I put this in only to document that I am an artist - albeit a failed one: https://flic.kr/s/aHskoh7vPC

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author

I do get rejected,... haha, I know it's hard to believe! But its about the process, right? And now I have substack to share stuff wtih as well.

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Jesus Christ! Why is everyone so philosophical about what Biden said?

I thought the question was simply about the cartoon.

Shoe covers are the answer. Why are people so attached to their shoes? It makes sense to cover the bottom of shoes, or remove them when entering someone’s home.

When you think of what your shoes step in or on in public restrooms, the subway, walking the dog or gas stations, who would want that on their own floor or carpet?

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founding

Liza; As a previous free voyeur and now a stand-up subscriber, I just want you to know how much I appreciate your wit, empathy and incisive perspective (“…we are a no-shoes and no- truth denier home”) on the lives we live.As a 30 year plus New Yorker subscriber I always go to the cartoon caption page first ( since it was started)!! I also subscribe to Heather’s substack and listened to her talk with the President. So great you picked up on that as it’s an affirmation that other people get the goodness and righteousness of what it means to be an American. I also subscribe to Steve Schmidt for my daily dose of righteous indignation!! So, between the 3 of you I get to laugh, cry, learn and be hopeful every day !!! Thank you. :-)

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author

Thank you for being here, Bruce, and for being a New Yorker fan for so many years! I am honored to be in the same company as Heather. SHe's brilliant (and I do not use that word lightly!).

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Jan 14Liked by Liza Donnelly

Thank you for this Liza. It was Heather's earlier interview with President Biden that revealed his depth of character to me for the first time. Here, once again, she brings out what an insightful, caring, dedicated leader he is. This is never available to the American people through our conventional media. This was a conversation between two great Americans who truly love our country.

Thank you.

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author

Yes. Exactly.

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founding

Agree. I wonder how many Americans have seen a truly good man as President. This is what one looks like.

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author

I KNOW!!! Obama was good, Carter was good. But Biden is even more so, I think.

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Jan 14Liked by Liza Donnelly

Love Joe Biden too. I want to believe he is right and my lived experience tells me that at the very least people just want to be able to put a decent ( not extravagant) life together for themselves and their loved ones; they are not interested in hurting other folks and will often help if they can. I so appreciated meeting you this week Liza at the Academy workshop,and as you know I am a big fan of HCR. The two of you are very helpful to me as I try and put together a class that will inspire a young group of citizens to be the best humans.

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author

Thanks for being here, Kate! I so enjoyed meeting you at the workshop. I admire what you do so much.

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Jan 14Liked by Liza Donnelly

Great cartoon. I was a no shoes person from back in the 70s until I moved to a house with all tile floors. Very easy to keep clean and sanitary. Shoes here are important to keep from stepping on centipedes. The comments are focusing too much on Christianity. There are many other religions. Aside from that, it seems more important to look at people's actions and not their reading of the Bible or Torah or Vedas.........

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Jan 14Liked by Liza Donnelly

I love how gently political your cartoon is. I also love having Joe Biden as our President, and the interview is great. Thank you for sharing it.

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