Sunday "The Other News" Funnies

The Trump cartoons are over at Brad's.

A public charter school principal in Florida was recently given the boot. Her offense? Not sending a warning letter out to parents before an art teacher showed a 6th-grade class a photo of Michelangelo’s David statue. Two parents complained they weren’t notified and one called the sculpture “pornographic.” And a principal lost her job.

Sadly this incident is minor compared to all the other educational purges happening in Florida. Numerous bills are working their way through the legislature -- on their way to being used as campaign props for Ron DeSantis and other demagogues. But it’s not just Florida, plenty of other states are hopping on the (largely Republican) push to ban books and speech. Not to be outdone, the U.S. House of Representatives just passed the "Parents Bill of Rights".

Don’t be fooled by the talk of “parents rights.” This legislation just codifies rights parents already have and issues a clarion call to a handful of right-wing parents and activists who think they know better than trained educators.

And if you happen to be soon-to-be-presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, talking about naughty books sure beats talking about your plans to slash Medicare and Social Security.

See Mark Fiore's animated video 'The Art of Parental Rights' here.

"What Do Words Mean" Funnies

'The Con in Silicon' Funnies

Somehow, right-wingers were able to turn news of a bank failure (or two) into a conversation about “wokeness.”

As you’ve probably heard by now, a combination of too many treasury bonds, greedy bankers, dumb tech bros — and bipartisan legislation that weakened banking regulation — turned into a big scary bank failure that sent shockwaves through global financial markets.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank can be explained by reviewing actual numbers and examining a paper trail of poor financial decisions made at SVB and in the halls of Congress.

Instead of talking about that, right-wing media and politicians are pointing the finger at Silicon Valley Bank’s supposedly excessive (and financially risky) wokeness.

If that makes no logical sense to you, don’t worry, it’s not supposed to. It’s just another example of Republicans trying to distract you from uncomfortable facts. Nothing more than another load of linguistic misdirection from the right.

Think of them like a deep sea anglerfish, only much uglier.

Watch Mark Fiore's animated video "Freedom-from-Woke Bank" here.

I was only a few years into my cartooning career at this point, and cannot overstate how appallingly one-sided the news coverage was during the buildup to the invasion. I didn't have cable at the time, so I watched a lot of NBC, which featured an endless parade of hawkish "experts." For those who've forgotten, or weren't old enough, Phil Donahue was a rare TV personality who dared to criticize the invasion. MSNBC fired him, citing low ratings -- even though his was the highest-rated show on the network.

Later, memos surfaced that he was in fact canned because NBC execs considered him a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war."

Last, from 1922: Origins of the Sunday Funnies.