The Funny Papers

David Horsey, Jack Ohman, Michael de Adder, Christine Sharp, Ted Littleford, RJ Matson, Bill Day, Mike Luckovich, Clay Bennett, Steve Sack, Tim Campbell, Deb Milbrath, Ed Hall, JD Crowe

Citizen Journalist Darnella Frazier Honored by Pulitzer Board

Another week upon us and I need some good news to get things pumping, and I found it in Darnella Frazier.

She was the young woman who recorded a police officer, aided and abetted by other police officers, murder George Floyd. She stood on that sidewalk with her cell phone filming the entire gruesome vile episode in one single shot, and I believe it was her video that most convinced the jury to find Derek Chauvin guilty of murder.

And now the Pulitzer Board—yes, that  Pulitzer—has given Darnella Frazier a special citation for the  video that she says has haunted her since that day in May last year. The citation at the 2021 Pulitzer Prize ceremony is a rare instance of the board recognizing the journalistic achievement of someone with no professional experience in the field, something dubbed “citizen journalism”. The Pulitzer Board called Darnella Frazier an example of “the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice” and recognized her recording as a “transformative video that jolted viewers and spurred protests against police brutality around the world.”

And finally held a police officer fully accountable in the murder of a Black American.

Her video has been compared to the video—made by George Holliday—of Rodney King being beaten by LA police officers during a 1991 traffic stop, and the video of a New York City police officer—filmed by Ramsey Orta—choking Eric Garner to death for celling “loose” cigarettes.

Darnella Frazier was also awarded  the 2020 Benenson Courage Award from PEN America, presented to her by filmmaker Spike Lee.

On the first anniversary of Floyd’s murder, Darnella Frazier wrote about the lingering trauma in a message on Facebook.

“A lot of people call me a hero even though I don’t see myself as one. I was just in the right place at the right time. Behind this smile, behind these awards, behind the publicity, I’m a girl trying to heal from something I am reminded of every day.”

Darnella Frazier, in her own way, has started a healing in this country and so, yeah, I’d call her a hero.

Bobservations

The other day I was getting ready to take a shower and Carlos came into the bathroom asking if there was someone at the front door. Now, before you think our front door opens into the bathroom, it does not, and I explained that to Carlos. But he said the cats had scattered as they sometimes do when someone rings the bell.

“Did someone ring the bell?”

“No.”

“But you think that I know, here in the bathroom, at the back of the house,  if there’s someone at the door?”

I followed him to the front door and he’s looking through the glass to see if he spots anyone. I’m behind him, and it’s me who spots … something.

We have a wreath on the door and as I glanced beyond it, I saw a snake slithering up the glass and inside the wreath. I said to Carlos:

“Maybe that snake rang to bell.”

Howler monkey scream!!!!!

Once I peeled him off the ceiling, I told him I’d take the wreath off the door and put it away so that these snakes don’t think it’s food and climb the door. And he put the kibosh on that because the snake will kill me because snakes slither so fast and you can’t get away and it’ll come in the house and … and … and ….

I had to sedate him; with a frying pan to the melon.

What? Y’all know Tuxedo has the Common Sense. It’s a shame the two-legged inhabitants of the planet don’t always follow his lead.

Seen along the roads in Florida:

“Matt Gaetz Wants to ‘Date’ Your Child.”

Claude Taylor, Mad Dog PAC founder, funded the billboard and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving asshat.

For the past couple of weeks Aaron Rodgers has been the guest host of Jeopardy. At times he seems a bit tentative, but he sure is easy on the eyes.

Texas GQP Party chairman Allen West says Texas could secede from the United States and become an independent country:

“This is something that was written into the Texas Constitution.”

West is mistaking the state constitution for a congressional document which allows Texas to divide itself into five different states. But let’s say Texas does secede, as asshat politicians like to threaten. No more Ted Cruz. No more Louie Gohmert … Greg Abbott. The next time a bad hurricane comes through, or the power goes out, they’re on their own.

Secede away!

In an Economist/YouGov Poll released this week, respondents were asked if they believed Derek Chauvin should be found guilty of murder.

Among all respondents, 57% said “Yes,” with 25% saying they were “Not sure,: and 18% saying “No.” But among Republicans, only 31% said Chauvin should be found guilty, and 36% said he should not.

Now, again, I am not saying that all Republicans are racist, but this makes it look like all racists are Republicans.

PS Look closely at the above picture in case you didn't see it the first time.

Kentucky Governor, and Democrat, because, of course, Andy Beshear signed into law an election reform bill making it easier for Kentuckians to vote early, bucking the GQP trend of more restrictive election laws spurred on by The Big Lie:

New in Kentucky will be voting supercenters—where a voter from any precinct in the county can vote—and the online absentee ballot request portal will become permanent, as will absentee ballot drop boxes and three days of early in-person voting for all registered voters.

It’s nice to see some states in the country making voting easier.

SIDENOTE: Andy’s kinda cute, no?

I don’t particularly care for Will Smith, but I like this.

Smith and director Antoine Fuqua are pulling their upcoming film production “Emancipation” out of Georgia because of the state’s new voting law, AKA Jim Crow 2.0.

Now, Marvel and Netflix? Are you gonna pump money into a state that tried to suppress the vote or are you gonna step up?

In November 2020, two years after Taylor Swift’s contract with Big Machine Records expired, so did her re-record clause.

And so Swift is now going to re-record every song from the six albums she released while at Big Machine meaning that those of you who bought them the first time can now buy the re-recorded versions and Swift can fill her change purse with more coins.

Ted Nugent, MAGAt rocker with no active brain cells, asked a question about the COVID-19 pandemic that possibly nobody else had considered … except Cryptkeeper Kellyanne Conway:

“Why weren’t we shut down for COVID one through 18?”

Um, Ted, perhaps the years of drug use and lack of education have left you unable comprehend that the ‘19’ in COVID-19 designates the year in which the first infection was reported.

2019, dumbass.

This week’s Hottie is not an actor or a model, but a writer, activist, and perhaps a candidate for governor of Maryland, Westley "Wes" Watende Omari Moore.

That smile. Those eyes. That voice. That passion. That drive. Wes Moore? Yes, more.

Even AFTER George Floyd, This Is STILL Happening In America

On December 5,2020, U.S. Army Lt. Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was driving his brand-new Chevy Tahoe when he got the police lights in the rearview mirror. He was in uniform at the time of the stop.

Knowing what could happen to People of Color during even routine police stops, Nazario did not immediately pull over. But he did put on his emergency lights, and continued on driving, under the speed limit, for about a minute-and-a-half, until he could  safely park in a well-lit gas station parking lot.

At the gas station, Windsor Police Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker pulled their guns on Nazario for the crime of driving without license plates even though a new vehicle tag was clearly visible in Lt. Nazario's rear window.

Lt. Nazario says he followed police commands to keep his hands outside the vehicle, but says officers became agitated when he asked why he was being stopped, as is his right. That’s when Gutierrez says—and he is heard on police body cams:

"What's going on? You're fixin' to ride the lightning, son?"

Nazario's attorney Jonathan Arthur says, in Nazario’s lawsuit, that ‘ride the lightning’ is a colloquial expression for an execution, originating from glib reference to execution by the electric chair”. And while Virginia recently outlawed capital punishment, the state has executed prisoners via the electric chair for more than a century.

Nazario is heard telling the officers that he was “honestly afraid to get out” of his SUV, and Officer Gutierrez replies:

“Yeah, you should be!”

The officers then pepper sprayed Nazario multiple times, "causing him substantial and immediate pain," damaged Nazario’s new car, and choked his dog, who was crated in the rear of the vehicle.

Gutierrez responded with knee-strikes to Lt. Nazario's legs to force an already compliant and blinded Lt. Nazario down on his face ostensibly to handcuff him. And while he was on the ground, and in tears, Gutierrez and Crocker continued to strike him. They also warned him not to complain about their treatment of him, and threatened to criminally charge him; if, however, Nazario, according to , the lawsuit, would "chill and let this go," then no charges would be filed.

Lt. Caron Nazario was not criminally charged or cited for any traffic violation.

Huh. I guess there is no law on the books about Black Men Driving New Cars in Windsor, Virginia.

A town manager says Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker still work for the police department.

See the video at NBC News and ask yourselves, if you are a white person, if you would have been treated the same; if you would have felt safe getting out of the car; if police officers would have pulled guns on you; if you’d have heard the officer joke about the electric chair; if you’d have been told you have good reason to be afraid; if you’d have been pepper sprayed, grabbed and thrown to the ground because there were no license plates on your car.

If you were white …

UPDATE: Officer Joe Gutierrez has been fired from the Windsor Police Department. Daniel Crocker, however, still has his job.

Tuesday Thought #3

 

I Can't ...

... anymore.

I am so over the news; I'm over the deaths and the dying and the new cases of COVID-19.

I’m over the people who are gathering en masse, without masks, acting like there aren’t people dying every single day.

I'm over an entire political party that doesn't seem to care that 130,000 Americans are dead while they allow their leader the chance to strip the living of healthcare.

I’m over the Occupant of the White House using our Independence Day as another shot at his enemies who, by the way, are every single Democrat, every person of color, every member of the media, every person in the world who isn’t rich, white and male.

I’m over waking up every single day to another Karen telling people of color what they can and cannot do.

I am over Karen and Ken playing Blondie and Clod in from of their home.

I’m over Karen and Ken painting over an authorized Black Lives Matter sign in the middle of the street because, as they say, there is no police brutality in this country, and there is no racism in this country.

I am over the Karen who goes shopping without a mask and then shrieks at the top of her lungs that she can’t wear one because she has breathing issues. If only …

I am over white people storming state buildings with guns being called good Americans while Black people marching in protest over another Black life snuffed out by rogue police officers called thugs.

I’m over “Go back where you belong,” because last I checked we were the country that welcomed everyone.

I’m over “Speak English, you’re in America” as if English is our national language.

I’m over Hate, in action, speech and practice.

I am over this America. 

The Funny Papers

Matt Wuerker, Michael de Adder, Kevin Siers, Adam Zyglis, Nick Anderson, Christopher Weyant, Bill Day, Clay Bennett, RJ Matson, Jack Ohman, Dave Whamond, Ted Littleford, Ed Hall, Marc Murphy, Darrin Bell

Bobservations

Our cats are indoor cats; with all the animals—rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, deer, feral cats and such—that wander onto our property, it’s best to keep them inside so they don’t get sick. But Tuxedo is allowed outside—Max has no interest and since Consuelo escaped last year she’s all out of outdoor time—with adult human supervision; he sits on the table and lounges in the sun while Carlos and I chat.

However, Tuxedo has become quite adamant about when he goes out—and has begun to meow ‘Ooouuutt! Oouuttt!!’ at us all the time. So, I wasn’t too surprised walking into the living room one day and hearing Carlos tell the cat:

“Tuxedo! Get real!”

Oh, he was real; real anxious to go outside.

Then again, like his favorite daddy … me … Tuxedo isn’t keen on people invading his personal space. I’m surprised he doesn’t have taped markers in the house …

Leave it to Fox News, in the midst of nationwide worldwide protests over racism in this country, to suggest via a graphic that charted stock market performance following the killings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Brown, and George Floyd, as well as the Rodney King police brutality verdict, seemingly suggesting that the market goes up when police murder black Americans.

Oh. Yes, they did.

Queen Sugar star Nicholas Ashe and Jurassic World actor  Justice Smith  have publicly come out as gay, and a couple, saying Black queer lives must be part of any revolution. Smith posted on social media:

“[Nicholas Ashe] and I protested today in New Orleans. We chanted ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ ‘Black Queer Lives Matter’ ‘All Black Lives Matter’. As a black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added. … I want to reiterate this sentiment: if your revolution does not include Black Queer voices, it is anti-black. If your revolution is okay with letting black trans people like #TonyMcDade slip through the cracks in order to solely liberate black cishet men, it is anti-black,”

Tony McDade was a 38-year-old trans man who was shot and killed by Tallahassee, Florida police in May but has not become a nationwide symbol of abuse the way others like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have.

Then Smith spoke of the “joy” in his life and relationship with Ashe:

“You’ve been my rock and guiding light through all of this and I love you so much. I know that on the other side of this Is change, though the fight is far from over.”

The march does go on, because none of us are really out unless all of us can come out and be accepted and free from violence, especially our trans brothers and sisters, and our trans brothers and sisters of color. And we need to remember that the Stonewall riots started because Marsha P. Johnson, a black trans woman, had enough.

Welcome out, gentlemen, and keep up the fight.

This week it’s both Florida and South Carolina who have reported spikes in new COVID-19 cases following our GOP governors ’demand that the states reopen.

In Florida, the number of cases reported on Friday marked a new single-day high number of cases since Florida implemented phase one of its reopening plan on May 18.

In South Carolina, health officials issued a warning that reopening South Carolina may have led to a spike in COVID-19 cases; those officials first blamed an increase in testing, but changed their tune to say it occurred because of people going to graduations and businesses reopening and people heading to the beaches.

And the numbers are up in several other states as well. Will we ever learn?

Earl Gray, the lawyer for Thomas Lane, one of the police officers who stood by while Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, says his client is innocent because he didn’t “have a real good view” of what was going on, since he was busy holding down Floyd’s feet, and there was another officer positioned between himself and Chauvin.

But what’s worse is that Gray suggests that the public should have intervened and stopped this. Yes, a group of people taking on the police, armed with weapons? Good idea, ambulance chaser.

Now, fuck off. Your client helped hold a man down until he was dead.

Well, it happened again. I have been banned from Facebook for twenty-four hours because of my, ahem, ‘hate speech.’

It seems I posted a graphic—it’s that one up there—about the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths around the country and a friend commented that it all stems from people rushing out of their homes for Memorial Day, and I said:

“Americans are dumb.”

BANNED! Best of all Facebook gives you the option to dispute the decision, but when you try to do that they tell you that because of COVID-19, they don’t have enough people to work in that area so the decision stands. I guess I should’a just said:

“Facebook is dumb.:”

How will I live for the next twenty-fou—ooh, look, something shiny.

The president is a racist planning to incite his hate base on Friday June 19, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Why, you may ask?

The rally is being held on Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the end of slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation.

The rally is being held in Tulsa, Oklahoma where, in the early summer of 1921, the Tulsa race massacre took place when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District of the city. It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.

And that’s when and where the racist motherfucker will speak.

Either he and his campaign are that stupid, and they are, or they are that ignorant, and they are, or they are that racist, and they are.

Now for something much better …

And because it’s hot and sticky—and not in a good way—here in Smallville, I thought I’d add to the heat by featuring 30-year-old architect, model, smoldering Karlwiz Gutierrez.

Cuz I can.