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

Meme Dump

The Funny Papers

JD Crowe, Bruce Plante, Kevin Siers, Jack Ohman, Ed Wexler, Dave Whamond, Drew Sheneman, Michael de Adder, Adam Zyglis, Clay Bennett, Steve Sack, Ed Hall, Phil Hands, RJ Matson, Ann Telnaes,

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.

Bobservations

The other night while watching The Voice, one of the contestants was called ‘charismatic’ and I said to Carlos:

“But does he have charisma, uniqueness,  nerve and talent?”

“What?”

“RuPaul says he would need charisma, uniqueness,  nerve and talent.”

“What does that mean?”

“Drag race? RuPaul? Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent? What does that stand for?”

“C … U … what were the others?

“Oh for goddess’s sake. Cunt. It’s CUNT!!!!!!!”

“I sure hope the neighbors can’t hear you.”

Me, too.

Tuxedo wants y’all to remember that, not only is he saving lives with the vaccine roll-out, but he’s not running off in the middle of a pandemic to have a play date at our expense.

Joseph Chaplik, a first-term RepubliQAnon legislator from Scottsdale, Arizona, has persuaded the Arizona House to let businesses ignore mask mandates to stem COVID spread. His reasoning? Masks weren’t needed decades ago to stop the spread of AIDS—even though AIDS was not spread like COVID.

Seriously. This ignorant tool actually said HIV “was going to wipe our global destruction of human bodies with AIDS. We heard about that in the ’80s, yet no masks were required.”

Well, a mask of sorts was required, but they were called condoms and you wore them on your dick to protect you and your partner. And they helped slow the spread of HIV, just like a facemask helps slow the spread of COVID. But nothing, no mask, no face covering, no condom, will ever stop the spread of ignorance by the GQP, especially in Arizona where the legislation passed on a 31-28 party-line vote.

Police reforms have been slow, even after last years’ BLM protests against systemic racism and police  abuses of power following the murder of George Floyd, but the good news is that this week the House’s George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed. The legislation overhauls qualified immunity for police officers, bans chokeholds at the federal level, prohibits no-knock warrants in federal drug cases and outlaws racial profiling.

Noting the thirty years since Rodney King was brutally beaten by the LAPD, House Judicial Chair Jerrold Nadler said:

“Since George Floyd was murdered a year ago, there have been over 100 officer-involved shootings, there have been numerous examples of officers not being charged.”

And yet police unions are fighting to keep the qualified immunity protections that make it almost impossible to prosecute these crimes.

It’s a step, and the first of many.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, after a week of saying that President Biden is allowing COVID-infected immigrants to enter this country, has actually refused help from the federal government to give coronavirus testing to migrants before they are released from federal custody.

So, who is really at fault here? Greg Abbot. Q.

There is mothing prettier than a fine ass, and this here is one of the finest I’ve seen in a long time. It belongs to model Michael Yerger.

That’s the post …well, unless you need more and then here it is:

Years back Carlos and I bought two corner chairs; that’s one up there. And over the last decade or more, one of the cats, who shall remain nameless …Miss Consuelo Roca Jones … has clawed the back corner of each one. And she is so sly, waiting until we are asleep, at which point she slithers into the living room and attacks the furnishings.

Last fall we decided to reupholster the chairs and searched for fabrics. As they are corner chairs and “float” in the living room, I wanted a different fabric on the back and we found a cool kind of mid—century textile. Then came the second guessing and the idea that the chairs will look a little Marriott Hotel Lobby.

Cut to February and I bit the bullet and bought the fabric and the chairs came back yesterday looking just so cool. Plus, they’re covered in velvet so the Cat Scratcher™ isn’t tempted by a nubby fabric.

Georgia? While the country thanks you for voting into office both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, we’re still kinda miffed that you voted for QAnon nutbag, and apparent full-blown idiot, Marjorie Taylor Greene.

You see, this week, Greene [Q-GA] raised a fuss about foreign nations that receive American tax dollars and in that group, she included the US territory of Guam:

“We believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America. Not for, what? China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam, whatever, wherever.”

Greene apparently doesn’t know that people born in Guam are US citizens cuz she’s that stupid.

Matt Benedetto is a product designer from Burlington, Vermont and he has decided that the world needs Croc Underwear.

Well, to be fair, and to avoid a lawsuit, he has dubbed these hideous rubber-looking, diaper-things, Gator Briefs.

Anyway you say it, it’s an assault and I will be seeking to file charges as I cannot ever unsee this.

Merrick Garland has been confirmed as United States Attorney General nearly five years after his nomination to SCOTUS was blocked by Moscow Mitch. Garland will be fully investigating the insurrection at the capitol, including any and all members of Congress who may have helped the rioters.

Josh? Ted? Lauren? Marge? That includes you.

Lastly, Francisco Henriques, a tall dreamy curly headed hottie from Lisbon, Portugal.

He seems to be able to do angelic to nekkid hottie to underwear hottie to rock star oozing sex appeal hotties. And I’m fine with that!