Yearly Archives: 2022

Masochist Airlines

This entry was posted in comics and tagged air travel strikes trains transit transportation unions on by
Read the comic on Patreon.

This week’s Southwest Airlines debacle made regular holiday air travel look pleasant.  COVID, flu, RSV (insert Gilligan’s Island theme song:) and the rest of the viruses we’re pretending don’t exist are causing people to be out sick from all sorts of essential jobs.

Southwest was apparently hit especially hard since they put all their post-shutdown profits towards stock buybacks instead of updating any of their infrastructure. Companies putting buybacks, dividends and executive payouts above improving anything else is what people mean by late-stage capitalism. Everything is getting worse, but LINE GO UP.

Way back in ancient times, I would fly Southwest from Baltimore to Providence often for just $69 (nice) and it would take about 1 and half hours, including what little pre-9/11 check-in hassle there was. Amtrak was over a hundred for 7+ hour trip. Trains haven’t improved, but airlines have pretty much sunk to or below their level.

I haven’t flown in a while. Hope I didn’t draw the seats looking too comfy.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.

2023 New Year’s Resolutions

This entry was posted in comics and tagged carbon dioxide climate change pollution robocalls Scabby the Rat social media strikes unions on by
Read the comic on Patreon.

I’m abstaining from making any predictions about 2023. Not for lack of any ideas where things are headed, but because I don’t want to be too much of a holiday party pooper.

I’ll let COVID, RSV, and flu do that.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.

Incredible Global News 2022

This entry was posted in comics and tagged AI art artificial intelligence Covid-19 cryptocurrency fusion gun violence Louis DeJoy mass shooting pandemic USPS on by
Read the comic on Patreon.

Heading into the final weeks of the year and threw together some unrelated news gags together to get ahead of schedule. AI art is this year’s NFTs. Everywhere at the moment, but its ubiquity will be its undoing. Or so I tell myself.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.

Chuck Schumer’s Senate Schedule

This entry was posted in comics and tagged Chuck Schumer Congress Federal Courts Joe Manchin Kevin McCarthy Kyrsten Sinema Marjorie Taylor Greene Mitch McConnell Senate Steve Scalise on by
Chuck Schumer holding a Senate schedule.
Read the comic on Patreon.

Democrats secured another Senate seat this week and that should improve the confirmation and committee process over there. But the House is in Republican hands, so we’ll be lucky if a bare bones funding bill can get through both chambers before another financial crisis.

My meta-commentary about 2024 isn’t technically about 2024, but consider me part of the problem.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.

Busted Books

This entry was posted in comics and tagged abortion anti-Semitism antitrust Donald Trump Greg Abbott Joe Biden lame duck Martin Walsh rail workers Ron DeSantis unions on by
Read the comic on Patreon.

A hodge podge of topical things.

The shitty contract forced onto rail workers by Congress and the President that contains zero (0) paid sick days is going to cause a lot of problems. Either immediately to the supply chain if a wildcat strike happens, or electorally when unions abandon Democrats for abandoning them.

“B-b-but it was Republicans who voted against it!” some might say. And that’s what Democrats planned on by decoupling sick leave from the rest of the bill. I typed a version of this on Mastodon, where I’ve been dabbling since my Musk-induced departure from Twitter. Hive Social is phone only, and not very secure, so I’m not doing much there besides parking my name.

Decoupling sick days from the rest of the rail bill was done by the Democratic House, so they could blame Senate Republicans while pleasing rail barons.

The antitrust thing could be about Ticketmaster flubbing Taylor Swift tickets, Amazon, cable companies, or almost literally anything else that sucks in this country.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.

2022 Winter Gift Guide

This entry was posted in comics and tagged Amazon CDC Covid-19 Fox News Jeff Bezos Mike Pence Rupert Murdoch Samuel Alito SCOTUS Tucker Carlson on by
Read the comic on Patreon.

Forgot to post this here over the holiday. Apologies!

Short week for Thanksgiving, even though I’m not traveling. COVID, flu, RSV, and even our dear old pal the common cold will be. Stay healthy out there.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.

Kevin McCarthy’s Anti-American Agenda

This entry was posted in comics and tagged 2022 elections Congress debt ceiling HouseGOP Kevin McCarthy Medicare Social Security on by
Read the comic on Patreon.

Results are shaking out from last week’s election, and the Republicans will get a thin majority in the House, thanks mostly to New York Democrats rather than anything appealing offered by the GOP. Of course, if the Coup Caucus was expelled, and thorough impeachment trials were held, things probably never would’ve been this close.

So now we get another two years of debt ceiling crises, hearings about nothing, and nonstop coverage of Trump’s rallies now that he’s officially declared what we all knew he was gonna do.

At least the Senate didn’t change hands, so non-Federalist Society judges can get confirmed for two more years. Fingers crossed Ginni spills lube all over her and Clarence’s bathroom before time runs out on that too.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic GoComics.

Intro to Political “Science”

This entry was posted in comics and tagged 2022 elections inflation media polls pundits on by
Read the comic on Patreon.

So all the narratives about the Republican midterm wave the media were hankering for sort of fizzled. Now we have another squeaker where the balance of fascism/not fascism is still up in the air days after the election.

Horse race and both sides coverage have been part of political pundits’ schtick since forever, but it’s especially galling when pointing out the actual stances of candidates is now considered “too political” and beneath the geniuses who pretend to be objective observers of our crumbling republic.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.