Yearly Archives: 2015

Overdue Police Reforms

This entry was posted in comics and tagged criminal justice police police brutality on by

Overdue Police ReformsI drew this after video of Officer Slager gunning down Walter Scott in North Charleston, SC came out, but before video of Reserve Deputy (Kind of like a police cosplayer, but given an all-too-real firearm.) Robert Bates shooting Eric Harris in Tulsa County, OK was made public over the weekend.

Surveillance of the police is a start, but it’s tragic that even more graphic snuff films are needed to convince people that our criminal justice system is messed up.

Read the comic at The New York Times.

Business Supplies for Bigots

This entry was posted in comics and tagged homophobia Indiana pizza same-sex marriage on by

Business Supplies for BigotsIndiana’s disastrous “Religious Freedom” bill gave companies even more rights to discriminate than the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. I had no idea florists and bakers were so prone to bigotry.

I’ve gotten some randos in my Twitter mentions saying “B-B-BUT, you’re the bigot!” Calling someone a bigot, or even saying mean things about them is speech. Refusing them a service (or accommodation) is discrimination. I’m not refusing their dumb asses from reading my cartoons, but I am kicking them out of my mentions. That shit is exhausting.

Read the comic at The Nib.

Water Warnings 1

This entry was posted in comics and tagged California climate change drought Florida on by

Water WarningsWhile we’re finally saying goodbye to record snowpack in New England, there’s virtually none in California this spring. And for a state that’s in the middle of a years-long drought, that’s bad news for the water supply.

Unless you’re in agribusiness. They’re exempt from Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandatory water restrictions, while residents are asked to take quickie showers and to “let it mellow” in their toilet bowls. The world’s gotta eat, and for some reason a lot of that food is grown in the California desert.

Making matters worse is that a large portion of increasingly scarce California water is used to grow crops for animals to eat, so we can eat them. I’m not a vegetarian, but sustainable agriculture practices seem like a good idea, at least for those of us who are still allowed to say “climate change.”

Read the comic at The New York Times.

Keeping Currency Current

This entry was posted in comics and tagged currency economy income inequality on by

Keeping Currency CurrentThere is a long overdue movement to get women featured on our paper currency. For too long they’ve been relegated to our country’s lame attempts at dollar coins that are too similar to quarters (Thanks, Big Vending Machine!).

I can go on and on about currency policy, so I’ll just point out that Canada began phasing out their even more worthless penny years ago, and to the best of my knowledge, Canada’s economy has yet to be reduced to a system where maple sugar candy and hockey pucks are exchanged for goods and services.

Another thing I learned while drawing this cartoon is that Adobe thinks everyone who wants to open a picture of money is a potential counterfeiter, and not a cartoonist who lacks access to a physical $20 bill for visual reference.

I learned about Photoshop’s counterfeit protection while drawing Sunday’s Strip.

A photo posted by Brian McFadden (@brianmc_fadden) on

Read the comic at The New York Times

Read the comic at The Nib.

Ted Cruz’s Campaign Swag

This entry was posted in comics and tagged 2016 Election Ted Cruz on by

Ted Cruz's Campaign SwagTed Cruz is not dumb. He is playing into the willful ignorance and victimhood that riles up the base to win elections.

By a weird twist of fate, it has become my job to draw cartoons about current events. I am not a news junkie, but I must ingest news constantly to stay up-to-date on the latest nonsense and dumbassery. I’m especially not a fan of politics and our never-ending presidential campaigns. But the 2016 campaign has begun and I have been dragged into covering it. Maybe we’ll return to sanity for a few brief moments in 2017, before the 2020 campaign begins.

Read the comic at The Nib.

Death Penalty Dissonance

This entry was posted in comics and tagged death penalty ISIS Obama on by

Death Penalty DissonanceSince lethal injection drugs are becoming scarce and no longer efficient at the whole “lethal” thing, Utah’s getting ready to bring back the firing squad, while other states are dusting off their electric chairs and gas chambers. Somehow these are all more preferable than calling off capital punishment altogether, which often results in the executions of many, many innocent people. But at least they got a trial. The same can’t be said for the summary executions the United States conducts overseas.

Read the comic at The New York Times.

Grand Old Pen Pals

This entry was posted in comics and tagged Hillary Clinton Iran Mitch McConnell Rand Paul Senate Ted Cruz on by

Grand Old Pen PalsI don’t think Senator Tom Cotton’s open letter to Iran was treasonous; it was dumb. And unfortunately for the US and the rest of the world, being dumb isn’t treason. It’s practically a requirement for anyone who wants to court the Tea Party caucus.

It’s spring (or so I’ve heard from under all of the record-breaking snow) and the miserable slog towards another election has sprung. And if the apoplectic reactions from both sides regarding Hillary Clinton’s Rube Goldberg-esque email practices are any indication, it’s going to be an insufferable year and a half.

Unless the 47 Senate Republicans get their way and start another war, then I can wait out 2016 from a fallout shelter.

Read the comic at The New York Times.

Read at the The Nib.