Yearly Archives: 2016

Peter Thiel’s Million-Dollar Legal Maneuvers

This entry was posted in comics and tagged free speech Gawker Hulk Hogan media Peter Thiel on by

Million-Dollar Legal ManeuversBillionaire Paypal founder Peter Thiel has thin skin, so it makes sense that he’s also a Trump delegate. Unable to sue Gawker for outing him, Thiel used his fortune to anonymously fund other suits against the tabloid. A lot of “serious” journalists shrugged since they think Gawker got what they deserved, but there’s nothing stopping him or other rich people from doing the same to more reputable publications.

Please don’t show him this cartoon; I can’t afford to make him angry.

Read the comic at the New York Times.

Conservatives Cure the Zika Virus

This entry was posted in comics and tagged Donald Trump Fred Upton Kevin McCarthy Lamar Smith Martin Shkreli Paul Ryan Rick Snyder Trey Gowdy Zika Virus on by

Conservatives Cure the Zika VirusThe Senate passed a not-great, but decent bill to address the threat of the Zika virus. The House version is garbage and uses the public health crisis mostly as a means to relax regulations on pesticides. By the time the House and Senate bills are reconciled, it will be too late to do anything meaningful, since mosquito season is already in full swing.

Read the comic at the New York Times.

Sketchy Start-Ups

This entry was posted in comics and tagged labor Lyft Silicon Valley startups Uber on by

Sketchy Start-UpsUber and Lyft threw a tantrum and pulled out of Austin, Texas after voters upheld city regulations requiring background checks and fingerprinting for their drivers. A huge reason for the growth in Silicon Valley is reclassifying labor as “free stuff.” Users create content for free, contractors work without benefits, artists get pennies, if anything, when their work is streamed, and Silicon Valley turns their efforts into profits for venture capitalists and shareholders.

It’s not just start-ups, either. The constant demand for growth from shareholders makes responsible sustainability impossible.

Read the comic at The New York Times.

Donald Trump’s Same Old Party

This entry was posted in comics and tagged 2016 Election disenfranchisement Donald Trump Koch brothers Reince Priebus Republicans on by

Same Old PartyTrump became the presumptive Republican nominee after last week’s primary. Much has been made about his differences with the GOP establishment, but those differences are mostly cosmetic, particularly of the bottled tan variety.

I’m no campaign strategist, but it would probably be a good idea to take every opportunity to link Trump with the also hugely unpopular Republican brand rather than treat the two as separate entities. He is their standard-bearer after all.

Read the comic at The New York Times.