and for your patience, you get this historical bonus cartoon from the archives of Robert Crumb, from back in the 80s when TFG was just getting started with his insanity. Tip of the hat to Half Empty for the share.

Apologies to all who are awaiting Friday Toons. There are some darn good ones this week, so it is only fitting that there are server issues getting them posted. It must be the sunspots. Do you think TFG ordered them so that we couldn’t see all the funnies? BTW, I’m posting this as a test to see if it will publish. Tonight we’ll be watching for aurora. There has to be a prize in this somewhere.

There is no amendment in our constitution more integral to the concept of freedom than the freedom of speech. Yet, there is no freedom in our constitution more misunderstood than the freedom of speech.  This comes up for obvious reasons. People on both sides of the Gaza debate are feeling the crunch. College campuses grapple with protestors and how much is too much. More importantly though, we are seeing an increasing heavy hand of government on both sides of the aisle on this issue as government officials circle the wagons in support of Israel.

That immediately pushes us towards the responsibilities portion of free speech, but I need to take a few giant steps back. Free speech has never meant freedom from responsibility. I would not be able to (hypothetically speaking) run into the superintendant’s office and call them a jackass without some repercussions.

Yet, millions of Americans would say they have an absolute right to do that without any negative impacts on their own professional or personal life. This is not a liberal or conservative problem necessarily. The Dixie Chicks famously badmouthed George W. Bush on stage during his presidency and lost fans possibly in the millions. It went down exactly as it should. They expressed their views and their fans expressed theirs. That’s how these things work.

The Chicks (as they are now called) were effectively canceled. I throw that term in here intentionally. The whole cancel culture craze is nothing more than people being upset over the fact that they are receiving negative consequences for their speech. That’s a large part of the marketplace of ideas. Some people won’t like them.

When we start arresting people for protesting the Israeli government then we have gone way too far. Employers certainly can take note of someone’s political activities and make a decision for themselves as to whether they want a particular individual to represent their company. That is fair. To make demonstrating illegal as Florida has done in certain circumstances is antithetical to the whole idea of what free speech is all about.

We do have one responsibility as it pertains to speech. We need to be accurate. Our responses need to be accurate. That means actually stopping for a second and listening to what the protesters are saying. I would say that most are not anti-Semitic. Some certainly are. However, the majority are just outraged over what Israel is doing in response to Hamas’ attack. Criticizing Israel doesn’t have to mean that you are supporting Hamas, but that is how this issue is being framed.

You can think that what Hamas did is awful. You can think Hamas needs to be eliminated. You can also think that what Israel is doing in Gaza and to Palestinians in general is abhorrent. These things can all be true at the same time. That viewpoint can also be wrong. People are free to disagree with it and poke holes in it all day long. That’s how these things should be debated. However, simply calling anyone that criticizes Israel as Anti-Semitic doesn’t promote free debate. It shuts it down.

Mind you, there are plenty of Anti-Semitic people out there. I would dare say that many are the same folks levying the charge against those that would criticize Israel. There is no defense like a good offense. All of this is to say that free speech has never truly been free. It costs plenty when it is levied irresponsibly and without respect for others. It also hurts overall when we don’t take the time to truly listen to what the other side is saying and why they are saying it. Sometimes it is racism and bigotry but often times it isn’t.

Well, you might remember some postings on this not-a-damned-blog where Senator Ted Cruz was caught with his hand in the lucre jar with his sweetheart deal with iHeartMedia. It seems the case has been referred to the Federal Election Commission for it to place its consequential weight on what seems to be a clear violation of just about every kind of ethical canon ever written by humankind.

OK, that last one might be hyperbole, but the shoe does fit.

And this writing right here might be [yawn] a little boring and [yawn] repetitious [yawn], but let’s just say [yawn] we need a proper [yawn] story on the endgame [yawn] to round out the whole discussion  [yawn].

In summary, the endgame is this: nothing is going to happen.

The Raw Story has it, but the matter was originally reported by The San Antonio Current:

“Trey Trainor, an attorney serving on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — the panel scheduled to hear the complaint — recently retweeted a photo his wife Lucy Trainor shared of a yard sign outside their Austin-area home promoting the Texas Republican’s campaign for a third term in the U.S. Senate.”

Here is a screenshot of the “tweet”.

It gets worse:

“Trainor’s retweet follows last month’s report by the Current that FEC Chairman Sean J. Cooksey served as Cruz’s deputy chief counsel in 2018. From 2019 until joining the FEC in 2020, Cooksey served as general counsel for Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a GOP hardliner frequently aligned with Cruz.”

And you’ll never guess who appointed both Trainor and Cooksey to the FEC. You got it, Donald Von Shitzenpantz.

In short, in this jury of 6, Ted Cruz has two FEC “no” votes already in his pocket.

One caveat. If you look at the retweet, you can see that Trey Trainor is not, himself, responsible for sticking Ted Cruz’s campaign sign in his yard. His wife, Lucy Trainor, did it.

Lucy Trainor is currently Election Integrity Director for the Republican Party of Texas.

You just cannot make this stuff up.

If you aren’t a teacher then you probably know one. They are feeling worn down as another school year comes to a close. Many are feeling beaten down by added responsibilities and pressures that come from their state, their district, and their campus.

In the interest of full disclosure, I started teaching in 1997. I made $28,000 back then, but that amount of money was more than reasonable for a single guy. I was able to afford an apartment, a car, and have a little bit left over. I am making over $70,000 now. Due to the economy, inflation, and other factors that amount of money ends up coming fairly close in terms of buying power.

What those outside the profession fail to understand is that those of us near the end feel grossly underappreciated just based on the pay. Beginning teachers in our district make well over $50,000. So, my Masters degree, special education stipend, and 25 years of public school experience net me less than $20,000 more than a beginning teacher.

The normal course during these times is to give us some breakfast tacos, nachos, and maybe a jean’s pass. Stores and restaurants around the community give us coupons or special deals. Sure, you might be a highly trained professional, you might spend countless extra hours grading papers and planning lessons, and you might spend hundreds of your own on supplies, so here is a two for one coupon at The Sizzler.

My sarcasm can be biting at times and this shouldn’t be the time for that. Our administration is trying to honor us the best way they know how. Each department is getting students to say something nice about their teachers. I do not officially work in a department like that. So, we are not a part of that. So, I’m paid like a teacher. I have that as my job description. I just don’t get treated like one.

Teachers don’t want a jeans pass. I can wear jeans any day I want. Extra food is nice. Any time I don’t have to pay for my own breakfast or lunch is good. Yet, the real key is when someone is thinking about me without being forced to think about me. I turned 50 this year. It took me guilting one of my colleagues into getting a card. Our campus honors employees of the month. It took a couple of us to guilt them into honoring our department. No one else would nominate any of us for an award like that.

I shouldn’t have to alert you that we are being left out of things. I shouldn’t have to make you feel guilty for not thinking of us in order to get some consideration. It should be given of their own free will. We should be valued and respected as professionals. We should be trusted to do our jobs. We should be valued for our expertise.

In terms of the politics of everything I will just say a couple of things. If you value me and my well-being don’t give me a gun. Don’t ask me to be Wyatt Earp on the open range. I trained to help students read, write, and add. I didn’t become a cop. I didn’t become a soldier. I became a teacher. Secondly, if you want to know what we are teaching your child then ask us. Don’t believe a YouTube video your cousin Larry sent you. Don’t believe some yahoo at some site that has never been in a classroom. We will tell you that CRT isn’t being taught. We will tell you what books are actually being taught. We will tell you what is actually being taught in science classes.

This all goes back to the beginning. Real appreciation happens 52 weeks out of the year. We shouldn’t have to wait until a random week in May before getting appreciated. That goes for every other profession as well.

A commenter to a previous piece on my Facebook page made an observation. I write way too much about the ex-president. That’s a fair criticism. I’ll gladly take that on, acknowledge it, and own it. I do write too much about that man and wish I didn’t have to at all. As much as he might be a subject of this piece, he is not the subject of this piece. This piece is not so much about him, but about you.

Of course, the you in this case is what I lovingly call the pejorative you. That means it’s not about everyone, but just those that still choose to follow him. It has gone well beyond ideology at this point. It has moved beyond ideology and into idolatry. They say the self-own is the cruelest own of all.

Millions of people wear adult diapers. I don’t wear them myself, but I have had occasional bouts with digestive issues. Various medications have had any number of side effects and those were some of the more serious ones. Some people have other health problems that require their use. So, I am not going to judge anyone that has a medical need to wear them.

So, I try really hard not to poke fun. The key point here is that every time someone points out a flaw or human weakness in the dear leader they adopt that as a sign of strength. Trump passes gas and some have suggested (people are saying) that he stinks because he has likely soiled himself. Instead of admitting that maybe he is not the best person for the job we just kind of assimilate this knowledge into our new schema. To translate that into plain English we can simply say “real men wear diapers.”

Thus the continuing spiraling nature of our politics and our culture proceeds without abatement. Therefore if you have control of your bodily functions, have basic knowledge of science, history, and current events then you aren’t really a man. If you have basic empathy for others and compassion for people that might be struggling then you aren’t a real man.

Let me be very frank. Normal people don’t do this. You will not see liberals. progressives, and leftists doing this. We don’t have bumper stickers on our cars. We don’t have signs for the yard. We don’t own any tee-shirts, hats, or flags that we fly from the home or on the back of our pickup truck. We actually don’t have a pickup truck, but that’s not the point.

People in cults do this. So, this isn’t about him. It’s about you. It’s about your desperate need to support everything and anything that comes out of his mouth (or any other portion of his body). I am trying as hard as I can to be respectful here. This is not a good look for you. You aren’t owning the libs. You are owning yourself. The self-own is the cruelest own of all.