My Washington Post editor, Karen Attiah, put together a great year-end review of several animations, sketches and gifs. Check it out here.
Category: womens issues
My cartoon criticizing the Israeli government
Early last week I created a cartoon about the bombings in Gaza. In editorial cartooning, there are some topics which will result in intense reactions from certain groups, as did this one. The series of events started with the Simon Wiesenthal Center issuing a press release last Friday from which the Jerusalem Post wrote a short article titled “US Jews furious over Washington Post cartoon showing Netanyahu punching Palestinian infant” (I’ll note the JP did not ask me for a comment). So all weekend and again this morning I’ve been getting tweets and emails, some obviously group orchestrated, accusing me of antisemitism and that I support Hamas. Anyone remotely familiar with my work knows I never criticize people’s religious beliefs, only the actions of governments and the leaders of any organization which try to influence public policies that affect ordinary people’s lives.
I’ve been in this profession long enough to know that dealing with blowback and angry reactions about a cartoon is part of the job description. However unlike my male colleagues I also am receiving sexually violent and misogynistic threats in response to this cartoon. During the Danish cartoon controversy in 2006 I maintained that regardless of what one thinks about a cartoon and its message, no one or group has the right to threaten or censor a cartoonist. You have the right to criticize, protest, or draw your own response to the cartoon- but violence and threats are not acceptable. I am a firm believer in every person’s free speech rights, regardless if a group finds the message offensive.
I’ll give the Simon Wiesenthal Center credit for acknowledging my free speech rights but they should be aware of what some of their supporters are saying in response to their press release. 
2006 cartoon in response to the Drawing Mohammed cartoon controversy
Fool me once, shame on me… fool me… you can’t get fooled again
The Republican National Committee is selling “I miss W” t-shirts. Really.
Editorial cartoonist Etta Hulme has died
Etta Hulme, the cartoonist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has died at the age of 90. Etta was a kickass cartoonist and a hoot in person. Although I haven’t see her for several years, she used to regularly attend our AAEC conventions. I can still picture her smile whenever she walked into the room. 
Humor’s Edge opening -2004
My exhibition at the Library of Congress opened ten years ago today.
You won’t find a more dedicated group who understand and value editorial cartoons than the people in the Prints and Photographs division at the Library of Congress. They’re incredibly knowledgeable about the art form and its role in American history and are devoted to preserving and protecting the original art. To have the Library of Congress interested in adding my work to their collection was an amazing honor and an experience I’ll forever treasure.
Jeremy Adamson, Chief of Prints and Photographs
Harry Katz and Martha Kennedy, Exhibition Co-Curators
Sara Duke, Assistant Curator
Humor’s Edge flyer
LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling
The owner of the LA Clippers is banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.6 million after audiotape of several racist comments he made during a conversation with his girlfriend is released.
From the looks of this guy he must be an exceptional speaker since his First Amendment right of $peech attracts such young and beautiful women.
No cameras in the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this past Tuesday for Sebelius v Hobby Lobby, one of the cases which brings up the question whether a business can deny its female employees birth control coverage under Obamacare because of the owners’ religious beliefs. As usual, the line for public seating started early. This is the scene Saturday morning:
By Tuesday the line had grown to this:
Only about 100 members of the public are seated for SCOTUS arguments; about another 100 seats are for the press and select choice seats are designated for guests of the Justices. Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom so the majority of Americans never get the opportunity to watch as one of their three branches of government makes important decisions which affect their civil liberties and personal lives.
My take about cameras in the courtroom from the Washington Post’s Post Partisan blog yesterday.
Here’s a good piece by Washington Post blogger Alyssa Rosenberg on the subject of cartoonists being allowed in the court.
CPAC 2014
The crazy conservatives are back in town. A few of the speakers:
Bully blocking bridges and other things…
The big political story this morning is Governor Chris Christie’s bridge problem. Apparently a couple of Christie’s political hacks, obviously still in a high school state of mind, decided to stick it to a political opponent by creating a massive traffic problem on the George Washington Bridge. Christie is scheduled to make a statement today at 11am, so more on that later. Another interesting story to catch my eye early this morning was this from the LA Times:
Some of you may know I used to work for Disney, so I do have some insight about the whole issue of women and the animation industry. Too much to talk about right now, but I am looking forward to seeing what the animation blogs make of this. Meanwhile, here’s a quick sketch of Streep, one of my favorite actors:
Supreme Court sexism?
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had to deal increasingly with the question whether she’ll step down from the bench while a Democratic president is still in office. Yes, she is 80 years old- the oldest member of the Court- and there’s the danger of health issues forcing a resignation during a conservative presidency. But hey, but the life expectancy of women in the US is five years more than men. That means that Justice Scalia (77) should consider stepping down as well as Justice Kennedy (77) and Breyer (75), right? At least we should expect more interviewers asking them the question only posed to Justice Ginsburg…
UN Human Rights Council- what’s in a name?
Yesterday 14 new countries were named to the UN Human Rights Council- among them were China, Russia, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. I’ll just post this 2001 cartoon from the archives:
The World of Justice Scalia
Here’s a well-informed Supreme Court Justice of the United States. According to a New York Magazine article, Justice Scalia only reads The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times. He admits he gets most of his news from talk radio and his favorite host is Bill Bennett.
*update: Be sure to read Justice Scalia’s answer to why he became an avid hunter. Scalia recounts when his grandfather and namesake Antonino became too old to go out into the woods, he would sit on the back porch and shoot rabbits who ventured out in the vegetable garden. When the interviewer suggests this isn’t a very sporting way to hunt, Scalia excuses it because his grandfather was 85 at the time. I wonder if Justice Scalia will be metaphorically shooting defenseless things from the Court bench in his old age…
*update #2: “… the only heroic opinion I ever issued— was my statement refusing to recuse”, Justice Scalia said of his decision not to recuse himself from the case which involved former Vice-president Cheney, his hunting buddy. If I can find the cartoon I did about that case, I’ll post it soon.
Found it! From 2004: