Cartoon Saturday

As my Dad might once have said, if this week had been a fish, I'd have thrown it back ...

According to a report published in the journal ProPublica, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted luxury gifts from a GOP megadonor for more than 20 years without disclosing them, in blatant violation of a law that requires justices, judges and members of Congress to disclose most gifts; air travelers are likely to expect more severe turbulence during flights as a result of the effects of climate change on upper level air currents*; the GOP supermajority in the Tennessee legislature expelled two young Black Democratic members for "lack of decorum," while sparing the seat of a white woman accused of the same infraction ... some Tennessee legislators described the expelled members' actions as "at least equivalent, maybe worse (than the January 6th, 2021 Capitol riot);" as most observers had expected, a deeply conservative Texas federal judge overrode decades of scientific opinion to order a ban on the drug mifipristone, which is often used to induce abortions ... within minutes, another federal judge issued a contradictory order, which ensures that the case will go to the Supreme Court**; and in (where else?) Florida, a naked man covered in wheel-bearing grease, peppermint oil and blood, and probably "under the influence of an unknown substance or substances," broke into two homes, then tried to evade police by jumping into a swimming pool and onto a trampoline ... it took four deputies to take the man into custody and three medical technicians to secure him to a stretcher for evaluation and treatment***.

This week, in recognition of far-right activists howling about the horrors of public education and the need for parents (who have not hitherto exhibited a great deal of interest in the topic) to control their children's education, I have selected a set of cartoons about where our school systems are today.

Times change ...  

This is about what the ultra-MAGA crowd is willing to let our children read ...

Sorry, kid, this bus goes to the private religious school that's being paid for with your parents' tax dollars ...

Times change, and excuses have to keep up ...

I wondered how discipline worked with classes conducted over Zoom ...

It's too late ...

This one is sad, rather than funny. And it's all too true ...

As a child of the 50's, I learned the duck-and-cover under your desk exercises in case of nuclear war. Now we have bulletproof desks and child-sized body armor ...

I often wonder why anyone would want to be a teacher any more, and I really admire those who do ...

I think in today's bizarre society, we know the correct answer to this question ...

And that's the way things are in schools today, as seen through the eyes of cartoonists. I wish the subject were funnier than it is.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, on Musical Sunday. See you then.

Bilbo

*This, of course, is foolish, as any good conservative can tell you that increasing air turbulence is exclusively attributable to the woke policies of the airlines.

** And I think we all know how THAT august body is likely to rule ...

*** He is expected to run for a Florida congressional seat as soon as he is released from custody.