Canada is moving close to establishing a legal right to suicide on demand. But how exactly will they carry it out?
Ted Rall’s Latest Books:
Ken Burns Is Here
Like the fisherman’s wife in the fairy tale, Ukraine keeps asking for more. More money, more weapons, more missiles, now more tanks. Reports say that they are now asking for U.S. fighter jets. Anyone familiar with the history of escalation that led to disaster in the Vietnam war, not to mention Afghanistan and Iraq, knows how this game ends.
George Santos, International Man of Mystery
Nothing about Congressman George Santos is what he purported it to be: his work history, educational background, wealth, family. Now it turns out he was a drag queen in Brazil, but without mad chops. Keep him! He’s by far the most interesting member of Congress.
Top Secret: Operation Distraction Is Go!
Both Presidents Trump and Biden are under fire and under special counsel investigation for taking classified documents with them from the White House. National security was probably never in critical danger. But the distraction factor could be fatal to the national conversations we ought to be having instead.
Full Faith and Credit
When Republicans captured the House of Representatives this past fall, Americans were treated to the happy surprise of their rhetoric, in which they claimed they did not intend to leverage the debt ceiling and risk economic damage as they had done in the past. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. GOP hardliners are holding the creditworthiness of the country hostage even when they vote for the same increased deficits they pretend to care about.
There’s Your Toxic Masculinity Talking
Masculinity has been so maligned in public discussion that even the term “toxic masculinity,” which originally referred to something that men were victims of, has become a redundant statement about how masculinity itself is toxic.
Maybe You Should Go Easy Next Time
Democrats defend Biden for taking classified documents home with him on the grounds that he took fewer and that he turned them in voluntarily, unlike Trump. Problem is, Biden was so vituperative when talking about Trump’s irresponsibility. Hypocrisy is political Kryptonite.
Quit Complaining About Being Told to Shut Up
As if to make his point for him, Prince Harry’s memoir searingly criticizing the royal family and English culture in general for stifling emotional expression was greeted by…Anglo-Saxons demanding that he stifle his emotions.
Conspiracy? In This Mess of a Country?
Members of the QAnon conspiracy theory believe that a cabal of Satan-worshiping blood-drinking elites control politics and the media. Are they seeing a more organized world than we are?
Citizens United in Delusion
“Take money out of politics.” That’s always the prescription. But you can’t get money out of politics until you take money out of society.
“The Stringer”
graphic novel
by Ted Rall & Pablo G. Callejo
“Political Suicide: The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party”
by Ted Rall
“Bernie (Revised 2020 Edition)”
by Ted Rall
DMZ America Podcast #86: Tyre Nichols Killed by Memphis Police, Biden’s Beach House Searched by the FBI, Now Ukraine now wants F-16s Too
•
Progressive editorial cartoonist Ted Rall and Conservative Scott Stantis discuss and debate the breaking news of the day. They take a deep dive into the murder of Tyre Nichols at the hands of the Memphis Police’s Scorpion Squad. What should real police reform look like? Scott and Ted offer an in-depth plan for turning the police from brutish adversaries to supportive problem-solvers. Next, Ted and Scott turn to the breaking news that Biden’s Delaware beach house has been searched by the FBI in search of classified documents. Is the Federal Government classifying too many documents? What about the implications for 2024? Lastly, Rall and Stantis look at Ukraine, whose leaders are now asking for fighter jets on top of all of the military equipment the United States taxpayers have already gifted them. Scott and Ted consider if the U.S. should even be involved at all in this seemingly endless conflict.
Read MoreDMZ America Podcast #85: Pence’s Classified Documents, Ukraine Slog, Parents Rights & Trans Kids, the Fight to Save Downtowns
•
Editorial cartoonists Ted Rall (from the Left) and Scott Stantis (from the Right) break down another interesting week in news and current events. Former Vice President Mike Pence, it turns out, also had classified documents left over from his time in office. Is it time to admit that (a) everyone has classified documents and (b) way too much stuff is overclassified and we should just stop caring about this? Now Ukraine wants tanks. But it turns out many of President Zelensky’s top officials were corrupt, so he fired them. Should the U.S. establish a war aim to define what victory looks like? If so, what should it be? Angry parents, including some liberal Democrats, say schools should tell them if their kids are identifying as a different gender in the classroom. Do parents have a right to know that their boy is really a girl? Finally, downtowns are dying as a result of workers no longer going into the office.…
Read MoreHire Back Workers Fired for Refusing Vaccine Mandates
•
Once every generation or two, a crisis prompts the hysterical demands for quick solutions that lead to unsound decisions. Post-Pearl Harbor, worries about fifth columnists were followed by the deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps. 9/11 led to two wars, excessive airport security and the privacy-destroying USA-Patriot Act. The Covid pandemic sparked panic; panic fuels overreaction. Enter vaccine mandates. Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York in October 2021, declared a city-wide vaccine mandate for municipal workers. “This mandate is a bold step that protects our families, friends, and communities, including those that are not yet eligible for the vaccine such as our city’s youngest residents,” he said weeks before expanding the requirement to private-sector workers employed by 184,000 businesses. Similar strictures quickly spread across the nation. Setting aside the debate between personal autonomy and the public good, it has since become clear that the rationale for the mandates—that unvaccinated people were spreaders—was flawed. Thousands of…
Read MoreDMZ America Podcast #84: Debating the Debt Ceiling, Biden’s Secret Papers and Potpourri
•
Internationally-syndicated Editorial Cartoonists Ted Rall and Scoot Stantis analyze the news of the day. Starting with a brisk debate about whether or not the Debt Ceiling should be lifted or if there should be one at all. Next, Ted and Scott weigh in on Secret Documents President Biden had piled up in his garage. Does this preclude a run for reelection in 2024? Lastly, a potpourri of topics ranging from the Wyoming Legislature proposing a ban on the purchase of electric vehicles to the Russian troop buildup in the west of Ukraine to recent projections that 90% of online content will be generated by AI by 2025. (This podcast is not, btw.)
Read MoreBurn After Reading: Why Classified Documents Don’t Matter
•
The strange story at the top of the headlines—the current president and the most recent former president are both the subject of special-counsel investigations for taking home classified documents when they left the White House—rests upon two premises. One is patently false. The other is brazenly silly. Americans believe their nation exists in a terrifying state of endless peril. Propagandized by popular culture and the media, we imagine that we’re constantly teetering at the precipice of collapse or subjugation, surrounded by clever and ruthless fiendish enemies hellbent on undermining, attacking and ultimately destroying the United States and turning us into their slaves. The era of great invading armies and empire-building is over. In our world, borders are largely settled so empires are built via economic influence rather than territorial gains. Bigger countries bump up against each other at the edges in search of incremental advantage. Fewer nations in history have ever been less at risk than the U.S.…
Read More