Today we observe Labor Day, a celebration of the unions which gave new freedoms, wealth, and dignity to peons who previously suffered under the cruel oppression of capitalist bastards. Nowhere is this more the case than in the editorial cartooning industry, which has come so far in the past century.
Once considered a "job that Americans won't do," 100 years ago editorial cartoons were farmed out to Irish immigrants and Chinese coolies who were functionally little more than slaves, working at crude drawing tables in return for a weekly ration of potato peels or fish heads.
Later, when the Irish turned to police work and the Chinese turned to ruining SAT scores for everyone else, the greedy editorial cartoon barons put women and children (as young as four years old) into forced servitude, penning cartoons in dingy, airless factories. Their work shifts were 24 hours long, every day except Sunday - when they got 15 minutes off to pee and whimper.
Some died of ink poisoning, others died violently in the process of collecting the ink by milking octopuses, while many simply lost the will to live after being forced to look at grim news items every day.
But then the unions entered the scene and changed everything. The sweatshops were closed, women went back to prostitution, and children were again free to be beggars and pickpockets. But actual editorial cartoonists, now holding the reins of collective bargaining, became the masters of their own fate.
Today, editorial cartoonists are among the most highly paid and respected professionals in our nation, loved by all, desired by beautiful women, and universally sought after for their wit, intelligence, and dashing good looks.
Not to mention their vivid imaginations...
FROM THE VAULT
AND IN ALL SERIOUSNESS...
We just wanted to do a light blog entry for today, but we would be remiss if we didn't mention a couple of big stories.
At the time of this writing, hurricane Dorian is bearing down on the Bahamas and Florida and is up to Cat 5 strength. The potential for massive damage and loss of life is huge and unstoppable. Our thoughts are with all of those in harm's way, and we hope that Dorian will change its course and spare as many people as possible.
The other story involves two mass shootings on Saturday, one in Texas and one in Alabama. As of Sunday morning, we know very little about the Texas incident other than that an idiot started shooting at officers who were attempting to make a traffic stop, and this kicked off a long chase in which the suspect fired at people randomly. Seven people were killed (including the shooter, which is no loss at all) and another nineteen have been hospitalized with injuries. Meanwhile in Alabama, a 17 year old opened fire on people after a high school football game (perhaps targeting - poorly - someone with whom he had a grievance), wounding nine people. There are no fatalities so far.
Knowing so few details in either case, we have nothing to say just now other than that we grieve for all those affected by this madness, and we again salute the selfless courage of the law enforcement officers who brought an end to the carnage.
29 comments:
Brings me to tears........ that story about editorial cartoonist sweat shops.... to think I am to late to own one breaks my heart ..........
I found the Doctor/Nurse cartoon funny, for the same reason. 40 years ago my oldest daughter was due on Labor Day, which I did not find funny at all. I believe it was on the third that year (too lazy to check), she came on the 8th after three solid days of labor and a threat of Caesarian. Love her to death and she's made me a happy grandma three times, one of whom has a birthday on the 6th! Yes, I officially have middle aged children and I love hearing my mother scream when I tell her she has middle aged grandchildren, makes me laugh.
Happy, and for those potentially in the path of Dorian, stay safe Labor Day.
Labor unions came about as an antithesis (lurking Marxist alert?) to greedy abominable labor practices. The problem, and why we find them so ugly, useless, obstructive and ridicule worthy now is their (and also federal government agencies)inability to declare victory and evolve.
Prediction:
The Texas shooting will get a week of nation-wide air time, because it was a white guy shooting cops and random people.
The Alabama shooting was a black kid shooting other blacks, and will get virtually no air time.
Having lived in the Charleston SC area my whole life and having lived through hurricane Hugo waltzing through my house I am making sure that I have plenty of gas for the generator, rum to dilute the Coke and a bit of Knob Creek Bourbon. This is to ease the pain of dealing with people who (a)haven't been through a hurricane and (b) know more than everyone who has been through one. No I really don't take these things lightly and I truly feel sorry for those who had a direct hit from this monster but as far as SC goes right now it will be a glancing blow on the west side of the storm which is the weakest side. This should result a lot I repeat a lot of wind with the appropriate damage but not the devastation we would have if it was coming in at 90* to the coast. I wish all well and safety and my prayers(yes prayers and if you don't want them send them to someone who does) to those truly affected by the storm. As to Labor day I know that unions at one time really did do some good but I have also seen where they caused way more harm than good when the labor leaders and management leaders got into a tiff and like little boys on play ground no one would give ground and businesses would go out of business or move elsewhere and everyone there would lose their jobs. Everyone except for the labor and business leaders. Glad I didn't have to really deal with this in the military except for the E4 mafia.
I guess one day I will overcome my shyness and tell people how I really feel.
Truth! This is the first I have heard of the Alabama shooting. Full disclosure-I don't watch what passes for news.
Crickets on Alabama shooting
The irony of Labor Day is that we celebrate by putting aside our everyday labors. This allows the retired, unemployed, and children to share equally in the bliss of foregoing work. Oh, except police and firemen, serving military, waiters and cooks in restaurants, grocery store workers, movie theater staff, hospital and ER staff...
Re: assorted mass shootings, unindicted political criminals, and big tech preparing us from the coming of our robot overlords: I don't know about the rest of you, but I do wish whatever solipsist is in charge of this universe would get some therapy — or wake up already from his nightmare!
Stilton, The reason for "Labor Day" is all wrong..... think about it....Labor day is approximately NINE MONTHS after New Years Eve when a lot of people party and over indulge in many ways. All women giving birth on Labor Day should be recognized.
Jim Irre and anonymous, you may have already guessed that the Alabama shooting doesn't fit the profile. There is some evidence that the Odessa shooting may not fit exactly either. But, it will probably be forced in order to follow the script.
So many up in arms about the shootings in Texas and Alabama. Meanwhile, from USA Today:
"CHICAGO – At least 72 people were shot, including 12 fatally, over the weekend in Chicago, another eruption of violence in a city that has struggled with murders and shootings in recent years even as the national homicide rate hovers near historic lows."
Isn't it amazing that in other than liberal strongholds, shootings are treated as major calamaties requiring immediate interference by the do-gooder liberals, while the daily slaughter in those liberal strongholds is accepted merely as a way of life. Amazing!
@MamaFrog, my mom has two children on Medicare and Social Security, and the other two are heading there in a few short years. Doesn't seem to bother her, though; she's more fascinated by being a great grandmother via her middle aged granddaughter. But at 94, not much bothers her in the first place.
@MAJ Arkay My mother hates to admit her age, she and dad kept hollering about being too young to be grandparents. I was 25 at the time and my husband was 28, lol. I just told them they shouldn't have started so young and they never said anything again. Mom was 17 when she had me and dad was 21. Yes, I'm the reason they got married. They got divorced 24 years later on my birthday, seemed poetic to me and I still laugh about it!
I find it intriguing how there are so many incidents of "mass shooting" lately when gun control has been on the top of the left's talking points. It's always odd how they seem to spring up around them, almost as if on cue...
And unions... Set up to protect the little working man against big business. Now they are big business, and there's seemingly no-one top protect them against unions...
During my working career, from 1966 to 2006, I was represented at times by 3 different unions. I found their dues tedious, their attitudes about strikes irksome, and some officers to be certified asses and dimocrat supporters. But, I repeat myself. In my twenty years, I belonged to the Oil, and Chemical Workers, The Teamsters, and the Steel Workers Union. Yes, I spent all those years in an oil refinery. At one time, I saw the need for unions. But like the dinosaurs, Hitlery, and a slew of others, that time has passed. For cripes sake, just die.
Don't keep me waiting. Just die, already. I really mean it, die.
The worst labor unions of all time are the public sector unions. Even FDR was against them. You have government bureaucrats bargaining with your money for political favors. They already work for an entity that is virtually impossible to fire them. They should be abolished.
(hums a chorus or two of "Look For The Union Laaaaabelllll...")
The idealism that originated the modern union movement gave way to neo-feudalism, where the union organization became the new overlord of the individual worker.
This didn't take long, and there is some argument that the abuses of labor were not much more than pretext to the feudal claim.
Supposedly the new union masters were deemed by the workers as "better" as they were "their masters" but that didn't work out so well in practice as "their new masters" learned they could take advantage of personal positions at the expenses of their vassals ... sorry "union members."
As for the "working man's holiday" we just celebrated the timing is American but sentiments for a holiday to commemorate "labor" is wide spread around the world. There were specific events in America that steered the American timing to the beginning of September. Across the ocean the UK had a tradition of observances roughly the same time, though the Irish end of summer holiday was some weeks earlier, it might be expected that recent immigration didn't erase the idea of an end of summer break.
As Americans we lacked royalty to proclaim a holiday as was common European was, what better way to do it than to honor the collective new masters, the Union, with a fete in their honor?
In modern days we do benefit by increased sales of beer, burgers and outdoor grills, and often a corresponding birth day peak down the road those nine-months.
The overloads of the labor organizations may take a few minutes to step off their private jets for officiating at some vague ceremony, but mostly stay away from the public eye lest the rank and file realize they bought into a Ponzi scheme.
@REM1875- True, you can no longer own a cartoonist, but you can still rent them.
@mamafrog- Now that's a Labor Day story! Happy Almost Birthday to your daughter!
@Fish Out of Water- I agree that unions were once very important in changing unacceptable working conditions. But now they're too often simply tools to institutionalize mediocrity and funnel money to politicians.
@McChuck- Your prediction is holding true so far. The black shooter doesn't fit the desired narrative, so that incident is being ignored. And of course, Labor Day weekend in Chicago dwarfs both shooting incidents and nobody seems to give a damn.
@John25mm- I hope you remain safe - this is a scary storm. And I agree with your sentiments about unions.
@Jim Irre- If the "news" doesn't fit the liberal narrative, it doesn't get reported. It's almost like the news media just yawns when shooter and victims are black, which strikes me as being genuinely racist.
@Anonymous- The silence is deafening.
@Pat Cummings- I've also thought that it's ironic to not work on Labor Day. As far as those who DO still have to work, hopefully they at least get holiday pay. Regarding all else that is wrong with the world (as you listed) I agree that it doesn't reflect well on whomever is running the show.
@Gilbert Foulke- I made that same point in a recent "Johnny Optimism" cartoon!
@zsleepwalker- When facts fail to advance the narrative, the left can always fall back on "Trump's climate of violence" to shoehorn politics into the story.
@Anonymous- Is there any way to look at the killing fields of Chicago and not see a liberal/bureaucratic mindset that writes the black victims off as unimportant, and the black shooters only "being themselves?" Here's a suggestion: let's see Democrats clean up gun violence in Chicago as a dry run to how they'll clean up gun violence in the rest of the nation. Spoiler alert: it will never happen.
@mamafrog- There is an interesting symmetry to your parents marrying because of your impending birth, then divorcing on your birthday. Clearly you're a very important person!
@Emmentaler- I don't think there's any conspiracy behind more mass shootings popping up. Rather, I think it's just continuing evidence that our handbasket is picking up speed as it goes to Hell. Regarding Unions, you're right that some workers need protection from them. How the pendulum swings...
@Sortahwitte- Well said!
@Shelly- I agree. As government bureaucracies take more and more control over our lives, we should all be afraid of unions that reward professional ineptitude and sloth.
@M. Michell Marmel- Why settle for a union label when you can have a whole union suit?
@Rastapopoulos- Wow, great comment and very well expressed!
Although they still suffer from Oliphant's Disease.
And here on Tues we get word that 3 dozen people shot & 8 killed in Chicago this weekend but "Mass Shootings" are worse. Every weekend 4+ people are killed by gang fire, but thats ok. Get up in arms because some mentally unstable person gets mad & shoots. 250+ a year (mostly innocent bystanders) shot & killed; 250+ shot & wounded. Hmmm, no outrage. Is it because who is doing the shooting? Because its the "beloved" city of Barak? Now its known the guy in Texas failed a background check but still got weapons. I am to believe that stricter backgrounds will mysteriously keep guns out of criminals. Yeah right
Irony Day: Labor Day is over, and yet I still don't feel like working.
We've never seen Mrs. Jarlsberg, but we can only assume that she is indeed beautiful. (Almost certainly makes Busty Ross look like Rosie O'Donnell) I'd wish that I'd been a cartoonist too, but if anyone is more attractive than cartoonists to beautiful women, it's systems analysts.
@Stilton Jarlsberg said "True, you can no longer own a cartoonist, but you can still rent them.
I like that model better. It's more the Uber model. That way I don't have to provide the pen, ink, paper and scotch.
Unions: I wish my profession could unionize. As it is now, anyone can claim to do what I do and charge $5 an hour to do it, just as I did 40 years ago. Just eliminating those yahoos means I could raise my rates 3x.
But seriously, most everything unions had fought for in the first half of the 20th century became law by the second half. This left union organizers with little else to do than to fight for than for higher wages and less worker productivity to justify their existence.
@Emmentaler Limburger said it better: "Set up to protect the little working man against big business. Now they are big business, and there's seemingly no-one top protect them against unions..."
Public sector unions: Bad, on so many levels. And by Progressive rhetoric, should be totally unnecessary. After all, if big government is to be our protector from all evil, then there should be absolutely no need for public sector unions as governments should be the perfect employer.
Shootings: Have barely heard about them, so I can only assume that neither of these are "narrative friendly", meaning "Were not perpetrated by straight-white males with any remote connection to conservative causes".
And again, the weekly carnage that is Chicago goes ignored. (Another reason they need a non-Democrat mayor, just so that the media will finally take notice of everything that is wrong)
Guns should be totally controlled by the government like they are in Mexico, the safest place on the continent.
Something occurs to me: Did Hurricane Dorian take out Epstein Island? If so, one has to go "Hmmmmm..."
on the subject of gun control, China's greatest trading partner-Walmart-has made a decision that effectively disarms their customers and opens them up to more slaughter and mayhem. In those locales where it is allowed, walmart is banning concealed and open carry in their stores. also, they are not restocking ammunition and halting pistol sales in alaska. no word on how the stores intend to defend the customers during the next series of killings on their property.
I am not one to tell other people who it is they should give their hard earned money to, but I believe my days as a chinamart customer are at an end. do as you will; as will I.
1,896 shot and 350 killed this year to date in Chicago. Homicide clearance rate for all attempted and successful homicides investigated in chicago is only 9.5%. that would be only 180 some odd of the almost 1900 people shot in the mega-gun controlled heaven of chicago, a democrat party example to hold up to the world of what can be accomplished by having government control your safety.
Chicagoans who shop in walmart should ask themselves if they feel safer now.
President Franklin D Roosevelt was committed to not having public sector unions. His publicly stated concern was a rise in corruption should unions be involved with public employees. For a president as committed to democrat ideals he was none the less a realist when it came to dealing with people. his wealth did not stop him from seeing what was going on. like trump, he had a congress and courts that fought him tooth and nail. My parents and grand parents did not like him and shed no tears when he died, but they all respected him and his accomplishments.
as for public sector unions, he was spot on.
the wonderful democrat enclave of peace and unicorns is the lovely city of Baltimore Maryland. crime rates in Baltimore have soared since the freddie grey incident which caused BPD to be purged of effective officers and become somewhat more circumspect in responding to crimes. Baltimore's crime rates are 99.5% above all other US cities including chicago. the homicide clearance rates are so poor, the BPD refused to release the data. Independent canvasing of residents shows and unwillingness to call the BPD about crime unless there is a body to be removed. the overall attitude is that it isn't bad enough yet for people to vote for a change.
How bad does it need to get? the only way it could get worse is if a nuke went off in the harbor.
I don't have a comment but some information. The elderly gentleman musician in the picture at the top of the page has been identified. His name is George Wiley from Sutton NH. Here is his picture ans some information. https://peashooter85.tumblr.com/post/187444544525/american-vernacular-uncle-george-wiley-90
I often wondered who he was ans stumbled on the picture and information while wasting time on the web.
Dennis Sullivan NH
The union motto: Working hard to get more money, for less work, and more time to not get it done in.
As for firearms-I have a CWP and practice concealed carry. What others don't know wont hurt them, and just might someday save them.
Ooopps! my bad-two more people were shot and died in chicago today so that makes it 352 dead for the year to date. we look at chicago with pride in anticipation of chicago exceeding all expectations for public safety. thanks to the entrenched democrat party operatives in the chicago police department and prosecutors offices, we can look forward to more of the same. to say we are underwhelmed by cpd performance is inadequate.
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