Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for April 28, 2015

They think he’s a veterinarian??

I do hope that the intolerant buffoons who won’t eat in one of those places finally learns that a lot of the cooks & waiters that prepare & serve their food are those kind of people!Even in Indiana!

This is just Miller being snide. Bakers may not make gay wedding cakes, but so what? They miss out on gay business. Even hard core, heavy metal, religious folk don’t ask if gays or atheists are served in a restaurant. The Westboro Church is an aberration. And by the way, the fact that none of the Westboro haters have been shot, beaten with ball bats or ran over by angry grievers is the best indication that the USA is still okay. With the exception of a few hate groups nobody really cares about homosexuals. If someone doesn’t want gay business that, too, is their right. You couldn’t make mom go to a Japanese restaurant if I you held a gun on her. She never forgave the Japanese for cutting her uncle to pieces while still alive on Guadalcanal to make the other Marines listen. You can’t make a Black waiter serve a guy in a white hood just because he’s in a public restaurant. In fact, the owner of the business can order white-hood-boy to leave and not come back. It’s all about choices. We’re all allowed a choice in who we do business with as INDIVIDUALS and PRIVATE COMPANIES. Now, government may not discriminate against gay business, but Joe and Jane public can definitely refuse to patronize the Flaming Codpiece restaurant if they choose. What’re you gonna do, make them go on a rotating basis by force of law?

The nation’s attitudes change, usually at a sedate pace. Trying to hurry it usually does more harm than good. Once people see gay marriage, etc, is not causing the fall of the nation or (more importantly) costing them money, they’ll ignore the issue and go back to reading Harlequin romance novels and Playboy and forget about the whole thing. No more angst. Forcing humans, en mass, to do something is like herding grasshoppers. Unless you’re holding flamethrowers (Hitler, Stalin, Mao) you don’t stand a chance.

Hey, that lady is a FOX…..

whos on first…whats on second…who knows what base shes on….

Does the law say whose religious freedoms it is protecting, or who it is excluding. I genuinely don’t know. In any case it feels very dangerous to put on the books. If it’s vague it could be and eventually will be turned against others.Imagine the Klan had called themselves a religion and demanded their rights?

I can imagine what Friedrich Nietzsche would have said.

“What if the KKK or some other organization who expressibly dislikes Gays come into such an establishment and orders a cake that that says, “Death to Gays” on it?”A bakery in Miami, Fl has already addressed that problem. They have publicly posted that they WOULD make and deliver such a cake. They would also donate all of the profits from such a cake to a major LGBT charity, in the name of the one ordering the cake.

If she says she won’t eat at the diner while Eddie is there, then why is she bothering to look at the menu while Eddie is still there?

They think he is a politician.He is blowing smoke and has a predator on his shoulder.And he is running up a tab while padding his own existence.

Why are conservatives portrayed as “intolerant bufoons” and liberals portrayed as “taking a stand for what they believe in” when ever they behave in similar ways?

Too much talking here.

There better be a point to all this.

Who are the intolerant people here? Look what happens when a gay guy hosts Ted Cruz. The gay guy is vilified and eventually apologizes. When someone comes to the aid of someone being put out of business because of a religious stand, the gay & lesbian community forces it to stop the funding. We know who the real haters are.

Always fascinating assumptions in the comments.

How do y’all know the political leanings of the couple who are worrying about “them”?

Doesn’t it kinda depend on which “them” they’re trying to avoid?

For those wondering how an opposing cake would be received, wonder no longer. Two bible shaped cakes were requested in two bakeries last year in Colorado with specific verses against homosexuality. The owners of the bakeries refused and the customer complained to Colorado Civil Rights Division on being denied service based on religion. He was denied since the bible verses are derogatory, in their opinion. So it is legal to deny service to some people with whom you have philosophical disagreement as long as you are on the “right side”.

come into such an establishment and orders a cake that that says, “Death to Gays” on it?—————————The gay bakers would accept the order, make the cake, take the money of the bigots, and laugh to the bank, leaving the bigots to wonder if they put something else in the cake.Any business that turns away sales for any reason as weak as what the customer does privately, is a business that deserves to close due to mismanagement.A business is open to do make money, not make moral judgements.

Why’s everybody going off on politics?This woman’s probably afraid Eddie’s a fisherman.If you’ve been around one, you may notice a peculiar odor.-People are so darn quick to jump to conclusions.

any gay that helps Ted Cruz deserves whatever anyone does to them. stupidity is one thing, helping the Devil is another. and Cruz is more evil than any concept of God or Satan. Ted Cruz is a lving thing, not really human, though. Helping Evil is not a Christian thing, or something Christ would do.

the whole concept of using Christ to hate is a really strange “take” on Christ. lol.

“If someone doesn’t want gay business that, too, is their right. "

No it is not. If you want to run a business you cannot discriminate on who you serve. Don’t want gay business? go do something else.Do you really want “whites only” signs back up in America, because thats where this “religious freedom” evil is leading to.

ROTFLOL

The diner’s clean, the coffee is hot and strong, my grandmother would recognize all the food, and the waitress has a sense of humor. My kind of place.

Hey Mrs Bad-Hair and Make-up.

I’m one of THEM. A God-fearing, blue jeans and baseball cap wearing, gun-owning & hunting, Constitution-reading Yankee who associates with odd people.

Today’s strip has nuance that can apply to either side of many social spats. I didn’t read yesterday’s, so I was thinking the new couple were the politically correct dominating the media. Then I caught-up and read yesterday’s and they are portrayed as the opposite. I prefer the nuance that every reader can enjoy for themselves. ..A see a sign that says No Twerking, I must be moving along …

Anyone else thinks Eddie is a walrus?: I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together (goo-goo goo-joob)!

Maybe she means people who ANALyse cartoons, if thats the case I agree with her. Sheesh, get a sense of humour!

>>> Force all people who wish to … enjoin the legal benefits of the social contract that is marriage to instead enter into a civil union.

This is the key problem – the use of the word “marriage” in civil law. “Marriage” and “married” and “spouse/husband/wife” appear all over the civil law, in property and financial and tax and even criminal matters. Marriage is not just one contract, it has become a collection of many little contracts gathered together. Religious definitions don’t have to change; at least in this country, one can choose what religious tradition to follow, and I don’t expect religious institutions to change quickly. But CIVIL law is supposed to be equitable for all, and with the large variety of rules that apply to a “married couple” it becomes clearer and clearer that it should apply to any two humans. My own story: got my first job with benefits shortly after my father died. I tried to get my mother onto my insurance as a dependent – with me paying for it! – but the only category the HR person thought we could get away with was “wife”. After all, we already had the same last name. :-) (The insurance company disallowed it, though. I guess the ages made it sort of obvious.)

She and her ‘whatever’ ought to realize what is going on in Baltimore. They are in badly need of an overall. Maybe Eddie could take them out on his little ship and keel haul them. If she had any integrity she would just open up and speak; no matter how distasteful. Unless there is nothing on her mind(?).

We have something in this country called public accommodation laws. It grew out of the civil rights struggles of the 60s, when businesses tried to discriminate against black people and not serve them. If you are open to the public, you serve all the public, period, and you must offer the same services. The businesses that have gotten in trouble have done so because they would make wedding cakes, but not for gay people. Note these same businesses, when pressed, said they would make cakes or deliver flowers for second and third weddings, or to celebrate a divorce, so they were being very hypocritical on their stances. For those above who said, well what if the KKK wanted a bakery to make a cake that says “Death to Gays,” the litmus test is whether said bakery makes other cakes that say “Death to (such and such).” If they do then yes, they would have to make one saying Death to Gays. If however, hate cakes wishing death on a group are not a service they offer to ANY member of the public, then no, they do not. That was why a court ruled in favor of a Colorado bakery when a someone made a similar request.

“Would that be in violation of the rules if they said NO to the hate group? One of the problems of such a law that forces those against their will to service someone inimical to their beliefs.”That is one of the most glaring of the issues with hate crime laws. They tend to punish for someone’s thoughts or beliefs.

I wanted more of the Abbott and Costello routine in the second panel.

Eddie is completely oblivious and Flo is demonstrating excellent sangfroid in the last panel. And the adventures (and the comments) continue…….

This isn’t very clever and from the comments seems to be sparking anger and intolerance rather than any positive addressing of the issue.

I remember when all we had to worry about was the Communists and whether or not we were religious enough.. When I was in school in the ‘40s and ’50s, we had bomb drills, and McCarthy’s witch hunts. (Is it true that Ronald Reagan wasn’t admitted because the local cell deemed him to stupid to be trusted?). We kids were terrified that we would either be attacked with bombs or dragged off to prison, or both. Anyway, a few days ago a young friend, who’s in college, asked me what was a Communist and what was so bad about them.Maybe someday a college kid will ask someone what was a “gay” or another group, which I won’t mention to allow this whole thread to die a well deserved death.

The Supreme Court is hearing the Marriage Equality cases today. The briefs against read like an anthology of Eddie’s tallest tales. It will be the end of the Republic! Christian priests and ministers who refuse to perform icky weddings will be thrown in prison, even martyred! The Antichrist is come, with Armageddon and the Rapture and the Kingdom to follow by next Tuesday at the latest! And not one of those intolerant buffoons has the decency to thank us.

“Not their thoughts, it is their actions based on those thoughts they react to.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~How true !

“Not their thoughts, it is their actions based on those thoughts they react to.”(Realize, I do not have an example, I am merely speculating.) The problem comes when the action is something that is already a crime garners more consequence when determined a “hate crime”. For example, a LBGT or non-white person is beaten. There are laws against assault and battery already on all books. However, if one commits the same act, but at the same time says, “I am doing this because you are gay (etc.)”, then that person gets the same consequence + additional consequence because it is a “hate crime”. Thus, you have effectively punished someone for their beliefs, insomuch as merely saying, “I am doing this because you are gay (etc.)”, is, in itself, not a crime.

Wiley: if I was reading this in a newspaper, it would be hilarious. But here, the comments suck all the funny out of it.

No one should tolerate smokers.

have to get to a class so i don’t have time to read through all the comments right now – just wanted to say – i love flo (read wiley)

I knew I wanted to read the comments on this one.

@Nabuqud……..naw, not gonna bother trying to spell a troll’s nameSURELY you realize that the Republicans have all kinds of minor factions, despite “big tent” talk? There are social conservative (some would call them “reactionary” but I won’t) Repubs, country club Repubs, isolationist Repubs, populist Repubs, libertarian Repubs, Repubs who are socially liberal yet economically conservative, and so forth.

@BrunoThat’s what I said yesterday, we should (just maybe!) wait to see who the “Them” actually is! (Eddie is one of my favorite current comic strip characters but I’d be hard-pressed to put him into ANY category of “them” since he’s one of a kind!)

I could have told you that most people wouldn’t be able to make that turn without going off-road.We used to have a turn like that with a big tree at the bottom of a hill. The tree had a crankshaft leaning against it and various automotive debris arrayed about it, like it was a shrine to poor driving. It was pretty cool, actually; like a comments section filled with angry opinions.

I’ve taken a quick look at the comments and I think most are off track. I believe that, together with yesterday’s strip (I anxiously await tomorrow’s), Wiley is characterizing those Islamists who chose to interpret Islamic writings as denying non-believers of their particular brand of Islam a [place on the planet. He is not simply criticizing rabid right-wingers or anti-gays. Left wingers, for all their “tolerance”, are just as intolerant.I suspect that Wiley is a bit surprised at the direction the comments have tended to go. It’s not a ha-ha sort of strip today but pokes fun at that insane level of intolerance.That’s the way I read it anyway.

But…but…look at the location of the coffee cup! That’s exactly where it would be if he was…LEFT-HANDED.

Bart Simpson is left-handed. I’m just saying…

All of these comments have led me to start being bigoted against the whole human race: after all, MOST of my ancestors were “done wrong” and I suspect most of them were done wrong by bleedin’ PEOPLE………

BTW. If it’s “cat people” in some form that they hate and are denying the right to life it would be somewhat synonymous with the “bicycle riders” in “Ship of Fools”. Wiley is just picking what’s already available in his comic.

There aren’t too many non-Fascist groups that would deny any other group the right to life — even when they disagree with their life style or ethnic history.

“Third base!”

Suggestion for Wiley" Make the “them” turn out to be us commenters. Ha-Haaaaaaa!

er……..er……….Wiley, I KINDA said the same thing yesterday!About how we don’t know who the “they” is yet? But it’s nice to see one of my favorite strips with all these comments, even though some of the commenters appear to be rabid and some appear to WISH they were rabid…….Whatever, this all reminds me of an old “Beetle Bailey” strip, when the soldiers are all congratulating the chaplain for his sermon. “You really socked it to ’em!” And the chaplain sighs and thinks, “The people I’m talking to always think I’m talking about OTHER people…….”

Wiley keeping us wondering. What or who are “They” “Them”?Well Capt’n Eddie is male. So yes. He is of the male gender. He is human. So yes. He is of our species.Unless aliens claim him as one of their own.:)

I’m always amazed at people like this. I love the captain’s answers! I do this same thing when I encounter funky people.