Mike Luckovich for January 12, 2021

If they want to stop the actual steal that Trump and his thugs are trying to perpetrate, they are going to need to deploy a lot more capitol police and federal officers.

It does create a challenge when it is the president of the United States trying to wage a war of rebellion in an attempted coup to take over a country that soundly rejected him at the ballot box, by a margin of MORE THAN SEVEN MILLION VOTES (actual votes of real people), plus an Electoral College margin that Trump himself described as a “landslide.”

Yes it is time for unity.

Unity means coming together lawfully and in peace.

There can be no unity as long as brutish thugs riot in the streets, rampage in the United States Capitol for the specific intent of disrupting a Constitutionally-mandated joint session performing a Constitutionally-mandated administrative function in their fascist attempt to subvert a U.S. election and overthrow the incoming ELECTED government.

Suggestions welcome. We need all the ideas we can get as we face mounting new calls for more violence in all 50 state capitals and to interfere with a peaceful transition to the incoming Biden administration.

What additional suggestions might help REAL unity and stop the real efforts at divisiveness, terrorism, insurrection and another Civil War?

republican definition of “unity” is; they’re in total control, everyone else roll over and play dead.

I wonder if centrist Democrats will subscribe to “Nazi-lite”, to, you know, “heal the nation” by lame responses to rethugican policies? Things like not addressing family separations at the border, voter suppression, etc.

Time for SANITY.

I’m for unity. How about, for a change you just get over it, snowflake, and let the guy who won drive the bus, eh?

You realize, the Neanderthal that the illustration depicts, is going to demand royalties for using his image here, and everywhere else, as soon as he gets out of jail!!!

Partisan republicans still support vicious liar unAmerican Trump.

Perfectly drawn Mike ♥

I think the Elephant is talking out it’s butt.

Not with anarchists, insurrectionists, Nazi supporters, racists, Confederate supporters and anti-Semites. There is NO place at the table for them.

I just posted this somewhere else, but that ship has sailed.

Comic book culture.

That’s a big f$ck you.

Like, after losing a game, the other team wants to settle for a tie.

Until such time as DNC leadership admit that Hillary was right — that this minority of bellicose morons really are deplorable — then sadly, the party’s impulse will continue to be promoting unity rather than justice and expurgation. You can’t lead a nation by compromising with stupidity, lies and treasonous intentions.

The GOP is no longer a legitimate political party, but a secessionist organization akin the the Confederate States of America. Anyone who represents or bears allegiance to it must be banished from public service within the U.S. for the remainder of their life, and stripped of citizenship and voting rights, starting with Donald Trump and from Mitch McConnell on down.

Yeah no.

That guy’s Mom just pleaded with the judge to make sure he gets only organic food. He gets sick if he eats non-organic. What a warrior.

We CAN have unity in America. it starts by NEVER VOTING FOR ANY REPUBLICAN IN ANY ELECTION EVER AGAIN. Soon the Gross Old Perverts Party will all die off, and be relegated to the trash heap of history, where they belong!

This just in; the president is claiming Ohio State won the national championship! Won it by a landslide! The actual game was rigged! There was massive fraud going on behind the scoreboard! He’s got proof! Loads of Proof!

Republicans have exclusive rights to revenge.

Invoke Section 3 of Amendment 14 to the Constitution: “No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” Gohmert, Brooks, Hawley, Cruz need addressing.

Republicans preferred division while they thought they had the upper hand… now as they see their power collapsing they demand forgiveness despite that being something they never would have given to their opponents…

Might makes right! “Gott Mit Uns”: Old German motto worn on the belt buckle of every Wehrmacht soldier during the Third Reich.

Time for elephant steaks.

For most Republicans in congress it’s Trump over country no matter what he does. They’ve made their choice of hills to die on.

This guy should lose his military benefits for what he did.

Jake Angeli (the Buffalo man) was arrested in Phoenix last Saturday. May he rot in jail.

Funny how these same hypocrites rolled their eyes, back when Biden championed it.

The dangerous thing here is that we are so busy laughing we overlook the armed criminals and insurrectionists.

Imagine that Black Lives Matter protesters or some other non-WASP group did the same things Trump insurrectionists did. How would Republicans respond if Dems called for a group hug and Cum-ba-ya moment?

“Time for Unity”

Time for a well-placed donkey kick!

Balderdash! The country does not owe Republicans’ a free ride and universal forgiveness in the name of healing for this past year. We tried that after Nixon gave us Watergate. We tried it again with Reagan after the Iran-Contra scandal. We ignored Bush’s perfidy and lies that drove us to war in Iraq. Three strikes and you’re out. Time to hold Republicans accountable for their bad acts and while we’re at it, crush that damned party. I’m repeating myself, I’m posting the same thing on other cartoons promoting unity. Unity, my butt.

Tiny little graphic-design aside here. Look up the actual GOP logo. You’ll notice that the official version has the stars point down, as in the Satanic pentagram symbol. I wonder if this little detail would suffice to tweak just a wee bit of doubt in the “minds” (I use the term loosely) of their fundagelical Kool-Aid addicts.

No reconciliation without confession.

1 of 2:

I have encountered an interesting development over the last few days. While i eschew reactionaries and radicals, my friends and members of my family range from liberals through conservatives (REAL conservatives, not the reactionaries who abused the conservatives and moderates of the Republican Party by pretending to just be a different flavor of conservative like the Nazis did to German conservatives in the 1930s before they turned on them, too).

Recently, conservative friends are asking me what I suggest that they can do. They are seeing big problems but feeling lost because they can not correct big problems.

So, to others who have not yet asked anyone each of these questions but are wondering about them:

Rediscover the main stream media and follow more than one station or one paper. It has to fact check; retractions indicate responsibility. If you don’t encounter fact checking then try others instead. Undermining trust in the media is one of the major tools of dictators.

Not ready yet? Then begin with non-partisan fact checkers. The two very best are probably Politifact and Fact Check:

https://www.politifact.com/

https://www.factcheck.org/

The other really important thing you can do is something that good parents do all the time. In fact, one of the people who asked me is among the best parents I know.

You set limits, realize when those lines are being dragged too far, express displeasure about and to those who try to manipulate your limits and you decry the public figures who do so. It seems small, but it really adds up when a lot of people do it consistently. It was the major tool set when liberals set limits on radicals in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although it takes time and vigilance, it works.

When you talk with friends and with family typically the problem is the message rather than the messenger, so judge the situation and phrase your wording accordingly.

2 of 2:

You can turn off the radio or tv stations when they put on reactionary talking heads, and let their advertisers know that you will purchase from their competitors because they finance reactionaries.

Be aware that it is easy to just flow along with things you are hearing instead of thinking about them. The written word gives you a better chance to pause and realize when an argument is illogical or manipulative. You owe such critical examination to yourself and to our nation.

When a friend or family member expresses support for a reactionary you can express displeasure about the reactionary being supported. It does not have to be a long statement or an angry one. It needs to be firm.

You can refuse to vote for politicians who are reactionary or to enable reactionary candidates. If you want, you can vote outside your party based on what you learn about candidates and their voting history (rather than promises which are often self-contradictory hot air). Otherwise, you can simply withhold your vote from the bad candidates and vote only for others. You do not need to vote on every row of a ballot.

When enough people tackle the small problems then usually the large problems can be avoided; that is not always true, but usually it is.

“The silence of good people is more dangerous than the brutality of bad people.” Martin Luther King

When he appeared in court, horn head claimed that the door was open, so he walked in, therefor he was not breaking any law. His lawyers then stated he couldn’t eat any food he had been given so far, because as a Shaman, he could only eat organic foods. The judge told the sheriff’s office to look into seeing that his dietary needs were met.

We decided it was politically incorrect to Neanderthals to call these folk that.

How much will he get after they hang him?

Compromise with a Republican means give him half of what he wants. He will be back next week and ‘compromise’ for the other half.

Sowed disunity for over forty years. Gerrymandered electorates, plotted to disenfranchise voters and now you want unity? Get outtatown!

Funny how Bi-Partisan they get whenever they are Losing.

This completely captures what made me so angry today when I saw how many in the GOP are saying that Trump shouldn’t be impeached because “we need to unite the country”. Oh really?! They have demonized ALL Democrats as socialist and far left extreme for years now. The GOP lead Senate wouldn’t convict Trump in the first impeachment saying “we should let the voters decide”. And then when we did decide and voted for Biden overwhelmingly, they then supported Trump with his lie that the election was rigged…all the way up through January 6th, even after the insurrection at the US Capitol! They are in no position to claim that they are going to lead the country into unity, they are a bunch of hypocrites.

Published in the local paper today, well worth sharing:

’Twas the day after the election, and all thru the lands

A creature was stirring — he had tiny hands.

The election was stolen, he loudly lamented.

Most people think that he’s slightly demented.

He called for his lap dogs, his toadies and thugs,

They’re really quite nasty, he gives them all hugs.

“Now Johnson, now Hawley, now Rudy and Cruz.

“On Pence, on Junior, we’ve nothing to lose.

“Scream it and shout it from the top of the roof,

“Don’t let them know that we don’t have the proof.”

They lied and they sued, and they sued and they lied,

They came up with stories that no one has tried.

Republican judges said “no” to his case,

“You haven’t the proof, and it’s just a disgrace.”

He called up officials to give him more votes.

They told him he’s wrong and referred to their notes.

His giant brain came up with an idea so vile,

It made him feel better than he had for a while.

He gathered a mob filled with Nazis and such,

It seems quite bizarre, but he is out of touch.

He met them and praised them and told them to fight.

He is really unable to tell wrong from right.

His family partied while they watched the attack,

As usual he and his cronies stayed safely in back.

Democracy bruised, it continued its work —

They counted the ballots and kicked out the jerk.

His allies were bailing, his future quite hazy,

Except for some toadies who were just as crazy.

We yelled from the Capitol as he drove out of town,

“We don’t want you back, you devious clown.”

—Mike Anderson, of Oregon, Wisconsin, letter to the editor, Wisconsin State Journal, 2021 Jan. 12

No unity until there is accountability.

Actually, he is a member of Antifa in disquisition!!!

Reported by The Washington Post: “As hospitals across California braced this week for a surge in COVID-19 patients who got infected over Christmas, officials relayed painful stories of dying victims’ last moments with their families,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “‘One of the more heartbreaking conversations that our healthcare workers share is about these last words when children apologize to their parents and grandparents for bringing COVID into their homes for getting them sick. And these apologies are just some of the last words that loved ones will ever hear as they die alone,’ Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said."

“We got to get rid of the weak congresspeople, the ones that aren’t any good, the Liz Cheneys of the world.”

 —Donald J. Trump (1946- ), 45th President of the United States, incitement to mob he had summoned prior to their storming the US Capitol, 2021-01-06

And Rep. Jim Jordan wonders why Liz Cheney, after having had a huge gang of terrorists sent to murder her (and, not so incidentally, also hang Mike Pence if they happened to run across him), intends to vote in favor of impeachment