Posted on October 11, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
As we write this, an airplane has been circling overhead for hours. While staring at the sky a few moments ago, we saw a large drone. ICE is in Chicago, an hour and a half away. So is our son. And now, against all constitutional and legal authority, so is the Texas National Guard. In Illinois.
ICE is terrorizing Waukegan, a 25 minute drive from here. They are a masked cancer on decent society. Unleashed by an ignoble administration. As Thom Hartmann suggests, ICE is the modern KKK. Here to terrorize.
Yeats comes to mind: “The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity…” ~ W.B. Yeats,The Second Coming
Yes. Overwhelmed. And isn’t that the point of these brutal theatrics?
Posted on September 27, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
There’s a debate raging in the republican ranks. They are dropping the elephant as their branding mascot in favor of either a sheep or a lemming. If I had a vote I’d go with lemming.
The animal symbol most associated with cowardice is, of course, the chicken but the committee eliminated the chicken as a possibility since they did not want to create a possible rooster confusion. Roosters are symbols of great fighters and protectors and that would be misleading in the republican re-brand.
Think about it. In the past week we’ve seen the most egregious breach of the first amendment in modern history. We’ve witnessed the president publicly call for the prosecution of his enemies while simultaneously telling the assembled leaders of the UN that they are destroying their countries. There are crickets from the grand ole party. Not a word. Not a spine. And, through it all, the party of “family values” actively protects the identities of a legion of pedophiles lurking in the Epstein files. A complete abdication of responsibility; an abandonment of reason and morality.
Sheep? Lemmings? Both have merit. Maybe a chimera! A symbolic creature made from the parts of lemmings, sheep and chicken! A chilemshep. A lemchickpeep.
Supine: failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness. Who knew that “supine” and “republican” were interchangeable words!
Posted on September 20, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
Well, you’ve cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air But will you keep on building higher ‘Til there’s no more room up there Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry? Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?
I know we’ve come a long way We’re changing day to day But tell me, where do the children play?
Kerri regularly tells me to “gear down.” She’s asking me to simplify my thoughts so they are more accessible. It’s the reason I nodded knowingly when I read this in Thom Hartmann’s newsletter:
“The reason we’re at a pivotal moment in America is because most people don’t know how to answer this question: “How do you know when you’re really no longer living in a democracy?”
He makes a great point. Even though we have tanks rolling down civilian streets, masked thugs plucking people without warrant or due process, concentration camps popping up in swamps, the collapse of checks-and-balances, the intentional scrubbing of our history, an all-out assault on diversity and civil rights, a Supreme Court regularly ruling against the Constitution in support of a single man consolidating power… “Up until the last few days, most Americans didn’t think we’d lost our freedoms or are about to.”
He continues: “But everybody knows Jimmy Kimmel. So the new understanding is: ‘You know you don’t live in a free country any more when comedians can no longer criticize the president.‘”
So, here it is. Geared down so all can understand. We don’t live in a free country anymore. We can either mumble our way into autocracy or we can open our mouths and regain our freedoms. As Stephen Colbert said, “We’re all Jimmy Kimmel now.”
Posted on September 13, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
Winner of the most astute quote of the week: “It seems like we’re totally living in insanity,” he said, “every moment of every day.” ~ Erwin McClone, from the NY Times newsletter 9.12.25
But that’s not the winning quote. The Times reported that McClone also said that the killing (of Charlie Kirk) seemed to arise from an animus that was increasingly disconnected from facts, accountability and reason.
We are living inside the sickness of an administration that is increasingly disconnected from facts, accountability and reason. And, it’s not as if they started from a stable grounding in facts, a willingness to accept responsibility for their actions or a solid relationship with reason.
This week we experienced yet another shooting at a school. What else? The Supreme Court okayed racial profiling. The president declared war on Chicago. Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, he vehemently denies any connection to the Epstein Files and wants us to move on. He asks us – in all seriousness – to disconnect from the obvious facts, release him (and others) from accountability for their actions, and to unplug from our reason: to believe what he says and not what we see. We saw him, without evidence of any kind, incite violence against the democrats, blaming them for the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Animus. Increasingly disconnected from facts, accountability and reason.
Posted on September 6, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
There is a space of time between when we script the cartoon and when we write our posts about the cartoon. Sometimes something – some bit of information or an experience – falls into that space and colors what we write.
A mother talking to her small child about school-shooter-drills fell into the space. It invoked a different kind of wistful. I yearn for a time in our nation when the leading cause of death among our children is something other than a bullet.
What else fell into the space? A fractal. Knowing that our pathological-liar-president is surrounded by people who perpetuate his fantasy. He is protected from the messy truth.
But wait! Take a step back. The fox protects millions of the intellectually lazy from the messy truth. It wraps them with a woeful victim tale. They are made angry and violent by the perpetual assault of an illusion. But wait! We are witness to the scrubbing of our history, the erasure of civil rights and DEI, the banning of books, the stripping of exhibits from museums…all to promote a fantasy-tale of the USA, all to protect us from the messy truth of our nation.
It’s not the first time in our nation’s short history that we-the-people have been protected from seeing the full story of our nation. We are – and have been – surrounded by a fantasy-crap-tale: it’s called manifest destiny. White-people-good; white-males-especially.
Am I feeling the fall-wistfuls yet? No. I am just incredibly sad. Today I am witness to a mother teaching her bright inquisitive child to crouch in a dark corner and try to disappear. Today I am witness to the power players of my nation protect pedophiles instead of the children they raped. They are drilling us to crouch in dark corner. They are normalizing us to the necessity of disappearing.
I yearn for a time that has not yet happened in our history: a time when we are unafraid to look in the mirror and see the whole picture, all of it; the good, the bad, the ugly. I yearn for a time when we are capable of dealing with our truth rather than whipping up fantasies.
Maybe then we will summon the capacity to protect our children from real bullets rather than perpetuating the fantasy that gun control is an infringement upon cowboy culture. Or, to pull the mask off completely: maybe we will prioritize the safety of our children above the profits of weapons manufacturers; maybe we will prioritize the rights and safety of all people above protecting the irresponsibility, the outrages of the privileged few.
Maybe. I’m capable of wrapping myself in a protective feel-good fantasy, too. I come by it naturally. I am, after all, a citizen of the USA.
Posted on August 30, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
I’ve decided that I am stuck in the past. I used to call my doctor when I needed immediate doctoring, when I had the flu or, like this week, a suspicious bug bite that slowly started to take over my body. I admit to being a slow-study. It’s taken more than a few experiences to learn that when I need some medical attention from my “primary care physician” I will always – always – be met with a firewall called “the next available appointment”. Sometime in 2027.
A relevant side note: please keep in mind Master Marsh’s wise insight: “Customer service is a firewall against serving the customer.” I’ve discovered the same might be said of doctoring in these un-United States. My relationship with my primary care physician is, in fact, a firewall against primary care.
I’ve finally learned my lesson. As a first step, from this day forward, I will always go to urgent care. Or, I will join the legion of people clogging the arteries of the ER for non-emergency but very costly services. But I will never-ever call my doctor. I’ve learned at last that PCP stands for Periodic Care Physician.
In truth, I feel badly for my PCP. During my last visit for an annual physical he raced in and out with his rolling computer cart to maximize the seven minutes he was allowed to spend with me before he rolled on to his next seven minute patient encounter. He was moving so fast that he “mis-coded” my annual physical as a “welcome visit” so, apparently, in his mind, we sipped scotch and took a tour of the property. Sad. He barely had time to listen to my heart and has no time to listen to his own heart. I’m certain he went to medical school to help people but has found himself doing factory work and we-the-patients are his assembly-line-widgets.
I doubt that this was the career he imagined. It’s an unimaginable system that is designed for excessive billing and, therefore, is fantastically profitable – our healthcare system costs seven times more than any other developed nation – but has little or nothing to do with health or with care.
(Hey. Wait a minute! A spider bite was how Spiderman got started! I’ll keep you posted if I find that I am suddenly able to scale walls or swing through the city from self-generated webbing).
Posted on August 23, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of Christianity. The first places the emphasis on love and inclusion. The second places the emphasis on rules and exclusion. These two roads lead to wildly different worship-realities; two radically different world views.
Little things add up. Tens of millions of people getting up everyday determined to do small acts of kindness adds up to a damn powerful something.
It is also true that tens of millions of people getting up everyday determined to do small acts of cruelty also adds up to a damn powerful something. The sentiment cuts both ways.
Heather Cox Richardson suggested that we, the believers of love and inclusion, the woke, need to take back the narrative from the white supremacist christian nationalists currently flooding our airways, poisoning our brainwaves, and soiling our social media with incessant acts of cruelty.
Protesting cruelty is an act of kindness. Donating food to a food bank is an act of kindness. Calling your representatives and demanding that they serve you, the constituent, rather than the whims of a single man, is an act of kindness. Emphasizing love and kindness without apology – each and every day – is an act of strength.
Love and inclusion need not be soft. Kindness in the face of cruelty is not weakness; it is to stand up for what you believe. Calling out every single lie is not aggression, it is a commitment to truth. Small acts matter. Open doors for people. Literally and metaphorically.
Team cruelty is unapologetically standing up for what it believes. Each lie, each breach of the constitution, each broken promise, each gerrymander, each bully maneuver is a goosestep toward a damn powerful something. It’s called fascism.
If you believe that love is stronger than hate, that kindness is an act more powerful than cruelty, it is way past time to start stacking up the little things. Each and every day. Donate to the homeless shelter. Pick up the phone and call your representatives. Take to the streets with your neighbors and say, “Enough.” Join the tens of millions of others doing small somethings to create a damn powerful something: it’s called Democracy. It’s called love. It’s called inclusion. WE. The People.
Posted on August 16, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative
Our escape fantasies include a six month thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail and/or lengthy excursions to pretty-and-unpopulated places, living life in the tiniest trailer.
Since we like to make dreams come true and fantasies a reality, we’re actively gathering information on backpacks and gear. I’m interested in going ultralight since Kerri imagines that I will be carrying most of the gear on the 2,650 mile PCT.
Yesterday we needed a break so we went to a camper and RV lot and walked through several small, lightweight trailers. We learned about aluminum construction and lithium batteries. We stoked the fire in our gypsy souls.
Watercolors and ukuleles are easily transported whether in an ultralight backpack or in a tiny, tiny trailer. Artists on the go. Cameras and Ipads and apple pencils.
As our nation spirals ever downward into the dark sewer of authoritarianism, entertaining our escape fantasies seem more and more like coping mechanisms – every day pushing us ever closer to making the fantasy a reality. At this point, why not?
The answer to her question is, of course, no. We are not at the lowest ebb. But, we are at a crisis point: the Texas Democrats are preventing the unconstitutional gerrymander of their congressional maps. It seems that there is some fire and fight in the Democrats after all. The governors of blue states are going on offense against a rogue republican party that no longer believes in democracy.
As Governor Gavin Newson said, “We have to get off our heels and get on our toes.” The gloves are coming off. Even more hopeful is a sentiment from Mark Elias: if they gerrymander 5 seats, we gerrymander 30. This cannot be a game of tit-for-tat; our constitutional republic is at stake. We play their game, only better.
So. Are we at the lowest ebb yet? Certainly not. But there is now at least some small hope that our democracy has a chance of rising from the ashes. The stewards of democracy are like a sleeping giant that are finally opening their eyes, finally waking up.
The Direction of Intention 