Brodner’s Cartoon du Jour: Recent Stuff

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Central Park at 6 A.M.

Reservoir Dogs for The New Yorker

Going down to the reservoir in Central Park at 6 a.m. to get some shots. All the people here were there. A fun piece; no politics, no angst, just a scene. Like a fashion shoot.

Nancy Franklin review of Jersey Shore

In this week’s is the Nancy Franklin review of Jersey Shore. Never saw this before. Still scratching my head. Like these guys.

Obama and the first-year blues

Year One

For The Atlantic, Obama and the first-year blues, and his antecedents.

PS: They altered the color of the soil. It was too, er, rich for them.

Walter Cronkite

For that same issue, Walter Cronkite as the symbol of responsible, mainstream journalism. And how it collapses into Red and Blue on either side.

Mugwumps

Mugwumps were 19th-century pols who could move across party lines for the perceived good of the country. The piece, again for The Atlantic, imagines who modern mugwumps would be. Arnold S, Olympia Snowe, McCain, and Specter. I think McCain does that sometimes but then is forgetful.

Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat, the new conservative voice on the Times op-ed page, profiled here in Mother Jones. He wrote a scathing piece on Avatar last week. Funny to see a condemnation of the expression of cultural notions through sci-fi by a Lord of the Rings nut. Also loves the Church and Chesterton. Interesting character.

Warren Buffett for a Harper’s cover. He is the Messiah. Or at least one of them.

Two ugly guys for Infor

Lastly, my two ugly white guys for Infor. They have been invading and crushing people in airports everywhere. I modeled them on two of my favorite actors, Eugene Pallette and Oscar Homolka. Although they were funnier in the movies than here. Anyway, a very fun series.

Many thanks to Chris Curry, Caroline Mailhot, David Remnick, The New Yorker; Jason Treat, Melissa Bluey, The Atlantic; Tim Luddy, Mother Jones; Stacey Clarkson, Harper’s; Amy Frith, Paul Yokota, PJA Advertising.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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