The World of Justice Scalia

Here’s a well-informed Supreme Court Justice of the United States.  According to a New York Magazine article, Justice Scalia only reads The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times.  He admits he gets most of his news from talk radio and his favorite host is Bill Bennett.Scalia

*update: Be sure to read Justice Scalia’s answer to why he became an avid hunter.  Scalia recounts when his grandfather and namesake Antonino became too old to go out into the woods, he would sit on the back porch and shoot rabbits who ventured out in the vegetable garden.  When the interviewer suggests this isn’t a very sporting way to hunt, Scalia excuses it because his grandfather was 85 at the time.  I wonder if Justice Scalia will be metaphorically shooting defenseless things from the Court bench in his old age…

*update #2: “… the only heroic opinion I ever issued— was my statement refusing to recuse”,  Justice Scalia said of his decision not to recuse himself from the case which involved former Vice-president Cheney, his hunting buddy.  If I can find the cartoon I did about that case, I’ll post it soon.

Found it!  From 2004:ScaliaResponseRecusalSM

A very disturbing development…

Yesterday as I was finishing up a deadline, I noticed this at the Guardian website. The partner of  Glenn Greenwald (one of the journalists who broke the Snowden/NSA story) was detained for 9 hours at London’s Heathrow airport.  As an American and an editorial cartoonist, this is a very disturbing development.  I remember right after 9/11 how ordinary people were detained for weeks without access to legal counsel, all in the name of preventing terrorism threats.

This reinforces one of my biggest fears- that people who criticize the government will be targeted.  Every time I’m interviewed  I always talk about how we American cartoonists never have to face the types of threats other cartoonists around the world do because we have the First Amendment to protect us.  This is the first time I truly feel the situation has changed.

Here’s Glenn’s response and Andrew Sullivan’s piece challenging PM Cameron.  Be sure to read the last line; the unfortunate reality is that it’s a question which needs to be asked.121201ScarletLetter

Cartooning for Peace in NYC

I’m in NYC for a Cartooning for Peace interview with fellow cartoonists Liza Donnelly and Jeff Danziger.  The filming was done at the historic Society of Illustrators building.  We discussed the state of cartooning, free speech, and what limitations we deal with here in the US.imageimage

Jeff Bezos of Amazon buys The Washington Post

WPost5thFloorI work from home so I only go into the actual Washington Post building about once a month to meet with my editor and touch base.  Since it was such a beautiful day, Jim suggested we talk over coffee at the corner Starbucks.  As we waited for the elevator, groups of WPost employees were making their way down to a company wide meeting where everyone expected the announcement of the location of their new offices to be made (there were plans for months to sell the iconic 15th Street building).  Right as we sat down Jim received a text and said something like “Holy sh**!  The Washington Post was just bought by Jeff Bezos!”  I thought he was kidding at first but as soon as I started scrolling my twitter feed, I could see it was true.  Amazingly, no one saw this coming- it seemed like everyone at the WPost was caught by surprise and genuinely shocked.

More to come….

Bradley Manning verdict today

Today a military judge will rule on the Bradley Manning Wikileaks case.  If Private Manning is convicted on the “aiding the enemy” charge, he could face life without the chance of parole in a military prison.  Regardless if you feel Manning is guilty or innocent, this could have a serious impact on investigative journalism and how much we know about what our government is doing.  It’s a big deal.HolderLetterPutin

Helen Thomas 1920 -2013

Journalist Helen Thomas died yesterday at the age of  92.  A tenacious and outspoken trailblazer for many young female reporters, Thomas covered the White House for over fifty years.  Her career unfortunately ended in controversy but I will forever remember and thank her for this exchange with then White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.  If only all journalists approached their jobs like Helen did. 101906InterroTechniq

Dear Malala: I am writing this letter to explain why we tried to kill you

In a bizarre development, a senior member of the Pakistani Taliban has written a letter to Malala Yousafzai explaining why the Taliban tried to murder the then 15 year-old school girl.  The handwritten, rambling, 4-page letter (which jumps around from British colonialism to pointing out that Henry Kissinger is Jewish)  insisted that she was not targeted because of her support for education, but because of her “smearing campaign” against the Taliban. Last Friday Malala delivered a very inspiring speech at the United Nations supporting girls’ education and received a standing ovation. It’s as though the Taliban just realized that they need to launch a PR campaign to fix their misogynistic image.092501Taliban&Women

 

Rep. Peter King calls for prosecuting Glenn Greenwald

With the latest developments on Syria and red lines, you might have missed a member of Congress calling for a reporter to be prosecuted for doing his job.  Appearing on CNN, Rep. Peter King said that journalists who reported the leaks of the NSA’s surveillance program should be prosecuted.  Later on Fox News he singled out the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, claiming that Greenwald would release the names of CIA operatives.  Greg Sargent has Greenwald’s response here.RepPeterKing