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Political figures fair game for cartoonists
Bravo to The Lakeville Journal for publishing cartoons that are timely, insightful, and consistently on point. In his letter to the editor in the Sept. 4 edition, Tom Morrison complained that the cartoons unfairly target Republicans. Hmmmm… I looked back over the past few months of cartoons and found almost none with a character labeled as a Republican.
I did, however, see skewering of President Trump and Senator Joni Ernst — but haven’t political figures always been fair game for editorial cartoonists?
There is one cartoon from February that shows a character with “MAGA” written across the back of his shirt, facing a judge who is giving him a light sentence. Is that what Mr. Morrison is objecting to? If so, he might consider that the editorial cartoons are not criticizing people simply for their party affiliation, but for the policies and actions being promoted by a president who leads the Republican Party.
Citizens who continue to support a president known for spreading misinformation — and who back policies that undermine health insurance, voting rights, reproductive freedom, scientific research, and protections for vulnerable populations, while advancing tax breaks for the wealthy — should expect to be held accountable through satire and commentary, including in political cartoons. That’s the purpose of editorial cartoons: to provoke thought about what we are doing and supporting.
Rather than objecting to these well-founded criticisms, Mr. Morrison and others concerned about the Republican Party’s image might instead reflect on — and work to change — the policies and behaviors that are causing harm to millions, both in the U.S. and abroad.
As the saying goes: Hate the sin, but love the sinner.
Lee Greenhouse
Salisbury
In defense of Steiner’s cartoons
It’s interesting that Tom Morrison, Salisbury Republican Chair, perceives Peter Steiner’s cartoons as “mocking everything Republican.” The truth is, Steiner’s political art focuses mostly on people and policies, especially ones that are misguided, flawed, illogical, corrupt, cruel and anti-democratic. Done with humor and a light touch, cartoons like these may be one of the few ways left to subvert anything (or anyone) these days.
That Mr. Morrison takes such offense is telling, too. It reminds me of a similar confrontation in New York City, when after the Civil War, Thomas Nast’s cartoons in Harper’s Weekly relentlessly lampooned William “Boss” Tweed and his corrupt Tammany Hall. Boss Tweed famously cried out: “Stop them damned pictures!”—a protest that now sounds remarkably familiar. But the popular cartoons proved extremely effective, and ultimately, they led to Tweed’s ouster and conviction.
Maybe history will repeat.
Henry Labalme
West Cornwall
Another way to look at Medicaid cuts impact
Regarding Cameron Smith’s letter of Sept. 4 listing his version of misconceptions about projected negative effects of Medicaid cutbacks in the One Big Beautiful Bill, here is another set of counter-facts.
1. Investigating Medicaid fraud and abuse has always occurred in previous administrations, though new schemes continue to pop up. Further savings from investigating fraud could happen BUTthere is so much disarray in HSS under RFK jr, and so many firings, including those by DOGE, that who is left to carry out adequate investigations?
2. Undocumented Immigrants are NOT ELIGIBLE for Federal funds like Medicaid and only receive certain emergency services,No savings there. However, 1.4 million people will likely be removed from STATE Medicaid rolls as a result of Federal cutbacks to states who don’t throw both legal and undocumented people off such state funding. By the way, those people are mostly low-income children, some of whom are U.S. citizens.
3.Undocumented immigrants pay taxes, including federal, state, and local taxes!In 2023, households led by undocumented immigrants contributed approximately $89.8 billion in total taxes, which includes $55.8 billion in federal taxes and $33.9 billion in state and local taxes.
4. More than 4 in 10 Connecticut families live on the edge of their financial capability. This “Big and Beautiful Bill will be devastating to a very large number of vulnerable people in Connecticut and to the hospitals that we all use in this state and elsewhere
Barbara Maltby
Lakeville
It’s the candidate, not the party
Once again we are embarking on another November election when we choose the individuals we want to serve in our local offices, boards and commissions.And once again Republican candidates face virtually insurmountable odds: the town’s 421 registered Republicans are badly outnumbered by registered Democrats (1534) and Unaffiliated voters (1083).
If past elections are a guide, Democrats and the majority of Unaffiliated voters will – due to their feelings about national politics – cast their votes for all the Democrat and/or Independent candidates on the ballot.Yet November 4th is a purely local election.The hot button issues that consume so much television, print and social media attention are not the least bit relevant to the upcoming local election.All voters should want the most talented, honest and dedicated members of the community to assume responsibility for governing our town.
The Republican party has two such candidates on the November ballot: Don Mayland, running for Selectman, and Peter Becket, running for the Board of Assessment Appeals.
Don Mayland has been part of the Lakeville/Salisbury community since 1970.He taught economics at Hotchkiss for 38 years, served as a Director of Litchfield Bancorp for 41 years (26 years as Chairman), served on the Board of Finance for 24 years and served three terms as one of our three Selectmen.Don is highly respected in the Salisbury community; during his nine years as a Selectman, he worked extremely well with First Selectman Curtis Rand and Democrat Selectman Chris Williams.In 2023, he lost his bid for re-election by two votes.
Peter Becket is a graduate of Yale University, has an MBA from Columbia University and served as an Infantry Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.Peter has long been active in the community, including service on the Board of Education (he is a current member), the Fire House Building Committee and the Transfer Station Recycling Committee.Peter’s business experience as a bank officer, real estate agent and business appraiser makes him uniquely qualified for hearing disputes about property valuation, which is the mission of the Board of Assessment Appeals.
Salisbury would be fortunate to have Don Mayland return as a Selectman and Peter Becket to bring his valuation expertise to the Board of Assessment Appeals.They deserve your vote on November 4th.
Tom Morrison,
Chair, Salisbury Republican Town Committee
Lakeville
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125 years ago — September 1900
Quiet supreme reigns in and around our homes again; school has commenced.
The new foot bridge over the brook near the Library is being placed in position. The new structure will add greatly to the convenience of the public and the general appearance of that section of the highway.
SHARON — The Messrs. Geo. Gay and Frank Northrup intend laying pipes from the mountain directly opposite Mr. Gay’s for the purpose of bringing water from a large spring there to the two houses and barns.
Geo. Klebes of Sharon Valley has purchased and will soon move into the home of his father, the late Michael Klebes.
The work of fitting up the new telephone office at Gordon’s is being done. This, when completed, will occupy a large corner of Mr. Gordon’s store and will add greatly to the telephone service.
Miss Nellie Ryder, who went on from Falls Village to Klondike to meet and wed U.G. Meyers, got there all right and was married July 26th. — Now living in Eagle City.
100 years ago — September 1925
The many friends of Mrs. George Williamson were shocked to hear that she had been accidentally shot by a revolver at her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday, the bullet entering the abdominal section. She was hurried to the hospital and her parents, Dr. and Mrs. William Bissell, were notified. They at once left by the first train for Albuquerque. At the last moment before going to press the Journal learns that Mrs. Williamson seems slightly better and some slight hopes of her recovery are entertained.
William Brewster Hubbard died from a fractured skull at his home at Cream Hill near West Cornwall last Friday. He was carrying a pail of milk from his cow barn when he slipped and fell, striking his head, and died almost immediately. Mr. Hubbard was one of Cornwall’s prominent citizens and had a wide circle of friends throughout this section.
LAKEVILLE — Several from here have gone to Torrington to work.
Mrs. John Barrymore, wife of the noted actor of New York and Mrs. F.G. Gerard of Newport were guests at The Gateway on Wednesday night.
50 years ago — September 1975
A moving van had to be pressed into service last week, when a woman in an iron lung needed emergency transportation from her home to Sharon Hospital. Arnoff Moving & Storage Inc. in Lakeville was called upon when Genie Chester of Lime Rock was taken ill at her home. Her 3000-pound iron lung was too heavy to be handled by the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance. The five men who responded to the call — Larry Farnham, Francis Flint, Robert Francis, Bryant Killmer and Walter Killmer — refused to charge for their work time, and the Arnoff firm donated the use of the moving van. Mrs. Chester was reported in “good” condition at the hospital on Wednesday of this week. A spokesman for Arnoff said the men were expecting to carry her on the return trip to her home Thursday morning.
Deer poaching is a big business in the Northwest Corner and combating it takes much time of enforcement personnel, Conservation Officer Peter Begley told members of the Salisbury Rotary Club Tuesday. One group sold 125 deer during 1973-1974, mostly taken in the Northwest Corner, he said. Another took more than 100 deer from the Cornwall area to New York in a U-Haul truck in 1969-1970. Last year one crew killed 22 deer in a single night and one man alone killed eight. Another man bought an illegally killed deer for $75 and sold it to an undercover conservation officer for $150.
New York City’s famed Salmagundi Club, the oldest art club in the United States, has announced the winner of the 1975 Graphics and Sculpture Exhibition’s First Prize, member Alderson Magee, wildlife artist from Sharon. Mrs. Magee’s scratchboard drawing “Prairie Refuge,” showing two Pintail ducks landing ahead of a severe Midwest thunderstorm, was the winning entry.
Four Sheffield youths were arrested quickly Sunday evening after a robbery at Segalla’s Service Station in Canaan. The young men allegedly took $190 from the cash register of the gas station. The young men parked their car along side of the road, entered the gas station. According to attendant William Sackett, he found one of the boys in the office and noticed the cash register had been tampered with, and opening it, discovered all the bills had been removed. The boy denied any knowledge of the missing money and ran. A customer waiting outside noticed the make of the car and its license number, enabling police to trace the young men.
25 years ago — September 2000
CANAAN — In years to come, William Warner can truthfully tell his tale about catching “the big one.” The 11-year-old, bursting with delight and displaying a beaming smile, described how he had seen a large pike swimming in the Housatonic River for quite a while, but was unable to snag it with his pole. That was, until last Saturday, when his Phoebe, or silver lure, attracted the elusive fish. The sixth-grader at North Canaan Elementary School said catching the 38-incher was the easy part. Lifting it up on shore presented difficulties. The squirming pike, fighting for freedom, was finally landed by William and his brother Matthew, but not before Matthew’s skin was punctured by the fish’s sharp teeth. The family plans to have William’s “pride and joy” mounted.
The leaves on Allen Cockerline’s cornstalks have not begun to droop like those on other stalks aound the Northwest Corner. They remain green and erect, like arms reaching up to heaven. Mr. Cockerline, a farmer and artist, has etched a mystical corn maze into the fields he tends at the border of Falls Village and Lime Rock, at the intersection of routes 7 and 112. The maze has become a popular destination for weekend travelers to the region. “A lot of families come,” Mr. Cockerline said. “They seem to have the most fun, because the kids can usually ditch their parents in the maze.”
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Kirk’s murder and the cancel culture
Sep 17, 2025
Over the last century in the United States what has become known as cancel culture has moved from the political right to the political left.
The Red scares of the 1920s and 1950s were a conservative phenomenon that blacklisted, deported, and even imprisoned people for real or suspected leftist political views that were equated, often wrongly, with treason and disloyalty.
Today cancel culture is a leftist phenomenon that contrives no pretense about treason and disloyalty. It seeks to silence conservatives simply because they are politically objectionable. The shooter who assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, the conservative advocate of free speech and sincere dialogue with the other side, was the exemplar of cancel culture, illuminating where it will take the country.
Being allied with cancel culture, most Democratic officials don’t want to examine the Kirk assassination too closely. Democrats, including Connecticut’s U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and U.S. Reps. John B. Larson and Jahana Hayes, seem to prefer to attribute the assassination to the country’s gun problem, so as to put Republicans, defenders of Second Amendment rights, on the defensive. During an angry confrontation on the floor of the House of Representatives on Sept. 10, Hayes objected to a call for prayers for Kirk and his family, shrieking, “Pass some gun laws!”
There may be room for more gun laws on the federal level, but the assassination of Kirk is not an argument for them. Kirk appears to have been killed by an ordinary bolt-action hunting rifle, not the sort of semi-automatic rifles Democrats delight in mislabeling as “assault weapons” as they seek to outlaw them. Is the country now to outlaw even rudimentary rifles while nearly all gun crime is committed with handguns?
Connecticut’s gun laws already are nearly the most restrictive in the country and the state’s problem is not that it lacks laws but enforcement.
Connecticut’s gun laws already are nearly the most restrictive in the country and the state’s problem is not that it lacks laws but enforcement. Two years ago the state Office of Legislative Research reported that nearly two-thirds of criminal charges involving guns in Connecticut were routinely dropped in plea bargaining to get convictions on related charges considered more serious, like robbery.
If Connecticut ever took gun crime seriously it would make the gun charges the most serious and upon conviction impose mandatory sentences of life without parole. But then most new imprisonments would involve impoverished members of racial minorities, and legislators might be asked where all the poverty keeps coming from despite all the money they spend in the name of reducing it.
While from the beginning American political rhetoric often has been venomous, it never has been as venomous as it is today.
President Trump is a major perpetrator of it but he is far outnumbered by its perpetrators among the Democratic Party’s looney left in government and academia, and at least Trump hasn’t turned his office into an agency of cancel culture. His many firings of executive branch Democrats are matters of political patronage, explained by the great insight of Kentucky Sen. Alben Barkley, a Democrat, during the 1948 presidential campaign: “What is a ‘bureaucrat’? A ‘bureaucrat’ is a Democrat who holds an office some Republican wants.”
What can stop cancel culture from getting even more murderous and totalitarian? Only a return to what Judge Learned Hand called the spirit of liberty:
“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias. The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded. The spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near 2,000 years ago, taught mankind the lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten: that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.”
Charlie Kirk pursued the spirit of liberty. May others still dare to follow him.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years.
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