This is what happens. When as a society we allow ignorance to be protected under the guise of politics or religion. When we defend other people's insecurities in an attempt to conserve and protect values that may be traditional to some but oppressive to others. 

This is what happens when we don't promote respect and acceptance of diversity through knowledge and understanding. We encourage ignorance which promotes fear and hatred of people different from us. This is inexcusable. My heart goes out to the LGBTQ community and the victims of today's massacre in Orlando.

​Calling this an act of terrorism or a gun tragedy or anything other than a hate crime is taking away from the LGBTQ community and almost making an excuse by blaming it on something else, distracting from the real issue. The fact of the matter is that as a society we have been doing this for generations.  LGBTQ people have been murdered, beaten and raped (yes raped) just because they simply consensually love another person that a heteronormative culture does not approve of. Not to mention the countless amounts of discrimination they faced and continue to face on a daily basis. From marriage rights to lack of employment protection to getting something as inoffensive as a cake baked for their wedding.  This is a hate crime and we have all been complicit in it.

As a nation we still treat our LGBTQ brothers and sisters as less than or something other than. Even with the Marriage Equality act they are still second class citizens.  Then there is the astronomically high suicide rate among teens that are LGBTQ. As I write this, sexually active gay people are being denied the ability to donate blood to the victims in Orlando, but not sexually active straight people. The odds are stacked against anyone that is not "straight and normal" in our world and the systemic support is pretty much non-existent.

​Can we make this a terrorism issue? Yes, of course. After all, the guy did claim allegiance to ISIS. Can we make this a gun issue? Absolutely. It was a gunman. He used guns. Can we make this a religious issue? Very much so. Much like the Westborough Baptist Church, ISIS is a fundamentalist extremist sect of a very popular world religion.  Can we make this a political issue? Certainly. All the presidential hopefuls have all chimed in. But in the end, we are all avoiding the deeper issue; excused, acceptable, and defendable ignorance, hate and intolerance. 

How many times have we called someone the "f" word. The one that ends with "g"?  Or said "that's so gay"? Or heard someone else do it and not say anything? Furthermore, we don't stop to consider if the person saying it is with ISIS or what political party or religion they belong to.  More often than not its excused, because its "just a joke".

​You want to fight religious extremism? Fight ignorance first. Religious extremists need ignorance in order to brainwash people into following them and their warped beliefs.  You want to put an end to gun violence? Fight ignorance first. We need responsible gun owners and not ignorant ones. Don't use the 2nd amendment right (which is how this gunman was able to acquire this weapon LEGALLY) to threaten others or as an excuse to constantly live in fear that someone may attack you. Banning guns won't make a difference, ignorance always finds a way.  You want to fight homophobia? Fight ignorance first. Being afraid of people that are different from the majority is how we got the public lynchings during the first half of the 20th century.

​We make excuses to defend our ignorance. We shield it under religious beliefs, politics, superstition, tradition, pseudoscience or morality. Its time to drop our defenses and open up and accept. Its the only way to learn and gain knowledge over our fear of the unknown, and its the only way to fight ignorance.

It seems Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will be facing off as the Presidential nominees for each party. Its time to decide between a corporate owned establishment legacy candidate in Hillary Clinton or the big mouthed, bigoted billionaire in Trump that allegedly bought her in 2005 to go to his wedding according to his claims. If we this is correct then crazy ole Trump wins whether or not he becomes POTUS. If he wins the Presidency, well, he wins. If he loses, he STILL wins, because all he has to do to get the President to do his bidding is offer her more money again according to how he claims Hillary works. Remember, as with most foul deals, the devil is in the details.

Sooo, it seems Mr. Trump decided he's going to come and stump in Arizona isn't that special? The most ignorant and racist Republican candidate has taken an interest in campaigning in the most ignorant and racist state in the nation, my home state of Arizona. What a shocker. As I write this there are multiple protests going on in Tucson and along the freeway from Phoenix  to Tucson, by the few Arizonans whose brains haven't been rotted out dealing with the backwards policies and regressive leaders in this state. I doubt these protests will be the last of them in the nation. Good ole' racist Don even managed to find the most racist public official in Arizona, Joe Arpaio and went to go get his blessing. Seeing as how the Trump circus is not going to see an end anytime soon, I figured the least I could do was try to contribute and help out the good people that decided to stand up against such a bigoted bully. For this reason I have made my Trump digital download free to anyone that wants to use it to protest. So anyone in any part of the world or USA can now download my Trump caricature for digital use. You can make a kickass meme or Facebook post, tweet or anything else.  Feel free to share this with as many people you know that want to stand up to this clown. Happy protesting and please don't let this idiot become POTUS.

The primaries are now in full swing and even though the Republican field has the more entertaining candidates, the Democrats have the more interesting race.
Hillary Clinton, the expected front-runner, has encountered a major hurdle in the form of a fiery ole democratic socialist from Vermont by the name of Bernie Sanders. The guy has managed to close a 50-point gap and give Clinton a run for her Wall Street-backed money. He's also motivated the millennials and raised millions in private donations, which Goldman-Sachs was probably not expecting. Sanders has not only won several states, but has managed to make Clinton look like the only sane conservative running for president. During the last couple of debates, Hillary's best strategy in defeating Bernie has been to say the same thing he said months earlier. Although, he is still behind her in the polls, he's maintained a close enough distance to keep the Clinton campaign awake at night — so much so, that they finally agreed to appear in a debate hosted by Fox News. Sanders had agreed to do it way before her all on his own, but after he took Kansas, Maine, and Nebraska she had a sudden change of heart about the whole Fox thing, or maybe she just had a bit of "heart Bern."

​Feel free to download and share the cartoon with this link.