News of a new. fast-spreading Covid-19 variant called omicron swept the world this week. Scientists went into high gear to learn its properties. Flight bans disrupted international air travel. Financial markets gyrated. President Joe Biden and public health officials urged Americans to get vaccinated or to get a booster shot, especially before the holidays.
Politics were not far behind. Supporters of former President Donald Trump noted Biden’s hypocrisy on flight bans — he called it xenophobia when Trump did it. Editorial cartoonists Dana Summers and A.F. Branco picked up on that contradiction.
Other cartoonists emphasized Americans’ weariness of coping with the pandemic’s evolving threats. Walt Handelsman of the New Orleans Advocate/Times-Picayune literally slams the door on omicron. Scott Stantis of the Chicago Tribune feels the shadow of the omicron variant just as he was getting back on his feet.
Cartoonists also took note of a school shooting in Michigan, where four students were killed and both the alleged shooter and his parents were accused of crimes; oral arguments before the Supreme Court on a Mississippi case widely seen as an opportunity to strike down the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion; CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s suspension after it was revealed he actively shaped a defense strategy for his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as sexual harassment allegations piled up; and continuing supply chain problems.
Cartoons were drawn by Nick Anderson, Bill Bramhall, Dana Summers, Drew Sheneman, Scott Stantis, Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Phil Hands, Joel Pett and Joey Weatherford of Tribune Content Agency; and A.F. Branco, Mike Luckovich and Michael Ramirez of Creators Syndicate.
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