The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012, left 20 children and six adults dead in Newtown, Connecticut. President Obama spoke of the victims' lost futures the next day. The cartoon responds by placing numbered markers for the children across the flag's canton, underscoring the national scale of the loss and pressing the case for tighter gun restrictions.
On December 14, 2012, a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The attack prompted immediate national mourning and renewed calls for gun control measures. The piece responds to that event by focusing on the personal toll on families and the instinct to protect children amid ongoing violence.
The cartoon shows a woman stranded on a flooded house roof during Hurricane Sandy phoning a Republican disaster relief hotline. The recorded message asks callers to state their emergency and explain how they will offset the cost of rescue. A floating FEMA sign and a cat on the chimney add to the flooded scene. Published October 31 2012 the image comments on Republican positions regarding federal disaster aid. It reflects debates over government spending and budget priorities in the wake of the storm that struck the East Coast.
