An AI robot applies for work by attempting to prove it is not human on a job application form. The scenario reflects ongoing debates over how rapid advances in artificial intelligence are reshaping labor markets and displacing workers. The piece takes the position that this reversal underscores the absurdity and speed of automation replacing people.
On June 29, 2026, Joe Heller's cartoon depicts Uncle Sam, the Statue of Liberty, Benjamin Franklin, and a bald eagle debating elaborate names for America's 250th anniversary. Proposals range from semiquincentennial and sestercentennial to quarter millennium and bisesquicentennial. The group ultimately agrees on the straightforward greeting Happy Birthday, America, accompanied by a 250th banner. The exchange highlights the challenge of selecting a fitting term for the milestone tied to the 1776 founding.
The cartoon shows Donald Trump in a blue suit swinging a massive wooden mallet at figures resembling Iranian Ayatollahs emerging from holes in a yellow arcade machine labeled Whack-A Ayatollah. The president appears mid-swing with motion lines indicating effort. The image comments on US policy toward Iran by framing the conflict as a repetitive carnival game where targets keep reappearing. Publication occurs during a period of heightened US-Iran tensions over nuclear issues and regional influence. The visual metaphor suggests difficulty in permanently resolving the challenge despite repeated attempts.
On June 18 2025 the Salt Lake Tribune published a Pat Bagley cartoon showing masked ICE agents confronting a suited man who demands they prove their affiliation before they tackle him to the ground.
John Darkow's 2022 cartoon captures a UFO congressional hearing with a uniformed official pointing at a screen labeled 'UFO Hearing,' displaying a small flying saucer amid a dark backdrop. The speech bubble delivers dry wit: inability to disprove aliens' existence, but their non-contact suggests superior intelligence. Tags like Pentagon, VAP, aliens, congressional hearing, trnd, and UFO frame this political satire, poking at human hubris in extraterrestrial contexts. The image, dated 2022-05-19, blends timely relevance with caricatured military decorum, emphasizing the absurdity in official testimonies on unidentified phenomena.
