My NEWS Folder

Inside my NEWS folder.

I keep files of news items I "clip" from the online newspapers and news sites I read each day (this used to be in the form of an actual clipboard with real newspaper clippings back in the old days, y'know, way back in 2012). I read all my papers in eEdition format - haven't read a "paper" newspaper for a few years now. I read the Concord Monitor, The Union Leader and my local paper, The Keene Sentinel. I also get news from InDepthNH, NH Public Radio, a few podcasts, WKBK Keene & Google News. I read The Boston Globe for years but had to cut my subscription due to budget cuts I had to make when I started losing my newspaper editorial cartoon papers. I do not miss the "paper" papers at all. I get minimal news from TV, not a big fan of network newsbites or the cable news channels, though I do catch a few minutes of them now and then. I usually watch WMUR at noon while eating lunch.

I DO NOT rely on Facebook or Twitter for real news. Naturally, I enjoy all the anti-trump memes on Facebook and I like the #nhpolitics Twitter feed to get the behind-the-scenes NH politics stuff and for those right-wing extremist trolls who supply me with tons of material for UP on the HiLL, although it's actually quite disturbing to see people spewing that stuff and a few are downright scary with their locked'n'loaded, god'n'guns crap. Glad their not my neighbors!

I have two files, one for New Hampshire news from which I draw ideas for the UP on the HiLL editorial comic strips and one for The Beach that used to be titled "national news" but is now pretty much all trump because he sucks all the air out of the daily news cycle (I've renamed this file MORON!.)

When I was drawing editorial cartoons for the Monitor items in the "National" folder usually had a shelf life of about a week - I used to draw all my cartoons on Monday & Tuesday and the subjects would remain fresh for the rest of the week. These days I have to clean that damn folder out almost daily because stuff from two days ago has been overwhelmed by today's pile of stupid from trump. Ideas I had for Beach strips yesterday seem almost irrelevant compared to what I should be addressing today. To use an already well-worn metaphor, the man is a firehose of news spew. I get ideas daily for The Beach, but can't draw them all because it would take me away from my other paid comic strip work. I currently make nothing from The Beach - I have a "Support The Beach" donate button but nobody's ever clicked it (  :(  ). I'm still trying to find a way to monetize the strip, but in the meantime I'll continue to draw The Beach because it keeps me from going insane from watching what this administration and it's supporters are doing and saying. Every. Freakin'. Day. 

As always, your questions & comments welcome. :)

​-MM