Newspaper cartoonists are not up to task of conveying the horrors of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and killing of civilians

HOW IS THIS FUNNY? Showing a clownish Vladimir Putin in a Russian tank stopped by a parking-enforcement boot is far from funny, especially when the backdrop looks like a destroyed apartment building in Ukraine.

 Portraying Putin as clownish

dishonors the men, women,

 and children who are dying

BY VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Cartoonist Daryl Cagle has been distributing the cartoons of 60 editorial cartoonists and 14 columnists to about 850 subscribing newspapers for more than 20 years.

I'm appealing to them to stop commenting on the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine, if they are going to make fools of themselves by minimizing the brutality, loss of innocent life and assault on democracy.

I've included only 4 of the many cartoons out there. They are just awful.

REALLY? In this cartoon, a box marked "PUTIN" is on the left of the dictator's desk and another marked "PUTOUT" is on the right.

KILLING OF INNOCENTS: At least this cartoon seems to condemn the killing of civilians in Ukraine, but instead of showing graphic images of corpses torn apart by Russian missiles, the cartoonist appears to mimic the 1937 Spanish Civil War painting by Pablo Picasso of the bombing of the city of Guernica.

PUTIN'S BOY TOY: The Kremlin believes right-wing wacko and Fox News' chief liar Tucker Carlson is vital to its propaganda effort, but I'm far from sure the play on words -- "Russian Dressing" -- conveys that message.