“How soft your fields so green can whisper tales of gore of how we calmed the tides of war. We are your overlords.” From Immigrant Song, written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

You might have heard about this. Then again, you might be ducking the news these days, and I can hardly blame you. Trigger warning: this story might make you want to go find a real trigger.

Here’s the story. Twenty-eight year-old British cartoonist Rebecca “R.E.” Burke was in Portland, Oregon on a four month backpacking trip across North America. She travelled up towards Vancouver in British Columbia for the Canadian portion of her trip but the border authorities in Canada said she didn’t have the right kind of visa and returned her to the United States.

At the border, United States I.C.E. agents, a branch of the American Nazi Party, declared her an illegal alien. She wasn’t an illegal before she hit Interstate 5 so I assume the gun-toting morons at I.C.E. mistook her for a Negro Muslim trafficking in brushes and pencils who just couldn’t be bothered to speak American. She has been locked up since February 26th.

According to The Daily Cartoonist, “Burke has asked for voluntary departure, but ‘the process of appearing in front of a judge as part of voluntary departure could be delayed because several dozen of the approximately 700 immigration judges had resigned or been fired by the Trump administration.’ Compounding her plight, her family cannot add money to her inmate account for her to buy essentials because of they are foreigners so they rely on American friends to deposit support money for her.” Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Giving The Earth The Finger” →