Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for December 22, 2019

We all wish it could be that simple.

Best Christmas strip, hands down!

Guns, too, while we’re at it.

Pig’s out of luck again this year.

That is the sentiment of all rational folks. Thank you Mr Pastis.

Wouldn’t an XBox weigh down that one kid’s stocking?

Amen.

Pig, I hope you get your wish.

Sadly, the one request that will go unanswered.

Maybe Santa will come down the chimney and confiscate some guns.

Santa would like you to put out that fire before he arrives.

Pray for no more shootings.

Would like to see Santa – Croc !

And behold, sadly the stocking remained void forever after…..

May his wish be granted.

Yes, Pig

Maybe he should’ve wished for less shootings instead of no more.

Amen Pig and Pastis!

Hopefully that would include all the countries in this world!

Thoughts and prayers, Pig.

I would think requests to Sana that effect free will are out of his bailiwick.

Love you Stephen

Does that include the shooting that the police will do to stop a violent knife wielding assailant or even someone that won’t stop doing his victim-less crime? It’s going to be a messy time.

I agree with Pig. But if one takes all the guns away from the law abiding citizens who own them, that leaves just the criminals and the black market which means the guns will still be available to those who want to do harm. So until someone can come up with a way to stop the black market, gun control is a useless argument

there will be no more shootings when pigs fly

No more soft targets.

That is the prayer of all people. May God be allowed to change hearts, without that change, mankind will continue to strive against one another.

Great one, Stephan! US shootings are one reason that I left the country of my birth through college years to live in Japan.

Not only great sentiment, but the colors really pop today!

Just add “Letters to Santa” to “Thoughts and Prayers.” The result will be the same.

always taking time out of the day to day humor to create a really great message. This is the sign of a GREAT artist. Your work inspires laughter, thought and makes us take inventory on the things that really matter. Thanks for what you do Stephen. Your work makes a difference.

You would’ve thought he’d ask for fewer pork products.

Pig just wants peace in the world.

May Santa fill all our stockings with that wish, Pig.

Please let this happen

There is the pig we know and love.

Indeed. We have tried it the other way for decades, so let’stry this. Get God back inthe classroom. Rebuild a moral society based on the teachings of Christ. Remove worship of government programs and resotre family as the center if life in America. Maybe people will lose their hopelessness and despair and embrace the great persons they can be!

As long as Republicans keep taking Russian money from the NRA, nothing will change.

Don’t think Santa can deliver on that one. Violence is part of human nature.

I hope that Pig gets his wish.

How about a larger goal, peace on earth and good will toward all. No more war. Peace and love to all and all year long not just at Christmas time.

As two non-religious icons of Christmas, Scrooge and the Grinch, show, people can change for the better. The sad news is that most of the violence is done by people so broken that they are monsters with no hope of change.

No more shootings! Your running up the cost of health care.

It is not easy, but it is straight forward. Outlaw ammunition. In a few years most guns would become expensive bricks. There will be those who will dust off the excuse that the black market will leave only criminals with ammunition, on and on. If this was done the death rate would plummet and perhaps that would influence the SCOTUS. This is why we must do something: So far this year there have been 14,788 gun deaths, 992 young people have been killed by guns, there have been 401 mass shootings. This does not include the about 20,000 people each year who suicide by gun. Have you had enough yet? Must this continue? In the face of this slaughter will you demand perfection before doing anything?

Pig is hopeful and so am I.

Heal people’s hearts and minds. All the talk about gun control reminds me of a movie where the weapon was a frozen piece of meal. They later cooked and ate the weapon. People who has murder in their hearts /minds will find a way and a weapon be it a bat, knife or curtain cord. Check statistics. Cities with the strictest gun control laws have the most violence. Laws already on the books are being ignored. Start enforcing those laws. Praying, yes, praying for some Christmas miracles. Thanks, Mr. Pastis, for wonderful strips and for Pig.

thank you

Stabbings are OK? Strangulations? Car wrecks?

Yes, please. Thank you.

Me too

Maybe the first kid is a Spanish speaker, and he just wants a “phone!”

amen

Translation of a few comments on here: “BUT MAH GUNS.”

I’ve been asking forthis since 1998, when Kip Kinkel shot up Thurston High School, in Springfield, OR.

Piggy, (and by extension Mr. Pastis), is a such a sweet, sensitive soul. <3 We can only hope, Piggy.

Merry Christmas to All , Let’s hope for a Peaceful Year

You’ve really been writing from the heart lately, Stephan :-)

I really hope Pig gets his wish.

Thank you.

Very peaceful.

I’m with you, Piggers ! Merry Christmas !

Strips like these are why I feel Pastis should win the Reuben Award more often.

Beautiful….just beautiful, Steve. Thank you. Namaste

The story of Santa is that he (only) brings toys that his elves have made.

Ah, Stephan … I hope Pig gets his wish.

I cried for about an hour after reading today’s strip.

Said the King to the people everywhere: “Listen to what I say! Pray for Peace, people everywhere”

That was written after The Cuban Missile Crisis

Santa’s only a magical elf, Pig. He’s not omnipotent!

It seems to me that the place to start would be to require a Federal Firearms License for all “assault” weapons, ie, the same license that’s required for fully automatic weapons. A mechanism and procedure for that is already in place although the feds would have to expand their workforce to accommodate licensing the large number of assault weapons in this country. As far as I know the license cost should not be prohibitive. This idea may or may not be helpful but it would be a start.

Legos is not a word. The plural would-be Lego® bricks.

This one rates up with the one about your father in law.

Best wish ever ! Thanks ! MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

That’s hilarious.

Thank you Stephan. I don’t care if it’s “pie in the sky”, love beats hate.

soo, beautiful,, sob

Late with this – hope the link works. https://politicalcartoons.com/sku/123991/

wanted you to know my eyes filled with tears, just an old, short, Woodstock stoner. Love your work.

Dang it Pastis now you’re going to make me cry. I too wish for the end of all these shootings. I pray for the victims families at this time of year trying to get past Christmas with their loved ones no longer with them

God Bless Pig.

In retrospect, Santa isn’t who he was anymore.

I know the feeling, Pig. I know the feeling.

Funny how pig didn’t go on santa’s right leg

Well there aren’t any shootings in Pig’s stocking so he got his wish.