Frederick Theodore Rall III (born August 26, 1963) is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author.

He returned to Afghanistan in August 2010, traveling independently and unembedded throughout the country, filing daily "cartoon blogs" by satellite.

[3] Rall says his drawing style was originally influenced by Mike Peters, the editorial cartoonist at his hometown paper, the Dayton Daily News.

He wrote op-ed columns for The New York Times, including "Why I Will Not Vote" (1994), which justified apathy among Generation Xers who saw neither Democrats nor Republicans responding to their concerns.

In 1998 Rall published "Revenge of the Latchkey Kids", a compendium of essays and cartoons that criticized the Baby Boomer-dominated media for ignoring and ridiculing young adults and their achievements.

Rall's cartoons have been handled by San Francisco Chronicle Features, no longer in business, and—since 1996—by Universal Press Syndicate.

[citation needed] Rall began frequent travels to Central Asia in 1997, when he attempted to drive the Silk Road from Beijing to Istanbul via China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan as a staff writer for P.O.V.

Subsequent trips included two trips in 2000, "Stan Trek 2000"—in which Rall brought along 23 listeners to his radio show for a bus journey from Turkmenistan to Kyrgyzstan via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan—and a U.S. State Department-sponsored visit to Turkmenistan, where he met with Turkmen college students and dissidents to explain the nature of free press in a democracy.

Rall also edited three cartoons collections by Andy Singer, Neil Swaab, and Stephanie McMillan under the name "Attitude Presents:".

"[12] Less than a year and a half later, however, he predicted "that Mr. Trump would not only finish his term but win re-election, due to the divisions within the Democratic Party.

[18] A November 8, 2004, cartoon[19] depicted mentally disabled children as classroom teachers in an attempt to make an analogy to American voters who reelected President George W. Bush, drawing complaints from advocates for the disabled and led to his cartoons being dropped from The Washington Post's website.

On October 22, 2007, Rall published a cartoon saying "Over time, however, the endless war in Iraq began to play a role in natural selection.

[20] Rall is listed at #15 in Bernard Goldberg's book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America as a "vicious, conspiracy-minded, hate-filled jerk".

Rall perceived the listing as an honor, replying, "Not only am I grouped with many people whom I admire for their achievements and patriotism, I'm being demonized by McCarthyite thugs I despise.

Coulter first made the remark at the 2006 Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Washington, D.C., on February 10 and then printed it in her syndicated column the following week.

[24] In July 2015, the Los Angeles Times released a "note to readers" stating that Rall had been dropped from the paper because of allegations that he had recently lied about a 2001 encounter with the police .

[26] LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, whom Rall had repeatedly mocked in his cartoons for the LA Times, provided a copy of an audio recording of the encounter (the location of the original microcassette, and whether it still exists, remains unknown) that the LA Times found to "raise serious questions about the accuracy of Rall's blog post".

[30][31] On August 19, the LA Times issued a lengthy statement reaffirming its claim that Rall's original blog post "did not meet its standards".

[32] In March 2016, Rall filed suit against the Los Angeles Times for defamation of character and wrongful termination;[33] in June 2017, the judge in the case dismissed claims against four individuals for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress; claims against the former and current LA Times corporate ownership remain.

[35] However, in April 2019 the California Supreme Court accepted Rall's Petition for review, which continues the case's appeal process.