And now, ladies and gentlemen (and you nonbinaries can go fuck yourselves; no one's talking to you), it's time to score political points via self-righteous indignation!

It seems that Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims (D for douchebag), a self-styled LGBTQ activist (and I say self-styled because I never asked him to stand up on my behalf, and would prefer he didn't) has an ax to grind with Pennsylvania state Rep. Jeff Pyle (R).

Jeff Pyle, it seems, made a joke, likening the transgendered Dr. Rachel Levine, Biden's Assisted Secretary of Health (pending Senate approval) to Benjamin Franklin.

I thought it was pretty funny, myself. Not as good as the walrus joke I made yesterday, but still pretty good.

Why is that when you're transgendered (or gay, or black) you're suddenly extended special protections from harmless jokes? When I was participating in theatre in Camden, ME, just prior to the joining the Army, I bought a hilarious book, talking about famous people and who they look like.

Leona Helmsley, for instance, was compared to Jack Nicholson's version of the Joker, and the resemblance was there! Was this misogynistic, to compare Helmsley to Jack Nicholson's rendition of a fictional male character?

Even more hilarious was the comparison of Bette Davis to the mean apple tree in "The Wizard of Oz." Was this somehow bestophobic, to compare a human woman to a fictional sentient plant?

I'm quite certain Levine will not be placed on suicide watch for the joke made at its expense. And if it is, then it should be in the President's cabinet, least of all as the Assistant Secretary of Health.

Not only are minorities being insulated from being the butt of jokes, but the default position is to assume that anyone who makes fun of one is something-or-other-phobic.

When, exactly, did this happen? When the cruel jokes were made at then-twelve-year-old Chelsea Clinton -- which, by the way, were unfair both because of her age at the time, and the fact that she was not a political figure; as a dependent, she was just along for the ride -- where were the accusations of pedophobia or misogyny?

And I forgot the link again!

R.I.P. Larry King, 87, COVID-19.

I saw the news on ABC.

> I saw the news on ABC.

Lenona, I gotta ask: Did you mean for that to be so funny?

Speaking of COVID...

"Almost 200 National Guard troops contract COVID-19"

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/almost-200-national-guard-troops-221900128.html

Plus more than 20 Capitol police officers.

No, I knew very little about him.

Okay, it seemed a little more puckish than usual. Meanwhile—

• Miley today.

• Miley tomorrow.

It's very weird how the playful mind latches on to certain ideas. It would be cool if this were the biggest impact he ever had on the flow of Western Civ.

• Bernie.

• Sanders.

> "Almost 200 National Guard
> troops contract COVID-19"
>
> […]
>
> Plus more than 20 Capitol
>police officers.

For that alone, the rioters should do very hard time. All this suffering is gratuitous.

The King thing kind of reminded me of this ironic tweet from Coulter…

(By gum, if only there were some kind of, I dunnaknow, SEARCHABLE INDEX of the internet's collective knowledge by which we could investigate such questions!

She's not a foolish woman— That was the state of the brand after 15 years of pummeling by The Big G.

Patrick - Just a mild difference of opinion here…

In political matters, I will never, ever give a rat's backside about whether a joke at the expense of a public servant or their families is "fair." Those people are hired help. Your joke about Sea World, nourished instantly by your citation of Levine's murderous perfidy in pandemic, was much gentler than the smug new officeholder deserved.

The Clinton family fucked it up as much as any in my lifetime: And the competition is fierce. When Chel was 12, it might have been possible to summon a wince of compassion. Scant seasons later, when she was being exploited as a prop for family coherence in photo-op trots to the (taxpayer's) helicopter, she earned the lifetime of ire in which some of us will will always hold That Man, That Woman, and Their Idiot Child.

Even those of us who despise the patterns of divorce which have maimed generations of American households have occasionally blanched at the trite resentment of a feckless teenager who squeals 'You're not my REAL Dad!.' (…As if it weren't obvious to all.)

But such children seem like steel-spine'd paragons of integrity compared to the oblivious Chelsea. She was born to be a tool. She was *conceived* to be a tool.

• This 'flyby' of the surface of Jupiter may be synthetic (the swinging glint is especially suspicious), but the subtle 3D texture of the clouds is spectacular.

• Yes, as we have seen in other contexts(here), America is so alluring as to compel desperate personalities around the globe to try and participate, with pathetic consequences.

As with a cleansing summertime shower, it's sad to think the pitter-patter of these gentle droplets will be over soon.

• Bernie (click pic to view).

• Bernie.

Crid: Patrick - Just a mild difference of opinion here…

Then that makes you WROOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!!

Still remembering the smug indignation of those who insisted that we "leave Chelsea alone," I also remember how quickly their tune changed when the Bush twins provided us such delectable fare as using fake IDs to by booze, encouraging reckless driving in an effort to intentionally evade their Secret Service attachment, Jenna's sneering threat to one of her agents that "if anything happens to me, my dad will have your ass!"

When confronted on the hypocrisy, the response was basically, "Hey, did the conservatives leave Chelsea alone?"

You know who can't comprehend this brutal truth?

People who haven't been to college.

> I also remember how quickly
> their tune changed

Right: Open season on all of 'em, all are fair game.

Yes, we should definitely talk about China some time.

The woman on the right is stunningly beautiful. It's a shame about the title of the mag, but as retouched photography goes, that's a tonal masterpiece.

It's amazing what those pre-photoshop guys could do when properly motivated.

Crid, would you explain what you meant about Larry King? I checked his Wikipedia entry just now and there was almost no mention of ABC and only one real mention of COVID.

(Unless you meant I should have seen it on CNN. I don't get cable.)

Remember: Calling Melania Trump a bought Russian prostitute is perfectly fine but saying that Obama's wife has a man-face is a fireable offense.

If it weren't for double standards they wouldn't have standards at all.

Just that he was famous for CNN and vice versa. That you saw it elsewhere was kind of ironic.

Also, I like you for not having cable.

Another tragic error!

This is Miley today, and this is Miley tomorrow. Twitter sent those to me at the same time as if trying to make a point.

Social media corporations right now:

https://mobile.twitter.com/mugrimm/status/1352025568074747906

Sixclaws it's because African American women often get called mannish and historically this was used to work them harder than white women.

It's like saying an African American looks like a chimp. Regardless of whether or not it is true of a given individual, do not go there.

Nic, I have serious doubts about both clauses there... I've never heard or read of any pattern of calling black women mannish, and cruel comparisons to monkeys are separate and well-tracked atrocity.

Anyone remember a guy named Howard Cosell?

“When I was participating in theatre in Camden, ME, just prior to the joining the Army, I bought a hilarious book, talking about famous people and who they look like.”

You must be referring to one of the Separated at Birth? books. I loved those books and vividly remember the pairing of Leona Helmsley with Nicholson’s Joker and Bette Davis with the tree (very inspired.)

I saw that same idea recently, but can’t remember where. The twist was that they compared well-known people today with historical figures and people in famous paintings and ones I saw were spot-on.

Separated at Birth? was originally a feature in Spy magazine.

Separated at Birth?, first presented in a feature article in December 1987, was a regular section which would present juxtaposed photos of two different personalities exhibiting visual similarity, to comical effect. The first of each pair was typically a public figure or celebrity, and the second was usually another such figure, but sometimes (usually in the last set) a more absurd subject such as a fictional character, animal, or inanimate object. Separated at Birth? became one of the magazine's most popular features and was spun out into a set of paperback books.

This is a good one.

Also this.
.

Very appropriate.

Anyone remember a guy named Howard Cosell? ~ Crid at January 23, 2021 11:17 AM

The thing is, Cosell used to use the phrase, "little monkey," to refer to undersized players without regard to race.

Granted, he should have known better by 1983 than to use the term to refer to a black player, but he'd been using it for so long that he probably just got caught up in the game and wasn't thinking about the racial aspects of it.

You're right— That one was not so well-tracked, but it's what came to mind. It was probably on of our first trickles of the madness that floods our culture now. IIRC, it took about two days for everyone to remember that no one had been more enthusiastic, often in very personal terms, about black athletes than Cosell.

'Til the day I die, the word 'equity' will call to mind good / great outcomes from real estate.

Junior year of college, and the record came out and I was all, like, 'This is not Bowie's most melodic work.' But 40 years later it's great to listen to, and not just sentimentally.

The spoken-word echolalia of the 'whoa-woe' lead vocal at 2:58 still (A) seems artistically audacious and (B) cracks my shit up. The guy was never morbidly melodramatic or overwrought. He knew records for kids were supposed to be fun!

Contrast with, say, Sting.

More from Kaus about the brutal truth described above. Like I said Friday, this culture's built for the smart people, and they don't care about the word games that enchant the wokies.