by Kim D. Evidently not. The LGBT community needs superhero status and is rallying around the notion that Captain America needs to fully come out of the closet. He needs a boyfriend.
There is fresh
news about one of America’s royal families. As you read it, imagine how the
media would react if the other royal family were involved. From The Washington
Free Beacon:
But we all know
his latest project will get little or no traction in media outlets, which have
always treated the Clintons as above reproach and aren’t they such cute
do-gooders and couldn’t you just eat them up?
Final word from a
cynical orange cat: Maybe this isn’t news after all. I’d be shocked if anything
involving the thoroughly corrupt Clintons was on the up-and-up.
Dear British Guy on Linkedin who took great pains to use moi
(that's French) as an example that Americans don't get irony - you are wrong.
Most Americans understand irony.
They just don't understand the kind like you were trying so hard
for in your Linkedin post that basically turned you into a serious poster
trying to be funny but who got his feelings hurt when nobody else got the joke
and you took it out on the lone little American girl because you didn't want to
say anything to your British friends about missing your joke. By the way,
that's just passive aggressive, but we won't get into that today because the
lesson today is about irony.
Look, dude, don't feel bad. Some of my jokes fall flat, too. It
happens to everybody. At least you are trying. Brownie points there for ya. But
I do so want to be helpful to my cousins across the pond, so please see this
example of irony. It is in the form of a meme.
Memes occur in the ether where a person takes something that is
posted, such as this tweet; adds commentary to make a much stronger point
which, of course, is what being ironic is all about; then turns it into a
picture that gets shared. This particular meme is especially good because it
involves three types of irony, all of which you missed by a mile in your post:
One: Sarcasm.
Two: Paradox.
Three: Drama.
Let's see if you can identify where these three types are
included in this most excellent example of irony.
Jennifer is like most of the P.C. crowd who d0 not understand
irony. Jennifer is also an Anti-Gun Nut. We know these things for the following
reasons:
One: For protection in her Wild West
scenario, Jennifer carries a very powerful pepper spray and wears the shield of
Righteous Indignation, both of which are stronger than bullets. Much like James
Garner did in this classic movie where with rocks and a rope he completely
cured the gun problem, Jennifer will save America from its open-carry self.
Two: Jennifer is a one-woman vigilante
who will identify and disarm anyone open carrying. For you, a non-American
person, open carry means others can see another is carrying a gun in
public. I shall allow you to look up vigilante as all self-respecting
British folk have dictionaries, surely.
Because the setup must happen before irony itself comes to be,
have you spotted any potential setup for irony? Keep looking and let's
continue.
Jennifer will make her approach and disable them with pepper
spray. This means she must, at some point, be in front of them in order to
deploy her P.C. approved weapon of choice.
Now, Jennifer probably does not know how to use stealth in that
approach. In fact, as she is sipping her latte and spying the weapon, her
expression will change to one of utter loathing, and her mouth will be heard to
say something along the lines of "Oh. My. GOD!" She will point. Her
girlfriend will say loudly, "WHUT?" and then will squeal
"OHMAHGAW!" All this to say that the person open carrying will see
her coming.
But Jennifer believes she is invincible, see. Like all P.C.
Dominatrices, she believes in giving pain to those who deserve it, and she
knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person will thank her for helping
them see the light. You know, come on baby, make it hurt so good,
remember?
Leaving a trail of girly-girl detritus across the table, she
will dig through her purse in a frantic fashion searching for her spray. She
will hand her smart phone to her friend and ask her to film it for her, but her
friend will not be able to find the video app quickly because her hands are
shaking and she has just lost her ability to form a coherent plan of action
because she saw a gun.
Okay. So. Now here we are at the showdown. Jennifer
sprays! Open Carry Person claws at eyes leaving open
Jennifer's approach to the gun so that -- here comes some good irony, British
Dude -- Jennifer can grab the gun and point it at
the open carry dude while the popo are coming. (Popo is a fond American
colloquial expression for police, much like bobbies and plodders are for you.)
Obviously, as this meme points out, she's the one going to get
hurt first and worst. But let's just say for the purpose of carrying out irony
to its fullest potential that she is successful in her attempt and the above
showdown happens just like she believes it will. Now Jennifer -- Oh. My. GOD!
-- is the one open carrying.
Not only that, open carrying and pointing the weapon at a person
in the now-empty coffee shop. Somebody who did not see the entire thing go down
because they were working on their master's thesis and their head was stuck in
the computer, runs out and calls the popo and says, and I quote because this is
what they would say, "There's a crazy white bitch pointing a gun at a guy
trying to buy coffee! What's my name? Uuuuuuhhhh...Charlotte? I mean, Charlie.
Yeah, Charlie."
So the popo are going to show up and who do you think they're
going to be pointing their guns at? See? Never subtle when used
powerfully, but sarcastic, paradoxical, and dramatic. And that, British
sir, is how one deploys irony.
Glad to be of service. Say hello to the cousins for me.
By Mouser the King Cat Many of us miss hearing Neal Boortz on the radio, because he
worked hard before retiring in 2013. He still does commentaries and fills in
for his successor, but it’s not the same. (Can’t imagine Herman Cain promoting
the perfectly logical notion of executing a random homeowners association board
every year.)
Neal’s best
rants were about teachers unions. From 2008: “I think the most dangerous – the
single most dangerous entity, group of people in this country right now are the
teachers unions. … They do more damage to this country than all the drug
pushers together. … If I had a button right now, two buttons – push this button
and it gets rid of all the drug dealers; push this button, it gets rid of the
teachers unions – I’m getting rid of the teachers unions.”
That “drug
pusher” terminology sounds dated because they don’t have to push anything
anymore; business is booming because they sell products the public actually
wants. I refer to them as unlicensed pharmacists.
On the
other hand, teachers unions continue to provide little service to mankind. From
The Wall StreetJournal: “Only 37% of American 12th-graders were academically
prepared for college math and reading in 2015, a slight dip from two years
earlier. The National Assessment of Educational Progress … said that share was
down from an estimated 39% in math and 38% in reading in 2013.”
As they say
in the polling game, the internals are more disturbing. In reading, 49% of
Asian students performed at or above proficiency. It was 46% for whites, 25%
for Hispanics and 17% for blacks. The pattern was the same for math – 47% for
Asians, 32% for whites, 12% for Hispanics and 7% for blacks.
I was
homeschooled with the rest of the litter. I recommend it.
By Rob Janicki I find it amusing that anyone would ever believe that Donald Trump will
reveal his personal income tax returns at any point in time. Since
first questioned about his personal tax returns, Trump has made more
pirouettes on the issue than a ballerina in a Swan Lake ballet
performance.
Donald
Trump, with a straight face, can lie and his supporters will accept the
lie with equanimity and explain that it's just "Trump being Trump", all
the while telling everyone that Trump "tells it like it is". That's
pure nonsense. Donald Trump has set the ground rules for his lying
during the GOP campaign. When he is caught lying, Trump merely lies
again when he claims he never made the original statement that has been
proven to be an outright lie. Again, that's just "Trump being Trump."
That's just what narcissists with no moral or ethical scruples do.
Obama does it everyday.
Moving on.
The
latest information from Donald Trump is that he will not release his
personal income tax returns before the November 8th election because he
is under an IRS audit for an unsaid set of years and on the advice of
counsel will not be releasing any returns until the current audit is
completed. You can bank on Trump's promise not to release any of his
tax returns, so let's look at the two possibilities after November 8th.
If Trump loses the presidential election, the issue of revealing his personal income tax returns becomes moot. End of story.
If
Trump wins the presidential election, be assured that he will thumb his
nose to the public and will tell the public to take a flying fandango
at ever seeing his personal income tax returns. That's Donald Trump
being Donald Trump. If Trump were to win the seat of power in American
government there simply is no way that anyone can compel Trump to reveal
his personal income tax returns and Donald knows it. Score that as a
Trump victory with a resounding loss to political transparency
Up
to now Trump, to his credit, has managed to completely control the GOP
primary campaign telling the GOP whether he will or will not support the
ultimate GOP presidential candidate. More importantly, Trump has
completely managed to singlehandedly throw the entire GOP establishment
off balance by claiming the entire GOP primary process is rigged and
corrupt, even though he has essentially led the entire GOP primary
process from the very beginning. Some people would say Trump has
chutzpah, while other would say he has a lot of nerve to bite the hand
that is about to hand him the GOP presidential nomination.
Let's
be clear about something that Donald Trump completely understands.
Presidential candidates or presidents are under no legal obligation
whatsoever to reveal their personal income tax returns. That said,
presidential candidates since 1976 have provided their personal income
tax returns before the presidential election. Trump, more than likely,
will be the exception to this pattern of transparency, a rare moment in
politics.
In
conclusion, a reasonable person has to ask why would Donald Trump
reveal his tax returns anywhere close to the general election? There is
little or no upside and the downside could easily be a disaster for
Trump. In the meantime, expect Trump spokespeople to stonewall this
issue with obfuscations and misdirections. That's just what the Trump
campaign does when questions become too pithy and pointed.
