“We Don’t Need No Laugh Track!”

     We’ve got enough to laugh at right in front of us…and laugh we must, for the sake of our sanity.

1. Did you really need to ask, Megyn?

     Well, she did answer her own question:

     Megyn Kelly wants to know what many of us are thinking.
     As anti-Israel protests continue to rage across America’s college campuses, the former Fox News anchor questioned why so many of the protesters look like they need to focus on themselves rather than issues in the Middle East.
     “Why are they so unattractive? Why are the protesters so homely?” she asked.
     “I think attractive smart people are not drawn to this nonsense. They are living their lives, being successful.”

     Cause People are seldom persons whose personal lives are rich and fulfilling. Political involvement is a convenient ego-bolster for those whose lives are empty and valueless. And he whose life is empty and valueless is nearly always aware of it. Politics has been called “show business for ugly people” for a good reason.

     But few who are unattractive, and incapable of doing anything that others would value, possess the characteristics necessary for success in overt politics. First and foremost, they can’t lie convincingly. Nor do they possess more energy and endurance than would suffice for a day or two of a “sit-in.” Give our politicians this much: they do have to hustle to win high office. Their competition sees to that.

     So our homely, valueless, but unenergetic cohort must turn to another anodyne: the Cause. And the Cause must be something that would disturb the great majority. Otherwise, people would yawn and turn the page. Couple that to the prospect of camaraderie with one’s “comrades,” and the lure becomes obvious.

     Sadly, municipalities cannot “zone” against Causes.

2. Quis custodiet,et cetera?

     I’ve become convinced that no one employed by a government can be trusted:

MARK POMERANTZ led the charge to indict President Trump in New York City.

We deposed him before the Judiciary Committee.

When asked about his investigation, he PLEADED THE FIFTH.

Makes you wonder… pic.twitter.com/r6ERgJjLKc

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) May 2, 2024

     That was a prosecutor, Gentle Reader. An agent of the State who has the power to ruin lives by accusation alone. I know we’re not supposed to take a refusal to testify as evidence of guilt, but given the subject matter, the specific question involved, and Pomerantz’s unwillingness to answer, what else could we be looking at?

     A prosecutor who, when asked whether he ever violated the law in the course of his public duties, invokes the Fifth Amendment right not to testify against oneself should be tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail. While that would be an “extra-judicial” remedy for untrustworthiness, it would also be a lot of fun.

3. Xenophobia Or Good Sense?

     Diagnose for yourself:

     President Joe Biden said Wednesday that U.S. ally Japan was struggling economically because of xenophobia, along with other countries with which the United States has more adversarial relations, including China and Russia.
     Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Washington that marked the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Biden said the U.S. economy was growing in part “because we welcome immigrants.”
     “Think about it. Why is China stalling so bad economically?” he said. “Why is Japan having trouble? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.”

     Then why was Japan’s economy in the Seventies and Eighties the envy of the world, Joe? They didn’t admit immigrants then, either.

     Japan’s economic malaise has – as do most conspicuous political maladies – a number of contributing causes. Part of it is financial: the pyramiding of mountains of debt upon the value of urban Japanese real estate. Another part is sunk capital: Japan’s capital plant is difficult to modernize or repurpose. And a third is the rapidly aging Japanese population. But admitting immigrants in large numbers to the highly insular Japanese culture would not be a cure. It would be deadly, about like importing huge amounts of fentanyl…wait, don’t we do that here?

     Whoever’s scripting Biden’s speeches should be updating his resume.

4. Shouting Into The Wind.

     It’s highly distressing – on this I speak from experience – to express vital truths when no one is listening:

MUST LISTEN: Congress Rep Chip Roy Exposes How Corrupt US Government Has Become

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to empower a government to extend beyond its constitutional limits”

“Government that is now tyrannically using its power to:

– Go after the American people
– Go after… pic.twitter.com/axYVinTo2H

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) May 3, 2024

     As far as I know, Chip Roy is “one of the good ones.” What he said above is gospel truth, and vitally important to the American electorate. But it doesn’t matter. Even the GOP colleagues he lambasted in the above don’t think it matters. The proof: They’re not in the chamber.

     You’ll seldom see the camera that records an emission such as Rep. Roy’s pan out to display the rest of the House chamber. Congressvermin don’t listen to one another’s orations. That would take them away from the far more valuable hobnobbing with lobbyists and logrolling with their opposites across the aisle. That takes place in the lobby, not in the House chamber. But when a vote is called, they’ll flood in, vote, and then…go back to the lobby.

     Federal Republican legislators have two priorities:

1. Get re-elected;
2. Keep the swag coming in.

     Their sub rosa alliance with the Democrats provides them with both. As for the occasional maverick such as Chip Roy, he serves a useful function: the “conscience” of the caucus, to be trotted out when some portion of the electorate needs to hear some fire. But should he galvanize a following, he’d be purged.

     I sometimes wonder whether, were there no Chip Roys, would the public finally decide that it’s had enough and flush the Congressional toilet? Impossible to say, I know. But I can dream.

     That’s all for today, Gentle Reader. I have a host of chores before me, so stay warm, dry, and properly lubricated. Back tomorrow, I hope.