Althouse: Larry David — in the opening "SNL" monologue — looks at the sexual harassment stories and notices that "many of the predators... are Jews."

November 5, 2017

Larry David — in the opening "SNL" monologue — looks at the sexual harassment stories and notices that "many of the predators... are Jews."

100 comments:

chickelit said...: Good thing that wasn't the case in Maureen O'Hare's day!; 11/5/17, 9:35 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: I won't even hit a link button for SNL. It's dead to me and has been since Dana Carvey and Mike Meyers broadcast from Wayne's parent's basement.; 11/5/17, 9:36 AM
Oso Negro said...: And if a scandal breaks out among convenience store owners, the accused may be disproportionately Pakistani. The ethnicity is coincidental in this case, not causative. But goodness knows, it is a reasonable epoch of the world for Jews to feel anxious.; 11/5/17, 9:36 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Larry David is funny. And he is the antithesis of PC nonsense. And, for a leftwinger, that is a treacherous high wire act.; 11/5/17, 9:36 AM
traditionalguy said...: It’s not Jews that are the predators, it is the super rich Jews that use the power of money. All the other super rich people do
It too.; 11/5/17, 9:40 AM
mockturtle said...: Chickelit quips: Good thing that wasn't the case in Maureen O'Hare's day!

Heh! ;-); 11/5/17, 9:42 AM
dreams said...: I thought he was going to go with liberal.; 11/5/17, 9:43 AM
dreams said...: Actually they seem to be powerful but not very attractive men.; 11/5/17, 9:44 AM
mockturtle said...: I don't think it would be inaccurate or unseemly to say that most of Hollywood is controlled by Jewish men. This has been the case in the entertainment industry since I can remember. It's not that being Jewish makes them predators but that they happen to control the Hollywood environment.

It is doubtful that many or any of them are Orthodox, or even practicing, Jews.; 11/5/17, 9:46 AM
dreams said...: Here in Ky, the Republican leader of the house is under fire for sexual harassment settlements. Looking at his picture, I'm pretty sure women don't see him as being cute.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2017/11/04/jeff-hoover-sexual-harassment-deal-house-republicans/832904001/; 11/5/17, 9:47 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Could a person who wasn't Jewish make the same jokes?

If not, then it seems like only pedophiles can make Kevin Spacey jokes.

I am Laslo.; 11/5/17, 9:51 AM
William said...: I'll address the elephant in the room. Watch me get trampled. I live in NYC and know tons of Jews. I can get them for you wholesale. I have never known any Jew whose sex life resembles that of Harvey Weinstein or James Toback, That's not stereotypical Jewish behavior. It's more a Hollywood thing than a Jewish thing. But the wish to form a protective cordon around a wounded member of the herd is, if not strictly a Jewish phenomenon, definitely a phenomenon. It was unseemly the support offered Roman Polanski. He wasn't the victim of prudes and anti Semites. He was a child rapist. That kind of protective cordon enabled predators like Harvey to flourish and prosper.; 11/5/17, 9:53 AM
Otto said...: No shit red ryder, what gave you your first clue. Shit is shit whether it's a jew, swede,italian, etc.; 11/5/17, 9:56 AM
Oso Negro said...: @ William - Not really seeing a protective cordon of Jews forming around Weinstein. I think the protective cordon was formed of people who had benefited (Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Affleck, etc) or people who hoped to benefit. That is not unusual where their is an immense concentration of power or wealth. I think a good analogy would be the Clintons, who STILL have a cordon of enablers and protectors. I am wondering if Donna Brazile's statements are going to be the breaking point for that. I found it remarkable that she was terrified after the murder (and no robbery) of Seth Rich.; 11/5/17, 10:00 AM
Fernandinande said...: Larry is a credit to his race.; 11/5/17, 10:02 AM
cronus titan said...: Eddie Murphy had a joke on SNL back in the day when he played hte Gumby character during a CHristmas special:

To the people that work here every day, Merry CHristmas!
To the producer, director, promoter, accountants and lawyers supporting the show, Happy Hannukah!

I happened to catch it on a channel roll recently.; 11/5/17, 10:04 AM
Michael K said...: I found it remarkable that she was terrified after the murder (and no robbery) of Seth Rich.

Vince Foster could not be reached for comment. Not "remarkable" at all.; 11/5/17, 10:07 AM
gspencer said...: It's not worshipping Jews who have done these sorts of things. Rather it's some people from culturally Jewish backgrounds who have been accused of abusing their positions of power&money. Was/is Weinstein a worshipping Jew who's realized he's sinned?

The abuse stems from a sinful nature meeting opportunity; not because the person has/had a Jewish background. Plenty of others with that nature and finding that opportunity have taken advantage and dished out the abuse.; 11/5/17, 10:09 AM
Hagar said...: Semite may be a "race;" Jewish is a religion.; 11/5/17, 10:09 AM
boycat said...: I think the protective cordon was formed of people who had benefited (Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Affleck, etc) or people who hoped to benefit.

Yah, sooner or later the whole thing will come around to the other hand, as in one hand washes the other. The ones, female and male, who not only slept their way to success, but eagerly welcomed the opportunity. The system wouldn't have thrived without them.; 11/5/17, 10:16 AM
William said...: It's partially a beleaguered minority thing. The recent report on MLK's activities were the occasion for the press to report on how bigoted Hoover was. Maybe so, but MLK was definitely guilty of bad behavior in his lifetime. You will never, ever hear a black person criticize MLK for that behavior......Same thing with the Irish. If Sinead O'Connor had torn up a picture of Bobby Sands instead of the Pope, all would not have been forgiven. The IRA has long been a magnet for sociopaths, but you will never hear a hostile word directed against them......With the exception of Goodfellows and A Bronx Tale, Italian directors generally romanticize Mafia figures to an unrecognizable extent......The tyranny of the majority is sometimes suppressed by the propaganda of the minority.; 11/5/17, 10:17 AM
J. Farmer said...: In related news, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage is being pilloried for having the temerity to claim, “Well the Israeli lobby, you know, that’s a reasonable point, Ahmed, because there are about six million Jewish people living in America, so as a percentage it’s quite small, but in terms of influence it’s quite big...In terms of money and influence they are a very powerful lobby." All the usual suspects jumped on him to condemn his "deplorable" remarks and accuse him of "antisemitism."; 11/5/17, 10:18 AM
MikeR said...: Yeah, we Jews do this a lot. We are always on the lookup for unflattering stories about The Tribe. Anthony Wiener - ugh, sure sounds Jewish, looks Jewish too...
We don't normally cover up for these people, just wish they wouldn't get us in trouble.; 11/5/17, 10:21 AM
Fernandinande said...: Hagar said...
Semite may be a "race;" Jewish is a religion.

Then Larry David isn't Jewish because he's an atheist.

So there's no reason for him to be concerned about those Jewish names.

Except he is Jewish.; 11/5/17, 10:23 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: wow- The name 'Weinstein' actually fell out of someones mouth on SNL.; 11/5/17, 10:23 AM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/5/17, 10:25 AM
n.n said...: Progressive Jews which is a step away from Jewish.

They probably have a twilight faith and liberal (i.e. divergent) religious/moral philosophy.; 11/5/17, 10:26 AM
Big Mike said...: Larry is playing the Jewish privilege card — Jews can criticize other Jews, but if any of the goyim say the same thing then it’s anti-semitism. It’s dort of like blacks getting a pass for using the n-word to describe another black person.; 11/5/17, 10:29 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Any jokes about Weinstein's big Democrat donor status and the hypocrite Clinton paradigm?; 11/5/17, 10:30 AM
tim in vermont said...: That's what he does, he notices things. I made a nice career in IT by "noticing things."; 11/5/17, 10:30 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: David Bergstein, the Hack Jewish Comic Who Isn't Jewish....

It's tough being a Jew, I tell you. Just the other day I had a friend buy me some striped pajamas as a gift, and I had to wonder: what did he MEAN by this? Was this a concentration camp thing? And did he pay retail...?

And I like blonde women. Even German blonde women who kinda remind me of Nazis -- I can't help it. It's not that I don't like Jewish women, but they always remind me of my mother. And when I think of my mother I think of her washing my penis when I was twelve. And -- yes -- I got an erection. I'm not sure if this was a 'Jewish thing', but the only other people I know that had this happen to them were Jewish, too, so I guess -- yeah -- it probably IS a Jewish Thing...

People are always surprised that I'm not wealthy. You know: us Jews are supposed to be good with money. But I should say I'm not wealthy YET: when my parents die, that's gonna change, fingers crossed...

I get people who say to me: "David, how can you do these jokes? You're not even Jewish." Sure, I get it. But people always tell me I LOOK Jewish, I'm tight with money and I don't eat bacon, so: close enough...

My mother, she's a Christian: all of this is really hard on her, she's worried about my soul. I try to explain to her: I don't need to do all that charitable Jesus stuff, I'm one of the Chosen Ones -- I get to go to the front of the line when Heaven comes. She says it doesn't work that way, that I'm not really Jewish. I tell her: MOM! I DON'T EAT BACON! You know, I think she's just upset that I don't have to buy her Christmas presents anymore...

Thank you, you've been a great audience! Shalom!

I am Laslo.; 11/5/17, 10:34 AM
JPS said...: Big Mike,

"Jews can criticize other Jews, but if any of the goyim say the same thing then it’s anti-semitism. It’s dort of like blacks getting a pass for using the n-word to describe another black person."

I'm a big believer in truth irrespective of who says it, and the same rules for everyone, but intent matters. Fairly or not, "Dumb grunt" means something very different to me from an infantryman than from an antiwar activist.; 11/5/17, 10:36 AM
tim in vermont said...: All the best Jewish jokes I have ever heard have been told by Jews.; 11/5/17, 10:44 AM
mockturtle said...: "Jews can criticize other Jews, but if any of the goyim say the same thing then it’s anti-semitism. It’s dort of like blacks getting a pass for using the n-word to describe another black person."

In either case, it's a tribal thing. Only white goyim are not allowed tribal things.; 11/5/17, 10:47 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Fernananidinanide:

Except he is Jewish.

Because Jewishness isn't really just about a religion. Many of the early zionists were either agnostics or complete atheists. There is, for example, a stereotypical Jewish look. There is a reason that "Ashkenazi Jew" is a category in ancestry testing. Not only do Ashkenazi Jews have higher mean IQs than pretty much any other known human population, one-fourth of them have a genetic disorder of one kind of another. They are 2% of the US population but more than 50% of millionaires. They are 0.2% of the world population but have won over 20% of the Nobel Prizes.; 11/5/17, 10:49 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Fairly or not, 'Dumb grunt' means something very different to me from an infantryman than from an antiwar activist."

How often have you heard anti-war activists decry "dumb grunts?"

The evils of war are unleashed by the heads of state and their generals. The soldier fighting and killing and dying is just the tool of those who birth the wars.; 11/5/17, 10:51 AM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

In either case, it's a tribal thing. Only white goyim are not allowed tribal things.

Exactly. That is the paradox of the diversity-is-our-strength/SJW crowd. Racial and ethnic pride is considered a fantastic vehicle for empowerment, unless it's expressed by white people. Then it's evil and destructive and emblematic of white supremacy or whatever. It's part of the old nationalist joke: Africa for Africans, Asia for Asians, Europe/America for everyone.; 11/5/17, 10:52 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Robert Cook:

The evils of war are unleashed by the heads of state and their generals. The soldier fighting and killing and dying is just the tool of those who birth the wars.

Precisely correct. Also, illegal immigrants are often making choices that are perfectly rational and self-interested from their perspective. It's the political leaders you should be angry with for allowing it to continue, not the people who take advantage of it.; 11/5/17, 10:54 AM
walter said...: Spacey's father was Nazi child rapist who hated Jews and sexually abused his own son for years - and their mother knew, claims actor's brother; 11/5/17, 11:00 AM
Seeing Red said...: Laslo, you're priceless. SNL could use you, you're funnier than the professionals. Thank you.; 11/5/17, 11:01 AM
walter said...: " illegal immigrants are often making choices that are perfectly rational and self-interested from their perspective. It's the political leaders you should be angry with for allowing it to continue, not the people who take advantage of it."
Gee..does that apply to all illegal behavior?; 11/5/17, 11:02 AM
J. Farmer said...: @walter:

Gee..does that apply to all illegal behavior?

No.; 11/5/17, 11:05 AM
walter said...: Ah..got it. Thanks for that clarification.; 11/5/17, 11:06 AM
Hagar said...: Colonel Nasser said an "Arab" was anyone who claimed to be an Arab and could speak Arabic.

Jews have got that beat; it is sufficient that someone else calls you a Jew, and there certainly is no requirement of speaking Hebrew.; 11/5/17, 11:06 AM
FullMoon said...: Mel Gibson is dancing a jig.

Larry David is taking on Muslim Fatwa in his show; 11/5/17, 11:08 AM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/5/17, 11:10 AM
J. Farmer said...: @walter:

Ah..got it. Thanks for that clarification.

You're welcome.; 11/5/17, 11:12 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Hagar:

Jews have got that beat; it is sufficient that someone else calls you a Jew, and there certainly is no requirement of speaking Hebrew.

See the Law of Return.; 11/5/17, 11:13 AM
Big Mike said...: @Cookie, I was never called a dumb grunt, but back in the 1970s I was called a baby killer by anti-war activists.; 11/5/17, 11:20 AM
David said...: "The ethnicity is coincidental in this case, not causative."

So who gets to decide that? And by what criteria?; 11/5/17, 11:25 AM
mockturtle said...: Laslo, you're priceless. SNL could use you, you're funnier than the professionals. Thank you.

Yes! SNL could stand for Saturday Night Laslo!; 11/5/17, 11:26 AM
JPS said...: Robert Cook:

"How often have you heard anti-war activists decry 'dumb grunts?'"

Shorthand; approximation.

I left an academic environment to join the military. On numerous occasions I heard some of my colleagues on the left, who on other occasions showed up at antiwar rallies in our city, disparage with lordly condescension the intellect, career prospects and life prospects of those who would enlist. (Hey, who would, if they had anything better to do?) I did hear them refer to "the grunts" as "stupid" - while largely and patronizingly excusing them as tools of the bad guys who make the decisions. Is that close enough for you?

Speaking of which:

"The soldier fighting and killing and dying is just the tool of those who birth the wars."

Or maybe some of us, having heard and considered all the criticisms that you and your ideological allies make of America, think it's worth defending anyway; think there are people out there who would kill apologetic you as gladly as they'd kill jingoistic me, and are willing to put our own selves on the line to stop them. I don't ask you for gratitude, but you might consider granting me and my peers the agency to reject some of your key premises, and to have made with open eyes a decision you disapprove of.; 11/5/17, 11:30 AM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: All the mannerisms sold it.; 11/5/17, 11:30 AM
tim in vermont said...: The evils of war are unleashed by the heads of state and their generals. The soldier fighting and killing and dying is just the tool of those who birth the wars.

This is a lesson that anti war activists only learned after losing a generation of voters. You can pretend that this is what protesters believed in the '60s and '70s, but a lot of us were alive then.; 11/5/17, 11:32 AM
tim in vermont said...: Halp us John Cary!

Speaking at a campaign rally Monday for California gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides at Pasadena City College, Kerry said, "You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."; 11/5/17, 11:35 AM
fivewheels said...: I couldn't help but notice ... how fucking lame an audience for SNL is. He starts the bit by mentioning the topic of sexual harassment. Then he says, "I couldn't help but notice ..." and immediately a bunch of people laugh.

What the fuck were they laughing at? There's no joke there. He didn't do anything visually funny. They're just sheep who know they're supposed to find this person amusing, so they're dutifully doing what's expected. How pathetic is that? What kind of barren intellectual landscape is their mind that they laugh like trained seals, rather than wait until there's something that delights them? Why is the entire life of a New York liberal just pure signaling, and nothing genuine? Weirdos.; 11/5/17, 11:37 AM
J. Farmer said...: @tim in vermont:

This is a lesson that anti war activists only learned after losing a generation of voters. You can pretend that this is what protesters believed in the '60s and '70s, but a lot of us were alive then.

Unfortunately, the pendulum has swung much too far to the other side, in my opinion. Joining the armed services is, by and large, a noble, honorable, and brave thing to do. But I find the notion of thanking individual soldiers "for our freedom" very creepy. And it is simply propaganda to claim that what American soldiers are doing in Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan has anything to do with protecting American freedom. It simply does not. And it does not make you anti-American or anti-military to point that out. In fact, it is quite shocking that the way one proves one's patriotism these days seems to be measured only in their willingness to get young American service members killed in useless military adventures.; 11/5/17, 11:38 AM
Hagar said...: See the Law of Return.

Indeed - and this is just for those who seek Israeli residence and citizenship!; 11/5/17, 11:41 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: David Bergstein, the Hack Jewish Comic Who Isn't Jewish....

It's tough being a Jew, I tell you. I mean, I've read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion -- a lot of people don't like us. And as Jews, we're not even supposed to be proud about the parts the Protocols got right. You can't win, I tell you...

I met Natalie Portman once. I was thinking: she's a Jew, I'm a Jew -- maybe we'll hit it off, have some hot Jewish sex and some matzah. But we didn't. I'm not sure, but I think I was too Jewish for her -- she said I reminded her of her accountant, but creepier...

Did you notice what she said? "Creepier". Meaning her accountant was creepy, just not as creepy as I was. Her accountant and I, we're creepy Jews. This sucks, people. Why is it that when a goy hits on a girl who isn't interested, he's just a jerk: but when it's a Jew, we're 'creepy'? It's not like I sprayed myself with Drakkar Noir -- or at least not since High School...

You know what else sucks? Other people, they can hate Muslims. But if you are a Jew that hates Muslims, now you have to hear about the Arab History of the Palestinians and how Israelis are the new Nazis. Sometimes it's not even worth it...

But I don't hate Muslims. I have a friend who's an Arab, and except for his agreeing with Hitler we get along OK. Well, actually, he's not really a 'friend', he's just the guy who works at the Shawarma place. We're polite to each other, but I think the guys in the back spit in my food...

People say "David, how can you make these jokes when you're not really a Jew?" You know what I call these people? Antisemites....

Thank you, you've been a great audience! Shalom!

I am Laslo.; 11/5/17, 11:42 AM
Earnest Prole said...: There’s a category of humor called self-deprecation. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that those who don’t get it tend to sound like bigots.; 11/5/17, 11:43 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Hagar:

Indeed - and this is just for those who seek Israeli residence and citizenship!

The question of, "Who is a Jew?" was important not just for Israelis but the Nuremberg Laws as well. The difficulty (at the margins) for answering that question is exactly what race denialists seize upon for their argument. But that is a fundamental problem to all linguistic descriptions. We could just as easily ask, "What is blue versus what is green." That does not mean that "blue" and "green" are not useful descriptors in the real world.; 11/5/17, 11:44 AM
mockturtle said...: Unfortunately, the pendulum has swung much too far to the other side, in my opinion. Joining the armed services is, by and large, a noble, honorable, and brave thing to do. But I find the notion of thanking individual soldiers "for our freedom" very creepy. And it is simply propaganda to claim that what American soldiers are doing in Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan has anything to do with protecting American freedom. It simply does not. And it does not make you anti-American or anti-military to point that out. In fact, it is quite shocking that the way one proves one's patriotism these days seems to be measured only in their willingness to get young American service members killed in useless military adventures.

Agreed. We really have no business in the ME. Our cultures and values are diametrically opposed to those of ME countries. We really should concentrate our military efforts on protecting our homeland and those of our NATO and Asian allies.

What do you make of the Saudi purge, Farmer?; 11/5/17, 11:46 AM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/5/17, 11:48 AM
cubanbob said...: Ann Althouse said...
I made a separate post for the Larry David monologue bit about Jewish sexual harassers."

And a lot of the commentators here have taken that as a license............; 11/5/17, 11:54 AM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

What do you make of the Saudi purge, Farmer?

Confirms what I have been thinking for a long time. Mohammad bin Salman is a very insecure and very inept leader. Whether it's the execution of dissidents, his bungling of the hajj disaster in 2015, the pointless/destructive campaign against Yemen, or the attempts to isolate Qatar. It is very predictable that this would be presented as part of an "anti-corruption" campaign. Western journalists predictably try to shoehorn this into the reformer vs. conservative frame, which is always their overly simplistic view of the Saudi kingdom. Since about September 12th, 2001, I have advocated disentangling ourselves from the Saudi relationship and towards a rapprochement with Iran. The recent headlines only strengthen my conviction for that course of action. Of course, I do not expect it anytime soon.; 11/5/17, 12:02 PM
Hagar said...: Promoting Iran is what Obama did for the full eight years of his presidency, and the present mess is the result.

It would have been a mess anyway, but this particular mess is Obama's.

And you ain't seen nothin' yet!; 11/5/17, 12:15 PM
J. Farmer said...: Hagar:

Promoting Iran is what Obama did for the full eight years of his presidency, and the present mess is the result.

Sorry, but exactly what "present mess is the result" of Obama "promoting Iran?"; 11/5/17, 12:18 PM
J. Farmer said...: p.s. How, for example, was UN Security Council Resolution 1929, "promoting Iran?"; 11/5/17, 12:20 PM
William said...: I wish Muslims would recognize that there's some pathology in their culture that produces all these mass murderers. Anyone want to argue with that statement. Anyone want to extend that observation to any other religious or ethnic goup? Besides Wasps and Germans, I mean.; 11/5/17, 12:21 PM
James K said...: Larry David is a lefty, but he's not afraid to skewer PC lefties, as anyone who watched Seinfeld knows. "You don' wanna wear the ribbon!?"; 11/5/17, 12:32 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I though this comic bit was fine.

The Holocaust stuff that followed seemed as though it came from some long-ago stand-up routine of his. It too was fine.

Total noncontroversy in my view.; 11/5/17, 12:37 PM
rcocean said...: Hey, about all those perverts being Jewish...

An answer to a question no one was asking.

Except for Jews and few anti-Semites.; 11/5/17, 12:54 PM
Gospace said...: cronus titan said...
Eddie Murphy had a joke on SNL back in the day when he played hte Gumby character during a CHristmas special:

To the people that work here every day, Merry CHristmas!
To the producer, director, promoter, accountants and lawyers supporting the show, Happy Hannukah!

They say the best humor is based in truth. This was funny.

J. Farmer said...

But I find the notion of thanking individual soldiers "for our freedom" very creepy.

Maybe not creepy, but it makes me uncomfortable after serving 21 years in the Navy. My choice- I could have pursued other careers. On Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, and perhaps Independence Day doesn't bother me so much. But all the time? Unnecessary and overboard.; 11/5/17, 1:13 PM
Kevin said...: Was this insanely rich guest host Larry David being brave, or the entire SNL cast, hoping to have long careers in Hollywood, being cowardly?; 11/5/17, 1:15 PM
Hagar said...: @ J. Farmer,
I believe it was an Iranian general who told an Israeli general that he ought to keep in mind that his was but a two-bomb country.; 11/5/17, 1:44 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I find funny the following dichotomy: Jews and Goyim or Jews and Gentiles.

Think about it. There's 7 billion people on earth, and how many Jews? Short of 15 Million (less than 1% of the pop).

So, the words "Goyim" and/or "Gentiles" could be renamed -- "the human race" (except for the tiny number of Jews.); 11/5/17, 2:24 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Then he says, "I couldn't help but notice ..." and immediately a bunch of people laugh. What the fuck were they laughing at?

In a word, dissatisfaction. It’s been a comedic staple for at least a hundred years and probably the last five thousand. Larry David has made a career of it, first through Seinfeld and then through his own character. He’s anything but politically correct; the audience knows he's transgressive, hence the anticipatory giggles.

Your ready-made political templates are failing you.; 11/5/17, 2:34 PM
Bilwick said...: I like to thank soldiers for doing two things I could never do: live in a barracks, and go to the bathroom in front of other people.; 11/5/17, 2:37 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Hagar:

I believe it was an Iranian general who told an Israeli general that he ought to keep in mind that his was but a two-bomb country.

I have no idea who you are referring or if they said what you say they said, but assuming for a moment it was true. How is that evidence that Obama was "promoting Iran...for the full eight years of his presidency?"; 11/5/17, 2:38 PM
Fernandinande said...: J. Farmer said...
They are 2% of the US population but more than 50% of millionaires. They are 0.2% of the world population but have won over 20% of the Nobel Prizes.

Yup. And Ashkenazi Jews, the ones who do everything (as opposed to the primitive Sephardic Jews), are mostly European, not Semitic.

Natural history of Ashkenazi intelligence.

Did Modern Jews Originate in Italy?

A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages

Fun Fact: You can't spell "Ashkenazi" without "nazi"!; 11/5/17, 2:44 PM
fivewheels said...: Got it, Prole. The smart people laugh if they think a joke is coming, and whether it's funny or clever or any good at all is of no consequence whatsoever. No need to wait! Laugh now! Me, I wait until something is funny instead of forcing laughter for no reason except to display how "in on it" I am.; 11/5/17, 3:02 PM
Earnest Prole said...: The intelligent anticipate; the daft wait for jokes, and life, to wash over them.; 11/5/17, 3:08 PM
Hagar said...: It isn't, but it should give pause to your idea of cozying up to the Iranians.

As for the other, some clear evidence would be Obama's betrayal of the Iraqi Sunnis, the money transfer skullduggeries, and the so-called "nuclear deal."; 11/5/17, 3:13 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Hagar:

It isn't, but it should give pause to your idea of cozying up to the Iranians.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia pump out a huge amount of anti-semitic and anti-Israel material on a daily basis, and we've been cozied up to both of them for decades. But I am generally not for "cozying up" to any country, except a small number for linguistic and cultural reasons.

As for the other, some clear evidence would be Obama's betrayal of the Iraqi Sunnis, the money transfer skullduggeries, and the so-called "nuclear deal."

I am not sure which "betrayal" you are talking about. I am not sure which money transfer you are referring to, the money that was unfrozen as part of sanctions relief or the payment through the Iran–US Claims Tribunal. Either way, neither significantly altered the strategic landscape in the region and neither could be considered "promoting Iran." And as for the JCPOA, I am a long-term defender of the deal and am prepared to continue defending it. Even the Trump administration, which came in highly skeptical of the deal, has not been able to point to a substantive violation, hence their reliance on this nonsensical violation of the "spirit of the deal."; 11/5/17, 3:22 PM
steve uhr said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/5/17, 3:35 PM
tim in vermont said...: "I couldn't help but notice ..." and immediately a bunch of people laugh.

It's like the intro to a well-loved song when a famous band is in concert. Or when Rodney Dangerfield starts out with "I get no respect, I'm tellin' ya...." Is that funny, but people know something funny is coming. I will take Larry David noticing stuff over Andy Rooney any day.; 11/5/17, 3:50 PM
tim in vermont said...: "I'd be the guy with the boner when the Nazis stripped us all naked" might be going over the top though. But I bet he thought of making that joke.; 11/5/17, 3:52 PM
mockturtle said...: Regarding Saudi King Salman, it seems to me that if he really is going to stand for a moderate, tolerant version of Islam he will likely be assassinated like Anwar Sadat.; 11/5/17, 4:09 PM
PB said...: Don't watch it. Their contest is lazy.; 11/5/17, 4:31 PM
James K said...: "Yup. And Ashkenazi Jews, the ones who do everything (as opposed to the primitive Sephardic Jews), are mostly European, not Semitic."

Maimonides, Spinoza, David Ricardo, Modigliani (both the painter and the Nobel economist), Pissarro, to name a few of those "primitive" Sephardim.; 11/5/17, 5:34 PM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

Regarding Saudi King Salman, it seems to me that if he really is going to stand for a moderate, tolerant version of Islam he will likely be assassinated like Anwar Sadat.

The Saudi royal family, by and large, does not care much about Islam. They have a corrupt bargain with the clerical caste. They support their particular brand of Salafism, and in turn the clerics confer legitimacy on the al Saudi family, which derives largely from their role as the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques." The clerical establishment also looks the other way as Saudi princelings drink liquor, drive Ferraris, and sleep with prostitutes in Europe.

But there are rival factions in Saudi Arabia, as there always are in autocratic systems. Even in the so called European age of "absolutism," the king's power was not absolute.; 11/5/17, 5:57 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: "What the fuck were they laughing at? There's no joke there.".

I think they suspected.; 11/5/17, 6:10 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Fernananidinanide said...
Ken B said...
It's okay to be Anne Althouse. Discuss.

You spelled it wrong.
11/5/17, 12:53 PM

Says Ferdinand.; 11/5/17, 6:35 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: For a substantive discussion of the admixtures of blood and their consequence during wartime, please see:

Mischling, second degree https://g.co/kgs/eJBo8R

Michener gives a breakdown of the Spanish system in his novel Texas. With criollos, rubios, peninsulares, and all the different grades of purity of Spanish blood and their relative status...

Texas: A Novel
https://books.google.com › books
James A. Michener · 2014 · Fiction
A Novel James A. Michener ... He was a criollo, not a peninsular; that honored name was reserved for those actually born in the Iberian ...; 11/5/17, 7:12 PM
gg6 said...: Ann Althouse said..."I though this comic bit was fine.....Total non-controversy in my view."
Amen, I'm with Altouse! Except I possibly might have added 'not the most comic bit comic this Comic has ever done'....
Also kudos to Lazlo for his 'jewish vs pedophile' analogy!
Also the 'Most Humorless, Boring and Pedantic Posts' award to J. Farmer!
Congrats to all!; 11/5/17, 7:38 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: In either case, it's a tribal thing. Only white goyim are not allowed tribal things.

Duh, the white goyim were the ones who integrated themselves within the universalist projects of the Roman Empire, and its global faith - in which "all are one in Christ Jesus." So it seems they were the ones who deemed themselves, as well as the rest of the world, above tribalism.; 11/5/17, 7:43 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/5/17, 7:43 PM
gg6 said...: KUDOS also to Dickin Bimbos for best double-double-entendre of the year:
"...The name 'Weinstein' actually fell out of someones mouth on SNL"
"...Any jokes about Weinstein's big Democrat donor..."; 11/5/17, 7:44 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: And Ashkenazi Jews, the ones who do everything (as opposed to the primitive Sephardic Jews), are mostly European, not Semitic.

Israelite Y chromosomes (paternal lines) and South European maternal lines (mitochondrial DNA).

But that just shows single-sex unbroken lineage descent patterns, not "extent of admixture" or whatever.

There was apparently also a bottleneck around the 12th century.; 11/5/17, 7:48 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Again, Ritmo, let me invite you to look up

Mischling, second degree

https://g.co/kgs/eJBo8R

Mischling, Second Degree: My Childhood in Nazi Germany
Paperback
by Ilse Koehn (Author), Harrison E. Salisbury (Foreword)
4.6 out of 5 stars 14 customer reviews

I wonder if in a thousand years some population geneticist will come out and say Yeah, there was a bottleneck around 1945.; 11/6/17, 12:13 PM