November 23, 2017

"She was 17 when I met her, and... we've been married now almost 42 years."

Let's think about Franni Bryson. Here's Al Franken, last June, talking about the love of his life:

209 comments:

1 – 200 of 209   Newer›   Newest»
Gahrie said...

He was probably 18 at the time..wiki says they met his first year at Harvard.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Back when she was seventeen.”

And he was 19.

Owen said...

The internet makes irony too easy.

Drago said...

Inga: "And he was 19."

Yikes!

Inga probably wants Jerry Seinfeld jailed immediately!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshanna_Lonstein_Gruss

"While still a 17-year-old high school student, Shoshanna came to public attention by dating then 38-year-old Jerry Seinfeld, who was at the time starring in his eponymous sitcom. Early in their relationship, Spy Magazine referred to her as "a legal voter". [13] They dated for approximately four years, from 1993 to 1997, before the relationship ended."

Inga and LLR Chuck hardest hit.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

So she was an alcoholic and he was an ass-grabber - an apparently not uncommon affliction among powerful men with a need to be in touch with the people. Whether it's as bad a disease as Charlie Rose's, Weinstein's or Spacey's is up to the people, or maybe an ethics investigation, to judge.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

That Shoshanna girl was hawt. Any guy who could have abstained from that stuff must have been pretending.

Those "S" names are nice. Let's think of others: Susanna Hoffs, etc....

Unknown said...

"So she was an alcoholic and he was an ass-grabber"

Sounds like a relationship of mine way back when.

Except there was no ass-grabbing, and we were both alcoholics.

I have had a lot of AA Silver Chips since then.

tim in vermont said...

Not only was he not a creep by dating a 17 year old, because he was 19, ass grabbing is completely legal in Minnesota. So what don't all of you guys shut the fuck up!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“While still a 17-year-old high school student, Shoshanna came to public attention by dating then 38-year-old Jerry Seinfeld, who was at the time starring in his eponymous sitcom. Early in their relationship, Spy Magazine referred to her as "a legal voter". [13] They dated for approximately four years, from 1993 to 1997, before the relationship ended."

What does this have to do with the ages of Franken and his wife when they first met?

Humperdink said...

Yeah, Franken's butt grabbing is a problem, but my issue how the left views this guy as a statesman. The guy is a blithering idiot. Every time I see his face in the senate, I am reminded of the time Zoe Lofgren (D-Oz) invited Stephen Colbert to speak before a congressional subcommittee.

tim in vermont said...

There are a few candidate bright lines.

Did the accused break any laws?

Did the accused abuse the power of their office?

Is the accused a Republican?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Jerry's jailbait ex has not aged as well as Punky Brewster. Soleil Moon-Frye.

I think the novelty was how more developed she was for her age, and obviously with the poise and maturity to not have sought anything out of it.

Faces age the worst. Use Mexoryl.

Unknown said...

When I was an alcoholic I may have acted inappropriately to some women.

But most of the women I knew were alcoholics, too.

So none of us probably remember anything.

tim in vermont said...

The guy is a blithering idiot. Every time I see his face in the senate, I am reminded of the time Zoe Lofgren (D-Oz) invited Stephen Colbert to speak before a congressional subcommittee.

Exactly! They piss down on us and tell us it's sunshine!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Yeah, Franken's butt grabbing is a problem, but my issue how the left views this guy as a statesman. The guy is a blithering idiot.

Hahahaha. Here goes the right's horrendous credibility problem. Who are you to judge? Let us know all the stunning insights and incredible knowledge that others have thanked you for bringing into the world.

Ann Althouse said...

Why don't people look up the age of consent before making comments about underage sex?

They were in Massachusetts, where the age of consent is and was 16. But don't take my word for it. Research the law before having sex with someone under 18.

Unknown said...

"Faces age the worst."

I know a twenty-four year old woman who is hardcore alcoholic, and she already looks like she's thirty.

I'm still hoping to have sex with her, though.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

"Every time I see his face in the senate, I am reminded of the time Zoe Lofgren (D-Oz) invited Stephen Colbert to speak before a congressional subcommittee."

Exactly!


Colbert. Another highly accomplished and brilliant man.

Again, the reason that there really aren't any decent right-wing comedians is illustrated with the statements above.

robother said...

So, her confessing to be an alcoholic helped him win the Senate how? Did she threaten to go back to drinking f he lost?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Why don't people look up the age of consent before making comments about underage sex?

Judgments are easier than research, as most of the comments sections on the web will reveal.

I would hope they aren't more satisfying, but can't speak for what other people get off on.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

So, her confessing to be an alcoholic helped him win the Senate how?

Oh, that right wing! So warm, and fuzzy and completely understanding of the basics of how relationships work.

I mean, non-financial relationships.

Bill said...

The historians Will and Ariel Durant were 28 and 15 when they married in 1913; Ariel arrived at the wedding in roller skates. Are we supposed to wail and wring our hands and slime Will Durant's reputation now?

tim in vermont said...

Again, the reason that there really aren't any decent right-wing comedians is illustrated with the statements above.

You keep saying that as if your judgment makes it true. Tim Allen was pretty funny, had a hit show, just got his most recent successful show canceled after expressing support for Trump, It's just possible that you don't see any right of center comics because you are not allowed to.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Humperdink said...
my issue how the left views this guy as a statesman.


Compared to Trump, who even members of his own cabinet think is a moron?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“The historians Will and Ariel Durant were 28 and 15 when they married in 1913; Ariel arrived at the wedding in roller skates. Are we supposed to wail and wring our hands and slime Will Durant's reputation now?”



This isn’t 1913. Nor should we as a society, aspire to go back to it.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Hey tim!

That's one. And counting.

Any others?

Scoreboard, bro.

Tim Allen made one heck of a living making ape noises and expressing his love of wrenches. I think that's what they in the industry call "a broad range."

tim in vermont said...

I wish ass-grabbing through the clothes was legal in Boston. Every once in a while, riding the T, you see some very attractive women, standing there, holding the bar to keep upright. Maybe Franken can introduce a bill to take Minnesota's law nationwide?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Franken looks like a genius statesman compared to Trump and a choirboy compared to Conyers, Joe Barton, Roy Moore and Trump himself.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Franken's hands are not clean.

tim in vermont said...

Like I said, his show was cancelled because he expressed his support for Trump. What do you think stuff like that does to the marketplace?

Anonymous said...

Prof

On Thanksgiving day, I am thankful to President Trump.

Because of him, in 2020 we will see women in power.

POTUS: Liz Warren or Kirsten Gillibrand
VPOTUS: Gillibrand or Kamala Harris or Amy Klobuchar or Cory Booker

And, in 2018, we will see Dems back:

Speaker: Pelosi
Leader: Chuck Schumer

Thank you, Mr. President.

PS: If Franken does not resign, then there will be a backlash. Some some of the predictions (2018/2020) may not happen.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Not to excuse his butt-grabbing, but Franni was pretty cute when young. She still is, but looks as frazzled as Radagast the Brown.

It's a look that could be natural, but might also have been the booze. Or electro-shock therapy.

My mom's favorite cousin was an alkie. Now he's "born again."

When I hear him pontificating on Christ-y judgments late into a long night, I think to myself that he's filling the holes worn in his brain by the alcohol with Jesus-filled substitutes.

Let's be thankful that at least it was not that fate that befell Franni Franken.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Like I said, his show was cancelled because he expressed his support for Trump. What do you think stuff like that does to the marketplace?

Not as much as cancelling the huge growth in renewables in order to favor a dead, dangerous and heavily polluting industry that employs less people than Arby's.

Unknown said...

Maybe it is because of my intense relationship with alcohol, but I have a strong empathy to people's foibles.

I mean, Franken is a dick, but I still sort of feel sorry for him. It's like he has white-knuckle sobriety even without a drinking problem.

Humperdink said...

disARM said: "Compared to Trump, who even members of his own cabinet think is a moron?"

I'll take my moron over yours any day. Rolling back EPA regs, FCC regs, getting tough with the Norks, Gorsuch, the days of sending pallets of $100 bills to the mullahs are over, pummeling the Fake Stream Media, standing by Roy Moore ..... what's not like?

tim in vermont said...

And you know what? The country is doing pretty well right now. Blue collar wages are rising per the Economist, or as Mickey Kaus put it:

ALERT: Blue collar wages surging. MUST NOT CREDIT TRUMP. Also, whatever you do, do not mention decreased i_____tion as a factor. @kausmicky

https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21731332-weaker-dollar-and-energy-boom-are-pushing-up-pay-blue-collar-wages-are-surging-can-it

But I know you would rather carp about whatever it is you are carping about, than appreciate successes for the American people.

tim in vermont said...

Franken's hands are not clean.

Yes, "the old stinkpalm!"

buwaya said...

There are rather good analyses that show that the rate of innovation and improvement in living standards was much higher in 1913 than it is today.

In fact it was probably the high point in Western Civilization, the relative position of Europe AND the US in the world, the imperial height. Also, and until very recently, a high point of human progress in the European colonies. Only very recently have the ex-colonies returned to such rates of progress.

1913 was the year before the long chain of disasters afflicted the world, WWI, the economically troubled 1920s-30s, WWII, and the long calamity of decolonization plus communism.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

tim in vermont said...
Like I said, his show was cancelled because he expressed his support for Trump


Here's some news, just because you say a thing doesn't make it true. The show ran for six years and they suddenly realized one day that he was a milquetoast conservative and immediately cancelled his show? Shows get cancelled all the time. ABC didn’t own the show, 20th Century Fox did, so ABC wasn't making much money on it. If it was such a great money maker why didn't FOX pick it up?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Humperdink thinks he can eat oil.

I think that's what Condoleeza Rice challenged Saddam Hussein to do.

Corporatizing the internet through the FCC will be the final straw in the dumbest thing that the cons will do. And boy have they done a lot of DUMB things!

Get ready to have to submit your "free speech" for pre-approval through Verizon, AT&T or another god-awful ISP. You know, because corporations are soooooo anti-PC. Just ask one of their H.R. departments.

Man, you conservatives are one royal bunch of dumb dildos.

pacwest said...

"Franken looks like a genius statesman"

I'm so stunned by that I don't even have a clever comeback. Drago around?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The FCC's anti net neutrality ruling is unlikely to be a plus for anyone other than a few large internet providers, who themselves have contributed very little to the growth of the internet other than buying a lot of hardware to sustain their monopoly. The young'uns over at Reddit are not happy, even the ones on r/The_Donald were complaining for a while, but they've gone back to bashing the Clintons now.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Franken looks like a genius statesman"

“I'm so stunned by that I don't even have a clever comeback. Drago around?”
————-
Interesting how you took my words out of context.

Franken looks like a genius statesman compared to Trump and a choirboy compared to Conyers, Joe Barton, Roy Moore and Trump himself.

11/23/17, 10:34 AM

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The FCC's anti net neutrality ruling is unlikely to be a plus for anyone other than a few large internet providers...

Shhh. Don't tell anyone. The pollution enthusiast Humperdink is busy having his chain pulled.

Earnest Prole said...

"We've been married nearly forty-two years, many of them happy." Hard not to be charmed by that, regardless of politics.

tim in vermont said...

The people controlling what you read are Google, Facebook, YouTube, oops, I repeat myself. They are the ones who need regulation. Of course those tech billionaires had Obama in their pocket and he did their bidding on net neutrality.

Who needs to be broken up is Google, who thinks they can create algorithms to decide what is true, without political bias of course!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

So Facebook and Google are controlling what you can read on the internet, tiv? That's what you're saying?

And they say conservatives believe that they're better at understanding economics. Do let me know the last time you submitted a monthly internet utility bill to Google or Facebook, Sparky.

Sebastian said...

"Are we supposed to wail and wring our hands and slime Will Durant's reputation now?" Yes, for starters. We need to slime anyone's reputation who can make current prog fads look better and hurry the creation of the New Man -- um, New Xe.

Which means that we pretty much need to slime anyone who lived the day before yesterday, or earlier. Except Muslims. Muhammad may have liked them young, but there's no evidence he grabbed ass or ejaculated into pots.

tim in vermont said...

You know, I can't eat oil, but it's pretty hard to drive a tractor without it, or ship food to market for that matter. I know that you don't really give a shit about "blue collar jobs" unless you are in complete control of what it is they are doing for those higher wages, but cheap oil is part of the formula. If you are all for putting blue collar workers out of jobs, why not make it your platform? It was a loser for Hillary, but go ahead and try it again!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Yep. Government intervention to "make politically unbiased" Google's page view rankings algorithms or Facebook's connection algorithms.

Right. The conservative objects to regulating to keep ISPs from throttling connections to sites they want you to avoid but applauds this strange idea that the government will regulate complex mathematical algorithms that allow the world's search engines and social media sites to access all the world's information or personal contacts.

Genius idea.

tim in vermont said...

Do let me know the last time you submitted a monthly internet utility bill to Google or Facebook, Sparky.

What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Google can and does manipulate search results. They admit it. Are you drunk or something?

buwaya said...

If you are thinking of kicking off an autodidactic Liberal Arts education, you could do a lot worse than plowing through Will and Ariel Durant's "Story of Civilization" series. You would be far better off than most liberal arts university grads these days.

I haven't cracked those in decades, but they are still on our shelves, remembered with fondness.

They are also a marker for what has been lost, between 1913 and today. The year Will and Ariel got hitched, 1913, is when Will began the lecture series that turned into these books. Lectures on the history of philosophy to uneducated people. University-level teaching to workmen and their wives.

What Will and Ariel had, from 1913 and into the 1980s was that most important thing, an audience. The common person in 1913, based on the nature of what was popular, was immensely more sophisticated, curious, and interested in real knowledge than the modern equivalent. The Durants sold a tremendous number of books in their day. That cannot happen now.

The modern American is a far more ignorant person than his great-grandparents of 1913. And, worse, this is what we Catholics would call "invincible ignorance" (I misuse the term a bit, but it fits), ignorance that realizes what it does not know, and actively refuses knowledge.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I know that you don't really give a shit about "blue collar jobs" unless you are in complete control of what it is they are doing for those higher wages, but cheap oil is part of the formula.

And I know you don't give a shit about sustaining life on this planet. But the left does, and when they were dominant in American politics our living standards for everyone including laborers rose much more dramatically than under the right-wingers who have kept them consistently stagnant or in decline for forty years.

But then, you're the guys who hate the labor movement. You think they don't give owners a fair shot... to put labor at a disadvantage.

Humperdink said...

"Franken looks like a genius statesman"

Looking at the people travelling in commie-pinko circles, this is an accurate statement.

tim in vermont said...

regulate complex mathematical algorithms

Yes, they are never manipulated in any way! No "tuning" of these algorithms is ever done! I would link to stories, but I am thinking you are probably too impaired at the moment to even understand them.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Google can and does manipulate search results. They admit it. Are you drunk or something?

Every social decision, including complex algorithms, is biased, dummy.

Not every fiber optic cable prevents you from downloading sites at the same speeds.

But they will now, thanks to the wonder of the lobbyist-owned Trump administration!

Henry said...

And I know you don't give a shit about sustaining life on this planet. But the left does, and when they were dominant in American politics our living standards for everyone including laborers rose much more dramatically than under the right-wingers who have kept them consistently stagnant or in decline for forty years.

Sustaining life on this planet and improved human consumption are in conflict, n'est pas?

Marcus said...

The Toothless Revolutionary said:
My mom's favorite cousin was an alkie. Now he's "born again."

When I hear him pontificating on Christ-y judgments late into a long night, I think to myself that he's filling the holes worn in his brain by the alcohol with Jesus-filled substitutes.

Will he ever please you?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Yes, they are never manipulated in any way! No "tuning" of these algorithms is ever done! I would link to stories, but I am thinking you are probably too impaired at the moment to even understand them.

Then use a site other than Google, brainiac. While you still have the choice to. Before the cable companies that you think are so much more innovative are allowed to throttle your access to anything else.

Using your brain will not hurt you. Well, I hope it won't hurt you.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Franken looks like a genius statesman compared to Trump...”

“Looking at the people travelling in commie-pinko circles, this is an accurate statement.”

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The Toothless Revolutionary said...
Do let me know the last time you submitted a monthly internet utility bill to Google or Facebook, Sparky.


Tim is going through a bad patch at the moment. I'd cut him some slack. The world has turned on the Clintons, as he always hoped it would, yet he is not lauded as a visionary, and they are not hanging from a tree. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Sustaining life on this planet and improved human consumption are in conflict, n'est pas?

What is "improved" human consumption? How many billions should the population grow to? In what way does "consuming" an entire rain forest improve sustainability? How much more life arises as a result of more concrete, asphalt and steel? Other than cockroaches and pigeons. I get it! The right hates biodiversity the same way they hate racial/cultural diversity. Fine, then let's see how well your planet gets by with you topping a food chain of nothing other than cockroaches, pigeons and, oh yeah, cattle. Kill off everything else. If extinction is such a great thing to you, then I suggest you try subjecting yourself to it.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

tim in vermont said...
What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Google can and does manipulate search results.


And you can use Bing every time if you want. Admit it! You can't handle the truth.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The right-wing bias for ISP/cable companies over information and social network companies just shows just how much they hate information and how much they love the idea of owning and privatizing information. Next up will be a Ministry of Information.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Humperdink said...

Unknown, if you are going to comment on my observations, please be somewhat accurate. I know it's hard. Allow me to help you.

Abridged comment: "Franken looks like a genius statesman"

My response: "Looking at the people travelling in commie-pinko circles, this is an accurate statement."

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

And you can use Bing every time if you want. Admit it! You can't handle the truth.

tim in Vermont.

Internet user.

Father of four.

And newbie to the idea that search engines other than Google exist.

You can't make this shit up. Is his cable modem installed in a fucking cave or what?

Drago said...

TTR: " But the left does, and when they were dominant in American politics our living standards for everyone including laborers rose much more dramatically than under the right-wingers who have kept them consistently stagnant or in decline for forty years."

The Post-WWII days are gone forever.

Of course, if we wanted to recreate the environment in which the "left" can once again have a vacation from economic reality we could of course recreate that scenario.

All we would have to do is destroy about 60% of the rest of the worlds industrial capacity.

Barring that, well, things become a tad more "complex".

Curious George said...

"Franken looks like a genius statesman compared to Trump and a choirboy compared to Conyers, Joe Barton, Roy Moore and Trump himself."

Who's missing from this list?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Who is happier, him, or you?

I'm sure you would say him, but that is because knowledge frightens and confuses you.

Try touring a lobotomy ward, sometime. The smiling faces will enchant you!

Have you considered installing yourself with an extra 23rd chromosome? Many Downs kids are extremely happy.

Frank Baum's Cowardly Scarecrow character has now acquired an antagonist.

Drago said...

The Toothless Revolutionary: "The right-wing bias for ISP/cable companies over information and social network companies just shows just how much they hate information and how much they love the idea of owning and privatizing information."

As we speak lefties, with left-wing bias, OWN the major information and social network companies and have privatized that information for their own purposes.

So, now that we've established that TTR is not really against biased folks owning and privatizing information, I guess we need to move on to the real issue: monopolization.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The Post-WWII days are gone forever.

Sure. Thanks to the Republicans who couldn't stand them.

What you call "economic reality" is what the nearest CEO and lobbyist told you must be so. Because you think they should be the only ones to decide it.

Drago said...

TTR: "Sure. Thanks to the Republicans who couldn't stand them."

You are actually arguing that the rebuilding of Europe and Japan and the emergence of other nations economic capabilities is all because the republicans don't want to return to the immediate Post-WWII era.

That is a most "unique" perspective.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

As we speak lefties, with left-wing bias, OWN the major information and social network companies and have privatized that information for their own purposes.

I don't care who they vote for or how.

But that is because I am not a partisan tribalist like you.

Charles Manson hijacked the free-love hippie movement. With free death.

Then he carved a swastika into his head.

But as a right-winger I'm sure you can vouch for his credibility, right? Things must somehow always be exactly as they seem.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Unknown, if you are going to comment on my observations, please be somewhat accurate. I know it's hard. Allow me to help you.”

“Abridged comment: "Franken looks like a genius statesman"

“My response: "Looking at the people travelling in commie-pinko circles, this is an accurate statement."”
————————-
Don’t use my sentence out of context. If you do so, do not use quotes, because that isn’t what I said. You are going out of your way to mischaracterizing my comment.

My comment in context:
“Franken looks like a genius statesman compared to Trump and a choirboy compared to Conyers, Joe Barton, Roy Moore and Trump himself.”

Humperdink said...

Our church is filled with people who were delivered from drugs or alcohol as a direct result of accepting Jesus - myself included. It amusing to see some people mock us fools. One might think those people doing the mocking would prefer that we remained bathed in alcohol or drugs.

tcrosse said...

What you call "economic reality" is what the nearest CEO and lobbyist told you must be so. Because you think they should be the only ones to decide it.

It's time to revive FDR's term, Economic Royalists.

Drago said...

Early TTR: "The right-wing bias for ISP/cable companies over information and social network companies just shows just how much they hate information and how much they love the idea of owning and privatizing information. Next up will be a Ministry of Information."


Later TTR: "I don't care who they vote for or how."

Well.

Drago said...

TTR: "Charles Manson hijacked the free-love hippie movement. With free death.
Then he carved a swastika into his head.
But as a right-winger I'm sure you can vouch for his credibility, right? Things must somehow always be exactly as they seem"

hmmmmmmmmmmm

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Our church is filled with people who were delivered from drugs or alcohol as a direct result of accepting Jesus - myself included. It amusing to see some people mock us fools. One might think those people doing the mocking would prefer that we remained bathed in alcohol or drugs.”

Some alcoholics that are now on the wagon behave like dry drunks.

buwaya said...

Ariel Durant was a very interesting case herself.
Dirt-poor Jewish immigrant from the Ukraine, a child of the very model of the family in "Fiddler on the Roof". They settled in Harlem.

Met Will as he was teaching at what was a far-left wing anarchist school in the then slums of NY's Lower East Side.
Good Lord, imagine a far-left school today with the likes of Will Durant teaching. The mind boggles.

She herself was an autodidact, a self taught writer of great ability.

Highly recommended, their joint autobiography - "A Dual Autobiography", of course.

traditionalguy said...

Leave it to Buwaya to bring up Will Durant's history of civilization. That is the all time great history series. And Durant was raised Catholic, but he reports on world history like an impartial reporter of facts. At first I thought he was a Protestant when encountering his works: he is that impartial an historian.

If you missed it, Buwaya, I recommend Altar of Secrets: Sex ,Politics and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church, by Aries Rufo ( 2013).

Humperdink said...

Unknown responded: "Some alcoholics that are now on the wagon behave like dry drunks."

Reason enough to remain a drinker, right?

traditionalguy said...

NB: the terrible man romanced a 17 year old child . But she was a Freshman in college, like Roy Moore's dates would have been if their parents could have afforded them a college attendance.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Reason enough to remain a drinker, right?”

Nope, I don’t drink. I don’t even tolerate red wine, I get a migraine. I never could understand those who actually liked the taste of alcohol. Maybe some fruity yummy dessert alcohol is good once in a while, like on a holiday.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“NB: the terrible man romanced a 17 year old child. But she was a Freshman in college, like Roy Moore's dates would have been if their parents could have afforded them a college attendance.”

Doubtful at age 14.

Humperdink said...

Unknown responded:"Nope, I don’t drink. I don’t even tolerate red wine, I get a migraine. I never could understand those who actually liked the taste of alcohol. Maybe some fruity yummy dessert alcohol is good once in a while, like on a holiday."

Congrats to you! What do we do with people who do not have the self-control to avoid alcohol and/or drugs and subsequently become addicted?

pacwest said...

"Franken looks like a genius statesman"

"Interesting how you took my words out of context."

What context? You mean the gratuitous insult against Trump? Franken doesn't look like a "genius statesman" compared to a flatworm. Sometimes a statement stands on its own, qualifiers or not.

tim in vermont said...

And you can use Bing every time if you want. Admit it! You can't handle the truth.

Right. There are actually four internet search databases. And you know what? There are also multiple internet providers available to almost everybody! Believe it or don't!

But boy you really seem butt hurt getting called out on that lie that you never defended Clinton. You seem kind of bitter... I am just curious how you decided that Broaddrick was a liar. Is it that there must be more than two female witnesses to the rape, as there were, well, one was the victim, so she doesn't count, she might be mad? And the other woman who found her in the hotel room? Well, that was just one woman, not enough, right? Video, or it didn't happen!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Congrats to you! What do we do with people who do not have the self-control to avoid alcohol and/or drugs and subsequently become addicted?”

Rehab and prayers.

tim in vermont said...

Franken is that last indispensable bulwark protecting women's rights from right-wing depredations! Of course Inga is defending him.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I guess this won't be another one of those threads where Full Retard deletes all his comments after the fact. But it seems he is drinking early. Again.”

I’m praying for him.

tim in vermont said...

When did liberals become such plucky defenders of massive market domination by astronomically profitable corporations? Oh, when they started pumping some of the money to Democrats.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Watch him delete them after he's done. He's drunk. Again.”

Maybe today at the Thanksgiving table his family could hold an intervention.

pacwest said...

TTR sez:
"Then refute them, douchebag. And do it before cutting and pasting your comment in the text box, next time."

Many folk here have done exactly that TTR. Time and time again. At which point you bring on the insults. You are not a reasonable man. The jury is still out on ARM. (I made a funny)

Happy Thanksgiving. To all.

narciso said...

He committed fraud in order to fund air America, he was elected through. Voter fraud, I'm betting he wee one of kislyaks guests, the assaults are the near beer.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Dim Tim is still rabbiting on about the Clintons. It is genuinely sad, a mediocre mind gone to waste. I have not defended the Clintons. I just don't hate them with the pathological intensity that you and Crazy April display, but that is never enough for the mob.

cubanbob said...

“Franken looks like a genius statesman compared to Trump and a choirboy compared to Conyers, Joe Barton, Roy Moore and Trump himself.”

In the alternative universe you seem to be living in that might be true. But not in this one.
Some here who are arguing for the continuation of net neutrality ought to consider it a form of rent control. Rent control does have some winners but on balance there are more losers than winners.

buwaya said...

You all could do with attempting something more productive - like starting on the Durant series, that would benefit everyone.

Or in my case, my wife says that I should compensate for her labor re turkey through the sweat of my brow, by doing some gardening.

tim in vermont said...

There you go lying again.

tim in vermont said...

You said he wasn't a rapist, ARM. How many witnessestate would it take?

narciso said...

History starting with herodotus wee not an impartial enterprise, Gary corby suggests he had a particular agenda. I thought thucydides was mostly impartial till Donald kagan showed me otherwise.

buwaya said...

Seinfeld was a comedy about nothing.
This here is an argument about nothing.
That doesnt work so well.

narciso said...


This is what I was referring to:

https://www.amazon.com/Thucydides-Reinvention-History-Donald-Kagan/dp/0143118293

Much like sallust isn't entirely trust worthy as a partisan of Caesar say against catiline.

I did pick up an interesting volume by Frederick raphael on Josephus

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

No. Once again you are lying. You are the mob. An emotional hater fired up with your own self-righteousness, filling the empty uselessness of your own life with the hatred of the other. It is sad, but it is all you have.

cubanbob said...

Unknown said...
“Back when she was seventeen.”

And he was 19."

Getting back to the original thrust of this thread.... yes indeed you are correct. This is a nothing burger. There is a lot to criticize Franken about. However, this isn't one of them.

Paco Wové said...

Thank you for contributing something worthwhile to an otherwise utterly useless comment thread, Buwaya.

narciso said...

He does have I suppose expected gripes against Christianity, which are textual:
https://www.amazon.com/Jew-Among-Romans-Flavius-Josephus/dp/0307456358

Being as Josephus and tacitus are two sources fir Jesus's presence

narciso said...

Also Machiavelli as an ally of the borgias.isnt the best source for renaissance history.
Take catheruna did sfirza, the digress of imola and forla.

narciso said...

catherina and forla, she was the pray if an actual sociopath, but as his scribe he papered over that fact.

Quaestor said...

Does Franni Bryson have a fur coat?

narciso said...

And his employment applicatio To Cosimo De Medici, the prince commended such behavior as with many if the tyrants if history. A recent fictional account by Dorothy dunnett corrects part of the record.

narciso said...

He just comes here for abuse, mistaking the argument clinic next door.

narciso said...

They chose poorly:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/20/florida-sex-scandals-248568

Bad Lieutenant said...


The Toothless Revolutionary said...
Jerry's jailbait ex has not aged as well as Punky Brewster. Soleil Moon-Frye.

De gustibus, Tooth. I won't decry your choice, but for me, breasteses FTW.

I think the novelty was how more developed she was for her age,

Yowza!

and obviously with the poise and maturity to not have sought anything out of it.

The Lonsteins respected Seinfeld, but did not need him.

Faces age the worst. Use Mexoryl.
11/23/17, 10:20 AM

Bet dem bappies are dewy fresh though.

Bad Lieutenant said...


The Toothless Revolutionary said...
Franken's hands are not clean.
11/23/17, 10:34 AM


Ew, just look at him. I've despised him since SNL days. A more repulsive toad could not be found in pond or desert.

narciso said...


Some of Stuart smalleyd greatest hits:

www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=2450

glenn said...

I don’t know about Al and his wife but if I went around copping feels my wife of 53 years would boot my ace out in the street.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

cubanbob said...
Getting back to the original thrust of this thread.... yes indeed you are correct. This is a nothing burger.


The premise of the thread was ridiculous, particularly when we could be investing our valuable time in dissecting the Joe Barton video. What was that man thinking?

narciso said...



In other news of no consequence:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PatrickSvitek/status/933571704265363456

pacwest said...

"You all could do with attempting something more productive - like starting on the Durant series, that would benefit everyone."

I recommend Toynbee. Either way it will keep you busy for a couple of days:)

Comanche Voter said...

Franken is a blithering idiot who imagines himself a "Giant of The Senate". I kid you not; he wrote a book with that title (or maybe had a ghost write the book for him). The cover has a picture of Al seated next to a world globe with his arm on it. (Globes don't have asses, so there was nothing for Al to grope).

The whole kerfuffle about "Jeff Sessions lied to the Senate" arises from Session's attempt to answer an incoherent ambiguos stream of drivel, formed as a "question" from good ol Al.
Heckfire, Al didn't understand what he was saying, so how was Jeff Sessions to understand it either?

Humperdink said...

I called AAA awhile ago when this thread headed into the ditch. They declined to offer assistance. They advised this continually occurs on this blog for the same reason.

Unknown said...

"Have you considered installing yourself with an extra 23rd chromosome? Many Downs kids are extremely happy."

Not the way I would make an argument.

Maybe if you said "installing yourself with a second penis?" Because penises can make you extremely happy and now you would have two of them. That way you leave the Downs Syndrome children out of it.

But I'm an alcoholic. I just want people to get along.

--jj

Dust Bunny Queen said...

This whole thread makes me think about the other topic Althouse posted about being thankful for nothing or the absence of things.

I am really really thankful that Toothless is just a commenter on the internet with whom I will never ever have to interact with or meet in real life. Thankful that he is NOT any relation of mine. Thankful for the scroll wheel on my mouse.

Thank you.

Humperdink said...

DBQ Ditto

Paul J said...

"the reason that there really aren't any decent right-wing comedians"

Norm Macdonald, Dennis Miller

Probably most of them, actually.

Birches said...

I was wondering what was so interesting about Franken's poor spouse having to play The Good Wife. So many comments, so quickly too. Oh. Now I know. I hope you all are getting the aggression out here so you can treat your families well later. I hope.

cubanbob said...

AReasonableMan said...
cubanbob said...
Getting back to the original thrust of this thread.... yes indeed you are correct. This is a nothing burger.

The premise of the thread was ridiculous, particularly when we could be investing our valuable time in dissecting the Joe Barton video. What was that man thinking?"

I have to agree with you. WTF? Proof positive that intelligence and rationality do not go hand in hand. Then again, Franken outside the narrow scope of the wife thing mentioned on this thread did some WTF stuff as well as a public person.

Birches said...

I feel sorry for so many of these political spouses who are so publicly humiliated by their power hungry partners. At least Hillary was just as power hungry. I suppose many of these spouses are willing to take one for the team in service of their political beliefs.

steve uhr said...

I am sure many of those commenting believe a) Franken should quit and b) Moore should be elected. Could you please explain how those two positions are consistent with one another?

steve uhr said...

And bonus points if you can do so without mentioning the name Clinton.

Unknown said...

"And bonus points if you can do so without mentioning the name Clinton."

And leave Jewishness out of it, too.

If you were going to go there.

There is no reason to go there.

No Alabama slurs, either.

It's Thanksgiving. And I'm an alcoholic who just wants people to get along.

--jj

Humperdink said...

steve uhr said: "I am sure many of those commenting believe a) Franken should quit and b) Moore should be elected. Could you please explain how those two positions are consistent with one another?"

I'll bite. One has several photos of his indiscretions, the other has questionable accusers. That would include the sexual harassment ambulance chaser, Gloria Half Red.

And thanks for the bonus point.

Bill said...

Quaestor said...
Does Franni Bryson have a fur coat?


I would hope she has a decent Democratic cloth coat.

cubanbob said...

steve uhr said...
I am sure many of those commenting believe a) Franken should quit and b) Moore should be elected. Could you please explain how those two positions are consistent with one another?"

It works just as well the other way around. By the way, Moore disputes the alleged claims and Franken if I'm not mistaken has admitted he did do what his accusers said he did. Bonus points for properly weighing the scales.

wwww said...

I am sure many of those commenting believe a) Franken should quit and b) Moore should be elected. Could you please explain how those two positions are consistent with one another?


Unfortunately, politics in the US doesn't make logical sense for a lot of people. The WA Post has broke a couple of these stories. For some people they are fake news if the politician is on their team but a reliable news report if the pol is on the "other" team.

I don't understand it, but right now the arguments do not appear to be over substance in the USA. The debates aren't about a policy or a principle, but rather cultural style and signalling.

As for Franken, time for him to resign or announce his retirement when his term is up.

Unknown said...

I like this blog and its community, but sometimes there is a lot of anger here.

At least at the bar when people argue it's funny, because they are drunk.

Or it's not funny, because they are broken and in poor health and it all seems depressing.

Either way, I believe anger does more damage to your soul than alcohol does to the liver.

-jj

Humperdink said...

Comedian Al is a statesman like Reverend Al is a pastor. Phony as a three dollar bill.

Trivia Question: Who wrote the book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot"?

A) Bill Maher
B) Jon Stewart
C) Stephen Colbert
D) Statesman, Giant of the Senate, Al Franken

If you guessed D, you would be correct.

Unknown said...

"they will never meet an autistic moronic bumpkin like you"

First the kids with Downs Syndrome, now the autistic.

What we use in anger, we submit to degradation.

We can do better, people.

-jj

steve uhr said...

It does work the other way around. Hence I believe Franken should step down and Moore should crawl into a hole somewhere. Though there is a difference in kind, not just in degree, between the allegations against the two.

My basic rule of thumb:

one accuser - 50-50 chance telling the truth
two unrelated accusers - 85 percent chance they are telling the truth
three or more - 95% plus they are telling the truth

AllenS said...

"Franken looks like a genius statesman"

Just imagine how he would look with a pussy hat on. He deserves one.

buwaya said...

To answer S Uhr,

Leaving aside any validity of the claims, the best answer is political necessity. There is no point in processes of ritual purity. This is politics of the rawest, the stakes push all that aside as trivial.

Yes this was the Liberal argument re Clinton, in a time when stakes were enormously lower and institutions less corrupted, but thats water long under the bridge. Some things are now ruined that cannot be repaired. The conflicts are now existential and there are no rules.

The past cannot be brought back. To see why, take a look, for instance, at your universities. Can the Liberals rein them in from their state of total corruption and hatred of the people? No. That, and all the other monsters carefully fed and bred over the years can't now be tamed. There is no going back. These war-machines will feed on the people and you could not stop them if you tried. If they are not destroyed they will even outlive your politics.

These claims over morals and propriety, are now all purely rhetorical ammunition to fling at the other side. In all this truth and shame have no place anymore. This is war.

Such is your mutual hatred.

Hari said...

Steve Uhr:

"I am sure many of those commenting believe a) Franken should quit and b) Moore should be elected. Could you please explain how those two positions are consistent with one another?"

I haven't noticed many comments that reflect either a or b, let alone both.

Humperdink said...

I see the name Al Franken and the butt of Kathie Lee Gifford are now being used in the same sentence.

Unknown said...

"The blog moderators are sniffing the smell of their own civility bullshit, again."

I have no desire to moderate you.

I am not a big fan of civility, either.

I mostly just find it needlessly provocative to use the disadvantaged to slur people.

Early on in my drinking I would say needlessly hurtful things. It took awhile before I realized how they reflected on me.

I am still an asshole. I still get drunk. I just typically use references to farm animals. Less collateral damage.

--jj

Meade said...

"The blog moderators are sniffing the smell of their own civility bullshit, again."

If I removed a comment you think was worth keeping, feel free to email me and I'll consider putting it back up.
— a blog moderator

Meade said...

"Trivia Question: Who wrote the book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot"?"

E. none of the above

Humperdink said...

D) Statesman, Giant of the Senate, Al Franken

https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Meade. I won't argue with your moderating standards, which I'm sure serve a purpose that even I would understand/agree with from time to time. I'm not sure how emailing a comment makes a more persuasive case for retaining it - but it's your shop and I respect that. Again, have a Happy Thanksgiving and may your day be troll-free.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I am sure many of those commenting believe a) Franken should quit and b) Moore should be elected. Could you please explain how those two positions are consistent with one another?

As Humperdink said: One has several photos of his indiscretions, the other has questionable accusers. That would include the sexual harassment ambulance chaser, Gloria Half Red.

In addition, whether Franken quits or stays or is recalled, that should be up to the people who elected him based on the proof in photos and videos of his grabby hands and whether they think it is important enough.

JUST as it should be up the the people of Alabama to decide whether to believe the unproven allegations against Moore or not and elect him anyway.

Actually, I imagine that the Democrats, themselves, would like to see Franken just go away, quit and hide so that they can still try to retain the seat in the next election cycle.

The real issue is: do we want to allow begin to allow insider elites in Washington DC and media gossip to determine who the people in a State are allowed to run as their elected representatives? Is the election rigged by insiders or is it actually the choice of the people? (Actually, I think we know the answer to that one....don't we Bernie Sanders supporters)

How DARE a bunch of outsiders from the state of Alabama (or any state) be dictated to by snotty snooty people who otherwise wouldn't be caught dead in Alabama. I'm tired of people telling us, Deplorable and Irredeemable Proles, what we should believe and how we should feel about issues based on what THEY think and believe.

It is up to the PEOPLE to vote. If they vote against Moore...so be it. If they vote for him, basically now as a giant EFF YOU to Mitch McConnell and the swamp then so be it.

Meade said...

It was ghost-written by someone far more talented than Franken, Hump.

Robert Cook said...

”This isn’t 1913. Nor should we as a society, aspire to go back to it.”

Are you kidding? This is the DREAM of the Republicans and the unaffiliated right wing in this country!

buwaya said...

To further answer S. Uhr, there is no way to make peace, because it will now require utter destruction of one side or the other, if not their bodies certainly their minds.

Thats the lesson of Gramsci. He is often misunderstood - or almost always. He did not come up with a plan, for the "long march", rather he described an ongoing process, and predicted its results. This was not prescription but prophecy.

We now are just about at Gramsci's world. The brain-death of Western Civilization. That which is left is fighting for existence.

Meade said...

Thanks, Ritmo. Happy Thanksgiving to you and everyone.

Humperdink said...

@Meade. I thought of that, but I wasn't sure. Interesting the Giant of the Senate would have that book title on his resume.

Hari said...

Dust Bunny Queen,

Hear, Hear!

FullMoon said...


The blog moderators are sniffing the smell of their own civility bullshit, again.
11/23/17, 1:46 PM


I fear you have awoken a sleeping giant/

Valentine Smith said...

Now I know where Franken got that creepy Stu Smalley routine. Alanonics are usually just as crazy as their lunatic spouses. It explains a lot of his creepiness.

It's interesting that all the lefties show up on a holiday devoted to gratitude and spout mean-spirited horseshit. Miserable lonely bastards have nowhere else to go.

buwaya said...

I may be a bastard, but not lonely. For which I am thankful, we are all here, wife, sons and daughter.

And wealthy enough to provide, not merely for ourselves for the moment, but for the future, I hope, sufficiently so to provide for us all in case my fears are realized.

Earnest Prole said...

If politics is your religion then the bitterness of your religious wars makes perfect sense to you. To everyone else it just seems sad, especially on Thanksgiving.

n.n said...

Moore has the constitutional right to due process and proportionality.

Franken has the quasi-constitutional rite of Pro-Choice. The right to diversity (i.e. class). The right to selectivity (i.e. opportunity). The rites of lives subject to the jurisdiction of Planned Progress.

Big Mike said...

@Meade, have you read the book? Is it funny? If the answer is affirmative then I agree, not written by Franken.

Jim at said...

So she was an alcoholic and he was an ass-grabber - an apparently not uncommon affliction among the Clintons.

Howard said...

Blogger Valentine Smith said........It's interesting that all the lefties show up on a holiday devoted to gratitude and spout mean-spirited horseshit. Miserable lonely bastards have nowhere else to go. Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Valentine!

Humperdink said...

steve uhr posited his theory:

"My basic rule of thumb:

one accuser - 50-50 chance telling the truth
two unrelated accusers - 85 percent chance they are telling the truth
three or more - 95% plus they are telling the truth"

The Roy Moore accusers are, in fact, related. They surfaced at the same time, as if on cue. Note the accusers remained for silent decades.

The pictorial evidence against Statesman Al has been available, just ignored.

Jim at said...

Inga, Ritmo and ARM taking up 90 percent of this thread. On Thanksgiving.

Looks like their families don't much care for them, either.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

cubanbob said...
Franken outside the narrow scope of the wife thing mentioned on this thread did some WTF stuff as well as a public person.


Comics are a poor choice to be politicians. Their profession is too step outside the bounds of conventional thinking whereas politicians attempt to embody it, more or less succesfully.

Big Mike said...

Regarding Moore, of the two most significant claims against him, one appears to be based on a forged document — the yearbook signature in two colors of ink — and the other story was that Moore dated an underage girl in 1979. Except the girl was 16, and of legal age, in 1979 so the story has been quietly changed to set it in 1977. Oh, and on that story with the forged yearbook signature? The woman filing the complaint conviently “forgot” that Moore was the judge who presided over her divorce hearing ten years ago. Something stinks, and I don’t think it is Moore.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

steve uhr said...
My basic rule of thumb:
one accuser - 50-50 chance telling the truth
two unrelated accusers - 85 percent chance they are telling the truth
three or more - 95% plus they are telling the truth


I would filter a little more but this is the only rational approach. Either person could be lying in most of these individual cases so you need some statistics to have some idea what is really going on. Some people are serial abusers so the stats are available, other less prolific cases are hard to call definitively.

Moore might be innocent, it seems unlikely at this point but not impossible. Thank God for people like Joe Barton who make it easy for the viewer at home.

Meade said...

"@Meade, have you read the book? Is it funny? If the answer is affirmative then I agree, not written by Franken."

Here's a random excerpt:

page 352

Throughout this book I've used the terms "lie," "liars," "lying," and "O'Lie-lly" rather, you might say, liberally. Calling someone a liar is a serious charge. It's not quite as bad as calling someone a "traitor," as Ann Coulter does in her new book, The Treason Diet, but it's serious

Telling the truth is something I take seriously, and I try to hold myself to an impossibly high standard. For example, Coulter's book isn't really titled The Treason Diet. It's titled Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism.

Yes. Lying is a serious matter. And calling the President of the United States a liar is not something I say with any relish or self-satisfaction. I wish with all my heart that our president wasn't a liar, or if he were, that he was more like President Clinton.

Michael McNeil said...

Along similar lines, I’d say, to what buwaya has been expressing, Wretchard — a.k.a. Richard Fernandez — writes of The End of Prestige.

bagoh20 said...

"one accuser - 50-50 chance telling the truth
two unrelated accusers - 85 percent chance they are telling the truth
three or more - 95% plus they are telling the truth"

Salem witch trials, and Remember the McMartin Preschool?

" After six years of criminal trials, no convictions were obtained, and all charges were dropped in 1990. When the trial ended in 1990, it had been the longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history."

"On March 22, 1984, Virginia McMartin, Peggy McMartin Buckey, Ray Buckey, Ray's sister Peggy Ann Buckey and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Betty Raidor, and Babette Spitler were charged with 115 counts of child abuse, later expanded to 321 counts of child abuse involving 48 children."

"In 1990, after three years of testimony and nine weeks of deliberation by the jury, Peggy McMartin Buckey was acquitted on all counts.[9] Ray Buckey was cleared on 52 of 65 counts, and freed on bail after more than five years in jail."

"The trial lasted seven years and cost $15 million,[33] the longest and most expensive criminal case in the history of the United States legal system, and ultimately resulted in no convictions."

"The media coverage was generally skewed towards an uncritical acceptance of the prosecution's viewpoint." ~ Wikipedia

Maybe the most egregious example, but far from rare, and that was with no real political stakes involved. People lie A LOT, for all kinds of reason, and it's easier in packs.

bagoh20 said...

I have no idea if these men did it or not, and if they did, they're assholes, but I'm nearly 60 years old and I don't know a single man who has ever done this kind of thing at work. No women I know have ever claimed it, and no men I know have ever bragged of it.

It could be the high caliber of people we hire in politics and entertainment are just special. That's why we should give them as much power over our lives as possible. They are just better people than us average Joes.

Michael K said...

"that was with no real political stakes involved. People lie A LOT, for all kinds of reason, and it's easier in packs."

I think this current era, with the Moore thing and all the SJWs melting down., is another hysteria like the "Recovered Memories" and the Day care thing.

At least the Salem elders apologized after the hysteria was over.

Oso Negro said...

Blogger Michael K said...
"that was with no real political stakes involved. People lie A LOT, for all kinds of reason, and it's easier in packs."

I think this current era, with the Moore thing and all the SJWs melting down., is another hysteria like the "Recovered Memories" and the Day care thing.

At least the Salem elders apologized after the hysteria was over.


I have thought the same, Michael. It is a odd cultural phenomenon. A good-sized swath of men in leadership positions are being denounced and deposed. It is unlikely that most of them will ever work in organizations of any size again. They will be replaced by people who are either less interested in overt sexual expression or more devious about it. I don't think the culture will be improved in the least, to the contrary I expect more neurosis and hysteria. In the long run, humans are sexual beings and the safest bet is on human nature. The Shakers always die out for the obvious reasons.

Michael K said...

" I don't think the culture will be improved in the least, to the contrary I expect more neurosis and hysteria."

It has already begun.

The growing pile of confession notes — which combine ostensible empathy and promises of sensitivity and submission with strategically placed, lawyerly denials — testifies to the grimly comic dishonesty of the Beta Male sexual harasser. He thought that he could continue to indulge his appetites as long as he adjusted his attitudes, a view that all of the prattle about “systemic change” confirms him in, insofar as it treats his misbehavior as an ideological problem rather than a moral one. Implied in many of the confession notes from the harassers is the ludicrous suggestion that with a little more “education,” with a few more training seminars, with a little more consciousness-raising, they would have behaved virtuously. This pose allows them to escape moral responsibility and painlessly join the “solution.” The sexual revolution’s massive crisis of unchastity is thus turned into a “problem of power” that can be remedied by the hiring of more female executives, the expansion of HR departments, and “better” education.

For sheer pomposity, perhaps nothing beats Richard Dreyfuss’s non-apology apology, chalking up his misbehavior to the “performative masculine man my father had modeled for me to be.” But, no worries, he is enlightened now: “I have had to redefine what it means to be a man, and an ethical man. I think every man on Earth has or will have to grapple with this question. But I am not an assaulter.


So much for apologies in the Woke generation.

AllenS said...

"We've been married 42 years, and I'm still grabbing other women's asses, woot woot, funny stuff."

Unknown said...

We are in what seem to be angry times.

It appears the only way to show that you are authentic is to be angry about things.

But, even worse, people don't know how to truly be angry anymore, since they are only using it as a pose, a pantomime, a signal. Thus they lash out in passive-aggressive ways.

I pretty much live in bars. People who get too angry are cast out, sometimes forcibly.

Those people are probably bad-ass on the internet, though.

-jj

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
OldManRick said...

I'll make this simple. All you need to know is that Al Franken thought it was funny to grope women. We have pictorial proof with Leeann Tweeden and Arianna Huffington. One was sleeping and one agreed to it but either way Franken thought groping was funny, a joke. The question for all Franken supporters is simply, "Do you think groping a women, especially a stranger, is funny?" If you do, you're an idiot; if you don't, don't support Franken.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I'll make this simple. All you need to know is that Al Franken thought it was funny to grope women. We have pictorial proof with Leeann Tweeden and Arianna Huffington. One was sleeping and one agreed to it but either way Franken thought groping was funny, a joke. The question for all Franken supporters is simply, "Do you think groping a women, especially a stranger, is funny?"

One of the most successful and influential comic geniuses of all time, George Carlin, thought that anything could be made funny - even rape.

Ohh, some people don't like you to talk like that. Ohh, some people like to shut you up for saying those things. You know that. Lots of people. Lots of groups in this country want to tell you how to talk. Tell you what you can't talk about. Well, sometimes they'll say, well you can talk about something but you can't joke about it. Say you can't joke about something because it's not funny. Comedians run into that shit all the time.

Like rape. They'll say, "You can't joke about rape. Rape's not funny." I say, "Fuck you, I think it's hilarious. How do you like that?" I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd. See? Hey, why do you think they call him "Porky," eh? I know what you're going to say. "Elmer was asking for it. Elmer was coming on to Porky. Porky couldn't help himself, he got a hard-on, he got horny, he lost control, he went out of his mind."

A lot of men talk like that. A lot of men think that way. They think it's the woman's fault. They like to blame the rape on the woman. Say, "She had it coming, she was wearing a short skirt." These guys think women ought to go to prison for being cock teasers: don't seem fair to me.

Don't seem right, but you can joke about it. I believe you can joke about anything. It all depends on how you construct the joke. What the exaggeration is, what the exaggeration is. Because every joke needs one exaggeration; every joke needs one thing to be way out of proportion.

n.n said...

They're more like the toke generation... evolving at the twilight fringe.

AllenS said...

Great point, The Toothless Revolutionary, and I'm glad you brought it up. Nothing is funnier than rape. You should post more often.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Better comic sensibilities than George Carlin, AllenS? I guess that explains how you got so far in life.

Comedy needs more literal thinkers like you. Maybe some day you'll get your wish and the government can control the comedy market.

Bad Lieutenant said...

I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd. See? Hey, why do you think they call him "Porky," eh? I know what you're going to say. "Elmer was asking for it. Elmer was coming on to Porky. Porky couldn't help himself, he got a hard-on, he got horny, he lost control, he went out of his mind."


Why is that funny? I get that there's an awkward juxtaposition which could offer a pretense of humor, but if it were really funny, I'm sure I'd be amused. I'm not RH or Chuck, I process language more or less normally, I think.

Much contemporary humor, to me, seems essentially a controlled meanness, a purposefully targeted cruelty. Even when it works, it's not pleasing or, I think, healthy.

Put yourself in Franken's shoes. Would you ever use a pretext to gain (in private) a symbolic, pretend, acting kiss, then grossly try either make it meaningful, or simply unpleasant? Can such a stolen kiss be pleasurable even for the man, a normal man, a decent man, let alone the target? Did Franken think himself such a stud that she would melt for him like James Bond?

Likewise, would you grope a sleeping woman by whom who you had already been repulsed? With pictures? So that she would see it later? What would you be thinking?

Or goose a married woman at a photo session at a state fair?

This is on a level with licking doorknobs to infect a campaign office. Just low. And with no gratification for oneself, just the causing of pain or harm to others.





Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Watch the video, BL. I think the delivery is intended for the screen or stage, rather than the page.

OldManRick said...

TTR:

So did George Carlin rape anybody to show how funny it was?

Like you quoted
It all depends on how you construct the joke.

There is a difference between talking about "Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd" and acting by groping a sleeping woman to show you can get away with it. Benny Hill got away with a lot of silly sexist jokes without every groping any one. His humor was juvenile but din't require a grope to get a laugh.

You can make funny jokes about murder, bestiality, suicide, or any number of verboten subjects without committing the actual act. I'm hoping you can understand this; most the the rest of us can.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Toothy, maybe I suck, but first movement of my lips, let alone a laugh, was at, "Thirty? Thirty-five?" (around 2:55).

I get what he is saying, but he seems really to be giving a speech rather than delivering a comedy routine. If you're going to tell a rape joke, it should be funny. E.g.:

A German girl was being raped by a basketball team, and she screamed, "Nein, nein!"

So three of them left.


Closer to Carlin might be, "Raped and then murdered?...She musta been a lousy lay."

Ooh I have one that's more as courant. Let's see if I can remember...

The casting director finishes having anal sex with the actress. He says to her, "How do you feel?"

She says, "Humiliated."

He says, "My, that's a big word for a nine-year-old girl."


So I'm not a prig. Carlin just leaves me flat. I think the rest of my points stand.

Pinandpuller said...

The Toothless Revolutionary said...

Hey tim!

That's one. And counting.

Any others?

Scoreboard, bro.

Tim Allen made one heck of a living making ape noises and expressing his love of wrenches. I think that's what they in the industry call "a broad range."

Pat Sajak.

Drago said...

ARM: "Dim Tim is still rabbiting on about the Clintons."

Yeah, Rep Jackie Speier, The Hill, Washington Post, Kathleen Sebelius, not least of all Hillary herself, and the rest of the sexually repressed right wing conspiracy simply won't let Hillary Clinton go.

Gee, that's an awful lot of non-republicans taking about Hillary, including Hillary.

I'll bet the Russians made them do it!

tim in vermont said...

a poll released Thursday showed only 22 percent of Minnesotans want Franken to stay in the Senate after the misconduct allegations surfaced."

Toast.

Big Mike said...

@tim in vermont, as if the Democrats give a rats patootie about the opinions of Franken’s constituents.

Howard said...

Drago: I hope you are right. If the democrats don't throw Billary under the bus and back over them a dozen times, we are going to be stuck with Trump, the Cheeto Bandito, until January 20, 2025

Fritz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fritz said...

AReasonableMan said...
steve uhr said...
My basic rule of thumb:
one accuser - 50-50 chance telling the truth
two unrelated accusers - 85 percent chance they are telling the truth
three or more - 95% plus they are telling the truth

I would filter a little more but this is the only rational approach. Either person could be lying in most of these individual cases so you need some statistics to have some idea what is really going on. Some people are serial abusers so the stats are available, other less prolific cases are hard to call definitively.

Assuming liars are independently distributed in a world where the Hillary campaign can pay lawyers to pay Fusion GPS to buy lies from the Kremlin, and have Fusion GPS pay journolists to republish the lies seems a bit naive.

Original Mike said...

"I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd. See? Hey, why do you think they call him "Porky," eh? I know what you're going to say. "Elmer was asking for it. Elmer was coming on to Porky. Porky couldn't help himself, he got a hard-on, he got horny, he lost control, he went out of his mind."

I guess you had to be there.

madAsHell said...

ya' know....I never liked his skits!

Unknown said...

> People lie A LOT, for all kinds of reason, and it's easier in packs.

And "misremember".

When it comes to recent media nurtured mass hysteria, don't forget

"church burnings".

Back when Clinton was getting blown in the oval, the media focused on "black church burnings" which fit their view that future Trump voters are racist hillbillies and hate crime laws were needed to control them.

Clinton formed a church burning task force.

And...

A Church Arson Epidemic? It's Smoke and Mirrors - WSJ - July 8, 1996

Church Burnings: Falsified History Repeats Itself 2015

Quaestor said...

Looks like their families don't much care for them {Toothless and Inga], either.

Non-stop blogging on Thanksgivings. Two lonely, lonely people...

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