Hysterical Headlines (Funny or Absurd) for January 17th:
Bottom Line: These are the daily doses of nonsense in the media and my hot takes on them...
Excerpt: Tiffany Fantasia was wearing dark purple eyebrows, bright white eye shadow and her lips were poutingly purple as she got out of her blue Honda CRV near her South Beach home Monday afternoon. In one hand she held a McDonald’s bag. In the other, her car keys and a cellphone.
That didn’t exactly fit the description of the man Miami Beach police said had beaten up a woman and who they were searching for in the popular drag queen’s neighborhood near Flamingo Park. They claimed the suspect had a knife.
But Fantasia’s physical features and gray shirt and blue jeans were a match and that was enough for officers to briefly detain and handcuff her until they were satisfied that Fantasia wasn’t the suspect. After about five minutes, they let her go.
Hot Take: First thought, I wonder if they would have run with this story if it wasn't a "popular" drag queen? For example, you don't see many "prominent straight white guy" headlines but they can still be funny right? Second thought, police work is complicated with cross-dressing involved - I'm sure the officers don't appreciate the attention from this story any more than Tiffany did from being detained and questioned. Third thought. The Lady Chablis. For years at a time I'm able to conveniently forget the night that I was dressed in drag and performed at Club One for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (it's a longer story that involved the popularity of the book, movie & a radio promotion)
How Do You Say Sh*thole in Norwegian? Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect
Hot Take: Btw, the winner of the salacious s-hole characterizations was CNN's Ana Navarro who said that Trump turned the Oval Office into a s-hole. You can't make this stuff up. And btw, because a few people have inquired. I'm not directly related to CNN's Philip Mudd thank God (not that there aren't a myrid of relatives that loathe me - most Mudd's are Democrats), but I'll be happy to answer to address the comparison of Italy as an s-hole country as compared to ubiquitous African countries. I'd argue that while Mussolini was an s-hole leader, the country itself wasn't really an s-hole country. So, I'm not sure I buy his comparison. However, what he didn't cite is Lebanon. Most Mudd's are part Lebanese in addition to being Euro-mutts. In fact, in an effort to find the origin of the family name, the belief is that the origins of the family were slaves who worked in particularly muddy conditions. No joke. So, slaves in muddy conditions in Lebannon? That sounds like a strong candidate for an s-hole country. My 2 cents.
Wanted: An Honest FBI William McGurn, Wall Street Journal
Hot Take: What a novel concept? A former FBI director who's the current special prosecutor investigating potential Russian collusion with the 2016 election was at a minimum complicit in the Uranium 1 scandal that hasn't been investigated that involved the selling of US uranium to Russia in exchange for high dollar donations to the Clinton Foundation. This while the most recent former FBI director was found to have been involved in the covering up of evidence related to the illegal storage of classified information and covert communications with Russians as part of the Uranium 1 transaction and payoffs to the Clinton Foundation. You can't make this stuff up.
Until tomorrow...