Elise Stefanik: Presto, Chango!

Elise before......

Rep. Elise Stefanik madę a name for herself during the Congressional hearings concerning antisemitic student protests at college campuses last year, including Columbia University. Her forthright and aggressive questioning was instrumental in the resignations of several school presidents, making her a new Republican heroine. Back then she was a firebrand and a regular, down-to-earth gal you might run into at the supermarket or a PTA meeting. 

Then President Trump named her to be our Ambassador to the UN. Last night she appeared on FOX News and we all got a good look at the new and improved Elise, now a glamor girl extraordinaire: The hairstyle du jour, the flirty eyelashes, the glossy lips and the statement pearls. Wow, what a difference!

.... and after, ready for Prime Time!

Although not a good one -- poor Elise looked ridiculous. Let's just say she's simply not the glamorous type. She seemed all set for Halloween, dressed as one of those ubiquitous TV news-babes.

I wonder -- will she ever be her own person again or will Elise Stefanik eventually morph into our first female President? (Remember, you heard it here first.)

I'm A Racist Now, I Guess

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas)

I recently got into one of those online pissing matches on Facebook. It began when I joined a comment stream about FOX News analyst Judge Jeanine Pirro, a woman of extreme intelligence who, in a video, criticized Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the potty-mouthed Texan who called Governor Greg Abbott "Hot Wheels" and later denied she was referring to his wheelchair.

Judge Jeanine was amazed that Crockett had so many defenders in the Democrat party, and I added my two cents by writing, "No surprise there, they all voted for Kamala Harris for president." I was of course referring to Harris' utter lack of brain power and abilities, not her skin color. But one person on the stream, a black woman, replied directly to me with, "Are you a racist?" I responded that I was not, but she doubled down and insisted I was. Exasperated, I wrote, "I am now! People like you create racism."

Here's my beef: One cannot criticize a person of color for any reason without being accused of racism. That's just insane; there are plenty of stupid, ignorant, murderous black people who are deserving of criticism, and saying so doe not make one a racist. Or does it? Are we to pretend that all blacks are above reproach? Because that's a stretch. And BTW, verbally criticizing a Jew who is deserving of criticism does not make one antisemitic. It's the gassing to death we object to.

Under the Influence

Typical influencer: Stegosaurus was very big, with a tiny brain. 

I am currently reading an interesting book called "The Last Days of the Dinosaurs," by Riley Black. It relates how a 7-mile-wide asteroid struck the Earth and killed most of the giant beasts immediately, making way for the emergence of mammals. We've had a good long run, but we're getting pretty close to the end.

Proof that the human race is destined for extinction is the emergence of a new profession, called an "influencer." There are many of these people online who gain star-status by posting photos and videos of themselves living their lives, as if their lives are superior to everyday folks who are not narcissistic assholes lacking recognizable skills and talents.

Personally I am not influenced by anyone other than my cardiologist who advises me on how to avoid a second heart attack. So I was surprised to read the dictionary definition of the word: "An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience."

I disagree. Take, for example, the case of influencer Joshua Blackledge, a high school junior with 1.1 million TikTok followers whose recent death (reason undisclosed) made the news. The boy's posted content varied between lip-syncing clips, pictures of cars and videos of him hanging out with his teenage friends and girlfriend. 

All I can say is, "Help me, Rhonda." (Not everyone will get that.)

A Fact of Life

A tragic story about a teenage boy who died of food poisoning while on vacation with his parents made it into the news because the boy's father is a retired Major League Baseball player. It's heartbreaking and there is nothing anyone can say to make it less so. But the parents tried, by saying that their son "lived life to the fullest." 

Which is crazy, admit it. Living life to the fullest indicates that someone lived until maybe 100 years old or more. Certainly not to 14 -- that's just getting started. What else could it mean? How is living life to the fullest actually done? Personally I have never tried it, but I think it involves surfing in Hawaii.

Another common thing said about a dead loved one is that "their smile lit up the room" when they entered it. Also ridiculous. I am in my late 70s and have been present at countless wedding receptions, holiday parties, neighborhood potlucks, community meetings  and other events attended by many people and not once have I ever seen any room "light up" when a particular person walked in smiling.

The recently deceased are often the sweetest and kindest and most generous people about whom nobody has a negative word to say. Apparently death makes people nicer. Anyway, why every single death is such big news is odd, since it happens to everyone. (Even Freddie Mercury died, and he was surely some sort of god.)

Name-Calling the Rich and Powerful

I asked Google who is the most powerful politician in the world. The answer came back as a ranked list of countries determined by Forbes, with the United States in first place. Second was China and third was Russia, making Donald Trump the most powerful leader in the world today. I then asked Wikipedia who is the most powerful man in the world. The answer came back: Elon Musk.

These answers were amusing considering the piles of verbal excrement in the form of user comments dropped all over the Internet, like dog poop in a vast public park. One of those I came across earlier today was written by someone named Scotty who cited President Trump as "a jerk nobody." That made me laugh out loud.

Donald J. Trump, currently serving his second elected term as POTUS, masterminded a successful TV show that ran for 15 seasons, was the driving force behind the construction of countless skyscrapers and hotels in Manhattan, owns 18 golf courses around the world, and has a beautiful wife and five successful children. (No drug addicts or alcoholics.)

Elon Musk is a veritable engineering genius who at age 53 is the richest man in the world, has 13 children, co-founded six huge companies that employ thousands of people and benefit mankind and now works in the Trump administration seeking to eliminate fraud and waste in government.

IMHO, America could use a lot more "nobodies" like Trump and a lot fewer Facebook trolls like Scotty.
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Life Without Rosie

I keep seeing videos posted online by Rosie O'Donnell, the former celebrity whose career no longer exists, talking about how happy she is in Ireland where she moved a few months ago because Donald Trump was elected president. Apparently she simply had to leave the U.S. because her hatred for Trump is so intense that she couldn't stay here and she wants everyone to know. In her online videos, she relates in a grim tone that everyone in Ireland has been so sweet and kind to her and that now she's happy again.

Since Rosie left the country my life has not changed at all. I still have ten pounds to lose, am allergic to bug bites and can't decide whether to cut my hair or to let it grow. 

I wonder why celebrities think they are so important.

A Few Questions for Democrats

What would you do if you found out that Jonas Salk, the inventor of the vaccine that virtually ended polio, was a pederast? Would you not have your child vaccinated?

How do you feel about the fact that the "father of the pill," Carl Djerassi, was a Jew -- you know, those people who are killing Palestinians? What if you learned he was also a Republican? Would you stop using the pill for contraception?

Let's say you find out that Sam Porcello, a food scientist who worked at Nabisco for 34 years and invented the Oreo cookie, was a wife-beater and possible rapist. Would you never buy an Oreo ever again, or ice cream containing Oreos, even if your kids begged you? 

I imagine everyone scoffed at the idiocy outlined above, yet not buying a Tesla -- the electric car that just a year ago was going to save the planet -- or setting fire to a Tesla, or bombing a Tesla showroom now seems appropriate to Democrats stricken with Trump Derangement Syndrome. All because Tesla's inventor Elon Musk is pals with Donald Trump. That's how dumb they are.