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So Why Is This FUNNY?
Feb. 23rd, 2025 09:54 amTemps hit 40° F yesterday, so you know—fabulous.
I ran around outside for a couple of hours with my coat unbuttoned 'cause after 10 straight days where the temperatures never rose above 20°, 40° felt hot.
One warmish day was not enough to melt the white shroud of ice encasing the landscape, but by the end of the day, there were many more patches where the yellow grass poked through.
###
Mostly, though, I stayed inside and Remunerated because bills to pay, end of the month, etc, etc.
Adrienne sent me the PR materials she'd prepared for the Ulster County Democratic nominating committee. They included a truly horrifying photograph that made Adrienne look like the scariest old lady you've ever sat next to on a bus (American flag backdrop, though, so that was good.)
The PR materials also included what Adrienne thinks are the top political issues important to Wallkillians (Wallkillers?): (1) lack of medical care and transportation, (2) farm-to-table food, and (3) an art community.
And I am thinking, Say wh-h-hat????
The biggest political issue hereabouts is the current prison strike since prisons are practically the only industry in this part of Ulster County.
The Democratic Governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, is very opposed to prison strikes and is helicoptering in National Guardsman to take the place of the prison guards walking the picket lines—which makes for kind of an interesting dilemma here in the heart of Trumplandia: Mouth-foaming Trump supporters are actually pro prison union here because their relatives, neighbors, & friends are the ones out on the picket lines.
If she wants to win, Adrienne is gonna have to be pro prison union, too, whatever the official Democratic party line is.
Also, Wallkill has no grocery stores or supermarkets. It is technically a food desert. That is an issue far more serious than access to urgent care clinics.
Adrienne spent most of her life in Queens, so she is conditioned to give knee-jerk, Big City answers to questions like, What are the most important local issues?
But honestly? I think Adrienne needs to spend some time in the reeducation camp.
###
And, of course, no sign from the person who used to sysop the Shawangunk Dems' website. Highly irresponsible, that, and a reminder that you must build redundancy in any time you're doing anything on the Internet.
Presumably, I can get Adrienne space on the Ulster County Democrats' server.
###
In the evening, I debated the True Function of Humor for an hour or so on the phone with Ichabod.
As noted, I am a Big Fan of humor and an especially Big Fan of inappropriate, politically incorrect humor.
I think the moment when you "get" a punchline is exactly equivalent to satori, that Zen Buddhism moment of profound insight when the true nature of reality suddenly becomes clear.
In my next incarnation, I'm gonna invent a religion entirely based on Holocaust jokes!
###
The conversation with Ichabod centered on two "jokes."
Louis CK: You should never rape anyone unless you have a reason like you want to fuck somebody and they won't let you.
Donald J. Trump: You can grab 'em by the pussy.
"The Louis CK quote is pretty funny," I said. "The Trump quote is not funny. But that's because it wasn't a joke."
"You don't think he was trying to get a laugh?" Ichabod asked.
"Oh, on one level, sure. The sheer absurdity of the situation. But honestly? He was telling the exact truth about his experiences as a mega-celebrity."
"How do you know?"
"Hey! I wasn't an entertainment journalist all those years for nothing!"
"But Louis CK was telling the exact truth about his experiences, too, and you thought it was funny!"
"That's true," I conceded. " I'm not entirely sure why it was funny. I'd have to think it through to analyze it.
I ran around outside for a couple of hours with my coat unbuttoned 'cause after 10 straight days where the temperatures never rose above 20°, 40° felt hot.
One warmish day was not enough to melt the white shroud of ice encasing the landscape, but by the end of the day, there were many more patches where the yellow grass poked through.
###
Mostly, though, I stayed inside and Remunerated because bills to pay, end of the month, etc, etc.
Adrienne sent me the PR materials she'd prepared for the Ulster County Democratic nominating committee. They included a truly horrifying photograph that made Adrienne look like the scariest old lady you've ever sat next to on a bus (American flag backdrop, though, so that was good.)
The PR materials also included what Adrienne thinks are the top political issues important to Wallkillians (Wallkillers?): (1) lack of medical care and transportation, (2) farm-to-table food, and (3) an art community.
And I am thinking, Say wh-h-hat????
The biggest political issue hereabouts is the current prison strike since prisons are practically the only industry in this part of Ulster County.
The Democratic Governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, is very opposed to prison strikes and is helicoptering in National Guardsman to take the place of the prison guards walking the picket lines—which makes for kind of an interesting dilemma here in the heart of Trumplandia: Mouth-foaming Trump supporters are actually pro prison union here because their relatives, neighbors, & friends are the ones out on the picket lines.
If she wants to win, Adrienne is gonna have to be pro prison union, too, whatever the official Democratic party line is.
Also, Wallkill has no grocery stores or supermarkets. It is technically a food desert. That is an issue far more serious than access to urgent care clinics.
Adrienne spent most of her life in Queens, so she is conditioned to give knee-jerk, Big City answers to questions like, What are the most important local issues?
But honestly? I think Adrienne needs to spend some time in the reeducation camp.
###
And, of course, no sign from the person who used to sysop the Shawangunk Dems' website. Highly irresponsible, that, and a reminder that you must build redundancy in any time you're doing anything on the Internet.
Presumably, I can get Adrienne space on the Ulster County Democrats' server.
###
In the evening, I debated the True Function of Humor for an hour or so on the phone with Ichabod.
As noted, I am a Big Fan of humor and an especially Big Fan of inappropriate, politically incorrect humor.
I think the moment when you "get" a punchline is exactly equivalent to satori, that Zen Buddhism moment of profound insight when the true nature of reality suddenly becomes clear.
In my next incarnation, I'm gonna invent a religion entirely based on Holocaust jokes!
###
The conversation with Ichabod centered on two "jokes."
Louis CK: You should never rape anyone unless you have a reason like you want to fuck somebody and they won't let you.
Donald J. Trump: You can grab 'em by the pussy.
"The Louis CK quote is pretty funny," I said. "The Trump quote is not funny. But that's because it wasn't a joke."
"You don't think he was trying to get a laugh?" Ichabod asked.
"Oh, on one level, sure. The sheer absurdity of the situation. But honestly? He was telling the exact truth about his experiences as a mega-celebrity."
"How do you know?"
"Hey! I wasn't an entertainment journalist all those years for nothing!"
"But Louis CK was telling the exact truth about his experiences, too, and you thought it was funny!"
"That's true," I conceded. " I'm not entirely sure why it was funny. I'd have to think it through to analyze it.
