• Our favorite comic (after Ammo Grrrl), David Deeble, lives in Germany much of the year, and likes to joke that there are two things Germans don’t joke about—Hitler, and everything else. German politicians might be advised to take this to heart:
Merkel successor slammed as intersex toilet joke falls flat
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s anointed successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, faced harsh criticism Monday over a carnival joke that ridiculed intersex people. The CDU party chief and likely future conservative candidate for the chancellery, usually dubbed just AKK because of her tongue-twister name, made the joke in a carnival speech last week.
Attempting to poke fun at politically progressive Berlin, she said newly introduced toilets for intersex people were “for those men who don’t know whether to pee standing up or sitting down”. The comment was greeted with jeers, fanfare and booming laughter in the Lake Constance town of Stockach in southern Germany, but fewer people were laughing when it was shared on the website queer.de and Twitter.
“Another one of those days that make you cringe… is it really that difficult to make a humorous speech without flat jokes beating up on minorities?” commented lawmaker Jens Brandenburg of the liberal FDP party.
I certainly hope this rim-shot inducing quip doesn’t detail Frau Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s chances to succeed Frau Merkel, because I can’t wait to hear American TV journalists say “Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.”
• So Michael Bloomberg is out of the Democratic 2020 presidential field. Call me a cynic, but I think this is a shrewd move to keep him available as the perfect running mate for Howard Schultz on an independent ticket. Just think of the taunts this all-billionaire ticket can make at Trump.
Meanwhile, Hillary has said she’s also out. Call me cynical, but haven’t we learned that the Clintons have Kant-level skills at ontology? She said “I am not running”—present tense. She did not say what she might do or not do in the future. She did not say “I will not run.” She did not quote General Sherman. Memo to Democrats: Trust, but verify. And guard your blood banks keep your silver stakes at the ready.
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