Category Archives: Humor and Satire
Terrorist Plumbers and Texas
So here is the story. A plumber in Texas (some of the least rosy redneck territory out there where they gulp down tequila or whiskey with their tea partying) sells his old Ford truck and forgets to remove his logo. The auction house sends it along the chain of used cars and trucks, not knowing where it might end up. This is the automotive counterpart of banking derivatives and we know how great that was. Then one day there is a tweet from the Ansar al-Jil terrorist faction in Syria showing a new use for the old leaky-faucet-repair truck: a large gun mounted and firing (probably at nothing in particular and not hitting anything, but it makes a great propaganda shot). And there is the Texan Mark-1 plumbing logo for all to see in the twittering world and beyond. Forget the Alamo, this is really bad news.
This being Texas, the phones start ringing back at the plumbing office and this is a leak that is about as bad as any sewer overflow you can imagine in this redneck part of the woods… Damn terrorists no doubt causing true-blooded Americans’ pipes to get clogged. Terrorists in your bathroom no less… Continue reading Terrorist Plumbers and Texas
Funny Humus
Jive talking about humus… a fun video on Youtube.
Cartoon History of the Middle East
Turkey – “The sick man of Europe”, by John Leech, Punch, September 17, 1853
For a fascinating collection of cartoons, many from Punch, since 1853, check out the website “A Cartoon History of the Middle East,” compiled by Peter Casillas.
Who will have the last laugh?
Turkish women defy deputy PM with laughter
Bülent Arinç said women should not laugh in public, prompting backlash and highlighting state of women’s rights in Turkey
by Constanze Letsch in Istanbul, The Guardian, Wednesday, July, 30 2014
Twitter in Turkey broke into a collective grin on Wednesday as hundreds of women posted pictures of themselves laughing.
They weren’t just happy. They were smiling in defiance of the deputy prime minister, Bülent Arinç, who in a speech to mark Eid al-Fitr on Monday said women should not laugh in public.
“Chastity is so important. It’s not just a word, it’s an ornament [for women],” Arinç told a crowd celebrating the end of Ramadan in the city of Bursa in an address that decried “moral corruption” in Turkey. “A woman should be chaste. She should know the difference between public and private. She should not laugh in public.”
On Wednesday thousands of women posted pictures of themselves laughing out loud, with the hashtags #direnkahkaha (resist laughter) and #direnkadin (resist woman) trending on Twitter.
Turkish men also took to social media to express their solidarity. “The men of a country in which women are not allowed to laugh are cowards”, tweeted one user. Continue reading Who will have the last laugh?
A Practical Solution for Iraq
[Sinan Antoon channeling Jonathan Swift…]
by Sinan Antoon, al-Jadaliyya, July 15, 2014
The rise of ISIS and the declaration of a Caliphate that controls large swaths of Iraq and Syria signals a moment of exceptional danger not only for Iraq and its future existence as a state, but for US national interests.
The United States has sacrificed life and limb and invested billions of dollars to save Iraq from dictatorship and help its people build a thriving democracy. Mistakes were made for sure, but our intentions and objectives were always clear: to stabilize and democratize the region. President Obama’s craven policies and his withdrawal from Iraq have squandered the credit and political capital the US held in Iraq and the region. Sending advisors and providing logistical support to Baghdad is insufficient and will not weaken or defeat ISIS. President Obama has allowed Iran to step in and further strengthen its grip on Iraq.
As we write this, Iraqi parliamentarians are voting to choose new leaders. While ditching Maliki is a necessary step for moving forward, we believe that the gravity of the situation calls for a radically different approach. The Caliphate has its eyes on Baghdad and other capitals in the region. Its Jihadist ideology has already attracted hundreds of young Muslims from Europe and elsewhere who have joined its ranks. The violence will be exported to the free and civilized world and this threatens to squander all the hard-fought gains of the war on terror. Continue reading A Practical Solution for Iraq
Donkey Mediation
Spam, Spam and more Spam (but from Yemen?)
If you take the time to check the “Spam” folder in your email accounts, you will undoubtedly find quite a few solicitations for getting money out of a foreign account. Usually it is the widow of a former dictator in Nigeria, a lawyer for a deposed general or even winning the lottery in Barcelona. Recently I noticed a purported message from a U.S. army officer in Afghanistan who wants to get money out of there. But for the first time I received a message from a “Yemeni”, fictitious as it obviously is and certainly not from an email account (chukwudouglasekp2@yahoo.com.hk) in Yemen. Here is the message:
Hello Dear
My name is Mr.Al-Hawshabi Karim , A Yemen national I have been diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer .It has defiled al forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts. I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone(not even myself) but my business.
Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I was always hostile to people and only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in he world. Continue reading Spam, Spam and more Spam (but from Yemen?)