Humoring the headlines: January 31, 2014

By Laurie Baron

Lawrence (Laurie) Baron
Lawrence (Laurie) Baron

SAN DIEGO―Venture capitalist Thomas Perkins apologized for drawing a parallel between the “progressive war on the American one percent, namely the ‘rich” and “Nazi Germany’s war on its ‘one percent,’ namely its Jews.” …This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendant “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?”  After his apology, some people allegedly overheard him mutter “I wasn’t wrong.  The ultra rich already are ghettoized in gated communities and in mansions and penthouse apartments surrounded by security guards.  Their money gets deported to off-shore accounts.  If they are wealthy men, they certainly will be cut by the shattering of the glass ceiling.”
*
Mike Huckabee accused the Democratic Party of treating American women like they couldn’t control their libidos.  A snap poll taken after his comments indicates that the vast majority of American women are confident they can control their libidos if Mike Huckabee were in a room with them.
*
After receiving less than three inches of snow, traffic in the city of Atlanta was paralyzed.  The governor of Georgia accepted responsibility for the failure of the state and city to dispatch snow removal equipment and salt trucks when they initially received the National Weather Service storm warning.  Asked how the drivers of Atlanta could prepare for the next blizzard or ice storm, he replied, “Buy snowmobiles or zambonis as your second vehicle.”
*
Amanda Knox has been found guilty again of murder by an Italian court.  The decision has encouraged House Republicans to repeal Obama Care another time.
*
Scarlettt Johannson ended her affiliation with Oxfam International, an aid organization that employs and feeds people in impoverished countries, rather than disavow her advertisement for SodaStream scheduled to be aired during the Super Bowl.  Although Oxfam urged her to support the boycott against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinian workers at the company’s West Bank plant have sided with Johannson.  One of them remarked, “I doubt the boycott of its carbonation device will be successful in countries where getting potable water is still the main problem.”

*

Baron is professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University.  He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com.