Witness a Real Comédienne at Work
[guest post by JVW]
Lost in the whole Roseanne Barr/Samantha Bee Axis of Stupid and Obnoxious is that there are some comédiennes who handle political satire quite brilliantly. Here is England and America’s magnificent Tracey Ullman (she’s a dual citizen) taking the measure of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on her BBC show Tracey Breaks the News this past Friday:
Yep, that’s her in impressively-done makeup and beard playing Mr. Corbyn. The rabid leftists of his party naturally chalked up this sketch as the work of a Jewish writer (the writer said that he did not contribute to the sketch, and Ms. Ullman herself was raised Catholic). I don’t know what Ms. Ullman’s politics are — I sort of doubt that she is a conservative (she describes herself as anti-monarchy and her daughter worked for a Labour party leader and later stood as Labour’s candidate for a seat) — but I very much doubt if any current American comic with a TV show could show such a deft touch in political commentary.
– JVW
How pretentious am I for using “comédienne” instead of “female comic”?
JVW (42615e) — 6/3/2018 @ 9:45 pmImagine this sketch being done by an American comic, with Trump instead of Corbyn. The Jewish guy in the kippah would be a Mexican in a field hat, and where Ms. Ullman’s Corbyn went out of his way to ingratiate himself with the gentleman, you can well imagine Stephen Colbert or Chelsea Handler as Trump being gratuitously mean to him. Where Ms. Ullman had Corbyn being embarrassed to be in the company of Gerry Adams and the Hamas taxi driver, Jimmy Kimmel or Sarah Silverman would have had Trump gladly palling around with Vladimir Putin or Richard Spencer. But I guess the #Resistance doesn’t want nuance, they just want to demonstrate some good old fashioned self-righteous hate.
JVW (42615e) — 6/3/2018 @ 9:57 pmIn what way is showing Trump gladly palling around with Vladimir Putin dishonest?
There is nothing nuanced about Trump. He is one superlative after another. The man speaks in purple prose.
And the spectacle of an American president sucking up to a tinpot fascist dictator who waged a covert intelligence campaign to help get him elected would be the funniest thing ever, if it weren’t for the fact that it actually happened.
Dave (445e97) — 6/3/2018 @ 11:19 pmIn what way is showing Trump gladly palling around with Vladimir Putin dishonest?
Oh, I don’t know: Trump has increased our fossil fuels production, bombed Russia’s pals in Damascus, and we slaughtered a bunch of Russian — ahem, ahem — “mercenaries” in Syria. Where and when did the previous administration take as combative a posture against the Russian bear? As everyone knows, Putin had nothing but contempt for Obama’s timidity, and that hurt our standing internationally. Russian energy interests were also major financial backers of Obama’s green energy scam, and his administration was either stupid to know this or too venal to care. Take your pick.
JVW (42615e) — 6/3/2018 @ 11:40 pmMy question would be this, Dave: What benefits has Putin gotten from Trump that he didn’t also get from Obama?
JVW (42615e) — 6/3/2018 @ 11:43 pmFYI, Obama isn’t president anymore, and the world situation is different than when Obama took office.
I think this article gives a pretty fair overview of the question. Obama’s policy to Russia stiffened considerably with the aggression against the Ukraine and annexation of the Crimea. The article doesn’t mention it, but tough language about the Ukraine was removed the GOP platform at the behest of Trump’s henchmen like Manafort who were beholden to Vladimir.
The fact is that Obama didn’t go around defending Putin for snuffing out his political opponents by falsely claiming our country was just as bad.
Trump has done (and continues to do) his best to deny and cover-up a Russian attack on the United States, merely because it was intended to benefit him. In doing so, he has left us more vulnerable to future attacks merely to serve his own selfish, small-minded political interest.
It is undeniable that in his personal statements, whether out of gratitude for Putin’s attempt to throw the election to him, or admiration for gangster-style authoritarianism, or both, Trump has fawned over Putin.
Dave (445e97) — 6/4/2018 @ 12:07 amYou could fawn over this guy but he’s probably dead: Probably dead Italian guy .
Pinandpuller (ba1811) — 6/4/2018 @ 12:09 amWh
Pinandpuller (ba1811) — 6/4/2018 @ 12:17 amThe fact is that Obama didn’t go around defending Putin for snuffing out his political opponents by falsely claiming our country was just as bad.
And Trump didn’t insult anyone’s intelligence with a gimmicky (and mis-translated) “Reset” button. Yeah, the situation that Trump inherited vis a vis Russia was worse than what Obama inherited, largely because the Obama administration’s passivity emboldened Putin. And sorry, but I’m not at all impressed with Polifact’s regurgitation of the talking points from the same left-wing academics and think tank bureaucrats who directed and defended Obama’s disastrous foreign policy, even if they do acknowledge that Trump is tougher on Russia in his first two years than Obama probably was in his first six years. If nothing else, Obama cleared the way for Russia and Iran to strengthen their economic, military, and political ties, to the mutual benefit of both. Thanks Obama!
JVW (42615e) — 6/4/2018 @ 12:17 amGaahhhh…
What do you get when you play Hamilton backwards???
Pinandpuller (ba1811) — 6/4/2018 @ 12:18 amOne of those supposedly dead Russian guys wasn’t really…shovel ready.
Pinandpuller (ba1811) — 6/4/2018 @ 12:19 amI love the Polifact assertion that Obama was really tough on Russia because he kicked out 35 Russian diplomats and froze a few people’s assets. Yeah, he did all of this after his chosen successor was defeated in her bid to follow him. Before the election, Obama went in front of the media and assured us all that there was no way to rig a Presidential election, then in the immediate aftermath his administration expressed its satisfaction that the vote “reflected the will of the American people.” It’s only when the shrill nutjob left demanded that we all be forced to believe that the election was stolen that the Obamabots changed their tune. In other words, it’s all about politics.
JVW (42615e) — 6/4/2018 @ 12:30 amIn what way is showing Trump gladly palling around with Vladimir Putin dishonest?
Name ONE, just effing ONE time where Trump has taken Putin’s side on something. Saying he thought that Putin was an effective leader isn’t the same. Putin IS an effective leader — Russia was broke and getting broker when he took over. Does not mean one takes his side.
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/4/2018 @ 1:55 amGoogle “Trump arms to Ukraine” and you find numerous articles about him authorizing arms sales.
Google “Obama arms to Ukraine: and you find numerous articles about Obama refusing to send them arms, despite everyone (e.g. the NY Times, Politico and the WaPo) urging him to.
Yet Dave cites the STRONG LANGUAGE that was being used as evidence for something. That was Obama all right: press conferences and posturing for foks like life-long conservative Dave to eat up.
Kevin M (752a26) — 6/4/2018 @ 2:00 amMy prediction: having demanded ONE time where Trump has taken Putin’s side on something, you will proclaim this example irrelevant and demand another…
Dave (445e97) — 6/4/2018 @ 2:17 amJust cuz I like ya Kevin, here’s another:
Trump says he believes Putin’s election meddling denials
Dave (445e97) — 6/4/2018 @ 2:20 amA bright side of the Trump years is watching Obama’s former brain trust find fantastic new rationales for their execrable foreign policy. The best is when they advertise entirely unprovoked own goals as grand and unparalleled feats of statesmanship.
I’m glad Tracey Ullman is back in work. She’s fun.
JP (771d31) — 6/4/2018 @ 2:58 amJVW (42615e) — 6/3/2018 @ 9:45 pm
What’s wrong with using just “comic?” You know, like “hero,” or “doctor.”
felipe (023cc9) — 6/4/2018 @ 4:34 amThank goodness!
felipe (023cc9) — 6/4/2018 @ 4:38 am7, I used to be a Mattis coup kind of guy, but I’ll take the American of Italian extraction 4th(?) in succession.
urbanleftbehind (b23bbe) — 6/4/2018 @ 4:48 amUllman is brilliant. Her multiple takes on Camilla Parker-Bowles-Windsor are hilarious.
James (007b72) — 6/4/2018 @ 5:03 amConDave… “life-long conservative”, lol…
Colonel Haiku (3ad005) — 6/4/2018 @ 5:39 ami still play that cd of 60s stuff she did sometimes
happyfeet (28a91b) — 6/4/2018 @ 5:47 amDave just facepalm like wile e coyote, supergenius.
narciso (d1f714) — 6/4/2018 @ 5:57 amHow can Ullman have duel (American/Brit) citizenship when Brits aren’t citizens, they’re subjects?
ropelight (267def) — 6/4/2018 @ 6:09 amAkshually, American law does not recognize dual citizenship. Definitely not for naturalized U.S. citizens. Part of the oath of naturalization is the forsaking of foreign allegiances. It used to be that it did not recognize dual citizenship at all, not even for natural born citizens, but that has been eroded to accommodate American Jews who acquire Israeli citizenship.
nk (f740ea) — 6/4/2018 @ 6:19 amOn the other hand, many foreign governments do not recognize renunciation of their citizenship. (Even the United States has gotten into the game, lately, and made it harder.) So there are situations where people have no choice but to be the citizen (or subject) of every nation which claims them.
nk (f740ea) — 6/4/2018 @ 6:24 amThe Constitution says “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
It doesn’t mention any exceptions or exit clauses.
One could take the view that you can no more change the fact that you were born in the United States (making you a citizen thereof for life) than you can change your gender, race, etc. All are simply immutable facts of your birth.
Dave (445e97) — 6/4/2018 @ 6:35 amThe Supreme Court has held that you can renounce your U.S. citizenship by an explicit renunciation. But not by merely taking command of the Lithuanian armed forces (actual case) or merely being elected to the Israeli Knesset (actual case).
In practice, you have to leave the country and go to an American embassy to do it. There, they will 1) make you sit and listen while they try to talk to you out of it; and 2) you have to prove that you have paid all your taxes due and owing to the United States. Then it’s done, and your new foreign bank will not be subject to the U.S. rules and regulations for overseas bank account of U.S. citizens so they’ll feel better about letting you open a bank account of them.
nk (f740ea) — 6/4/2018 @ 6:47 am*with* them
nk (f740ea) — 6/4/2018 @ 6:59 amhttps://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1002975796707774464/photo/1
Colonel Haiku (3ad005) — 6/4/2018 @ 7:29 amNow there’s a true comedian…
Colonel Haiku (3ad005) — 6/4/2018 @ 7:42 am#28, Dave’s immutable facts are today considered by many leftists to be simply matters of choice. They even have rules that punnish people for using pronouns which fail to acknowledge the preferred gender or race.
We now have biological girls pretending to be boys and vice versa, and at least one white girl who insists she’s black, although very light skinned blacks have been passing for whites in the US for over 100 years.
And white hookers in NOLA pretended to be high yellow (the preferred color) so they could charge more.
ropelight (267def) — 6/4/2018 @ 8:58 amHigh Yellow made which way – the Lisa Bonet/Princess of Sussex Way (1 white parent, 1 black parent) or the Vanessa Williams/ Steph and Ayesha Curry way (an agglomeration from passably-white black people)? What is more or less oft-putting to the John?
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 6/4/2018 @ 9:38 amthat looks like a hostage video:
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2018/06/04/stewart-defends-bee
narciso (d1f714) — 6/4/2018 @ 9:40 amDidn’t know she was back on, thanks!
Her humor was not vile and mean…seems so long ago that was in fashion.
Patricia (3363ec) — 6/4/2018 @ 10:19 amWhat’s wrong with using just “comic?” You know, like “hero,” or “doctor.”
It’s not pretentious enough for my tastes.
JVW (2326d4) — 6/4/2018 @ 1:08 pmerry Adams was the Leader of Sinn Féin between November 13, 1983 and February 10, 2018, amnd amember of teh British house of Commons who did not take his seat from 1997 to 2011. Technically he was not a member of the IRA what they said wass the military wing of the Provisional IRA.
This skit mocks Jeremy Corbyn’s separation from all that. It goes to his political actrions, It has intellectual content not insults.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 6/4/2018 @ 1:19 pmGerry Adams and Jeremny Corbnyn;s more or less support for the IRA, probably bothers Tracey Ullman more than other things, or maybe she thinks she has a better (or more popular) case against Corbyn there.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 6/4/2018 @ 1:24 pm4. 6. 9. 12. 13. 16
The latest thing maybe that Rusaia did:
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visits Pyongyang, and North Korean media within a few days announces that Bashar Assad has an intention to visit North Korea. (no such thing on Syrian state controlled media)
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 6/4/2018 @ 1:25 pm