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Late Night Political Humor

“TSA says they are going to crack down on the invasive pat-downs. In fact, one agent was transferred to another parish.” – David Letterman

“A TSA worker gave me a pat-down and found another TSA worker’s hand.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Some of these airport patdowns are so thorough they say you only need one every 5 years. You can get the regular patdown, but if you want to upgrade you can get what they call the Full Spitzer.” – David Letterman

“The TSA says they will allow pilots to pass through security more easily than before. I’d be happy if the pilots just went through the breathalyzer.” – Jay Leno

“Three finalists on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ two of whom can dance and Bristol Palin who cannot, but her mother has an army of Eskimo robots calling in votes day and night. The Palins dream of a future in which no one will ever be disqualified from a job simply because they are unable to perform that job.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Swiss scientists say they have produced antimatter, which could explain some of the mysteries of the universe, such as how Bristol Palin is still on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ She gets more votes than anyone else. John McCain picked the wrong Palin.” – Jay Leno

“Sarah Palin’s new book can be found right next to George W. Bush’s new book in the ‘Apparently Anyone Can Write One of These’ section.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Former President George W. Bush has published his memoirs, called ‘Decision Points.’ Bush was asked if he used a ghost writer and he said, ‘Nah, I stopped believing in those after I turned 12.'” – Jay Leno

“The turkey that President Obama will pardon this year for Thanksgiving will come from California. The spokesman for the turkey said it doesn’t need a pardon, it needs a job.” – Conan O’Brien

“Michelle Obama is expected to announce a plan to put 5,000 salad bars in public schools. They expect as many as three students to use them.” –Jay Leno

“There’s a new version of Rolling Stone magazine being published specifically for the Middle East. It’s called ‘Throwing Stone.'” – Conan O’Brien

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What Billionaires Do with Their Tax Cuts


© Lloyd Dangle

I think it is ironic that cartoons like this one tend to attack the richest people (“billionaires”) while in my experience it is what I would call the “barely rich” who are the most freaked out about taxes. They are the ones who feel the most competitive with the people around them who have more money, while the uber-rich (people like Warren Buffett and William Gates Sr.) tend to be OK with higher taxes, and even advocate for them. After all, how rich you feel depends more on how much money you have compared to the people with whom you socialize the most.

On the other hand, the “barely rich” should be in favor of a strongly progressive tax schedule, since people richer than them would be taxed more. But I’m sure they aren’t thinking that clearly about it.

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The Truth About Top Tax Rates

Maybe, just maybe, when the top tax rate goes way down for the rich, they use their excess money to fuel some stupid bubble. Because the theory that cutting taxes for the rich helps grow the economy just doesn’t seem to be working out in practice.

UPDATE: In fact, there is a good argument that when taxes for the rich go up, the economy gets better for everyone (including the rich).

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GM thanks America for helping them out

I was, and am still against bailing out large companies (for many reasons I’ve often discussed). But this is a very sweet ad.

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The Orwell Party


© Andy Singer

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Late Night Political Humor

“This year marks the first Thanksgiving in which travelers will get molested before they get to their uncle’s house.” – Seth Meyers

“At the airport if you refuse to be patted down, they arrest you. And what’s the first thing they do when they arrest you? They pat you down.” – Jay Leno

“‘Has anyone handled your bags?’ ‘Yes. You. Right now.'” – Seth Meyers

“You know, if I wanted somebody halfheartedly patting my groin without eye contact, I’d get married.” – Seth Meyers

“One of those airport naked scan images ended up on the internet. And you know who it was? Brett Favre. What are the odds?” – Jay Leno

“Vice President Joe Biden turned 68 years old. President Obama was so excited. He asked Biden to attend the party for him.” – David Letterman

“Happy birthday to Vice President Joe Biden. President Obama got him a gag gift. Not a funny gift, an actual gag.” – Jay Leno

“At the dedication of his Presidential Library, George W. Bush said it’s long been his dream to build a building for teenagers to drink behind.” – Seth Meyers

“President Obama has a tough decision to make this week. Which turkey does he pardon — the thanksgiving one or Charlie Rangel?” – Jay Leno

“The Capitol Hill Christmas tree is on its way, and once it gets to Washington it’ll die in committee.” – David Letterman

“President Obama said GM’s comeback would be the success story of this recession. GM said it wanted to thank those who made its recovery possible: Toyota’s brakes, Toyota’s steering and Toyota’s accelerator.” – Jimmy Fallon

“A group of economists unveiled a new plan to reduce the deficit by $6 trillion in the next 10 years. The first step of the plan is to look at all our spending over the past five years, determine what’s unnecessary … and then ask China for $6 trillion.” – Jimmy Fallon

“On this day in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. Following the address, the rebuttal was given by John McCain. Lincoln’s speech was so successful that right after it, TBS offered him the 10 p.m. slot.” – David Letterman

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Peanut Butter Terrorism


© Ruben Bolling

UPDATE: Roger Ebert weighs in on the TSA.

UPDATE 2: For people who wonder what airport security in the US should look like.

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Diplomatic Time Bomb

The CBC is reporting that the US government has notified the Canadian government that WikiLeaks is about to release US diplomatic files that are so sensitive that they could “damage US relations with allies around the world” and could even “result in the expulsion of US diplomats from foreign postings.”

If this is true, it would explain the extreme efforts that the US has gone to in trying to neutralize WikiLeaks and its main spokesperson, Julian Assange.

Last Sunday, WikiLeaks announced “Next release is 7x the size of the Iraq War Logs. … The coming months will see a new world, where global history is redefined.”

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Late Night Political Humor

“Sarah Palin says she’s going to run for President in 2012. 2012. Donald Trump said he’s going to run for President in 2012 against Sarah Palin. Nice to know there will somebody equally unqualified.” – David Letterman

“Now that would be some presidential race. You’ve got Donald Trump and Sarah Palin and the debates. Get there early and get some seats down front for those debates. ‘You’re fired, you becha.'” – David Letterman

“There’s going to be problems when Donald Trump runs. They had a lot of problems with Obama, you wait until Donald Trump runs because the rumor is that thing on his head was not born in this country.” – David Letterman

“Donald Trump wants to see if people think he should run for President. So a website has been launched called ‘Shouldtrumprun.com.’ Yeah, don’t worry the American public has responded with their own website ‘No.com.'” – Conan O’Brien

“In an upcoming interview with Barbara Walters, Sarah Palin says she believes she can beat Obama in 2012. The way things are going right now, Bristol Palin could beat Obama in 2012.” – Jay Leno

“I’ll tell you how confident Sarah Palin is. She’s already started writing her inaugural address on her hand.” – Jay Leno

They broke ground at the George W. Bush Presidential Library out there in Dallas. I know you’re snickering already. The guy never read a book in his life but he’s got a library. How does that happen?” – David Letterman

“At the opening of the Bush Presidential Center in Texas, Dick Cheney joked that the center is the only shovel-ready project in America. What about that Dick Cheney taking a buddy hunting? That could be another shovel-ready project.” – Jay Leno

“Bush opening a library, that’s like Kirstie Alley opening a can of diet coke.” – David Letterman

“In a ranking of 35 cities, by ‘Travel and Leisure’ magazine — Los Angeles finished second to last in intelligence. All I can say, thank god for Washington, D.C. Thank god for Washington, D.C.” – Jay Leno

“TSA Chief John Pistole says he and his boss Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano have each personally received the more invasive TSA patdown. They both had it. Ya, it’s been called the world’s least sexy threesome.” – Conan O’Brien

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The Tao of Terrorism

The US airport security chief pleaded with Thanksgiving travelers to not boycott full-body scans this Wednesday, warning that would only “tie up people who want to go home and see their loved ones.”

“Just one or two recalcitrant passengers at an airport is all it takes to cause huge delays. It doesn’t take much to mess things up anyway.”

… We interrupt this blog post for an important NEWS FLASH:

The nation’s air transportation system has been brought to its knees today, causing a cascade of delays at all major airports and leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded. Taking credit for this insidious act of terrorism was the Islamic Recalcitrant Army (IRA), who in turn credited the TSA itself for giving them the original idea.

According to an unnamed IRA source:

We had no idea how fragile the US air transportation system really was. We have been foolishly using suicide bombers for missions, but now we know that it only takes one or two IRA members to completely shut down any airport, and maybe a few hundred to cripple the entire system and cause millions of dollars of damage to the great Satan’s economy. And recruiting people to be recalcitrant is so much easier than for suicide missions — we’ve had to turn jihadists away who aren’t even Islamic!

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Enslaved


© Tom Tomorrow

Letter from Congressman Rush Holt to the TSA Administrator.

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Naked Image


© Nate Beeler

Obama defended the use of the new full-body scanners, while public opinion is starting to turn against the use of the new machines. And security expert Bruce Schneier claims that the new machines won’t catch anybody. In fact, even the manufacturers of the machines say that they would not have caught the underwear bomber, even though that incident is the reason being given for the new machines.

UPDATE: Here’s an interesting protest. A company is selling t-shirts and underwear, with the the 4th amendment to the US constitution printed in metallic ink so they will show up when you get scanned in an airport:

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Late Night Political Humor

“The Situation from ‘Jersey Shore’ just shot a PSA with Bristol Palin about safe sex and abstinence. Wait, they wanted to do a PSA about not having sex and getting pregnant and they chose The Situation and Bristol Palin? Who’s doing their anti-drug campaign, Lindsay Lohan?” – Jimmy Fallon

“By the way, if he gets her pregnant, it’s officially designated The Situation womb.” – Jon Stewart

“A guy was so upset with Bristol Palin on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ that he shot his TV set with a shotgun. You would think a guy with a shotgun tucked between his couch cushions would be a Palin supporter.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“He became upset when Brandy was eliminated and not only shot his TV, but threatened to shoot himself. He either really hates Bristol Palin or really loves the show ‘Moesha.'” – Jimmy Kimmel

“A senior citizen was arrested after shooting his TV when Bristol Palin wasn’t kicked off of ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ Come on, John McCain, it’s been two years. Get over it. ” – Craig Ferguson

“Authorities say a 67-year-old man in Wisconsin was so enraged over Bristol Palin’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ routine, he blasted his television with a shotgun. All I can say is I’m glad this guy doesn’t have TBS.” – Conan O’Brien

“Sunday night was the debut of the reality show, ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska.’ It got huge ratings. Even people over in Russia were watching and they didn’t need TVs. They could see it from their porch. ” –Jay Leno

“Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that she doesn’t think Sarah Palin enjoyed being governor. Palin was like, ‘That’s absurd. If I didn’t enjoy being governor, I would have just quit in the middle of my — nevermind.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The new Oxford dictionary has declared Sarah Palin’s made-up word ‘refudiate’ the 2010 word of the year. When asked for her reaction to the dubious honor, Palin said she would not ‘dignitate’ it with a response.” – Jay Leno

“Down in Texas, ground breaking ceremonies for the George W. Bush center in Dallas. Ladies and gentlemen, thank god the comedy recession is over. Actually, the official name of the place is George W. Bush Presidential Center and Go-Kart Track. And water park. The George W. Bush Presidential Center is part of a $250 million complex. And by the way, I believe this is the first time the words ‘Bush’ and ‘complex’ have been used in same sentence.” – David Letterman

“George W. Bush’s famous ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner may be put in his Presidential Library. They plan to hang it up as soon as they start construction.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Former President George W. Bush’s new memoir has already sold 800,000 copies. In other news, the new Bush presidential library just purchased its first 800,000 books.” – Conan O’Brien

“Nancy Pelosi has now been elected the new House minority leader. She was smiling from ear to ear, which is pretty impressive considering how far her ears have been pulled back.” – Jay Leno

“Happy birthday to Rep. John Boehner from Ohio. If you want to get him a present, you can’t go wrong with bronzer. Or you can get him a giant bed so the banking, oil, and defense industries can get in it with him.” – David Letterman

“If Rep. Charles Rangel is found guilty by the ethics committee, they said they could expel him, but experts say that is not likely. See, that would set a bad precedent in Washington, punishing the guilty.” – Jay Leno

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New TSA Bumper Stickers


[via FamousDC.com]

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A Message from the TSA

[From Saturday Night Live]

Two economists have come to an interesting conclusion about the new body scans and aggressive pat-downs. If people forego travel by air because they don’t want to be seen naked or groped, and instead drive during the upcoming holiday seasons, then more Americans will die because driving is mile-for-mile much more dangerous than flying, especially during the winter. So the new TSA procedures will (again) make us less safe, not more, and will kill Americans.

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