In 1962, the BBC launched a political comedy show called That Was The Week That Was (“TW3”). While the show ran for only two seasons (cancelled in 1964 for fear it would impact that year’s British elections), it spawned a similarly titled but also short-lived television show in the U.S. that focused on political satire.
Over just the past several days, the Left has provided us with more than sufficient satire to fill an hour-long TW3 show, not even counting the ongoing physical and mental bloopers by President Biden.
The New York City Council led the most recent comedic parade when it passed a measure adding “weight discrimination” to the city’s growing list of factors that employers and others may not consider in making business or other decisions. The legislation has been sent to Mayor Eric Adams, who himself had written a book in 2020 recounting his journey losing 35 pounds on a “plant-based diet.”
While illegal immigration and subway crime continue to plague the Big Apple, the city’s elected leaders apparently have concluded that “fat shaming” is a more serious and immediate problem; a position echoed by the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) – an actual nonprofit advocacy group, not an organization created for a satire program.
It should be noted that New York is no Johnny-Come-Lately to such Nanny State-ism. In late 2015, for example, the city adopted “guidelines” banning the “misgendering” of individuals. Given its history of woke-ism, it is a virtual certainty that New York City will continue to provide material for many future editions of TW3.
On the west coast, San Francisco’s always entertaining city council joined its east-coast counterpart when it announced last week that it had created the post of “drag laureate.” The nation’s first drag laureate, D’Arcy Drollinger, who will serve as San Francisco’s drag “ambassador” to the world, has authored such renowned literary classics such as Bitch Slap and Temple of Poon.
The “drag laureate” title is a disparaging take-off on the honor of “poet laureate” afforded truly accomplished authors who have contributed positively to America’s cultural heritage, such as Robert Frost, Robert Penn Warren, and James Dickey, among many others. California actually has a state poet laureate, Lee Herrick, who likely will henceforth be overshadowed by the drag laureate.
Meanwhile, Uncle Sam is seriously considering banning chocolate milk from school meal programs and mandating that boys must be permitted to compete against girls in school sports programs. These crucial and time-sensitive policy decisions have been joined on Capitol Hill by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) moving to direct $14 trillion of taxpayer money to eradicate the “racial wealth gap.”
Last week also witnessed the publication of an official memo from the U.S. State Department directed to all its employees world-wide. The memo reflects what obviously is a major concern of the Biden Administration – to ensure that professional counselling is available to any employee who might feel “triggered” by having been erroneously “misgendered” in an official communication.
The particular misgendering mishap at issue here occurred when a “system-wide email glitch … temporarily assigned random and often incorrect gender pronouns to staff.” This most serious “glitch” reportedly caused a number of State Department employees to suffer “shock and confusion” that was “distracting” to their diplomatic duties.
Thank goodness Secretary Antony Blinken’s staff remains atop the misgendering epidemic so as not to impede handling such lesser crises as the war in Ukraine, North Korea’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, or China’s moves to supplant the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
The award for idiocy of the week, however, must go to the NAACP, which this week issued an “advisory” declaring that because under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has become so “hostile” to racial minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, that it is unsafe to travel to the Sunshine State.
No member of the TV writers’ guild (currently on strike) could make up such a comedic plot. I would dare them to even try.
But, while these and numerous other recent left-wing actions would make for spectacularly funny episodes of That Was The Week That Was, they reflect an extremely serious skewing of priorities and wasting of taxpayer money at all levels. We need to cancel TW3 for good.
Bob Barr represented Georgia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He served as the United States Attorney in Atlanta from 1986 to 1990 and was an official with the CIA in the 1970s. He now practices law in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as head of Liberty Guard.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
