Wow! What a fun year it’s been for the news biz.
We’ve elected a brand-new president, so hopefully people have lightened up a bit, since nothing seemed funny to millions of Americans over the past eight years. I can’t imagine why.
The strange events of the 2016 election cycle have provided plenty of comic relief for our annual look back at the funniest stories of the year. So let’s get started.
Wee the people
The first news story on this year’s list actually deals with No. 1 and No. 2. And when I say that, it’s exactly what you think, perhaps being more bizarre than funny.
It was an “October Surprise” of truly dirty politics that got dumped on the people of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
And that awful poopy smell was coming from the presidential campaign of none other than Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Yes, folks, the official “Forward Together” bus of Hillary “Bottom” Clinton was caught dumping foul-smelling human waste into the street and down a storm drain.
“Police say when they arrived on the scene, toilet paper was scattered everywhere and there was a foul smell,” reported Atlanta’s WGCL-TV 46.
In close-up images, what is likely a mixture of liquid feces, urine and toilet paper were seen oozing from the bottom of the bus.
A hazmat crew reportedly had to be called in to clean up the mess, and a DNC spokeswoman called the fecal matter “an honest mistake.”
Hundreds of WND readers weighed in on the news, with comments including:
- How symbolic of what she is doing to AMERICA! TRUMP 2016
- Clinton always thought her sh– didn’t stink. Now it’s undeniable. Go Trump!
- Low turnout in that town? Leaving a message, were they?
- This is a symbol of what she thinks of We the People. Can it get any more obvious?
- What type of person dumps raw sewage directly on a public street and into the storm drains?
- Of course it was a mistake. Nothing to see here. Hillary is such a fine, lovely person. Move along. (Eyes roll with sarcasm.)
- A spokeswoman called the fecal matter an “honest mistake”? And so was Benghazi, and the video tape, and Hillary’s email.
- It seems like Hillary and her campaign sh– on America, quite literally.
- I hope that big, blue, rolling turd doesn’t come to my town.
- I guess she really does give a you-know-what.
- Another way to create more jobs Americans won’t do. She is a job creator after all.
- Policeman: “Clean it up.” Hillary: “You mean like with a cloth or something?”
- Well, that would explain the flies.
- The poor bus couldn’t contain any more of Hillary’s B.S.
- To the good people of Lawrenceville, GA … Be thankful she wasn’t traveling by air.
Perhaps the whole incident foreshadowed the fact that Hillary would finish No. 2 to Republican Donald Trump in the White House race.
The sick media?
Irrespective of irregularities on Hillary’s bus, there were numerous health scares for Mrs. Clinton during the 2016 campaign. So much so, in fact, that Internet news powerhouse Matt Drudge tweeted a Photoshopped image mocking the national media covering Hillary aboard her campaign plane, “Hill Force One,” or as some might call it, “Ill Force One.”
Showing a group of reporters with masks superimposed onto their faces, Drudge tweeted the message: “The Hillary Clinton press corps is soldiering on despite hazardous work conditions… .”
The image is a spoof of a real photo widely circulated online showing media personalities including NBC’s Andrea Mitchell sporting enthralled looks on their faces aboard Clinton’s aircraft.
The original image prompted journalist Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars to note: “This is why the press never asks Hillary real questions. They look like enraptured tweens meeting Taylor Swift.”
Unconventional wisdom
Fox News correspondent Jesse Watters dropped in on the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to tape a series of man-on-the-street interviews for “The O’Reilly Factor,” asking people what they thought of Donald Trump.
But when Watters pointed out that Trump wants to defeat the Islamic State known as ISIS, things took an even nuttier-than-usual turn.
One man said he was less interested in Trump’s stance than in learning what the terrorists thought about “global warming.”
“I don’t approve of ISIS tactics but I don’t know anything about their ideology, I don’t know what ISIS thinks about global warming,” he said. “I’d be interested in their views on global warming.”
Yes, folks. Some Democrats actually want to know what the ferocious Muslim terrorists known as ISIS think about global warming. You can’t make this stuff up.
And when Watters suggested to left-leaning actress Ashley Judd that she looked “like a Hillary girl,” Judd snapped back, “Well, I’m past puberty so I’m a woman.”
Watch the interviews here:
[jwplayer 17frtO2h]
Jeb gets the clap
Politicians love to be social and popular. But in this election cycle, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was treated like a social disease by millions of Republicans.
At a February campaign stop in New Hampshire, Jeb actually begged the audience to applaud for him during his speech at the Hanover Inn.
“I won’t be out here blowharding, talking a big game without backing it up,” he said, and that’s when he was met with total silence.
The only thing Jeb could muster up was a defeated-sounding, “Please clap.”
Here’s the video:
[jwplayer kwXAzOT2]
Tears of a clown
Election Night itself was a tough night at MSNBC.
The Hillary landslide did not develop as the network had predicted, and state after state went to Donald Trump.
Real tears were falling at MSNBC, especially from its top anchor Rachel Maddow, who, despite what you may have read online, is not a 14-year-old boy:
[jwplayer 61Kpx3qY]
The news buffoons
The ironic thing about the media’s meltdown this year was the fact that for months, the clowns on the air had been mocking anyone who even suggested Trump had any chance of winning.
Here’s a delicious compilation just to remind you how most of the big names on TV have no idea what they’re talking about:
[jwplayer xMOHSBmS]
Time for a chill pill
It’s very important for parents to monitor what their teens are doing, but every once in a while, parents have no clue what they’re dealing with.
Such a case becomes evident in this string of tweets between 16-year-old Ashley Banks of Bedford, Texas, and her mother, Lisa Banks. Ashley simply wanted her mom to put her calculator in the mailbox, and that’s when the magic began:
Once posted to Twitter on June 3, the misunderstanding racked up 54,000 likes and nearly 41,000 retweets.
“My mom is sort of overprotective but not crazy overprotective,” Ashley told Us Weekly. “She just cares for me a lot and wants what’s best for me, and that’s why I love her.”
What happens when you pull Weiner’s hard drive
It’s been a difficult year for Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin.
After all, it’s not every day that the FBI finds a massive stash of Hillary Clinton emails on the computer of former congressman who is best known for sexting with young women who are not his wife.
But for one brief moment on Fox News, Weiner’s antics combined with an earthquake in Italy (or perhaps caused the quake) to provide a priceless message on the TV screen:
“FBI pulls hard drive from Weiner, Reportedly felt 100 miles away …”
The unfriendly skies
The year 2016 got off to a somewhat turbulent start when one airline passenger decided to share part of his or her own person with the rest of those aboard a plane.
Apparently, the mystery flier kept firing off a string air biscuits (that’s breaking wind to the rest of us), and the odor was so horrid, it prompted one passenger within nose shot to beg for help.
The plea was a handwritten note scribbled onto a napkin that was handed to a flight attendant.
The message was posted to Reddit by user Garwee20, who wrote: “My flight attendant mom got this napkin from an upset passenger.”
It is not known if the perpetrator was identified.
Or cured.
Daydream believer
And while the year started with something special in the air, it ended with an episode that was a bit more grounded.
Underground, actually.
It took place in December when 20-year-old Euan McMillan of Scotland was riding the Glasgow Subway, and a mystery woman fell asleep on him.
McMillan did what millennials do best these days. He started taking selfies of himself and the gal, who started off on his shoulder and continued to snooze as she slid down his chest.
But it didn’t end there.
Once he snapped the images, McMillan immediately posted the images on Twitter, asking: “Somebody want to collect there maw [sic]? Been sleeping on me for 15 mins on the subway.”
He later noted, “I couldn’t believe it, she was about 45. Her pals were just allowing it as if it was normal. I never said a thing.”
The tweet went viral, being covered in newspapers worldwide and collecting more than 22,000 likes, as well as tweeted responses including:
- “Every rider in the NYC subway has experienced this.”
- “Looks to me like she just thought you were fit and conjured up the best way to get a cuddle without being forward.”
- “This is so wrong yet so funny. What a liberty! Can’t you sneeze on her head?”
- “Kind of a d— move to plaster her face all over Twitter. On another hand it’s quite funny. She’ll live.”
- “Really love the look on HER face!”
- “At first glance I thought it was Elizabeth Hurley.”
- “OMG you found my mom! I’ve been looking for her for almost 2 weeks! Thank you so much!”
Follow Joe Kovacs on Twitter @JoeKovacsNews
