April 28, 2026- A tempest in a teapot has been swirling around, the past few days, over a joke made in questionable taste, by a prominent comedian, about the marital status of a prominent couple. To a thankfully small extent, this matter has distracted a few people from far more pressing issues.
I don’t know how much Jimmy Kimmel knows about the loss of a spouse. I don’t know the particulars of the Trump household. Beyond a general concern for the well-being of fellow humans, I don’t particularly care to know about any of it.
I have been widowed for 15 years. I have male friends who have also been widowed for several years, and a woman, for whom I care deeply, who has been without her husband, for nearly as long as I’ve been without my wife. Another good female friend just lost the love of her life. None of us are likely to be appreciative of jokes about the subject. Loss is loss, and it involves a fair amount of pain.
We live in a society where, in the name of freedom of speech, no subject is too sacred for lampooning. Yet, here’s the thing: My son has a water glass that has this inscription: “Freedom of speech is not a license to be stupid.” Much of the back and forth, between certain public figures, makes about as much sense as the rock and acorn fights that took place when I was a kid. We at least had immaturity as an excuse.
A Sagittarian Seeker 
Not really a tempest in a teapot — that was a pretty insensitive joke directed at a woman who was about to attend a major event at which it was possible that her husband would be assassinated. What made it worse was the prescient nature of the “joke,” uttered a mere 2 days before the Correspondents Dinner, at which that assassination very nearly occurred. Locally this has created quite a stir because it will likely result in further conflict, or worse, over the value of 1st Amendment rights of the comedian and the TV statin involved. I agree with you that it was an inappropriate thing to say, but I am concerned, in the present environment, that it is another cause for time and money to be expended needlessly, and for nasty politics be expanded beyond what should be considered reasonable.. A couple of weeks ago, I said to a friend that I wanted to write a letter to Congress and others with a simple message: “STOP!”
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