Kat Timpf’s new book a bestseller

NEWS AND OPINION:

A round of applause, please, for Fox News contributor Kat Timpf — who is also co-host of “Gutfeld” — the funny late-night offering that is a showcase for comedian Greg Gutfeld.

Ms. Timpf has written a new book, “You Can’t Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together” — and it is now No. 1 on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction books, as of Monday. In addition, Ms. Timpf’s book also tops Amazon’s overall “Most Sold” list, emerging as No. 1, also on Monday.

It was published by Broadside Books, the conservative imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

“Timpf hilariously and movingly challenges the accepted narrative, using stories from her own life, observations from pop culture and society, and good old-fashioned research. Tapping her singular vein of humor, she tackles a surfeit of contemporary conversational taboos: traumatic break-ups, cancer, dead moms, body issues, religion, aging, transgender athletes, campus censorship, money, and even bad Christmas presents,” the publisher said in a statement.

“Sadly, many of our cultural norms surrounding speech come from nothing more than a thoughtless, knee-jerk adherence to decorum, even when statistics and research prove that the opposite is true. Honestly, even though we are talking about levity — the stakes couldn’t be higher. Openness and humor absolutely need to break free from the constraints of fear and cultural censorship. It’s so important for all of us, both individually and as a society,” Ms. Timpf said in a written statement shared with the Beltway.

The book was published April 18.

Take the test

One presidential hopeful is convinced that President Biden and other public officials should take a certain test as they continue to serve in office. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley made her opinion known in a Fox News editorial published Monday.

“It’s time for a competency test for politicians. Here’s why,” the telling title of her essay advises.

“I wish Joe Biden the best of health, but it’s only sensible to consider the reality of an already slipping president serving through his mid-80s. If Biden is re-elected, Vice President Harris would have the highest likelihood of becoming president in the middle of a term of any vice president ever. The question before voters in 2024 is, to an unprecedented degree, whether they want Kamala Harris to be president, not vice president,” Ms. Haley wrote.

“The test I’m proposing for Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein, President Biden and others is not complicated or difficult. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test is a widely used tool for detecting cognitive decline. It involves rather simple things like naming animals, memorizing and recalling a few words, and listing words that begin with the same letter. They should both take the test, along with every other politician over the age of 75 — Republican or Democrat, man or woman — and publish the results,” she continued.

“This is not a qualification for office. Failing a mental competency test would not result in removal. It is about transparency. Voters deserve to know whether those who are making major decisions about war and peace, taxation and budgets, schools and safety, can pass a very basic mental exam,” Ms. Haley wrote.

“Career politicians and elites” oppose competency tests, Ms. Haley advised.

“They dislike them because they don’t want to hold the present leadership of our country accountable. They don’t want a new generation to turn our country around. But that’s what the American people deserve,” she said.

Here comes the almanac

Those who need some calming reading at this point in time should consider the Old Farmer’s Almanac — which informs the Beltway that the new 2023 almanacs are shipping now.

The old farmers certainly have much to say — and there are recipes, weather predictions, children’s fare, a store and other absorbing fare. Find the online version of the venerable publication (founded in 1792) at Almanac.com.

Ivy covered halls

“We should all be ashamed of what the Senior Survey shows,” writes Matthew Wilson, a junior at Princeton University — who is concerned about certain social aspects of his school, and expressed them in the Daily Princetonian, a nonprofit student publication founded in 1876.

“On April 22, the Daily Princetonian released the results of its highly anticipated annual Senior Survey. Among a wide array of data points it collected, the survey asked 571 graduating seniors (approximately 44% of the class of 2023) to answer questions about their political views — quizzing them on topics ranging from their vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election to how their stances on issues have evolved over the course of their undergraduate education,” Mr. Wilson says in his op-ed, published Monday.

“The survey’s results are alarming and are a shameful reflection on the state of civil discourse and freedom of expression at Princeton. Two data points stood out to me: first, that 64.3% of ‘very conservative’ and 55.2% of ‘somewhat conservative’ students expressed significant discomfort with openly sharing their political views on campus, versus just 3.2% of self-identified ‘leftist’ students and 5.2% of ‘very liberal’ students; and second, that 44.5% of students described their views as shifting further to the left over their four years at Princeton, versus just 17% who reported their views moving toward the right,” Mr. Wilson advised.

Poll du jour

• 63% of registered U.S. voters disapprove of the way President Biden is handling the U.S. economy.

• 62% disapprove of the way he is handling gun-related issues.

• 61% disapprove of the way he is handling U.S. relations with China.

61% disapprove of the way the president is handling immigration issues.

• 53% disapprove of the way he is handling the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

• 52% disapprove of the way he is handling national security in general.

Source: A Fox News poll of 1,004 registered U.S. voters conducted April 21-24.

• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.