Obama's Legacy

Leaving us more racially divided.

My view of America is that we are a place of great promise and opportunity, where someone like me, who is the grandchild of illiterate black Southern sharecroppers, can achieve success and reach the American dream. We are a place occupied by fair-minded, hard-working people whose culture and values have built a nation that is the envy of the world. I am proud to be a part of that culture. 

Our Founders, while imperfect and a product of their times, were visionary heroes who made hard choices and compromises to give us the successful system we have today. Because Americans are good, we’ve worked hard over time to right the wrongs in our society that our Founding Fathers could not eliminate in their time. In summary, we are a fundamentally decent people blessed to live in a phenomenal land with a rich heritage.  

But not so for President Obama. His view of our nation seems to be very different than mine and that of many other Americans. I believe that when President Obama thinks of America, more so than a place of hope or opportunity, he thinks of a place where racist white Christian fundamentalists came here from Europe, committed genocide against Native Americans, enslaved and segregated black people, denied women, gays, and other minorities their rights, and used capitalism and a rigged legal system to oppress poor people for centuries. He also believes this is still continuing today.

I believe that's what you call "nailing it."

Never Cry Wolf

Perhaps Trump is racist, but calling it out has no impact because everyone not properly politically aligned is accused of being racist these days. Reports of his racism cannot be trusted because reports of racism are so commonly overused and overemphasized, the word is being stripped of meaning.

Losing the Intelligence War

How the terrorists are winning.

I'm sick of losing to these clowns. I'm for whatever will work. The deportations idea at the end of the article is interesting.

Also, why are we hesitant to carpet bomb the Islamic State?

We can accept two options:

1) Play by the niceties of peacetime, and live with terror ebbing away at the West, destroying Muslim countries in the process, and making civilians unsafe, OR

2) Commit to winning a war against Islamic Fascism and being the strong horse in the fight.

The only other option is surrender.

I'm for 2). It'll might be ugly for a bit. But war is ugly.

Is This Debatable?

Obama has lost control of the Middle East.

Logging

Film: Neon Demon and Midnight Run

Neon Demon was enjoyable for 2/3s as a stylistic exercise and by the end I wanted the film to end. Not what you want, IMO.

Midnight Run is fantastic. I loved the movie as a kid and it grows better with age. When DeNiro passes on and we need to reflect on 3 quintessential roles...I'll be in the minority, but I'll go with Mean Streets, Midnight Run, and Heat.

Obvious other candidates: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas (overshadowed by Pesci), Silver Linings (his David O'Russell films), Cape Fear/Untouchables (crazy DeNiro), Meet the Parents (comedy DeNiro)

For me, it breaks down this way - there is Scorcese-DeNiro and you get to pick one performance. Taxi Driver or Raging Bull are the obvious ones, but I pick Mean Streets and I'll tell you why. Story goes - when studio execs first saw Mean Streets they thought Scorcese found DeNiro in an insane asylum. That does it for me.

Heat is the greatest film of the past 25 years and DeNiro out acts his rival, Pacino, in the quintessential coffee shop scene. This is DeNiro in his last "great" role, better than his Oscar winning Godfather 2 performance, IMO.

And lastly, comedy-DeNiro deserves a nod. He's been doing it now for 15 years and it basically encompasses the final act of his career. But who gives a shit about Meet the Parents and his roles in David O'Russell films are great, but really part of a ensemble and secondary. I go back to Midnight Run, a film where he's fucking hilarious and carries the movie. His scenes with Alonzo Mosley, the FBI agent are brilliant, including the genius physical comedy bit when he walks down the street with Mosley's FBI badge and stops and flashes it to no one in particular. The film also mixes in a great deal of emotion and the awkwardness of the scene between DeNiro and his daughter/ex-wife is painful to watch even today.

Duncan Retires

There is no athlete for whom my feelings have radically altered over time more than Tim Duncan. Part is him, part is me. In the old days, I disliked the twin towers style of bball played by the Spurs. I didn't care for Duncan's ugly, gangly post play.

But over time, he and the Spurs evolved as a player and team. He stayed relevant, was a great teammate, and avoided drama on the court. They played beautiful basketball the last couple years. And Duncan had grit. I'll never forget game 6 in the Miami series 2013 - the game Ray Allen hit the 3. Duncan was incredible the first half. He ended up with 30 points and 17 rebounds and was probably the best player on the court that game, despite facing Wade and LeBron at the peak of their powers and he being 37 years old. If it weren't for that Ray Allen 3, we'd be talking 6 NBA titles for the guy.

He did it his way all these years and his retirement announcement was no different. His career paralleled Kobe. They were opposites in so many respects, from how they played, to how they treated teammates and coaches, to how they grew old, to how they officially retired. Basketball fans during this era could be broken up into two types: Kobe-guys or Duncan-guys. I started as a Kobe guy, but now I'm a Duncan guy. It's no contest.

Bill Clinton

Meets with the AG and then charges against his wife are dropped.

Jesus.

Americans are going to vote "f--- you" for Trump.

What do we think just happened with the Brexit. It's no fun being played. The Clintons have played the American public to the tune of their 100 million dollar fortune. How does a couple who's basically been in public service for 30-40 years accumulate that much money? Off paying to play access.

Of Course Not

No charges for Hillary Clinton.

All Against All

The future: minority wars.

Hobbes warned about this, but none of these people have ever read Hobbes.