The Debate

Ugh. Whole thing pretty hideous.

UPDATE: The conservative whining about Chris Wallace is incredible today. Are they kidding? Trump was totally out of control and disrespectful about the debate platform. Now conservatives are trying to spin the narrative Wallace was pro-Biden? What? Did they watch the debate?

I could care less about the liberal talking about Trump not condemning the white supremicists. Actually, he did, but smartly moved the conversation over to Antifa. And guess what? He's right! I'm not in the least bit concerned about white supremicists. 

And now, there's a liberal critique of Wallace not controlling Trump as well. What is going on? I'll tell you what - both sides are coming after the reasonable / measured folks. So fuck both sides.

Liberals - please drop the racism obsession. It's one of the few issues that helps Trump because you come off as deranged as he.

Commoditized Outrage

Whole Foods CEO sparks outrage by telling the truth. 

Obesity caused by choices, not food access or affordability. Last I checked, vegetables were still quite affordable. Boil in water and add a bit of salt. You can do it, people!

There's no way food today costs more as a percentage of a household budget as 50-60 years ago when people were skinnier.  

Transgender Prisoners

Will now be assigned by gender (and not sex) in California. 

I'm sure there will be no unintended consequences to this one.

Basketball

I texted to a group, partially joking, my rankings of guys I want to start a franchise with:

1) Bam

2) Luka

3) Joker

4) Giannis 

I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. Bam is the most well rounded of all the players. He's also the versatile. The guy is plug and play. 

I love Luka. But Luka needs the ball. And plays the same role as almost all the top players in the league -- meaning -- who do you pair him with?

I love Joker. But Joker isn't great defensively. He gets in foul trouble. He's out of shape.

I love Giannis, but he can't shoot. And he especially can't shoot free throws.

Bam won this series for the Heat. He won Game 1 with an incredible defensive play. Then he won Game 6 down the stretch on offense. Now...granted...Bam did this not by imposing his will, but by spotting an advantageous match up and executing, but...

ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT FROM OUR BEST PLAYERS!!!

Look at Tatum tonight doing a Kobe impression. 9-26. That's the legacy of Michael Jordan for us. Force up.

I'll take Bam. You can pair him with a A-/B+ star like Butler and you're going to the finals. Imagine if he were paired with an A-lister! Kawhi, Luka, LeBron, etc. 

Alright...

That said...I think Lakers win in 6. As good as Bam is, I don't think he can guard AD. I think AD is unguardable. And they got LeBron and Miami has Jimmy Buckets.

Miami can win games if shooters go off. Lakers can win games because they have playoff Rondo.

Pick: Lakers in 6. 

Logging

Film: The Vast of Night

Impressive, but I did doze off while on iPad. Would prefer to see such a film in a theater with an audience. Sigh.

Book: Stoner by John Williams

Don't think I'd change a word.  

Film: Wild Tales

One of my top ten. A quietly terrific national cinema exists in Argentina.

BLM Fundraiser

Spent $200,000 to buy a house for himself. 

I don't see why he was arrested. Just call it reparations and everyone should be happy.

A Gross Lie

And a reflection of a demented mind: "white colonizers adopted blacks and civilized them to use as props." Says anti-racist expert.

Pure insanity.

Yikes

A personal story about dealing with homelessness in LA. 

Garcetti needs to go.

Newsom

Can Newsom explain why Disneyland is more essential or less of a risk than public schools?

Logging

Film: 21 Bridges and beginning of Black Rain 

Pretty solid evidence that movies have gotten worse over time. Black Rain deals with similar ideas and themes in a much more adult, sophisticated manner. For all the shit that gets talked about 80s movies - I could do a series of crime thrillers that would blow any subsequent decade out of the water --

Sea of Love, Black Rain, Q&A, Internal Affairs, Thief, To Live and Die in LA...

Douthat

On the Ginsberg situation. 

It's just another front and center example about how we're ungovernable.

Riots

Promising riots if Trump fills Supreme Court. 

But I thought the riots were conducted by white supremacists posing as BLM supporters?

Roe v. Wade

My post from 2019.

"Liberals chose to prioritize Green New Deal, Impeaching Trump, and Transgender bathrooms instead staying center and protecting Roe v. Wade on the flank. Elections have consequences."

Liberals opted to indulge their neuroticism about systemic racism and global warming instead of doing the hard, adult work of building a political coalition to win elections. Sorry folks, you made your bed.

Random Question

Where is Camille Paglia? 

1619

Dishonest at the core. 

No conviction to these people. No thought. No soul. Just chaos in the minds and projecting it onto the rest of us.

Maddening

Malcolm Gladwell podcast on a way to solve COVID. 

The key: cheap at home testing that resembles that of birth control. Cost: cents per strip.

It's almost a parody thinking about how we don't have this testing available already. Where is Trump? Where is Nancy Pelosi? Where is Bill Gates? CEOs of companies that can make this stuff? Gov Newsom? Anyone? Why aren't we shouting this idea from the rooftops and damning the FDA and any other barrier to getting this on the shelves at Costco, Target, and CVS? I mean it's freaking absurd. Our country has become completely unmanageable -- a totally ridiculous, complacent, gluttonous ball of butter incapable of tying our own shoes. Pathetic.

My pet theory: there are a number of powerful interest groups who actually LIKE this lockdown. Public employees love getting paychecks and doing jack shit at home vs jack shit at work. Same with corporate employees who have enough suction to keep their jobs. The local political tyrants freaking LOVE this pandemic - they get to do what they have wet dreams about - telling people what they can and can't do. Doctors get to play God. Insurance companies get to figure out how to make $$$ on this BS. Mortgage brokers busier than ever refinancing homes because of Fed rates. All the pessimists and tail riskers love it as well, proving them right for a season.

It's sick what's happening. Children locked at home. Parents doing job of teacher, daycare, and whatever their regular job is. Young people unable to leave their parents homes. Unable to apply for jobs. Unable to meet potential mates - while their student debt grows. Small businesses going belly up. Movie theaters dying. Theaters dying. Professional sports dying. 

And all this is could be managed. Just not by us.  

The Counselor

Might need to rewatch. 

JK Rowling

Does all the online hatred for her absolve me of needing to read Harry Potter or see any of the films?

That would be a welcome relief! 

Agree, But...

Stephen A Smith discusses Eric Reid and black folks navigating corporate america.

He's right, of course. But who besides a total sociopath feels comfortable navigating corporate / workplace rules and behaviors? What man doesn't have trouble navigating the environment of gentle code of behavior at school and workplaces? What woman doesn't have trouble navigating the bullies and mansplaining?

My point: why make this always a race-thing as much as it might be a factor?

A Theory

Re-read JOKER script. Noticing the protesting element of the story - rich vs. poor. Had a strange thought:

The thing that scares the elites most is the open confrontation between haves and have nots. Because the have nots far outnumber the haves. 

The racial divide is a chimera. A welcome distraction. A way to divide lower class whites, blacks, browns, etc, orchestrated by many of the most powerful in society with their partners in the black community.

I suppose I sound like a Marxist conspiracy theorist, but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get ya!

I Support This

Joe Rogan offers to hold debate for Biden and Trump for hours with just the 3 of them.

This could be one of the best political events of my lifetime. Just three dudes sitting and talking. 

Question For Conservatives

If you're conservative and feel the public schools are indoctrination camps for gender dysmorphia and communist propaganda why isn't there a gigantic movement for smart, education conservatives to become teachers at all levels? 

If you care, stop whining and take it back.

Climate Change

In California over the centuries. 

It turns out the climate changes regardless of SUV use.

PS - I'm not a climate change denier, fyi. I just think the issue - like BLM - is brought to the forefront of our national conversation due to prevailing neuroticism and not because its a real or solvable problem.

Moment of Unity

I decided not to do fantasy football this year. What a relief. I watched 15 minutes of NFL yesterday and felt like it was enough. That said, I've heard about these "moments of unity" the teams are doing because I guess that's important.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the point of the national anthem in the first place? 

Science Settled

For those like Gavin Newsom who enjoy telling everyone the science is settled on global warming and the pandemic - can he please weigh in on whether Pluto is a planet or not. Because my four year old wants to know and there is conflicting "scientific consensus."

And ask yourselves this - what would have better prevented the damage from these CA fires:

1) Banning plastic bags at grocery stores 

2) Installing more solar panels

3) Driving more electric vehicles

4) Controlled burns

Seems to me Newsom wants to tackle a problem way beyond his control or jurisdiction (climate change) that may or may not effect the fires and wants to neglect the one within in his control and jurisdiction - forest management.

All about pushing the blame onto others, as a good responsible Governor of the 6-7th largest economy on the planet ought to do.

If You Want to Puke

Read about why California doesn't do controlled burns. 

Ask these folks who regard climate change as the cause of the fires, what policies they would've put into place and whether they would have prevented the fires in the first place.

Taiwan

Why Taiwan will lose a war to China. 

It amounts to the basic idea: they aren't prepared to win.

Booing

KC fans booed the "moment of unity." 

J.J. Watt, the Texans white megastar, was taken aback by the boos. “I don’t fully understand that,” he said. “There was no flag involved, there was nothing involved other than two teams coming together to show unity.”

Maybe they were bored. Two national anthems,  teams going in and out the tunnel, some kneeling, some standing, some locking arms, others some showing a "moment of unity." Maybe they just came to watch a football game instead of getting confused about all sorts of mixed, incoherent political messages.

Just my guess.

Bigger thought: I know people think their own personal psychodramas involving identity crises and mental illness, etc are interesting. Here's a hint: they're not.

Newsom

It's always someone or something else's fault with this guy. 

Studying

How much time the various racial groups spending time doing homework.

And weirdly, unexpectedly, it corresponds to grades and SAT scores.

Anyone think this might be a factor in the unequal outcomes over, say, historic racism?

The New Jews

NY Times listing out white people in power. 

And Cornell wants to know the race of your spouse.

This is bad, people. We really ought to stop. People who are into this stuff are demented.

Logging

TV Pilots: Covert Affairs, Alias, Blacklist

With Covert Affairs and Alias, I was eager for the pilots to end. Alias stood out for the weird tone - torture, killing, karate, and then sappy girly break up music one hasn't heard in decades. Very strange.

Blacklist a bit charming and witty.

Sounds Very Confusing and Boring

To track how every team and individual responds differently to the various national anthems, etc being played before NFL games.

Langers

Hadn't been in awhile. It's good, but I'll probably never go again. Why? Driving into the heart of downtown LA is like visiting Caracas. I mean, it's hell on earth right now. I saw numerous tent cities and people shitting out in public.

Every time anyone sees this stuff, the question is - why? How? You want to know - here's how.

The average cost of building a single unit of housing for the homeless in Los Angeles has risen to $531,000, according to an audit from the city controller, who recommends that L.A. rehab motels and open dormitory-style buildings to save money and get people off the streets quickly.

It's a stat that makes me want to move today. 

Before You Blame Climate Change

For the California fires. Consider a more proximate and simple solution: clearing dead trees. An Op Ed from 2016:

Supporters of the logging bills have repeatedly claimed that forests with high levels of snags will burn more intensely, a notion that has been soundly debunked by peer-reviewed scientific studies. A comprehensive study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that their “results refute the assumption that increased bark beetle activity has increased area burned.” Another study found that high snag densities in forests tend to “reduce the severity of subsequent wildfires” as most of the living flammable material was removed by insects.

Remember when it was brought up 2016 to clear dead trees from CA forests, the ultra liberals denied it would cause more intense burning and claimed it was a Republican plot to somehow do evil.

But sure, blame climate change.

Why I'm Still Pessimistic on a Vaccine

CNN misreports on why vaccines won't be ready sooner.  Complacency and corporate sheep educated in America and in positions of "power" everywhere in our society.

Also, vaccines aren't that easy. So combine a tough problem with cultural complacency and yes, I'm pessimistic. Not because the science can't be figured out. Not because we don't have the resources, but because we are infected by institutional and cultural rot.

If you really want to understand the best side of Trump -- it's that he's got some good old fashioned American chutzpah and wants to cut through the red tape of this kind of nonsense. The problem - as in a lot of folks with similar chutzpah - is that he cuts corners and underweights the downside risks.

Maybe this is how the system is supposed to work?

Affirmative Action Oscars

Affirmative action is the poisoned chalice of American society.

And I'll tell you why - because I love the NBA and I love Asian folks. But you'd do neither any favors by making every NBA team have an Asian dude. Come on, now.

Radical Leftist

When I was growing up, this is the type of thing radical leftists said.

Is he wrong?

To CA Politicians for the Next 20 Years

Can we maybe just focus on two things:

1) Beefing up fire safety

2) Making sure the grid works and has all the updates it needs

And once we got those handled:

3) Build more housing

4) Strengthen public schools

Oye

This was in the LA Times yesterday as well...a USC professor suspended for using a Chinese word that sounds like an offensive English word.

It reads like satire.

My in-laws speak Mandarin as the main language and I can verify this word does sound like the word everyone is saying. But you know, it's a different freaking language...

The oversensitivities of middle and upper middle class African Americans coupled with the neuroticism of white liberals are a really bad mixed drink.

Telling Stories

In six steps.

Logging

Film: Mulan

Disney stole my $30.

On so many levels, this film fails. First, not gripping at all. The opening scenes are clunky, poorly shot, no grace, wit, or tension. Takes too long to get the story going. (My wife complained about the editing, too).

But, then - the action. Yikes. I had to look up the filmmaker who turns out to be the director of Whale Rider, which sort of makes sense. It was like she needed to learn how to stage action. I don't understand how critics lambast a film like Lone Ranger and can support a film like Mulan. It would be like saying - I love watching high school basketball versus the Raptors-Celtics. They aren't even in the same league.

Another thing, one that probably no one will say - having all the Chinese actors reading their lines in English is weird! There is zero smoothness to the dialog. It all comes out awkward and unnatural. It's funny what's happened here. In the old days, you'd have Western actors playing Chinese. Now, of course, that's offensive, but their dialog and scene execution was believable. Now, we have folks with English as a second or third language awkwardly trying to speak in Americanized dialog and if you ask me - it's a disaster. I'd prefer the film be in Mandarin.

Want Trump To Lose?

Stop making it so easy on him to gain support. Trump cancels all critical race training in Fed govt.

Good. Now do the same at all the Universities.

Climate Change Solutions

Move and develop cities like Buffalo.

If you believe it to be an existential threat, moving North seems like a no brainer.

Logging

Film: Brawl in Cell Block 99

Engrossing, sadistic, funny...I enjoyed better than Dragged Across Concrete and Bone Tomahawk. Yet...it's still a film I could barely recommend to anyone.

Film: The Way Back

Also engrossing, despite all the cliches, but falls apart into lameness in the 3rd Act. I say this about almost no film, but Ben Affleck carried it.

UFOs

I definitely think the largest story of 2020 won't be COVID (as impossible as that is to imagine), but rather that UFOs are real.