Birthright Citizenship

Do I really need to develop an opinion on this matter? Please say no. 

LGBT Cruelty

Fine, I'll weigh in on this Jaden Ivey thing. Everyone here will flip sides, including me. The woke folks will argue the NBA has every right to fire Jaden Ivey even though they said the exact opposite about Colin Kaepernick. I'll argue something a bit different - if this is all true about his troubled childhood - maybe we ought to give Jaden Ivey a little grace.

Oil Theory

For the folks getting excited about "blocking" China's oil, just want to point out that's precisely what led to Pearl Harbor -- the choking off of a rising Asian power's fuel.

For the Record

I pitched this idea weeks ago: oil pipelines bypassing the Persian Gulf either into the Mediterranean Sea or the Red Sea. 

No brainer to build in flexibility.

Conveniently Forgetting

Or, Saudi or UAE.  

What a dummy.

Bad Idea

To blow up Iran's water. Again, a misestimation of who we're facing. I agree they are suicidal maniacs running their country, so what makes us think this ridiculous threat wouldn't just play right into their hands?

The Alternative

I know people in CA complain a lot about high housing prices, but in the scheme of things, it probably beats the alternative, i.e., low housing costs.

You Don't Have to Be Right All The Time, Just When It Matters

We, the US, don't need to win decisively every single battle or skirmish. We lost Vietnam and still won the Cold War. 

AI

When I picture a "good day" or even a "great day," in no way does AI factor in at all. 

Logging

Film: Project Hail Mary

Hollywood is back.  

They managed to pull off what I didn't dream they could anymore - a crowd-pleasing four-quadrant live action film. I loved the first 1/4 to 1/2 of the film. When it becomes more like ET, less so. But that's my taste. Also, they didn't, IMO, stick the landing. Unnecessarily complicated. But overall, couldn't ask more from the studios these days.

It got me thinking about Gosling and how I perceived something in both the film and marketing. He's passed Leo in movie start status. Here's what I think it means to be a movie star: they connect with a number of different audiences. Leo became a heartthrob with Titanic and Romeo and Juliet, but became a star when he began a successful collab with Scorsese. Leo became a guy both men and women championed.

A movie star needs multiple avenues to maintain a connection with audiences and stay relevant in the public mind. This is why so many benefit from the tabloid angle. Leo had it all for a while - heartthrob, tabloids, men, and the "film buff" crowd. Scorsese was a brilliant collaborator because he helped Leo connect with both men and film buffs.  

So what has Gosling done that Leo hasn't? Gosling, I think, has found an angle with Project Hail Mary to connect to the "next generation." The kids. Leo hasn't. That's why no one watched the Oscars this year. Millions of young audiences didn't give a shit about any of it. This film (and if the new Star Wars project works) can give Gosling 10+ more years of runway.

One Battle did nothing for Leo but fan service. He already had the film buffs. This is the one problem for PTA - he has only one audience going for him - male film buffs, college/grad school types. Scorsese also appeals to working-class men.

Going through some other stars in my mind, and I observe a pattern:

Denzel. Spike Lee and the Scott Brothers. He managed to become an icon of black audiences via Spike Lee collabs, but an icon to American men by working with the Scott brothers. But the moment Denzel become a bonafide star was Julia Roberts freaking out over his Oscar. At that moment, the most trusted female star of her generation gave him the stamp of approval after their Pelican Brief collab and boom! He hit the trifeca and has never looked back. It also helped he was a Lakers fan and maintained a connection with the sports audience.

Tom Cruise. Still the GOAT movie star. Two big moves - with Top Gun Maverick, he managed to pull a Gosling before Gosling and get an entire younger generation on board with him. A family friendly action film with him front and center that kids could love. But his second great move was his own myth-making stunt gimmicks - of being an old guy who does these remarkable stunts. This is a clever way to remain public without resorting to tabloid relationship stuff, to get notice even when you don't have a hit movie. To lay groundwork.

TBC...  

5th Column

I'm sympathetic to the charge that many in the US (and the West in general) root for our defeat. This is a common refrain from the Right side of the aisle. But I have trouble squaring this belief with the war of choice with Iran. How can one believe we are being eaten within and are one Donald Trump election away from "losing the country" and also think we should be going to war? I find these two ideas contradictory. In fact, if we are indeed on the brink of "losing the country," the last thing we need is a war. 

No Kings

I'm 100% convinced that the "No Kings" is a social event for many of the participants. Americans post-COVID stopped having parties and social engagements are probably down 20-25%. I believe this impacts what Alex Trebek would call "losers" the most. They want something to do. No Kings offers them this. 

Criticize youth sports in the US all you want, but all the parents I know are spending Saturdays at Youth Sports stuff, and not a single person would miss a sports event for No Kings. To put in perspective how important this thing is for regular people.

And as a political message, I can't remember a dumber slogan. We don't have a King. Trump was elected. Like it or not. 

Funny, If It Weren't True

How it started, how's it going... 

We shouldn't really be surprised young people are prone toward lunacy...John Walker Lindh showed us 25 years ago. What's surprising is when the Dems attempt to use these kids to score political victories.

Flashback

To understand why Hollywood is dead, look at this Variety article about the best one-liner in the past 15-20s uttered by none other than Alex Trebek. No mention of the brilliant timing or content, which transcends time and national boundaries or even the good-natured way in which even the contestent takes the quip. This is an all-timer. Also, the feather in the cap of Trebek's long career - like Messi finally winning the World Cup or Elway getting his Super Bowl. And yet...here is Variety's headline:

Alex Trebek Faces Backlash After Calling Nerdcore Hip-Hop Fans ‘Losers’ on ‘Jeopardy!’

 And their take: 

After an antagonizing sigh, Trebek replied, “Losers, in other words” before following up to say he was “teasing.”

 

All About The Oil

It was never true in Iraq p2, but now perhaps is. 

Logging

TV: DTF St. Louis E1

I came for Jason Bateman's sleaze, but I'll stay for David Harbor's belly.

Sounds About Right

Liberals believe the US should support our allies, but they don't need to return the favor. 

So is liberal now just synonymous with unreasonable women?

Threatening to Leave

Iran's flawed strategy to close the straits. Anyone who's ever dealt with a crazy partner knows crazy doesn't work for long. You threaten crazy shit, and the partner backs down the first time. But then they realize, wait...I don't need to deal with this shit and call the bluff. The crazy person might do the crazy shit, but by doing so, lose all leverage. 

We, the US, could sit on our hands and say, fine...keep the straits closed. Who says it's our responsibility to keep it open?

Welp

Open AI suddenly leaves text to video.  

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

One Addition to the Polyamory Discussion

Just want to point out that 15-20 years ago it was fashionable for liberals to mock Mormons mercilessly (for polygamy, among other things). I say these same liberals must mock polyamory; otherwise, I can only conclude they are religious bigots and not opposed to Mormonism on the grounds of their practices or beliefs, but just the fact that they are different.

Logging

Film: Perfect Days

In a spectacular grand finale, the man plays a game of shadow tag with a stranger he briefly connects with. Then drives around listening to music. 

Man drives around listening to music, a verifiable genre - Drive, Baby Driver, and Perfect Days

But in seriousness, I took the film to be about a celebration of the physical world and a total rejection of the virtual. The key line "Can I find this on Spotify?" And he responds, "Where's that place?" Exactly. 

Consider this - the film romanticizes the most unpleasant of all physical tasks - cleaning toilets. The man delights in playing the dumbest game in the world, tic-tac-toe. But these small things all exist in our physical world. There can be no pleasure in playing tic-tac-toe online. That is the point. 

In the Realm of Possibilities

I consider it very possible AI will, at some point in our lifetimes, seem like a charmless toy we played with for a little while and be a tad embarrassed that we did.  

Logic

Chicago Dem accused of blaming a student for her own murder. 

Notice the logic pattern - the student was expected to treat the presence of an armed illegal immigrant murderer as an inevitability. Many folks who critique the Iran war do a similar thing - treat the Islamic Republic and its actions as an inevitability. My question: Why don't we treat the student walking on the lake as inevitable? Or the "free world" as the inevitability? 

Logging

Film: Perfect Days

Now 2/3 of the way through, and the plot has really picked up. The man who cleans toilets has now eaten dinner, shared his musical taste with someone, played tic-tac-toe, gotten a visit from his niece, and developed a few pictures.

Wrong

Macaes thinks Trump doesn't want Israel to kill his contact in Iran. Trump is actually referring to the IRGC killing him. 

War Crimes

Whenever I see posts criticizing Israel or the US of blowing up hospitals, etc, they happen to coincide with people who think the wars they/we are waging are wrong to begin with. Which makes me confused. Would they support the wars if we didn't blow up hospitals and only killed terrorists, etc? Do these people oppose war in general? Or this particular war? More often than not, I think these folks actually favor war and are just wish-casting that we or Israel lose. To be honest.

Had I Known That Was Frowned Upon...

UN judge, human rights advocate found guilty of modern day slavery. 

Mixed Messages From Iran

Are perhaps because everyone who was in charge is dead. Just a thought. 

Logging

Film: 12 Angry Men

Haven't watched this since high school and boy... the main thing, you think this film is a courtroom drama about the sacredness of the legal system, etc. but that's not it at all. This film is about male personality types and dynamics. The moment when Henry Fond tells Juror #3, "you're a sadist" this entire concept locked in for me. Each character is a carefully drawn male type - the skeptic (Fonda), the racist, the analytical guy, the indifferent cynic, the sadist, the weary old man, the superficial ad man, the idealist, etc. And the film patiently shows you how these personality types interact with not only the legal and moral questions of the film, but with the other personality types! The film shows you more about male psychology than I imagine most psychologists understand. It shows you how men lock into positions. It shows you how men change their minds. It shows you what triggers men to rage. What triggers them into nobility. What triggers them into meanness and, sadism. It's really quite remarkable. The woke idiots will look at this film and say, oh it's a bunch of white guys and totally miss the point. Each character is so different and detailed. How do people miss this about the film? It literally tells you right in the title: 12 Angry Men. Nothing about legal shit, guilt or innocence, etc. It's just about men. 

Random Iraq Thought

Do any of the people who argue that the 2nd Iraq War was the worst foreign policy move in our lifetime simultaneously argue George HW Bush was the best President of our lifetime? Because it seems to me the only logical conclusion.

Hollywood

Blaming Newsom and Bass for Hollywood's downfall is like blaming a child for not knowing how to drive a car. We vote for fools whose skillset is renaming things when the omnicause asks them to. If we vote for incompetents; we can't expect them to suddenly became capable.

A Thought

Next time we plan a Middle East war, I would say the months ahead of time should be spent filling up tankers and all the strategic oil reserves of ourselves and allies. Just saying. 

My "Strong" Critique of Israel 

Would be they don't do much to offer the Palestinians a dignified way to co-exist. They might argue it's not their job to. To a certain extent, they are right. Yet it would benefit them as well for the Palestinians to express their energies differently than a hatred of Israel. 

Are You A Zionist?

Must be among the dumbest questions in our current discourse. As I understand it, Zionism was a movement to make the country of Israel in the Jewish ancestral homeland. The country of Israel exists. Whether one is a "Zionist" is as relevant as asking whether you are a supporter of the American Revolution or the Communist Revolution in China. 

Pointing out in 2026 that Israel shouldn't have been formed in 1948 has got to be one of the dumbest, most pointless, and self-defeating of all current political ideas. If anything, we should be creating more "Israels" - dynamic countries that people will be proud of and fight for. It's the countries and people that oppose a place like Israel that are the problem. What do they imagine? Should people continue farming olive trees in the same place their ancestors did for the next 1000 years? Should we turn the San Fernando Valley back into orange groves? For what purpose?

Logging

Film: Perfect Days

Only watched 1/3 or so last night before jet lag caught me. But my wife asked while I was watching, "what's the story?" And I said, a man wakes up and goes to clean toilets. Good use of sound design and music thus far... I got really excited about what he was going to eat for lunch.

Democratic Party

As far as I can tell, the only thing the Democrat party really can rally around and accomplish quickly is renaming things.  

Cesar Chavez

The lionization of the guy in the first place was obviously affirmative action. Because of demographics, we "needed" a Latino MLK, so we got one. Another nail in the coffin for the DEI/Affirmative Action movement, although they won't see it for what it is.

Final Day - Japan

Attempted to get up to Tokyo Skytree, but it was sold out. I've been to the tops of big buildings before. Relative to Taipei 101, or Burj Khalifa or Sears Tower, Tokyo Skeetree feels like it gets short shrift. It's massive and impressive. In the two films I watched last night and on the plane, Rental Family and Perfect Days, Skytree was featured. 

What else? An Indian meal. It was fine. More ice cream - banana flavored place in the Skytree mall. What is it about traveling and ice cream that goes together so well?

Plane ride home is shorter, more manageable. Films: Rental Family and The Family McMullen. I enjoyed both; perhaps I actually liked Rental Family a bit more. I feel so much more generous about films on planes. Maybe I should watch all movies this way. How much of our grumpiness about films and Hollywood simply reflects negative mood affiliation? I don't know. Or are things worse? The Family McMullen certainly felt "worse" than the Brothers McMullen, although I haven't seen that film in quite a long time.  I actually felt the beginning of the film was off, but once it got going, it picked up...felt like the actors weren't able to rehearse, so the opening scenes felt clunky. I wonder about this - my prediction: they didn't get rehearsal and shot the movie in order. The acting was very up and down. Michael McGlone was good except for this one terrible scene in the beginning. I hold Burns accountable for letting him embarrass himself. Connie Brinton, Tracey Ross, Burns were all good. A few of the younger people were good, too. But I thought the brother and sister dynamic didn't work at all. At no point did I believe these two were siblings. The sisters of the Italian love interest were great, but underutilized. 

Final thoughts on Japan:

1) I want to go again.

2) Best thing about it - truly feels like a different society than the "West" - down to every detail. Things are smaller, neater, more organized, and more modest in a way. More technological. Creative in a much different way. You feel less like an individual and more part of a "society," thus you pick up all your trash, clean up, don't overuse things, act polite, etc. You are also way less "free" or perhaps individualistc. People aren't as hungry to "stand out" - so you see far less idiosyncratic behavior, dress, etc. Probably for good and bad.

3) Biggest complaint, perhaps related to the above, some aspects of living there seem overly complicated. Metro system downright confusing. Events are in some ways over-organized. Why are they so stingy with things like napkins and towels? Personally, the bathroom system, while clean is a bit much with all the buttons.

4) Best thing to do: shop. 

5) Best thing to eat: ramen, waygu, sushi

6) Tokyo by far is the best city big I've been to for kids

7)  For all the talk of Japan's declining demographics, I saw quite a few kids around

8) Highlights: everything related to baseball - including game, seeing cherry blossoms, origami museum and making, wandering around the quieter streets especially early in the morning, eating 

Iran Prediction

Trump will pull back and claim a limited victory, and the people who warn of a decades-long quagmire will complain rather than celebrate getting what they "want."

Japan Day 5

Kidzania all day. A place highly recommended by parents, Kidzania is half an amusement park and half a job training program. Basically, it's a "mini-town" where kids sign up to become workers in different jobs throughout the day. Examples: construction engineer, toy maker, shoemaker, fireman, police, nurse, etc. The place is pretty nuts and unlike anything I've ever seen. It needs to come with a warning for parents - prepare for Disneyland without the rides. You just wait until your kid completes their job, so yeah, it's not that fun. However...a cremia soft serve ice cream place exists right outside. Highly recommend. 

For dinner, a long journey to find the "ramen corridor" and a very specific ramen place that comes highly recommended. Wow. Tricky. What's weird in Tokyo, the metro stations are enormous and overlapping. Meaning, to get to a particular "station," you might ride one line to a particular area, but then need to exit the station and find another station with the exact same name that is on a different line and goes to different destinations. Add on some major stations have malls, restaurants, businesses, underground and above ground areas and thousands of people -- google maps isn't quite up for the task. It probably took us 30 minutes circling this one area to even find the ramen spot - which we eventually did and it was good. But bear in mind, there were probably 50 other ramen spots right around there that would've been good too. Just an interesting aspect of Tokyo.

Day 6

Cherry blossoms! We found an early bloom in Sumita Park. Felt like a great success. Wandered across the Sumita river to Asakusa - a bustling, crazy, and touristy area. Found Senso Ji Temple where a lot of tourists were dressed up in kimonos to take pictures. This is the oldest temple in Tokyo. You can take a ride with a ricksaw driver here. Near the temple are highly sought after treats - including a creme brule sweet potato and fried bread with cream and fruit. We ate them all.

For lunch, we went to one of the conveyor belt sushi spots, a chain called Sushiro. A fun, unique dining experience. Dining in Tokyo is truly different than elsewhere. At ramen you order from a machine and sit, at Sushiro food comes out on a conveyor belt delivered to you, at yakiniku restaurants they often just reject you at the door because there is no space. Many restaurants are tiny, like 6 counter seats is all. This evening we ate at a French-Japanese place called ETape, a fixed omakase style dinner that had one table and 6 bar seats. We were the only people in the restaurant until the end. Wandered Sumita to find a bar, but couldn't find anything that looked good. 

But prior to dinner, we went to Kappabashi street, an area that sells massive amounts of dinner, cookware, and Japanese knives. Again, the scale of commerce and "stuff" is beyond anything I've seen elsewhere. 

Day 7

Our last full day. Because I took the kids for awhile in the afternoon the day before so the wife and sister in law could shop, I got a free morning. Traveled to the Shibuya Crossing just to see it. Got a photo with the Akira dog, wandered the area, saw people still drunk from the night before. Got a sense of "Tokyo." Then went off to Shimokitazawa, a bohemiam area some compared to Haigh Ashbury without the homeless. Perhaps because it was early and raining, but it was quiet here other than a Pachinko parlor which had a line outside. Looked like a fun place to eat lunch, but it was too early for me so all I had was a nice coffee. First real "nice" coffee of the trip. Prior, I had been drinking 7-11 and Lawsons - pro tip: Lawson's better if you can figure out the machine in all Japanese. Finally the thrift stores opened up, I peeked in a few. They sold mostly old American brands liked Starter, Stussy, among others. And not particularly cheap. I don't like vintage shopping in the US, so I fail to see how I would like it in Tokyo. 

A thing to note - it takes about 1 hour to get here from Sumita City. A lot of Tokyo is like this - shockingly far from each other - just in case you want to see a large part of the city. 

For lunch, met up with everyone for a Sumo Show. A bit touristy and kitschy, but it's for the kids. A thing I notice about Japanese stuff - they do a lot of explaining - so for the show they spend the first 3/4 "teaching" about sumo, all the moves, the rules of the match, how they train, etc. And only in the last 1/4 do they wrestle. In America, I have this feeling we would've just jumped into the wrestling with a bang and expect people to catch up. 

Later this evening, we had our first major trouble with restaurants that you hear about in Tokyo. I guess we forgot it was Friday night, but we were back in Asakusa and couldn't get into the yakiniku places we wanted. Finally just found one on the streets that one kid later said was the "best restaurant" they'd ever been to. I'm not sure sure on that because later one member of our party got sick.

Last thing we did was found the Asakusa underground street, an old tiny corridor that runs under the street - tiny bars, etc, I thought it was awesome. 

Japan Day 2 - cont

Caught one cherry blossom, took a rest before taking kids to a "Capybara Cafe." These are essentially petting zoos inside buildings. It's pretty strange. You go up to what feels like an apartment, but inside is a little business with 3 capybaras just hanging out. This was in the neighborhood of Shinjuku, a bit livelier and more social than ours. We met up with an old friend at the cafe, who then took us to a chicken restaurant. Fun to reminisce about old times - the restaurant had a few interesting dishes - a chicken soup stew type, a cold chicken skin dish, and sides that felt like Korean banchan. Drank some Asahi.

Day 3

Found a local origami museum. Kids enjoyed, bought a book each, along with some paper. An observation about Japan - within 2-3 days, you immediately become "more Japanese" - suddenly conscious of litter, noise, tidiness, and all the kids (and I) wanted to make origami. I've never had an urge before. What can explain this?

Late morning at the Tsukiji Fish Market. Waded through the crowds, tried A5 level Waygu, melons, mochi, and finally, the tuna. Sure, the fish was delicious. But could my tongue discern something "more special" than good sushi in the US? Not really. But the price was right. 

After sushi, we explored Ginza. Felt like the Beverly Hills of Tokyo. Onisuka Tiger off the charts crowded. All the adults bought shoes. Price point is significantly lower than in the US. Around $113, which amounts to 2/3 of the price. Went into the Grand Seiko store, wanted to check out the watches, but immediately felt out of place. Quite fancy Seiko watches...

Made our way into a Don Quijote, perhaps the most unusual store I've ever visited. Part Costco, part Temu, part Ikea, part Daiso. I don't even know how to explain the place. I hated it. But that's just because I hate those sorts of things.

By this evening, we were exhausted and wanted to eat locally. Found the best-rated ramen shop under the idea that every neighborhood in Tokyo probably has a good ramen spot. I was not disappointed. Chuka Soba Mugiwara - I had the spicy one. You order at a vending machine, hand over the ticket, sit down, and they bring you the ramen.  

Drank Sapporo at home.

Day 4

In the morning, we got lost. Tried to get to one park, ended up in Kinchi park instead. Kids ran around. I stumbled upon a men's league baseball game playing at around 10:30am in the morning. They weren't wearing helmets and seemed to be playing with a hardball. Interesting that Japan feels a ton less safety conscious/neurotic than America. I joked with a friend that if things went sideways in my life, I could come live in Japan and play rec baseball and eat ramen and sushi all day. Not a bad option. 

For lunch, we wanted to try a pizza spot. Rumor has it that Japan makes some of the best pizza in the world. Tried a place called Pizzeria L'INSIEME. It was as good as something like Pizzeria Mozza in LA. 

A bit of rest before our big night at Tokyo Dome for a preseason baseball game. Prior, we ventured to a baseball store called Baseman. I nerded out, splurging for a Japanese-made baseball mitt. The last few years, with little league, the Dodgers being in the World Series, and baseball being huge in our Southern California area, I've been playing and re-falling in love with the game. So this felt like a fun thing to do. I've been playing with the same mitt I used in high school. I love it, but it's 30 years old. Will it last the rest of my life? I've started noting this thing lately - a product of getting old - there are things I'm thinking about buying that feel like the "last one of those" I'll ever get. Like - this might be my last pair of ski boots, or my last baseball mitt, or my last fill-in-the-blank. Afterwards, we went to Tokyo Dome, had terrific seats. The Yomiuri Giants played the Yakult Swallows and won 3-2 in a comeback in the bottom of the 8th. Maybe others have said the same thing, but something about the Japanese game seems more eclectic and weird than MLB. On the Giants, they had a shortstop that looked about 5'6" with an unusual batting stance. They had 2-3 American players who I later looked up. They played some MLB, but obviously weren't able to start or have significant impact in MLB.

Assigned

Honestly, they could've assigned high school students in a Gifted and Talented program to build this Wildlife Bridge in LA, and they would've built it for free. But instead, they make it a jobs program for retards. 

Iran

Al Jazeera is saying the war is working. Destroyed in 10 days what Iran took decades to build. Interesting take. I would like to point out the following re: the Straits of Hormuz card. If push came to shove in a war against China over Taiwan, couldn't the US Navy do the exact opposite and close the straits using our naval power? 

Japan - Day 1 (and part of 2)

Flew Singapore Air from LAX-Narita. Overall solid flight. Films viewed: Weapons, Austin Powers Goldmember, Predator Badlands. Enjoyed Predator and Weapons quite a bit -- maybe on the plane, with the other option being looking at the back of the seat, makes the films better. Only now I realize they are making an Alien-Predator greater cinematic monster universe which isn't as offensive as I thought it would be. Read a little: Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami to prepare myself for Japan.

Upon arrival, got a car to our Airbnb in Sumita, near Honjo-azumabashi. Rode in a mini-van but in true Tokyo form, it was smaller and more compact than US mini-vans. Along the way, I admired all the cars - for the most part, they are skinnier and smaller. Surprised how fast the driver weaved through the highway and Tokyo. At one point, I thought he was going to run into a toll arm but at the last moment the arm whipped up super fast and we zoomed past. I literally flinched (riding in the front seat). Since then I've been admiring the Kei cars, especially lusting after a small Sukuzi SUV that looks like the Japanese version of the Ford Bronco.

Airbnb clean, tight, 3 bed, 2 bath. 2 stories. Ran into major confusion about the toilet with a sink on top. Experienced problem the first night where the sink overflowed when you flushed the toilet. Took me awhile to figure out a little paper was blocking the connection from the sink water to fill the toilet bowl. The system they have here - the sink is used to wash hands after using the toilet and the dirty water flows into the toilet bowl to be the target of the next BM. Inventive idea to save water, but can't say I'm a huge fan. Like Taiwan, I find the home appliance situation a bit overcomplicated. Maybe it saves resources? But each room has a heater, A/C unit. The washer and dryer is one single unit. The hot water needs to be turned on at certain locations around the house. The toilet seats are warmed and all have bidets. But they don't have an oven, just a grill and hot stove and microwave. What I see are more points of failure and need of maintenance. But again, maybe it saves resources.

That first night we did the obligatory 7-11 visit to stock up on basics. Tried the famous egg salad sandwich - yes, quite good and the right price. Eldest son loved the chicken katsu. 

Day 2

Familiarized self with neighborhood. Sumita is about a 10 minute walk from the Skytree Building and Solamachi Mall. Versus my impression of Tokyo, it feels like a quiet neighborhood. We are right across from a middle school. Sitting outside the apartment waiting for the family, I listened to a bird caw and a stray cat wandered the street - which incidentally is the same scenario that begins the Wind Up Bird Chronicle novel. A bit weird. 

In the morning, we walked to the mall to shop and explore. Visited a Uniqlo and a Studio Ghibli store among other things. Passed a little river and an interesting outdoor gaming facility. They were playing a racket sport that seemed to be a mix of tennis, picke ball and squash. The court looked pickle ball sized, they played with tennis ball, but could play the ball off the back wall of the court. 

For lunch ate a pork katsu restaurant at the Solamachi Mall. One of my favorite meals so far. Every detail done right. Cabbage salad with delicious sesame dressing, pork cooked for perfect juiciness, dipping sesame seed katsu sauce flavorful (although I liked it better with just a dash of the salt). Soft serve ice cream for dessert. Caught part of the World Baseball Classic on a big screen at the mall with a huge crowd watching outdoors - reminded me of world cup games in Korea 2002, albeit significantly smaller crowd. Saw one Otani at bat that ended the game. Japan lost. 

On the way home, saw one cherry blossom tree.  A few other things - a lot of bikes, no one wears helmets. Of all the home design elements, the one thing I like best - the shower room. A separate room with a tub and shower, but half the room is I'll call a "wet floor" with a drain and where one could shower if you wanted. Or wash a dog, or dry off. It has shelves and a mirror. I love this idea. If I designed a home from scratch, I'd include a separate shower room. Really cool idea. 

Day 2 tbc...

The Straits of Hormuz 

So, in the past 50 years, has anyone looked at a map and thought about railway lines from the ports in the Persian Gulf across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea? Can't we just go around? Sorry, what am I missing here?

Blusky

Never been and don't intend to go. But this is brilliant.

Bluesky is Sartre’s No Exit

A “safe” place where moral hypocrites are trapped together to torture each other 

Their misery is self inflicted but they refuse to stop 

The door is unlocked but they refuse to escape 

Hell is other people indeed

I just hope we can keep it contained. It's seeping into California. Maybe our only hope is the high cost of living. 

Logging

Film: Silver Linings Playbook

This here is a damn good movie. I venture to say, one of DeNiro's last truly, truly great performances. And the "bench" on this film? It has acres of talent oozing out in every direction. They hardly even use Jackie Weaver, Shea Whigham, John Ortiz...

I didn't even mention the stars.

Problem

Seems like Trump and Israel thought decapitating or pressuring the mullahs and IRGC would lead to a popular uprising to take back power. But the problem is the same as it has been since 1979 - the population hates the mullahs but doesn't have the will, firepower, or army to take back power from them. Seems like we should've at least had some sense that the army or some other institution would've been willing to turn their guns on the IRGC. If not, what did we expect would happen exactly? 

Logging

Film: Rear Window

When I first saw the film, I found it boring. Next time I watched, I understood it to be darkly hilarious. Now I find it boring again. Although I can see why the movie would be fun to direct.

UPDATE: One of the funniest conceits in film is that the "watched" object cannot perceive or sense being "watched". Like, wouldn't all these people close their shades? In detective films, it's so hilarious when you have the "detective" in a car across the street watching a house and someone leaves. If I'm leaving my house, I basically know the cars in the neighborhood, and if I see a weird car running with a dude watching me, I'd notice in like 3 seconds if he followed me. 

Living in LA, I Realize It

Upper-class Americans live like upper-class Brazilians. It's gross how we let our communities go to shit. People talk about why kids don't ride around the neighborhood? Because they are guaranteed to run into an insane homeless person.

Alternative Energy

For all the decades of investment in alternative energy, it seems oil still lubricates the global economy. A 10-day war with 5 days blockage of a single shipping channel sends the world into a panic state? So what did we get for all that investment? It seems no less dependence on oil. Cleaner air...

Hezbollah and Hamas

Among the most preposterous claims by "moderate" Arabs like Taleb are that Israel created Hamas and Hezbollah. Granted, I know nothing of the region, but this strikes me as absurd as saying that Abraham Lincoln created the Ku Klux Klan. These fools seem to think Arabs have no agency in these matters.

UPDATE: These takes require believing two things at once - Israeli's are evil geniuses capable of manipulating events to create bastardized homegrown "movements" in neighboring Lebanon and Gaza. But at the same time, they are so stupid that they've created lethal foes who plot to murder their children and destroy the state. I guess that's why people say such things are anti-semitic, especially when coupled with admiration for countries like Iran, etc. 

Theory

There's a theory that the new leader of Iran is already dead, and the announcement amounts to an intelligence operation to mislead Israeli assassination attempts. How funny would it be if this were true, then Trump abruptly ends the war, and Iran is stuck with a fake Ayatollah? Even 90s screenwriters couldn't come up with such a scenario.

If We and Israel Are the Destabilizing Bad Guys In The World...

...How come the only countries we attack tend to be the biggest, gaping, assholes? Doesn't it seem like once in a while (if we were the bad guys, remember), we'd attack some more normal country like Canada or Belgium or Mexico? 

Speculation

Seems no one has seen Mojtaba, so he might not be the successor after all. My guess: he's figuring out how to secure his family wealth and exit plan. 

Bad

I've heard this guy is worse than the father, so no, not a good sign.

And great line:

"I think this might be one of the few instances in modern history where a greater percentage of the society being bombed was supportive of military action than the society that was doing the bombing." -

So Now...

We can make fun of disabled people at awards shows. 

Where are the "punching down" people at?

Heard on a Podcast

Baby boomers hold more wealth in their retirement accounts than all the sovereign wealth funds in the world combined. Crazy. It partially explains why things cost so much, though in certain parts of the US. 

The Iran Thing

Look, I know nothing about any of this and am trying to figure out, like everyone, but a few things...

What are we (and Trump) doing?

Much of the discussion is about what we're doing wrong, but to discuss that, I feel we must first understand what we are doing at all. My impression is that a new theory and practice of war is developing. One modeled around the perceived success of Israel's operations against Hezbollah and Hamas last year. Israel, one-by-one, took down the small enemy forces surrounding itself, thereby significantly weakening their "grand enemy," Iran. (NOTE: Whether this is an intelligent strategy is a separate question altogether. It seems to me Trump concluded direct personal talks with Putin couldn't get a ceasefire, and he realized in fact, the US is facing a powerful coordinated enemy coined by Velina Tckahkarova as the "Dragon Bear." We are, in fact, already in Cold War 2.0. So how to win Cold War 2.0? We need to strike around the edges to punish anyone who decides to ally with the Dragon-Bear to reestablish deterrence. The other option is to wait for the Dragon-Bear to strike, in which case, we get surprises like Putin's invasion of Ukraine or Hamas's invasion of Israel. Anyhow, that is the best I can surmise about what is going on behind the scenes. 

Tactical efforts

Seems the war plan is to take out layer upon layer of the leadership structure to avoid putting boots on the ground. It seems like Trump keeps offering offramps to the Iranians but the Iranians no longer trust ceasefire options because they feel it will just weaken them more. Part of me is tempted to say it would've been smarter to do all this before Iran killed 30K protestors but it seems that was logistically impossible. I wonder if the mullahs did the massacres in a way to cement loyalty within the 15% or so parts of society who support them. They implicated masses of people in the crimes so that those 15% would fight to the death for fear of reprisals. 

Trump

Definitely not what Americans signed up for with Trump...voted for him on the promise of less Middle Eastern wars, but it should tell us something about the nature of that region that no matter who the President, their hands always seem to get pushed to take action.

The Israel Thing

Everyone who thinks we are "doing Israel's bidding" need explain to me why none of the other countries in the region try to similarly influence American foreign policy. Is it because they are too noble? Somehow I doubt it. 

Me

I hope it works. I'm worried it won't. What more to say?

Iranian Women

I'm sure none of the people who celebrated Kaepernick will similarly celebrate the Iranian women who refused to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic.

What Powerful Logic

This guy argues we are attacking Iran now because Israel feels it can no longer anticipate American support in a decade. 

Like all anti-Israel/anti-US logic, it ends up being circular and two things at once. We are attacking Iran not because we support Israel, but because we will eventually not support Israel. Makes a ton of sense.  

Money

There is money to be made by creating spaces either coded "no AI" or banned AI. Like one movie studio at least should simply say: we don't use AI at all. Or one news organization. Or internet site. Or schools.

Logging

Film: Love and Death

Enjoyed quite a lot...although in hindsight Woody Allen's creepiness seems maddeningly obvious. Not by the plot mechanics, by the way, but simply his face in this film. 

Film: The Pink Panther (2006)

The kids liked it and are now asking a lot of questions about Steve Martin and Clouseau...so the film deserves some credit.

Film: Clovers 

Weird to write about a friend's film...but screened at Slamdance. Terrific movie and hope it finds a wider audience. 

Make It Stick

Trump offering immunity to IRGC to lay down weapons. Never put your opponent on "death ground" meaning they cannot surrender. Then you force them to fight until the death. This is the mistake the Russians and Germans make, historically speaking.

Okay, Then...

10 books to read before one dies. 

Funny, I'm not sure how I would approach a list of movies...but here goes...

1) Casablanca (alt: His Girl Friday)

2) Psycho (alt: Rear Window or Vertigo)

3) Wizard of Oz (alt: Gone with the Wind)

4) The General (alt: Modern Times, Sunrise)

5) 400 Blows (alt: Bicycle Thieves)

6) Seven Samurai (no alt)

7) Pulp Fiction (no alt)

8) The Godfather (alt: Goodfellas or Chinatown)

9) Star Wars (alt: 2001, Terminator 2)

10) Lawrence of Arabia (alt: The Searchers, Shane)

An Important Thing To Remember

It can always get worse. 

No One Is Coming To The Rescue

The adults are gone. WGA staff strike against the WGA union and the union prez sends an email that sounds like she borrowed from the AMPTP template.

Meanwhile, the BAFTA awards ceremony situation...hard not to find the whole thing funny.

And I just attended a Slamdance screening. Great film but afterwards they had someone doing sign language to the audience. Is this a thing now for all film festivals? Do they check if anyone in the audience even needs sign language? What is the average audience size of these screenings? I'm so confused.

A Lying Communist Cocksucker

Mamdani knows damn well that wasn't a "snowball fight." He lies through his teeth because that is how communists take and exercise power.

Plastic Grocery Bag Ban

When they did it, I wonder if anyone considered the possibility of heavy rain and what it does to paper bags.

Logging

Film: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 

Got halfway through last night. Never enjoyed the film as much as I felt I was supposed to. Here's why - when I was younger, I expected a samurai action film, which it is not. It's an indy dramedy and understood in that context, considerably better...

TV: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms S1

Excluding the flashback episode, the runtime for the show I would guess is about 2 hours and 10 minutes which suggests to me a different format than television...

Anyone Else Find It Kinda Weird

How the Iranian protestors were just massacred and memory-holed. Why did the opposite thing happen with Gaza? Someone help me understand.

This Was Always My Concern With Trump

He's worked himself into a corner with Iran. 

I don't know what he expected. That a show of force would make religious fanatics capitulate to demands. Is he kidding? These people want death. 

Yikes

Jia Zhangke's AI short film. 

Most everyone can write, but great writers make it sing. Seems the future will be the same for AI video or whatever you want to call these things...

Eileen Gu

When you understand her father doesn't exist in her life, the rest makes sense. 

Logging

Book: Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield

A book of the Bard's plays in short story form for kids, but written in the style of Shakespeare with quotes from the plays, etc. An excellent read to familiarize oneself with the stories so that readers may later experience the plays. Thus far, read MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night with the kids...and indeed the last one demonstrates why Shakespeare is "the best" - how he brings those story threads together is quite remarkable. 

Film: Tombstone

A little more going on with this film than you would think. There's a reason why it continues to resonate. Not as profound as my favorites from the revisionist Western period, but the story is actually a character study of Earp. Val Kilmer alone is worth the price of admission, but consider the actors that appear in the film: Sam Elliot, Kurt Russell, Billy Bob Thorton, Thomas Hayden Church, Bill Paxton...there are others. The one glaring weak spot, Dana Delany...

Film: Carrie

The fairly hot high school gym teacher slaps around students a lot in the film. They mostly deserve it, too. What's great is the "horror" of high school is just as scary as the telekinesis. 

Logging

Film: A Trip To The Moon

More interesting than what I've seen thus far re: AI...

Bluesky

Never been. What's it like? 

Logging

Film: Silverado

Probably the film that caused me to dislike Westerns until I got to film school. I feel like my parents might've dragged me to the theater to see it. Can't say my younger self was wrong. It's the actors that are the problem here - you don't buy them. Something about the 1980s vibes - Kevin Kline? A gunslinger-criminal? Sorry...but no. The other huge aspect of the film that fails - what was the bad guy plot? I seriously came away with no clue about the story at all. Were they just trying to kill Kevin Costner? I am going to need to re-read the plot on Wikipedia. Costner interesting to watch in the film. He hadn't yet figured out his movie star persona, so overacts in a boyish, goofball manner. Funny to see glimpses of what he would become but Kasden wasn't quite able to bring it out. Give credit to Ron Shelton for that. And say all you will about the wokies being idiots, but they have a point about white writers writing for black families that comes across in this film. Danny Glover's scenes and storyline are among the most simplistic and ridiculous that one can imagine. Guess what he suffers from? If you guessed racism, you would be right. They murder his father and his sister is a prostitute. And none of this is played in a fun, wink wink, manner mind you. They take the whole thing very seriously. 

One highlight is Brian Dennehy who offers up some moral complexity in the villain role. He could've held his own in a Peckinpah film.

Logging

TV: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms E5

Nothing worse than a flashback episode... 

Karen Bass

Thinks Wasserman should step down. Ha! Does anyone care that this guy was a little pervy in private? No. Does it matter to anyone? No. Meanwhile, Bass mismanaged the LA fires and lied in the aftermath. Jeez.

Skiing

Such a pain in the ass and still worth it. A single long run on great snow is worth the price of admission. My older son said it was like riding a roller coaster, but you're in control. The secondary benefit: an appreciation of nature and the mountain. Kids learn to become self-sufficient, carry their gear, be prepared for weather shifts, and monitor food and water intake.  

Logging

Film: The Graduate

This time around, I was fascinated by Mrs. Robinson. Surely this is an age thing. When I first watched the film, of course, I was closer to Ben's age. And the film strongly takes his perspective. But now, being closer in age to Mrs Robinson, I can't help but think - what is going on with her? What is her deal? Why is she so thirsty and obvious? Why does she fear Ben dating Elaine? As best I can surmise, Mrs. Robinson resents losing her youth. She was forced into marriage because she got pregnant with Elaine. Now both she and her husband are alcoholics and miserable. Her seduction of Ben is about getting her youth back, but of course, this is doomed from the start, and even she knows it. Hence her melancholy. In this respect, the film is much wiser than how filmmakers of today would and do treat the subject. Today, this film gets made by a female director (or perhaps a female writer), and they would insist Mrs. Robinson is an empowered individual. But she is not. She's a hungry predator who has a shot at redemption but instead chooses to punish Elaine for "ruining" her life. Hence, she plots for Elaine to marry poorly and sacrifice her own youth as penance for stealing it from Mrs. Robinson. This is as far as I can tell what's happening psychologically with her. 

Next observation, the music. Much of the magic of the film stems from how the music interacts with the images - the two beautiful montages sections that bridge the affair and his loneliness plus the travel up to Berkeley section. One montage actually goes for two songs! Clearly the music inspired the movie and the movie inspired the music. You can't imagine the shots or the opening or the montages without the music. Films cannot escape the era in which they are made. So the question of: why can't we make movies like that anymore is a nonsense. Because we don't listen to new Simon and Garfunkel songs on the radio is why. And even if we did, it's just an exercise in nostalgia at this point. 

Deal

Makes sense. 

The NFL is free to hire Bad Bunny 

Bad Bunny is free to say what he wants, and in Spanish 

MAGA is free to boycott and criticize Bad Bunny 

Jon Stewart is free to call it hypocrisy 

I am free to try to harvest some clicks from the entire dwindling nontroversy

China-Taiwan

China could obviously "take" Taiwan if they had to. But could they take Taiwan+Japan? 

Could they take Taiwan+Japan+Philippines+Vietnam?

Could they take Taiwan+Japan++Philippines+Vietnam+India+US?

Logging

Film: Bugonia

Does it surprise anyone that the worldview espoused in this film turns off the vast majority of the planet? So ugly and disconnected from life. And the cinefiles cheer it on. Losers!

Logging

Film: Die Hard

When Argyle crashes the limo out of the metal garage cage at the end, the thought crossed my mind - why didn't you do that earlier? Fridge logic, I know.

A couple things:

-how does this film have so many iconic characters without famous or memorable actors? The black nerd terrorist? I can't name another film he was in. The hateable reporter? Holly Gennero/McClane? Ellis? Karl? Argyle? Takagi? I suppose the FBI guy and the police lieutenant were legit character actors and around a bunch

-McTiernan does a fantastic job staging iconic shots in this film - Hanz falling is up there with great villain endings of all time. Willis jumping off the building...these are simple writing moments, even cliche, elevated way higher by the direction.

Here We Are

The lie: 10,300,000 views and 327,000 likes 

The truth posted 12 hours later: 406,000 views and 2,700 likes

Remember when Google was the biggest, baddest tech company with the moto: "don't do evil." Now the tech companies are like - well, a little evil okay so long as it gets engagement.

PS - those who study films know the guy who says "don't do evil" means the literal opposite.

Why Weigh In

I feel a dumb obligation to have some sort of opinion on Bad Bunny...I shouldn't, I know. But the thing I'll point out is that when watching it, I feel like a foreigner missing all the nuance since I don't understand a word he is saying. I understand he is funny? That's nice. But to who? That the proponents of his performance can't understand how deliberately confusing and alienating to most Americans it is super bizarre to me. I mean, go for it...who cares...but if you think this is "bringing people together," you are 100% definitely wrong. 

I suppose we can expect some K-pop next year?

Watergate Part Deux

Isn't this the type of thing that brought down Nixon? Or at least Nicholson in A Few Good Men? Karen Bass ordered the code red, people. She needs to resign.

Salem Witch Trials

In the yoga studio.

Logging

Film: The Rock

My favorite of all Michael Bay films... an absolute sluggers line up of character actors... if you just embrace the absurdity, quite a lot of fun.

Indeed

Revolutions were fought over these issues. 

If I’m on stolen land why the F am I paying property taxes?

Pretty Evil

Putin continues to string us along. 

Hmmm...

So it appears Trump did the Maduro thing and is negotiating with Iran to make their oil available to world markets, so Russia can be induced to ceasefire talks in Ukraine?

Seems a bit complicated, but not exactly the worst idea in the world...better perhaps than the meat grinder offered by Biden and the Europeans...

Gifted and Talented

Nothing the midwit nepo babiy communists hate more than the gifted and talented programs.

90s LA Movies 

Funny how in a lot of 90s LA movies, there exists a run-in with some type of neo-nazi lunatic. Did these people actually exist (and if so, where did they hang out) or is this a figment of the imagination?

I'm thinking American History X, Falling Down, Heat (Waingro), Higher Learning...

Logging

TV: Landman S1 E4-6

Taylor Sheridan's worldview is basically a hillbilly version of BLM, which is to say, all structures and institutions are essentially in place for strong men to do whatever primal shit they want to do - kill, steal, rob, etc. 

Wouldn't It Be Funny If...

America won the AI race, but someone like Mandami or AOC wins the Presidency and uses AI to redistribute all the wealth it created?

Or, if Trump promised all illegal immigrants US citizenship if they moved to Greenland and did a political referendum for the island to declare its independence from Denmark and join the US.

We Are In

The Salem Witch trials... and ICE are the witches.

Aye 

Probably not much else matters other than not letting AI become evil.  We are in deep shit if this thing proves to be as powerful as folks say - because a determined and organized group of people could probably leverage it into causing quite high levels of destruction and mayhem.

The Gaza Obsessives 

These Gaza obsessives are hilarious. They are horrified by both re-building but also not re-building the strip. They blathered on for a year about a ceasefire, get their ceasefire, and now complain about it. I get it. They think a crime occurred. Problem for them is that the only people who agree with them are lunatics. 

Chinese Cars

You see all this stuff in the media about how amazing Chinese cars are. I'm skeptical. Do we ever see media gush over KIA's or Hyundai? Or Nissans? Or Hondas.  Subarus? These cars are all fantastic. So what's the proposition? The Chinese cars are better? Cheaper? I have trouble seeing it. Maybe I'm missing something. When I see the pictures, all the cars look like knock-offs of existing cars. And are affordable cars or car performance really a problem? Not one that I see. 

China-Taiwan

If China goes to war with Taiwan, we want them to be doing so with Generals who have zero combat experience. And then, importantly, not letting it go to a round 2.

Organized Insurrection

Penetrating the organized insurrection in Minnesota. To anyone vaguely familiar with these worlds, all this is obvious. Once you understand the Omnicause, everything falls into place.

Logging

Film: The Smashing Machine

Surprisingly flaccid film, although I'm only about halfway through. 

Film: His Girl Friday

Nothing to be said that hasn't been said ad nauseam. 

Bonkers

6K to all seniors in the US. This is while we have record budget deficits, young people facing a totally uncertain future, and a booming stock and real estate market. A heist of epic proportion and we're talking about ICE. 

Chicken or the Egg

Not sure if Boomers are the ones protesting "No Kings" and ICE because they are taken care of by the government or whether they are protesting as a guise to get their government benefits. But either way, this is a very strong argument against UBI.

Logging

Film: Casablanca

One of the coolest aspects of the film - Lazlo goes to  clubs where he knows the Nazi's who are hunting him will be. Why? In the morality of the film, adults go out at night to socialize. They were indeed better people than we are. Maybe not morally, but spiritually. Now Victor Lazlo would be writing on reddit.

TV: Landman S1 E1-2

Allie Larter deserves an award for best acting job via FaceTime in a prime-time drama.

Tell Us What You Really Think!

Wow. Scott Bessent just roasts Gavin Newsom. 

He left out the two biggest economic boondoggles on Newsom's watch, though. The high-speed rail that isn't built and the EDD scam of billions of bucks by prisoners.

Free Speech

It's wonderful. The Leftist lunatics tell America what they stand for when they disrupt law enforcement and church services in Minnesota. I don't think Democrats will be winning national elections for decades. They turned it a bit around on transgenderism and are even showing signs of turning around on the Palestine question, only to ruin it with this madness. The funny thing is Trump seems to be bungling this Greenland thing but they won't be able to capitalize on it.

Logging

Film: Resurrection (China)

Unbelievable filmmaking. Utterly confusing story. I fell asleep at the beginning. Is this necessarily a bad thing? The last three vignettes grabbed me better than the first couple. What percentage of human beings on the planet could watch this and get anything out of it? I guess over/under 1-5%.

Film: Juror #2

A dismissed film. Under no expectation of greatness and viewed as a simple one-off watch, I say quite good. I'd put it up against any old crime procedural on TV, and it adds a much weightier, moral dimension to the standard fare. I venture to say the old man still has it.

Stand Up: Nikki Glaser

I didn't laugh once and found her to be the one of two words you cannot utter. 

Bad Things

Sure, Trump's lawsuit against Powell is dumb. But not as dumb as California's wealth tax. Trump motivated by ego, CA dems motivated by envy. I'd rather deal with ego.

All True

This ICE chaos is fomented by the structures of the Democrat party. Here's how the scam works.

1) Refuse to "come out" for open borders, so you can maintain some ability to be elected.

2) But, refuse to enforce immigration law in any capacity, calling any such efforts racist. While there might be very good arguments for not turning teachers, etc into immigration enforcement officials - they actually argue all efforts are racist and unlawful. Very strange! So they opt not to enforce the border, or in schools, or businesses, or really anywhere. Nor do they even attempt to come up with humane alternatives. 

3) Resist any effort by those who lawfully want to curb illegal immigration. When the Feds attempt to enforce, Democrats create sanctuary cities and refuse compliance. This is illegal, of course but they figure if they all do it, the Feds can't really do much. The Feds need cooperation with local law enforcement to deport criminals but the the sanctuary cities block these efforts. 

4) Thus, Feds turn to more draconian efforts like ICE. 

Now you might argue that the Trump admin is using ICE as shock troops to usher in an authoritarian government. I'd be a whole lot more open to that argument IF Democratic cities enforced any type of immigration law at all. But they don't. So as a US citizen, on a practical level only get the option of open borders or ICE. 

5) The Far left agitators then rally in reddit and other informal spaces to "disrupt ICE" and provoke a backlash. This provides cover for the Democratic establishment. They don't need to actually pass laws or use their political power to disrupt ICE, they let their lackys do it. They just comment on the backlash and blame Trump for the instigation. Classic FLN playbook, the same playbook the Palestinians use. It just isn't gonna work anymore because everyone is wise to it. Defenses adjust in other words.

Logging

Film: Marty Supreme

My favorite film of the year thus far. Chalamet lays down the gauntlet in a movie star turn.

The Phones

I know everyone's worried about the phones for children, but judging by the ICE and No Kings protests, I think the phones for old white people might be the problem.

Wild Times

Trump doing some massively dumb and smart things at the exact same time really throwing me for a loop.

1) Going after the Fed and Powell. Massively dumb.

2) Capping credit card rates. Massively dumb.

3) Slow playing the Venezuela situation. Seems very smart. The critique offered by liberals that he's not replacing the regime, I'm like - what? You want a civil war and an Iraq situation in our hemisphere? 

4) The Iran thing. Smart so far. Let's see if he can keep it up. Bombing the facility looks to be paying off. The threat against regime targets for not attacking protestors seems to be paying off as well.

This world...

Belatedly Correct

AOC and Mamdani now saying "we support Hamas" is anti-semitic.

This position was available to all Leftists since Oct 8, 2023. But for some reason it took them 2.5 years to get there.

Iran

I'm as happy as the next guy for the Iran protests, but do we need to involve ourselves? Can we resist making it about us?

Logging

Comedy: Robby Hoffman

Surprised at how much I enjoyed it overall. Two observations, though:

1) She seems to have completely aped Sebastian Maniscalco's style and delivery, but applied to her own content and writing. Never seen anything like it before in comedy.

2) Special felt too long...could use a 15% haircut.

For Those Who Can't See It

The woman shot by ICE in Minneapolis was wishcast and provoked by far left anti-ICE groups organized though reddit and other social media platforms. 

This was entirely predictable if you even remotely follow far left political agitation. A few months ago they were spreading blatantly incorrect propaganda about ICE raids in my town that popped up in a local reddit feed. I dumbly responded "this is a lie" already debunked and was promptly blocked by a reddit moderator. On these anti-ICE forums you are not allowed to dissent or say anything that "supports ICE" and apparently that includes pointing out factual inaccuracies. Why? Because the purpose of these groups are to agitate for political outcomes rejected by American voters. So...they go around and provoke ICE in a number of different ways. These are not the best and the brightest either. They are underemployed losers who gain some type of purpose by doing this stuff. In any case, going around systematically harassing law enforcement in numerous cities is a surefire way to get someone injured or killed. It happened yesterday. Now people are protesting. This is like pissing away money on sports gambling and then protesting you're broke. 

Trump's Insane Plan To Win Midterm Elections:

Arrest a scumbag to make the world a better place.

Side note: bringing back words like scumbag and crook would help a lot. Had we just stuck with terms like these, Trump would've never gotten elected. Because he would've just been a crook. But we "deconstructed" the language to redefine criminality because it implied racial biases, so the term crook no longer carried any weight. Can't go back now, I suppose.

Logging

Film: i hate myself doc

Girls meets Sherman's March if you want to watch something different and painful.

TV: Curb S2 

Just a casual watch before sleep and Rob Reiner pops into the episode. Surreal and weird. 

The Move

We ought to hold people who want to do reparations and redistribute housing to their word. Force them to sign legal papers to disinherit themselves before getting on with any public policy. Make them eat their own food.

Stocks and Bonds

Scanned 10 yr returns:

VXUS (total international): 8.54 per year

SLYV (small value): 8.8 per year

DVY (large/medium value): 10.79 per year

VTI (total US): 14.25 per year

SCHZ (total bond): 1.9 per year

To me, all the above stock returns are actually quite solid. Total US stands out but as obnoxiously large. The bonds suffered but if you got in after the crash in 2022, the last 3 years is 4.5% return per year. Not bad.

Going After Home Ownership

Yes, these people are crazy. Imagine for a minute they somehow convinced a polity to do this. You couldn't pay anyone enough to enforce - guns would be out.

Nabka

How do the folks who object to 75K Palestinians getting moved 75 years ago feel about the 8 million Venezuelans who fled their country and had their property stolen in the past 20 years? Funny they are passionate about one but could care less about the other.

Safe Assumption

Does everyone who wants to get rid of private property love shitting in public toilets?

 

Explain

Please ugh liberals explaina to me this...why are there hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of Venezuelan ex-pats who fled the country celebrating the arrest of Maduro? Why did they flee the warmth of collectivism?

Hahaha

OMG, NYC good luck my friends...

Paraphrasing..."for centuries, we've treated property as an individual good...now we're going to treat it as a collective good..." Beg to differ - we have many times treated it "not as an individual good" and all those places were found to suck ass!

Seriously, the word retard has returned just in time to save us... 

Law of the Jungle

The irony of all ironies would be Russia, China, and Iran push the "law of the jungle" onto the rest of us because they don't want to post WW2 international order only to discover the "law of the jungle" devours them much faster than us. They invite a FAFO world only to be its first victims. 

It's like the criminal who tears down a weak justice system only to realize the system was protecting him from angry, armed villagers who now just hang him instead.

"The Warmth of Collectivism"

Haha. More like the warmth of a public toilet. What a loser. 

Just Think About It

Say whatever you will about Elon Musk, if we didn't have him, China would be dominating space and autos. Maybe they still are but at least Elon makes it close.

The Bottom

Of Chinese society. It doesn't exactly sound hellish, but I'll point out a few things that are interesting:

1) Spends more on cigarettes than food

2) Must own a mortgage to send kid to school

3) Doesn't live with family

In US, there are people with such an arrangement. Truck drivers for instance. Or folks who live far away from work - a trend picking up in the Bay Area where folks live far outside, like 2 hours away from their employment.