This photo by Jabin Botsford of The Washington Post from Saturday night’s Donald Trump rally should be appropriated by Joe Biden as his 2020 campaign poster. Though it is refreshing to see a MAGA type observing social distance protocol.
Second Wave
The U.S. reports 30,000 new cases for two days in a row, the highest totals since May 1st (when 1,500-plus were dying per day). 23 states are reporting a rise in coronavirus cases while Florida had its highest number of new cases in one day (4,049) yet. Are you listening, Adam Silver?
But you can relax because this morning on CNBC Larry Kudlow said, “There is no second wave coming. It’s just hot spots.”
Of course, this is what Kudlow said about the coronavirus back in Febuary: “We have contained this, I won’t say airtight, but pretty close to airtight.“
So don’t worry.
At The Copa, Copacabana
Fun story in The New York Times this weekend about the punch that got Billy Martin traded and the 88 year-old bouncer who is finally ‘fessing up. Music and passion really were always in fashion.
La La Land
Click on this story about how the markets are not obeying fundamentals just to see that graph. You should feel like the meteorologist in The Perfect Storm when he realizes that all three scary weather patterns are about to converge in the Atlantic.
Easy Wind
(Has any major band ever looked at its instruments more while playing live than the Dead did?)
This just in: the Grateful Dead is releasing a deodorant brand. So now you won’t need to buy as much pachouli when you follow them around on tour. I’ve only attended one Dead show (not being high, I didn’t enjoy it much) but I don’t recall hygiene being paramount on the list of Deadhead concerns.
We’ll return to our regularly scheduled misanthropy later in the week, but we’ve taken note about how Major League Baseball’s supposed return keeps getting fouled off due to avarice and mistrust. We’ve noticed, as have NBA players, that Florida’s coronavirus cases are peaking and, oh yeah, hundreds if not thousands of Disney employees would be charged with cleaning their rooms and serving them food. And we’ve noticed that 23 Clemson players have tested positive for the coronavirus and and LSU is quarantining players. Maybe these two schools just happen to be the ones in the headlines because they played in the national championship game less than six months ago.
NFL, you’re next.
Pro sports “coming back” and ESPN’s shameless cheerleading of that supposed event has never been about anything more than chasing lost dollars (you’re correct, Jacob) and the same type of hubris that led Donald Trump to half-fill a Tulsa arena. They’re a little annoyed that the world is continuing to spin without them and they want their spotlight back.
But we don’t need sports. Really, we don’t. Not now. And they don’t need to be playing.
It’s very simple: there’s no vaccine.
All we know for sure is the return of sports, not unlike a poorly thought out Trump rally, will lead to spread. And while most young athletes will not die, they will in turn spread the disease to others.
There’s no vaccine.
Wait.
It’s like that scene from the final episode of AfterLife this season. “All I’ve learned about life I can sum up in three words: ‘It goes on.'”
Life will go on without a compromised NBA or MLB summer. I know it will. If you cannot do it right—and they cannot, no matter what Adam Silver or Rob Manfred say—best not to do it all.
We read this story on the NBA’s return which, let’s be clear here, appears on a website whose company will earn millions and millions of dollars hosting the NBA for two months, not to mention airing most of its games. We’re sure the writer has integrity, but there’s an inherent conflict of interest.
Anyway, the question of what will happen when a player tests positive (a two-week quarantine) has finally been answered but not who will administer the test. Because it matters. Because if the folks administering the tests are paid by an organization that has a dedicated interest to those tests being negative, well….
The story also said each player can bring a few people with him. That’s a nice story if you think of Steph Curry, his wife and the little ones, but most NBA players are not Steph Curry. Most are in their 20s, many are single, and plenty indulge in The Life of an NBA Player. And, well, from what I read, they’re not going to be allowed off-campus except in case of emergency and no one is allowed on. You (they) can only be amused by Xbox so long.
It’s a 100-page document on how to operate a 2-month long season. You have to wonder: Is it worth it? I don’t think it is. And while it’s doubtful any player will get sick and die, what if someone does? What if a few do? We don’t get it.
Gundy Gumption
Where does one even procure an OAN T-shirt? Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy went in front of a camera yesterday and apologized for wearing the T-shirt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yosqvyIdKYE
I did find it funny that Paul Finebaum, who’s spent his entire career catering to Alabama and Auburn football fans, is so aghast at the racist undertones of OAN that he called for Gundy to be fired on ESPN. I’m shocked! Shocked, that there is racism in this establishment.
Before we all go back to the early 2000s and an America so intolerantly tolerant that it gave rise to the likes (and dislikes) of Clay Travis and the Birther movement, I caution you: being racist is deplorable (yes, I used that word) but it is not against the law. Nor should it be. It’s one of those tests to the foundations of liberty, just like kneeling during the national anthem. Someone has a right to have views and opinions that you find atrocious. They have that right. They don’t have the right to break the law as a means of furthering those views (see here, you Boogaloos!), but they do have a right to those views.
So Mike Gundy can go on air and apologize. And he does owe his players an apology. But he has long been outspoken about a lot of things, and that’s why I’ve always liked him. My guess is that he’s a conservative (No!) who just didn’t appreciate how racist some of the people he hangs with are. My guess is that he’d go to that Tulsa rally if he could.
I don’t agree with any of those views (well-documented here). But I’ll alway defend people’s right to have them. You should, too. Liberty is a two-way street.
How To Do Everything Wrong
In today’s New York Times, Thomas Friedman has an Op-Ed titled “Is Trump Trying To Spread Covid-19?” That’s a deliberately provocative headline guaranteed to get Stephen Miller’s and Jared Kushner’s attention. And even though the overlap of people who want to attend the Tulsa rally and New York Times Op-ed page readers may be zero humans, it’s still a headline that will draw eyeballs inside the RNC.
I said it at the beginning, and I’ll say it again now (but rhyming), “No vaccine, no machine.” In other words, until there is a vaccine (or herd immunity), everything should be undertaken with a priority on stopping the virus. Doesn’t mean you totally ignore the economy, but you do all the smart things, which does not include attending MAGA rallies or going to crowded spots without a mask. Etc.
Donald Trump and his Republican enablers, by October 1st, will have been personally responsible for at least 100,000 deaths. I’m arriving at that number by taking the total number of Covid deaths in the U.S.A. (which will at least be that on 10/01) and dividing by two. And that fraction is giving Trump a very kind pass. He’s responsible for more deaths. 100,000 deaths. That’s worse than LBJ and Nixon combined in Vietnam and that was over 11 years. This will have been seven months.
One last Trump thing: everyone notes the slow descent on the ramp, but if you watched his body as he was speaking, he wasn’t standing upright for much of it (as the above photo shows). He was leaning to his left the way a Dean Martin roast speaker would after he’s had a few too many. We know Trump doesn’t drink, but he was obviously favoring something. And if you watch that ramp clip again, you’ll note that he’s stepping more gingerly on his right leg. Something to keep an eye on.
Brazen Bolton
The book’s release date is scheduled to be June 23rd. The book, The Room Where It Happened, by former national security advisor John Bolton, will likely contain the revelations that, had Bolton taken the stand six months ago, might have led to Donald Trump’s ouster. And who knows? Maybe the coronavirus would have been handled better.
Of course William Barr’s Justice Dept. is trying to have the book’s publication blocked (as if he’s Woody Allen or someone) and of course they’re using a bogus reason to do so. William Barr isn’t about justice or transparency: he’s about the status quo (read: white power).
David Halberstam once wrote a book about the LBJ years and the JFK cronies who got us into the Vietnam quagmire and ironically titled it, The Best And The Brightest. A latter day Halberstam type (Michael Lewis?) will write a book on this administration and hopefully title it The Worst And The Whitest. Without irony.
And while many will buy Bolton’s book or at least read it, let’s never forget: he’s a coward. He shirked his duty to the U.S.A. and sold us out for the book advance ($2 million) and royalties. There are many who’d argue that’s just the American way. Nevertheless, Bolton’s a Judas. To both the U.S.A. and now to the administration he served under. He’s hated by all sides, as he should be.
We watched about 15 minutes of last night’s ESPN Sports Comeback special. Our thoughts about Mike Greenberg’s hosting job reminds us of something Rust Cohle once told those two detectives in the interrogation room: “Start asking the right f***ing questions.”
Greenberg might’ve wanted to ask NBA commissioner Adam Silver what the NBA will do when a player does test positive (Is that player quarantined for 14 days, at least?). Or why the NBA is so gung-ho on resuming play as 18 states report a rise in coronavirus cases and there’s still no vaccine? Or how the players are going to enjoy being separated from their families for up to two months and, worse, in Orlando. In August? Please.
Mostly, he should’ve just asked why the NBA can’t just play it smart and WAIT? This season, no matter how the NBA might attempt to put a bow on it with a contrived mini-playoff, is lost. And if the NBA continues to forge ahead with this plan, next season is compromised because the players will have practically no break as they commence what will be a shortened season.
We said it way back in early March: cancel everything and wait for a vaccine. At least in terms of sports and non-essential activities.
And I’m frankly embarrassed for ESPN. I guess rights-holders are always gonna be cheerleaders, but they’ve mostly steered away from asking the difficult and honest questions in favor of a “We Want Sports Back!” approach the past three months.
Happy Trails
From TheDiscoverer.com, a list of 10 “Insane Hikes Around The World.” We’d have added 5th Avenue between 59th and 48th Street during the height of Christmas tourist season, but no matter. In the words of Fleetwood Mac, “You can go your own way.”
The Treasure of the Negros Hermanos
Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods could have been something fantastic. It is not. It’s good, but it falls short in numerous ways. Here are a few things we did not like:
Any college film class instructor would’ve advised Spike to refrain from the contrived allusions to classic Hollywood films. In the last 45 minutes of the film Spike references The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (a VietCong gangster says “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges”) and The Bridge On The River Kwai (“Madness! Madness!”).
It’s by now accepted that Spike is gonna Spike his films with less-than-subtle messaging about civil rights and his own damn self. So there’s a breakaway shot of the world’s greatest ever intermediate hurdler, Edwin Moses, primarily because like Spike Moses is a Morehouse alum. There’s lots of stuff like this throughout the movie and it disrupts it.
I don’t know who scouted the locations or decided to hit Vietnam in what appears to be autumn, but much of the film did not appear jungle-like. There were brown leaves on the jungle floor and no dense undergrowth. Maybe we’ve all seen too many Vietnam films, but it just didn’t look like the Vietnam, in the wilderness, that you know.
The move to keep the same actors who are in their late sixties or older playing their younger selves in late 1960s Vietnam was curious. You see a forever young Chadwick Boseman (who is incredibly charismatic and maybe the best part of this film) engaging with the four soldiers in his charge who could be his grandfather’s age. Odd.
The premise of the film is solid. The execution of it, particularly in the second half, feels like something I’d be watching on TNT that stars Steve Zahn and takes you away to Hawaii (“The Perfect Getaway”) or the Sahara (“Sahara”).
Could’ve been an epic film. Alas, it was Spiked.
Bubba Vs. Chuba
Oklahoma State football coach/Guy who should be asking you if you also want him to check your oil Mike Gundy got into some trouble of late with the nation’s leading rusher, Chuba Hubbard. You see, Chuba (“Chew-buh”) plays for Gundy. And he’s Canadian. And he’s black.
And “OAN” stands for One America Network, which is a nasty little cable news channels thats smaller and more racist than Fox News. Yes, it is possible.
The two men are vowing to hug it out and go forward. But that’s because it’s too late for Hubbard to do much else at this point and Gundy will say what he needs to in order to keep the nation’s leading rusher happy.
MH’s Bluegrass State correspondent (and childhood friend) Matt Dacey informs us about Kentucky state representative Charles Booker (D), who is taking aim at Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat. The Dems already had a presumptive candidate, retired Marine pilot Amy McGrath, but Booker, who is black, launched a campaign anyway with just $70,000 in his war chest.
Well, Booker’s district is where Breonna Taylor was murdered and he was out with the protester. McGrath was not. In a recent PBS televised roundtable in the state, he wiped the floor with her. The Democratic primary is within 8 days and Booker is within single digits.
Winner takes on Mitch in November. This is a litmus test. Fifty-four years ago, the University of Kentucky wouldn’t even take a black man on its vaunted basketball team. Now it might have one unseat the most (visibly) racist Senator in the country.
Da 5 Bloods
Spike Lee’s latest film, Da 5 Bloods, has a trailer that completely drew me in. The story is sort of a reverse Saving Private Ryan (Exhuming Private Ryan?) with a trunk full of gold thrown in to the mix. And it takes place in Vietnam. And Spike says that every studio turned him down except Netflix.
And that infectious song in the trailer is “Time Has Come Today” from the Chambers Brothers, released in 1968.
Critics are calling this Spike Lee’s best film since 25th Hour (2002). Perhaps the best since his masterpiece, Do The Right Thing.
O’er The Ramp Parts We Watched
President Trump’s speech to the graduates at West Point was overshadowed by his slow and halting walk down a ramp afterward. Apparently those bone spurs have not fully healed.
No Bread, No Circus, More Racial Equality
(The Wendy’s in Atlanta. It’s not Sherman torching the city but it’s symbolically similar)
Call me crazy, but I don’t think the Ahmaud Arbery murder and the Central Park birder and the George Floyd protests and resignations of police chiefs and the revocation of choke holds, etc, is all happening in a vacuum. I believe that the absence, due to the pandemic, of all the distractions that keep this nation humming during its leisure hours (pro and college sports, movie releases, etc.) has provided more time for Americans, particularly African-Americans, to focus their attention on racial injustice.
Consider: Arbery was murdered in late February but his murder, which was videotaped, was not even investigated in depth until April.
Fifty-two years after the Chambers Brothers released it, The Time Has Come Today. Indeed.
And I’ll go further. Just as Rome, the world’s most powerful empire at the time and the people responsible ultimately for crucifying Jesus, eventually became the seat of Catholicism, I believe that one day the U.S.A., which brought black people over from Africa in chains and used their unpaid labor to help build this country (and make the South economically viable) will be a nation where the power rests with African-Americans. History and time have a funny sense of humor that way. One day far, far down the line men like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Muhammad Ali and Barack Obama and, yes, Colin Kaepernick will be seen as early and important figures in this movement. And I’m not equating the four in terms of historical import. But all four will be names worthy of mentioning.
As Charles Blow of The New York Times refer to it, “an insatiable rage” has finally reached its boiling point. And no wonder.
Stupefying
One of the WWWPs (World’s Worst White People) out there, Larry Kudlow, appears on CNN and tells Jake Tapper that it’s not America’s business which major corporations were giving seven- and eight-figure and even nine-figure bailout payments to as part of the coronavirus financial rescue. Sure, it’s our money but now it’s in their hands and they’ll do with it exactly what they want.
Dig, I agree with Kudlow that Americans who are working (many of us) should not be earning less per week than Americans who choose not to. I’m not against ending the $600 per week unemployment benefits. But if you want me to give you that, then in return I’d like a little transparency. As Tapper says, “That’s as swampy as you could imagine.”
