Does the election of Trump mean America is not as antisemitic as the media tells us it is?

Then again, there was that pesky march in Charlottesville, with the perps claiming they didn’t want the Jews to replace them. That was news to me, I mean how many Jews are there? If you’re thinking about someone replacing you, don’t you mention…

You can’t mention anyone at all. Because the left wing police will breathe down your neck.

Now if you’re of a certain age, you were brought up with tales of concentration camps, you heard “Never Again.” But now it’s happening again.

It was unfathomable to me as a child. Didn’t anybody know, why didn’t they do anything?

Well, I was at the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum and they had reprints of newspapers from the war and it was astounding to find so much of the Germans’ efforts to first marginalize the Jews, then ship them off and kill them, was in the news.

And still, no one did anything. After all, it’s not you, you’re not in danger. No one would really do that, right?

And then there was Munich in ’72. All those Israeli sportsmen assassinated. Big news back then, but it all seems to have been forgotten today, lost to the sands of time.

Today Jews are seen as they always have been…as moneygrubbers, as the other, troublemakers. They just don’t know how to fit in and be like the rest of us.

So Biden and Kamala couldn’t formulate a proper Israel/Gaza and now Lebanon policy. Their instincts told them to let the Israelis fight it out, but the Squad was against them, they had to be nice to the Muslims, they didn’t want to look like Trump, and on campus, amongst the elite…

There was this concept of oppressed and oppressor. The Palestinians had nothing, the Israelis had tech, even an Iron Dome protecting them from missiles, it was an unfair balance, things needed to be equalized.

But this left out the position of the Palestinians, who have never wanted equalization, but EVERYTHING! All the land, the Jews gone, just like in the rest of history.

I mean the Jews have this one little country, the size of New Jersey, and that’s too much. It was desert, they improved it. The land the Palestinians have is not improved. This is not equitable!

And this lens paralyzed those on the left.

And now this pogrom happens in Amsterdam.

At first blush it just appeared to be post football hooliganism. Not uncommon in the U.K. and Europe. After all, a guy supporting the wrong team was nearly beaten to death at Dodger Stadium.

But it turned out there was more to the story. They were chasing these Jews. To the point where some jumped in the canals for safety. The supporters of the Israeli soccer team, unafraid to show their affiliation, were targeted and…

That’s the story all over the internet today. How these attacks were PLANNED! And we live in the digital age, there are SCREENSHOTS!

But the major news outlets are still waiting for more information, as a misperception takes hold. This was not a minor scuffle, this was an ATTACK!

But we’ve got to report with equanimity. Fair and balanced is our motto.

So… There’s no outrage, just reporting. This contributed to the election of Trump, the lack of outrage in big media. The newspapers were so busy trying to appear unbiased, that they normalized Trump. I mean how bad can he be if everybody isn’t truly freaking out? The press kept itself at a distance. Saying it was not their job.

Then what is their job? To be afraid of retribution like Jeff Bezos, who immediately kissed Trump’s ass after his victory was declared?

Bezos sacrificed all his credibility. As did the WaPo. And it’s nearly impossible to earn back. One small faux pas, and you’re history.

But when it comes to Jews…what does it matter?

Do you think I’m gonna put a Mezuzah on my door? Do you think I’m going to advertise I’m a Jew? As I mentioned previously, after I moved to a house in Santa Monica someone spray-painted “Jew” with a Jewish star underneath on my garage door. As shocking as the image was, what completely confounded me was, HOW DID THEY KNOW?

So…

Is it open season on Jews?

One thing that has come out online, anyway, is that the Mossad warned the Amsterdam authorities, who ended up doing nothing. I don’t want to step out on a limb here, but if it had been another minority would there be the same lack of action?

So where does this leave me, my loved ones, my people?

It’s been all Trump all the time, People crying in their beer. Prognostications as to his future administration.

Meanwhile the world marches on. Time hasn’t stopped. People are still living, news is still being made. But Amsterdam is not the headline on any news app as I write this, not the NYT, WaPo, WSJ or LAT. I mean who cares about the Jews? Once again, if it had been another ethnic group…

I’m afraid. I’m shook. I’m keeping one eye open. Because if they can do it in Amsterdam without serious consequences, they can do it in the States too.

All based on Israel’s retaliation to the October 7th Hamas attack. We were the aggressors in the Middle East, we were not defending ourselves, but the Israelis, they’re not allowed to fight back? Or only fight a little bit?

Reminds me of when immigrants open a corner store. You like that they sell you pickles. Clothing. These were avenues Jews entered because they were locked out of professions.

Good for the little people.

But then they weren’t so little. These tiny shops turned into edifices, and that wasn’t fair. Ever notice that the number one pariah on the left is a Jew? That’s right, George Soros. Of all the billionaires to attack, isn’t it interesting that this one is Jewish? And who’s going to come to the rescue of the Jew, who is going to defend the Jew?

Sure, we had Schindler, kudos, but most people shrug, it’s not them, they don’t want to get involved.

But this is me. And all the b.s. the right has claimed about the left has turned out to be true. The indoctrination on campuses. Did you read the report on the spring protests on Ivy League campuses, the one about UCLA? Positively horrifying. The university brass was so afraid of offending Palestinians and their supporters that…they blinked and didn’t do almost anything. They had to appear fair, to the point where Jews could not even make it to class, where Jews on the UCLA campus were interrogated whether they were Zionists.

This all happened here.

So if there’s one silver lining of Trump’s election it’s that at least he’s strong on Israel. The left is so afraid of conflagration they abhor all fighting. But sometimes you have to pick up arms. No one wants death.

So most people aren’t looking for the news in Amsterdam. They don’t have passports, they don’t plan on going, it’s all happening in a land far, far away.

And the funny thing is after 10/7 immigration to Israel from the U.S. has INCREASED!

You know why?

Fear.

Israel is the last stop. I don’t plan on going, but it’s good to know there’s somewhere they will take me, where we can all fight back.

Because sometimes you just have to.

Tune in Saturday November 9th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

X/Twitter: @lefsetz

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

“Road Diary”: https://t.ly/7Zv8T

1

The highlight was “Nightshift,” the Commodores sans Lionel Richie number that speaks of what’s goin’ on with the recently passed Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye and the great music they’re playing up in heaven.

Now what struck me, what made such a big impression, is that I’ve never ever heard any rocker speak of this late soul nugget, never mind sing it. Not that I’m a Commodores expert, far from it, but “Nightshift” was a hit in 1985, when MTV engendered new Top Forty stations on FM radio, traditionally the bastion of AOR, the white rockers. And pushing the buttons on the Blaupunkt, I heard it, and liked it, it was a personal favorite. And when someone else loves one of your favorites, you feel good.

But the rest of the documentary is pure hagiography.

“Hagiography: the writing of the lives of saints.”

New Oxford American Dictionary

And the funny thing is all the commentary said otherwise. That this was the story of what Bruce had been going through, dealing with Patti’s illness, that you got to know the real Bruce.

Hogwash.

However the end, where Bruce ruminates on the death of an old bandmate, when he sings that he’s the last man standing from that band…that’s great, that’s what I wanted more of, elder rocker in context.

Otherwise, it was frozen in time. Could have been 1984, never mind 2024.

You watch this documentary and wince, it makes you feel that rock and roll is over.

I know, I know, now you’ve got your knickers in a twist. Just like the cats all over the world blowing back about my article re closing unprofitable clubs. You can’t challenge orthodoxy. If you do, you’re a pariah.

And that’s why Kamala Harris lost. The world had changed, but the Democratic party had not. They were totally oblivious.

Springsteen sticks out like a sore thumb, it’s pure nostalgia, it’s almost creepy.

Oh, by the end you’re in the mood, you’re in the groove. I’m not saying I wouldn’t enjoy a Springsteen show, I’m just saying it’s MEANINGLESS!

Rock used to represent danger, pushing the envelope. This is all about giving the public what it wants. A brain dead adoring audience. Akin to the Deadheads. What I say about both of these acts is I don’t hate the performers, I hate their fans.

Because the fans are like the Democrats. There’s unquestioning devotion, and if you don’t agree, you’re stupid.

Now Bruce tried to break free in the nineties. Canning the band and working with new players. And I’ve got to tell you, the cut “Human Touch” is one of my all time favorites from the man from the Jersey Shore.

But the public rejected it.

Sure, there were two albums released simultaneously. But mostly, they yearned for the E Street Band. Can’t we go back to where we once belonged, can’t everybody just get along?

Nope.

Time only marches in one direction. Not that there’s an inherent flaw in nostalgia, and that’s one of the flaws of MAGAworld, the false belief that there was a golden era in the past that we can return to, but the truth is we’re always looking for something new and exciting. And the greats don’t get stuck in their personas, they evolve.

Whether the audience stays along for the ride or not.

Bowie was out in the wilderness before he reconnected with “Let’s Dance.” And then he went BACK into the wilderness. Because it had to be interesting to him.

Ditto Neil Young.

Bob Dylan? He doesn’t seem to care what you think, he’s just going to do it his way.

But if you go to a Bruce Springsteen show you know exactly what you’re going to get, which may be the attraction, but that’s not the essence of rock and roll.

2

Haven’t we learned that the public connects, your image is enhanced, when you reveal your warts? I’d posit the Metallica movie “Some Kind of Monster” cemented the band’s place in the pantheon forever. Underground metal band breaks through to huge mainstream success and then…reveals it’s all f*cked up and is having trouble staying together. This we can relate to. Substance abuse, divorce. James Hetfield is still a rock star, but he’s also human, not purely iconic.

This film could have contained all those elements. Hell, there was low hanging fruit. How did Bruce decide to sell his rights to Sony? How does he feel about his kids…growing up, leaving the house, making their own way, inheriting his assets? How does he cope with Patti’s diagnosis? What responsibilities does he feel he has to her, to us?

But no, we’ve got arena rocker on a pedestal creating the set list of a lifetime while everybody who’s ever worked for him says what a god he is. What’s interesting about that? Not much. As for the performance footage, mostly in rehearsal…there’s a reason performance films have never resonated in the marketplace, they’re absent the key elements of a live show, you can’t feel it, you can’t smell it, you’re not involved in it.

Meanwhile, Bruce is singing about the same damn things he did in his twenties. And he’s lost when it comes to new material. Who gives a sh*t about “Mary’s Place.” Not that we need broad statements. We don’t need solutions to world affairs, we want the personal, we’re all people, including Bruce, what’s it like to be on the planet?

3

So I don’t see a future for rock and roll. Old people can’t sing about teenage life, adolescent romance, and young people don’t want to play rock.

Hell, we went through this once before, and the result was punk.

But then punk became a caricature of itself.

But it turned out Kurt Cobain could write great songs, irrelevant of the style in which they were performed, and Green Day could create catchy tunes with meaning and…

Now all we’ve got is smiling Dave Grohl. I can sleep in peace around Dave, he’s not going to steal my money or my car, whereas I’ve been around musicians that demand you keep one eye open, or…they might have too many beers and then lord knows what will happen.

Sure, I write a lot about old songs and how they resonate. But in truth, it’s always the new things that resonate most. The new and different is always more satisfying than the old and comfortable. And once you step out of your comfort zone, possibilities open up, there are new avenues to explore, whereas when you’re stuck in a rut…

Rock is stuck in a rut.

4

So I’m Debbie Downer. Sorry.

But I know it when I see it, when I hear it. And I’m always looking for it.

Everybody’s cutting everybody a break, everybody’s afraid to offend anybody. Then again, Donald Trump is more rock than the rock stars. The image of rockers was built on lies. Half the stories that are legend never happened. I didn’t want him elected, but I’ve got to say, Trump was so out of control the past few weeks that it was an amazing movie to watch. And the funny thing is people bought it! Just like they bought the rock stars of yore. They didn’t scratch their heads and wonder…if there are no taxes on tips, no taxes on social security, and my tax rate goes down…HOW EXACTLY DOES THAT WORK?

They bought the myth, the image.

Then again, Trump was three-dimensional, unlike Kamala, who was presented in 2-D.

Springsteen is 2-D in “Road Diary.” Massaged, handled, you learn almost nothing. You’re presented with a hard-working saint, someone who is better than us who must be adored.

Oh, don’t make me whip out my bona fides. I saw Bruce at the Bottom Line in 1974, the year before “Born to Run,” when the “Jungleland” he played had not yet been released on wax. I played “Candy’s Room” at full volume on my first date with my ex-wife. I told all those women in the AOL chat rooms I was looking for the human touch.

But I can question my heroes.

Bruce has been subsumed by his image. And his handlers are keeping him from reality.

There’s a business in delivering the old hits.

But it doesn’t change the world.

And once rock did.

Once Bruce Springsteen did. An album of demos that was mastered from a cassette? “Nebraska” was a risk, there’s no risk in “Road Diary,” and no buzz either, because who other than diehard fans needs to see it, and even they don’t need to see it. Why even put it out? We’re looking for art, not commerce.

Kitty is definitely not back in “Road Diary.”

But we’re still waiting for her to reappear.

But in this movie Bruce ain’t giving us much hope.

And he’s one of the last people standing.

I need to believe, I’m looking for belief, I’m looking for something new and different that touches my soul, illuminates the path forward.

And “Road Diary” ain’t it.

Majordomo of the Cornerstone Agency, Cornerstone Management, the Fader…

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jon-cohen/id1316200737?i=1000676048095

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast