What kind of crazy f*cked up world do we live in where Ozzy Osbourne has no problem standing up against antisemitism and most musicians stay silent, for fear of alienating a potential fan, like a Congressman flipping from rationality to line up behind Donald Trump no matter how insane his statements might be.

That was quite a headline yesterday, Trump telling NATO members to pony up or he would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want.

Don’t take it at face value. That’s not what it’s all about. It’s part of the Trump brand, saying the unsayable, the unpardonable, with impunity. And so far it’s been working for him. Whether or not this guy belongs in jail…so far we don’t know, because in order for that to happen there has to be a trial, and Trump and his minions keep forestalling one, fanning the flames of the love of his acolytes all the while.

This is where we are today, after the conformity of the millennials. Our heroes are like the rock stars of yore, the rules don’t apply to them, and those sick of the rules, working brain dead jobs for not enough money, or those who are sick of giving their money to the government, believing that they too are above the law, cheer them on.

And the boomers just can’t understand it. The same boomers who studied hard in school to get a good job and are now resented as the elite. Everything has flipped and the boomers are flummoxed. They’re supposed to be in control, right?

Wrong.

The boomers won’t pass the torch and the world has gone on react. Keep fighting TikTok…talk about alienating a younger generation. The boomers believe that the law can stifle bad behavior, not acknowledging that ever since Napster it’s been obvious that legislation is no match for the marching progress of technology and society.

In the eighties and nineties they sampled your music without asking. That’s why we have the beats-based music of today, too many rappers were caught with their hands in the cookie jar, and had to pay the sources. But Kanye asked permission, was denied, and did it anyway. This is not the rock star behavior of the sixties, wherein it was about social norms, this is raw legal issues. Kinda like Elon Musk, who doesn’t like what the Delaware court had to say and is moving the HQ of Tesla elsewhere. I could delineate all the ways in which Musk believes and acts like he’s above the law but I’ll just point to how it’s working for him, if you’re actually still on the cesspool known as X, it’s dominated by Musk’s fanboys, as energized as the Swifties, purveying heinous takes and hating on anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

But Ozzy Osbourne comes from the old school. When being a rock star meant controverting social mores. Questioning that which was established thinking which had never been questioned before. That was actually the mantra, “Question Authority.” You’d see it on buttons. But the millennials were afraid of being excised from the group, they were the opposite of their boomer parents, they didn’t want to stand out, they stayed silent and somnambulant.

And then rappers shot others with impunity. At first they evaded imprisonment, then they went to jail and it further enhanced their reputations. And what did the boomers say? Nothing! They said it’s black people killing black people and we don’t care. And therefore this lawless behavior became the norm, the rappers became heroes to their children, confounding the parents further.

And everybody believed that there would be no day of reckoning. Kind of like income inequality. How long can you keep the underclass down, even the middle class? And what do the rich say? That they earned the money, forgetting it was the rank and file that paid their businesses so they could make that money to begin with.

And if you were rich your opinion was valued higher than if you weren’t. And when you realized this, you started to use your power to change society to your liking. Whether it be Musk, Ackman, Gates, Thiel…they operate in their own universe.

So Ozzy learned about antisemitism from his take no prisoners Jewish wife Sharon. You don’t cross Sharon, ever. But they are boomers, once again, it’s not the children of boomers standing up for what’s right and wrong, they don’t want to be excoriated.

And how does Kanye move forward after self-immolating? By making news. Kanye knows more about society than Congresspeople. Trump knows even more. Trump knows that to win he needs to be in the news every damn day, being the topic of conversation constantly. Biden and the Democrats? They don’t even understand the construct. They talk about a return to normalcy, and we haven’t had that spirit here since…

This is the new normal. Where it’s nearly impossible to gain anybody’s attention and therefore if you’re not making news each and every day, you’re falling behind. Old school musicians may complain, but social media, feeding your fans, who are salivating for information, enabling them to spread the word, is how you maintain a career today.

Trump does this and the youngsters understand. And Trump knows that legends like Ozzy biting off the head of a dove stick with the public, so he keeps saying outrageous things so you’ll remember them too. Trump’s NATO comments yesterday are inane on the surface. A threat, playing to his base, who believes the rest of the world is not paying their fair share for defense, that the U.S. is carrying the weight and shouldn’t. Of course the devil is in the details, but the shock value of the statement is its prime effect.

And this statement evidences power, that Trump may not ever even have. But if you’re a fan, you love him for it. Trump realized that all of life is now showbiz, and those brought up in a different era hate this. Your value should be determined by your degrees, by your philanthropy… Hell, Trump pledges money and then doesn’t even deliver it. Believing that no one will be paying attention. The government can’t whac all the moles. So you sit at home decrying his behavior but it keeps on working for him.

We’re all responsible. The boomers who said nothing when the jobs were shipped overseas. The Americans who like cheap foreign products. The hedge funders who refuse to pay taxes at a regular income rate. Everybody is looking for an edge, looking to underfund the authorities, the institutions that would keep them in check. The bureaucracy is the “Deep State.” The system is being systematically dismantled and all those on the left can do is cry like babies, and that does not work in an aggressive culture.

Yes, you decide what you want, you won’t take no for an answer, and you employ a scorched-earth policy, your fans go wild on anybody with a contrary opinion. Say something negative about Taylor Swift at your peril. And she’s not the only one. Internet hate is rampant. And the only way you could eliminate it is to shut down the pipes completely.

There is no return to normal. There could be a great leap forward to create a new normal, but on one side they want to go back to the fifties when things weren’t so good to begin with and on the other they ask us to put our faith in an octogenarian who doesn’t even understand everything I’ve just written. No wonder the youth are disillusioned, they’ve been disenfranchised. And African-Americans are sick of supporting a Democratic party that continues not to deliver for them. And Latinx people are drifting away from the Democrats because of the border.

How come everything has changed, yet in government it’s business as usual, if anything happens at all? Impeach people, it’s all theatre, nothing happens anyway, your team won’t allow it, or you’re outnumbered to begin with.

Do you think the public isn’t aware of this?

So we’re left with Ozzy Osbourne and the Sudanos to stand up for what’s right and wrong, they’re doing what the government will not.

But the average citizen? They’re looking for an edge, they’re trying to beat the system too, because if the rich and famous are…

And you’ve got to give the younger generation credit. The boomers laugh at the social media influencers, but these unknown to many know the game, they post each and every day, they’re a slave to their career. They’re doing a job that didn’t even exist in the last century. And everybody can be a porn star on OnlyFans.

Yes, everybody has the tools, a computer, a smartphone and an internet connection. It’s what you do with them that counts.

And you’re nothing without notice. And unlike in the old days, you can release a great record and it gets no traction, it can’t surface because there’s too much in the pipeline.

And Universal wants to make sure the small independent players don’t get paid. Yes, if you’ve got under a thousand streams, you’re SOL. And of course a thousand streams doesn’t pay much, but in the aggregate… But Lucian Grainge says the big artists (read billionaires, at least in concept) draw in the customers and they deserve more than their share. It’s all about leverage. And speaking of leverage, the streaming platforms can’t say no, because they need the licenses.

Right and wrong? Morality? Out the window!

And you’re outraged by Kanye and Trump’s behavior?

Outrage is so twentieth century. If you want to change the world, if you want to make a difference, you’ve got to be doing it 24/7. And you’ve got to pay a lot of taxes. And you have to be worried about your brother. And how many people are there like that?

Hardly any. There are no role models doing it right.

So don’t be surprised when your children follow the bad actors. Because the bad actors are winning and those who follow the rules are seen as suckers.

If you want to change the world, don’t look to the past. Bring out a clean sheet of paper. Change occurs at a glacial pace. But when you’re asleep, rust is not. And then you wake up one day and you don’t recognize society, never mind your country.

Welcome to the United States of America.

Peak® 98

These are my kind of skis, lively and playful.

The ski business has done a complete one-eighty. In the last century it was dominated by Rossignol, known for its lively skis. Yes, that was the French ethos, as opposed to the Austrian and German ethos, which specifies heavier, stiffer skis. You were either in one camp or the other, and then…

The shaped ski revolution came along and Rossignol was caught flat-footed. Salomon, an upstart French brand, became the new king with its X-Scream. And had a good run until…

Tecnica bought Blizzard, invested a ton of money in a new factory, hyped its “FlipCore” and ultimately became the new titan. From nowhere, to everywhere. At first it was the Bonafide, the initial iteration of which I found to be a plank. It would plow through anything, but when it came to turning… The ski was heavy, stiff and dead. The Bonafide has improved over the years, and the women’s Black Pearl became the best-selling ski in the world. And Blizzard kept innovating. Creating unique wooden cores for each ski length. And now they’re breaking up the top titanal sheet into three pieces. Yes, if you want innovation, if you want what everybody else has, you want Blizzard.

But not me.

I’m a French guy. I’ve owned untold numbers of Rossis, but then Rossis became more damp and I switched to the sister brand Dynastar, from Chamonix. And I’ve had so many pairs of Dynastars, I loved them, until… They decided to remove the metal (the aforementioned titanal, which is not titanium) and make the ski stiffer and it skied okay, but it didn’t hold on the hard snow.

That’s when I decided to pay retail, demo everything, and pay through the nose for what I wanted.

And surprisingly ended up with K2s, a brand I hadn’t skied on in over half a century.

I tried the Stockli Stormrider. As Dirk in the shop says, it’s silky, the smoothest ski available (and priced to match). I would have laid down the bucks, but I like a faster turn, and in the bumps… They were just too stiff.

I tried the Bonafide, which was greatly improved, you could even kinda ski it in the bumps. But I thought to myself, can I really buy an Austrian ski?

Then I tried the K2 Mindbender 99, the newly improved version, and when I hit Pepi’s Face, the steepest, iciest slope at Vail, however short, the Mindbenders held no problem. And I bought them.

Well, before I laid down my cash I had to try the latest Dynastars, the M-Pro 99. And as per usual, the Dynastars turned better than everything else. But they didn’t hold like the K2s. So I passed.

Now I also bought a pair of Mindbender 108s. Utterly astounding, they turn even better than the Mindbender 99s. But that dancing on snow… The 99s could not deliver that, even though the wider 108s could, which makes no sense, but that’s the truth.

Just in case you’re flummoxed, 99 represents 99 millimeters, that’s the waist width, and that’s the standard Vail ski.

But it’s not the everyday east coast ski. You want something narrower in the east. Vail is wide open, you want a wider board. But having said that, you really need a quiver, a bunch of skis of different widths for different conditions. The right tool makes all the difference.

So today I skied on the Peak 98s.

Let me be clear, I got these for free. Although I did have to spend $75 to get them mounted.

And I was riding up the lift looking down at them and they seemed pretty straight, would they ski like planks, unable to turn?

Oh, now we’re into sidecut. The bigger the hourglass, the sharper the turn. And when I got off the lift, I rode them straight, all the way from Chair 3 to Chair 2, to Lodgepole, a blue run. And then I built up a head of steam and planted my pole and turned…AND I WAS SHOCKED! These Peak skis turned faster than anything else in my quiver, even my 72s. Furthermore, they held on the hard snow.

This blew my mind, this is not what I expected. I expected a slow-turning plank. And oftentimes, lively skis don’t hold on hard snow, so this was a revelation.

But they are light. Not ultra-light, but nowhere near as heavy as the Blizzards and German-made Volkls. What would happen if I really ripped?

Well, I did. Blitzkrieging Riva Ridge from the top. Let’s be clear, they were not as steady as my K2s, but they held just as well on the hard snow and…my frame of reference was off, it’s been a long time since I’ve been on skis like this.

And, as good as the initiation of the turn was, was the finish equally good? As good as the Dynastar?

Now I took the Peak 98s into the back, Ricky’s Tube, where I could barely see, but I didn’t ski them in any crud, any loose snow. So I don’t know how they’d be in that.

But one thing is for sure, I had FUN on the Peak 98s. It’s an elusive concept, you know it when you feel it. I’m skiing thinking about how a heavier ski might handle, but that liveliness, that playfulness in the Peak was exhilarating. And when I was coming down at the end of the day I realized, I was dancing on snow, the ultimate experience.

So, are the Peaks for you?

Well, unlike the heavy Austrian and German skis, French skis have a reputation for losing their grip as they age. A pro could notice between days fifteen and twenty. And by time you were at day fifty, never mind sixty, you really needed a new pair of skis.

And most people have not skied a lively ski like this in their lives, because they’re out of fashion.

So if you ski on stiff Blizzards and even stiffer Volkls, you might be shocked. (As for the vaunted Nordica Enforcer…true insiders think its blah, kind of dead.)

But those Blizzards and Volkls are good on the groomers, in the crud. In the bumps? A lot of work.

I once bought a pair of Volkls. Essentially unskiable in the bumps, but very smooth elsewhere.

So there are trade-offs, and preferences.

Which is why you should demo before you buy. You can tell the difference between skis in one run. Unfortunately, you’ve got to buy the Peaks to demo them, but they’ve got a no questions asked return policy.

Yes, the Peaks are internet only, direct to consumer. And therefore retail shops are down on them. Once again, don’t listen to anybody tell you what to buy. Especially your friends. They paid for their skis, they love them. As for the experts… They’ve got preferences. Which may or may not align with your needs.

Now this was only one day on the Peak 98s. But I pushed them hard, very hard. Going down Blue Ox nonstop… I’ll be honest, I did not feel as steady as I did on my K2s. But they held just like the K2s. And they turned faster, much faster.

It’s a different experience, One I thought was lost to the sands of time.

And I can’t wait to get out on them again tomorrow, primarily because unlike almost all the big brands, once again, the Peak 98s are FUN!

But having said this, let me remind you that skis are secondary to boots. And when it comes to boots…

Here’s where I differ with many. I like old school heavy boots. I owned a pair of light and stiff Salomons and got rid of them after one season, I just could not get forward in them. Now I’m in the Lange RS 130, a legendary boot, maybe the most legendary extant. The progressive flex is astounding, revelatory.

Now if you’re not looking for the ultimate, Lange has a new boot the Shadow, which everyone is raving about. I could explain how it works, but that’s a whole ‘nother e-mail.

And next year they’re updating the RS 130 for the first time in eons.

But if you’re an avid skier, buy your boots. You can always rent your skis. And if you don’t ski much, that’s what I advise, renting the skis. You’ll always be on new equipment (but don’t cheap out, you’ve got to pay for the “performance” package).

As for those who’ve gotten this far but still have no idea what I’m really talking about, earlier today I saw this video on Instagram Reels:

https://shorturl.at/bxN05

Click and watch the clip, it’s brief.

But if you’re time or technology challenged, here’s what it says:

“Honestly, skiing fixes everything.

It’s like the best therapy money can buy.

Had a bad day?

Go skiing.

Had a bad week?

Go skiing.

Got dumped or played?

Go skiing!

The amount of good memories you get from skiing is phenomenal…

Almost like a dream come true.”

Ain’t that the truth.

Tune in Saturday February 10th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

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

The President of Mexico?

This press conference proves the point.

I’ve stopped commenting on politics, everyone is baked into their position, all political speech does is alienate people. But this memory event begun today with the report of the Special Counsel… How do you defend yourself against that?

By having a press conference. Wherein Biden came across as a doddering old man with experience who you indulge, but don’t let drive.

This is what I was worried about. This is what happens when you play it safe.

I know, all my fellow baby boomers will be telling me to STFU, just get in line and vote for Biden. I’ll tell them I will, vote for Biden, that is, but I’ll also say that my vote in California is irrelevant. But in a handful of states, like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, every vote counts. And this revelation about Biden’s memory, that he couldn’t remember when his son died, when he was Vice President, is enough to persuade people not to vote for him in those states, to the detriment of his presidential hopes.

This guy has got to go. He’s not only putting the Democratic Party at risk, but the entire nation.

How did this happen?

Trump has been aggressive, fighting every legal battle, putting up fictitious roadblocks all the while. The Democrats? Have been somnambulant. Asleep at the wheel. Passive. How can you win if you don’t put points on the board?

Blame the boomers, and the Gen-X’ers, completely out of touch with the youth, many of whom can now vote. The “New York Times” recently featured an article in its Business section with instructions how to give up your smartphone. I’m sure there were Luddites saying the same thing about the automobile. Am I going to defend Internet hate? Of course the smartphone comes with downsides, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Is anybody in charge?

I guess the billionaires. Did you see that Musk is going to fund an anti-Disney suit? Musk battles all the time, and it’s working for him.

That’s the modern mantra. Be aggressive. It’s like everybody in America is a rapper, not suffering any slight without retaliation. That’s our culture.

Except when it comes to Biden and the Democrats.

Every excuse Biden’s team has made abut his memory losses seem ridiculous. No one is buying it.

And with this press conference we’re supposed to deny our own eyes? Biden looked old and untogether. And life is all about perception, and the perception of too many, many of whom count, is that Biden has jumped the shark.

If this were business, Biden would be gone within days. Even Johnson knew when to punt. And I can’t find a single person who wants Kamala.

Don’t say it’s too late, it’s never too late.

This is why you live life, for the unexpected twists. Unfortunately, this was foreseeable.

So Comey kills Clinton and Hur kills Biden. You can argue with the refs all you want, but it never works.

Biden needs to take his name off the ballot within the next week.

Or else…

P.S. Biden meant to say Egypt.