We live in a world where we can no longer do or say as we choose.

Because of the blowback.

Play online, say something, have an opinion and you’ll be inundated with naysayers.

God help you if you do cross the line, you can apologize but you’ll be branded forever.

And you think you’re a party of one, but then you watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and you realize you are not alone.

The breaking of the selfie stick. How is this a thing? Forget selfies themselves, didn’t we used to be too humble for this? As for sticks… I mean you carry these around and shoot pictures of yourself and you expect us to care?

And the damn scooters. Dropped everywhere. And if you look at the physics of it, what’s gonna happen when you hit a bump? The bigger the wheel, the safer you are. But that doesn’t explain why today’s automobiles have such skinny tires just to look good. Hit a pothole and not only do you get a flat, you need a whole new rim! And the ride is stiffer but it’s all about looks.

We’re so busy fitting in, afraid of crossing boundaries, that we feel constricted, we want to break out.

And the funny thing is it’s mostly on the left!

Yup, there are certain things you can’t say, you can’t do…

But “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is shot in Los Angeles, where everybody is left. Such that when you wear a MAGA hat, people will not talk to you, they want nothing to do with you.

So the truth is everybody’s fighting to get ahead, at least in Los Angeles. They’ve all got a dream, they’re going to be somebody rich and famous.

And the funny thing is so many of those who are rich, who have made it, can’t stop bragging about it. The bit with Phil Rosenthal was so right on.

So what you’ve got with Larry is someone who calls ’em as he sees ’em. Unfiltered. He says and does what we want to do but have been trained not to.

And the best thing is everything’s petty. Nothing’s truly important. Mirroring real life. Especially when you get older.

It is about that hot cup of coffee. It is about friends.

As for romance…does it ever really end? I mean it’s over, but those feelings, do they really evaporate?

Most other shows are trying to be real and miss the target.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is trying to be fake and it ends up more real, more true.

Like the woman with the tattoo, who says it’s personal, what it’s about, it reminds her of something important in her life.

Don’t laugh at people’s tattoos. They’ve scarred themselves forever, they’re very important to them.

Never mind that tattoos are just a fad. Believe me, the kids of those covered in ink will have clear skin. Just like so many of the children of baby boomers are money hungry, and Republicans, if they don’t call themselves Libertarians. Alex P. Keaton was just the first!

And the funny thing is people cross boundaries and when they’re called on it they refuse to own it, they push it right back on you.

So life ends up being about the little things.

Even though the news tries to tell us it’s about the big things.

Impeachment, smeachment. We’re sick and tired of hearing about it. It’s like watching an endless movie where you know the end. At least the Democrats and the press could have juiced it up, told us that Trump might be out, but no! They’ve already decided on the result, just like they said Hillary was gonna win in 2016.

So the human condition today is to feel alone and try to get accolades. Isn’t that what social media is all about, doing it for the likes? Actually, the social media warriors are up in arms, they’re gonna get rid of the likes on Instagram, how will they judge themselves, how will they demonstrate they’re better than all the rest of us? And the like factories, building fake fans, they’re gonna go out of business! You can’t put anybody out of business today!

And men are on guard with sexual harassment. Every interaction is pregnant with meaning, even if it really isn’t. Men wonder where the line is.

And the truth is life is not only tribal between left and right, but left and left. And nobody on the left is willing to get into this, especially males, for fear of being canceled.

How Larry David encapsulated all this in a half hour improvised comedy I’ll never know.

But watching “Curb” made me feel alive, and unalone, in a way I haven’t for weeks!

DON’T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS!

We’re only two episodes into the second season, and there are four.

If “Money Heist” were in English, it would be the biggest show on television.

That’s not to say it would be the best show on television, but once you get hooked, you eat it right up.

Now on one level the series is meaningless, as in it’s about a heist. And if you’re into cops and robbers, first watch “Spiral,” on Amazon, but that’s in French. And if you want to learn something, view “A French Village.”

But chances are you won’t do any of the above, because you’re too busy going down your own rabbit hole, and you’re not sure if you trust me.

But the reason to watch “Money Heist” on Netflix is because of the people, their personalities.

The truth doesn’t come out until the middle of the first season, they don’t go deep into the background of any of the personalities until then, but when they do, there are so many issues.

Can a group get along? Or is there always someone who bucks the system?

And when the going gets hard, do you stick to the plan or?

And if you’re a hostage, do you try to escape?

I’ve thought about that my whole life. As a Jew you grow up learning about the Holocaust, and you wonder, would you leave?

Looks all rosy from the other side, especially if you know history, but are you willing to give up everything, your house, your friends, your money, in order to try and preserve your life? And the emphasis here is on “try.” It’s like a human version of “Let’s Make A Deal.” And I’m asking you, do you feel lucky? I don’t.

Kind of how I used to talk to Republicans. I always tried to see their side, keep it calm, but the funny thing is they never tried to see my side. Oh, they thought they knew it and it was incorrect, so they had no time for it. But in the age of Trump, I don’t suffer them anymore.

Then again, I’m so busy listening to people to be a member of the group, to be friends, because the rewards are there, when you’re a pinball you learn the pitfalls, you gain experience, you have fun.

But few are listening to me.

That’s another thing I’ve learned about the modern age, how narcissistic people are. They’re just looking for an opportunity to sell you their vision, no matter how bogus, they’ve convinced themselves and now they’re trying to convince you. And they may throw some money to charities, but it’s about embellishing their brand. Poor people going nowhere have no brand, they give out of compassion. But in America everybody believes they’re going to be a winner, and you succeed by appealing to them. Want to know how the election will turn out? Watch the movie “Milk.” Harvey Milk is speaking the truth, but he’s giving no hope, and he loses until he does just that.

My hope is in these shows. Maybe because they’re static, maybe because they can’t jump off the flat screen and try to cajole me into watching. They’re another world, and as much as they’re an escape, I’m looking for truth. Flawed people, usually unaware of their flaws, trying to work it out.

I couldn’t work it out until I went into therapy. I thought I could see the landscape, but I couldn’t. Not that I had to adjust my entire personality, my doctor says you can change one tiny thing and the whole picture changes.

Now if you’re a parent, how involved in your kid’s roadmap are you?

The funny thing is the elites are heavily involved. Making sure their progeny follow the right steps to be comfortable in life, however unhappy they might be. And life’s too short to go through it unhappy, then again, I’ve martyred myself on the slab of commitment more than once.

That’s the conundrum. Rewards go to those who stick with it, but there’s also a time to jump, but those sunk costs…

So, do you pressure your kid into being a winner if they’re a loser?

And if you’re a loser, do you have to own it?

That comes up in “Money Heist.” As well as class. Your dream is you can climb the ladder, whereas those already up top not only won’t let you in, they’re ignoring you. Is it worth it to try and fight your way up there?

And so much of success comes down to character. Then again, many of the mega-rich are flawed. They had to be so myopic, they had to step on so many people to get ahead. Steve Jobs was inherently flawed. Mark Zuckerberg is too. Don’t wait for Mark to be reasonable, it’s not in his toolkit.

But it comes down to applying yourself, how long can you stay in the ring before you cry “uncle.” The truth is most people can’t last too long, so if you can, you march right to the head of the class.

And if you’re a parent, are you watching your own mistakes, or are you just passing them on to your kids, the after-effects or the lessons.

So, can a leopard change its spots?

In other words, once a criminal always a criminal?

And in today’s world, can you get away with anything but white collar crime, has technology progressed to the point where you’re gonna get caught, no matter what? Hell, there are cameras in your own damn house, do you think they’re not going to go to that videotape?

And what’s your price? At what point do you throw over your morals for money?

And at what point do you do what’s expedient, cozy up to your capturers believing it will keep you alive.

And personality drives the car more than looks. The way the women manipulate the men in this series… And they know they’re doing it! And can you handle when a woman comes on to you, when she is calling the shots, or do you get nervous?

And speaking of rules… Do you obey them or do you not? Every day in the news there are legends who have turned out to have crossed the line. Can you say “Houston Astros”?

And at what point are you in so deep that it’s not worth turning back?

And can you rely on others. Today, mostly you can’t, especially on the small things. Will the person show up on time? Will they show up at all?

And some of the winners feel like losers inside. The picture says one thing and the heart says another.

And it still comes down to the question of whether I’d try to escape. I think not. I’d think I could cozy up to my captors, I’d think I’d be rescued, I’d think if I broke the rules I’d pay the consequences, as in getting shot, killed. And death is final. Done deal. The world moves on, you don’t.

I know, I know, it’s just a genre series.

But the masterminding of the crime is fascinating.

But it’s the life lessons that keep me watching.

My first reaction was laughter. You spent all that time searching and vetting and then this happened?

But today I’ve flipped.

I do not know Ms. Dugan’s personality. There are people with rough edges, who do not get along. But after the aforementioned vetting, what are the odds that Dugan has sharp elbows, especially after dealing with Bono, et al?

As for experience… At first I thought this was an Andy Lack situation. You know, someone with no history comes in believing they know better and it turns out that they’re clueless, they don’t respect the business, believing it’s run by simpletons But Deborah Dugan had experience at EMI, never mind RED.

Let’s go back in history. The Grammys were a joke until Mike Greene levitated them. He single-handedly gave the awards gravitas. And he stood up to the powers-that-be, that’s why the Grammys didn’t return to New York.

But Greene was his own man, uncontrollable, and the powers-that-be never liked this. You see Greene was first and foremost a musician, and musicians need to be taught a basic lesson, that they’re second class citizens.

And then Deborah Dugan put the artist first, and all hell broke loose.

You see the Grammys are first and foremost about the CBS contract, why else would the organization allow the TV presenters and try to appeal to an aged audience? You see CBS pays beaucoup bucks, and your goal is to keep them happy.

And then comes the labels.

Musicians may come and go, but the labels remain. Especially today. With consolidation.

Yup, the labels want Grammys for marketing purposes. They insist their employees block vote. They want to win, and you either play ball or you’re excommunicated.

Now for 17 years you had Neil Portnow. What was his background? THE LABELS! If Portnow didn’t put his foot in his mouth, telling women to step up, he’d still be in control, because he’s just what the labels want, a wuss who will do what they say.

And some of Portnow’s choices were insane. Giving up the building you own to rent another office?

But if you come from the label side, it’s all about the seven figure salary and appearances. You need a huge office, a fancy car, you’ve got to look the part, like you’re an equal to the big swinging dicks.

And they all have had dicks. Women have been excluded. Or else the business has trained them to operate like men in order to succeed. And then you get a woman recruited by women who’ve never had a seat at the table. How do you think that’s gonna work out? BADLY!

Yes, the reports are that Dugan never fit in.

Because the Grammy lifers don’t like change. Especially in a world where no one can lose their job.

The Grammy organization is not like working on the business side of the ledger. Don’t perform at the label or agency or concert promotion company and you’re out. To be in the circus you sell your soul, you need to be available 24/7, if you complain you need time for your regular life, you’re not cut out for the business and won’t last. You should feel privileged to work in the business, because many other people are willing to take your gig at less pay. Supply and demand baby. It’s economics.

So a job at the Grammys is cushy.

But it’s not only cushy for the employees, but for the trustees and the rest of the hangers-on. They fly to Hawaii, live it up, all on the Grammy dime. They’re bleeding the organization dry, but they don’t care.

And speaking of not caring, the household name musicians? They’re not involved, they’ve got no time for the politics and the truth is they’ve got no time at all, they’re too busy working! And the top tier believes the Grammys are lame anyway, it’s only the underlings who really care, which is why there are nearly a hundred categories and you can’t eliminate any. Some of the categories have so few contenders that they essentially pass the Grammy around. Then, on all their bios, they put that they won said Grammy. The Brits have ten categories, they’ve gotten rid of even more than that. They’re willing to shake it up, stay current. Meanwhile, we’ve seen the same damn “Grammy moment” mash-up TV show for years. You’d think every song on the hit parade was a medley featuring stars from different genres, it’d be like going to see a Scorsese film and having it turn into a Kevin Hart movie in the middle.

But hell, look how long it’s taken to get rid of Ken Ehrlich, who has produced the Grammys for forty years! Do you think the rank and file employees, the organization itself is gonna accept change? NO!

Sure, maybe Dugan should have read the room, maybe moved a bit slower, but the truth is they were never gonna accept her, they didn’t want their cheese moved, they wanted it to be the same as it ever was, but with a new figurehead.

The music business runs on artists, shouldn’t they be at the pinnacle of the mission statement?

Did Dugan really need an office that big?

And who is gonna listen to a woman anyway? Especially one who is not a people-pleaser.

This is why we had Napster, this is why today’s music business is run by indies, not majors. How many categories do the majors even release music in? And today, the scene is broader than ever before. But instead, we get the usual suspects.

If the organization doesn’t change, it dies. Look at the Oscars… They want to keep it as it was and insist you watch, even though the bulk of revenue comes from moviegoers who have never seen the nominees! So they expand the Best Picture category but the popular movies never win anyway, they’re just bait to get you to tune into the telecast.

And the truth is all awards shows are tanking in ratings. Ten years from now they may not even be a thing, certainly not on network TV.

And network TV may not even exist, certainly not in its present format.

As for TV distribution… Who in hell is going to subscribe to all these services? It’s worse than the cable bundle. Which is just what the purveyors want, screw the viewer.

So Deborah Dugan tries to bring the organization into the present, prepare for the future, and no one wants that.

Come on, are we gonna get a new caretaker like Portnow after only a few months? Are people really that afraid of change?

Yes.

You probably didn’t watch it.

That’s the story of the social media age, we’re all in our own cocoons, and we get the news via absorption as opposed to first hand.

The younger generation does not read the newspaper, certainly not the physical one, but the headlines do appear in their feeds, they get a facsimile of the news online.

As for oldsters?

Sure, they care, they vote the most, but except for a small coterie who live for the political game, most are hunkered down in their bunkers, deep into news that confirms their bias.

Furthermore, an incredible percentage of Democrats have ankled their Republican friends. When these righties start spouting the talking points the Dems feel their blood boil, and since you cannot convince someone to change their opinion in an argument, at best they’ll reevaluate later, it’s a personal stand to avoid interaction, and many do.

So we had a debate and few people watched. Tuesday night’s affair had the lowest ratings for a debate so far.

But it was one of the best. By only having six candidates on stage there was coherence, everybody got time to respond, to not only the questioners but their fellow candidates.

Let’s start with Tom Steyer. How he polled high enough to get in this debate flummoxes me. As for those who didn’t qualify, they’re done, toast. Marianne Williamson dropped out. Cory Booker punted. You may align with one of those excluded but still running, but it’s a lost cause. Like a record, they’ve peaked, and no one is willing to invest in them anymore, not prodigious amounts, they want to focus on the winners.

Which brings us to Amy Klobuchar. The Trust Me candidate. Yup, she’s from a red district, so she can beat the Orange Menace.

Only Minnesota is one of the most liberal states in the union. The rap is it’s cold, but if you want a social safety net, if you want a cosmopolitan center, if you want elbow room and outdoor activities, move to Minnesota. The people there know this, everybody else is afraid of the weather.

So intellectually, we get Klobuchar. But we just can’t get behind her emotionally. We agree she could do the job, she looks good on paper, it’s just that it’s hard to work up a passion about her.

Also, Amy’s debating in an old fashioned style. Quoting experiences about her dad and her father, these tropes no longer work, especially after Joe the Plumber. You look rehearsed, when we’re looking for spontaneity, humanity. Also, Amy was a bit off her game.

Buttigieg?

Smooth. Compared to the alta kachers on stage, he was a breath of fresh air, in that he was young, his memory was intact, he could turn on a dime, the only thing is he didn’t run his own city so well and he’s not believable, as in he’s made the tactical decision to run to the center and there’s little appeal for this. Yup, just like with the nation at large, Democrats are now tribal. Either you want drastic change or you want to keep what you’ve got and get rid of Trump. Pete falls somewhere in the middle, and that’s nowheresville.

Which brings us to Biden.

I wish you’d watched this debate, because if you had there’d be no chance in hell you’d vote for Joe. He could not get the words out, he got confused. And sure, he was always this way, but now it’s worse.

Joe gained a bit of steam at the end, but you wince when he starts to speak. Furthermore, you should read the opinion piece in the “Times,” from a reporter in Iowa. Joe was speaking at a college and students were leaving. Because they disagreed with his viewpoints? No, because he was so boring!

“I’m a Reporter in Iowa. Here’s What My State Is Looking For. We don’t care about Biden’s electability. We want excitement”

Robert Leonard, the author of the above article, has it right, when so many in New York and D.C. have it wrong. He’s on the ground, he interacts with voters. He’s living it. And the truth is candidates are not math, they’re people. Come on, ever have a crush on a beautiful person and after talking to them you have no desire to interact with them further? Yup, it’s about more than looks, it’s about personality, character. And we tend to adhere to those with rough edges, as opposed to those whose are smooth.

So Elizabeth Warren generates excitement. It’s just that she blew it by repeatedly avoiding that question about paying for Medicare in that old debate and instantly she looked like a typical, two-faced, double-talking politician. I was for her. I’d still vote for her. But, you’ve got to deliver when the mic is on, and she did not.

That’s another thing that was evidenced in this debate. Experience. Steyer didn’t have it, he’s still on the learning curve, of how to deliver in these circumstances.

And Elizabeth Warren is too.

No, the person with the most experience debating, who looked most comfortable on stage was…

Bernie Sanders.

Now Warren had the winning speech of the night, when she talked about the women on stage being the only ones who never lost an election. That resonated. But it was so deep in the debate that most people were not watching. You’ve got to kill in the first twenty minutes, after that it does not matter.

But if you did not watch and are paying attention to the scuttlebutt you’d think the debate was all about a war between Warren and Sanders over whether a woman can win. What he said, what she said.

But during the debate, that was handled graciously. Warren did not double-down on Bernie. She took the high road and triumphed.

But then she was petty after the debate and the blowback is now hurting her. Yup, that’s the story of this debate, how she wouldn’t shake Bernie’s hand and she accused him of lying.

Do we care?

Not really. It’s got nothing to do with running for President. And is there anybody paying attention who believes a woman cannot run and win? After Obama won twice and Hillary won the popular vote and a gay man polls high enough to be on stage?

But the truth is we’re coming to crunch time. It’s getting vicious. For not only the candidates, but their teams. Yup, if you’ve been canvassing forever, you want to win, you’ll almost say anything to succeed.

So right after this debate was over, I went online to see what was being said.

Didn’t look like the debate I watched.

Proving how powerful the media is.

It’s not only Fox News. If you’ve got a substantial audience, you can sway public sentiment. So those not truly paying attention are not gonna get the real story, but a filtered one from someone with an interest in the game.

Now they batted health care around once more. Which was a complete waste of time. And Klobuchar even said this. That Medicare For All isn’t gonna pass right away anyway.

And Bernie gave an overall take too. That what it came down to was defeating Trump. That most of the details of the debate were irrelevant. And, he said he would support any of the candidates on stage who became the nominee. Which is contrary to what happened in 2016. Bernie seemed enthusiastic when he said this, irrelevant of the truth.

And the truth is Bernie is winning, and will probably win the nomination and the election and become our next President.

Whoa! Hold your horses there baby!

The pundits talking about McGovern? No one was passionate about McGovern, he was just a reasonable guy against the war in Vietnam. Sure, we were gonna support him, vote for him, but we didn’t really care about him. We cared about Eugene McCarthy, who pushed the envelope when no one else would, in 1968. Hubert Humphrey was a pretty good guy, but the wrong guy for the times. People wanted to be passionate, they wanted change.

Just like today.

So proving that you can’t predict the future, even though I just did, Bernie is more reasonable, even stronger since he had his heart attack.

Health issues used to doom you. But with a President who has had multiple divorces, never mind affairs, who got a scalp reduction and wears makeup…all the stuff that used to kill your candidacy no longer does, no matter how much the other side might harp on it.

But Bernie does look like he needs hearing aids. He kept putting his hand to his ear to hear. Now Klobuchar, even further away from the questioners, did this once too, but if Bernie needs to hear better, he should turn hearing aids into a good thing, Reagan did.

So if you take the temperature of the press, you have noticed that every paper has recently done a major article on Bernie Sanders saying he just might win the nomination. Nobody in these papers thinks this is a good thing, a lot of them believe he’d ruin the country, and they wouldn’t vote for him, but…

The younger people will.

That’s another canard, that young people won’t vote. It’s a new dawn folks. Young people have the most at stake, can you say “climate change”? They came out in 2018 and they’ll come out even more in 2020, if they’re passionate about the candidate.

I was talking to a rock star yesterday, a hero of the millennials, and he said his fans, the people he knows…if Elizabeth or Bernie are not nominated they’re gonna stay home, not even bother to vote.

This is what happened in 2016. This is one of the reasons Hillary lost. A lot of these people stayed home or voted for Jill Stein.

They’re not gonna now, if they believe there’s a chance of real change.

Now we’re gonna get a much clearer picture in a few weeks, when the vote begins. But let’s say Bernie Sanders wins…

Is he gonna take your house back? Not allow you to make seven figures? As for Medicare For All, I point you to another “New York Times” opinion piece:

“How the Health Insurance Industry (and I) Invented the ‘Choice’ Taking Point. It was always misleading. Now Democrats are repeating it”

Wendell Potter was part of the disinformation campaign. He was VP of corporate communications at Cigna. He knows of what he speaks. That’s right, the big companies spin to their advantage. Purdue Pharma said oxycontin was not addictive. The tobacco companies hid the perils of smoking. Oil companies hid climate change research. They didn’t want to sacrifice. And instinctively you know this. That the man is not on your side.

And Bernie Sanders is standing up to the man.

Bernie’s never wavered. Warren lost further credibility when she said she’d delay implementation of Medicare For All. Once you cave to the crowd, once you say what’s expedient as opposed to what’s in your heart, you’re history.

As for extreme positions… Just look at our President. Middle of the road didn’t defeat him!

But you’re afraid of change.

But there’s a huge number of Americans who are dying for it, some of them literally. Sure, the economy is humming, but not for many folks, who may be working but are underpaid.

It is not business as usual. The old rules no longer apply. And Trump has intensified the importance of the election. There’s so much at stake, climate change, abortion, Supreme Court appointees, war… People are scared and they want to take action and all the talking heads can do is cite nearly fifty year old history. As if we’re doomed, because nothing ever changes.

As for Bloomberg, he knows he’s done. How do we know? Because he’s already hedging his bets, he’s already pledged to spend all that money on the nominee’s campaign even if it isn’t him.

Now as we get closer to Election Day, we will end up with just two candidates. People are familiar with Trump, but whomever the Democrats nominate will get the benefit of the spotlight. And when the light shines on Bernie they’re gonna see someone who is confident in his positions, who does not waver.

You talk about history hurting him. But that’s just history, it’s not today, and the truth is we’ve all changed, we’re all fallible and we want hope.

What did James Carville say?

IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID!

And that’s exactly what Sanders is talking about. Do you have an economic future, can you pay your bills?

And what was Obama’s slogan?

HOPE!

Biden’s not offering any hope. Neither is Buttigieg. And Klobuchar’s flame is flickering.

But Warren and Sanders are all about hope.

Get ready. The impossible is gonna happen. Get on the train early.

No one thought that a black man could win.

But he did.

We want someone to believe in, to get behind. That’s the story of today, everybody’s doing what’s expedient, you can only believe in yourself, but now…