No one in America likes to sacrifice. Their idea of risk is creating a new business. Just as long as they stay out of the mainstream, never move back on the game board, present a bland face so as not to get caught in the undertow. You know who you are, the people who are unwilling to go on the record, who send me e-mail with “name withheld.” You’ll only speak your truth anonymously. Online fake identities are rampant. Everybody feels immune.

But they’re not.

If you’ve been scoring at home, you’re aware that Nike was caught up in the #MeToo movement. So one can say this campaign burnishes its image with women. Then again, not all women voted for Hillary, not all women are concerned with the rights of minorities.

Furthermore, some brands are beyond reproach. Switching athletic gear is like telling people not to eat at In-N-Out, it’s not gonna work.

Meanwhile, these billboards are going to permeate the country for eons. Well, at least weeks, unlike the latest musical projects. Maybe it’s only corporations who can gain sustained mindshare in today’s marketplace. Maybe it’s beyond the power of any individual, other than maybe David Hogg, who’s taking a gap year to extend his anti-gun/Parkland reach.

Everyone’s afraid. Especially corporations. The mea culpas are rampant. They’re afraid of repercussions. Just ask Harley-Davidson, they move production overseas to save the company and they don’t stop being excoriated. You don’t want to get caught in the crosshairs, you go along.

Kinda like the tariff situation in general. We don’t see giant corporations standing up to Agent Orange for fear of backlash. But if you’ve got no backbone, we lose trust in you. Just like Google and its own employees. Google wants to work in China, at what cost?

We’re looking for leaders, we’re looking for inspiration, and what we find is celebrities hawking goods, getting caught in shenanigans by TMZ. And then we have Colin Kaepernick standing up for what he believes, not getting caught in any faux pas and risking his career, never mind his salary. Meanwhile, his collusion lawsuit goes forward. The NFL should be afraid, very afraid, it’s losing its hold as the sport of America. Not only with the CTE issue but the fact that the owners are reinforcing racism with their plantation mind-set. That’s right, most of the players are black. Who cares if they’re paid a lot. First and foremost they’re people.

And you can sit at home and say you’re not gonna watch. But ironically the most racist people are the ones who cannot give football up, it’s a religion.

And now Nike weighs in.

Field and track never got any respect. That’s how Nike got started.

Sure, Kanye is selling sneakers, but that’s fashion, not performance. Nike is all about performance, a shoe for every event. That’s the company’s image. Remember the concept of standing for something, other than ripping the people off?

And Nike’s record is not perfect, but they’ve done a very good job of protecting athletes, standing by them, The record label may drop you and forget you, but Nike soldiers on, even after Michael Jordan leaves the basketball court.

So where does this leave us?

Nike is not only calling the NFL’s bluff, but Donald Trump’s too. Standing up to the big bad bully. Isn’t that what sports are all about? Aren’t sports high school on steroids?

You’ve been cowering, but someone’s got to say NO MAS!

Nike just did. People follow leaders. Expect more corporations to follow. And note that change starts with the individual. Curt Flood sat out and changed the face of baseball. Colin Kaepernick’s story is not about football, but the football mentality. The players are fungible, it’s only the coach and the owner that matter. You’ve got to sacrifice your identity for the team. It’s all about the team.

How’s the team been treating you?

It’s been taking away your health insurance.

Cutting taxes on the rich.

Letting citizens die in Puerto Rico.

It’s a long, hard way to the top, to change, but we’re getting there. Because one guy and one company decided they’d refuse to bend.

Are you bending?

Are you willing to give up your gas guzzler?

What are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good?

It feels like the sixties all over again.

Ex-UFC Owner Frank Fertitta Father of the Bride Delivers Mars, Mayer & Seal Play Wedding Singer

It all comes down to the crash. The winners paid no penalty, the losers are still paying.

That’s right, 2008 seems so long ago, but the new theory is we’re paying the bill today, politically, socially. Timothy Geithner saved the banks and corporations, but people lost their houses and they still have not regained their opportunities. Trump has made it even worse. The corporations were given a tax break, they gave the cash back to their shareholders, the market is booming, but the rank and file, the workers? They’re no better off.

It’s not your daddy’s music business anymore. It’s not your daddy’s country either. The days of the Doors refusing to sell out to corporations are long gone. Let’s see, I’m Bruno Mars, should I play the Super Bowl or a private? In sheer dollars, there’s more cash at the private. Then again, for those who’ve attended private events, they’re oftentimes bizarre, because the assembled multitude just doesn’t care, you’re getting paid, but you’re getting ignored. But it’s a paycheck. And you’re not rich enough to turn it down.

Vinod Khosla can afford to fight the California Coastal Commission, but musicians are not that rich. Khosla is a billionaire, one of many in America today. Billionaire musicians, are there really any of them? Maybe Dre, maybe Paul McCartney, do you see them wasting money standing on principle? No. You see musicians are the hired help, the court jesters, they perform for the entertainment of those much richer and more powerful than they are. As for standing on principles, the politicians don’t, and neither do the techies. What you do is…

Take the money.

No one listens to what Bruno Mars has to say. He’s all about good times. The only people with principles these days are those without the notoriety. Only the poor, the rank and file, have principles and morals these days, but…

I just came home from a party where a millennial was pissed. His career was hobbled by the recession, he wants his piece of the pie, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get it, and he’s a left winger. But the Democrats are whored out to the same people the Republicans are, and bucking the system…voting for a third party only means you’re muddying the water and the lesser of two evils loses and the worst possible candidate wins. There’s no room for dreamers in America these days.

But these are the only days most people know. Competition music shows, they’re all imitating Mariah Carey, but she broke nearly thirty years ago. People have no idea what happened in the sixties and seventies. It’s like trying to analogize Trump to Nixon, Tricky Dick’s resignation is something they learned in history books, and if it’s like my education, the recent past was never covered, because it was assumed you knew it, since the teachers had lived through it and did.

And the medium changes the message. The reason we had the music revolution of the late sixties and early seventies was FM radio, the corporations could no longer simulcast what they broadcasted on AM. The stations didn’t really care if they made any money, just as long as they protected their licenses. So deejays played weird stuff, whole album sides, and after a few years, the laggards followed the hipsters and AM became irrelevant. You can read the “Billboard” charts, but the hit tracks back then were meaningless. Never forget, “Stairway To Heaven” was never a single.

And then came MTV. And we shifted into a monoculture. A very few tracks and acts became extremely popular. And if you were not part of this clan, you were nobody. And then it became so much about video, that the acts turned pop, and then the internet happened.

We’re still trying to future that one out. The oldsters want to go back to ownership and albums but now it’s about the no-hype release, the secret drop, and if it doesn’t have double, triple digit million streams, it doesn’t count. You can play, but that does not mean you can get paid. But rather than accept the new system and utilize it we keep hearing that it’s rigged, and must be changed, adjusted for the outsiders. Yeah, like America at large.

Then again, these musicians are not leaders, they’re not telling us anything we need to know. Prior to the going private fiasco the average youngster believed in Elon Musk more than any entertainer, they still might.

I mean if you take a stand against commerce, against the system today, the funny thing is nobody knows, of if they do, it makes news for a day and is instantly forgotten. Might as well take the money.

Is there a day of reckoning coming? Bernie Sanders asked that question, it’s being repeated in New York, Florida and Texas as we speak, but the party in power has already realized the change, Trump got elected because people were mad. No one saw it coming.

No one ever sees it coming until it happens.

And even if you predicted the change, where were people gonna see it? Newspapers and magazines have less traction than any time in history and TV is for provocateurs and arguments.

So where is it all going?

Maybe we’re destined to be serfs. Olivers grateful if we can have a little more. They’ve already taken away the American Dream, you can’t even rent an apartment working retail and chances are you’re living with your parents who just might have enough money to make it to the end, but maybe not.

So, if you’ve been around a while, this billionairedom is a new thing. There were always rich people, but not this rich, and they hid their activities. Now the rich brag about their hedonistic ways, and even if they didn’t, they’d make it to TMZ or another online outlet.

And there never was a new Beatles and the truth is Bob Dylan never sold that many records, the Rolling Stones either, today if these latter two launched they’d have little impact.

And what members of the middle class still exist are certainly not going into music, they’re trying to ensure their future. They don’t want to take the risk of an entertainment career.

So the question is whether there will ever be a revolution, and if so, when?

People emulate Kim Kardashian, they think she’s the way out. They have YouTube channels with makeup tutorials and are trying to polish their personal “brand.” But not everybody gets their product into the store and people only buy a shiny exterior for so long before they wake up and move on.

So the Fertittas earned their money, via the sale of the UFC. Should they not be billionaires? Well, I’d say they should pay more taxes, but the rich are now crying poor, saying they prop up the country, and need a break. I say they may pay the lion’s share of INCOME taxes, but when it comes down to the other taxes, on food and products, etc., they don’t. But we live in a world where you cannot denigrate the rich because deep down you believe you too will be rich someday, however long the odds.

When I grew up only one parent worked. Divorce was rare. You could afford not only education, but vacation. They had paper for the mimeograph machine and music education too. But now the most successful music producer is Swedish, from the dreaded “socialist” country, where they have music schools, which he attended.

And there was no doubt the United States was the greatest country in the world. Now we’re no longer a leader, just someone asking for a bigger piece of the pie. It’d be like your parents constantly dunning you for payback for the cost of raising you.

Making America great again is not returning to the past, you’ve got to go forward.

Then again, morality transcends time. A sense of right and wrong transcends time. A belief in fairness transcends time.

Bankers did not go to jail. Wall Street is booming. If I can’t have the big piece of chicken someone’s got to pay.

The irony is it’s me.

Felice has been asking me every month, “When is ‘Ozark’ coming back?”

They’ve got those preview issues in “Entertainment Weekly,” the newspapers, all about the coming books, movies, flicks and shows.

And I don’t pay attention to a one of them. I just immediately throw them in the trash, I’m not looking forward to anything in the endless line of crap spoon-fed to us by an entertainment industrial complex. But if I find something good, I yearn for it, I can’t wait for it to return, I, like Felice, couldn’t wait for “Ozark” to come back.

And it did yesterday.

Now back when school began after Labor Day, when the seasons seemed to change on a dime, it went from hot to fall. And unless you live in Southern California, or the Sun Belt, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the light, the weather, the death of grass and trees, the eventual drop in temperature, frivolity is dead and seriousness returns.

And “Ozark” has that vibe.

It’s about the interior, not the exterior. It’s about thought, not action. It’s about…

The passage of time.

What did Rod Stewart sing, “It’s late September and I really should be back at school”?

It’s too late for that. I never lamented leaving the educational system, other than for the fact it gave order to my life. But I had too many bad instructors teaching me stuff I did not want to learn.

But I do love to learn, and wrestle with the issues. And that kind of life is hard to find outside the academy, outside of a very few institutions. I was at a party today and a parent said his daughter had to go to college to get a business degree, to have something to fall back on. I have a law degree, I can’t imagine practicing the profession again. I’d sooner end up like that “Cosby” alumnus working at Trader Joe’s, at least my brain would be my own. You see too much of life is drudgery, so we look for excitement.

And we find it in art.

That’s not what’s being emphasized, that’s not what’s being sold, but it’s the essence of the appeal, why some stuff touches you and some stuff does not, why some stuff is remembered and some stuff is not.

And the truth is there is very little great stuff out there.

But “Ozark” qualifies.

We’re four episodes in. And so far it’s not as great as last year. Some things are too convenient, like Buddy’s connection to the Mob, or Rachel getting arrested and… These aren’t really spoilers, they make no sense unless you’re watching. And what you’re watching is great actors portraying life with few options, a maze where you’re avoiding death, your goal is not to ring the buzzer, just to stay alive one more day.

And Laura Linney finally has lines in her face. But the fact she has not had plastic surgery makes her all that more believable. This is not Meryl Streep, who you can see acting, Laura really appears to be Wendy. And she uses her chops to portray a whole range of emotions and draw you to her. Regular Hollywood just gets a young babe and tells you to fall in love. But that’s two-dimensional, like porn online, but Laura Linney as Wendy…you really believe she’s a middle class Chicago housewife displaced into downscale Missouri. And she knows there’s no escape, she throws in with Marty. That’s what all men want, a supportive partner. Sure, they’ll lavish you with baubles, support your lifestyle, as long as you support them emotionally. But too many are willing to leave on a whim. Men jump ship even earlier. It’s only the professionals who stay together these days, just check the statistics. What do they say, “For better or for worse.”? Everybody expects it to be clear-sailing forevermore, but that does not happen to anybody, there are always bumps in the road. No one is owed anything, never mind the inevitable health issues…they come along when you least expect it, when everything is going good.

And Jason Bateman is a revelation, not in Linney’s league, no one could be, but he’s measured, he doesn’t overact, you can see the wheels turning inside his brain, he seems real, not some bozo excited about a heist not caring he’s gonna get bumped off in the end.

And the Snells! The rules don’t apply to them. This is the appeal to all those who followed in the footsteps, who did what was right. This is what those going to music business college don’t understand, the music business is run by people like the Snells, who think outside the box. You’re born with it. You go your own way, the opposite one, and there’s a solution for every problem, even though the average person might not employ that solution. It’s illegal? Well, am I gonna get caught?

And Ruth! I’d really think Julia Garner is this character if I didn’t see her play someone without the accent in “The Americans.”

But it’s the vibe, the cinematography, the feeling. Like the fall. And you’d better watch your step. This is when life is truly lived.

Now the funny thing is I saw no notices of “Ozark” in the paper, no reviews on Friday when it opened. But it’s more important than “Crazy Rich Asians,” the producers of which turned down Netflix to prove something at the theatre. But what they proved is not what they think. They proved that a good movie will gain attendance, that it doesn’t matter if it’s populated with Asians or any race, creed or color. They operated in the last century, now it’s all on television.

Because that’s where the eyeballs are.

We learned this three decades ago, when movie soundtracks really started to sell when the flicks hit pay cable. Like “Eddie and the Cruisers.” Not enough people see this stuff on the big screen.

And Netflix doesn’t believe in delayed gratification. You can watch the whole series all at once. A ten hour movie where characters can be developed and storylines explored. You can marinate in the show, you can become enveloped.

That’s the biggest entertainment story this weekend. Eminem’s new album will be forgotten soon, seemingly all his projects are now, no matter how good. Music is a sideshow, a collection of niches, oftentimes for the hedonistic brain dead. “Song of the Summer”? SONG OF THE IDIOTS! Listen to the lyrics, all about dissing and acquisition. All fantasy, very little real life.

And despite a storyline far from the average person’s experience, “Ozark” is all about real life.

I feel isolated so much of the time, like no one wants to listen to me, that no one wants to hear my story, that no one gets me.

And then there’s a work of art that totally gets me. My sensibility, who I am.

I don’t care about driving a fancy car, I don’t care about living in a big bad house. The trappings are irrelevant to me. I’m all about peak experiences. And they always involve people.

But it’s art that comes through for me most.

I watch “Ozark” and I believe the people involved get me, that they’re trying to achieve greatness as opposed to executing entertainment. Nuance means everything, it’s the difference between a 7 and a 10.

But we only want the 10s.

My inbox is littered with people complaining I’m shitting on something. You’ve got to love the popular, give people a break.

Not me! I’m waiting for the apotheosis. Something that captures the zeitgeist.

Did you grow up in a family? Did your parents tell you to do what you didn’t want to, limit you? Did your parents argue? Did your dad get so consumed by his work that he sometimes seemed like an automaton? Did you think you were invisible? Did you wonder how you were gonna make it through another day? Did you ever wonder where the handbook for life was?

Then you’re gonna dig “Ozark.” Because the people in it are just like you…

They’re figuring it out as they go along.

 New York City Is Briefly Labeled ‘Jewtropolis’ on Snapchat and Other Apps

I thought we were beyond this.

How long until you’re considered the other.

The Reformation, the Holocaust, they were supposed to be one time things, we were supposed to now be more civilized. But to quote Talking Heads, it’s the same as it ever was.

My father telling me about anti-Semitism, believing everybody hates the Jews. Say no, but then look at this.

Yup, click on the above article, the maps for the “New York Times,” Snapchat, Citi Bike…they were all hacked so that New York City was renamed “Jewtropolis.” Actually, there were thirty changes made, but only this one slipped through. How?

They marched on Charlottesville and the first thing they told us was the Jews were not going to replace them.

An Encino man threatens the “Boston Globe.” Reporters in Maryland are shot and killed. Meanwhile we’ve got a mean, deranged man in the White House saying the press is the enemy, and Google too…run by Jews, and Facebook, that’s right, the Jews are the root of all our problems. Even though Bezos is not a member of the tribe and neither are the heads of Apple or Microsoft.

But the Jews are the enemy.

So this is where it goes. The people need a scapegoat, and the first one they always turn to is the Jews. And no one looks out for them until they too are threatened. Just wait, it’ll happen to you.

If you’re rich and fly private you think you’re immune, but you’d better live behind a gate. Because otherwise they’re coming for you.

The holier-than-thou educated too.

Wall Street got off with a pass, but not next time. The stock market may be booming, but only for the usual suspects, mom and pop have got no better lives, you think there’s not resentment?

As for the poor and ignorant themselves, they’re getting drunk and shooting each other, that’s what the lack of gun control delivers, and the NRA and the arms manufacturers are cool with it, as long as it flows to the bottom line, as long the stockholders get rich, damn the people.

So the 2016 election revealed the divisions in our nation. Hillary Clinton may have spoken to them if she got elected, but I’m unsure if she was aware of them when she ran.

Beto O’Rourke is a punk rock playing drunk driver, he can’t serve in Congress. And that monkey can’t get a gig as the Governor of Florida, just think of what will happen if we let THOSE people in the house. And he’s corrupt, ain’t he… You can’t trust those people, you’ve got to sleep with one eye open, they’ll rob and rape and kill you, you know the Jews only care about money.

Like there are no poor Jews in the world.

But now it’s the Asians agitating for their fair share, a hardworking ethnicity that focuses on education, just like the Indians. But the whites deplore them too.

As for being deplorable, THEY ARE! What other words are you gonna use? You can’t call a spade a spade in America, you can’t speak the truth, because someone might get hurt, and the right wing lets this all go and the Democrats are so busy trying to protect the feelings of special interest groups that they can’t see the forest for the trees. It always comes down to the same thing, people need jobs, people need money, and neither party is helping them out, they’re all beholden to the corporations, they’ve taken their eye off the ball, the true problems in this country.

Although you’ve got to give Trump credit for speaking his truth to his people. Bernie Sanders tried to do that and the party shut him down. He was too far out there, and a Jew to boot. You can’t elect a Jew! But the educated millennials don’t care about race or skin.

But still…there are a lot of uneducated people in America. And educated ones who are racist. Did Trump use the “N word”? I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised, this kind of language is used in the board room all the time. It’s part of being a bro. Yup, all you collegians who think you’re immune, with your fraternities and your cabals, you’re the epicenter of movements like this. You too are gangs. And members are afraid to speak up, for fear of ostracization. They may not kill anybody, unless it’s during initiation rites, but it’s not only wannabe members they haze.

This is scary.

As for Judaism, Roger Waters is an anti-Semite. How do I know? People close to him have told me about the language he uses. But he’s for Palestinians, they’ve gotten a raw deal. And maybe they have, but what are they doing to fix their situation? War. They want Israel eliminated. And I’m not saying Israel is innocent, but don’t you get it, this is a fight to the death!

You’ll support this minority and that, but if it’s the Jews, they gotta go. They’ve got enough money, they can fend for themselves, like all those gassed and burned to death during the war.

Oh, you say it can’t happen here. IT ALREADY HAS!

Do you know when the Taliban takes over a town the buses run on time, there’s more electricity? You have to sacrifice your social mores, wear the hijab, but the system works. This is what Trump is fomenting. Fixing things for those who elected him and damn the rest, damn the right to get an abortion. Oh, Kavanaugh may not want to overturn Roe vs. Wade, but let’s hear what he has to say about Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

How Abortion Rights Will Die a Death by 1,000 Cuts

But if Kavanaugh gets bounced they’ll find another just as bad.

And you were told that this was what the election was about. But you couldn’t vote for Hillary, you voted for a non-viable third party or sat out the election. Now the joke is on you. It matters to you. For the rest of my life, and probably yours, no matter how left the country goes, the Supreme Court will be right.

That’s right. It’s positively scary.

But it comes down to hearts and minds.

Trump keeps stoking the fire of his ignorant base. Fox News too. Why isn’t there uproar against Rupert Murdoch, why does he get a pass, why aren’t left-wingers hanging in front of his house and trailing his every move, because he’s rich? Come on.

It’s frightening out there. Hell, remember that guy who said there was no anti-Semitism in Germany and then wore a skullcap and was attacked? Do you want to advertise your Jewishness in public? Meanwhile, somehow the Christians have been disabled, we’ve stolen their Christmas, we don’t say prayers in school.

And the Muslim powers are as crazy as the Christians, even more so.

And once again, they’re fed by powers that won’t say no, who feed them not caring that they’re going out of control.

It happens again and again now. On a regular basis. We thought we were enlightened. But whereas the sixties music was all about living in peace and harmony through love, today’s music is solely about money and if you don’t go to number one it’s the enemy’s fault, the corporation, the competition.

And music is just a sideshow to the big show. Blows my mind how music is irrelevant in the social sphere. Oh, it’ll get some people to wear some clothes, buy some crap, but it won’t illuminate them on the issues, won’t incite change. Everybody just wants to be a rapper or Kim Kardashian, married to a rapper as a matter of fact, one who stood up for Agent Orange, imagine if Kanye was poor?

But no, he’s another megalomaniac drunk on his own power no different from the Prez or the CEOs. They think they know.

I’ve got contempt for them, many with names you do not know.

And everybody else has contempt for me.

But at least I’m not shooting people, I’m not crippling their lifestyles.

This is the story of our time, how things went horribly wrong. Blame income inequality, blame globalization, blame the starving of schools, blame the lack of opportunity for those who are not legacies.

But no, it’s easier to blame the Jews.