Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
What do Elon Musk, Roe v. Wade, James Harden, and professional soccer have in common? They all illustrate the near-universal human disgust with “working the refs”. “Working the refs” is a term I know from professional basketball. Working the refs consists of influencing the decision-making of the referees, who call fouls and enforce the rules … Continue reading Working The Refs
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” (Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises) Donald Trump’s presidency appears to have been a long series of attempts to prove the truth of his 2016 statement, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I … Continue reading If Donald Trump Loses, His Racism Will Be The Cause
I have witnessed a lot of men (and curiously enough, no women) in my social circles, including a number of good friends, saying that the Senate should not consider Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh held her down, groped her, and tried to take her clothes off in 1982, when she … Continue reading How I Think About Christine Blasey Ford’s Accusation Against Brett Kavanaugh
Old-school videogames often had a cheat code–a special sequence of actions that, when entered, would make your game avatar invincible. Cheat codes weren’t particularly sporting, but they made it much easier to win a game. Donald Trump has found a cheat code for our current national politics, and he seems content to use it every … Continue reading The Trump Cheat Code
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of President Donald Trump. I think that he is lazy, ignorant, incompetent, and as a result, a danger to our country and our world. But I think it is entirely possible that we may someday look back upon his election as lucky accident that strengthened the United … Continue reading Why America Is Lucky Donald Trump Was Elected President
As someone who makes a living with words, it bothers me that so many choose to use them wastefully, extravagantly, and paradoxically enough, cheaply in today’s political discourse. Many have argued that our politics are at the most polarized point in recent memory. To date, I’ve scoffed at the alarmists, pointing out that the invective … Continue reading If Words Matter, Use Them Responsibly
An oft-made observation is that comedy in the United States tends to be overwhelmingly liberal in its politics. Despite the existence of a small number of Republican funny men and women (and most of those are more in the Libertarian bent anyway, e.g. Adam Carolla, Larry Miller, Vince Vaughn), there is no conservative equivalent of … Continue reading Conservative Comedy
We all know that the Civil War happened because of slavery. The South fought for the right to keep African-Americans as slaves, the North fought to outlaw slavery. While this is a bit of an oversimplification, it isn’t wrong. Here’s the funny thing: Only 25% of white Southerners held people in slavery (I chose not … Continue reading The Psychology of Slavery in the South
I try (not always successfully) to avoid politics. As a young Michael Jordan once noted after being asked to endorse a Democratic candidate, “Republicans buy shoes too.” But one thing I have noted is is the liberal (in the US political sense, not the classical “The Economist” sense) tendencies of most comedians and humorists. Frank … Continue reading Want To Make Political Humor That’s Funny? Target Self-Importance And Hypocrisy.
One of the biggest Silicon Valley controversies in recent memory is the short, turbulent tenure as Mozilla CEO of co-founder and JavaScript inventor Brendan Eich. The quick summary, for anyone who hasn’t followed the story, is that Eich donated $1,000 to support California’s Proposition 8 in 2008. Prop 8 has a single meaningful clause: “Only … Continue reading Politics vs. Civil Rights (Why Brendan Eich Needed To Go)