Month: August 2019
Dave Chappelle’s New Netflix Special Hits ‘The Woke’ The Hardest
(This article was originally posted on wibc.com)
If you have been following the reviews of Dave Chapelle’s new Netflix stand-up special ‘Sticks and Stones,’ you know that the media is already tearing it apart. The people at Vice say you can skip watching it and that it, “doubles down on misogyny and transphobia.” Paste Magazine called it, “boring, hypocritical and out-of-touch.” The Root calls it lazy. With reviews like that, you know you have to watch
Why is it that The Woke scolds are so opposed to it? Can you not engage in comedy about misogyny and transphobia? (Or is it only jokes about President Trump and Christians that are still allowed?) I thought that’s what comedy does – pointed out, poked at and prodded at the powerful, the pathetic and particular moments in society.
I hold stand-up in high regard, starting with people like Lenny Bruce and Mort Saul. It’s not that they were the funniest (always a debate,) but rather I am enamored with their presentation. These days, I feel the same way about Seinfeld (his honesty has been refreshing) and Joe Rogan (check out his Netflix specialwhere he plays out the inner monologue of Caitlyn Jenner while perched atop a bar stool. Amazing.)
I don’t find everything Dave Chapelle says to be funny. But I appreciate that Dave Chapelle is trying to do something that most other comedians aren’t doing: pulling out his and our inner demons and putting them in front of us, hopefully for us all to share a laugh over, whether it be nervously or in recognition of the truth in the existence of the demon. (Watch The Bird Revelation on Netflix.)
In his special, Chapelle asks the audience to identify the subject of an impression he does of a stupid person that seeks to destroy people over a disagreement. NOTE – Not Safe For Work:
Andrew Luck Retires, and Money and Mental Health Matter. Is the Yamazaki 10-year Worth It? The Eat! Drink! Smoke! Podcast!!
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has retired. At 29. With millions in the bank. He says the injuries have gotten to him, and he is ‘mentally worn down.’ Many people are mentally worn down, but don’t have the luxury of big bank account to stop working. How will his answer be taken by fans, and the NFL?
Tony Katz hosts Eat! Drink! Smoke! presented by Fanimation.com. With Fingers Malloy and April D. Gregory, they review the Yaziki 10-year single malt whiskey and the 7×50 Sobremesa cigar.
Subscribe To The Podcast! – bit.ly/eatdrinksmoke
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Eat! Drink! Smoke! – Chick-Fil-A Mac and Cheese and the 72 Hours that Exposed Rep. Rashida Tlaib and her Hatred of Israel
In the span of 72 hours, Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar went from being denied access into Israel to being shown as hating Israel so much that one of them, Rep. Tlaib, was willing to throw her own grandmother under the bus.
Tony Katz hosts Eat! Drink! Smoke! presented by Fanimation.com. Why didn’t Reps. Tlaib and Omar go with the rest of the Congressional delegation? Why did they accept funding from an organization that has vocally supported terrorism in Israel? And why did the media spin the facts – or simply fail to report them?
Chick-Fil-A now has mac and cheese. Tony, Fingers Malloy and April D. Gregory give the definitive review. They also reviewed the Bardstown Bourbon Company Phifer Pavitt Reserve Bourbon and the Diamond Crown Figurado #6 cigar.
Speaking of Chick-Fil-A, they rank highest in customer loyalty and emotional connection. Makes sense, but how did Taco Bell get into the top 5?
Eat! Drink! Smoke! is recorded live at Blend Bar Cigar in Indianapolis, IN.
The New York Times Gives Up On Journalism, Proudly
This story originally posted on wibc.com
Trusting The New York Times is no longer possible. They told us during the 2016 election that they were going to forego journalistic integrity because Donald Trump had to be defeated. Once Donald Trump won the election, they declared, “Alright! We are back to journalism now!”
Well, that didn’t last long (if it lasted at all.) The New York Times has now decided that they have talked about collusion all they possibly can. And with that talking point worn out – because it was proven to be a lie! – the Times has shifted to racism. As Byron York notes in the Washington Examiner: “New goal for New York Times: ‘Reframe’ American history, and target Trump, too”
Yes, at a “crisis townhall,” Times’ Executive Editor Dean Baquet declared the newsroom was going to shift from covering Trump and Russia to covering Trump and Racism:
Read MoreWe built our newsroom to cover one story, and we did it truly well. Now we have to regroup, and shift resources and emphasis to take on a different story.
China Prepares Attack on Hong Kong, While The People Sing America’s Song of Freedom
China seems poised to engage in a crackdown on Hong Kong, with troops amassing on the Hong Kong border and police (controlled and supported by Beijing) violently removing protesters from the Hong Kong airport that they have occupied over the last two days. I have spent a lot of time on radio over the years talking about China; how its government runs and military acts, and the issues of its citizens. And I have repeatedly discussed how we, as Americans, should never think of China on any sort of equivalent footing: Never think of a Communist nation as in any way equal to a free nation.
Radical environmentalists – which include major swaths of the Progressive party in the US – often laud China for their Green innovations and clean mass transit. But China is responsible for some of the worst pollution on Earth.
In America, the concept of ‘Green’ has become social media fodder, based too much on emotion, and not enough on data. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has pushed the Green New Deal. It’s a radical proposal: short on specifics and long on limitiations of the rights of Americans. It’s a bad idea (airlines are good and flight is a brilliant innovation that should not be limited, and there is no eliminating cow farts with out eliminating, well, cows.)
But assume, somehow, America adopted these life-altering proposals. Does anyone think the Green New Deal is going to get implemented by the Chinese Government? Does anyone think China can be hashtag-campaigned into making a move like this?
Eat! Drink! Smoke! Podcast!! The ‘Do Something’ On Guns And Monica Lewinsky Manages To Go Lower On Bill Clinton
If we listen to the media, America seems to want changes to gun laws in America. But does the ‘Do Something’ crowd really know what it wants?
On the Eat! Drink! Smoke! Podcast, presented by Fanimation, Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy dig much deeper into media reaction, America’s reaction and possible next steps. They also review New Riff Rye (they’ve have previously reviewed the New Riff bourbon) and the La Imperiosa cigar from Crowned Heads.
Eat! Drink! Smoke! is recorded live at Blend Bar Cigar in Indianapolis, IN.
What We Mean By Gaslighting, And Why The Lies Told About Donald Trump Can Not Stand
Lies have been told. And those lies about President Trump – pushed by media and celebrities and political elites – have been allowed to take hold in America. And we must put an end to them. A decent society demands that lies be called out, and corrected. And those who lie must be called out, and admonished.
There are people out there who don’t like Donald Trump. There are people out there who don’t like what Donald Trump says or tweets. Those people exist, and those feelings are pretty normal; you aren’t going to like every person and you’re not going to like what every person has to say. However, if you dislike the President to the point you proactively and aggressively lie about what it is that the he has said to move your agenda? That is obscene. It is gaslighting.
The definition of gaslighting is to manipulate someone by psychological means into questioning their own sanity. Gaslighting by the media is pushing a narrative, theory or belief about a person or group of people that provides political advantage to another; and that group is the Democratic Party and the political Left. Nowhere is this more prevalent than the media vs. President Trump and the GOP, and on no subject is it more prevalent than white supremacy and bigotry in the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Rushing Red Flag Laws Is A Red Flag
Sometimes awful people do awful things. This is why I believe in protecting and defending myself, and the ones I love. Every single instance of every single horror does not lead me to a place where I, nor you, should have less rights. But rather, I lean to a place where we should ensure our rights and act upon them. We should be prepared.
After El Paso and Dayton, there will be a lot of conversation about Red Flag Laws, including Indiana’s Jake Laird Law. A Red Flag Law allows for the state authorities to remove firearms from the possession of a person who has been identified as mentally unstable (as the Jake Laird Law has described it, “dangerous individuals.”) My issue has never been with the concept of a Red Flag Law, my issue is how it is implemented.
If implementation means a law enforcement officer can simply say, “this person is unwell, so we are going to take their firearms,” I stand squarely in opposition. I oppose the idea that a police officer should be able to make that call in the moment.
AOC and the Democratic Party Assert Control of the New York Times
This story originally posted on wibc.com
It is time to give up the idea that The New York Times is representative of a Free Press. It is time to give up the idea that they are free to write their own headlines or do their own reporting. It is time to give up the idea that the NYT has the ability to engage in journalism in any independent or objective fashion. They are part and parcel of an attack mechanism in the United States, subject to the whims of their betters – better known as the Democratic Party. Take a look at The New York Times over the last 24 hours and ask this question: Is This How A Free Press Acts?
It starts with a headline– Trump Urges Unity vs Racism. That headline comes from the words of President Trump talking about the shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH:
In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul
– President Donald Trump
The political left looked at this headline, and sounded the alarm. Democratic Representative Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and other Democrats all said this headline was completely unacceptable. The near entirely of leftist Twitter exploded.