WCS 78: Vestigial revenge as political cancer
w/: Deadline deliveries + Seattle Tesla protests + Hollywood's Trevor Bauer 2.0?
Obviously, I have skin in the game, but it feels objective to say that journalism being in the public opinion toilet—at the dawn of America’s White nationalist bottle episode—sucks. One might even go as far as to say there’s a relationship between the decline of proven reporting techniques and the rise of totalitarianism.
In its purest form—when money and power aren’t manipulating the storytelling form—journalism is glorious. So powerful that the wealthy seek to undo it.
This is going to sound weird, but it was the Miami rapper and entrepreneur Pitbull who made me see the ultimate potential of storytelling when he intimated—in the backseat of a car outside of a Beverly Hills hotel—that writing is prophecy.
I think about that shit almost every day.
See, the powerful hate us because the strength of story trumps money, because their money is cheap in our realm.
Israel breaking every promise to not be murderous never stops galling me.
And I believe it was in the pages of a late 80s Pulse! magazine—the excellent music monthly distributed by Tower Records—where I read Lyle Lovett’s concept of deadline liberation. The one-time University of Texas journalism major and then-emerging country artist said the most potent creativity arrives at the end of the process. Some unnamed bonus energy or access to creativity. Crunch-time necessity.
Whatever you’d want to name it, the songwriter insisted that a “Je ne sais quoi” is there for the creator, at the end. Nearly four decades later, Lyle Lovett’s notion still holds true.
Keep that in your back pocket.
Perhaps it’s illusory, but increasingly people seem to be stepping forward to meet the moment. Just this morning, one of my favorite writers emailed to say they would like to start a Substack. If that could happen a hundred times over, we’d be making solid headway.
Americans of sound mind are on the clock as never before. As important as it is that ordinary citizens start running for public office, it matters that we amplify truthful storytelling. The future belongs to the best crafters and projectors of narrative.
Now, after we do the Herb thing, it’s on to the week’s 10 striking West Coasties, the news bites that go great with milk!
The Full Herb Caen
Bronny James scored 17 meaningless points in a blowout loss to Milwaukee last night, and we aren’t going to hear the fucking end of it…
Had the folks over at the Department of Education implemented its long-delayed How to Recognize a Buffoon curriculum? We’d be dealing with none of this bullshit…
Since my Fresno State j-school days, I’ve dug that Oliver Wendell Holmes quote, Let truth and falsehood grapple…
It’s gon’ be a while before we touch bottom of The Madness. Now’s just a horrific pregame show…
Let’s get it on. LFG yo…
When the New York Times insists now is the time for Black satire, I know some important literature tremor happened, probably 18 months ago…
Amin Elhassan thinks Chris Paul will be Wemby’s next coach, down in Texas…
10 ‘Accelerant’ Ohtani pushes worldwide baseball with Japan Series
There’s a moment in the upcoming episode of the WCS podcast where I warn guest Dan Epstein—author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass and the Jagged Time Lapse Substack—that we’re talking too much baseball. Nothing signifies old and niche-y like sustained baseball talk.
At which point we began talking more baseball, because the Dodgers weirdness in Tokyo this week has been impossible to ignore, a splashy start to a new era of international Major League Baseball. Of course, this Bunyan-esque elevation involves the inimitable Shohei Ohtani, who is like LeBron on steroids. (Ahem.)
The NYT Athletic
MLB’s international rights contracts expire in 2028. Until then, watch for annual attempts to replicate the LA v Chicago in Japan match-up, which raked in a cool $35 million.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred called Ohtani an “accelerator” in a Japan project that’s been a quarter century in the making.
“I don’t believe there’s ever been an athlete with this much demand in baseball,” said Evan Zeder, head of baseball marketing at Ohtani sponsor New Balance. “I think people want to connect to an athlete, and I think people want to connect to someone who has achieved the greatness that he has.”
Lil Hit
While you consume March Madness, keep in mind that college ballers are smoking out freely in a way that should have made a young Ricky Williams envious.
JD Supra
9 Tacoma ICE facility contract fight has state, prison company in court
Four billion-dollar prison company The GEO Group owns and operates the 1575-bed Tacoma space. It’s stock price has doubled since Nov 6. Regardless, GEO is fighting Washington over the state’s insistence that the company pay detainees more than a dollar per day to clean the joint.
Propublica
Detainees perform the work of 85 full-time employees, the company estimated. In 2017, the state sued GEO to enforce the state’s minimum wage. In October 2021, a federal jury ruled in Washington’s favor.
Nationally, the number of ICE detainees around the country has risen to its highest level in five years. Most are held in private facilities.
Lil Hit
On the heels of their December sentencings, Bitwise co-founders Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. reported to prison in Merced and Victorville this week.
The Business Journal
8 Voluminous & articulate, the PNW does us proud on Tesla protest circuit
That kid in Salem who threw the Molotov cocktail set it off in the riskiest way and is going to pay a a heavy price. Make no mistake, one doesn’t have to break the law to feel the wrath of Evil DC, as the Seattle Tesla Takedown organizer explains.
Central Oregon Daily / NPR
Valerie Costa, 43, leads a group called the Troublemakers. The group’s effective peaceful protests led Elon Musk to post on Former Twitter that Costa was committing a crime.
“What happens if the feds come?” she wondered over a microphone. Costa now has legal representation and a safety plan.
Lil Hit
Eli Taylor Goss is insisting that we’re one month out from my Washington State peeps having to decide who the hell they want to be.
The Stranger
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8 Seriously, what the fuck is Gov Gav doing?
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ostentatious play for right wingers is the most telling bellwether in 2025’s rightward shift. If he doesn’t regret having Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk on his podcast by summer’s end we’re probably fucked.
Now’s too early to tell, but I am leaning toward believing my old editor Tim Redmond when he says the Newsom gambit is not working.
48 Hills
Redmond points to Capitol Weekly research, which says Newsom “praised or agreed with Kirk nearly 125 times, including saying he “appreciates” Kirk or his ideas a whopping 52 times.” He shrunk his appeal to the middle with this play while failing to convert conservatives.
“There’s nothing wrong with a Democrat debating people on the right,” writes Redmond. “Newsom has done that in the past, and successfully challenged the likes of Ron DeSantis. In that televised debate, Newsom stood up for President Joe Biden and made DeSantis look like a fool. That’s not what he’s doing now.”
Lil Hit
Is it fair to say that actor Gabriel Olds is the new Trevor Bauer? And, tangentially, are we having the right conversations about choking in sex?
TMZ
Fuller Herbert
GQ says the new Kanye album is actually good, but it’s full of Nazi material and AI. What music can overcome those evils and be “good”…
A disproportionate amount of my belief that racism can be defeated may be based on the racists who have blown me…
One cannot deny that there’s something to this faith though…
That Edible Arrangements has dipped its toes into the cannabis game is an eyebrow-raising development…
Watching Licorice Pizza the other day, I wondered if PT Anderson is thinking he focused his fantastic craftsmanship on largely trivial subject matter, a fairy tale America with insufficiently motivated characters….
Not to pick on that particular critical darling; storytelling across all of Hollywood film and television has been inadequately motivated, because racialized emotion is rarely a tangible factor onscreen. As opposed to real life…
Israel breaking every promise to not be murderous never stops galling me…
Someone whose name I don’t remember succinctly summed up the American political situation: Democrats obsess on procedure while The right focuses on power and ideology…
The shocking emergence of Lakers center Jaxson Hayes as a scoring threat should trigger questions about his previous usage to limited effect…
7 America, the unleashed killing machine
Because of where we sit, the damage being done in DC feels largely speculative. The DOGE victims have severance coming. Mahmoud Khalil isn’t really one of us. Donald Trump hasn’t personally commanded that you to suck him off.
Yet.
It’s all so gosh-darn speculative, this dark storm pattern. That’s why we must treasure Oregon-raised Nicholas Kristof for showing the Whites House earliest murder victims.
Jacobin / Rolling Stone /Democracy Now
In a precipitating New York Times “opinion” piece, Kristof accounted for the death of a 10-year-old infected with H.I.V. from his mother during childbirth. The impact of a future depleted of US aid—one percent of the nation’s budget—might be extracted from that single demise.
“I don’t think [Musk] understands public health, and disease surveillance, and what happens when you drop surveillance programs for Ebola, for avian flu, drop programs against tuberculosis. We will end up paying in lives and treasure for some of these programs on disease surveillance. So it’s not just kids abroad who die, but he’s placing Americans at risk as well.”
Lil Hit
It should come as little surprise that California has been most hurt by the DOGE attack on national park staffing.
Sacramento Bee
In case you missed it…
Cannabis cuisine from Chef Maverick's soul
The distinction between recreational weed use and medical cannabis has never made total sense to me. Like, if you can smoke weed and ain’t utilizing it in this historical moment? I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you.
6 The best hoopers in Women’s March Madness not named JuJu Watkins
And, back to Distraction Theater. (Whew)
With this afternoon’s opening tip-off comes the arrival of new potential heroines and goats. UCLA’s 6-7 center Lauren Betts and Watkins’ low-post Trojan teammate Kiki Iriafan are just a few of the top West Coast players to look out for in the tournament.
The ball will be in their hands.
ESPN
Also watch for UCLA forward Kiki Rice, who has scores well and has recorded over 100 assists for three consecutive seasons
My favorite college player is Iowa State’s Audi Crooks. That zaftig form in a tight Cyclones jersey is a unique sight. She dropped an unforgettable 40 on Maryland last year.
Lil Hit
Eastern Washington Republican Congressman Michael Baumgartner will likely move his town halls to the digital realm after constituents ate his ass for dinner on Monday night in Spokane.
The Spokesman
Vessel and me [advertorial]
Is that one of my gray hairs in the bowl? Vessel sends me great stuff and I occasionally write about their products. The smooth and substantive lighter and pipe arrived with butane and a sleek lil grinder that shall replace the Rick and Morty-branded dealie that my middle child left behind. (It goes on a shelf) Thank you, fine folks at Vessel, for keeping me in touch with the finer things.
5 What the left should do?
The People will have to lead
From last Friday’s protest in DC
For starters, acting like 2026 midterm elections are a given is dumb. We have to at least think outside of the box.
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