Debate Tickets: getting a front row seat

The Clinton-Trump debate starts in a few hours.  Two New Yorkers go at it. Donald Trump, a native born New Yorker, moved from Queens to Manhattan as soon as he could get there. Hillary, a naturalized New Yorker, born in the Midwest, moved to New York as soon as she could get out of Arkansas. Both want to move to Washington, D.C..  To the Oval Office baby!

The debate, 1 1/2 hours of must see-TV, might include more than the usual dose of mudslinging, innuendo, gossip, and insults. Certain pressure points exist-- Hillary's health and Donald's demeanor. And this is where the psy-ops, psychological operations, come in. The Psy-Ops, psychological operations warfare, even concern the seating plan for  the front row of the debate.

Hillary has saved a seat for Mark Cuban, just to rattle the opponent. Cuban, a feisty billionaire, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, star of Shark Tank, a fondness for the glare of the spotlight is actually a recent arrival to Hillary Camp. He even considered signing up for Trump's vice presidential candidate. But that was months ago. And months ago feels like aeons in Infotainment World, our present home.

Trump countered strongly with suggestions he would bring in Gennifer Flowers, Bill Clinton's mistress for a dozen years.

This tactic recalls Godfather II-- where Frankie Pantangeli is about to testify in front of a Washington grand jury and name names. The Corleone family places an old school mafioso from Sicily in the back of the hearing room and  Frankie quickly reverts to "I don't know nothing." Frankie later takes his own life, the honorable route, rather than rat out his brothers. Clinton and Trump don't strike me as the fall on your sword type of individuals.

Cuban likes to be in the national discussion, whether baiting the refs at his team's NBA games or starring on a reality TV competition show. Who does that remind you of?

Gennifer spells her name with a "G"-- and is called a showgirl. Gennifer Flowers, we learn, has not actually been invited by Trump. Trump may see a downside to going too far with the adultery card. So she may not even be there. Too bad.

Ironically, the studio audience at Hofstra will be completely out of view. The audience is literally in the dark. Trump may not be able to see Cuban, unless Cuban charges the stage a la Kanye West.

The whole front row seating thing reminds me of the motley assemblage of celebrities reminds me of the Beatles high moment, and their memorable cover for the Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. I always liked the image of Sonny Liston. Where's Sonny when you need him?

The only image that matters will be the body language of the contestants, er, the candidates. If we've learned anything it is that how you comport yourself and how you feel on stage with 80-100 million watching is what really matters. The camera is an X-ray machine and the audience sees the candidates to the core of their being. That clarity seals the deal.

Top 5 Donald Trump stand-ins (for Debate Practice)

Hillary Clinton searches for a good Donald Trump stand-in as she prepares for the debate.  Some top candidates could be...

1) Zach Galifianakis-- a true surrealist, with an unbridled id, like Trump. Hillary appeared on his cable show "Between Two Ferns" and appeared pretty flummoxed by Zach's line of questioning. Maybe they should work together some more.

2) Alec Baldwin-- narcissistic like Trump and self-important. Baldwin, from Long Island, understands the New York attitude.

3) Mark Cuban-- Alec Baldwin with more money. Trump is sensitive to Cuban's accusations that the Trump is not a real billionaire.

4) Stephen Colbert-- Colbert has the right-wing persona down pat. He stared down Bill O'Reilly and never flinched. Apparently, Stephen Colbert unearthed the actually role-player, a Hillary aide named Philippe Reines, (see below)

5) Chris Rock-- not sure why, but Rock might get Hillary to smile and she needs to do that.  He could prod Hillary on the subject of racism and Hillary could use that same technique on the Donald.

Ah, what the hell-- let's take a reach and add #6.

6) Nancy Grace (in drag)-- Nancy is no-holds barred, no slave to objectivity. She could just move her healthy head of hair around to capture the Trump orange-hued chignon.

"Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton and one of the most astute observers of her personal and political vulnerabilities, is playing Donald J. Trump in her mock debate sessions, according to people familiar with Mr. Reines’s involvement." (New York Times, Sept. 23)

Reines may be an expert on Hillary's vulnerabilities but already he sounds way too smart and bookish. He's been on Hillary's payroll. Employees defer to their bosses, understandably, and hopefully this does not inhibit Reines during their mock debates. 

Trump claims not to be preparing-- but who would he pick as a stand-in for Hillary Clinton? She's a bit schoolmarmish, maybe more like the school principal. He could look to Melissa McCarthy, actually she's got the id for a Trump stand-in. Elizabeth Warren has potential but wouldn't take the job. Rosie O'Donnell? Fuhgedaboutit...

Climate Change Initiatives-- building an Ark in the 21st Century

Dear Friend,

Thanks for the link to New York Magazine article on rising waters. I like the insights about people's resistance to imagining the unpleasant. I've noticed how much we deny the obvious in these matters.

I mentioned to you that FEMA gave home owners on Long Island with waterfront property lots of money to lift their houses after the destruction caused by Super Storm Sandy. Some homeowners raised their homes to weird heights-- and then found some difficulty in reselling their houses. I'm sure it was a boon to the construction industry to fix up and build new houses along the shoreline and on the canals.

And in Manhattan I notice that the apartment on West End Ave is in close proximity to the Hudson River on the west. The east-west thoroughfare, West 79th St, takes a big rise as the land moves from Riverside Park up into central Manhattan. So I guess Riverside Park would be underwater before West End Ave. Maybe we would have riverfront property-- though our apartment faces away from the river.

I've never really been able to get my head around the rise in ocean levels. I'm a big believer in the validity of most climate change warnings. I guess water level rise is something we can actually do something about-- move further inland.

The stuff that I wonder most about it are the changes in rainfall, temperature etc. that I experience more directly. Just watched a video clip on NY  Times website, an interview of Obama. He points out that Chinese leaders were most motivated to cooperate on Climate Change Initiatives-- due to their concerns about the political stability of their nation. If it gets much harder to breath in Beijing you could have a riot on your hands-- or something along those lines is how I pictured it. Maybe I'm way off base-- and their afraid of food riots or something else?

Thanks for sending the New York Magazine article--  better to discuss it than put our heads back in the sand.

Thanks,

John

Texas Football Fervor and the Pigskin Shrine

A friend of mine taught me some of the fundamentals of American football, the kind with tackling and blocking. American football is played with an oblong ball made of pigskin. The game was designed for cool weather, a fall or autumn sport. Texas has almost no fall or autumn weather and games are often played in 90-100 degree heat, especially in the first half of the season from Sept-Oct.

Most mysterious is the cult-like fascination with the sport. People in Texas or should I say... many Texans love the game. And Americans from coast-to-coast love the game.

Interestingly, football is such a violent game most people prefer watching the game, talking about the game, analyzing the game, its players and coaches and strategies, far more than they like playing the game. Football, most would agree, hurts to play. Playing and getting hurt or injured are not two activities we usually place side-by-side. Injury reports are a big part of football. They talk about players recovering or "getting healthy" but these are young men in their physical prime. They were already "healthy" until they played in a football game. They don't miss games because of illness-- a cold, flu, or pneumonia. They miss games because of orthopedic injury-- serious blows to the head, limbs, knees, neck, shoulders, etc. etc. So why do people love the game so much?

Perhaps there is the primitive appeal of big, strong man running into each other with unbelievable force? That is probably an over-simplification. The intellectual side of football is significant. Coaches, like good CEOs, must assemble a large number of players, at least 22 athletes getting starting roles in the game-- and many more than that when you add special teams players-- like kickers, receivers, etc.. The coaches use complicated plays to add to their teams effectiveness. The game has moved to a lightning pace-- and teams communicate plays from the sidelines in a matter of seconds. The slower team is often the losing team.

Marshall McLuhan, my favorite media philosopher, correctly predicted football would supersede baseball as the national pastime. McLuhan recognized that football had multiple activities occurring simultaneously-- and all of them could be nicely sorted out by the television cameras. The plays are slowed down and analyzed during instant replays. The replay for the national viewing audience involves the audience in the game for a great, in-depth experience. Baseball, McLuhan said, was too linear-- the game moves forward only based on the batter hitting the ball and does not reflect the all-at-onceness of modern communications.

Do we love football for its multi-tasking intensity? For its photogenic nature on the moving images of the TV screen? Those going to the stadium celebrate with tailgating-- cooking big slabs of meat, like ancient tribesmen celebrating the kill of an animal by the tribe's hunters. The sweet smells of cooked meat waft from the parking lots and open areas as you approach the stadium. You cannot help but feel the primal appeal. The crowd's emotions surge forward and rise from the stadium-- a roar of excitement like nothing you've ever heard before. And it all happens in the fall days, the summer harvest has passed, the crops collected, and celebration is in order.