It’s Friday, rejoice.
Tomorrow I’m flying to London to spend the next week over there with my family. Fingers crossed that we don’t get kicked off another flight for a kid having lice.
I’ll be doing the radio show from London — and going to the Titans-Chargers game in Wembley Stadium –but I probably won’t be writing as much on here as normal next week.
But if you want to read my writing you can do so easily, go buy my newest book.
And if you want an autographed copy, you can get one here.
Okay, let’s dive into the mailbag.
Caelan writes:
“Big fan of the show! Listen to you almost every day while going to school at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
Can you explain in some detail about the difference between Kanye West going political versus Lebron James going political? I have heard Democrats say it is hypocritical to tell Lebron to “shut up and dribble” while calling Kanye a hero for being a free thinker. I feel like every celebrity has a right to their own opinion just like any American, but it’s difficult to see what is acceptable inside and outside of their workplace.”
Democrats are making the same arguments against Kanye West that Laura Ingraham made against LeBron.
My position on both is pretty straightforward: I think if celebrities want to get political, they should have to justify their positions. Whether you like Kanye or not, he took questions from the assembled news media at his White House event. That allows everyone to assess how much value they want to place on his opinions. Personally, I don’t place much value on celebrity political opinions because I’m confident I’m better informed than them — and generally more intelligent — as well.
What questioning has LeBron ever taken from the media about his political beliefs? All I’ve ever seen is him be praised for his political opinions. I think if LeBron were grilled on his political beliefs what you’d discover is he isn’t that coherent or intelligent when it comes to politics. That’s not a shot at LeBron, only 10-20% of Americans are smart enough to have coherent political philosophies.
Most people believe contradictory things.
But it is hysterical to me so see Democrats call people like Ingraham racist for telling James to shut up and dribble and then to tell Kanye to shut up and sing.
I also think it’s much braver of Kanye to wear a “Make America Great Again” hat and go talk to the president face to face than it is for LeBron to call the president a bum.
Colin writes:
“Long time reader, I was curious as to your thoughts on Title IX in College. I read this article today from my alma mater.
I only graduated a few years ago, but this to me seems absolutely insane.
While you can argue that ranking the looks of your classmates like that is a bit much. It seems crazy to me to involve title IX and the administration for something as harmless as this. The idea that the administration should get involved with personal matters like this is scary. I was particularly disturbed towards the end when they tried to link this situation to what was happening with the SCOTUS hearings. It seems crazy to me that we’re losing the line between actual questions of sexual assault and consent with lists like this.”
Here is the opening of the story linked above:
“Cornell is investigating a report that male, first-year Cornell Law School students ranked female first-year students on their appearance in a private group chat, according to an email from the school’s dean.
Dean Eduardo M. Peñalver ’94 on Oct. 5 said in an email to law students that Cornell’s Title IX Office is investigating the reported behavior. He said that “ranking women on their appearance is inherently degrading,” adding that it was “childish and unprofessional.”
When I read stories like this I think to myself: is this real life?
Every man reading the Outkick mailbag today has ranked women based on their hotness. (And many of the women have ranked the men too). The idea that it would somehow violate Title IX to look at a woman and assess her attractiveness is insane to me.
Furthermore, how is ranking women based on their physical appearance “inherently degrading” or “childish and unprofessional?” Would ranking men based on their attractiveness also be inherently degrading and childish and unprofessional? Because I think women do this as much, or more, than men do.
Look, I went to law school. Many of my best friends, including my own wife, I met in law school. We all spent a lot of time assessing the relative hotness of the different girls in our law school. (I know the girls actually had a written list of where the men ranked on hotness.
Every day we ate lunch on Vanderbilt’s main campus dining hall so we could check out the undergrad girls. I’m not kidding about this. It was honestly the highlight of our day.
And Vanderbilt law school had more girls than it did guys too.
The only men who claim not to be ranking women based on their hotness are the guys who are such total losers they think the only way women will sleep with them is if they appear to be uber-woke. (And these guys are probably the worst violators. They are definitely tearfully masturbating every night while they look at deviant porn).
Do you know where my wife ranked on the law school hotness scale? High! That’s why I wanted to meet her initially, because I saw her and found her attractive. The first time I met my wife was when I was recruiting girls for coed softball. Do you know how I picked the girls? Based on their hotness.
My goal was to find a hot and smart woman to marry. And I did. I don’t understand how this is remotely controversial.
Could I have been stupid and only picked a girl who was good looking? Sure. But why would I want to have kids with a girl who was dumb? I don’t want half of my offspring’s DNA to be stupid. That would be nonsensical.
Looking at members of the opposite sex and rating them based on their sexual attractiveness and desirability is literally the foundation of human biology. The fact that we have to now reject human biology in favor of a bullshit politically correct standard which, let’s be honest, is really about attacking masculinity is patently absurd.
Because, let’s be honest, what much of PC culture is really about is attacking masculinity.
I’ve got a crazy idea — I’m happy to be a man. I really like being a dude. That doesn’t mean being a woman is wrong, it means that I’m happy with my life. At no point in time have I thought, “You know what, I’d like to saw my dick off and become a woman.”
Evidently that makes me a coward in 21st century America.
Here’s the deal — everyone should be treated equally, but we really need more women to stand up and start calling out these bullshit stories.
Because this stupid dean doesn’t even believe what he’s saying in this article. He’s just terrified if he gives the wrong quote he’s going to get fired. I guarantee if you put him on a lie detector test and asked him to rank the hotness of the first year students at Cornell he could do it in a heartbeat.
The liars are the men out there claiming they aren’t looking at women and assessing their hotness.
Jonathan writes:
“Would you comment on Taylor Swift coming out for Phil Bredesen and against Marsha Blackburn for Senate in Tennessee?”
Well, I like Taylor Swift’s music and certainly support her right to share her political opinions.
But we’re both Tennessee residents and we’re on opposite sides here.
As I wrote last week, I’m voting for Marsha Blackburn to send a message to the Senate Democrats. I found their behavior totally unacceptable in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on Brett Kavanaugh.
I was leaning towards voting for Phil Bredesen in this Senate based on his record as mayor of Nashville and governor of Tennessee, but my vote changed based on how those hearings went. I was completely disgusted by the way the Senate Democrats questioned Kavanaugh in the wake of the allegations by Dr. Ford.
They threw out every presumption of innocence, disregarded the fact that Ford’s allegation didn’t rise to the level of legal guilt — beyond a reasonable doubt — or even come close to meeting the preponderance of the evidence standard in a civil case either.
There were many reasons not to support Brett Kavanaugh’s ascension to the Supreme Court, but they were all political, nothing more, nothing less.
Personally, I believe the president’s selection is entitled to a presumption of confirmation even if I disagree with the likely rulings from the justice.
I think many independent minded voters like me are now casting our votes to demonstrate our displeasure with the behavior of the Senate Democrats. They behaved, to me, like a mob, intent on valuing identity over facts. A woman isn’t entitled to be believed because she’s a woman. That’s the same kind of logic that led to Emmett Till being lynched. The race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation of someone shouldn’t impact whether or not you believe them.
All that should matter are the facts. And the facts all favored Kavanaugh. If I vote for Bredesen then I’m rewarding the Democrats for their behavior and potentially giving them control of the Senate. I don’t agree with many of Marsha Blackburn’s positions, but I disagree with the Senate Democrats more than anything.
If you look at many polls that have been done in the Senate in the wake of the Kavanaugh hearings they are all breaking in favor of the Republicans. Today’s New York Times poll has Marsha Blackburn up 14 points over Phil Bredesen in Tennessee. 14 points! This thing was a dead heat before the Senate hearings. And it’s not just Tennessee. Ted Cruz is up either eight or nine points in Texas, Heidi Heitkamp is going to get crushed in North Dakota, Heller is up now in Nevada and McSally is up in Arizona.
Republicans have a very real chance to pick up seats in Indiana, Missouri, Montana, West Virginia, and Florida. And I think they’re going to put some states in play that many of us haven’t even contemplated. My best guess is that the Democrats are going to pick up three or four Senate seats in these midterms and strengthen the Republican majority in the Senate.
If you’re a Democrat, I think the best thing you can hope for is that outrage over the Kavanaugh hearings fades between now and election day. The problem is early voting starts in many states within the next few days. I think the Kavanaugh hearings are going to cost the Democrats their chance to pick up a Senate majority and I think they will have to deal with a Republican majority in the senate for the next two years for sure and probably the next six years.
I think the battle for the House is more likely to be fought on local issues than it is national ones. I still suspect the Democrats win control by a small margin, but I actually think that helps Trump in 2020 because then he can use Nancy Pelosi — assuming she’s speaker — as a foil and make the Democrats seem like the party of mob rule. He can blame them for why nothing gets done.
The Democrats, in my opinion, need to abandon identity politics. But instead I think they are likely to go all in on identity politics, which plays to Trump’s strengths. Unbelievably, Trump is likely to be able to play the Democrats as the crazy ones in the 2020 election.
Rather than rising above Trump, Democrats have actually sunk beneath him.
Matt writes:
“Giants are a mess. Is it time to bail on Eli or is it something else?”
I’d bail on Eli and I’d bail on Odell Beckham, Jr too.
Eli has been a great quarterback for the Giants — anyone who wins two Super Bowls for your team is a great quarterback — but I think it’s clear he’s at the tail end of his career and it’s time for him to move on and draft a new quarterback in 2019.
I think OBJ is on his way to being a modern day Terrell Owens. This isn’t second guessing, I questioned the wisdom of giving OBJ $20 million a year the day after this deal was announced. Why? Two reasons: 1. Money makes you more of what you already are. If OBJ was a malcontent before, why was money going to change that? 2. Wide receivers don’t win titles, quarterbacks do. Look at the receivers Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have thrown to throughout their careers, other than a couple of years with Randy Moss, neither man has a hall of fame receiver. Giving a receiver that much money was crazy.
Remember, for all his talents the Giants haven’t won a single playoff game with OBJ. If I were running the Giants I would build around Saquon Barkley. That means I’d be on the phone today talking with contending teams about whether they are interested in trading for OBJ.
Ryan writes:
“As a fellow history buff like yourself I cant help but laugh at all these people who go on and on about how hard the world and the country is today. These people come from both sides of the aisle not just left snowflakes. Kap and Lebron and other celebrities included. I hear these people on TV and in person talking about how oppressed they are and how dangerous it is in America right now. Also they are on and on about how Trump is the most dangerous president ever.
My question for you is where do you think the system went wrong? Meaning were these people not taught history thru school or were they and then after they fell into their own little world thinking? I bought The Civil War books on your recommendation and loved them. Recently I’ve been watching The Vietnam War on Netflix. How do these people seriously with a straight face think America is more dangerous than lets just say summer of 1968? That year we saw 2 major political figures shot and killed. Riots at political rallies. Blacks are being sprayed with fire truck hoses. A few years later Kent State happens.
I’m with you this is one of the safest times to be an American.”
There has never been a better or safer time to be an American than right now.
Anyone who studies American history at all knows that everyone trying to make this look like 1968 is insane. We have the lowest unemployment rates in fifty years, the highest per capita incomes for all races, a surging stock market, robust GDP growth, and a country that gets safer every year.
Spend less time on social media and you’ll feel better about everything.
Trust me.
Dylan writes:
“Hey Clay, big fan of your show and political views.
What do you think about the Big 12 race this year? Texas appears to have emerged as a serious contender. OU and WVU still have to be the favorites. Who do you think wins it?”
West Virginia is the only unbeaten so I think you have to make the Mounstaineers the favorites for the moment, but I don’t think they will win at Texas and I still feel like Oklahoma will find a way to win at West Virginia to finish the season.
If I were projecting right now I’d go with a Texas-Oklahoma title game rematch in the Big 12 title game.
Eric writes:
“What are your thoughts on people like James O’Keefe who are getting a lot of dirty info on politicians? Do you think this helps or does it undermine Americans trust in their politicians?”
I didn’t share his most recent video about the Bredesen campaign workers and Bredesen’s position on Kavanaugh because I thought it was unfair to presume that low level employees on the campaign trail really have any idea what the candidates at the top of the campaign know or think.
I’ve been a low level grunt on a political campaign before and most of the time we didn’t know much of anything.
So when I saw those young campaign workers on the video, I thought how easily it could have been me getting secretly recorded when I was 23 or 24 years old and I don’t think it’s fair to impart their opinions to the rest of the campaign or, certainly, the candidate running for office.
What I try to do, and maybe this is because I’m 39 now and have a bit more maturity than in my younger years, is I try and work from the assumption that most people aren’t awful human beings.
That’s whether they are politicians, football coaches, school teachers, or in sports media.
This sometimes surprises people, but I tend to get along with most people. That’s because, in general, I like people. So what I wish we had more of in this country today is less of a war between the media and public figures and more of an assumption that while people screw up they’re generally trying not to be evil.
If Donald Trump and I had a meal together, I think I’d probably like him personally. But I think the same thing would have been true of Obama, either Bush, Clinton, and Reagan.
The Watergate story led every member of the media to aspire to the idea that they were Woodward and Bernstein and every public person was a liar and a crook and they should try to catch them misbehaving.
I just don’t believe that and I think the result has been a media that focuses far more on negative than positive reporting.
I think public life is tough and sometimes people have to make tough decisions that don’t turn out well.
That doesn’t mean I think they’re evil. I think truly evil people are rare, I think most of us are doing the same thing every day — trying to be better than we are.
…
Appreciate y’all and hope you have great weekends.
Clay Travis
