media

Comedians of the Bourgeoise & the Jesters Who Hold Court: How Anti-progressivism in comedy can support classical liberal elitism, conservatism and fascism by MRG Staff

Disclaimer: I enjoy Tim Dillon. I think he’s pretty level-headed and fair in his analysis of politics.

Wow. This post was originally dedicated towards talking about my criticism of Dave Smith but now has evolved into comedians in general.

If this were a book idea, I would call it “Comedians of the bourgeoise & the Jesters Who Hold Court: How Anti-progressivism in comedy supports classical liberal elitism, conservatism and fascism” by Quinton Mitchell.

But I am a busy working-class person, with not much time to do a book now, but for keepers, I am copyrighting that title, just for proof for later if I ever get to it.

This post and idea of a book comes from what I observe with comedians as they rally against “wokeness” (which has some merit), but often ends up eradicating underlying progressive sentiments, and inadvertently or purposefully ends up supporting the conservative status quo.

Comedians, who also moonlight as podcasters, did have some sway on the 2024 US Presidential election. The scope is of course debatable, but to say they had no influence seem flat out false to me. Joe Rogan for example is now under Spotify, which has a net worth of $134 Billion dollars, so of course he, his guests, and others like him have some level of influence.

Sure, comedians/podcasters can dismiss this allegation of helping Trump win, and by dismissing people who allege this it makes it seems like those accusing comedians are just further proof of being “out of touch” or “suffering from the woke mind virus”, yet comedians are also lavishing in the attention that they possibly DID have impact.

What I just said here reminds me of the recent Tim Dillion interview on CNN with Elle Reeve. First off, I don’t hate Tim Dillon, and, I think he has a fair approach to analyzing both sides of the political spectrum, but he does like the finer things in life, often talking with a slight sense of Gatsby-like outsider-peeking-into-the-rich analysis with his stories centering around the “WASP-ey” nature of the Hamptons as juxtaposed against the out-of-touch “white” privilege and dramatics of blue collar Long Island.

Dillon reminds of the something akin to the punk-of-the-elite class-which-therefore-makes-you-not-punk mantra of Brett Easton Ellis (a MAGA supporter), but Dillon is nowhere nearly as elitist and nostalgic as Brett East Ellis in my opinion. Dillon and I are Millennials more impacted in our developmental years by turn of the Millenium events (e.g., 9/11, War on Terrorism, The Great Recessions, etc.), whereas Ellis is true Gen-Xer who was raised in a time of “America not questioning” itself commercialism of the 1980s and 90s. If anything, Dillon still believes in some sort of grassroots hope without being fully nihilistic towards progressive sentimentality, despite his sometimes-dystopian analysis of life under late-stage capitalism. Dillon actually has self-awareness unlike many other Rogan-sphere comedians. I think Dillon stands on his own and I feel bad even linking him to Rogan.

Dillon also seems to be trying to hold court with those in political power such as with RFK, Jr., and his wife, and did have a slightly smug dismissiveness about the allegation that comedians helped Trump win in the interview I referenced on CNN.

Whether Dillon wants to admit or not, I think he – and by extension his comedian “Rogan-sphere” buddies – saw this CNN interview as a crowing-achievement, because A) it must have been personally surreal for himself to be thought off as a serious person to “the establishment”, which lays the impetus for more comedic inspiration for himself going forward because the whole event can thread upon irony and ridiculousness, and B) it gives him a consciousness-like, Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club “Project Mayhem” sense of glee, knowing that he and his comedy buddies are in part sticking it, or capable of sticking it to “the man”.

For example, Dave Smith in a YouTube video titled his video “Tim Dillion Embarrasses CNN” which goes to show how they see the establishment, but for Dave Smith specifically, is his wrath is dedicated more so towards the current “liberal” (i.e., Left Wing) establishment, and I say this because Smith and many other “free speech” comedians, seem to not be attacking the Donald Trump Administration as much as they could, except for maybe on America’s support for Israel in the Gaza War, but this to me is more so a trendy thing to do for them to gain sympathy and appropriate leftist positions (e.g., Theo Von crying about Gaza on his podcast, just to go to dinner with Jared and Ivanka Kushner, where both of them fund Israeli settlements on contested Palestinian lands).

Did he Dave, did he really? And if so, what are you so excited about that, when we have a literal fascist regime in the Trump Administration in power right now?

But, don’t get me wrong. CNN should BE CALLED OUT. CNN can be very embarrassing, considering by proxy it is seen as a type of “left wing” news outlet, but the issue to me is that comedians often in this lingering anti-woke regime, forget to call out the absurdity one can see daily in the conservative media. Tim Dillon, Andrew Schulz, etc., calling out CNN is not bad, and could be coming from a place of wanting them to do better, but even if that we the case, the fact remains that the “focus” is still on what we consider to be Left Wing. I think this is important to call out because not focusing on the conservatives gives them a sort of pass. As a result, I think a lot of people feel they are in this suspended animation of absurdity. Trump’s lies, cruelty, and truth bending seems untouchable while we all still unnecessarily debate the philosophy of “wokeness”. Who cares anymore. The constant attacks on wokeness are really a form of kicking people while they are down.

My observation is that comedians found the Left Wing to be easier targets, but now with Trump in power, doing all sorts of ridiculous things, it seems that many “anti-woke” comedians all of a sudden have “writers block”.

Trump is literally (1) claiming white South African farmers are going through genocide – which is a popular white supremacists’ myth – to distract from the point that his administration is funding the actual ethnic cleansing of Gaza, (2) Trump is hosting Trump meme-coin events, thus selling his title as President and pimping out of the Oval Office, (3) the Jeffrey Epstein Files, which people in the heyday of Qanon lunacy used to attack the political-left – largely because of Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein, despite Trump knowing Epstein too- are still not…public despite a disastrous attempt at doing a “public unveiling” featuring stochastic terrorists like Chaya Raichik of Libs of Tik Tok, etc. (4) Trump literally has “slave patrols” chasing down migrants, and whether we agree to disagree about the legality of their status (e.g., yes, coming to the US without permission or claiming asylum is a crime), we should hopefully be able to agree that the heavy-handed “Gestapo” like strategies of detaining people – many of whom are hardworking, tax paying and law abiding – is excessive force, and ironically obfuscates from the fact that capitalism benefits from often low-wage labor.

Or let’s go simpler…with that being that eggs are still high (as if it’s not a joke already that Presidents can’t control egg prices, and the fact that eggs spiked in prices due to an Avian Bird Flu pandemic).

Switching from Dillon to Smtih, I believe that Dave Smith is nothing more than MTV generation Republican who uses libertarianism to sound counter to narratives of power, but the underlying ideology of libertarianism naturally supports the elite status-quo which causes the wars he claims to be about. Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Smith can’t honestly say that Communism has caused any wars. What is causing them is the territorial and self-preservationist natures of nation-states, often ruled by an elite class of wealth people – getting into hot wars or cold wars over influence, resources, etc.

But comedy’s current overemphasis on wokeness forgets that wokeness is really a strategy of progressive ideology but not progressivism overall.

Wokeness in a very simplified definition could be explained as: (1) employing a combination of intersectional thinking which is an analysis of power along the intersections of various identities, (2) having an intolerance towards intolerance – which seems counterintuitive, but intolerance towards bigotry is an effective weapon against the status quo who wield both capital and state-violence, and (3), and has philosophical roots in Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, the works of Herbert Marcuse such as One Dimensional Man or Eros and Civilization, with the latter analyzing the subversive nature of capitalism and convenience via socialization, control, etc.

This is very gross over-simplification, but I think these are three core tenants. I didn’t list Marxism because wokeness despite being left-wing oriented in how we understand it in contemporary society, can be distained by people in the Far Left (i.e., those who feel identarian politics erodes class solidarity and, if anything is a weapon employed by liberals to balkanize class solidary) or by the Center-Left (who often see wokeness as counter to the “do what thy wilt” nature of liberalism, often focusing on free speech debates). But wokeness can be defended by from people within both camps. So wokeness is not inherently “communist”. It is really a worldview, framework, strategy, style, mantra, sentiment, etc., rather than an ideology. To be honest, you can allege that many people on the political right are “woke”, and these people are conservatives who simply complain or call-out the actions of the status quo, but don’t actually want it to go away.

Libertarians are effectively…woke conservatives. They’ll talk about “CIA, Operation Gladio conspiracies” here and there, they may smoke marijuana, they may sprinkle in Anti-George Bush and Dick Cheney throwbacks, and maybe, just maybe, might criticize police for excessive force (despite them liking cops as being defenders of property rights), but at the end of the day, they are…conservatives, and Republicans.

But regardless, even if there were flaws in the strategy of wokeness, it doesn’t mean progressive ideology is bad, but the goal of these comedians is to make it seems they are one in the same.

What these comedians are doing, is no different than what conservatives such as Jordan Peterson attempted to do by liking progressivism with “postmodern Neo Marxism”.

Jordan Peterson lazily (and with the help of meatheads like Joe Rogan), pitched the very Nazi-like idea that progressivism was explicitly “postmodernism” in nature, or as he put it “Postmodern Neo-Marxism”. This insinuates that the wants and needs of groups outside of “in-group”-oriented hierarchies as somehow espousing a dangerous “dada” nonsense.

Feminism, LBGTQ, diversity, environmentalism, etc., based on Jordan Peterson’s biased explanation of postmodernism (amplified by Joe Rogan’s platform to millions of listeners), means that these groups and the wants of these groups are unnatural, relativistic, and possibly even a “Jewish” subversion (with the latter being allegations espoused by the Nazis, American Paleoconservatives such as Pat Buchanan, and the more recent Alt-Right).

To go a little off course, but when thinkers like Peterson revive old tropes of “Cultural Marxism”, which always morphs into the horrid nature of antisemitism which I consider to be Jew hatred and blaming of Jewish people, but not a criticism of the state of Israel. By Peterson opening up the Cultural Marxist pandora’s box, he, even as a Pro-Israel, Christian-adjacent classical liberal (conservative), is able to help the State of Israel, because the antisemtiism they helped unleashed, helps Zionists organizations clamp down on free speech and criticiams against their colonial conquests against Palestinians. It is a very sinister strategy where you (1) promote antimsetimic tropes to help reinvigorate white supremacy though pulling Center Right politics more Far Right, and this Right Wing sphere includes the Evangelical Christiains who want Israel restored for their own religious propgheic reasons, but also, (2) promoting antimsetimsim allows Pro-Israeli groups, companies, think-tanks, etc., clamp down on speech agaisnst ISarel by alleging its antimsemitic. This also allows these Zionist groups to have more of a disporortionate effect on American life such as schools being threatened with defunding if they don’t support Israel, people being fired from jobs, or companies not getting state grants or contracts if htey don’t pledge to Pro-Isreal Anti-Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) laws.

Truly, an evil double whamy, entrendre, what have you, we live under.

But back on course, from Dave Smith, Bill Maher, Tony Hinchcliffe, Joe Rogan, Andrew Schulz, Tim Dillon, etc., are “defenders of classical liberal” traditions such as individualism and free speech, yet classical liberalism has been fully assimilated into the existing capitalist structure, thus naturally creating classism, imperialism, wars, etc., despite these comedian’s beliefs that they are countering state power with free speech.

As a result, I consider comedians like this to be Jesters of the Courts of Kings. Court Jesters could be an esteem tradition in the barbaric Dark and Middle Ages if a person was good enough. Not wanting to back to poverty, or get their heads chopped off, they would pander to the rich while at court, helping to justify the system as is, which was a feudalist system where elites were ordained by God to bind people to the land in exchange for “protection”, but a protection ironically from those elites themselves who had the power (with the exception lords may protecting serfs from highway bandits, when they weren’t acting in the capacity of robber barons I suppose).

These comedians’ free speech advocacy, which often centers around making fun progressives who are critical of existing hierarchies, is in a “snake that eats its own tail” feedback loop., because their comedy ends up supporting those at the top, while dismissing the grievances of those at the bottom, and when they do reach down to elevate the grievances of those at the bottom, it is often those at the bottom who still stuck in mental control that favors the rich, conservatism, etc.

Bill Burr is the most famous comedian who taps into true grassroots, blue collar, unintellectual progressive sentiments, which is why conservatives were so terrified of him. He is not only a white, straight guy from a culture ingrained in American lore as being romantically blue collar (i.e., the Irish), but uses his positions in these “privileged intersectional” boxes to call out the conservative status quo. Bill Burr threatens the status quo, no different than how when Republicans lost their minds over “White guys for Harris” during Kamal Harris’ run. The status quo knows that straight, white men are the buffer demographic needed at keeping things essentially the same for a very few amounts of people.

Yet, these comedians I am referring to will obfuscate from the fact that they are doing anything wrong by alleging that grassroots (and often monetarily broke) progressives are the “real elitists” as a means of pitting them against the everyday moderates and conservatives who are still largely living in their own denialism about how the capitalist system is exploiting them.

Comedians therefore can be weapons to help divide the proletariat working classes, so they never develop enough class consciousness to overpower the manager, owner, corporate, and elite classes.

Therefore, these comedians are…jesters holding court. Having made some money off Netflix who took risks on their careers by releasing their so-so comedy specials, but also having made money off pall-wall Patreon accounts or from the YouTube Google Paid Partnership Program algorithm, many of these comedians, who were once average joes, are in the upper middle class to lower rich brackets, and they don’t want to go back to where they came from. So, it seems the more they make it to the top, and I often saw this in Andrew Schulz, is that end up in this increasingly isolated “HBO Entourage” fantasy, where they are now the cool kids, and if they say anything ridiculous which gets criticism, then it is some people hating on them (literally, “They hate us, cuz they ain’t us” saying).

They get close to power, hoping to be let just a bit further into some secretive enclave, that they kind of sell out, but to distract from that fact, they simply base their entire comedic identity around pointing out what they see as “Left Wing hypocrisy).

On Dave Smith’s beliefs, which to me is a good start at calling out what I consider to be this “classical liberal apologia within comedy (which always ends up supporting the status quo), is that Smith calls himself a libertarian, but he that he defines himself as this because “the state represents violence”, which to me is a corny co-opt because one could in reverse provide a counter by stating “uncontrolled humans are innately violent” and stronger people or groups of people will target weaker people.

Also, I am not a pacifist. I aspire to be, but I am not one because peace isn’t something that naturally exists in nature, notably human nature, so taking the high moral ground of calling oneself a pacifist is nice, but in reality, has no substance. If anything – for better or worse – the freedoms of people are in protected by the possibly of violence. Pacifism though a something to aspire to, isn’t how the world is, and if the Dove Left or Libertarians got their way, they would likely create such as power vacuum that things would more violent sooner than later. A problem, with Libertarians and the Dove Left, is that they naturally assume that the United States is to blame for everything, and this often morphs into “Far out Man” “Blame the CIA” for everything arguments as if everyone other nation on earth doesn’t have their own self-preservationist attitude and realpolitik.

Government as a concept is not bad, and yes, government does have a monopoly on state-violence, so we as individual people aren’t exercising vigilante violence, based on our own subjective belief systems.

One could argue (and I admit that am oversimplifying things here for the sake of brevity) that government is one of the oldest human concepts we have as a species, in which humans ceded their personal freedoms to create a truce that was held firm by some sort of higher force needed for the arbitration of issues. Other species have something we could make the comparison to as a government, i.e., a social system of rules and truces that governs behavior.

From elder members of tribes to Kings, to elected representative bodies, we have had some level of government, because government essentially represents consensus, a body to establish truces, and an organ to uphold standards.

Sure, governments being comprised of people can be corrupted, but if anything, that’s a people problem, and not a problem with the concept of government.

Further, Dave Smith’s libertarianism provides him an easy way to win arguments by taking a non-interventionist and pacifist approach, notably by calling out the State of Israel in its treatment of the Gaza Strip in which the IDF is treating the entire area and its peoples as supporters of Hamas. Yet even though what the IDF is doing is unfortunate and is a clear example of what colonialism looks like, and sure, the United States helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia is not out of kindness but rather helping to sustain American hegemony, still, Dave Smith’s libertarianism doesn’t counter state-power, but rather enables the forces of wealth disparity via classism, that eventually hijacks governments to create the wars — often for conquests, market domination, and resource extraction – he claims to be against.

His libertarian ideals emphasize private property rights, which therefore evolves into a society of wealth-disparity since some will always own more than others and eventually monopolize markets and use government to help protect those monopolies.

Libertarianism is essentially capitalism, and capitalism, imperialism, etc., have been the impetus for wars of conquests, resource extraction, slavery, human trafficking, etc. Capitalism does not admit it does these things, because it’s not an actual person, but an idea, but the people implementing and advocating for the idea of capitalism often obfuscate from the negative externalities of capitalism, rather instead giving a “rising tides lifts all boats” Milton Friedman-like cop out.

Dave Smith is also on this bandwagon on anti-wokeness (which has made comedy predictable) and seems to employ what a lot of other current comedians are doing, which is what I call “Gotcha, see, you’re a hypocrite” angel to comedy, notably targeted at Liberals (who do corny things such as performative Civil Rights while continuing to support economic systems, that their conservative opposition benefits from), and the political-left. For example, there is a trend of calling out liberal elites (i.e., your Center Leftists, modernist liberals, etc., who compromise with the political-Right in order to prevent socialist economics undermining private property rights that disproportionately benefits the wealthy) and the Left (i.e., those critical and sometimes fully opposed to liberal economics, i.e., capitalism).

So not only does he have a political ideology that favors the rich naturally, but he also basis a lot of his comedy on calling out the hypocrisy of the only counter to conservatism, where conservatism is unapologetic in its belief in free-markets, hierarchies, etc. Sure, call out hypocrisy, but I don’t think that’s what he’s fighting, but rather he’s fighting for the preservation of the economic system as is, which means there’ nothing really revolutionary about his beliefs at all. Just because you get rid of government doesn’t mean that the majority of people’s lives will get better. If anything, it may get worse. Libertarians are at this point a weaponized ideology of think-tanks and organizations who provide intellectual top cover for elitism and wealth disparity. People like Reagan and Nixon called themselves libertarians to my knowledge because it was the fashionable thing to be in post-WWII America as it became more popular to rally against New Deal Era social programs.

How it is punk to be a libertarian, when people like Reagan would call themselves that? Libertarianism is nothing more than an ideology of apologia for private property which naturally favors the elites, business and mercantile classes. It is the higher-brow, bow-tie Ivy League variant of anarcho-capitalism.

Also, why is libertarianism also the preferred ideology of racial (notably white) supremacy and separatism? Because it provides intellectual layering of people’s internal desires and fears, which is anchored in racism, sexism, etc. Better put many conservatives aren’t libertarian because of the high-brow, debate-club talking points they say, but often it is about maintaining a hierarchy based on race, gender, sex, etc., and they see government regulation and interventionism as counter to their wants. But libertarianism provides a “high horse” position by alleging it is simply about maintaining freedom. Sure, it may be maintaining freedom but maintaining freedom and being a humanist are two different things.

Sure, Dave will probably allege that he is a purist when it comes to his beliefs and that his beliefs have been invaded and ruined by others, but even that would be a cop out.

Generation X and Elder Millennial Libertarians in my view, coming from a person in my late thirties, are what I MTV-generation Republicans. They were raised on Reaganomics and Clinton Neo-Liberalism, but to save face when George Bush Neocons started ruining the planet (destabilizing the Middle East and helping cause a decade long Global Recession), they distanced themselves from standard Republicanism and called themselves libertarians because it was cool to do so. The Tea Party movement and the presidential campaigning of Ron Paul also led a lot of people into libertarian ideals. Paul often seemed like the rational one in a room because he was anti-war but also anti-regulation, yet the flaw still remains…. with that being that power can accrue in the hands of a few even if you get rid of government, and nothing may change for the better, and may get worse, because there’s no government recourse to challenge those with dipropionate power.

Many of these Libertarians were also raised with a pre-existing libertarianism from the mid-20th century hovering the background which included the thoughts of Murry Rothbard-inspired extremism (who was a Jewish man who had odd links to white supremacists), a Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell intellectualism of the 60s and 70s, and also a good dose of American Southern-oriented “State’s Rights” Jeffersonians (i.e., often Southern libertarians who used Thomas Jefferson as the basis for their ideological stances on segregation, states’ rights, etc.).

Figures such as MTV’s Kurt Loder was an example of the “hip libertarianism”. Don’t get me wrong. Kurt Loder who I grew up watching as the “smart guy” on MTV who gave it an air of journalistic integrity, seemed like a nice guy and I want to say him beliegn a libertarian in his heart was coming from a good place, however, I would argue the idealism of libertarianism, simply ends up supporting the status quo as is.

I suspect Loder’s libertarianism was based on the Baby Boomer rejection of the stuffiness of suburban conveniences, which later found existential catharsis is the lyrics of Lou Reed and Velvet Underground during the emergent punk scene, post the failure of the hippie movement, with bands like The Stooges, Television, those of NYC CBGBs, etc. Essentially, libertarianism of Loder’s day could be seen as punk, but really it wasn’t. It felt punk maybe, but how punk could it really have been if Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago was winning a Nobel Prize for basically promoting “Greed is Good” during the same late 1960s to early 1980s timeframe. The wish fulfilment of Milton was the Reagan 1980s.

Loder helped inspire Fox New’s host, Kennedy.

Kennedy therefore leads us to “Republican Comedy” shows such as Red Eye and Gutfeld!

Greg Gutfeld of course calls himself a libertarian too…

Dave Smith has of course been a panelist on Gutfeld’s shows.

The truth of the matter the older I get and the more I get tired of analyzing the system is that liberals and conservatives are the same, and both are the biggest hinderances towards a true progressive future, which I feel can only happen underneath some sort of true Left-Wing ideology.

To me, conservatives are simply “classical liberals”, where what we call liberals in contemporary speech are “modernist liberals”. Both are liberals in that they have a core philosophy centering around private property, markets, individualism, and the “Devine Rights of Man” (inalienable rights), but classical liberals (conservatives) inspired by people such as Edmund Burke still favor classes, traditional, religion, etc., and feel that human nature itself (the invisible hand, i.e., human chaos) will somehow solves things, whereas modernist liberals (liberals in our modern day lexicon) inspired by Oliver Wendell Holme’s “living interpretation of the US constitution”, and the philosophical school of Pragmatism led by figures such John Dewey, have a hands-on (real hand versus the invisible hand) approach. Science, managerialism, psychology, etc., are more so utilized by modernist liberals in applying classical liberal presuppositions.

Yet, both are liberals based on that classical core tenant of beliefs.

My belief is that only true Leftist ideology can reform society at this point because liberalism, and notably neoliberalism has reached its inevitable conclusion, which is corporations replacing the state that represents all peoples in theory such as through privatization of services, and the fact that wealth is already so much in the hands of a few people (the game has been won) that economic mobility for the vast majority of people is either impossible, going to get much harder, or will only be sustained by those in power manipulating from behind the scenes to prop up a system that requires belief in them still holding onto power. For example, as technology and AI literally gloats about replacing people’s jobs, the fact still remains that people still need to pay bills and rents since even living is a for-profit enterprise under capitalism. Captialism running out of things to do, so can only recycle itself to stay relevant (for example, promoting anachronistic fashions to keep consumers interested), promote forced-obsolesce (ensuring things break more easily so you have to keep buying that thing, i.e., reducing quality), promoting subscriptions to unlock extra features in products people already paid for, etc. This is why Universal Basic Income is gaining traction. It is not about creating a post-capitalist utopian state, but rather maintaining the hierarchy as is, but why an agreed upon amount of state generated “play money” to keep propping up belief in the current Monopoly Game we are enslaved to. Liberalism like Marxism are both idealistic utopian ideal, even though Orthodox Marxist won’t admit it because they consider themselves as “true realists” because of dialectical-Materialism, etc.

But liberalism like Marxism posits itself on a belief that their specific idea will lead to a utopian version of the future, where Marxist believe in a collective of the proletariat will get us there, whereas liberals believe that individual will get us there.

The same fallacy that Communists argued when by claiming the state would wither away after the “dictatorship of the proletariat” took over to implement a “classless, cashless, stateless society”, can too be found in capitalism (liberalism) where this fallacy somehow believes that rich people winning the game of capitalism will…somehow give up their wealth for a utopian future for everyone, or, I guess the masses will be better off peasants than previous era of peasants if only a few winners of capitalism stay in power?

If you step back, you notice that the Far Right and Liberals both agree on destroying the only reformist ideology which can be found the Left.

From anti-woke comedians to the liberalism of Cenk Uygur Young Turks or steamers such as Destiny, to the Far Right from literal Neo Nazis to the general and Right Wing with figures such as Ben Shapiro, Jillian Michaels, to think tanks, to bot armies, to God knows what else… is that there is a war against the Left.

I call it full spectrum cross-divisional (both left and right) liberal warfare against the progressive Left.

Was wokeness annoying?

Sure.

But I felt I grew as a better person because of it.

A lot of people hung up on wokeness as the culprit of the world’s problems are those who never cared to really care about what woke progressivism stood for or was trying to do, but tapped into their own sense of victimhood by alleging they got cancelled by the “woke mob”.

Like I can’t imagine being a main in 2025 who still angry and afraid or triggered by feminism, even if an individual triggers you. I say this because even though individuals in the left may be very annoying, rude, hypocrites, themselves…so what? That’s a “them” problem, so I am not going to throw feminism, or LGBTQ, or fellow Black consciousness thinkers under the bus because I get their goal. My support for progressivism is not based on transactional relationships but rather a belief in the transformational nature of it. It’s simply the right thing to do, and yes, I am making a firm objective truth claim on what is right and wrong.

For example, it is the right thing to support women in supporting women, and I have to accept that it may not include me, and if anything, always may be mistrustful of me as a man. It is what it is. Patriarchy has given them every reason to feel a certain way. It sucks. Sure, there will be bridges between us possibly, but maybe me being supportive of their self-determination is the simply the only thing I can do? It doesn’t mean my life is over, especially on matters where emotions may be involved. Sure, if I am accosted by a person on a person-to-person basis, then yes, I will defend myself, but I am not simply going to throw feminism under the bus as being the root scourge of modern problems. I apply the rhetoric to other things to.

The goal of conservatism is to make it seem that what is now is natural and not a construction. It’s easier to be a conservative. It’s safer. It’s tempting as a result. Maybe the Left needs to realize that people have a propensity for simple thinking and easy living, and, yes, we have natural insecurities which sometimes intersectional conflict brings out to people’s dismay? The Left is not perfect, but still there are the only force that can reform their current neoliberal globalist regime we labor under.

A part of me thinks that we weren’t woke enough, if the result was Trump or JD Vance.

Regardless, for example, I admit there was a time where I thought this woke ideology was explicitly Communists, but then I grew out of that because it’s not about the strategy but the underlying sentiment that underrides that strategy. And even if were Communists…so what? Communism has an analytical tool against capitalism is not the same as living under a totalitarian communist regime.

I don’t see the woke era as a bad thing but rather something that push conversations forward, however, a society as a tolerance point, and those who espouse woke ideology (though I support them) should respect that. Wokeness was most so about pushing conversations forwards on the hopes of achieving materialist gains. Sure, we’ve talked a lot, but we still don’t have…. Medicare for All, legalized weed, a fair immigration system, and if anything, rights have been LOST.

Identity politics is not bad, but it’s how much we focus on it. The Left can have both class solidarity while also factoring in intersectionality, but to me it’s how much emphasis at the forefront do we put on identity. Identity is easy to me. Talking about it, analyzing it, etc., is easy, cheap, and often can lead to nothing beside maybe Behavorial modifications to how we treat each other, but often talking on identity all day everyday does nothing but create a few hyper-successful voices who become the leaders of their tribal groups, but nothing is actually changing. If anything, fatigue kicks in, and those who wanted a better world, drop the Left, and go back…to suburbia or the system as is.

It happened in the 70s and 80s after Civil Rights and is a happening again, and this attack on wokeness is a sign of that. Liberalism coopted and destroyed anything revolutionary, and created a newer type of inclusive liberalism. A new update to its software, rather than anything in the underlying code structurally being changed.

This is something the left needs to work out, but you better believe it that the opposition will do as much as it can to promote disunity.

But as I end this, Andrew Schulz, another comedian, interviewed Bernie Sanders. This may seem random, but Andrew has said certain controversial things to some that have gotten him into “hot water” as far as Twitter goes, but Bernie is slightly disappointing fashion was pushing this “wokeness as a problem” trope, to the glee of Schulz and his friends.

I feel Bernie did this being an old guy and little out of touch about the deeper nuances of online conversations and controversies, but I also think that Bernie is unfortunately adopting a liberal and Right-Wing framing of wokeness, as it being some “ridiculous” strategy. And, sure, as I’ve admitted, wokeness was not perfect, but in the case of Schulz is that Schulz was really wanting top-cover for anything he may have said that pissed people off. By getting Bernie to agree with him to varying degrees, it somehow alleviated Schulz from anything he said, because both he and Bernie pushed the ideas that “woke” type of Left are more problematic than good.

Me hearing Bernie on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant 2 Podcast, to me means we need younger blood and this why Alexandia Ocasio Cortez is so important and why the system fears her. She would have pushed a bit more than what Bernie was capable of doing.

I truly think the system is afraid of AOC and if these comedians are truly free speech, I think Joe Rogan, Andrew Schulz, Theo Von, etc., should host her.

Deep Dive into the University of Washington Huskies Football. Hope for the Future. Numbers, Business, Theories Strategies by Quinton Mitchell

1. Introduction

Washington has lost a third of its team, but I think there’s oddly…hope…? This me rambling, free flow thinking, note taking, etc.

One team I have followed is the Washington Huskies since I went to middle school, college, and then later settled down here as an adult in Washington State despite all my moves, my own military service, etc. I have seen them play Oregon when Oregon had Johnathan Stewart and Dennis Dixon, Arizona when they had Rob Gronkowski (Husky fans call this game the Immaculate Interception since UW won on an interception that deflected off another player’s foot), and then later Auburn when they played UW in Atlanta at Mercedes Benz Stadium. I would say that I have followed their recruiting (with some lags in recent years) probably since I was a sophomore in college around 2007 when I was attending a small college in Washington State. This was the era of Jake Locker and Keith Price under center.

The University of Washington Husky Football program (The Purple and Gold) is in a precarious position despite having a rich history.

Washington is a sort of one the public “Ivy” schools as far as academics, and UW and Michigan are just two of many teams that harken back nostalgia to the “gee golly jeepers” days of early twentieth century football notably from the Roaring 1920s to the end of World War II (i.e., when Army or Notre Dame mattered, Harvard vs. Yale mattered, or when postcards depicting trolly lines on the way to the Pasadena Rose Bowl in a still rural Los Angeles metro-area mattered, etc.). They could be considered a part of the Norman Rockwell nostalgic teams of college football.

However, (1) coach Kalen DeBoer is leaving for Alabama, which seems a little odd because he seemed so reserved as a coach with Washington as compared to the old-school, chew you out, Bear Bryant-esque style of Nick Saban within the deep-rooted football culture of the SEC. (2) Today, for the Huskies, one third of the team is gone. (3) Their AD Jen Cohen, who was on the CFP Selection Committee, left of USC and was replaced by Tulane’s AD Troy Dannen. (4) They’re going to a new conference, thus with the help of USC, UCLA, and Oregon are helping to severe decades of regional tradition, which to me reminds of what happened with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers when they too joined the Big Ten after leaving the Big Twelve and were never the same since then. (6) Recruits and transfer prospects are changing their minds, etc.

Source: https://www.washington.edu/news/2023/10/07/university-of-washington-appoints-troy-dannen-as-director-of-athletics/

2. Bad Mojo in the 2024 CFB National Championship, Purple Reign and the Theory of Aesthetics

This is going to be a weird section.

It is sort like me pretending to be on a marketing team or something. Thinking outside the box about what are the “aesthetics” of UW.?

The superstitious and cynical/realist/realpolitik part of me, with the latter encompassing a very business, marketing, aesthetics, Las Vegas gambling spreads, TV rights, etc. – viewpoint, knew that UW was likely going to…lose.

What I call the “mojo” (throwback to Friday Night Lights and having been born and partially raised in the Southern U.S.A) was…off.

The Cinderella Stories were more so favoring Michigan with Jim Harbaugh needing to win as to not feel like a total failure in his coaching career (with him currently being partially embattled in alleged recruiting violations and a call-stealing scheme), and if his brother John Harbaugh can win the Super Bowl with AFC win-leader the Baltimore Ravens, this would be the first time in history that brothers have won the NCAA and NFL Championships in the same season.

JJ McCarthy, who seems like a good kid, is – from my “realist viewpoint” – being prepped to be some sort of Tom Brady like Irish American golden boy QB, because to be honest, and to be respectful, most Americans have Irish ancestry and Irish-ness has permeated the popular culture lexicon with the stereotype of being jovial and fun but tough, pious, hardworking, and honorable. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if the Patriots with their dismal QB situation brings on players such as JJ McCarthy from Michigan and to pay a nod to nostalgia for receivers Wes Walker, Danny Amendola, etc. such as potentially drafting Ladd McConkey from Georgia, etc. The McConkey selection may not happen, but it’s not too far off considering Ladd was injured at UGA, so other teams may overlook him and in perfect Patriot fashion where they seem to be good at getting “bargain buys”, a Ladd pick up may not be out of the ordinary.

All I am saying is that the NFL is in part a story, a movie, etc., and it seems teams such as the Patriots notably try to input players that resonate within their community for nostalgia purposes such as the city being define by Irish Americans, Jewish Americans (traditionally from around the Brookline area. Players like Julian Edelman. Boston has a deep-rooted Jewish community, e.g., Benjamin Netanyahu worked at Boston Consulting Group and attended MIT and owner). Italian Americans (the Patriots tried with Jimmy Garoppolo), African Americans (typically in RB, OL, and Defense positions, but the organization did try with Cam Newton and Jacoby Brissett at QB), and Anglo-Americans. You can even throw in a few the fact that Boston and Massachusetts/Rhode Island, etc., have a strong Portuguese, Cape Verdean, and Caribbean population.

Aesthetics and marketing matters to a degree. In the NFL we can stereotype the Seattle Seahawks, especially when they had Russell Wilson as being marketed as a type of backyard football, video game, Bill Gates and Paul Alen Microsoft tech money, grunge, neon signs, smoothe jazz, rainy, drizzling, coffee drinking but with a low-key wealthy and cultured vibe, with a few hard drinking Scandinavian fish eating sailors or every-day Raymond Carver blue collar workers. Thow in a little black soul or hip-hop culture spanning from all the way South to Lakewood, WA all the way to the Hill Top (crypt gang territory back in the 80s-90s) neighborhood in Tacoma and all the way up to the Rainer Valley and Central District up in Seattle, which permeates through all communities but notably the black, Asian, and the pacific Islander community.

Of course we have to remember the Native Americans where the Puget Sound area has many reservations and successful native American tribes.

For example, back to my JJ McCarthy “aesthetics theory” in relation to the Cinderella stories leading up to the UW vs Michigan game, I think back to the early 2000s when the Boston, as the stereotypical hub of everything Irish American, and by proxy…white American, you had the Boston Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and Red Sox dominating but in the pop culture sphere you had Boondock Saints, The Departed, Mystic River, and even HBO’s Entourage produced by Boston native Mark Wahlberg. Boston pop culture and Boston sports helped produced the primordial ooze that gave us American Pie throwback frat-boy gamblers like David Portnoy of Barstool Sports.

Also, Blake Corum at RB was featured in pre–National Championship coverage detailing his backstory, etc.

As far as the Cinderella pre-game stories lines – which do a play a role in shifting public sentiment- I didn’t notice the same thing with the Huskies. It is almost as if the entire media was slightly hiding us from who Michael Penix really was as a loveable down-to-Earth player, despite the media obviously showcasing his insane throwing stats. But, being in the Puget Sound region, it did not seem as if the rest of the country really cared. Michigan, Harbaugh, McCarthy, fight songs like Victors, and the Big 10 just mattered more.

Winning is not only about game play but business, marketing, TV rights, etc., because that all equates to money and money separates good programs from elite programs. I can’t even imagine the levels of alumni engagement that schools such as Michigan and Ohio State have.

Washington is an elite academic institution but because of its location nestled in the far corner of the lower-48 states, as compared to the generally deep history of the Midwest and East Coast, its fanbase and alumni are known but not really on the insides of “institutional power”. How many alumni from the Big 10 as high paid government officials, sit on corporate boards, are high ranking military officials, etc.?

Sure, football is just a game but it’s also a billion-dollar industry.

University of Washington had a great PR campaign that still is in existence called Purple Reign, i.e., a spin on the school colors, the fact it rains so much, and the goal of UW wanting to be a major player in national CFB. It is a cool campaign that seems to touch on the coolness of Jimi Hendrix, the suave of the Artist Name as Prince, etc.

The Seattle area has had two major spikes in popularity in recent times.

The first was the mid-1980s through 1990s dominance of Microsoft based in Kirkland, Washington in the upper middle class suburbs northeast and true east of Lake Washington. This era coincided with the grunge movement of Nirvana, Alice in Chains, etc.

Secondly, there was the early twenty-teens era that was refined by Paul Allen’s influence where he bought the Seattle Seahawks in 1997 and during his tenure as owner, the Seahawks made the Super Bowl three times following NFC Championship victories (2005, 2013, 2014), and won Super Bowl XLVIII in February 2014. Seattle by the late 90s had already established itself as a tech hipster hub but by the 2000s this was solidified. Music wise, Northwest indie was the rave with the Postal Service from Bremerton, WA, and Modest mouse for Issaquah. There were also Seattle hip hop groups such as Blue Scholars.

Yet, in the 2020s, Seattle is different. High prices have removed the traditional working-class neighborhoods. Drug abuse in the homeless population is rampant, especially in the wake of anti-cop brutality protests. Inflation is high. Culturally, there’s no big…spark making Seattle stand out on the music, fashion, or arts scene. Seattle is either transplants renting or hanger-ons who were lucky to inherit a house who walk with a level of coolness in that they can stake claim in the older days of the city. Also, lots of real estate was bought up by Chinese or foreign investors causing a housing crisis. In other words, Seattle is in a flux transition, but often from these tough times comes creativity, but I am still waiting to see what that is or looks like. But this is happening all over the country as cities are more and more expensive, younger people aren’t starting families because of student loan debt/housing shortages, stocks are super expensive, and the cost of living in high as businesses offload increases onto consumers.

3. The web of corporate media, money, broadcasting, etc.

Washington going to the Big Ten is more about money it seems, even though UW is a good academic school, arguably better than schools such as the University of Nebraska.

According to the Associated Press (2022) which was posted by CNBC, the Big Ten’s new $7 billion media rights deal will string the conference’s top football games across three major networks each week, creating an NFL-style television schedule on Saturdays. The Big Ten announced Thursday it has reached seven-year agreements with Fox, CBS and NBC to share the rights to the conference’s football and basketball games (Associated Press, 2022).

The deals go into effect in 2023, expire in 2030 and eventually will allow the conference’s soon-to-be 16 member universities to share more than $1 billion per year, a person familiar with the terms told The Associated Press (Associated Press, 2022).

UW going to the Big 10 means they will get a chuck of this pot of money and get a larger audience that spans both coast and hits major media markets such as New York, Chicago, and LA.

UW is also benefiting from its Adidas deal, even though culturally speaking Nike still retains dominance but we still associated Nike with basketball, etc.

Yet, UW making it to the national championship means they were the first Adidas sponsored team to making it to the National Championship. This means Adidas is very happy.

Source: The deal includes $5.275 million annually in cash, $5.58 million annually in product, and $1.1 million annually for marketing; https://www.si.com/fannation/sneakers/news/adidas-celebrates-washington-huskies-historic-win

Further, in 2015, UW entered into a $41 million over 10 years contract with Alaska Airlines, so the airline could call the playing field Alaska Airlines field. Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/uw-alaska-airlines-agree-to-naming-rights-deal-for-husky-stadium/

The below Excel depicts the largest advertisers on CFB. Source: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2021/12/03/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Allstate.aspx

4. But let’s go deeper. Business genealogy.

Disney owns 21st Century Fox (not be confused with Fox Corporation), but also via Disney’s Entertainment division, they own ABC. ABC in the past procured ESPN, thus Disney is also the parent of this. Further, HULU was initially shared between 21st Century Fox, Disney (ABC ESPN), and Comcast NBC Universal (Peacock), but Disney now owns all majority shares via their 21st Century Fox acquisition and NBCUniversal selling their shares.  Yet, Fox Corporation (no longer owns 21st Century Fox) with the Big Ten jointly own Big 10 Network, but Big10 Network can be accessed via Hulu…owned by Disney. In other words, all roads in a way lead back to…Disney.

The Big 10 is essentially rubbing off on all major networks with the Disney (ABC/ESPN, 21st Century Fox. Hulu, Disney+) …. Fox Corporation (Fox Sports and the Big10 Network – where the Big 10 can still be access via Disney’s Hulu. Fox also ownsTubi Streaming…. NBCUniversal Comcast which includes Peacock, and Paramount Global, i.e., CBS Viacom (who own Paramount and CBS but has an agreement with Warner Brother’s Discovery which owns MAX, i.e., formerly HBO Max which as an apps holds rights to TNT, TBS, etc. Paramount Global also owns PlutoTV and FuboTV – with FuboTV’s share ownership still be undisclosed). Big 10 Network can likely be accessed via satellite companies such as ATT – DirectTV and Dish Network (owns Sling TV) as well.

Side Note: Fox is confusing. Old New Corporation was divided into “new” New Corp (more for publishing such as the New York Post, Wall Street Journal) and 21st Century Fox (more for entertainment and film – though not of the same name, 21st Century Fox was the de jure legal successor to old New Corp, i.e., its spiritual successor more focused on TV, film, etc.). Yet, when Disney bought 21st Century Fox (media like The Simpsons), the remaining assets were organized and listed as simple Fox Corporation. So, Fox “holdings” today is New Corp and Fox Corporation, stock symbols Nasdaq: FOXA Nasdaq: FOX (where Fox Corporation owns Fox Broadcasting i.e., TV shows, Fox Sports that includes Big 10 Network partially, Fox News, Tubi, etc.).

** Disclaimer: This is not investing advice and I hold no financial title or fiduciary responsibility.

5. Where are We? Wait, what just happened?

After going undefeated in the 2023 season and playing (but losing) in the 2024 College Football Playoff Championship, it feels like the Huskies left a lot on the field. The game was generally off all the way around. From weird punts giving Michigan decent field position, to Penix overthrowing on plays he’s made to beasts like Rome Odunze on a regular basis, to Penix overlooking receivers, to missed opportunities such as a painful drop by Will Nixon, to the offensive line with RT Rosengarten getting bullied, to UW penalties that were caught, and Michigan penalties that were not caught.

The game overall wasn’t the high flying, potential overtime thriller that many expected.

I knew going in that this was a battle of two different philosophies. UW with their Air Raid offense that lacks defense but can score quick if the QB is given time has no pressure versus UM with their more balanced run, grind, and hope to bust a long run philosophy mixed with aggressive defensive play, where McCarthy at QB was more of a dual threat game manager focused on minimizing personal mistakes, going down his reads, and if need be using his legs. UM also highlighted they had more depth such as Michigan substituting their QB and RB. If UW didn’t make those mistake, I think that UW’s kicking game would have been more of an X-Factor considering they have one of the best kickers, if not the best kicker in college football, with

They left a lot to be desired. I am an interesting college football fan because I was raised a miliary brat, so I grew up in many areas where I would follow the local college teams, but I also had my family teams or just teams that fascinated me because of their rich history despite, maybe, having fallen from grace in recent times.

6. Crisis Mode – Crunching Numbers and a future crash on offensive production.

Washington’s top three wide receivers have declared for the NFL with Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, and Jalen McMillian combined in total for 3,358 yards. If we add Senior Jack Westover who accounted for 433 yards, our new total is 3,791 yards.

The top three WRs accounted for 27 touchdowns and if we add Jack Westover (TE) the new total is 31 TDs.

Think about this, Michael Penix threw for 4,903 yards so his top three receivers who are now going to the NFL accounted for 68.48% of his total yards, and if we focus on his top four receivers that number increases to 77.32%.  

Michael Penix threw 36 TDs total. His top three receivers thus accounted for 75% of those TDs but his top four receivers in total accounted for 86% of those TDs.

So, Washington is losing their 4K+ yard passing “super senior” QB in Michael Penix, so thus losing anywhere between 77%-68% of what made up their passing production and losing 86%-75% of what made up their passing TD production. In other words, UW (U-dub) is a heavy passing offense who loses most of what made up their offense production. I didn’t count TDs considered to be rushing TDs by Receivers in these stats, so even more of UWs offense production is going away Polk, McMillian, Odunze, and even Westover accounting in total for another 4 total TDs.

Ironically, this over emphasis on pass production concentrated among seniors or NFL eligible receivers has left the Huskies with a Wide Receiver crisis, where younger receivers aren’t as proven or battle ready.

Further, on the running side of the ball, Dillon Johnson (Junior RB), their leading rusher with 1,195 yards on 233 carries and a whopping 16 TDs. Out of the top three RBs which includes Will Nixon (33 carries for 201 yards and 1 TDs) and Tybo Rogers (44 carries on 184 yards with 0 TDs). The top three in total accounted for 1,580 yards in which 1,195 was attributed to Dillion Johnson, so with Johnson declaring for the NFL, that’s 75.63 or roughly 76% of rushing production now gone. Dillion Johnson out of the top three accounted for 75.2% of the rushing production on carries. In summary Dillion Johnson leaving the Huskies is taking away around 75-76% of running offense production.  

This means that UW this season was operating in a “make it or break it” “the stars must align” season, where they put so much offensive production on seniors or NFL eligible players, that if UW didn’t win it all, which they didn’t, then they would have a massive drop in offense going into next seasons. We must remember that players like Penix, Polk, Dillon (three years at Mississippi State), etc., are transfers into the program, so some of their development was developed in part outside of the Husky system. Will Nixon in 2023 had 201 carries, being number two in that category. Dillon who as freshman back at Mississippi State had rushed 51 times for 225 yards, yet Nixon as a sophomore only touched the ball 33 times for 201 yards, yet, this means Nixon is capable of averaging 6.1 yards, which interestingly was average 1 yard more than Dillon. In other words, UW fed the ball so much to Dillon who is now leaving, when Nixon in theory should have seen more action. It’s all hearsay and in the rear-view window now, but if UW had employed a more balanced approach in its RB core rather than over-relying on Dillon, the Huskies would have had more opportunities to assess Nixon’s ability to carry the team and work out bad habits going forwards.

6b. Crisis Mode – There is no loyalty in business. New Coach.

So far as I write this, DeBoer heavily relied on players (who were seniors, super-seniors [seniors who had been redshirted earlier in their careers, i.e., 5 or 6 years or more on the team], COVID waivers and traditional transfers, and/or NFL eligible players across any category) without adequately grooming the next crop of younger players. [See: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/everything-you-need-to-know-about-redshirting-ncaa-s-rules-and-regulations-on-eligibility/ar-AA1iLODq]

Depth is what in part separates good from elite teams. A potential rocket-rise and a potential rocket fall.

But I don’t think Husky fans saw it this way because they were so excited to be winning the way they were that why would you question?

Based on DeBoer habit of resume-building, typically serving no more than two years in any position, it seems that DeBoer and OC Ryan Grubb were sort of worrying more about their future job potential than the longevity of the Husky program overall.

However, this would not be the case if Washington naturally promotes Grubb to Head Coach so he can keep the culture that he and DeBoer built together. Yet, there is the issue of can Grubb as a personality attract the attention to garner a reputation as an “elite coach” or legendary coach.

However…Grubb may be joining DeBoer at Alabama.

DeBoer used the Huskies as a launch pad towards a more prestigious coaching job, and the OC was likely hoping to either replace DeBoer or get an opportunity somewhere else as a Head Coach of OC at a more elite team. It’s just the nature of the business of the game. It’s not about loyalty per se but climbing to the top and this is an important lesson that we can all take to heart in our careers. This is how people earn more than others, i.e., they take the higher paid positions when they open and see no long-term loyalty since organizations see no long-term loyalty to you.

As of breaking news on Sunday 1/14/2024, UW has hired Arizona’s coach Jeff Fisch

I am not sure how I feel about it.

My idea was to hire a well-connected coach with personality. Pete Carroll, he considers Seattle home now, still embedded with the Seahawks. His NFL ties would attract prospects. His son is OC, Brennan Carroll under Arizona HC Jeff Fisch. Pete could have been a sort of publicity filler role (who is also a great coach) to help fundraise, be a local media darling, inspire kids, and be a good connection for NIL players who want a direct plug for NFL scouts. Pete could also continue close ties between the Seahawks and Huskies organizations.

It’s a stretch but by doing this Pete would have been the first person to coach a Seattle NFL team and college team. Since he has one Super Bowl, in theory could compete for a National Championship which never has been done in my opinion as far as a head coach. Sure, this is unlikely considering the Husky’s current roster woes.

Pete Carroll is a part of the Seattle community and I think he wants to coach still. Even though is over 70 years of age, he could be a sort of nice filler coach to attract talent and raise up the new crop of assistant coaches who can then compete for the head coach. He was links to help players get scouted by the NFL. Seattle also has a habit of recruiting Huskies.

To me the two best scenarios would have been1) Have Pete Carroll be the filler role for no more than two years, use this for an aggressive marketing campaign, and bring over Brennan Carroll to be OC, thus prepping Brennan to take over as HC after Pete retires. This would give Pete the rare stat of having coached the Seahawks and Huskies. But mainly leave the Huskies coaching staff intact, or (2) Outright hire Brennan Carroll for HC instead of Jeff Fisch.

Brennan Carroll enters his third season with Arizona in 2023 after being hired as the Wildcats offensive coordinator and offensive line coach by head coach Jedd Fisch on January 1, 2021. Carroll joined the Wildcats from the Seattle Seahawks where he spent the previous six seasons as running game coordinator and offensive line coach following a decade in the college ranks at USC and Miami.

In his second season with Arizona in 2022, the Wildcats averaged 461.9 yards of total offense per game to finish 22nd nationally. Arizona passed for 318.4 yards per game, representing the 8th ranked passing attack nationally. The Wildcats development and growth on offense was historical as quarterback Jayden de Laura threw for 3,685 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2022, which ranked sixth and third respectively in program history for a season.

[Source: https://arizonawildcats.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/brennan-carroll/5327]

6c – Crisis Mode – Big losses on Defense, the Linemen corps, and Tight Ends corps.

Defensively, UW is losing LB/Edge Bralen Trice who led the team with 7 sacks, 1 Forced Fumble, and 1 Fumble Recovery to the NFL. Also, going away are Zion Tupuola-Fetui is a senior and likely going to the NFL with him as the number two leader in sacks with 3.5 sacks. Faatui Tuitele (FL) is retiring from football.

Further, leading CB Jabbar Muhammad (who spent three seasons at Oklahoma State) with 14 Pass Deflections and 3 Interceptions is going to the NFL.

Also, Junior Safety Mishael Powell, a local kid from O’Dea High School who turned down scholarships to Ivy League schools to be a walk-on red-shirt freshman a few seasons ago is transferring and he had 3 interceptions.

Cornerback Jaivion Green at 6-foot-2, 207-pound is leaving too.

Super Senior, Cornerback Dominque Hampton with 101 Total Tackles and 2 Interceptions is going to the NFL since he’s maxed out his eligibility.

Super Senior, Edefuan Ulofoshio whose name means “Unafraid of War” with 94 Total Tackes, 1 Interception, 2 Sacks, 1 Fumble Recovery, 3 Pass Deflections, and 1 Defense TD has maxed out his eligibility.

On the Offensive line, LT Troy Fautanu and RT Roger Rosengarten are going to the NFL.

6d – Crisis Mod – Bye Bye Walk ons and Starting TEs

Walk-ons Griffin Waiss and Austin Harnetiaux, a tight end and a linebacker are leaving (Dan Raley, Sports Illustrated, 2024).

Senior TEs Devin Culp and Jack Westover, the first from Spokane, WA and the other from Bellevue, WA are done, unless they can get one more year of eligibility in some sort of graduate status.

6e – Crisis Mode – Loss of a Starter, loss of two QB Transfers, loss of a QB Back up, etc.

As far as transfers, QB Will Rogers from Mississippi State University committed but is likely to re-enter the transfer portal. This is a big deal because with Penix now gone, the back up to Penix, Dylan Morris had announced that he was transferring to James Madison in the FCS (D1-AA). Also, according to Dan Raley (2024) the Huskies are also losing one-time San Diego State transfer and sophomore Will Haskell (back in the portal).

About Will Rogers, Raymond Lucas, Jr., of 247Sports (2024) stated “He threw for 8,713 yards and 71 touchdowns in Leach’s final two seasons at the helm. His numbers regressed under now-fired coach Zach Arnett this past season, throwing for 1,626 passing yards with 12 passing touchdowns and four interceptions in eight games. One of his top performances of the season came when he threw for a career-high 487 yards during a 37-30 loss to South Carolina Sept. 23.”

Dan Raley (2024) of Sports Illustrated stated, “The biggest concern is the quarterback position where the Huskies have just 17-year-old Austin Mack and Demaricus Davis, presumably 18, holding down the spot without any college game experience.” At the same time, Mack, an incoming freshman, provides hope for the Huskies’ future. Originally a 2024 recruit, Mack decided to reclassify and enroll early, demonstrating his enthusiasm to contribute to the team.

Mack went to the same school as Jake Browning at Folsom High School

The remaining quarterbacks on the roster include walk-ons Tyson Lang (Sophomore), Camdyn Stiegeler (Redshirt Freshman), Teddy Purcell (Sophomore), and Alex Johnson, a junior transfer (Karley Sibert, 2024). So if we add Demarcius Davis from Raley (2024), we now have Alex Johnson (JR), Tyson Lang (SO), Camdyn Stiegler (Redshirt FR), Teddy Purcell (SO), Demarcius Davis (FR), Alex Mack (Green Shirt, i.e., Early Enroll FR),

7. Some Good News

However, transfers DL BJ Green from Arizona State, WR Jeremiah Hunter from UC Berkley (Cal) seem to be still committed to Washington.

No. 1 center and second-team All-Pac-12 selection Parker Brailsford, offensive guards Nate Kalepo and Julius Buelow, linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and cornerback Elijah Jackson (Dan Raley, Sports Illustrated, 2024).

Junior CB, Elijah Jackson, who made the game winning pass-deflection on Adonai Mitchell in the Texas vs UW game, is likely to come back and he had 61 Total Tackles this season.

8. UW’s Historical Recruiting Woes and Accomplishments

I would say that the Huskies in my opinion on a scale of 1 star to 5 stars is a 3 star on average team. They always have NFL caliber players, but they are often the only ones carrying the team, it’s very cyclical in their on the team, etc. In other words, they’ll have one player on each side of the ball that is going pro but it’s not a deep roster of NFL talent. Many of the guys on the team will graduate and go onto live normal professional lives, etc. To an extent that is honorable. Football isn’t just what makes UW special.

UW traditionally has a strong basketball program with plenty of NBA draftees, many locally sourced from the Seattle Tacoma metro area. Seattle is a basketball town. Doug Christie, Jamal Crawford, Dejounte Murray, Kevin Porter, Jr., Nate Robinson, Terrance Williams, Marjon Beauchamp, Brandon Roy, Tari Eason, Will Conroy, Jaylen Nowell, etc. And this isn’t the entire list.

Washington does a decent job of retaining in-state top talent but also does lose some highly recruited kids often to Nike’s money/facilities at Oregon, the sunshine and glitz of Southern California, and even powerhouse schools such as Ohio State.

But Washington outside of the state often recruits well from the Inland Empire, LA Area catholic schools such as the Trinity League which features schools such as St. John Bosco, the South Bay region of LA, Sacramento, the San Francisco-Oakland East Bay Area, etc.

Also, Washington has done a decent job of recruit some kids from Texas, Louisiana, etc.

Washington is often a three star out of five star average team

For Washington to continue to do well in recruiting it has to A) keep in-state talent, period, B) focus on the top schools in adjacent states such Jesuit HS from Portland, Bishop Kelly HS from Boise, etc., C) Continuing to recruiting kids from the Pacific Islands D) utilizing the Transfer Portal and JUCO system E) Continuing to do work on the Strength-Conditioning Front F) Invest in Defense and Run Game

Since the 2000s onward…

Notable In State Talent: Jermaine Kearse (Lakes High School), Buddha Baker (Bellevue HS), Desmond and Marcus Trufant (Wilson HS), Cade Otton (Tumwater HS), Bishop Sankey (Gonzaga Prep), Austin Seferian Jenkins (Gig Harbor HS), Jake Locker (Ferndale HS), Myles Gaskin (O’Dea HS), Kaleb Mcgary (Fife HS), Danny Shelton (Auburn HS), Kasen Williams (Skyline), Austin Sefarian Jenkins (Gig Harbor HS), Drew Sample (Newport HS)

Notable In State Loses: Johnathan Stewart (Lacey, WA but went to Oregon), Myles Jack (Bellevue, WA but went to UCLA), Zac Banner (Tumwater WA but went to USC), DeAndre Coleman (Garfield HS), Leon Jackson (Pasco HS but went to Nebraska/Hawaii), Emeka Egbuka (Ohio State), Tre’Shaun Harrison (Garfield HS), etc.

Currently, On the recruiting side, In-state talent and Five Star recruit LB Zaydrius Rainey-Sale from Bethel High School in Bethel, WA has de-committed from University of Washington.

Yet, Washington’s future doesn’t seem entirely dead. It will be very difficult to rebuild but these are who the Huskies signed before this recent season. You can exclude Jabbar Muhammad. See: https://gohuskies.com/news/2022/12/21/uw-announces-25-new-signees-for-2023-football-team.aspx

9. Sources

Scott Eklund (published 12 January 2024) Husky DB Mishael Powell Enters The Transfer Portal. 247Sports.com. Source: https://247sports.com/college/washington/article/washington-huskies-football-husky-db-mishael-powell-enters-the-transfer-portal-225239421/. (Date Accessed: 13 January 2024)

Dan Raley (published 9 January 2024) UW Season Didn’t End Well, But Ulofoshio’s Career Was Big Success. MSN via Sports Illustrated. Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/uw-season-didnt-end-well-but-ulofoshios-career-was-big-success/ar-AA1mHDpS (Date Accessed: 13 January 2024)

Dan Raley (10 January 2024) Huskies’ Jaivion Green Enters Portal After Playing in His Hometown. Sports Illustrated. Source: https://www.si.com/college/washington/football/huskies-jaivion-green-enters-portal-after-playing-in-his-hometown

Dan Raley (12 January 2024) Washington Huskies Have Lost Third of Football Roster in Month. Source: https://www.si.com/college/washington/football/huskies-have-lost-third-of-football-roster-in-month

Raymond Lucas Jr., (published January 2024). QB Will Rogers enters transfer portal: Intriguing landings spots for Washington enrollee. 247Sports.com. Source: https://247sports.com/college/washington/longformarticle/qb-will-rogers-enters-transfer-portal-intriguing-landings-spots-for-washington-enrollee-225317336/#2346815 (Date Accessed: 13 January 2024)

Max Vrooman (10 January 2024). Faatui Tuitele Announces Retirement from Football. UWDogPound.com. Source: https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2024/1/10/24034002/faatui-tuitele-announces-medical-retirement-uw-washington-huskies-football (Date Accessed: 13 January 2024)

Associated Press (18 August 2022) Big Ten lands $7 billion, NFL-style TV contracts. CNBC. Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/18/big-ten-lands-7-billion-nfl-style-tv-contracts.html (Date Accessed: 13 January 2024)

10. About Author:

Other teams besides the University of Washington Huskies I follow either due to family, having been a military brat or just general love of college football tradition are the University of Georgia Bulldogs (though the Dawgs are an elite program so it’s fun to root for teams who need help, i.e., the Dawgs with always be great but I never really felt like I fit into the “Southern” fanbase, so I’d say they’re my 3rd favorite team). University of Kansas Jayhawks (my mother was an alumnus and I only care about Kansas BB but I do follow their football, so I’d say really, it’s a time between UW and KU for my favorite teams).

University of Miami Hurricanes (my mother is from Miami). Florida State University Seminoles (my father grew up not far from Tallahassee). University of Central Florida Golden Knights (my mother worked in the student health clinic for some time). Kansas State University Wildcats (before my mother was accepted to the University of Kansas Nursing School, she and my father took undergraduate classes at Kansas State University. Manhattan, Kansas is not too far from Lawrence, Kansas, and both not far from Kansas City, KS/MO). For HBCUs I would say Florida A&M (had two cousins who went there), Bethune Cookman (had one cousin who went there), and Grambling State University was my paternal grandmother’s favorite team. Other teams I like because of tradition or being a kid playing NCAA Football by EA Sports are the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers as my favorite Great Lakes region team (since they had one of the best college running back duos with Marion “The Barbarian” Barber and Laurence Maroney) and Boston College Eagles (my favorite Catholic football program). I do also like the Montana Grizzlies for an FCS Team.

Double Standard between Black Lives Matter and BLEXIT by Quinton Mitchell

Why doesn’t BLEXT get as much flack as BLM?

There are so many bot accounts discrediting Black Lives Matters on social media platforms such as Instragram, Twitter (now X), etc. Bots aside, it is a popular talking point to muckrake against Black Lives Matters and you’ve seen this in the Right-Wing eco-system of Charlie Kirk, Candance Owens especially, Tim Poole, Gavin McInnes, etc.

With BLM Global Network having been exposed for money issues such as with Patrisse Cullors buying a 6 Million dollar home, using funds for a birthday party (which she supposedly paid back), and hiring her family members for a near 1 million dollar security contract, this gave the Right Wing the ammunition they needed to further perpetuate anti-black sentiments such as black people aren’t capable, that we are “race baiters”, that we blame all our problems on white people yet seems to want white people’s money, etc.

Anti-blackness runs deep across the globe and its not just the West. Perception does matter, which is why I was disappointed that BLM didn’t do an aggressive PR campaign to own the situation, get a head of it, and create a pathway forward.

Rather, the leaders faded away such as Cullors posting “crystal mommy” Instagram posts or Alicia Garza going off to start other non-profit projects. The attacks of the Right Wing, the money scandal, and other issues such as social media and the news showcasing situations of black citizens attacking Asian Americans, the system got what it wanted…letting “black people” get hopeful, just to pull the rug from up under our feet, so we end up embarrassed after appearing as “mouthy” “angry”, etc.

It is exactly what the Right Wing wanted, and BLM’s anonymity allowed them to use BLM as a means of recruiting arngry white males to Far Right causes, which includes people such as the Buffalo Mass Shooter. Sure, these weren’t BLMs intent but it was a result.

See: https://mitchellrg.com/2023/06/18/reverse-psychology-with-black-lives-matter-solidifying-white-supremacy-and-a-possible-defense-of-george-soros-by-quinton-mitchell/

But, I think there’s still hope for BLM but it will take work. PR, scholarships, auditing reports by legit third parties such as Ernst Young, conference calls, grants, an aggressive media campaign, etc. Or, the new non-profits that Garza created need to be absorbed into BLM.

But, regardless…

What about BLEXIT? What are they doing to help the black community, especially since they have more access to billionaire money as opposed to Left Wing organizations who have to scrap for small dollar donations? Candance Owens according to the Daily Beast (2022) article by Kelly Weill, titled: Blexit’s Finances Are Slumping – but Its Paycheck to Candance Owens Keeps Coming, stated that Owens received $230,000 in 2022.

I repeat, BLEXIT has way more access to fundraising and capital potential but it doesn’t seem like there is a coordinated effort to help the black community, but rathe piece-milling grants here and there. For example, Turning Point USA with Owen’s ally Charlie Kirk has received money from billionaires. “Turning Point USA is funded by numerous right-of-center foundations and big Republican donors.

According to InfluenceWatch, TPUSA received $275,000 from the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, the Rauner Family Foundation (run by former Illinois Governor Bruce Raunder (R)) gave $150,000, the Folgia Family Foundation gave $210,000, and the Marcus Foundation gave $72,500. TPUSA has also received smaller donations from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Michael and Andrea Leven Family Foundation, the Huizenga Foundation, the Mike Miller Foundation, Dunn’s Foundation for the Advancement of Right Wing Thinking, the Einhorn Family Foundation, Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation (run by the in-laws of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos), the Gianforte Family Foundation (run by Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R)), the Thomas Patrick Morrison Foundation, and the Family Taxpayer’s Foundation.” This doesn’t include the various sponsors such as the Heritage Foundation, the National Rifle Association, the Reason Foundation, the Foundation for Economic Education, PragerU, the Job Creators Network, the Leadership Institute, and the Generation Opportunity Institute. [Source: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/turning-point-usa/%5D

These people and organizations have enough money to buy entire neighborhoods, pay for people’s private schooling or college, but the goal of BLEXIT isn’t help but rather pushing anti-black liberation politics to support the capitalist system as is, which means supporting the 1%, as is.

BLEXIT even might have Russian ties through a weird degree of separations. Gianforte for example, in a financial disclosure forms filed in 2017, Gianforte indicated that he owned $150,000 worth of shares in VanEck Vectors Russia ETF and $92,400 in the IShares MSCF Russia ETF, totaling just under $250,000 in two exchange-traded funds focused on investments in Russia. The investments attracted attention because they included shares in Gazprom and Rosneft, which have been subject to U.S. sanctions since the Russian invasion of Crimea, but because the per-person ownership stake in these companies is so small in such index funds, they are exempt from sanctions.[59] After the issue was raised in Gianforte’s 2017 congressional campaign, Gianforte stated that his Russia holdings were a small portion of his overall investments and pledged to place all of his assets in a blind trust if elected. [Sources: (1) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/28/greg-gianforte-republican-candidate-congress-russia-companies. (2) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/investment-russia-becomes-focus-congressional-race%5D

TPUSA has ties to Lynde and Harry Bradley are related to the Allen Bradley company which is now Rockwell Automation. Harry Lynde Bradley was one of the founders of the John Birch Society which are the group that paved the way for far-right, New World Order, anti-UN conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones with InfoWars. The John Birch Society had an early member, Revilo P. Oliver, who left the JBS because he felt it was “too Jewish” and went to help found Neo Nazi organizations alongside William Luther Price (the author of The Turner Diaries).