Random Thoughts with BFC, Volume 24

Remember that old SNL sketch “Fecal Matter with your host John Fecal”? No? Yeah I figured it was just me. It was a solid (heh) talk show format with a specialized host and topic. Well, we ain’t exactly doing Pod Flies Open around here, but what about in written form, maybe say like a mix between John Fecal, Jack Handey, Balls’ 25 questions, Rev’s take on Larry King, and I don’t know, my own fucked up mind? With that backdrop I present to you the twenty-fourth edition of a potentially sporadically recurring irregularly scheduled Random Thoughts with BFC! Now also (occasionally) in open thread form! If you want to make this interactive, drop a note/question/bon mot in the comments ala my old Mouth Flies Open  attempt at an advice column.

• I recently started going into a WeWork as opposed to a co-working space by a company other than WeWork. One immediate contrast is the percentage of lunches being doordashed in vs brought from home or picked up with your own two feet. I’m not sure if it’s because of or resulting from, but there’s a pick up station down by the front desk that is a parade of gig workers dropping off Chopt and other lunch items. Regardless of your view of the efficiency, economy, or ethics of door dash and Uber eats, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want 10 minutes of daylight. Seriously, the lionshare of lunch deliveries are from establishments within a 4 block radius, it’s barely shorter to go to the front desk than to the actual restaurant.
• Shit, I think there are onions on my belt.
• I am a giant bleeding heart demmycrat who is all in on Biden and team blue. HOWEVA I am unsubscribing from every fucking candidate / PAC / campaign email and am not donating another dime until I see a better plan for doing something other than outrage email blasting our way to mediocrity.
• I am officially over the youths using “rizz” all the time. Conjugating it makes it infinitely worse.
• Has anyone heard from Fozz since he threatened to go nuclear on anti Columbus Day activists? Is he ok? In jail? In that big Hulk detention thing?
• Alright, I guess as head DFO J-O-O (self appointed) I need to say something about the goings on in Gaza. Depend on your social circle, you’re likely seeing either “This is Israel’s 9/11 and how dare you question the response to retaliate against Hamas after the atrocities they committed” or “Palestinians have been fucked over for years, Israel is the oppressor and deserves no sympathy.” Maybe you’re seeing both but I’m hearing from most friends they’re seeing one or the other. To the point, there’s a shitload of nuance in the history of this conflict and this isn’t a moment where people are receptive to nuance. So let’s start with what should be obvious–blowing up civilians, butchering children, and raping women is unjustifiable, full fucking stop. Hamas has committed atrocities this week, and there’s no reason to qualify condemnations thereof. This is not self defense or self determination, it’s horrifying terrorism. So the pro-Palestine rallies that cropped up around the US chanting “700”–the number of Israeli casualties at the onset — should not be seen as benign acts of support for the Palestinian people. But the broader context does matter, including how aggressive Netanyahu has been with a settlement expansion policy that (IMHO) is antagonistic and harmful to a two state solution. Palestinian suffering is directly relevant to the current state of affairs in Gaza and that will only get worse now that Israel is shutting down services in Gaza.  Crassly, politically, Hamas has now made it easier rather than harder for Netanyahu to retaliate no holds barred and then it’s hard to see how this goes anywhere but more aggressive on both sides. Not shockingly, I don’t have all the answers here, but I do know that the conflict has returned to a full on war in the Middle East, and that doesn’t bode well for the Israeli or Palestinian people, particularly if hard liners remain emboldened. What happens next is obviously speculation but we need to be mindful of the suffering of civilians, starting with robust condemnation of the Hamas attacks last week.
• Also it’s super weird/emotionally exhausting to have people checking in on me as a Jew when I don’t have real ties to Israel and it’s like, how about as humans we can all sympathize with the fact that mothers are burying children this week and that is a little more important than performative posting on Instagram or political parachuting?
• /dick joke
• NFL trade deadline is Halloween; RamIt dealt Van Jefferson to Atlanta, but expect a lot more action to come.
• I finally watched Don’t Worry Darling. It was pretty interesting, not massively groundbreaking, and I don’t quite get the fuss over the cunnilingus scene (though I stand with Olivia Wilde in that I would have been good with seeing more ).
• Alright, here’s a more uplifting fill in the blank. The best Halloween costume I ever pulled off was ______________.