but they get on social media and try to shame average Americans for doing basic things like heating their homes.
Please.
Have you ever noticed how environmentally disrespectful a typical action movie is? When Will Smith is filmed in car chases and explosions that create pillars of black smoke damaging the ozone layer, do you think he is lecturing the producers about their lack of environmentalism?
Of course he isnât.
Whatâs okay for Obama super-bundler Will is not okay for normal Americans. He can do whatever he wantsâand earn tens of millions of dollars doing itâbut heâs supporting politicians who will shame us into so-called âhigh efficiencyâ toilets, driving Priuses, and installing solar panels . . . which, by the way, no one can afford.
And hereâs the most hypocritical thing of all. No one even really films in Hollywood anymore. Sure, sitcoms that can be easily made in studios are still produced in California. But dramasâwhich sometimes cost $3 million per episodeâare being filmed anywhere but California.
Why?
Because the taxes are too damn high.
Everything used to be shot thereâthe enormous state of California offers so many different types of terrain that almost any type of geography could be mimicked well enough to work on screen. But now only 8 percent of filming is done in California, and even the shows set in California are being filmed in Florida. Why? States have gotten smart and offered tax exemptions and incentive programs to production companies. The production companies have gotten smart and moved their shows to these low-tax states.
As director Michael Corrente said, âHey, you know what? Studio executives? Theyâd shoot a movie on Mars if they could get a 25 percent tax break.â USA Today writer Sharon Silke Carty wrote, âThe gypsy-like movie industry . . . roams from place to place to find the best locationsâand best deals.â
But wait just a minute. I thought the Hollywood elites donât mind high taxes? Well, they certainly hire the best tax attorneys in the world to make sure they pay as little to the government as possible. And then, when the rubber meets the road, they know what everyday Americans already know: itâs better to put money into business than into the bloated federal governmentâs pocket. The bottom line is that they donât mind if you pay high taxes. They just donât want to pay them themselves.
But hereâs the problem. The people I was hanging with at Bungalow 8 are what the culture deems âcool.â In fact, they even determine âcoolâ for the rest of America. No one better epitomizes this than Russell, the godfather of hip-hop. As Jason Mattera pointed out, âthe only group powerful enough publicly to resuscitate and resurrect Obamaâs 2008 mass popularity is the mob of Hollywood Leftists who got him elected the first time.â
At Bungalow 8, amongst the âcoolâ mob of liberal Hollywood elites hell-bent on supporting the Democratic Party, I realized that our nation was in trouble and vowed to do what it takes to fight back.
But not that night. I drained my glass and went back out onto the dance floor. The election was still a month away, and I wanted to have fun during my one night in New York.
THREE
WHY BLACK PEOPLE SHOULD VOTE REPUBLICAN EVERY TIME
An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.
âJohn F. Kennedy Jr., quoting Orlando Battista in the Montreal Gazette
T he hallway was decorated for fall.
Artwork tacked on the walls included scarecrows made from corn, lopsided grins on autumn leaves, and turkeys made out of handprints . . . little, sweet prints of hands that wonât stay small for long. As I meandered to pick up Lola, I realized my night in New York had been just thatâa great television appearance, a night with friends that lasted until the wee hours, and way too much Grey Goose vodka