California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaking at a stop on his book tour in Atlanta on Feb. 22, 2026. ERIK S LESSER/EPA/Shutterstock Destruction is all around I ask for forgiveness and understanding beforehand. I recognize not everyone agrees with me. But I need to vent.
Is it now that it is to be the Divine One’s end to us? Is this Armageddon? The dictionary describes that as: “The place where the final battle will be fought between the forces of good and evil . . . any great crucial armed conflict.”
Its mention is in the Holy Bible: “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
The Good Book’s opening passage in the King James version is: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
So if you don’t believe, then who started mankind? Elon Musk? Nah. He’s too busy building a rocket that can schlep him to outer space so he can hustle his cars on Jupiter.
In Revelation 16:17, it says: “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done.’ ”
“DONE” means what? The following passages describe voices, thunderings.
So, look at us. Look at planet Earth. Squabbling, fighting, hating, threatening: China, Taiwan, Iran, Israel, Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Venezuela, Mali, Ukraine, Palestine — and we haven’t even yet opened the first Second Avenue Deli on downtown Mars.
All civilization is snarling at somebody. How about Hillary maybe smacking Bill? Will Smith slapping Chris Rock? Greenland and anybody? Taylor Swift and her previous management? Total civilization is fighting each other. Entire state of California, all of it, growling at its temp governor.
A load of aggravations ago was the Hatfield-McCoy thing. I even forget what that misery was. How about the never to be forgotten Hamilton vs. Burr duel. Mary Queen of Scots vs somebody. Van Gogh and Gauguin. Hunter and his computer dealer.
Needn’t even be as big a deal as cranky Brutus to Caesar. There’s your dog that always christens your neighbor’s plants. The delivery boy who tosses your daily newspaper far from your door on a snowy day. The 11-year-old weasel who’s now a mayor.
OK — onward . . . to smooching. Ralph Macchio, “The Karate Kid”: “My greatest challenge as an actor? Surprisingly, I did not find deep-kissing Eric Stoltz in [1994’s] “Naked in New York” that embarrassing. Making out with him was just a new road. A new excitement to be explored in life lived to its fullest. I did not dread it. We both felt comfortable about it and not exploited. Doing something new is what it’s all about.”
Bernadette Peters: “In ‘Bobbie’s Girl’ for Showtime [in 2002], I played a lesbian in a love relationship. First time I played a homosexual and I thought it was very fulfilling. I know I have a big gay following. I would be shocked if someone said they thought I was gay. I just wanted the part from an actor’s perspective. As a challenge. Physically I found kissing Rachel [Ward] was the same as kissing a man.”
Gina Gershon, on-screen kissing of both sexes: “Comes down to stubble rash vs. repair time for lipstick smear. With 20 takes per smooch, a guy’s stubble rash is a nightmare. Listen, I’ve played so many lesbian roles that I’m expert at kissing women. But those lipstick smears take work.”
There’s a shortage of water in Hollywood now. Two Perrier trucks collided.
It’s a small town bordered on the North by producers, on the South by starlets, on the West by agents — and if you omit that shortcut of females rented by the hour — on the East by ulcers.
Only in America, kids, only in America.
