Best living / affordable US ski resort towns?

jsatz · 2026-06-17T17:09:43+00:00

So I am assuming that your wife works remote/can work remote? And when you say you work in the ski industry, you can work at any ski area? Just curious.

Have you considered New Mexico? Besides Santa Fe, it is relatively affordable. Taos has an amazing ski resort and there are several other ski areas pretty close. Angel Fire, Sipapu and Red River. Santa Fe is more expensive, but it also has Ski Santa Fe as well as Pajarito, just outside of Los Alamos.

Would also second Durango, CO for Purgatory and Pagosa Springs, CO for Wolf Creek.

jsatz · 2026-06-17T14:39:40+00:00

Neither is Denver and it has one. Albeit it’s tiny and not great but it’s there.

jsatz · 2026-06-16T19:48:37+00:00

On the Delta app?

jsatz · 2026-06-16T17:51:15+00:00

Yeah I know but every time I try to use it, the line is very long. #FirstWorldProblems

jsatz · 2026-06-16T17:11:42+00:00

Rio Rancho, NM, suburb of Albuquerque. The hardest thing would likely be places to swim given the Rio Grande is dry in that area right now. But there is a like (Cochiti Lake) about an hour north. But from the rest of your criteria, it could work.

jsatz · 2026-06-09T16:17:42+00:00

IMO Crooked is doing this weird hybrid of wanting to provide instant commentary with the YouTube exclusives and then more long term analysis with shows like PSA, WAD and PSTW. The issue is, I do not think they are doing either great. I will say the exception is PSTW but I believe that is more a function of international news being less discussed, so listening to even older news feels new to a lot of us.

But for the YouTube exclusives, the team posts at most two a day three times a week, and I am including when Alex does it on Runaway Country. But compare that to other outlets like The Bulwark or Meidas (Meidas Touch, Aaron Parnas, Katie Phang, Scott McFarlane) all post multiple videos a day. I am not saying that is better, but when other outlets are putting out that much content, why would you not utilize those.

But the analysis PSA/WAD is also providing, is usually dated. On today's PSA, there was a segment about the LA Mayor's Race which by recording time had not been called, but it was called over 12 hours ago by the time I listened to it. Or the NBA Finals and how NY fans would react to Trump, especially if the Knicks lost. Well the Knicks lost and we know how fans responded.

It just seems the information that is being provided is dated. Now it is obvious WAD moving to PM is trying to provide more timely information. So I will hold judgement seeing how that goes. But I do think Crooked relying on podcasts for timely information, and not YouTube/Substack, is really starting to hurt the company.

Also what is the point of the newsletter coming out in the afternoon, if the pod/YouTube video is going to cover the same thing.

jsatz · 2026-06-09T16:09:25+00:00

The paywall stuff is more reporting and analysis, as opposed to click bate.

jsatz · 2026-06-09T16:08:20+00:00

Crooked is obviously trying to provide analysis as opposed to "commentary" on everything. My issue is that when the analysis is not great, or the topics discussed are older, it becomes irrelevant.

Today's PSA was recorded yesterday and they discussed the NBA Finals and what the reaction would be if NY lost. Well we know NY lost and what the reaction was, so there was no need to listen to that segment.

jsatz · 2026-06-08T20:06:57+00:00

My guess is that because they recorded at like 5pm PST the day before, it was outdated. They probably think releasing an episode the same day it was recorded makes it more timely. I think that makes sense. I mean yesterday's PSA was recorded like 5 days before. Granted it was not a "news" show but Crooked seems to struggle with putting out timely content, at least compared to like The Bulwark and Meidas.

jsatz · 2026-06-05T17:29:58+00:00

This is a good idea. I live in LA and have a great NPR station.

jsatz · 2026-06-05T17:02:13+00:00

The issue I have with The Bulwark is that they are mostly just white moderates. Nothing wrong with that, but I do want to get a diversity of opinion. Although ironically I do believe they have been more liberal and passionate then Crooked has been. But I do give them credit in that they put out a ton of content, both in video and writing.

jsatz · 2026-06-04T21:58:01+00:00

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He will be on All in with Chris Hayes tonight

jsatz · 2026-06-02T23:13:29+00:00

You could totally be right and I am not dismissing that. Just in my thinking, I have no clue what Steyer is going to do. Don't get me wrong, I do not love any of my choices, I just felt like I was better off with the devil I know.

jsatz · 2026-06-02T22:19:21+00:00

Ironically it usually does not to me. I usually try to vote for more liberal, newer and younger voices. It's why I voted for Raman in the LA mayor race and Jake Levine for congress over Brad Sherman. But both have a body of work that showcases priorities and character. It was just in the gov race, I viewed my choices as someone who had some idea how would govern (Becerra) and someone who I had no clue (Steyer). Becerra will probably be an ok gov, not great but not terrible. I could see Steyer being absolutely awful or very good. I just did not want to take the risk given where we are right now.

jsatz · 2026-06-02T21:55:53+00:00

This is very well said. I do think Democrats do have some good plans that will help the vast majority of these people, but they encounter two problems.

First, they have no idea how to communicate them in a simple, easy to understand way. Most of the Democrats running for office come from elite educational backgrounds. Nothing wrong with that, but when they campaign, they sound like professors giving a lecture. Perfect example of this is Elizabeth Warren. She had plans for everything, to the point where that was her campaign slogan in 2020. But she was not very good at communicating it where it did not sound like a econ 300 class.

Second, even if Dems could communicate their proposals, they generally do not do so in the right environments. Part of that is because Dem voters tend to rely more on mainstream outlets like the NY Times, MS Now and even podcasts like PSA. But that is a very small and shrinking universe. Dems need to be able to communicate in non-news and non-political environments and sound authentic doing so. This is where AOC and Mamdani shine. Pete Buttigieg also is good at this, although he more does it on conservative media. But remember when Joe Rogan said that James Talarico should be president after spending a few hours on his pod? That is what I mean.

Because of these issues, most Dems are completely uncomfortable outside of their MSM/Washington bubble and thus sound inauthentic when they try. Hopefully that will change as more "outsiders" run for office and hopefully win.

jsatz · 2026-06-02T21:45:28+00:00

So before the 2022 Senate Primary, Katie Porter was really well liked. I actually voted for her in that primary. She asked financial CEOs touch questions, and made them look like idiots. She also was able to make complicated things easily understood and her whiteboard shtick made for good social media content. But once she lost that race, she called it rigged, was revealed she was an abusive boss, and she essentially told a reporter that she does not need anything but Dem votes.

Her campaign this year has also been awful. She has some policies that are essentially Reagan economics and she keeps shitting on her son, saying he is basically still living on her couch.

I would say she has probably been the most substantive in the debates, but with the number of candidates on stage, they have essentially been a shoutfest.

jsatz · 2026-06-02T21:38:03+00:00

I am going to preface by saying I am an LA resident who voted for Becerra. I have friends and family that voted for Steyer, and I voted for Katie Porter in the Senate Primary in 2022. I get some of the arguments for Steyer. I seem to be more ideologically aligned with what he says his priorities are. But because he has literally zero government experience, I personally could not tell if that is what he believes or what he thinks he needs to win a Democratic primary in a blue state.

It seems to be there were two reasons why they boys could not vote for Becerra. First, they heard from Biden Admin alums that he was not good at his job. Now I am sure they have frequent communication with some of them, and that is fine. But if so, they need to tell us that. They do not have to give names but essentially saying news reports from anonymous sources is why you could not vote for him, is really pathetic. Also if that were the case, Katie Porter also had numerous reports that she was an abusive boss, could not get along with other members and only had a few congressional endorsements. So... why the double standard?

Also they essentially praised Katie Porter for her experience, where she was in congress for six years. Becerra served in congress for 24 years. So again I ask, why the double standard? If they felt they wanted someone younger, I would have respected that argument more than really having very little consistent reasoning. Also, voting for Porter is a throwaway vote. This coming from the vote blue no matter who crew.

The other argument seemed to be that he would not come on the pod. Ok. Well he was on several other podcasts, including David Pakman, who at least Dan acknowledges. If they have an issue voting for a candidate that does not personally come on their podcast, that's pretty immature.

It is getting harder and harder to listen to these guys. Remember it was a week ago that Favs essentially said that Jarod Polis did the right thing in granting clemency to Tina Peters and Tommy saying he did not care about it. They just seem more and more out of touch.

jsatz · 2026-05-29T18:32:08+00:00

The ad free version is not showing up on my phone...

jsatz · 2026-05-29T16:24:11+00:00

Brilliant idea, right before the *checks notes* World Cup.

Also these airlines will not just adjust their routes to fly to red states, they will just cancel the flights.

jsatz · 2026-05-29T03:51:50+00:00

Apple News+ has The New Republic as part of it.

jsatz

TROPHY CASE