NFC
(3) Detroit Lions at (1) San Francisco 49ers
Sunday, Jan. 28, 6:30 p.m. ET on Fox
NFC Football Conference Championship (Lions vs. 49ers, Game Time 6:30 pm)Post + Comments (170)
Archives for 2024
For Reasons I Can’t Explain
I loved this turn of phrase from Betty Cracker last week – “for reasons I can’t explain” – and thought it could make for a fun post.
For reasons I can’t explain, I enjoy the occasional Hallmark channel movie where where a nanny or a parent with a kid going off to college falls in love with Cameron Mathison.
How about you guys? Confession time!
The Israel-Hamas War in Gaza: No One Wins but the Spoilers
There was a request the other night for a post on the war in Gaza. I indicated I’d try to get one done this weekend, so here we are.
There are two reasons I’ve not been doing updates on this war like I’ve done on the war for Ukraine. The first is simply time. I just don’t have the time to do two war updates a day. The second is I really don’t have a lot more to say. Since I entered grad school in 1992 I’ve written a couple of thousand pages on Israeli and Palestinian extremism, its effect on the security in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, its effect on the Levant, the greater Middle East, the European Command and now Central Command areas of responsibility, and US policy and strategy. Had you told 20 year old me sitting in Bruce Maddy Weitzman’s senior seminar on Middle Eastern Politics that I would, twenty-three years later, be working on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process assigned to a 3 star commander as his senior advisor, I’d have laughed at you and told you you were crazy. If you told me I’d still be writing about the conflict, even if it is just for you all here, I’d have said that was depressing.
So with that enthusiastic intro out of the way, here’s what’s going on: THE ONLY PEOPLE WINNING, THE ONLY PEOPLE BENEFITING FROM THIS WAR ARE THE SPOILERS. THE EXTREMISTS IN HAMAS AND THE ULTRA-NATIONALIST/ULTRA-RELIGIOUS ISRAELI PARTIES AND MOVEMENTS, THEIR LEADERS LIKE SINWAR, BIBI, HANIYEH, BEN-GVIR, SMOTRICH, ETC!!!! IRAN, THE PRC, AND RUSSIA!!!! AND THE ANTISEMITES, ISLAMOPHOBES, NEO-NAZIS, AND WHITE SUPREMACISTS IN THE US AND EUROPE!!!! That’s the bottom line. The Palestinians and the Israelis are not getting anything positive out of this war. They’re not getting more security or more prosperity. They’re getting nothing other than killed, wounded, and further impoverished. For the Palestinians in Gaza this means disproportionate death, injury, displacement, and being forced into further food and economic insecurity. In Israel it means emphasizing the garrison state nature of Israel combined with constant fear from Hamas and Hezbullah rocket attacks, the majority of the population of Israel’s south and north being internally displaced because of them, families mourning their 1,200 dead, constantly freaked over their relatives still held hostage, worried about their relatives called up to fight, all while the Israeli economy strains under the cost of the war. For the Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as for the Armenian-Israeli community in the Armenian Quarter, it means trying to simply keep your land from being forcibly stolen by a combination of extremist settlers, IDF personnel aiding and abetting the extremist settlers, and the police who are now controlled by Ben-Gvir a convicted terrorist without getting arrested, beaten, and/or killed.
The Israel-Hamas War in Gaza: No One Wins but the SpoilersPost + Comments (77)
AFC Football Conference Championship (Chiefs vs. Ravens, Game Time 3 pm)
AFC
(3) Kansas City Chiefs vs. (1) Baltimore Ravens
Sunday, Jan. 28, 3 p.m. ET on CBS
AFC Football Conference Championship (Chiefs vs. Ravens, Game Time 3 pm)Post + Comments (253)
PG&E Penalized $45 Million Dixie Fire Settlement
PG&E was penalized $45 million in a settlement related to its role in the Dixie fire. (L.A. Times)
Pacific Gas & Electric Company will be penalized $45 million for its involvement in one of the largest and most destructive wildfires in California history under a settlement reached recently between the utility and state regulators.
The Dixie fire, which burned nearly 1 million acres and destroyed more than 1,300 homes, ignited July 13, 2021, after a Douglas fir tree fell and struck energized conductors owned and operated by PG&E. The blaze became the first known wildfire to burn from one side of the Sierra Nevada to the other.
The California Public Utilities Commission announced the settlement Thursday and said the penalty includes $40 million in shareholder funding for an initiative to transition some of the utility’s hard-copy records to electronic records.
The initiative “will support public safety by enabling more accurate recording of information and immediate awareness of the condition of PG&E’s assets, thereby improving the timeliness of inspections and preventive maintenance, and assisting the CPUC in conducting future audits and investigations,” the regulatory agency said.
PG&E will also pay $2.5 million in fines to the California General Fund and $2.5 million to tribes affected by the Dixie fire. PG&E will distribute those payments to the Greenville Rancheria and Maidu Summit Consortium, a nonprofit representing a number of Mountain Maidu tribes and organizations, the CPUC said.
Compared to $83.3 million for E. Jean Carroll, $45 million doesn’t seem like that much.
Not following this closely, but from afar, it sure seems like PG&E is a repeat offender. Too big to fail? I did order a smoke filter to have on hand for my air purifier for the next round of fires that spew smoke across the nation. Too pessimistic?
CA peeps, does this seem like a reasonable penalty?
Open thread.
PG&E Penalized $45 Million Dixie Fire SettlementPost + Comments (71)
Could You Give the Definition of Carpetbagger?
Looks like there are 9 Republicans running for the seat in CO-4, which makes me wonder if Boebert has any regrets about switching to the new district in order to have a chance of keeping her seat.
Oh wait, that’s not why she moved, just ask her yourself. (I bolded the best question and the Palin-like word salad in the answer.)
As expected, Boebert faced sharp questions about her decision to move into a new congressional district to escape a rematch with Frisch.
“Could you give the definition of carpetbagger?” Lynch asked Boebert.
Boebert said she is proud to be Weld County’s “newest resident.”
“My boys and I needed a fresh start. That’s been very public of what home life looked like,” she said.
This guy, the competitor next to her at the public event, looks like a big fan.
I’m beginning to think that Boebert may not be all that smart.
Arrest Records Draw Crowd Laughter
Six of the nine candidates on Thursday raised their hand in response to a question of whether they have been arrested at some point.
That included Boebert, Holtorf, Leisy, Lynch, Phelan and Sonnenberg.
oh my god. All the best people.
*It also occurs to me that this isn’t a very charitable post for a Sunday morning.
Open thread.
Could You Give the Definition of Carpetbagger?Post + Comments (147)
Sunday Morning Open Thread: Our Failed Major Media, Still Trying to Make ‘Fetch’ Happen
Part of why you see a lot of doom and gloom coverage is because the people who do it for a living are themselves in a very precarious position and most people they know in their industry are too. https://t.co/9olvfIhjWV
— Alex גדעון בן װעלװל (@JewishWonk) January 25, 2024
I’m genuinely sad about the demise of news media, but how will repeating the same mistakes make what they’re selling more palatable to the rest of us?
I have no idea how anyone could even attempt to justify this argument based on the economic data
Low income workers have had their wages outpace inflation for the entire post-pandemic period, even when inflation was high. They've had the best wage growth nonstop for 7 years now https://t.co/agG7NSNWfW
— Swann Marcus (@SwannMarcus89) January 28, 2024