Thank you for the anecdotal information.

Don't know what happened in 1889 but as someone who has lived in LA for 50+ years, I can tell you I've never encountered winds like the ones I felt this week. In some areas, they were more than 100mph.

The fact that L.A. cut its firefighting budget this year, however, is relevant to the topic, as is the fact that many hydrants had such low pressure that, in one case I saw, a fire fighter was reduced to tossing a handbag of water on the fire. And the fact that Democratic LA mayor Karen Bass decided to travel to Ghana as the disaster was developing certainly didn't help things.

As you state, the Santa Ana winds are the main driver of these horrific fires, but these winds predate any talk of climate change by many decades; e.g. Santiago Canyon wildfire of 1889. Thus it's not possible to establish a convincing link between these particular winds and climate change.

It would be much funnier if this nonsensical garbage wasn’t being spouted by 47 and his followers weren’t agreeing it’s a good idea. (Sorry for the possible double negatives.)

Excellent movie & review.

It's the podcasts, stupid? Another nice piece. I like the dashes/parentheses mixture, still left one open though.

And then there's this: America just elected a 78 year old felon.

And then: "Indeed it is to be feared that Mr. Shirer’s work will be among the last—outside Germany anyhow—to be devoted to this particular subject, which of course is an excellent reason why it should have been written."

I came across a 1961 review of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in Commentary magazine, and the review holds up poorly, eg: "But whereas Napoleon has continued to fascinate historians and poets—possibly because he embodied the latent tension between classical rationalism and romantic extravagance which was beginning to become a problem around 1800—one suspects that Hitler will find few biographers. His personality is too grotesque and repulsive to inspire a new generation of myth-makers, and no military dictator, unsuccessful conqueror, or captain of industry (if there are any left a hundred years from now) is going to take the Fuehrer as his model, in the way many of them have (consciously or unconsciously) modeled themselves on Napoleon." https://www.commentary.org/articles/george-lichtheim/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich-by-william-l-shirer/

New favorite line: "You've got a lot of balls, O'Malley." "Yeah, brains too. Doesn't seem fair."

Saw this movie this past weekend while searching for a fun, lazy Sunday, movie. For me, it benefitted from the terrible reviews. Went in expecting that I would make it through roughly 50% of the movie. Instead, made it through the whole thing and enjoyed Evans stepping out of his all-american wholesome image. Sure the movie was mindless drivel, but that's what you get with any movie featuring a former wrestler.

There's no water coming out of the hoses, an obstacle that even black lesbians cannot overcome. Wonder who is to blame for this?

Why did Los Angeles think if you hired an all-lesbian fire department they would know how to work a hose?

Everyone should pray for Ms. Keenan and the other innocent people being driven from their homes in Los Angles today.

Should you be using "dark" to mean bad and white to mean good? Where is Nina Jankowicz when we need her?

Gore Vidal was a fascinating character and definitely worthy of an in depth write up. My late father who was a voracious reader and a Gore Vidal aficionado as well as being one of his contemporaries would have been a good choice to do a lengthy article on him. He had his complete collection of books in his library and read them all along with his essays and followed his career closely through the decades. Although he respected Gore as a writer and a first rate intellect he often differed with him and at times found him amusing. and at other times insufferable but always interesting. When it comes to Gore Vidal I share my fathers sentiments for the most part .. I think your insights as to what Gore would have thought about politics and culture today sounds pretty accurate. He would definitely side against the deep state and the neo-cons which today include Dick and Liz Cheney, John Bolton, James Clapper, James Comey, John Brennan, Hillary Clinton and the rest of their ilk along with most of the pro military interventionist Generals all of whom supported Kamala Harris for president. Also as the elitist snob that he was one could imagine him looking down his nose at the uncultivated multitudes that fill up a Maga rally and making a biting comment about their lack of sophistication...

Yes, that seems correct.

Thank you. Though it appears that met in Dubrovnik after he had been living in Vienna. https://realitystudio.org/scholarship/the-white-russian-countess-on-ilse-herzfeld-klapper-and-her-marriage-to-william-burroughs/

Burroughs met his wife in Vienna, not Berlin.

You should write something about Gore. My gay Cuban ex-pat Trumplitarian friend and I finally made it to Vidal's grave in Rock Creek Cemetery, in the Petworth/Brightwood neighborhood in DC where New Hampshire Avenue meets North Capitol Street. We took photos and each put a stone on the flat marble rectangle that marks his resting place with his life-long friend William Auster. We both wonder what Gore would have been like now? His critique of the military empire and the intelligence community remind me a bit of people like Congressman Gabbard. Yet with his vindictive personality I assume he'd feel the need to denounce the deplorable garbage voters who support Trump... so he'd end up defending that same establishment.

I like your ideas. I never thought of it like this.

Gaza is the ideal place to test AI warfare systems, because mistakes don't matter. Palestinian terrorists and the Palestinians they hide behind need to be killed anyway, and a few more dead ones make no difference. The Ham-Ass terrorist pigs are going to be slaughtered to the last swine if they don't surrender unconditionally, and how that's done may as well serve to develop new tech.

On Dec. 4, Thompson was assassinated on his way to a shareholders meeting. On Dec. 7, I received a notice that my UHC insurance premium was increasing as of Jan.1 by 29 percent. I find it hard in my world to separate the two events. I don't know much about the Berkman event, but I am hoping that Mangione's motivations were in part personal, due to physical pain, heartbreak and frustration. And I hope that the act inspires legislation SOONER rather than later. Before I see another 29 percent increase next year.

Just saw it yesterday. She was terrific.

Kamala Harris makes a surprise SNL cameo appearance on the weekend before the election and gets rewarded with a slobbery kiss from SNL and their informal endorsement. Unlike the SNL portrayal of Kamala from early in October where she was humorously mocked this appearance was a cringe inducing fawning over her by SNL which came across as contrived and particularly unfunny ..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff-rqlU4ZWw...I'm sure this Kamala SNL appearance and portrayal by Maya Rudolph got Howard Sterns full approval though.. .For a minute there I thought SNL was getting back to it's roots of prioritizing comedy and being funny but I guess I jumped the gun on that. For SNL it is back to their primary objective of being left wing propagandists..

There was a time when the politically incorrect Howard Stern tested the social boundaries with his unique and edgy form of humor. In recent years Howard Stern has become a tyrannical establishment weasel. During the Covid-19 epidemic he said "When are we gonna stop putting up with the idiots in this country and just say it's mandatory to get vaccinated? F--- 'em. F--- their freedom. I want my freedom to live," He said this months after the data proved that the Covid vaccine did not prevent people from getting infected or from becoming infectious... In this recent butt kissing interview with Kamala Harris he criticized SNL comedian Maya Rudolph"s mocking portrayal of Kamala saying " I hate it. I don't want you being made fun of." How dare comedy get in the way of his political agenda. What a sad pathetic stooge Howard Stern has become.

Their best album. I will never stop listening to it.

Decades ago, I was at a party in my uncle's Manhattan high-rise apartment when the building suddenly filled with smoke and we had to evacuate down the stairs. My uncle grabbed a Picasso lithograph, and I grabbed a big tray of roast beef.

Great pic of Riverrun. Really miss that place!

In college I had a bartending job at Steak and Ale. Tips were good so I always had a couple hundred bucks in my wallet. It felt good to be a student and be able to walk into any restaurant that I felt like dining at. I rarely did that, but it was still a good feeling to know that I could.

As former Friendly's waitress of the year, Friendly's is always a yes. Wattamelon roll FTW

Loved Friendly's growing up in NJ. Fribble, hot-dog on toasted buttered roll, and fries was a great way to go. I also miss the diners with jukeboxes. After a night of drinking, your party could get anything from breakfast to a hot open-faced turkey sandwich at one place at 2 AM. Diners are considered a theme restaurant here in Texas and a poor facsimile at that. I like Five guys fries but they obviously don't compare to Nathan's fries. I always thought Roy Rodgers was best quality of those chains but haven't seen one in decades and good riddance to Arthur Treachers! If you're going with fried food, why choose fish? Last time I had Ritz crackers was when my girls were young, and they would suck/drool them soggy while in their car seats. Good cracker though, when dry

Oh I see it's Booker. Is that another child? How big is your tribe?

Is this you Russ? Were you cute in your 20s too?

I must be seeing things, not for the first time. I see from searching that Elvis didn't have that look yet in 64.