December 16

 We had a very brief bit of sun this morning and it is raining now. The weather report predicted colder temperatures and the possibility of some snow over the next couple of days before the temps go up again by Wednesday. The weather people are predicting a wet not snowy Christmas.

Naked Capitalism has a bleak post from Vijay Prasad that, I think, reflects the true situation in the Middle East and not the "wished for" situation that the U.S. and so many Western countries keep parroting. I have said that cease fires, peace talks, a "two state" solution or what ever the pundits are smoking, isn't possible with two intractable sides. Actually, all it takes is one such. Even if Israel agreed to a cease fire, there is nothing binding on Hamas to accept.

Gail Tverberg has a list of ten things that will change if fossil fuels supply becomes constrained.

Well, the jury in Guiliani's defamation case decided he owes $148 million to the two poll workers he claimed were passing "thumb drives" around like vials of cocaine and changing votes from The Former Guy to Biden. He complained that he wasn't "allowed" to prove his case but that tries to whitewash his decision to not participate by providing required discovery. And then insisted that everything he said he could show some justification for and that his oral defecations weren't really related to what happened to the two women. Sorry, Rudi, you simply aren't believable.

Bill Astore has a couple of pithy statements about 1) a Pentagon budget that approaches $900BILLION in spite of the fact they have failed 6 AUDITS IN A ROW and 2) our politicians' continued support for a "two state" solution though it is evident that Netanyahu wants a "no state solution"--specifically no Palestinian state and few Palestinians.

About 30 years or so ago when there was one of the many controversies over opening the North Alaska (potential) oil fields to drilling, I read the amount of oil the experts and politicians were salivating about. It wasn't long after I read a report of how much oil we use daily. I found the report easily enough and did some quick math to give an estimate of how long that cache of oil would last us---a whole four months. This article lists the seven major oil producing countries and their reserves. I was going to do the same math again but the author saved me the trouble. All of the known reserves will last another 38 years. Can anyone else spell "OH, SHIT!!"

I saw Ruby Freeman speak after the jury awarded her and her daughter that incredible amount, that they probably won't be able to collect all of. She noted everything the money won't give her back: the home they loved, her reputation, her name. This is another story where the damages awarded to people who suffered loss because of a company's criminal actions are not nearly enough to make them whole. I read the story the author wrote about their struggle to get compensation and was sick. Their reaction is totally understandable.