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Max Notes
Democrats lost the opportunity to control the National Labor Relations Board over a botched procedural move by Chuck Schumer. In an effort to outdo himself, Schumer also released a statement saying the Democratsâ biggest failure in the campaign was not explaining just how much Joe Biden had done for them.
Like many other establishment Democrats, Chuck Schumer suffers from a case of blinding stupidity. I canât figure out whatâs worse. Stupidity or malfeasance? Take, for example, Mark Zuckerbergâs decision to fire a so-called policy head Nick Clegg and replace him with conservative Joel Kaplan, move content moderation to Texas where it will be presumably set free, and fire fact checkers in favor of community forums.
But wait, is criminality worse than both stupidity and malfeasance? Donald Trump was just sentenced in the hush money case but then received an unconditional âdischarge.â First off, ew. Second, what the fuck is that? This guy continues to have the rules rewritten for him in ways that astound the mind and confound the Constitution.
So Democrats learned nothing from losing the White House and Congress. Big Tech has given up the illusion that they want to protect us. And Republicans get yet another green light to upend norms and do whatever they please. Just another day in âMerica.
Meanwhile, SoCal is on fire. You know that meme of a dog sipping coffee in a burning house saying âthis is fine?â Thatâs literally us. I cannot properly express the sadness most (not all) of us feel watching Los Angeles engulfed in flames. If anything is a harbinger of things to come itâs our most populous and productive state coming face-to-face with the urgent climate disaster. The hell of it is that for all of its missteps over the years, California has led the way in trying to prevent this kind of catastrophe. It has some of the highest efficiency and emission standards in the country.
The conservative media claim that it was reckless and unprepared is misleading and disingenuous. The fact of the matter is that it is more prone to the effects of climate change because of a phenomenon called âhydroclimate whiplash,â due to rapid shifts between wet and dry extremes and characterized by increased vegetation growth during wet periods and rapid drying in subsequent droughts.
You mean the wildfires werenât caused by DEI practices that shunned white men from becoming firefighters?
No, Elon. You fucking ghoul.
Other things Iâm obsessing overâŠ
Sean Hannity coping with Bannonâs populist turn because he was ânever tipped by a poor person.â
Formulaic? Ridiculous? Predictable? All of the above. Also, do I love me a brainless and violent Jason Statham film once-a-year? You betcha. See you in March, JS! Knowhauhmeen?
Conservativeâs racist and homophobic reactions to wildfires in L.A.â Precisely why building bridges to the right is stupid. Fuck these people.
Among the myriad tragedies beneath the Department of Housing and Urban Developmentâs (HUD) data is the number of individuals experiencing chronic homelessness in the U.S. This essentially means that itâs getting harder and harder for folks to get back on their feet and re-enter society. These numbers are rather shocking.
Headlines
California on ClimateâBetter Than Most, but Not Perfect.
As I mentioned above, California is light years ahead of most states in legislating a low carbon economy. But powerful interests have still had their way with Cali politicians in certain ways. Not the least of which are tax breaks negotiated with fossil fuel companies that rob the state of needed funds to build resiliency.
From the article:
âThe new report, released Wednesday by the Climate Center, a think tank focused on California climate solutions, details how oil and gas companies and their allies used campaign donations, lobbying dollars, and legal pressure to establish a tax loophole that allows corporations to reduce their taxable state taxable income by avoiding reporting foreign profits and losses, if the company elects to do so.â
Could Centralized Planning Have Prevented This Disaster?
Sticking with the theme, California has done better than every state (other than Massachusetts) in legislative emission standards. If even our best isnât good enough to mitigate climate disasters, then it should prompt us to look closely at the capitalist structure that such legislation is trying to contain and manage. Some things are simply beyond saving if theyâre set up wrong from the start.
From the article:
âIndeed, if Los Angeles had put the wealth concentrated in its boundaries to rational use, not a single structure would have burned and not a single person would have died; because the resources would instead have been allocated to prevent a hazardous fire from breaking out in the first place, to mitigate the risk with overlapping layers of countermeasures and to respond decisively in the event of heightened danger.â
Tying Our Themes Together: Homelessness and Wildfires
Our main story this week is about the rise in homelessness in the United States. Conservative outlets and think tanks have long pointed to California as an example of housing interventions that fail. But this fails to adjust for circumstances that are unique to California and ignores successful models implemented in communities across the world. This Mother Jones interviews brings our two themes together to speak to the additional pressure the wildfire disaster will place on Californians and specifically those who are unhoused.
From the article:
âAny loss of housing stock is going to put more pressure on whatever housing stock has left. So people who are unhoused and are very poor are already competing in a very tight and expensive real estate market, which has just gotten tighter and more expensive because the availability of rental property is just going to tighten up. Youâre going to have a lot of displaced people who are going to be renting, being forced to rent while theyâre rebuilding. So that is going to further shrink the available units.â
As is customary, HUD released its annual report on homelessness at the end of 2024. It revealed a startling year-over-year increase in homelessness among individuals and families in the United States. Among the devastating data, there were bright spots such as a decrease in homeless veterans. But the reporting and punditry surrounding the report was less than stellar and the news was buried in a matter of days. Crucially, some of the worst reporting on HUDâs findings came from left wing media sources who pointed to immigration as one of the drivers of the increase, conveniently and uncritically parroting conservative talking points while ignoring the more pertinent narratives.
Hereâs a snippet from the pod:
Max: âIn states like Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and California, the largest urban centers in the country are experiencing the multifaceted shock of a housing shortage, high interest rates, higher than normal housing price and rental inflation and mass migration, tipping these areas into crisis. To focus the entire narrative on immigration is a bad faith approach to the crisis. Immigration is a complicated layer on top of an already desperate situation; one that we have few answers to currently, and on the eve of another Trump term probably even less so in the coming years.â
Every once in a while itâs nice to just dip out and listen to something fun. I think todayâs newsletter has been heavy enough. When Iâm looking for this kind of âdip outâ nothingâs better than a little Timesuck with Dan Cummins.
âA look at how we humans have chosen to incarcerate those who break the rules and how certain rule breakers have busted out of incarceration over the years. Life rafts, helicopters, sexing up prison employees and more!â
More of a 99 entry, really. An Unf*cker recommendation this week because my library card is MAXed out and I have lots to get to. So enjoy this in the meantime.
âWhat makes âcultsâ so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because weâre looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to joinâand more importantly, stay inâextreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montellâs argument is that, on some level, it already has...â
From Andrew S.: âJust wanted to send a quick email following todayâs good news - the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau will be resigning. Already, American media is talking about Trudeau âfolding under Trumpâs attacksâ or âcaving to American pressure.â If you touch this issue, please donât repeat this shit. Itâs just not trueâŠTrudeauâs resignation is all about Canada, and Canadian pressure for him to resignâŠTrudeau is a caricature of what liberal politics looks like to the Right. He is everything toxic and facetious about the Left with none of the substance.â
All of the political battles Ilan Omar faces in Congress pale in comparison to her traumatic childhood, marked by escaping civil war in her native Somalia and living in a Kenyan refugee camp for four years before coming to the U.S.
âWeâre an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-centred renewable energy for all. We are calling for a deeper transition, one which places energy justice at the beating heart of its values. We are moving forward into the world we want to see, leaving no one behind. And we are doing this with the urgency the climate crisis demands of us.â
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