AI HAS BEEN ADOPTED FASTER THAN ANY OTHER ADVANCEMENT IN HISTORY And I've got a guest on today to talk about where the product is having the biggest impact already. Trevor Wagener, Chief Economist and Director of the Research Center, Computer & Communications Industry Association joins me at 12:30 to talk about this fascinating report on how quickly we all began to and continue to use AI. This conversation should be interesting.
IT'S OLD HOME WEEK ON THE MANDY SHOW And our pal and former News Goddess Susan Witkin stops by. We will chat about how she's keeping busy in her retirement and I'll get her thoughts on the horrible Hanukah massacre in Australia as she's my favorite observant Jew. No offense to all the other Jews I know, but she is my favorite.
AROD'S PARENTS STOP BY TOO! I'm telling you it's the last day of vacation and erebody is welcome!
ASK ME ANYTHING I've got a bunch of stuff, as you can see, but it would be cool if you did the work for me.
MORE XCEL LIABILITY CUT OFFS TODAY And we talked about this yesterday, but today there are even MORE cutoffs and if you're in Golden you could be out of power ALL WEEKEND. I saw this yesterday.
In the meantime, Xcel is over there filing its nails pointing people to their "Public Safety Power Shutoff" page on the website you can't see because you have no power. There is time to let the Public Utilities Commission know that you believe Xcel, as the monopoly power operator, needs to mitigate this issue in better way, like burying power lines. They need to so at THEIR OWN EXPENSE, as they would if there were actual competition. You can send them your comments here, and PLEASE DO. I get why Xcel is doing this, but they are making ZERO effort from where I sit to actually remedy a problem that is going to happen EVERY YEAR. This is not a one off, this happens ALL THE TIME here. Make your comments here. Jimmy Sengenberger writes about it here, read this part:
Businesses shut down, losing customers. Employees have been sent home, losing hours. Students in a few districts — most notably Jeffco Schools, Colorado’s second largest — are losing classroom time just before Christmas break. Families have lost untold amounts of spoiled food. And on it goes.
Xcel and its government partners brush it off as an unavoidable “inconvenience.” That’s an understatement.
These are real-world harms thrust upon real Coloradans, especially lower-income families already struggling to make ends meet.
Xcel isn’t reimbursing them for ruined groceries or lost wages. It isn’t handing out backup chargers to families that can’t just swing one on a moment’s notice, especially when they’ve spent their holiday budgets.
He's not wrong about any of this. This business in Golden would like a word with Xcel after losing all their food in the last few days.
YOU WILL NEVER HEAR ABOUT THIS MAN AGAIN The man who shot and killed two people at Brown University and then drove to Massachusetts to murder an MIT professor then killed himself. Why won't you hear about him again? Because he was an immigrant who came here on what's called a DV1 Visa, or the Diversity Immigrant Program. What is that? It's the green card lottery that gives permanent status to immigrants from countries, like Portugal where this man was from, that are underrepresented in our immigrant class. It was created in 1990 and Trump tried to end it in his first administration and has now suspended it entirely. It is not merit based, and vetting doesn't even happen before the selection. And here is how a Reddit post broke the case wide open.
I HATE IT WHEN DADDY AND MAGA FIGHT And the gloves were off last night at Turning Point USA's big conference in Arizona. Ben Shapiro came out swinging against those he called "grifters and charlatans" while naming Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, and Steve Bannon. I don't disagree with him.
WE MAY BE NEAR THE END OF GENDER AFFIRMING CARE FOR CHILDREN Or as I like to think of it the sterilization and mutilation of humans too young to understand what they are consenting to. The Trump administration, via RFK Jr's HHS, is considering a rule change that would prevent federal Medicare and Medicaid dollars from going to any doctor or hospital that provides gender affirming care for children. This would put them out of business. Read more here. "Experts" are super mad about this, but they are the same "experts" who admit that gender affirming care for children sterilizes children and prevents them from achieving orgasm. Watch this.
This is good thing.
PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND SMALL NUCLEAR REACTORS And this sort of ignorance and fear is going to prevent us from having an electric grid that produces cheap, reliable energy. This story is about the airport wanting to get more information about SMRs and read these idiotic comments:
Some attendees demanded exclusion of nuclear options, citing health risks, uranium mining impacts on indigenous communities and limited global supplies.
Gilmore attended the meeting and has led opposition to nuclear. She repeatedly highlighted water usage as a primary concern, questioning potential strains on local resources, limited supply of nuclear fuel and impacts on nearby neighborhoods.
A simple Google search by Gilmore would show her that air cooled SMRs use less water than coal, and the new salt cooled SMRs use NO water whatsoever. But don't let the facts get in the way of a fear based campaign. The second column is gallons per MwH used.
Power source
Coal (cooling tower)
500–1,000
Nuclear (large or SMR, wet cooling)
400–700
Natural gas combined cycle
150–300
Solar PV
~0
Wind
~0
Air-cooled SMR
20–80
Every option should be on the table.
WILL COLORADO DECIDE THAT SUBTLE ANTI-SEMITISM IS OKAY? Two basketball coaches of Palestinian descent who took the time during a game against a Jewish school to drape their terror rags and Palestinian terror flags over the railings to send a message to CHILDREN about their political views are suing over their dismissal. They say their First Amendment rights were violated. I love this part from the two men's attorney:
"At its core, this case is about whether Palestinians are allowed to exist in society without having to hide who they are," Taslimi said. "Wearing clothing reflective of your national, ethnic, and religious identity is not misconduct. The Constitution protects that expression and those rights do not disappear because someone is offended or uncomfortable."
It wasn't clothing, it was the flag of a group of people who just murdered a bunch of Australians for being Jewish. I hope they take this to a jury.