Brief Nooz

January 14, 2025 • 9:45 am

Good morning on Tuesday, January 14, 2024. I’m here for two days, visiting friends before I fly back home on Thursday. It’s National Hot Pastrami Day, and I’m told the best place to get it in L.A. is Langer’s Delicatessen Restaurant, which, sadly, I won’t be visiting.  They tout their wares thusly:

The No. 19 at Norm Langer’s Westlake landmark should be named the official sandwich of Los Angeles. The pastrami — brined, peppered, smoked, steamed and shaved by hand into rosy kerchiefs — rises from between two slices of double-baked rye bread. A cushion of coleslaw, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing hovers over top like an upper bunk. Your senses are keener in the face of such perfection. Settle into your chestnut-brown, tufted booth seat among the happy cadences of silverware against plates and myriad languages ringing through the dining room. Honestly, though? Slices of hot pastrami, fanned across a plate with vegetable garnishes and perhaps nothing more than a smear of mustard, show how little adornment the brisket really requires.

Now there’s a person who knows how to sell food!

I’m heading up to Pasadena and Altadena today, towns closer to the fire zone. The next post will recount the ordeal of a reader whose family lost not one but TWO houses in the fire. The NYT says that high winds today post a danger for the L.A. fire’s spread:

A rare warning of “particularly dangerous” fire weather went into effect on Tuesday morning in parts of Southern California, where heavy winds were creating conditions for new fires even as firefighters battle the most destructive blazes in state history.

The National Weather Service’s red flag warning covered Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with wind gusts of between 45 and 70 m.p.h. and very low humidity combining to threaten “explosive fire growth,” the service said. The ominous forecast comes after a week in which high winds and perilously dry conditions fueled fires that have killed at least 24 people, with at least 23 others missing. More than 100,000 people have been displaced and whole neighborhoods destroyed.

Some gusts could rekindle parts of the two major blazes that are still burning in Los Angeles County. Others could start new fires. That is what happened on Monday night, when the Auto fire grew to more than 50 acres within hours of igniting in a river bed in Ventura County, northwest of the city. It was burning uncontrolled in the early morning hours, although firefighters said its progress had stopped.

Another concern is that electrical infrastructure could spark new fires, as it has in California’s past. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal utility, warned on Monday night that it could shut off power for customers in areas with high fire risk as a safety measure. Another utility, Southern California Edison, said it had already shut off power to more than 60,000 customers.

A NYT graphic; the big fire is only 17% contained:

*The WSJ reports that had not federal prosecutors been forced to drop the case of Trump interfering with his loss of the election for yours ago, he likely would have been convicted. For want of a nail . . .

Special counsel Jack Smith defended his decision to bring charges against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, writing in a report made public early Tuesday that prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to convict him had they not been forced to drop the case after his re-election in November.

“Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” Smith wrote in the 174-page report, the release of which marks the end of an unprecedented chapter in U.S. history.

Smith dismissed the federal election-interference case and one alleging Trump unlawfully retained classified documents, citing longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

“While we were not able to bring the cases we charged to trial, I believe the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law matters,” Smith wrote in the report, which Attorney General Merrick Garland sent to Congress just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, shortly after a court order barring its disclosure expired. “The facts, as we uncovered them in our investigation and as set forth in my Report, matter. Experienced prosecutors know that you cannot control outcomes, you can only do your job the right way for the right reasons,” Smith said.

Although many of the details in the report have been previously revealed, the document represents the most detailed assessment to date of the decision-making by Smith’s team leading up to the unprecedented move to federally charge a former president. Its release less than a week before Trump is set to return to the White House further infuriated the president-elect, who repeatedly attacked the prosecutions as a politically motivated effort to derail his candidacy.

In six days we will have a convicted felon as President, and someone who would have likely served jail time had they not dropped the charges outlined above.  Despite the pessimism of those who aver that democracy is at an end in America, I think our Republic will stand, and will withstand the next four years. After all, we survived one Trump presidency already. I just hope the Democrats can get their house in order and proffer some electable candidates. Their chances depend, of course, on what Trump does in this coming term.

*Although I don’t believe in capital punishment, if ever there was a case for it, it would be this one:

What does “1.5 is dead” mean, you ask? CNN gives the answer:

Environmental activists in the UK painted Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey on Monday with the words “1.5 is dead,” referencing the critical climate threshold that the world temporarily passed in 2024.

The two Just Stop Oil activists entered London’s Westminster Abbey, where Darwin is buried alongside some of Britain’s most famous figures, at around 10 a.m. local time, according to London’s Metropolitan Police and a statement from the group.

There, the activists said: “We have passed the 1.5 degree threshold that was supposed to keep us safe. Millions are being displaced, California is on fire and we have lost three quarters of all wildlife since the 1970’s,” according to the Just Stop Oil statement.

Scientists confirmed last week that 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first calendar year to pass a crucial climate goal — the pledge to restrict global warming to within 1.5 degrees above average temperatures before humans began burning large amounts of fossil fuels.

Last year was 1.6 degrees Celsius hotter, according to new data released on Friday by Europe’s climate monitory agency Copernicus.

I don’t know how adult human beings can think that such vandalism will bring sympathy for their cause.  I do accept anthropogenic global warming, but vandalizing Charles Darwin, whose use of oil must have been minimal, is not the way to end the problem. In fact, as reader Jez reports via the Beeb, these two *&^<?>&^*&!~)_(&!!! vandals have been arrested:

Two women have been arrested after climate protesters spray-painted over the grave of Charles Darwin inside Westminster Abbey.

Climate protest group Just Stop Oil (JSO) said two activists used chalk paint on the grave of the famous naturalist, who is best known for his theories on evolution.

The Met Police was called after the incident on Monday at 09:30 GMT and said two women were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage and remained in police custody.

Westminster Abbey said it was taking “immediate action” to clean the memorial.

Alyson Lee, 66, a retired teaching assistant from Derby, and Di Bligh, a 77-year-old former chief executive of Reading Council, from Rode, were involved in the action, JSO said.

A Westminster Abbey spokesperson said: “The Abbey’s conservators are taking immediate action to clean the memorial and do not anticipate that there will be any permanent damage.”

. . . . The other activist, Ms Bligh, said: “We’ve done this because there’s no hope for the world, really.

“We’ve done it on Darwin’s grave specifically because he would be turning in that grave because of the sixth mass extinction taking place now.”

Ms Lee added: “I believe he would approve because he was a good scientist and he would be following the science, and he would be as upset as us with the government for ignoring the science.”

If they knew anything about Darwin, they would know that he was not an activist (he was an abolitionist), but, more important, that he was tactically wise and would never approve of vandalism to further such a cause.  I hope these women see at least minimal jail time, but given the state of British policing, I doubt it.

From Jesus of the Day; Christ on a bike:

From Cole & Marmalade we have a great idea:

And from Strange, Stupid, or Silly Signs:

FIRE supports Meta’s new regime of vetting posts:

From Malcolm. Isn’t this lovely?

From J. K. R. The woman’s pathetic defense of her prison policy begins at about 1:02:

From my feed; landslide!

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I posted:

This German girl, Jewish of course, died in Auschwitz at just 17.

— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-01-14T15:08:25.742Z

Two from Matthew.  First, a chorus of happy sounds:

Sound on for crunchy leaves and happy duck quacks 🦆🍂✨

— Nicole aka Nimasprout (@nimasprout.bsky.social) 2024-11-12T02:26:12.030Z

And a morphologically -based phylogeny:

Geometriphylogenetics xkcd.com/3010/

— Ferwen (@ferwen.bsky.social) 2024-11-12T17:08:17.246Z

40 thoughts on “Brief Nooz”

  1. I’m glad that those morons who defaced Darwin’s grave have been arrested. And Darwin wasn’t even Jewish!*

    *Kidding about that, but defacing Darwin’s grave isn’t funny. It’s so utterly stupid it’s hard to imagine.

    And regarding that horrible landslide, the Oso landslide took place in 2014 in Washington State, about 50 miles from my house. Forty-three people died: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_landslide.

    1. Completely agree. The connection between Darwin and oil is non-existent. These activists are crazy.

      And that slide looks dreadful.

    2. Go on twitter and do a search for ‘Darya Farivar’ a Washington State representative. She’s at a table with two other ‘progressive’ legislators and is responding to a question about the female prisoner who was raped by a 6’4″ male.
      Her response is an evasive blather of how proud she is defending and advancing transgender rights.

      1. This is terrible. I predict further electoral setbacks for Democrats unless they — I hope you appreciate the phrase: Wake up!

  3. Throughout all of the Trump prosecutions, people have been too willing to take the prosecution’s word for things. Prosecutors always paint the worst picture that they can. It’s no wonder that Smith says he would have won. Would you expect him to say otherwise? Now, though, comes the appeal. Smith’s very appointment is open to challenge, not to mention the FBI evidence tampering. Let’s face it, these were attempts to keep Trump out of the White House, not to uphold justice.

    1. Granting that your view is partisan on some (not all) statements, our departed friend Ken Kukec did once say that a good prosecutor should be able to get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. The defence doesn’t speak to rebut evidence at a grand jury because there is, during the proceeding, no defendant.

      I can believe Jack Smith sincerely believes that he had a good case on the evidence and was not on a vendetta. How would I think otherwise? The evidence was never tested. But it is mendacious for the papers — the CBC parroted the line this morning — to turn that into a claim that Donald Trump would have been convicted had Smith’s indictments gone to trial, as if that was new evidence against Mr. Trump’s character and fitness. See? We told you he was a crook! What more evidence do you need? Jack Smith says so himself he would have nailed him six ways from Sunday. Could-a, would-a, should-a…

      Funny thing, that reasonable doubt and all the ins and outs of due process. And, of course, in this case those darn voters messing up the works.

      1. Well said.

        Also, when well-known people are involved, a prosecutor can make a name for himself or herself simply by bringing charges. I agree that this doesn’t seem to be the case with Smith, but this is always something to consider, more so with elected prosecutors.

  4. Ref Langer’s Deli, there is another enormously successful Langer, Robert Langer. At 76, he is an Institute Professor @ MIT, with an extraordinary number of patents, active grants, awards spanning chemistry, biomedicine and engineering (I wonder how many have ever won both the Hoover and Perkin Medals, for starts?), and companies founded. Have a look!

  5. Sadly we had quite a few Just Stop Oil Idiots where I used to live in South West England, they are an arrogant bunch and refuse to listen to reason, very much like the anti-Semitic brigade and they cannot understand they are turning people away from sensible ecological campaigns.

    I was lucky and had two very enlightened teachers in the 1970s, very rare for the filthy gulag which was my school but these two highlighted the dangers of the greenhouse effect in Geography lessons and the science guy taught be about Chlorofluorocarbons and the problems associated with them. From that point my friends and I tried to persuade people to stop using aerosol sprays and things and while progress was slow we had some success because we used reasoned, scientific arguments and, if nothing else, got people talking about and debating the issue.

    Now, we have self-righteous eco-terrorists who are too stupid to see the damage they are doing.

  6. I believe many miss the point that those people on the extremer end of green policies are ardent anti-humanists. They hate humans and they hate humanity. If they were given a button that would erase every trace of humans from the planet they would press it without hesitation.

    They don’t foresee a future in which we live as we do now but powered by green energies. They don’t hope that the underpowered world are able to catch up.

    When you realise this, you understand a little better how they can deface articles of incredible cultural importance – they simply don’t care about them. And you understand better when they don’t care about human suffering as a result of green policies.

    Yes, human-caused climate change exists, but it is not in and of itself an existential problem. It is manageable and we can adapt – by using more energy. Oil, gas, and coal have a finite shelf life, so a change (gradual) is needed of course. I think nuclear is the way to go.

    But the sooner the more moderate green-aware members of society realise that the loudest voices of their movement are leading us to destruction the better.

    2. I can only have contempt for JSO. Their stupid stunts invariably lead to statements like “we can adapt – by using more energy” gaining traction.
      How much damage does climate change need to do before you consider the cost of mitigation as more affordable?
      Even now, we are not only incurring cost from direct climate damage, but additional costs in adaptation as well as increased security. Those refugees at the southern border or crossing the Mediterranean? Those are rookie numbers once climate change makes it clear that hundreds of millions cannot be sustained by their current home region. So better cough up more money to bolster both internal security and armed forces.
      I think we have already crossed the break even point. But forcing the next generation to bear those costs just so that we don’t have to cut down on consumption is just the easier choice.

      1. There is evidence that JSO stunts do change, in the desired direction, the minds of some people who hadn’t thought much about the issue, weren’t themselves in the traffic tie-up or transit paralysis to be directly affected, and saw the event on TV or social media. Which is why the stunts happen, surely. I don’t think the JSO people are stupid. They do know that nothing bad will happen to them.

        Don’t know about America but I think Europe is betting that the hundreds of millions of people in the very poorest parts of Africa who are imagined to suffer the worst from climate change will not have the wherewithal to get to the Mediterranean south coast. They will simply starve where they are or die on the trek. It’s the better-off, sharp-elbowed operators who can pay facilitators to get them across to Italy. I can’t see that Europe has any other plan to deal with them. If Europe was serious about fighting climate change it would stop immigration from Africa entirely. Everyone who moves from a poor country to a rich one transforms himself from a low emitter to a high emitter. The same is true of babies born to Europeans, of course, but no one in Europe is having babies.

        Europe’s declining emissions do not so far seem to have reduced global emissions. Someone is taking up the slack. Does Asia worry enough about Europe being over-run with Africans to want to join in The Fight?

        1. Politicians in Europe don’t want to think (or at least talk) about it. They prefer to treat climate change as a moral issue. Doesn’t mean that they are right.

          Of course Europe’s reduction in emission isn’t going to stop the rise of emissions all by itself. However, it is still the right thing to do since we (currently) have the means to do so without drastically reducing our standard of living. You cannot solve a group action problem if nobody makes the first step. Sadly, the US has put money ahead of climate change and it is nearly impossible for Europe alone to shift global policy. With the US on board, you would have had roughly half the global economy and you could have set up climate tarrifs, coordinated sanctions and even enforced a fossil fuel embargo against offending Asian nations.
          Yes, you can’t prevent them burning what they have – but all those Asian heavy emitters are dependent on hydrocarbon import.

          In the end, however, the US put money ahead of things. They must have cheap trash and they must have lots of things. Yes, the working class would have been hit hardest, but it’s not like there isn’t wealth around in the US to buffer for those who cannot take the shock. I suspect that ultimately the prospect of having a “smaller number in a spreadsheet” as Sam Harris put it (and of course the thought that the unwashed masses could benefit from that numerical decrease) killed our chance to mitigate the crisis.

        2. Yes, far-left activists would sound slightly more convincing in their climate advocacy if they didn’t insist, in the same breath, that Westerners would take in every single aspiring immigrant from the Third World, plus his numerous progeny.

  7. I don’t understand what happened to a good thump or two from another citizen for people who so wantonly abuse public landmarks or behave in such a revolting way.

    Violence is never the answer? I’m not talking about putting the person in the hospital…just physically restraining them from doing the vandalism at a minimum and perhaps a bit of clump as something to think about.

    Yes, that sounds horrible and primitive I know…but is it so out of bounds? As a young and stupid teenager, I once poked the bear at a local deli by putting my dirty shoes up on a chair right next to an older man who had politely told me not to do it several times. I was trying to show off in front of my friends. After the last ignored warning, the older man, a burly guy, got up and picked me up by my shirt and threw me out of the store. I got a bruise or two but certainly no permanent damage.

    And I never did anything like that again. Also, chagrined at how easily I had been handled, I starting weight training and learning how to properly defend myself…which then gave me more discipline and less of a reason to behave like a clown for attention.

    All of this is to say that very immature people could use a dose of reality when behaving so antisocially and obnoxiously.

  9. More Los Angeles delis: Brent’s Deli in Northridge and in Westlake and Cantor’s Deli on Fairfax in LA.

    2. Cantor’s has really gone downhill, IMO. Langer’s is reputed to have the best rye bread in L.A. It’s very good, but I think the rye bread that Art’s Deli in Studio City serves is even better. Jerry – if you’re in Pasadena, Art’s is only about 20 minutes away (a short drive by L.A. standards).

  10. Norm Langer was in the news and on the radio last fall, threatening/promising to close the deli permanently if the City didn’t do something about the out-of-hand homeless/drug situation in MacArthur Park across the street.
    I guess he backed off? A deal was struck? Not sure.

  11. Speaking of Trump’s second presidency, here’s someone who has something very interesting to say:
    “Philosopher Michael Sandel on What Trump’s Win Says About American Society”

    1. That’s a great find. “Skyboxification” versus “mutual dependence and mutual obligation” with a reconnection to the “dignity of work”. Indeed. That whole piece is loaded with wise observations and, finally, a calmly stated vision of what might help bring us back together as a society. That was a balm to my ears. Thanks for posting it.

    2. Song of the Love Children:

      I invested, I deposted; I voted every fall
      I saved up every penny and the bastards got it all.

      A trenchant analysis — Clintonian neoliberlaism weakened the Dems, but it leaves some things out. What it downplays is the unrelenting cynicism of the Reagan-sparked right wing, Murdoch media, libertarian I got-mine-screw-you-Jack billionaire tech bros. And the Democrats responded with identity politics, a losing hand, for sure.

      But it’s complicated. Did identity politics also have some roots in the Civil Rights movement? Remember that? In 1964 LBJ signing the Civil Rights act & remarking that he had handed over the South to the Republicans? Were women’s rights issues valid? I’m old. I hear my wife and her friends talk of not being on property deeds, not having their own credit cards, etc. What about the rights of homosexuals to be left in peace, not criminalized? Did all of these contribute to identity politics, and what do we abandon? But something went awry, with Wokeism. Postmodern baloney, bah! Now I look at some things carefully, turns out “gender affirming” therapy is quackery and some woke reflexes have the Dems backing that. Yikes! How could the Republicans, those science deney ing cranks, be so right on that one? Turns out life is complicated. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter anyway.

  13. As it turns out, more CO2 comes from Coal (globally) than oil. Although the reverse is true if you consider CO2 from natural gas. The trend is towards Coal in certain crucial developing countries (China, India, etc.).

    1. I would think the climate-relevant metric is not so much mass of CO₂ emitted per fuel type, but rather mass per amount of energy produced.

      In that metric, since 2000, little changed for India (high), while interestingly Australia and China were pretty much the same(!), both improving by about –25%. (Though China is world top in totals of emissions and production.) See plot and maps of Carbon intensity of electricity generation at “Our World in Data”.

      1. As you imply, it matters not at all to the climate what the fuel was, but nor does it matter whether any energy was produced at all. Every molecule of CO2 in the atmosphere contributes the same. Total mass of CO2 emitted is the only climate-relevant metric.

        1. Correct in principle. What matters mostly is the number CO2 molecules, not how they got there. The useable energy generated per mole of CO2 emitted is important for our well-being and for our mitigation strategy, but not for warming itself.

          Other greenhouse gases contribute to warming, also, which is why I said mostly. Methane, for example, is a 100 X more potent infrared absorber, molecule for molecule, than carbon dioxide but is present at much lower concentrations. Methane is added to the atmosphere as leakage from natural gas infrastructure (and cattle-raising but that’s another story) and is eventually oxidized to CO2, where it behaves in the long run like CO2 from combustion. In the short run (decades, not centuries), it contributes enough to warming that natural gas may not be any “greener” than coal, according to Mark Jacobsen who does have a wind-powered dog in the fight.

          Jacobsen’s point is that conversion from coal to gas will not abate warming in the coming decades, and switching from liquid fuels to gas will make things worse. His argument is, of course, that a massive switch to wind is the only choice. Either we live with intermittency and forgo load following, or we build so many interconnected windmills over vast CONUS-sized areas that “the wind is always blowing somewhere” keeps the lights on everywhere. Or we invent and deploy at scale something to store excess electricity generated on windy nights and Sundays….while we’re also trying to invent and deploy technology to remove CO2 from the free atmosphere. (That’s what “Net” Zero implies.)

          All this scratches the surface of why anthropogenic climate change is a “wicked” problem. It’s not just a case of whether one is willing to live with consequences, it’s that it’s very difficult to forecast what all the relevant consequences will be…AND different actors will have differing views on what consequences of any action are desirable or unacceptable, and on whom the consequences fall.

          Some people say this analysis is an excuse for business as usual. I’m OK with that criticism. You do you, I reply.

        2. Thanks for the link. No I hadn’t seen it. I liked the philosophical focus. Not only has per capita use of fossil fuels not declined since 1973, the absolute number of people has, what, doubled since then.

  14. I live two blocks from Langer’s. Too bad you couldn’t make it out here–it’s a fascinating neighborhood. MacArthur Park, lots of street vendors, a large immigrant community from Central American (we have shops that sell Santeria charms.)

    Maybe next time!

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