Good morning from my Hunker-Bunker overlooking the Puget Sound in West Seattle. Somehow, we’ve managed to survive the first ‘cyclone bomb’, massive flooding, and the inevitable falling of a tree on a Metro bus.

Every year, the same thing. I’m not even sure why it’s considered ‘news’. But we went through it again, same as it ever was.

Sitting down for an interview.

I was contacted a couple of months ago by a production company doing a movie/documentary on Andrew Wood, Layne Staley, and Kurt Cobain, because of my time working with the bands of the ‘Seattle Sound’ aka “Grunge” back in the day as one of the sound engineers associated with the Music Bank in the late 1980s-1990s. It was a bittersweet period of my life, and not one that I’ve talked a lot about. But I am supposed to sit down with them in a couple of hours, and it is going – and has already started to -) dredge up some really emotional shit for me. I am not looking forward to this.

I’m trying to take my mind off of all of this to review today’s news…

Ready… set… Go!

Rachel Maddow’s Surprise Face

Comcast doesn’t want its cable TV networks anymore

One of the country’s biggest cable TV companies doesn’t want its cable networks anymore. Would you like them?

That’s the pitch Comcast is making Wednesday as it announces plans to split off almost all its cable TV networks into a new company. It’s the same pitch Comcast floated as a possibility back in October, and most of the details are the same.

Comcast is set to spin off a new publicly traded company, owned by its existing shareholders. Into the spinco goes every cable network Comcast owns except for Bravo. That means networks like CNBC, MSNBC, USA, along with a few digital assets, including its Fandango movie-ticket service.

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It plans to hang on to the rest of its media business, including its NBC broadcast network, Peacock streaming service, Universal film and TV studio, and Universal theme-parks business. And Bravo. (Can’t wait for someone smart to explain why Comcast is so attached to Bravo. Maybe it’s as simple as “Real Housewives”?)

For the record: Comcast says it thinks the cable networks it is ditching can be successful on their own. The new company “will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners,” CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement. That “partners” reference is important — Comcast has also floated the idea of folding in other companies’ cable networks into the spinoff, which would theoretically give it more heft and negotiating power with advertisers and pay-TV distributors.

MSNBC Faces Potential for Big Changes in Comcast Cable Spin-Off

MSNBC fans who are disappointed in the progressive-leaning network after Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election may no longer have it to kick around.

The cable-news outlet could have to consider changing its name and familiar markings under a spin-off of the bulk of the cable assets of parent company Comcast, one of the nascent company’s new top executives suggested to an assemblage of MSNBC staffers Wednesday morning, according to two people familiar with the gathering.

Lazarus told an audience that included Rachel Maddow, Chris Jansing and Katy Tur that he was not sure whether MSNBC would have to change its identity as part of the transaction, which will split the cable network and its business-news sibling CNBC from NBC News and NBCUniversal. If the two networks are no longer part of the NBC corporate entity, attendees wanted to know, will they still be able to carry marks that are part of their former home?

Streaming Killed the Video Cable Star

Comcast said on Wednesday that it plans to spin-off the bulk of its fading NBCUniversal cable TV networks, including MSNBC and CNBC, as the company said it is repositioning itself for growth in the streaming era.

Shares of the company were off less than 1% after the announcement that Comcast would separate its entertainment and news channels, including USA Network, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel, into a new, publicly traded company.

Comcast will retain the core of NBCUniversal’s entertainment assets, including its NBC broadcast network, sports and news, its film and television studios, and the Bravo network, which are seen as fueling growth for its Peacock streaming service. It also plans to keep the expanding theme park business.

Cowen & Co analysts in a note said the spin-off may well be a precursor to Comcast combining with another pay TV provider, such as Charter Communications, by shedding “toxic” cable channels that might be an obstacle to regulatory approval under the incoming Trump administration.

There are only six corporations that own almost all of the media

• National Amusements
• Disney
• TimeWarner
• Comcast
• News Corp
• Sony

Everything you watch, everything you see all originates from these six.

Oh sure, you have your NewsMax and OANN, but they are just piggybacking off of these media sources. NewsMax and OANN do not have their own news gathering apparatus like the Big Six have.

Pete Hegseth has a problem…

Mediaite Obtains Full Police Report on Pete Hegseth Sexual Assault Allegation

A police report on the allegation of sexual assault against Pete Hegseth, the Fox News star nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as secretary of defense, was obtained by Mediaite on Wednesday and contains graphic details of the 2017 encounter.

The report, provided by the City of Monterey, California, was previously released to Hegseth in March 2021, per his request. It runs 22 pages and details the allegation leveled by a woman who claimed in 2017 that she was sexually assaulted by the cable news star at a Republican women’s conference.

You can read the police report for yourself, if you want – Nobody will stop you.

“I Remember Saying ‘NO’ a lot”

The 22-page report contains graphic details about the allegations about Hegseth made by the woman after a night in a California hotel room in 2017 which he has acknowledged involved them having sex just two months after his mistress gave birth to their child.

The alleged rape, as it was coded by police in the report, was first disclosed to Trump transition officials by a friend of the woman last week. Police used the

In the report, released under freedom of information laws, the woman told an investigating officer she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot” after Hegseth allegedly blocked the door and suspected something may have been slipped into her drink earlier in the evening.

Her next memory was of being on a bed or a couch with a shirtless Hegseth over her and his dog tags “hovering over her face.” She told an officer she recalled him ejaculating on her stomach and telling her to “clean it up.”

Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing. He was not charged.

Matt Gaetz is a First-Class Scuz

Which is, I assume, the sole reason why Trump likes him for the job of Attorney General.

Federal Inquiry Traced Payments From Gaetz to Women

Federal investigators established a trail of payments from Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to be attorney general, to women including some who testified that Mr. Gaetz hired them for sex, according to a document obtained by The New York Times and a lawyer representing some of the women.

The document, assembled by investigators during a three-year sex-trafficking investigation into Mr. Gaetz, is a chart that shows a web of thousands of dollars in Venmo payments between Mr. Gaetz and a group of his friends, associates and women who had drug-fueled sex parties between 2017 and 2020, according to testimony that participants are said to have given to federal and congressional investigators.

At the parties, women, and a girl who was 17 at the time, were paid for sex, according to accounts of the participants’ testimony from people briefed on what they said.

The document bolsters recent claims by a lawyer for two of the women who say they had sex with Mr. Gaetz for money. It shows thousands of dollars in payments Mr. Gaetz made to both of the lawyer’s clients.

House Ethics panel did not agree to release the Gaetz report — yet

The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday did not agree to release the long-anticipated report into Matt Gaetz, and the top Democrat on the panel said members had agreed to meet again on the matter next month.

“There was not an agreement by the committee to release the report,” Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told reporters after the meeting ended. Soon after, Ranking Member Susan Wild (D-Pa.) confirmed that the panel did not agree on releasing the report, but said “we did agree that we would reconvene as a committee on Dec. 5 to further consider this matter.”

Republicans in recent days have insisted the report isn’t finished yet. But two people familiar with the process, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the report is done.

Wild was clearly incensed with how Guest had characterized the private panel meeting. She told reporters that he “betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee.”

GOP warns Gaetz hearings will be ‘Kavanaugh on steroids’

Senate Republicans are warning confirmation proceedings for former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) will be like “Kavanaugh on steroids,” referring to the contentious hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

GOP senators say allegations against Gaetz of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, as well as the findings of the Department of Justice’s probe into allegations of the sex trafficking of minors, are likely to become splashed across the media if he remains President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

Some Republicans are privately suggesting Gaetz should consider withdrawing his nomination to save himself the wrenching ordeal of an embarrassing confirmation hearing if he’s unlikely to be confirmed in the end.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

Matt Gaetz withdraws his bid for attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations

Trump’s choice had been hindered by sexual misconduct allegations and a House Ethics Committee investigation.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Thursday announced that he would withdraw his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.

“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback — and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote in a post on X, just a week after Trump announced he planned to nominate Gaetz to the position.

“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” Gaetz added.

There was no way in hell that Matt Gaetz would have been able to go through a confirmation hearing without a whole lot of shit coming out. Literally, the receipts of his debauchery. This isn’t a case where there is any ambiguity: there is physical evidence, and a whole lot of witnesses, including other House and Senate members (who really don’t want to be involved). When they start pulling on different threads, who knows what names might drop out…?

Now watch: Governor and Floriduh-Man-in-Chief, Ron DeSantis will probably appoint him to a vacant US Senate seat…

Et tu, RFK Jr?

Well, he IS a Kennedy, ya know… Sexual assault is part of the DNA…

Former babysitter to RFK Jr.’s kids speaks about sexual assault allegation

‘It happened so quickly’
Cooney was out of college in 1999 when she began working for Kennedy at his environmental law clinic during the week and on weekends as the family’s babysitter.

As part of the job, she moved into the Kennedy house in Mount Kisco, New York.

Kennedy had three kids who lived with him, and two kids from a previous marriage who visited on weekends. She knew Kennedy men had reputations for being wealthy, goodlooking, and forward with women, but she was still shocked.

“It surprised me that it happened so quickly,” she said.

One night, there was a meeting in the family kitchen with Kennedy and another person who was there to talk about work related to the law clinic. She said she felt Kennedy rubbing her leg under the table.

Another time, she said a shirtless Kennedy, then 46, appeared in her bedroom doorway asking her to rub lotion on him. She said she unenthusiastically obliged in order to get it over with.

Later, she said he approached her from behind in a kitchen pantry and started groping her, sliding his hands from her hips to the sides of her breasts. While doing so, he was blocking her exit out of the small room.

With ALL the disrupters available to Donald Trump, why does he insist on settling for child molesters and sex offenders? Doesn’t he realize that a ‘legitimate’ government consists of ‘legitimate’ people, and if you start using socially unredeemable reprobates to run important branches of government that you no longer have anything legitimate?

An ICBM to the Next Door Neighbor

That’s a lotta buck for a such a small bang.

Russia launches intercontinental ballistic missile in attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says

KYIV (Reuters) – Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from its southern Astrakhan region during a morning attack on Ukraine on Thursday, Kyiv’s air force said, the first time Russia has used such a powerful, long-range missile during the war.

The strike comes after Ukraine used U.S. and British missiles to strike targets inside Russia this week, something Moscow had warned for months would be seen as a major escalation.

The Russian attack targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, the air force said, at a time of escalating moves in the 33-month-old war launched by Russia in Ukraine.

It was unclear from the statement what the intercontinental ballistic missile targeted and whether it caused any damage.

Why is Putin firing off ICBMs at a target less than a few hundred miles away, when they already have an arsenal of medium range missile they’ve been using? It seems like an awful expensive shot just to make a silly point.

Yeah, I know, Vlad is upset that Biden finally gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use our missiles inside Russia. So what, he wants to be the only side that brings in weapons from the Norks and Iran, but Ukraine can’t? Also, Russia is now bringing in up to 120,000 North Korean troops to die on the Ukraine battle ground. Is he going to blow a gasket if Ukraine gets outside troops involved? (not that they should, but I’m just making the point that it has been Putin who started and has been escalating this war, and he is NOT going to stop with Ukraine.

“Floriduh Man News”

There’s something in the water…

Florida Man Planned to Bomb NY Stock Exchange

The FBI has arrested Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, alleging he wanted to set off a series of bombs in the U.S saying “I feel like Bin Laden”

A Florida man has been charged in a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. According to charging documents, Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, worked with several FBI informants and undercover employees, telling them that “the Stock Exchange, we want to hit that, because it will wake people up.”

The investigation began in February 2024 when the FBI received a tip about Yener “storing bomb making schematics in an unlocked storage unit in Coral Springs, Florida.” A search of the unit found “numerous electronic watches with alarm and timer features…and various electronic circuit board components.”

The FBI introduced undercover employees to Yener shortly after the search. These individuals portrayed themselves as supporters of his plan. He tasked them with various assignments to get explosive materials, according to the criminal complaint.

Always Floriduh Man

Cold-hearted orb that rule the night…

Mysterious orb zooming past NYC accidentally caught on film by local news chopper

A news helicopter incidentally captured a mysterious orb-like object zooming over the Hudson River and past Lower Manhattan.

In the final seconds of a Fox 5 news report that aired Monday, an orb-shaped object or light can be seen in the crystal clear New York sky, making an arcing pathway in the direction of the news chopper which was filming from south of the Battery.

The orb appears white in the distance and takes on a blue tint as it gets closer to the camera.

The potential object outpaces every boat on the Hudson and quickly arcs its way past the news chopper.

It is unclear whether the orb is a real-world object or a light refraction on a lens or piece of glass.

Some of the world’s foremost ufologists have expressed doubt over its real-world potential.

Avi Loeb, a theoretical physician, cosmologist and Harvard professor, believes the apparent orb is an artifact of the video.

“This is most likely an optical artifact from the helicopter glass in front of the camera, namely a bright spot from the reflection of sunlight as the camera gradually changes its orientation relative to the sun and the ground,” Loeb tells The Post.

Post-Election Excitement Fades

It’s going to be a quiet transition.

The Trump Stock Euphoria Starts to Fade

Tariffs, deficits and stretched valuations give Wall Street pause

Can the postelection market rally continue? Some on Wall Street are skeptical.

Investors cheered the unexpected Republican sweep of the presidency and both houses of Congress, salivating over the potential for new pro-business policies. Stock indexes set records, and stock funds posted historically high inflows.

That rally has faded as President-elect Donald Trump fills out his cabinet and analysts grasp for policy details. Perhaps the most crucial question for markets: How serious is Trump about tariffs, which are widely regarded as inflationary and could reach their highest level since the 1930s if delivered as promised?

“We think the inflation battle was almost won coming into the election,” said Kevin Khang, head of global economic research at Vanguard. “But a potential tariff, depending on what the policy actually looks like, could have a big impact.”

Waaaait, what? There was some post-election excitement and I missed it?

The Moral High Ground has a STD Problem

Of course this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone…

The 10 States With the Highest STD Rates

New data indicates the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. may be slowing down, as the rate of total cases for three major types of infections fell by more than 2% in 2023 compared with the year prior, according to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 2.4 million total cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia were diagnosed and reported in the U.S. last year, marking a 2% decrease from the case count in 2022 and a 4% drop from 2019. The combined rate of infections from chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in the U.S. decreased 2.3% from 2022 to 734 cases per 100,000 people, according to a U.S. News analysis of the data.

To save you the trouble of having to go look them up:

1. Louisiana
Total STD Rate: 1,181.5 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -2.6% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 792.4 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 288.4 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 100.7 per 100,000

2. Mississippi
Total STD Rate: 1,067.7 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -15.5% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 700.9 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 251.1 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 115.7 per 100,000

3. Alaska
Total STD Rate: 1,063.4 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -3.3% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 697.7 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 310.9 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 54.8 per 100,000

4. South Dakota
Total STD Rate: 1,013.9 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -9.3% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 531.6 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 253.3 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 229 per 100,000

5. Georgia
Total STD Rate: 996.5 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -2.5% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 646.4 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 274.8 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 75.3 per 100,000

6. Alabama
Total STD Rate: 952.3 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: 1.9% increase
Chlamydia Rate: 651.1 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 226.9 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 74.3 per 100,000

7. North Carolina
Total STD Rate: 911.5 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -0.3% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 607.9 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 243.2 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 60.4 per 100,000

8. South Carolina
Total STD Rate: 911.5 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -10.9% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 612.1 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 222.4 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 48.3 per 100,000

9. Arkansas
Total STD Rate: 869.5 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: -3.8% decrease
Chlamydia Rate: 579.6 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 193.4 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 96.5 per 100,000

10. New York

Total STD Rate: 857.3 per 100,000

Change From 2022 Total STD Rate: 5% increase
Chlamydia Rate: 558.4 per 100,000
Gonorrhea Rate: 235.6 per 100,000
Syphilis Rate (cumulative): 63.3 per 100,000

Maybe if kids had a decent biology-based sex education program in school, none of this would be a mystery to them.

An arrest is imminent…

At any moment, we expect Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested and hauled off to jail.

Top war-crimes court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials

THE HAGUE (AP) — The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for the leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with their war that began more than a year ago.

The warrants against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant focus on allegations Israel has used food as a weapon in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, a charge Israeli officials deny. Experts have warned that hunger has become widespread across Gaza and may have reached famine levels in the north of the territory, which is under siege by Israeli troops.

The action by the International Criminal Court came as the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza passed 44,000 people, according to local health authorities, who say more than half of those killed were women and children. Their count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Netanyahu condemned the arrest warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions” by the court. In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”

If you were to look up “exercise in futility” on your computer, this story should pop up.

More Tensions, pun intended

Fears China could be behind Baltic Sea cable ‘sabotage’ as navy on high alert

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius believes Russia poses not just a military but also a hybrid threat, wit the damage to the two cables “a very clear sign that something is afoot”.

The Danish navy is keeping tabs on a Chinese ship in the Strait of Kattegat days after the severing of telecommunications cables running from Finland to Germany – with one analyst claiming it may even have been boarded.

Speaking on Tuesday, Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defence minister said officials were working on the assumption that damage to two data cables under the Baltic Sea, one of which ends in Germany, was caused by sabotage – though he said they have no proof at present.

And just before 1pm, the Marine Traffic website showed the ship, Yi Peng 3, in close proximity to a DNK Naval Patrol 525 in the Strait.

Posting on X, one poster billing themselves as the “Chief Commander” of the North Atlantic Fella Movement (NAFO), a social media collective dedicated to countering Russian propaganda, posted: “The Chinese-flagged ship Yi Peng 3 whose captain is Russian has just been intercepted and boarded by the Danish ship Y311 Soloven.

I wasn’t planning on calling anyone over there, were you?

Oh, please don’t go… *yawn*

Ellen DeGeneres Has Moved to Great Britain, Lists Montecito Estate: ‘Never Coming Back’ to the United States

Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah.

Well, good for her. I’ve entertained the idea of retiring to Great Britain myself, except for the fact that I already have plans of retiring to my joint up in Tappan, British Columbia. Sooner than later.

It would also go without saying that I won’t be coming back either. Not because of some kind of statement, but because of logic: I am going up there to live out my retirement, why would I be coming back? Ellen DeGeneres has retired from show business, and is pretty burned out by Hollyweird in general, so she’s retiring to the homeland of her wife. So what?

Well, that’s it for me today. I have an interview in twenty minutes.