UK Government announces more inquires into grooming gangs after intense pressure from Elon Musk.

 

Elon Musk. AP. 

The UK Government has announced more inquiries into Pakistani grooming gangs after intense pressure from Elon Musk. AP. The announcement includes local inquires as well as a national audit. Musk was able to draw attention to the issue again and has been extremely critical of UK Prime Minster Kier Starmer, who he says did not deal with the offenders when he was England's Chief Prosecutor between 2008 and 2013. The government had previously said there was no need for further investigations, but the government also did not follow the recommendations of the seven year investigation under the former Tory government. 

My Comment:

There is plenty to be critical about Elon Musk, most notably his support for H1B visas, but this is a clear case of Musk doing something incredible with his platform on X. The Pakistani grooming gangs issue was largely dead before Musk resurrected it. And now he has gotten results. 

There are some that would say that bringing up these crimes again is not helpful, but given the scale of these crimes and the racial hatred that fueled them, I would completely disagree. Indeed, I don't think the government of the United Kingdom should be focusing on anything else at all. Having a huge number of young girls being raped, abused and trafficked and the government ignoring it and covering it up should be the biggest scandal in UK history by far. 

Keep in mind what we are talking about. A group of immigrants showed up and immediately starting to groom white girls, specifically because of their race. They didn't target their own girls, only lower class white ones, who they viewed as trash. The government covered this up, in part to deflect against accusations of racism and bigotry against Islam, but mostly because they agreed with the immigrants that these lower class white girls were trash.

This was always more about class than race though. The UK government would have never tollerated this if it had been upper class white girls getting groomed. Maybe not even middle class ones. But the lower classes? They were all trash in the eyes of the government and that allowed them to, if not encourage, at least tolerate the mass rape of a massive number of girls. This wasn't just Pakistani immigrants being horrible, it was the government being horrible as well. And those folks need to be punished along with the rapists. 

And I don't think the punishment these groomers got was anywhere near enough. At the very least every single one of them should have been either deported or imprisoned for life. Indeed, the UK should have brought back the death penalty. But the fact was that many of the folks that complained about these monsters ended up with longer sentences than the rapists. Angry tweets condemning the grooming gangs got long sentences, fathers that tried to rescue their girls got long sentences but the rapists? They did not. 

Will these inquires do much? Probably not. But they are going to damage Starmer and his government. There is a reason why they pushed so hard against any new inquires because the whole thing is likely to turn the people of the United Kingdom against their government. But the huge amount of backlash and anger about this might make police more willing to deal with the issue in the future. My guess is that they won't though, there are few things more worthless than a cop in the UK, and my guess is they will continue to focus on people making mean tweets. 

The energy war in Ukraine continues after a major Russian strike.

 

Ukrainian President Zelensky. AP.

Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine's energy system, knocking it out in some areas. AP. The attack came as a response to a new long range attack on Russian energy and logistics. Russia responded with a massive drone and missile attack on targets throughout Ukraine, ranging from Lviv in the West and Kharkov in the East. The missile and drone strikes were able to knock out power in many regions during harsh winter conditions. It continues a strategy of Russia to destroy Ukraine's ability to generate power, with most domestic production outside of nuclear power plants destroyed. In September Ukraine reported 60% of their power production destroyed and things have gotten worse since then. 

My Comment:

I have criticism for both sides on this story. First the Ukrainians. Launching long range missile strikes into Russia proper is just beyond stupid. Those weapons should absolutely be used near the front to support either their operations in the Kursk salient or, more critically, the Donbas front where they are on the verge of collapse. Doing so also drew more Russian attacks on their infrastructure, which dramatically damages their chances of the war as it could turn civilians against the government. 

For the Russians, why do they continue to do half measures? It makes no sense to make limited strikes on power generation. Russia has the capability to knock out most, if not all, power generation in Ukraine. You don't want to attack the nuclear power plants for pretty obvious reasons (though that hasn't stopped Ukraine from attempting it), but you can cut off the substations that transport that power. And there is absolutely no reason why they couldn't completely cut off power coming in from other countries. 

But so far they have mostly held back. This strike was effective but it wasn't so effective that it knocked power out for good. What are the Russians thinking? I am guessing it is genuine humanitarian concern. Russia has largely avoided hitting civilian targets, on purpose at least, and they do not seem to want to cause mass civilian casualties. 

I disagree with this, obviously. Russia's primary concern is to end the war and though knocking out the power grid in the middle of winter would probably cause some civilian casualties, it would win the war dramatically faster. That would mean that a lot more people would get to live on both sides. 

I also think that it's extremely unlikely that the war will end any other way than a Russian victory and the destruction of the Ukrainian state. Though I think Putin and Trump could cut a deal, why would Putin? He might be able to trust Trump to uphold any deal, but there is no way he could trust the next President, regardless of which party he belongs to. The West already betrayed Russia once during this war so diplomacy is not really an option. So anything that speeds up the eventual Russian victory

Congress passes ban on biological males participating in female sports

 

A placard at the event announcing the legislation. Fox News/Getty.

Congress has passed a ban on transgender students participating in sports that do not match their biological sex. Fox News. The bill passed, 218 to 206 with two Democrats joining the Republicans in passing the bill, while a third Democrat, Don Davis, voted "present". The bill will be taken up by the Senate next. The bill would ban transgender males from participating in woman's sports in schools between Kindergarten and High School, and would also ban it from colleges and universities that receive federal funds. The participation of male to female transgender students in female sports has been very controversial due to issues including fairness and fears about sexual assault in locker rooms. 

My Comment:

There absolutely has been a shift on this issue and I think a few Democrats are realizing how badly the issue plays for them. The two Democrats that voted for this bill (and one that voted present) are in districts that are trending red in red states and they understand that the issue could sink their chances in 2026 if they didn't do something. 

The bill seems pretty unlikely to pass in the Senate. Current control of the Senate is 53-47 and the filibuster limit is 60, so unless 7 Democrats flip to support the bill or the filibuster gets blown up, it's not likely to pass. Donald Trump would sign the law if it were to make his desk, but I just don't know if there are 7 Democrats that would cross over to vote for it. 

Donald Trump is likely to take executive action if the legislation fails to pass, so it's mostly a moot point. But I think it's important to discuss because it shows how much the tide is changing on this issue. The pendulum on transgenders has absolutely swung away from their camp and towards people that are skeptical of all aspects of the ideology. 

I do think that the transgender issue was one that helped cost the Democrats the presidency in 2024. Folks were mostly on board when it was just adults living their lives but the actions of the activists have turned people off. Indeed, the participation of grown men in girls sports, pretty much ruined them. Not only were records being broken by people that had an obvious biological advantage, there were even a few cases of women getting injured by biological men that were dramatically larger and stronger then them. It was something that really wasn't defensible and even the "live and let live" folks were disgusted by it. 

Either way, I do think that this is an easy win for Republicans no matter what. If the bill passes they manage to fix a problem that they were put into office to deal with. If the Democrats refuse to pass it in the Senate they have a campaign issue in 2026, even if Trump deals with it at the Executive level. Like I said, it's a winning issue for Republicans and an absolute albatross for the Democrats. 

I also think that this is another example of how much the culture appears to be shifting in the wake of Trump winning a 2nd term. Things just seem different now to the point where even Democrats are speaking out against the excesses of "wokism". Trump getting elected gave cover to folks who were never comfortable with the far left turn the country took in the last decade and a half permission to speak out...

Ceasefire deal and hostage release between Hamas and Israel very close to happening...

 

A man inspects damage in Gaza. NBC News/AFP.

A ceasefire deal and hostage release between Hamas and Israel is very close to happening. NBC News. After 15 months of fighting, both sides appear close to a deal. Under the proposal, Hamas would release a large number of hostages 48 hours after a ceasefire is called. Israel would pull out of Gaza under the terms of the deal. The withdrawal and hostage release would occur during three phases. There is pressure to get a deal passed before Donald Trump is inaugurated on the 20th as he has vowed that "all hell would break loose" if a deal wasn't made before he came into office. 

My Comment:

Positive news on the Israel-Hamas war front. It looks like the war will finally end and possibly very soon. The deal hasn't been made yet but it does seem like both sides would get much of what they want from the deal. Israel would get their hostages back and Hamas would see the end to the war. 

There is a lot of pressure from both Biden and Trump that is kind of forcing a deal here as well. Biden wants to salvage anything from his presidency and ending the war in Gaza would be a rare win for him, even though he wouldn't be able to take full credit. 

Why? Because Trump would get a lot of credit as well. He has put a lot of pressure on both Israel and Hamas to get a deal done because he is absolutely going to have bigger fish to fry in terms of foreign policy. Ending the Ukraine war alone will be a nightmare and getting the Israel-Hamas war off of the board would be a major win, especially if it happens before he is even President. 

There is, of course, a chance that the deal would fall apart. Both sides hate each other and have a lot of reasons to try and continue the war. Hamas gets funds and support from the war and Israel wants to finally end the threat of Hamas. But I think it will probably happen, both sides have a lot of battle fatigue and Israel has the new threat of Turkey to worry about, which I wrote about here.

If a deal does happen, not everyone will be happy about it. I have already seen some hardliner Israel supporters who are upset with the prospect of a deal. I am less tuned in to the pro-Hamas side for obvious reasons, but I think there could be a few hardliners there too that would be upset at the prospect of a deal. 

And there is also a possibility that the peace isn't going to last. Who knows if the Houthis will continue the war? And the specter of Turkey looms over the region, given the collapsing relations between Israel and Turkey. It's very possible that Hamas will use any peace deal as an opportunity to rearm and ready themselves for another October 7th style attack... 

Still, that's all in the future, in the short term it's hard to see any deal as a negative. Like I said, everyone has something to gain from it at this point, and not just Hamas and Israel. Ending the war would be a huge win for everyone involved and I sincerely hope it happens. 

Were the California fires the result of arson?

 

Damage caused by the Eaton fire. NBC News/AP

As the California wildfires have raged, questions have been raised if the fires were natural occurrences or the result of arson. NBC News. Investigators are still looking at the cause of the series of wildfires that have burned thousands of acres and killed 24 people, and have only ruled out lightning as a cause. The Eaton fire, which burned 14,000 acres as of this writing, was likely caused by powerlines. During high winds, powerlines can collide which creates molten metal that can easily start a fire in dry conditions. The Palisades fire is not likely to be caused by power lines due to the fact that the fire started deep in the woods, 500 feet from a trailhead. It is possible that the fire was started by human action, though that does not mean it was intentional. Other, smaller fires may have been created by arsonists though. The Kenneth fire lead to an arrest by police after civilians detained a man they said started the fire, though he was not charged with the crime due to a lack of evidence. 

My Comment:

The fires in Los Angeles might have different causes for different fires and I thought it would be smart to cover them. I think some of these can easily be ruled out. I don't think for a second that this was directed energy weapons like the conspiracy theorists claim, that's too fantastical to believe. Lightning too can obviously be ruled out due to the weather conditions having no rain, let alone storms, to cause them. 

That leaves quite a few possibilities. I think that the Eaton fire was almost certainly "natural", which isn't the best term to use when talking about a powerlines fire. Obviously a powerline fire is human created, but it wasn't deliberate action. But given that the fire started near powerlines it would be extraordinary if it was caused by anything else. 

And I think that the Kenneth fire, which is now contained thankfully, was likely caused by an arsonist. The man arrested was not charged with that but there is a strong circumstantial case for his responsibility. He was seen starting a fire and was armed with fire starting tools. That won't hold up in a criminal case, but I am guessing if civil charged were ever filed against him, he would lose his case on the "preponderance of the evidence standard". 

That leaves the rest of the fires, most notably the biggest and still uncontrolled Palisades fire. That one is a true mystery and the only thing we can really rule out is lighting and powerlines. Given the location it's possible that it was an accidental fire caused by homeless people. It wouldn't take much, some sparks from a campfire, a stray cigarette butt, or someone screwing around with fire works, and then you have a major fire. 

It's possible it was started by a human deliberately as an act of arson as well. If so, we might not ever hear about it. The last thing folks want to do is confirm that one of California's worst disaster was caused by human action, on purpose, because the obvious threat of copycats. You could even argue that the Kenneth fire was a result of this phenomenon. 

And it's very possible that some of the other fires were caused by arson. There have been unconfirmed and confirmed reports of folks starting fires for whatever reason during this disaster. Some of those cases could be deliberate, but most of them seem to have been low scale and in a way that didn't really contribute to the firestorms. 

What I do know is that the fires in California are not due to a major conspiracy. This wasn't a BlackRock attack to try and buy up all the property in California and it wasn't one of America's enemies launching a major attack. Why? Because there would have been way more fires if that was the case. As large as these fires have been, they are not so large that I would think that there was coordinated actions to start them. 

As for the fires themselves, it's unclear how long this disaster is going to last. Of the three major fires, one of them, the Hurst fire, appears to be coming under control. The Palisades and Eaton fires are continuing but they are appearing to slow down as there is not much fuel left in either case. But the weather forecast is not good and there is a possibility that the fires will be whipped up again due to high Santa Ana winds. And there certainly is a chance of further fires before the winds calm down...