A shock and awe. The phrase is apt in describing what Israel has done in the occupied West Bank almost immediately following the events of October 7, 2023, and the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

In her book The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein defines “shock and awe” not merely as a military tactic, but as a political and economic strategy that exploits moments of collective trauma—whether caused by war, natural disaster, or economic collapse—to impose radical policies that would otherwise be resisted. According to Klein, societies in a state of shock are rendered disoriented and vulnerable, allowing those in power to push through sweeping transformations while opposition is fragmented or overwhelmed.

Google acquires clean energy developer

Alphabet, Google's parent company, announced last month it will acquire clean energy and data center infrastructure developer Intersect in a $4.75 billion deal expected to close in the first half of this year.

The portfolio Alphabet will acquire includes projects under construction in Texas and California.

The acquisition represents a new approach for Alphabet. In the past it had relied on utilities and independent energy developers to bring power generation online for its data center loads. Acquisition of Intersect indicates that Google plans to construct, own and manage its own clean energy power plants.

ERCOT's large load queue jumped almost 300 percent last year

And speaking of data centers, they are driving a rapid increase in the number and capacity of large load interconnection requests in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (or ERCOT) region, according to a December report from the grid operator.

This article first appeared on Substack

I woke up shortly before 6 AM. I checked my blood pressure, took my meds, placed an order for a prescription in my pharmacy’s automatic phone system, checked my glucose (116), for which I only had to poke my finger three times this morning, and then I turned on my TV as the coffee was brewing.

I had my TV set on the multiview setting again, with the channels being MS Now, CNN, ESPN, and Fox News. Fox News had a headline about protesters surrounding ICE agents in Minneapolis. But the scene didn't show protesters surrounding ICE agents. It showed ICE in cars driving down a Minneapolis street with a few protesters throwing water bottles and snowballs at them. What stood out to me is how Fox described it, because what else was being shown on TV was ICE shooting tear gas at the protesters.

Full disclosure: in high school I was terrible at math.

My mother felt sorry for me and hired a tutor. It was embarrassing, but she loved me and forced me to do it. Unfortunately, now she needs your mayor and City Council to get a math tutor too.

Yes, 100 percent of the focus inside Columbus City Hall is on the corporate take-over of the city disguised as an update in zoning. With all their focus on density and building unaffordable luxury apartments they have forgotten about another part of a functional city government: protecting life.

Do the math.

After 748 days of committing war crimes in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, Joshua Boon, who was born in Iowa, United States, committed suicide. He chose to leave home in Idaho to volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces. He is a traitor who enlisted in the Israeli Death Forces instead of the US armed forces.

"Lone Soldier" is a sugarcoated term that the media often uses to refer to Jewish Americans "mercenaries" who enlist in the IDF. However, the same media outlets refer to Muslims who join ISIS or fight against US and NATO occupation force in the Middle East as "terrorists." A Muslim volunteer gets automatically 20 years behind bars whereas a Jewish mercenary receives a hero welcome. 

Many Americans are unaware of the fact that many Jewish high school students chose to enlist in the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) after graduation instead of enlisting in the US armed forces. Those people have taken part in the Gaza genocide and massacres in Lebanon. Some of them were captured on October 7 while armed and in IDF uniform. In fact, you would be more accurate by calling them as "Israeli POWs" instead. That should be an affront to all veterans and patriotic Americans.