Notations From the Grid (Special Sunday Edition): On the #CaliforniaFires

As we went to press with this special Sunday edition of Notations, our team was monitoring the fires raging throughout California with CAL Maritime being threatened.       We commend Around the Capital for putting together this update as an estimated 2 Million People may be affected by the power outages to prevent fires--although we understand already faulty equipment may have been a contributing cause per an update from PG&E--we join Scott in noting for all to please stay safe:

Many of you likely had sleepless nights, either kept up by the weather like we were here in Sacramento, worrying about friends and family, or your own life and property.

Obviously, it's still dark and we won't have fire update reports for a couple of hours, but it hasn't been a good night in Sonoma County. The mandatory evacuation area now extends on the 101 form Geyserville to North Santa Rosa east into the hills and west to the Pacific Ocean from Stewarts Point to Bodega Bay. Highway 101 is closed from North Santa Rosa to Cloverdale, primarily to keep people from entering evacuation areas.

Winds continue to pick up in many of the affected areas, with the National Weather Service reporting a wind gust of 93 mph in the Healdsburg Hills in the last hour. For a point of reference, the hurricane range for category 1 is sustained winds in the range of 74-95 mph.

Instead of emailing you with constantly changing information, I have created a page with important links that I will update throughout the day. I am receiving regular updates from PG&E that I will post on this page, as well as there are links to Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).

http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/alerts

Here are current numbers for the public safety power shutoffs:

• Pacific Gas and Electric: 940,000 shut off
• Southern California Edison: 4,048 shut off; 124,609 under consideration
• San Diego Gas and Electric: no shut offs at this time

Stay safe,
Scott

Notations From the Grid (W-End Edition): Remembering @RepCummings

The United States bid farewell to Rep. Cummings over a two day period as he was honored at the US Capitol and thereafter at his Church.   President Obama and President Clinton spoke--For this edition of Notations, We are honored to feature the statements by President Obama and President Clinton along with Rep. Cummings as we pay tribute to the life and times of the Honorable Elijah Cummings, The Gentleman from Baltimore--It was great to see all from across the political spectrum including Congressman Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows along with Adam Schiff all come together--we join all in saying RIP @RepCummings--you made a difference and we agree you made America better:

Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): Out & About in Our World....

On the Week that was, we hereby present a snapshot of our World over the past two weeks: 

Remembering Elijah Cummings 

The Financial Times Ingram Pinn Reflects Upon Syria 

1. The End I told you we would get here eventually. When the Ukraine story first emerged, I promised you that we would be going through a predictable sequence of lines about Trump's actions: (1) This is all made up. Fake News. (2) There's a partial story here, but it's nothing important. The media is biased. (3) If there's anything bad or improper, the Dems do it worse. (4) Of course he did it and he was right to do it. Yesterday Mick Mulvaney said—well, let me quote it for you, exactly: Q    But to be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo.  It is: Funding will not flow unless the investigation into the Democratic server happens as well. MR. MULVANEY:  We do that all the time with foreign policy.  We were holding money at the same time for — what was it?  The Northern Triangle countries.  We were holding up aid at the Northern Triangle countries so that they would change their policies on immigration. By the way — and this speaks to an important — Q    (Inaudible.) MR. MULVANEY:  I’m sorry?  This speaks to an important point, because I heard this yesterday and I can never remember the gentleman who testified.  Was it McKinney, the guy — was that his name?  I don’t know him.  He testified yesterday.  And if you go — and if you believe the news reports — okay?  Because we’ve not seen any transcripts of this.  The only transcript I’ve seen was Sondland’s testimony this morning. If you read the news reports and you believe them — what did McKinney say yesterday?  Well, McKinney said yesterday that he was really upset with the political influence in foreign policy.  That was one of the reasons he was so upset about this.  And I have news for everybody: Get over it.  There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy. "Get over it. There's going to be political influence in foreign policy." Some of Trump's more shameless defenders have tried to insist that Mulvaney didn't say anything extraordinary. To believe that requires an amount of charity that borders on the saintly. Any impartial reading of his remarks puts us at step 4 on the above list. Don't take my word for it. Even elected Republicans who support Trump were freaked out by Mulvaney's admission. Here's the thing: Mick Mulvaney is pretty great. He's the smartest guy in the administration and has been Trump's most able and convincing apologist. If you wanted to get the best possible explanation for Trump's actions, all you had to do was listen to Mulvaney for five minutes. I literally once told Mulvaney that he ought to be the only person in the administration allowed to go on TV and defend Trump. He's smart. He shoots straight. He doesn't insult your intelligence. He's everything you want in a politician. (Mulvaney 2024!) But if even Mick Mulvaney has run out of room to maneuver and can no longer defend Trump's actions in a credible way, then it means that Trump is basically at the end of the road. He's flipped to the last page of his playbook and there is no "next step." For the first time since the Access Hollywood tape, Trump is trapped. And the trap is closing. Nine out of the last ten polls taken on impeachment have been over the 50 percent mark on approval. (All of the usual caveats about different question wording; inquiry vs. removal; etc.) And Trump's net approval rating is now a net -13 points. When your overall job approval is barely at 40 percent and the percentage of people who want you impeached is over 50 percent and heading north, you're in trouble. Real trouble. 2. Turkey All geostrategic considerations are based on the status quo. The status quo—the facts on the ground—are the basis for all relations and all negotiations. When one party seeks to change the status quo, they have to be prepared to give something up. And if you are the party being asked to allow a change to the status quo, you should get something in return. This is the entire basis of leverage and negotiation. For more than a decade, Turkey has wanted a free hand with the Kurds in Northern Syria. The facts on the ground—meaning, the presence of the United States—prevented this. Turkey sought to change this status quo. To do so, Turkey needed the United States to give them something of value: a withdrawal of U.S. forces. Presented with this request, the president of the United States had to determine first if he was even willing to withdrawal U.S. forces and then, if so, second what America would demand in return for this concession. You do not make concessions, ever, without getting something of value in return. Even if you wanted to do the thing the other side was asking you to do. Because the fact of them unlocks value for you. Which leads us to a question: Was Trump's pull-out from Syria just a monumental mistake in which the American president was outwitted by the Turkish strongman? Or did he get something of value that we just don't know about? Failed diplomacy America forsakes Syria’s Kurds in a ceasefire deal with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got nearly everything he wanted Related → Our long read: Donald Trump triggers a Turkish invasion and trashes the national interest The impeachment inquiry Undermining Donald Trump’s Ukraine defence Mick Mulvaney and Gordon Sondland fill in the gaps on the quid pro quo Schumpeter Can business tread more lightly on the planet? The stuff paradox The week in charts Emissions and omissions Trade and global warming ● Decline of the chairman-CEO ● China slows ● Reform, Ramaphosa ● Congo’s shrinking rainforest So near and yet so far Russia’s Chukotka and America’s Alaska are an era apart Despite being in spitting distance across the Bering Strait Territorial claims Is the board overseeing Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy unconstitutional? If so Aurelius, a “vulture” hedge fund, could be in line for a big payout Stories of an extraordinary world How to feed a protest movement: cooking with Extinction Rebellion A peek inside the “Rebel Kitchen” The Economist asks Who can trust Donald Trump’s America? This week we speak to Ash Carter, a former secretary of defence