Podcasts about WTF

Angel Reese was reportedly "insulted" by a recent ESPN mock draft for the 2024 WNBA Draft, which had the LSU star going eighth. Bow Wow is finding himself in legal trouble over the use of the "Scream Tour" name, which Jermaine Dupri's dad claims is his. Paper Route Empire artist Jay Fizzle has some words for Yo Gotti and Young Dolph's alleged murderer on his new song, "FREE STR8DROPP." Eminem took to Twitter to show he still has plenty of admiration for Lil Wayne and shared a lyric from one of the rapper's new songs. Meek Mill shared an update with fans confirming that he and Drake had put the beef behind them and are doing better than ever. Mase Recalls Why He Brought Cam'ron To Biggie Instead Of Diddy GloRilla Blasts Twitter Hater Saying She Fell Off, Says She's Not Going Anywhere Jimmy Butler said it's silk press season!! Social media users have plenty of theories on who Latto could be taking shots at on her latest track, "ISSA PARTY." Charlamagne Tha God called out Colin Kaepernick during an episode of The Breakfast Club, earlier this week. Terrell Owens Opens Up About How Being ”“Teased” & “Rejected By Black Women Made Him Gravitate Towards Dating White Women: ‘There Was A Lot Of Self-Esteem Issues' Following her recent Spice-related controversy, Erica Mena caught heat for saying she wanted to leave her vaycay "the same color" as Bernice Burgos. Fans think NBA Youngboy & J. Cole dissin each other on their new songs Fani Willis has defended the submission of rap lyrics as evidence in her criminal cases, citing it as valid evidence of crimes. Ice Spice Opens Up About The Competitive Nature Of The Female Rap Industry, Says Women Claim To Be ‘Girl's Girls' But Are ‘Behind The Scene Being B*' Influencer ‘Meatball' who livestreamed Philadelphia looting has been charged with 6 felonies Kanye "I need to get rid of GOOD Music... cuz im GREAT..WTF am i doing giving Daytona to PUSHA.. Nas Rapping Off BEAT and dont wanna shoot a video n shit' lol '... naaa ye was on one.. Lil Reese denies there was "beef" between him and Kanye West, saying he just wanted answers about his cut verse from the "I Don't Like" remix. Travis Hunter went bowling with Colorado State safety, Henry Blackburn, after the dirty hit that sent him to the hospital 2 weeks ago. Atlanta Waffle House Employees are demanding $25 dollars an hour.. 24/7 security & an end to mandatory meal deductions. Kris Jenner Admits To Making Boyfriend Corey Gamble Turn Down TV Role Because She Didn't Want Him Featured In Romantic Scenes: ‘I Told Him To Say No Sukihana took Bobbi Althoff to the strip club and had her on stage Lil Wayne lead the Green Bay Packers out to the field forThursday NightFootball The Miami Heat believe they could win the East with their current roste and that's why they didn't act ‘desperate' for Damian Lillard Blueface sentenced to 24 - 60 months in prison for grazing a man's hand during a shooting outside of a Las Vegas strip club back in October 2022. Kerry Washington recently named Shaq as the most famous person to slide into her DMs while promoting her memoir. Idris Elba Shares He's In Therapy Due To Being ‘An Absolute Workaholic': ‘I Have Some Unhealthy Habits That Have Really Formed' Florida law allowing the death penalty for adults who r@pe children under 12 takes effect starting today! LSU player loses cool and assaults a cheerful, harmless Ole Miss fan during the field storming. Brian Kelly has truly lost control of the locker room. Kountry Wayne reveals he pays $200,000 a month in child support to take care of his 10 kids Real Boston Richey fired back at Rowdy Rebel's claim Future “cut him off” People think the NFL should ban the “Push Play” that the Eagles do when they're on the goal line. Brittany Renner reveals half of the 35 men she's slept with have beenone-night stands. Rhode Island man sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for robbing 5 banks in 5 weeks. Investigators believe he stole a total of $15,807

In this episode we answer an email from Jeffrey about the "4% Rule".  We discuss its origins, its three parameters (portfolio construction, time frame, and withdrawal mechanism), how it works, what it means and doesn't mean, its uses and misuses and how to make adjustments to improve your own outcomes.And THEN we our go through our weekly portfolio reviews of the seven sample portfolios you can find at Portfolios | Risk Parity Radio.   We have a rebalancing of the Levered Golden Ratio portfolio.Additional links:Bill Bengen's Original 1994 Safe Withdrawal Rate Paper:  FPA Journal - The Best of 25 Years: Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data (financialplanningassociation.org)2022 Morningstar Report on Withdrawal Strategies:  Six Retirement Withdrawal Strategies that Stretch Savings | MorningstarRisk Savvy Video Lecture:  Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions - YouTubeBias-Variance Dilemma Dartboard Explanation (also listen to Episode 49 of this podcast):  WTF is the Bias-Variance Tradeoff? (Infographic) (elitedatascience.com)Support the show

Brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soberlink⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. THE solution for you if you are going through a divorce and custody case involving alcohol. *** ▶️ Make sure to subscribe for more videos like this:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@wtfdivorce?sub_confirmation=1 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ✉️ Signup to our email newsletter: • Get weekly tips from divorce professionals • Get the best divorce memes and podcast clips sent directly to your inbox • Get members' divorce confessions which go out every week. ✉️⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://WTFdivorce.com/newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** Follow Guest: Aurisha Smolarski, Therapist & Co-Parenting Coach

My guests today are the owners of a new gym in town! It's a premier strength training facility with best in class coaching, equipment and experience. They are committed to developing high performers of all levels to optimize their performance and health through their innovative and all encompassing methodology. Real programs, real results. They are here to build and rebuild any individual through the art of performance strength training and team spirit, please welcome Johnny and Kayla Pasquale of Southside Strength Co.! Follow us on instagram! @krissygirlie @whatthefitpodcast @southsidestrengthco If you want even more, exclusive WTF?! content, become a patreon member! www.patreon.com/whatthefitpodcast

WTF! Join Lindsay (@LindsayBebout) and Shelby (@ShelbyManningPO) as they try to make light of the madness that is the Denver Broncos. Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift, Trevor Siemian's grand return, Sean Payton's big mouth, how to be a fan of a team that's 0-3, beating the Chicago Bears, and much more!

dive into the good the bad and the WTF in the world of sports betting

Teaser of our review on "A Nightmare on Elm Street" where we give our thoughts on this horror classic and some of it's wild moments, like the mom serving her daughter warm milk...WTF?! To get full access to this episode and 100+ hours of bonus content, you should sign up for our $15 tier on the Patreon page! You can also get some new "Medium Popcorn" swag at Teepublic or leave a five star review on your preferred podcast player!  

Guest: ⁠Brittany Quagan, M.S., LPC - Yale University COPE Project Co-director, Psychic Medium + Therapist Brittany Quagan, M.S., LPC⁠ is a therapist, reiki practitioner, and a psychic medium. She was also Co-director, working with neuroscientist Dr. Al Powers on the Yale University COPE Project. The Yale University COPE Project researched people who reported hearing voices in various forms. They studied differences of people who find this a problem and cannot control these voices, as well as those who do not and are able to control the voices, such as psychic mediums. Brittany Quagan is in a unique position as both a psychic medium and a therapist to help end the stigma that the mental health field often has of psychic mediums. According to her website, Brittany Quagan, has "worked in mental health and wellness for over ten years. She has a Masters Degree of Science in Clinical Counseling and Human Services, as well as a License in the State of Connecticut as a Professional Counselor. She is an anti-racist and LGBTQIA+ affirming therapist.  She herself struggled with debilitating anxiety, panic disorder, depression, and low self-esteem, which you can learn more about on her website. She has been named one of the top 10 life coaches, and top ten Reiki healers in Connecticut in 2018 and 2019.  "As a person with lived experience and with deep roots in spirituality and spiritual healing, I worked alongside neuroscientists, therapists, psychic/mediums, spiritual healers, parapsychologists, advocates, and other persons with lived experience to learn from one another, from the experiences others have, and how we can use the strengths and skills that those doing well use to help those who might be struggling with distressing experiences." - ⁠Brittany Quagan, M.S., LPC⁠⁠ Learn more about Brittany Quagan, M.S., LPC: ⁠Website  Yale University COPE Project (Control Over Perceptual Experiences.): On IMHU | Website Full notes on Yale University COPE Project Co-director, Psychic Medium + Therapist Brittany Quagan, M.S., LPC Episode 59 Get the book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WTF Just Happened?!: ⁠A sciencey skeptic explores grief, healing, and evidence of an afterlife⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In this episode: - Brittany Quagan, M.S., LPC is a therapist and psychic-medium which is important because mediums' sanity is often questioned. - Yale University COPE Project is about if and how people who hear voices and have perceptions can control those experiences. - COPE Project also is about people who hear voices but have no mental health issues. - Psychic Mediums usually can have control over spirit and how they hear voices  - Psychic mediums cannot be compared with people who struggle with mental illness. Those are two completely different things. - What are the differences between people who are hearing voices as hallucinations versus psychic mediums. - How did COPE Project conduct their studies. - Dr. Al Powers is the neuroscientist who also Co-directed the COPE Project. - What does Brittany think about the fact that mediums have had a high level of trauma in their lives overall. - What are the neuroscientists she's worked with on COPE Project thoughts on afterlife, survival of consciousness, and mediumship. - What are the most surprising results of COPE Project. - When did Brittany first realize she was a psychic medium. - Brittany shares some major WTF?!s she's experienced as a medium. - She knew information about her mom and her mom's boyfriend. - She had many predictive dreams of her husband before she married him. ...and more --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wtfjusthappened/support

Today on a Emergency Edition of The Ave Podcast, I'm joined by my SSA Family Members as we break down the massive, MASSIVE blockbuster Damian Lillard trade. I said MASSIVE, right? Dame is playing with Giannis…..WTF???

https://linktr.ee/TedJonesWorld COME TO THE TED JONES COMEDY SHOW! 0:30- EXPERIENCE WITH CORN  6:30- Having a CHILD WHILST YOUNG 12:35- Don't Go To SAN FRAN 17:25- Sleeping In Your CAR 27:00- WTF is SEO? 32:00- Don't Watch Her Have THE KID! 40:00- Wine/ Nugget During Pregnancy? 51:40- BEING POSITIVE  TEDJONESWORLD@GMAIL.COM COME TO THE TED JONES COMEDY SHOW! https://linktr.ee/TedJonesWorld --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ted-jones-world/support

Meanwhile... Kim Kardashian has settled her case with the SEC, and grown-ups will soon have their own, age-appropriate, Happy Meal offerings at McDonald's (Original Air Date: October 4th, 2022). 'WTF' host Marc Maron has been bringing his podcast guests up to a bedroom while his infamous garage is under construction (Original Air Date: August 12th, 2019). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hoy en El Tlacuache de LOS40 con Faisy, Gabo Ramos y El Diablito El tema: Si me muero que me recuerden por ... nuestra sección WTF con. El elenco de "La mas draga" nos hablan del estreno de la sexta temporada y el ya tradicional Chismesito Tlacuachero.

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Mikah Sargent is joined by Paul and Richard to discuss the latest Microsoft updates, news, and products. Paul chimes in on his experience at Microsoft's recent AI event, changes to Windows 11's confusing updates, last week's Xbox leaks, antitrust lawsuits against tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon, and more! Microsoft Special Event: Blockbuster... or blockluster? Paul went to his first in-person Microsoft event in almost four years. You're not going to believe what happened next! Ahead of the event, everyone was calling this a "Surface event" and some still are. But it was an AI event, period. Were our expectations met? Copilot "rebrand" was in many ways the biggest news Microsoft 365 Commercial arrives November 1 - And Microsoft 365 consumer is a thing Microsoft announced two Surface PCs at event, one with an NPU. And then two other Surface PCs/devices. Most of these do not matter WTF is happening with Windows 11 23H2? We had a confusing several days, the perfect end-cap to a confusing year when it comes to Windows updating. But now we have the answers. At special event, Microsoft reveals it will ship "next major Windows 11 update" September 26. It's 23H2! It's not 23H2! One day after the event, Release Preview gets Fall Update Paul attempted to achieve some clarity ahead of John Cable's post Microsoft releases the Fall Update (in preview form) Is Windows 11 finally where it needed to be when Microsoft shipped v1 two years ago? Follow-ups to last week's blockbuster news  Panos Panay will succeed Dave Limp at Amazon Further examination of the leaked Xbox documents Microsoft's reaction to the PS5 specs reveal is sort of clueless in retrospect Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo. No, really. And it considered lots of companies Antitrust UK CMA provisionally approves of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard So of course the FTC revives its lost battle against Microsoft/AB. You can't make this stuff FTC sues Amazon for monopoly abuse. Paul has questions. Lots of questions Dev and AI Intel announced its Meteor Lake chipset BEFORE Microsoft event. Amazon buys Anthropic for $4 billion Amazon announces generative AI features for Alexa at its hardware event Google Studio Bot expands worldwide in preview Microsoft is moving Windows device driver development to Rust Unity: JUST KIDDING GUYS SERIOUSLY GitHub Passkeys are GA Xbox Cuphead anniversary update is on the way, Xbox only Microsoft tweaks how Xbox/OneDrive integration works in a "bonus Xbox update for September" Tips and picks Tip of the week: Install the update, check the store App pick of the week: Amazon adBlocker RunAs Radio this week: SharePoint Online Features On-Prem with Sandy Ussia Brown liquor pick of the week: Pokeno Whisky Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT lookout.com

In episode 1554, Jack and Miles are joined by writer, producer, advice columnist, and author of Why Didn't You Tell Me?, Carmen Rita Wong, to discuss… GOP Making Their Platform More Appealing By The Hour…, Biden Will Make History By Joining UAW Picket Line, Chevy Chase Is Trending For Being An A**hole and more! GOP Making Their Platform More Appealing By The Hour… Biden Will Make History By Joining UAW Picket Line Biden visits UAW picket line in Michigan as strike continues Why Biden's strike magic faltered Chevy Chase Is Trending For Being An A**hole Donald Glover claims Chevy Chase called him the ‘N-word' on set Community: Why Was Chevy Chase Fired from the Series? LISTEN: Rotten by Kenny BeatsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just last month, Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Dial brutally shot and killed a young man who was sitting in his parked car. And to cover it all up, the cops lied and said that the victim, 27 year old Eddie Irizarry, got out of his car and lunged at police with a knife - giving the city, and the nation the impression that the shooting was justified and in self-defense. Except police made the entire story up. And it's all on film. In fact, Irizarry never even got out of his car. Never opened his door. Never rolled his window down. It was all a lie. Police, within 7 seconds of seeing the man, shot and killed him through his car window, then, according to hospital officials, abused his body afterwards. Thankfully, Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner charged the cop with murder, in what every expert called a clear open and shut case. But yesterday, a judge did something that I've never seen in my life. They just canceled the entire case and said that no evidence existed for the charges.WTF? Like what are we even talking about here. The evidence is on video. Let me unpack and explain it. To listen to today's FULL EPISODE of The Breakdown go now to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and search for “The Breakdown with Shaun King.” Subscribe there for FREE and listen to the whole podcast. If you are already on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you enjoy your podcasts, please subscribe, listen, share, leave reviews, and listen daily to the entire episode. The more of it you listen to, the better it is for us. Also, PLEASE BECOME A MEMBER of The North Star now @ TheNorthStar.com. Love and appreciate you all. Shaun Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CHGO Bulls crew react to Wednesday's interviews with Bulls VP Arturas Karnisovas and GM Marc Eversley on 670 The Score. The Bulls brain trust duo spoke on things that went wrong last season, and how they'll aim to fix them. Style of offense, shot profile, and more cohesion amongst teammates. Matt and Big Dave also react to a new DeMar DeRozan interview with Sportskeeda, in which he too defended the Bulls' continuity plan over a potential rebuild. Plus, Damian Lillard just got traded to the Milwaukee Bucks??? WTF. SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/CHGOSports WEBSITE: http://allCHGO.com/ BUY MERCH: http://CHGOLocker.com FOLLOW ON SOCIAL: Twitter: @CHGO_Bulls / @Bulls_Peck / @BawlSports / @will_gottlieb Instagram: @CHGO_Sports GET OUR FREE NEWSLETTER: http://www.allchgo.com/newsletter Support us by supporting our sponsors! | Offers from our sponsors: DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now, use promo code CHGO, make ANY $5 bet this week and get $200 in BONUS BETS win or lose! Sunnyside Cannabis Dispensary: Head to sunnyside.shop and use code CHGO25 at checkout for 25% off your total order, 1 use per customer. Pick up everything you need to elevate your Summer! Must be 21+ or an Illinois med card holder.  Shady Rays: Go to shadyrays.com and use code CHGO for 50% OFF 2+ pairs of polarized sunglasses. Goose Island: Chicago's beer since 1988. Grab a beer from their Innovation tanks at the Goose Island Taproom or get a smash burger and a fresh beer of the week at the Clybourn Brewhouse. For reservations and pick up, go to gooseisland.com/locations. Athletic Greens: Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Just visit https://athleticgreens.com/CHGOBulls Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today and save 25 cents per gallon on your first 5 fill-ups! Splash Sports: CHGO has a weekly Pick X and NFL Survivor Contest for everyone to participate - for REAL money! Go to splashsports.com/CHGO to join in. Ray Chevy Jeep Dodge Ram: If you're in the market for a new vehicle, check out the team at Ray Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram. For more information Visit Ray CDJR only in Fox Lake or RayCDJR.com today! FOCO: CHGO has teamed up with FOCO to secure your access to the best sports collectibles and gear around! Get 10% off your order at FOCO.com with promo code CHGO. Pins & Aces: Pins & Aces is the official golf apparel partner of CHGO. Check out PinsAndAces.com and use promo code CHGO to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping. Lewis University: Discover how a degree from Lewis can help you build a better world. Learn more at lewisu.edu/youcandothis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Mikah Sargent is joined by Paul and Richard to discuss the latest Microsoft updates, news, and products. Paul chimes in on his experience at Microsoft's recent AI event, changes to Windows 11's confusing updates, last week's Xbox leaks, antitrust lawsuits against tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon, and more! Microsoft Special Event: Blockbuster... or blockluster? Paul went to his first in-person Microsoft event in almost four years. You're not going to believe what happened next! Ahead of the event, everyone was calling this a "Surface event" and some still are. But it was an AI event, period. Were our expectations met? Copilot "rebrand" was in many ways the biggest news Microsoft 365 Commercial arrives November 1 - And Microsoft 365 consumer is a thing Microsoft announced two Surface PCs at event, one with an NPU. And then two other Surface PCs/devices. Most of these do not matter WTF is happening with Windows 11 23H2? We had a confusing several days, the perfect end-cap to a confusing year when it comes to Windows updating. But now we have the answers. At special event, Microsoft reveals it will ship "next major Windows 11 update" September 26. It's 23H2! It's not 23H2! One day after the event, Release Preview gets Fall Update Paul attempted to achieve some clarity ahead of John Cable's post Microsoft releases the Fall Update (in preview form) Is Windows 11 finally where it needed to be when Microsoft shipped v1 two years ago? Follow-ups to last week's blockbuster news  Panos Panay will succeed Dave Limp at Amazon Further examination of the leaked Xbox documents Microsoft's reaction to the PS5 specs reveal is sort of clueless in retrospect Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo. No, really. And it considered lots of companies Antitrust UK CMA provisionally approves of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard So of course the FTC revives its lost battle against Microsoft/AB. You can't make this stuff FTC sues Amazon for monopoly abuse. Paul has questions. Lots of questions Dev and AI Intel announced its Meteor Lake chipset BEFORE Microsoft event. Amazon buys Anthropic for $4 billion Amazon announces generative AI features for Alexa at its hardware event Google Studio Bot expands worldwide in preview Microsoft is moving Windows device driver development to Rust Unity: JUST KIDDING GUYS SERIOUSLY GitHub Passkeys are GA Xbox Cuphead anniversary update is on the way, Xbox only Microsoft tweaks how Xbox/OneDrive integration works in a "bonus Xbox update for September" Tips and picks Tip of the week: Install the update, check the store App pick of the week: Amazon adBlocker RunAs Radio this week: SharePoint Online Features On-Prem with Sandy Ussia Brown liquor pick of the week: Pokeno Whisky Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT lookout.com

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Mikah Sargent is joined by Paul and Richard to discuss the latest Microsoft updates, news, and products. Paul chimes in on his experience at Microsoft's recent AI event, changes to Windows 11's confusing updates, last week's Xbox leaks, antitrust lawsuits against tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon, and more! Microsoft Special Event: Blockbuster... or blockluster? Paul went to his first in-person Microsoft event in almost four years. You're not going to believe what happened next! Ahead of the event, everyone was calling this a "Surface event" and some still are. But it was an AI event, period. Were our expectations met? Copilot "rebrand" was in many ways the biggest news Microsoft 365 Commercial arrives November 1 - And Microsoft 365 consumer is a thing Microsoft announced two Surface PCs at event, one with an NPU. And then two other Surface PCs/devices. Most of these do not matter WTF is happening with Windows 11 23H2? We had a confusing several days, the perfect end-cap to a confusing year when it comes to Windows updating. But now we have the answers. At special event, Microsoft reveals it will ship "next major Windows 11 update" September 26. It's 23H2! It's not 23H2! One day after the event, Release Preview gets Fall Update Paul attempted to achieve some clarity ahead of John Cable's post Microsoft releases the Fall Update (in preview form) Is Windows 11 finally where it needed to be when Microsoft shipped v1 two years ago? Follow-ups to last week's blockbuster news  Panos Panay will succeed Dave Limp at Amazon Further examination of the leaked Xbox documents Microsoft's reaction to the PS5 specs reveal is sort of clueless in retrospect Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo. No, really. And it considered lots of companies Antitrust UK CMA provisionally approves of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard So of course the FTC revives its lost battle against Microsoft/AB. You can't make this stuff FTC sues Amazon for monopoly abuse. Paul has questions. Lots of questions Dev and AI Intel announced its Meteor Lake chipset BEFORE Microsoft event. Amazon buys Anthropic for $4 billion Amazon announces generative AI features for Alexa at its hardware event Google Studio Bot expands worldwide in preview Microsoft is moving Windows device driver development to Rust Unity: JUST KIDDING GUYS SERIOUSLY GitHub Passkeys are GA Xbox Cuphead anniversary update is on the way, Xbox only Microsoft tweaks how Xbox/OneDrive integration works in a "bonus Xbox update for September" Tips and picks Tip of the week: Install the update, check the store App pick of the week: Amazon adBlocker RunAs Radio this week: SharePoint Online Features On-Prem with Sandy Ussia Brown liquor pick of the week: Pokeno Whisky Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT lookout.com

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Mikah Sargent is joined by Paul and Richard to discuss the latest Microsoft updates, news, and products. Paul chimes in on his experience at Microsoft's recent AI event, changes to Windows 11's confusing updates, last week's Xbox leaks, antitrust lawsuits against tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon, and more! Microsoft Special Event: Blockbuster... or blockluster? Paul went to his first in-person Microsoft event in almost four years. You're not going to believe what happened next! Ahead of the event, everyone was calling this a "Surface event" and some still are. But it was an AI event, period. Were our expectations met? Copilot "rebrand" was in many ways the biggest news Microsoft 365 Commercial arrives November 1 - And Microsoft 365 consumer is a thing Microsoft announced two Surface PCs at event, one with an NPU. And then two other Surface PCs/devices. Most of these do not matter WTF is happening with Windows 11 23H2? We had a confusing several days, the perfect end-cap to a confusing year when it comes to Windows updating. But now we have the answers. At special event, Microsoft reveals it will ship "next major Windows 11 update" September 26. It's 23H2! It's not 23H2! One day after the event, Release Preview gets Fall Update Paul attempted to achieve some clarity ahead of John Cable's post Microsoft releases the Fall Update (in preview form) Is Windows 11 finally where it needed to be when Microsoft shipped v1 two years ago? Follow-ups to last week's blockbuster news  Panos Panay will succeed Dave Limp at Amazon Further examination of the leaked Xbox documents Microsoft's reaction to the PS5 specs reveal is sort of clueless in retrospect Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo. No, really. And it considered lots of companies Antitrust UK CMA provisionally approves of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard So of course the FTC revives its lost battle against Microsoft/AB. You can't make this stuff FTC sues Amazon for monopoly abuse. Paul has questions. Lots of questions Dev and AI Intel announced its Meteor Lake chipset BEFORE Microsoft event. Amazon buys Anthropic for $4 billion Amazon announces generative AI features for Alexa at its hardware event Google Studio Bot expands worldwide in preview Microsoft is moving Windows device driver development to Rust Unity: JUST KIDDING GUYS SERIOUSLY GitHub Passkeys are GA Xbox Cuphead anniversary update is on the way, Xbox only Microsoft tweaks how Xbox/OneDrive integration works in a "bonus Xbox update for September" Tips and picks Tip of the week: Install the update, check the store App pick of the week: Amazon adBlocker RunAs Radio this week: SharePoint Online Features On-Prem with Sandy Ussia Brown liquor pick of the week: Pokeno Whisky Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT lookout.com

Terry Fletcher is back for another episode of the WTF – or What The Football – podcast, highlighting major and unusual stories from around the NFL. The third week of the season has suddenly turned into one of the wildest weeks in NFL history. The Miami Dolphins scored 70 points against the Denver Broncos, while […] Weekly WTF: A 70 burger and Taylor Swift all on the same day appeared first on Steel City Underground.

In this episode, Ky rants about a Minnesota man who decided that his best course of action, after he thinks his girlfriend cheated on him, was to sexually asault her and waterboard her. WTF?!Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or using my SOS feature on my website www.murderandlove.comSource: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keanu-labatte-accused-raping-waterboarding-captive-girlfriend-dorm-st-catherine-university/✨✨For a commercial-free episode, pictures, and more head to our exclusive group at www.patreon.com/loveandmurder✨✨Rate, Share, Subscribe!Full Show Notes: https://www.murderandlove.comLeave me a Voice Message: https://www.speakpipe.com/LoveAndMurderPodcastThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4348896/advertisement

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Laura is off, but she'll be back next week! In her absence, Andrew and Pam welcome their friend (and former Hypable staffer!) Tariq Ra'ouf, to the show! You can find Tariq online at Twitter and Instagram. It looks like the Writer's Strike has officially come to an end! We react to the news at the WGA has reached a tentative deal with the AMPTP Pam fills us in on what happens next now that picketing has stopped, and Andrew details some of what fans can expect after writers in Hollywood resume work. It's a pop culture palooza this week! To kick things off, we dive into the rise in popularity of universities offering courses on some of today's biggest pop stars. Is teaching classes on Taylor Swift and Beyonce a smart tactic in getting students excited to learn, or is it all just good PR for the universities greenlighting these classes? Is there space in the classroom for pop culture? We definitely think so! As our discussion on cool college courses comes to a close, Andrew and Tariq get vulnerable as they discuss dropping out of university. Check out Professor Julian Wamble on TikTok, who teaches a Harry Potter course! ‘Fourth Wing' fans, rejoice! Your excitement over our recent recommendations of the Rebecca Yarros written novel didn't go unnoticed! To wrap up the show, we host a little spoiler free book club dedicated to this year's hottest fantasy read! We talk about what it is that sucked us into the book and kept us reading. Pam and Andrew have some fun recounting the spicy plot point they didn't see coming. ‘Fourth Wing' sequel, ‘Iron Flame,' is coming out this November— will any of us be heading out to Barnes & Noble's planned midnight release parties for the book? We take the opportunity to reminisce a bit on all the midnight release parties we attended growing up. This week's recommendations: ‘Crying In H Mart' by Michelle Zauner (Pam), WaterPiks (Andrew), and recording artists Jungle and Whethan (Tariq). And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon and Apple Podcasts: WTF news is back! Tariq joins us as Andrew shares a carefully curated list of news stories centered on the overarching theme of “butts.” This time around we're trying something new: ending this latest installment of WTF news on a high note with some cute news! Is After Dark always this gross, Tariq asks? *shifty eye emoji* Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WTF is phrogging? You'll be amazed when you hear it Headlines with  the most popular alcohol by state

Aaron Rodgers Tells Jets Players To GROW UP! Garrett Wilson, Rodgers BOTH SHADE Joe Namath! WTF?! Rodgers made the comments on the Pat McAfee Show.

Rich Keefe & Ryan Davey are joined by Rich Keefe Show Wrestling Insider and Lost Expert Jason Rossi to discuss Lost. What theories did they have while watching the show? Favorite character? Worst character? WTF moments, ending explained, and much more. Twitter, Instagram & YouTube: @DORKpodcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who's leaving? WTF? Someone is leaving the show?! Why am I just being told this now while I'm writing the episode summary? I swear you guys never tell me anything.

In part three of three, Amanda explores fast fashion 1.0 and 3.0 through the lens of her career: How the industry uses things like #Girlboss, feminist tees, and cause marketing to sell you more stuff. When fast fashion becomes desperate and starts embracing greenwashing and new revenue streams like rental and resale. WTF is the de minimus rule and how is it benefitting fast fashion 3.0? We'll be talking a lot about Shein and its peers.Additional reading:"After Months of Reported Dysfunction, Nasty Gal Lays Off 19 Employees," Anna Merlan, Jezebel."'Everything Really Hit Rock Bottom': How Nasty Gal's Culture Went Nasty," Anna Merlan, Jezebel."How ModCloth Strayed From Its Feminist Beginnings and Ended Up a Walmart Property," Anna Merlan, Jezebel."After reconsidering free returns, fashion brands get creative," Maliha Shoaib, Vogue Business."Urban Outfitters Cannot Escape Le Tote's Trade Secret Claims Over 'Copycat' Rental Biz," The Fashion Law."Packages From China Are Surging Into US; Some Say $800 Duty-Free Limit Was Mistake," Associated Press."Shein invited influencers on an all-expenses-paid trip. Here's why people are livid," Vanessa Romo, NPR."Shein factory employees are working 18-hour days for pennies per garment and washing their hair on lunch breaks because they have so little time off, new report finds," Sarah Jackson, Business Insider."Shein: Fast-fashion workers paid 3p per garment for 18-hour days, undercover filming in China reveals," Rob Hastings, i news.If you want to share your opinion/additional thoughts on the subjects we cover in each episode, feel free to email, whether it's a typed out message or an audio recording:  amanda@clotheshorse.worldOr call the Clotheshorse hotline: 717.925.7417Find this episode's transcript (and so much more) at clotheshorsepodcast.comClotheshorse is brought to you with support from the following sustainable small businesses:Shift Clothing, out of beautiful Astoria, Oregon, with a focus on natural fibers, simple hardworking designs, and putting fat people first.  Discover more at shiftwheeler.com​High Energy Vintage is a fun and funky vintage shop located in Somerville, MA, just a few minutes away from downtown Boston. They offer a highly curated selection of bright and colorful clothing and accessories from the 1940s-1990s for people of all genders. Husband-and-wife duo Wiley & Jessamy handpick each piece for quality and style, with a focus on pieces that transcend trends and will find a home in your closet for many years to come! In addition to clothing, the shop also features a large selection of vintage vinyl and old school video games. Find them on instagram @ highenergyvintage, online at highenergyvintage.com, and at markets in and around Boston.The Pewter Thimble Is there a little bit of Italy in your soul? Are you an enthusiast of pre-loved decor and accessories? Bring vintage Italian style — and history — into your space with The Pewter Thimble (@thepewterthimble). We source useful and beautiful things, and mend them where needed. We also find gorgeous illustrations, and make them print-worthy. Tarot cards, tea towels and handpicked treasures, available to you from the comfort of your own home. Responsibly sourced from across Rome, lovingly renewed by fairly paid artists and artisans, with something for every budget. Discover more at thepewterthimble.comSt. Evens is an NYC-based vintage shop that is dedicated to bringing you those special pieces you'll reach for again and again. More than just a store, St. Evens is dedicated to sharing the stories and history behind the garments. 10% of all sales are donated to a different charitable organization each month.  New vintage is released every Thursday at wearStEvens.com, with previews of new pieces and more brought to you on Instagram at @wear_st.evens.Deco Denim is a startup based out of San Francisco, selling clothing and accessories that are sustainable, gender fluid, size inclusive and high quality--made to last for years to come. Deco Denim is trying to change the way you think about buying clothes. Founder Sarah Mattes wants to empower people to ask important questions like, “Where was this made? Was this garment made ethically? Is this fabric made of plastic? Can this garment be upcycled and if not, can it be recycled?” Signup at decodenim.com to receive $20 off your first purchase. They promise not to spam you and send out no more than 3 emails a month, with 2 of them surrounding education or a personal note from the Founder. Find them on Instagram as @deco.denim.Gabriela Antonas is a visual artist, an upcycler, and a fashion designer, but Gabriela Antonas is also a feminist micro business with radical ideals. She's the one woman band, trying to help you understand, why slow fashion is what the earth needs. If you find your self in New Orleans, LA, you may buy her ready-to-wear upcycled garments in person at the store “Slow Down” (2855 Magazine St). Slow Down Nola only sells vintage and slow fashion from local designers. Gabriela's garments are guaranteed to be in stock in person, but they also have a website so you may support this women owned and run business from wherever you are! If you are interested in Gabriela making a one of a kind garment for you DM her on Instagram at @slowfashiongabriela to book a consultation.Vagabond Vintage DTLV is a vintage clothing, accessories & decor reselling business based in Downtown Las Vegas. Not only do we sell in Las Vegas, but we are also located throughout resale markets in San Francisco as well as at a curated boutique called Lux and Ivy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jessica, the founder & owner of Vagabond Vintage DTLV, recently opened the first IRL location located in the Arts District of Downtown Las Vegas on August 5th. The shop has a strong emphasis on 60s & 70s garments, single stitch tee shirts & dreamy loungewear. Follow them on instagram, @vagabondvintage.dtlv and keep an eye out for their website coming fall of 2022.Country Feedback is a mom & pop record shop in Tarboro, North Carolina. They specialize in used rock, country, and soul and offer affordable vintage clothing and housewares. Do you have used records you want to sell? Country Feedback wants to buy them! Find us on Instagram @countryfeedbackvintageandvinyl or head downeast and visit our brick and mortar. All are welcome at this inclusive and family-friendly record shop in the country!Located in Whistler, Canada, Velvet Underground is a "velvet jungle" full of vintage and second-hand clothes, plants, a vegan cafe and lots of rad products from other small sustainable businesses. Our mission is to create a brand and community dedicated to promoting self-expression, as well as educating and inspiring a more sustainable and conscious lifestyle both for the people and the planet.Find us on Instagram @shop_velvetunderground or online at www.shopvelvetunderground.comSelina Sanders, a social impact brand that specializes in up-cycled clothing, using only reclaimed, vintage or thrifted materials: from tea towels, linens, blankets and quilts.  Sustainably crafted in Los Angeles, each piece is designed to last in one's closet for generations to come.  Maximum Style; Minimal Carbon Footprint.Salt Hats:  purveyors of truly sustainable hats. Hand blocked, sewn and embellished in Detroit, Michigan.Republica Unicornia Yarns: Hand-Dyed Yarn and notions for the color-obsessed. Made with love and some swearing in fabulous Atlanta, Georgia by Head Yarn Wench Kathleen. Get ready for rainbows with a side of Giving A Damn! Republica Unicornia is all about making your own magic using small-batch, responsibly sourced, hand-dyed yarns and thoughtfully made notions. Slow fashion all the way down and discover the joy of creating your very own beautiful hand knit, crocheted, or woven pieces. Find us on Instagram @republica_unicornia_yarns and at www.republicaunicornia.com.Cute Little Ruin is an online shop dedicated to providing quality vintage and secondhand clothing, vinyl, and home items in a wide range of styles and price points.  If it's ethical and legal, we try to find a new home for it!  Vintage style with progressive values.  Find us on Instagram at @CuteLittleRuin.Thumbprint is Detroit's only fair trade marketplace, located in the historic Eastern Market.  Our small business specializes in products handmade by empowered women in South Africa making a living wage creating things they love like hand painted candles and ceramics! We also carry a curated assortment of  sustainable/natural locally made goods. Thumbprint is a great gift destination for both the special people in your life and for yourself! Browse our online store at thumbprintdetroit.com and find us on instagram @thumbprintdetroit.Picnicwear:  a slow fashion brand, ethically made by hand from vintage and deadstock materials - most notably, vintage towels! Founder, Dani, has worked in the industry as a fashion designer for over 10 years, but started Picnicwear in response to her dissatisfaction with the industry's shortcomings. Picnicwear recently moved to rural North Carolina where all their clothing and accessories are now designed and cut, but the majority of their sewing is done by skilled garment workers in NYC. Their customers take comfort in knowing that all their sewists are paid well above NYC minimum wage. Picnicwear offers minimal waste and maximum authenticity: Future Vintage over future garbage.Blank Cass, or Blanket Coats by Cass, is focused on restoring, renewing, and reviving the history held within vintage and heirloom textiles. By embodying and transferring the love, craft, and energy that is original to each vintage textile into a new garment, I hope we can reteach ourselves to care for and mend what we have and make it last. Blank Cass lives on Instagram @blank_cass and a website will be launched soon at blankcass.com.

Hour 1 - 00:00 - Commanders Week 3 Loss Reaction 17:55 - Commanders Kept It Kinda Close For 3 Quarters 31:27 - WTF, Antonio Gibson?

Brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soberlink⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. THE solution for you if you are going through a divorce and custody case involving alcohol. *** ▶️ Make sure to subscribe for more videos like this:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@wtfdivorce?sub_confirmation=1 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ✉️ Signup to our email newsletter: • Get weekly tips from divorce professionals • Get the best divorce memes and podcast clips sent directly to your inbox • Get members' divorce confessions which go out every week. ✉️⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://WTFdivorce.com/newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠ *** Follow Guest: Beth Purcell, Alcohol-Free Life Coach

This week on Back of the Grid, Max Verstappen wraps up the constructors title in style for Red Bull, but another poor weekend for Perez leaves us looking at the future lineups for their two teams. Plus, McLaren's resurgence continues, infighting at Mercedes and Alpine, one of the biggest WTFs of the season and your questions from the inbox.   Join our Patreon for exclusive content and access to the Discord Back of the Grid on Patreon Enter the prediction league on our site; BackofTheGrid.com Join our fantasy league on Grid Rival today! Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news; Twitter | Facebook Back of the Grid is a Formula 1 podcast hosted by 3 passionate F1 fans. Tom , Chris & Stu discuss the weekly goings on of the sport, review and preview races and offer their thoughts up on all the talking points. New episodes released each Tuesday during the season! F1 | Formula 1 | F12023 | 2023 | Mercedes | Lewis Hamilton | Valtteri Bottas | McLaren | Sebastian Vettel | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | Alfa Romeo | Red Bull | Max Verstappen | Honda | Renault | Daniel Ricciardo | Motorsport | Alexander Albon | Carlos Sainz | Lando Norris | Williams | George Russell | Alpha Tauri | Pierre Gasly | Yuki Tsunoda | Sergio Perez | Aston Martin | Alpine | Fernando Alonso | Haas | Kevin Magnussen | Nico Hulkenberg | Oscar Piastri | Logan Sargeant | Daniel Ricciardo | Liam Lawson | Suzuka

0:00 Intro 2:15 Exciting moments! 9:13 What makes Ahsoka different 18:48 WTF questions and theories 27:30 Crazy Thrawn theory 33:39 Other character cameos 36:53 Will Ahsoka be more action or emotion? 41:08 Will it be better than the other shows?! 45:24 What do you think, listeners? We've gotten a full trailer for Ahsoka which means we have two minutes of footage we can comment on and speculate wildly about! What did we think of this trailer? They really went all in with the action and lightsabers. Did it get us excited? Did it remove some caution we've had about the series? We discuss why the Ahsoka series could be an entirely different project than any Star Wars show we've seen so far. We also discuss some WTF moments and big questions we have. Who are Baylan and Shin? Is Morgan Elsbeth a Nightsister?! Does Thrawn really want to be Heir to the Empire? Hmmmm Who else might make an appearance? Temuera Morrison as Rex? Other Mandalorians? The Darksaber, maybe? And, where will Ahsoka rank compared to Obi Wan Kenobi, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Andor? Let us know what you think! Is Ahsoka your favorite character? Do you have all the faith in Dave Filoni? Do you think it will be THE BEST STAR WARS SHOW? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please, also share this show and leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening! It would really help us and help people find us! Thanks for listening! We would really like to know how people who are listening feel about the show so, if you could/want to, drop us a line on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram, or at kryptontoalderaan@gmail.com. Give us a like, follow, comment, quick email, tweet, whatever and let us know how we're doing. We'd really appreciate the feedback and it would help us to understand this whole podcasting thing going forward. If you want to take it to the next level, leave us a review wherever you're listening to this. #ahsoka #ahsokaseries #ahsokatrailer

Colleen joins Alexis and Holly this morning! Alexis and Colleen both had fun at Junk Bonanza yesterday, we do a little practice round for this morning's "WTF," Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner's divorce gets ugly, and Lizzo is getting sued again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff and Phil welcome Maya Lin Sugarman and James Kim, producers behind the podcast Magnificent Jerk, "the true story—of a fake story—about a real life." They talk about the fascinating life and career of Maya's late uncle Galen Yuen, and the box of his belongings that sent Maya on mission to discover her family's biggest secrets—including the truth behind the possibly autobiographical screenplay that eventually became a bad B-movie starring.... Rob Lowe, Burt Reynolds, and Ice-T. Also: The Good, The Bad and The WTF of making Magnificent Jerk.

It's been quite a while since we released a movie episode, but you know the bois over at Scuttlebutt are here to insert some chaos! The girls chat with Morphius, Hermes, and Theron about 1989's "Dead Poet's Society", among other random topics, including but not limited to: Who the fuck is the Pioneer Woman? Are Karyn's nieces secretly listening to the podcast? Wtf is with all these creepy secret societies at educational institutes? And is Morphius really "going to the park?" Tune in for a wild time featuring some of our OG pod besties.

It's an exciting new Yaddle Chattle (A Star Wars Podcast) as Darth David and Jedi Jared are pumped up about the Ahsoka series!   Join the fun as Dave and Jared talk about Part Six of the show and give all kinds of theories, analysis, and insanity!   It's the debut of Thrawn!   What is Baylon up to?   How big of a role will the witches play?   Ezra is back!   And more!   Plus...Hollywood screenwriter says he wrote a kickass Star Wars movie for Guillermo del Toro that will not be made...WTF?!   Big news with the Lando series!   George Lucas putting N'Sync in Star Wars!   Palpatine karoake!   And more!   Enjoy this epic episode today!    

In this episode, Maine State Senator Nicole Grohoski discusses an upcoming ballot measure that gives Maine voters the opportunity to replace the state's unpopular for-profit utilities with a nonprofit public utility.(PDF transcript)(Active transcript)Text transcript:David RobertsMaine's two big investor-owned power utilities — Central Maine Power and Versant Power — are not very popular. In fact, they boast among the lowest customer satisfaction scores of any utilities in the country, perhaps because their customers face some of the nation's highest rates, suffer more and longer outages than average Americans, and pay more to connect rooftop solar than ratepayers in almost any other state. This November, Mainers will vote on a radical alternative: a ballot measure to replace the two for-profit utilities with a single nonprofit utility that would be called Pine Tree Power. Maine and many other states already have lots of small nonprofit municipal utilities, but this would mark the first time a whole state with existing private utilities decided to make them public en masse.Naturally the utilities are opposed and have dumped $27 million and counting into a campaign to crush the measure; supporters have mustered just under $1 million. To discuss this David vs. Goliath fight, I contacted one of its champions, Democratic state Senator Nicole Grohoski. We discussed why she thinks a public utility would perform better, what it would do for clean energy, how it would be governed, and what other states can learn from the effort. With no further ado, Maine State Senator Nicole Grohoski. Welcome to Volts. Thank you so much for coming.Nicole GrohoskiThank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be with you today.David RobertsI am super excited to talk about this issue. There's a lot of ins and outs I want to cover, but maybe let's just start with a brief history of this thing. So the idea here is, as I said in the intro, to replace Maine's two big investor-owned utilities, Central Maine Power and Versant Power, with a single publicly owned main utility called Pine Tree Power. Tell me who first had that idea? Where did it first pop up? I know it was legislation and then it got vetoed. Just tell us a little bit about how we got to where we are now.Nicole GrohoskiThe history is really interesting, and I'll try to not spend too much time on it, but I think it's really important to start with the reality here in Maine as a backdrop. So a couple of things that are important to know for listeners is that we, as Mainers, find that our electricity isn't really affordable or reliable and our utilities aren't trustworthy. So we have, for many years running now, the worst customer satisfaction in the country, some of the highest rates in the country for electricity, and those just keep going up. We have experienced a 20% increase this summer, with another increase coming in January.And we also have the most frequent outages in the country. And there are a couple of other reliability metrics that we're not doing so well on, including the length of outages and how long it takes to restore power. So basically what we see here in Maine is that the status quo of these for-profit multinational corporations is just not working for us. About a tenth of our residents in Maine received disconnection notices earlier this year because they just couldn't afford to pay their bills. And it's not working for companies or big corporations that really rely on low cost and reliable electricity to compete.So that's kind of the background. So a number of us were wondering, does it have to be this way? Is there an alternative to worst of the worst? We are Maine, we are very proud and independent, and we like to be leading, but this is not the way that we wanted to be leading. So there was a lot of grassroots pressure. In 2017 we had a big storm, and the power was out for days. But at the same time, there was a billing fiasco, which resulted in billing errors for over 100,000 customers, which is in a state of 1.3 million people, that's a very big percent.So there was a lot of pressure, a lot of phone calls to legislators, to the Public Utilities Commission, to the public advocate about these utilities. And so I think that really planted a seed for a number of folks. Specifically, Maine's first public advocate pointed out to some members of the legislature, including Representative Seth Barry at the time, myself, and a few others, that there were other options and that the financial and local control aspects of those options might be really helpful for Maine. So we started meeting in 2019 with the previous public advocate, economists, labor, legislators, people that were part of a group called CMP Ratepayers Unite.And that's when we formed this idea of creating a consumer-owned utility for Maine that would be non-profit and similar to the ten other consumer-owned utilities we have in Maine. I don't know that we had a name for it at that time, but we do now call it the Pine Tree Power Company. So those were the early days. And then to sort of fast forward, the Legislature commissioned a study which was done by London Economics International in 2019 to learn more about the economics and also legal pathway here. Then, of course, 2020, everybody knows what happened then, things kind of went on pause. And then in 2021, we wrote a bill. And that bill passed in both chambers in Maine with bipartisan support. As you mentioned, the governor did veto that bill.David RobertsAnd that bill was to create the utility or to put the question to voters.Nicole GrohoskiThat bill put the question to voters, and it's very similar to the language that we'll be voting on this November. So we did revise the language based on some feedback from the governor, and that is the language that is now in front of us to vote on this November, November 7. And in order to get the question on the ballot we had hundreds of volunteers working together to collect around 80,000 signatures in total, which is a little bit above the requirement needed to get a question on the ballot in Maine.David RobertsI'm a little curious why — this is a Democratic Governor Mills. What was her rationale? I mean, I guess I can imagine her rationale for opposing the public utility, but what was her rationale for opposing asking voters what they thought? Did she have a good rationale?Nicole GrohoskiNot in my opinion. I'm sure in her opinion it was great. But we read the veto letter for the most part. There was very little in there that was substantive. Some of those minor changes that we made are all things that we would have happily made in advance had we had outreach from her office about them. You know, the unfortunate thing with governors in Maine is that we have yet to elect one that has campaigned using our clean elections, publicly funding campaign option, which is something that most legislators use. So you can draw your own conclusions there about the — money in politics may have been at play.I can't say for certain.David RobertsYeah, we should just make a note here because a couple of podcasts we've done here on Volts are about state laws prohibiting utilities from using ratepayer money to lobby and pay off politicians. Maine does not have one of those laws.Nicole GrohoskiWell, we actually did just pass a law. We were one of four states earlier this year to be sure that ratepayer dollars are not going for lobbying. You know, industry membership, group memberships.David RobertsOh, interesting.Nicole GrohoskiYou know, Edison Electric, for instance, Chambers of Commerce, et cetera. So that is a new law. It will be in effect in about a month. So we'll see if that improves things.David RobertsJust in time or actually just a smidge too late. So the bill of particulars here then, against these two utilities, as you say, they have really low ratepayer satisfaction scores, lots of power outages, more than usual, higher rates, some of the highest rates in the country. Like every state, Maine has a Public Utility Commission that is meant to regulate its utilities. That has members appointed by the governor or elected? I'm not sure how it goes in Maine.Nicole GrohoskiIn Maine, the commissioners are appointed and then subject to Senate approval.David RobertsSo why not just use the PUC to sort of get these utilities in line? That seems like it would be the sort of first order of business.Nicole GrohoskiIt's a great question. I mean, I think everyone kind of wants to default to using the systems we have in place, but I have a couple of thoughts about that. Our Public Utilities Commission I do think is full of folks who are hardworking and really trying to get under the hood with utilities. But there's a lot of information there that the utilities really understand best. And so when you have questions, you're going to ask the utilities and there is sort of a long term back and forth relationship there. Some people might call how that turns into regulatory capture sometimes.Additionally, we do have the ability to fine the utilities if they're not performing up to snuff and that has happened. It doesn't happen that often, and the most recent fine, I think was around $10 million. At the same time they had a significant rate increase and are pulling out over $100 million in profit every year. So it's not really proportional and we could theoretically increase those fines a bit. But there is hesitance. I think the legislature has interest in doing some of that but the utilities are of course not interested and I think we would see another veto pen action is my guess.But all that being said, this effort to create a consumer utility has led to a lot of us just digging down into what is the history of utilities in this country and regulation. And what we found is that utilities are natural monopolies so it makes sense for there to be regulation because there isn't competition. But the folks who sort of started the effort to create public utilities commissions were those who were going to be regulated. And so there has been this hand in glove relationship since the start around the regulators and the regulated.David RobertsIt's not ideal.Nicole GrohoskiThat's probably a subject of a whole other podcast but —David RobertsIt doesn't work quite like you would want it to.Nicole GrohoskiExactly. And additionally, I would say I have recently been talking to folks in other states and other people have served as public advocates. And what I find remarkable is the backflips and cartwheels that we go through with regulation to try to outfox the utilities when, by no fault of their own, the investor owned utilities are created with their number one mission to be maximizing repair profit. So it's like we could keep trying to think of creative and clever ways to balance this out. But at the end of all of it, I keep coming back to the fact that we don't have our roads, which are critical to our economy and our safety and our way of life in the private sector; and nor are our schools, nor is our military.Why does it make sense for something as important as our electricity grid to be subject to for-profit motivations?David RobertsListeners will be rolling their eyes right about now because this is something I say I find a way to say it almost every episode no matter what we're talking about. But utilities, they are structured such that they make money insofar as they spend money. So all they really want to do is deploy more big infrastructure. And so as you say, like PUCs find these elaborate Rube Goldberg mechanisms to sort of beg and plead with them to do things like efficiency or distributed energy, know on and on, inter, regional transmission, name it, all of which are sort of just counter to the basic incentive.So as you say, you can spend the rest of your life coming up with more and more elaborate ways to try to trick them into doing something against their interests. But at a certain point you just got to grapple with the central issue which is that they're set up wrong, they're set up badly, they're set up to not want things that are in the public interest and at a certain point you got to just deal with the root cause. Anyway, sorry to go off on my standard canned rant there. So then a skeptic will say these two utilities, just so people are clear about this, these are not vertically integrated utilities.These are just distribution utilities. They just have wires, they just distribute power. They do not own generation. They're dealing with a certain set of supply issues, a certain set of power plants, a certain geography. Maine is very heavily forested which is a nightmare for transmission lines for all the obvious reasons. So it just has a sort of set of things that it's dealing with. And so I guess the skeptic is going to ask what reason do we have to believe that given the sort of same resources that Pine Tree, a public utility, would perform any better?Nicole GrohoskiWell I think we have a lot of evidence that it would because we already have ten consumer owned utilities in Maine. Just for an example, there is one that's called Eastern Maine Electric Co-op. That's a traditional co-op. It is more rural than most of Maine. You might find it interesting that it is serving about 1.2% of the state's load in kilowatt hours but it is in an area that's twice the size of Rhode Island. Now EMAC, which is in rural downeast Maine is directly adjacent to the territory of Versant that I live in and the cost for delivery in EMAC is nine cents and the cost for delivery in Versant is 13.1 cents per kilowatt hour.So I don't think that's just some kind of magical happenstance that when you take profit out of the equation you're just paying less. We know that together CMP and Versant are sending out about — was last year was $187 million a year in profit. So I think if Mainers are in charge of our utility we can decide do we want to use that money to lower rates? Do we want to use it to reinvest in the grid to increase reliability? And I think it would probably be a mix of both of those things.David RobertsAnd that amount of money you think is material enough that it would show up as improved performance, show up as measurably improved performance?Nicole GrohoskiI do think so. I mean I think for your listeners, while Maine is large and rural we do have 1.3 million people. So, when you sort of divide those numbers out it does make a difference. And we've had some independent economic analysis that shows us that Mainers would be saving on average $367 a month, excuse me, a year, because of the fact that we're basically going from expensive rent for the grid to a lower cost mortgage. So I think it's easy to explain it to folks in terms of, like, "What's better when you're looking for housing, dropping your money down a rent hole, black hole for the rest of your life, or swapping out to a mortgage where you've got a lower interest rate than what we see now with the guaranteed return on equity that happens for our for-profit utilities."David RobertsYeah, this was another piece I wanted to ask about. So part of why you think this will be cheaper for ratepayers is just you take that huge slice of profits that are going, as you say, out of state to the owners of these utilities and keep that in state and that alone will buy you some better service. There's also the issue of investor-owned utilities expect and want and are guaranteed relatively high rates of return on their investments and often resist making investments if the rate of return is lower than that. But as you say, a public power utility can be more patient with its capital, right?Can make investments with lower returns as long as they pay off eventually, right?Nicole GrohoskiYeah. So we see here in Maine that the utilities are getting a ROE of 8% to 12%. And we know that firstly that's kind of astounding because it's not all that risky. Most people are paying their bills.David RobertsCrazy. It's guaranteed. It's huge and it's guaranteed. It's wild what it is. This is like the safest business on the planet as being a regulated utility.Nicole GrohoskiCouldn't agree more. And on the flip side, the Pine Tree Power Company can access low-cost capital through revenue bonding at 3-5%. So when we think about paying off that debt over many years with compounding interest, when we think about the fact that our grid really isn't ready to electrify our economy and experts expect it's going to need to be, increased two to three times. Now is the right moment in time, I think, to move away from high cost, low-risk investment to low cost, low-risk investment before we literally triple our grid.David RobertsTell us a little bit about how the utility would be governed or structured and what implications you think that might have.Nicole GrohoskiI love this question. I am a public servant and so I believe in local governance and people getting to vote and go to public meetings and have a say and all that is built into the ballot question. So the Pine Tree Power Company would have elected board members and there are seven of them, one for each grouping of five Senate seats, state Senate seats. And those members then turn around and appoint six members who have specific expertise in things like utility law and management, concerns of workers, concerns of economic, environmental and social justice, things like that, that we really want to make sure those folks are at the table.And this group of 13 people, they serve six-year terms each of them. And of course, there's like a little bit of a lead-in time because they'd all be elected at once, where some of them served shorter terms at the start. But point is, they are people in our communities. They have to be living in Maine. They have open meetings that are subject to freedom of access laws. And in order to best serve the public, I think they would be doing a lot of public outreach. And that's something that in talking to managers and board members from other consumer utilities in the country, I've been really impressed with how much local engagement they have. I think Sacramento Municipal Utility District, they said they're hosting 1300 community meetings a year.David RobertsGood grief.Nicole GrohoskiA couple a day on average. But they have, I think they said 95% customer satisfaction. So people feel like they're valued, their experience matters and they also have a plan to get to 100% clean energy by 2030. So our Pine Tree power governance is very much in the spirit of "It's a public good. It should be publicly governed."David RobertsThere's a little bit of a controversy in Maine a few years ago. I don't remember all the details, but it was about a big transmission line that would have brought hydro from Canada down through the woods of Maine. It was fought and I believe killed by popular resistance. And there was a lot of, at least nationally there was a lot of talk of like here again we have environmentally minded locals blocking things for environmental reasons, but in a short-sighted way that's going to be worse for the environment overall. In the long term, they're NIMBY's. We've got to figure out a way of dealing with this problem, et cetera, et cetera.So this leads to my question, which is: if you have a governing board that is elected by local people, and it is the local people who are often the source of the NIMBYism, do you not have some fears? That this would lead to a more NIMBY rather than less NIMBY operation of the utility, which is going to be difficult when, as you say, this is the time when every state everybody needs to be increasing and bolstering their transmission systems. Do you worry that local control is going to translate into more rather than less NIMBY opposition to new lines?Nicole GrohoskiI'll put it in a way that I think makes sense to me as a person in Maine who's intimately familiar with what you laid out, which is at the root of that decision, was a fundamental lack of trust in Central Maine Power. A trust that it would be doing anything in our best interest, that it would be giving us appropriate benefits, that it was really after anything more than profits. And so I think it wouldn't be true that as soon as Pine Tree Power was created that everyone would immediately trust the company. But I do think it would be a fresh start.And on top of that, with elected and appointed leaders spending time in communities and just energy literacy, I think in general would increase because it's something we would be talking about more if we had to elect the board. I'll say I think that people's interest in energy policy has gone through the roof this year compared to where it was in the past. And people are asking just really great questions, a new curiosity around electricity that I hadn't seen before growing up here. So I think that the outcome would actually be that folks would feel like they had a say in how the transmission was cited, who was benefiting if we remove the profit motive.Imagine if that money that would have gone to profit was actually going to community benefits. That might really change how people feel. And I think that here in Maine we are sort of skeptical of what's being pushed on us by people from away, quote unquote, is a saying we have. I don't always love it, but it is accurate in this case. You've got Central Main Power, owned by Avangrid, then owned by Iberdrola, based in Spain, telling us, "Oh, we've got this great deal for you." And people are skeptical of that. So I think we have a greater chance actually of doing transmission right and in a way that people can accept if there was this broader community process and a lack of for-profit skepticism that comes naturally to us here.David RobertsOne of the criticisms of the two existing utilities is that they're kind of slow-walking clean energy in particular. So I wonder if you could just say a word about what that means and why and how we think Pine Tree would be better on that score. Because it's not obvious. These are just wires utilities, right? So they're not dealing directly with clean energy generation. So what are the issues around clean energy and how will Pine Tree be an improvement?Nicole GrohoskiSo, historically, we have seen that the utilities do spend a lot of time and money in the State House, not just behind the scenes, but also right out publicly testifying against clean energy bills. Now, that has slowed in recent years, but certainly in the previous gubernatorial administration, that was a very common practice.David RobertsIf I could just pause there, I guess I just don't fully understand why, like, if you're a company that's just running wires, what's it to you?Nicole GrohoskiRight back to the return on equity question. So, these utilities make more money when they build transmission lines than when they upgrade the distribution system. They get a higher rate of return, right? So it is in their best interest to continue with the model of large far-off generation facilities compared to local rooftop solar type solutions or microgrids or battery storage. So that's the first part of the problem, I think. And secondly, I think some of these utilities just really are not very nimble. They're sort of in the business that they've been in for a long time and thinking about how to create a dynamic grid that has time of use rates that actually work, for instance, or bidirectional power.We have had smart meters in this state for over a decade and I can't see how they're being used in any kind of smart way. I mean, people are still calling the utilities to let them know the power is out.David RobertsIt's just baffling to me. Like, if I'm in the utility business, this is like my time to be a hero, you know what I mean? After 100 years of sleepy operation in the background, all of a sudden the world is calling upon me to be cutting edge and be the hero and save the world and instead, I'm just going to "I just want to keep doing things the way I've been doing." I don't know, people are disappointing.Nicole GrohoskiNo comment.David RobertsYeah. So I read in one of the stories about this. One of the opponents of this measure said, quote, "The people behind this proposal have no actual plan to lower rates, improve reliability and enable a swifter energy transition." The implication being that the fans of this measure just think that making the utility public is going to be sort of automagically, make everything easier and cleaner and cheaper, but there's no actual plan to do so. Is there a specific plan for how Pine Tree would operate and how it would do these things? Has anyone modeled out sort of you know what I mean?Is there more than just hope that the structure will do the work for you?Nicole GrohoskiWell, I think that the person who said that spent some time cherry-picking certain things in the ballot language but missed the bigger picture here, which is we have to start by saying yes on November 7 and then at that time then we have an election for the board of directors and it goes on from there. But until that time the Maine Public Utilities Commission cannot compel the utilities to give over their very private data to do that kind of in-depth modeling that is going to be the very next task for the Pine Tree Power Board once it exists and that is spelled out in the ballot question. You know, these utilities, I'm just going to be level about it: They don't have a plan either.And I can tell you that because the legislature last year had to pass a law requiring them to do integrated grid planning and think about how is it going to work to increase renewables on the grid, to increase demand as people install more heat pumps and use electric vehicles. They're not doing that or if they are doing it they're not doing it in any kind of way that is transparent or subject to review. So I think it's like a great bait and switch tactic.David RobertsAren't they supposed to create integrated resource plans? I thought that was something that all utilities had to do.Nicole GrohoskiI think they have some planning, but it is clear from the way that the interconnection queues are looking, the very high cost they're pushing onto developers for even just what turns out to be basic grid maintenance, there isn't really — maybe they have something that says "plan" at the top, but I'm not sure that all the nuts and bolts are actually there.David RobertsYeah, I meant to hit on interconnection before because that's one of the critiques also is that they are slow-walking interconnection of distributed resources, etc. Presumably they're doing that, or at least they say they're doing that to protect the grid. Do we have reason to believe they're slow-walking that on purpose such that Pine Tree could substantially speed up the interconnection queue?Nicole GrohoskiWe do have reason to believe that specifically because of all the complaints that we've received as legislators. We did ask the Public Utilities Commission to look into this and they hired the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, or IREC, to do a study. And the IREC findings were basically especially around Versant, which is in eastern and northern Maine. These guys are some of the worst actors we've ever seen in the United States. They are requiring things that they can't justify why they're requiring them, and we can find no reason from an engineering perspective to require them. And your listeners might find it fascinating to know that for Versant customers, the average cost of interconnecting your rooftop solar to the grid is $10,000.David RobertsJesus.Nicole GrohoskiThat is not normal is what I'm told. Another great story that I've heard from a couple of constituents is that they need a transformer upgrade to interconnect their rooftop solar. Okay, that might be true, and that upgrade is going to cost you $1,000 - $1,500. But we can't get the parts for two years.David RobertsOh my goodness.Nicole GrohoskiNow the same solar installers that are working in my area are also working in CMP's area Central Maine Power. Because I live my district includes both, and the installers are saying "CMP says they can get it in two months." So then I asked my constituents "Can you file a formal complaint at the PUC using this process we had to create because this is such a rampant issue?" And when they do that and go through the whole process, then that transformer has arrived and been installed within two to three months time. So I don't know what to say about it.I can only say what I see from the outside and the experience that I have heard about from people that pick up the phone and call me. But it seems shady to go from two years to two months.David RobertsLet's grapple here with what is probably the biggest and most difficult issue around all this, which is say Maine voters say yes to this, and it goes forward. Basically, it would involve the state of Maine buying these two utilities assets from the utilities, and depending on who you believe those assets are worth anywhere from $5 to I think CMP is now saying it could get up to $13 billion. So that's a big public expense. So how's that going to get financed? Who's going to pay it? How long is it going to take to pay it? Have we thought through in any detail how that process works?Nicole GrohoskiYes, definitely. And that was a big part of what the London Economics analysis included was that legal analysis of what that purchase price process would look like. We also have been able to look at this transition as has happened in other communities in the country, and we created an expedited and refereed process to determine the purchase price. And all told, from this fall to switch over to Pine Tree Power, we expect it to take three to four years. What we know from the LEI study is that this is a completely legal and constitutional effort. It's helpful to remind folks that because these are actual monopolies, they only have the right to be doing business because we give it to them.And in the Maine statutes, it literally says the PUC can take it away.David RobertsYeah, I mean, of course, again, this drives me crazy. I'm reading articles about this and of course, just once I'd like there to be a good argument had in public instead of idiots. But all the Republicans are now saying "This is a communist takeover of private business by the state. It's Communists. Why don't we call it Chinese electricity?" I've read, some of the dumbest quotes.Nicole GrohoskiAre you in the comments section?David RobertsNo, these are legislators. This is not even I mean, there's barely a distinction anymore. But like, the Republican legislators are saying this now. So it's worth just emphasizing the point that you just made, sort of drawing a line under it, which is these businesses have been granted a monopoly by the state and granted guaranteed returns by the state. So of course the state can take that back. Of course this is legal. Like if the state grants, the state can take away if the state is granting it on the grounds that it will be of service to the state's residents and it's not anymore, then of course the state can take that monopoly back.It's just crazy viewing. It's not like Maine is going to go take over the potato chip industry.Nicole GrohoskiWe have no interest in that.David RobertsThis is not a normal business. Utilities are not normal private businesses. They are state basically state created entities. And so of course, the state can uncreate them if it wants to. Sorry, I know that will not have any effect at all on the dumb things Republicans say about this.Nicole GrohoskiWell, I do want to clarify. We do have some really strong Republican support, from certain legislators as well as just regular folks. I mean, that was the greatest thing about collecting signatures for this initiative, which I did and my family did and many other people I know was that when you remove it from a debate in a state house, regular people just get it. They get that this is really important to our economy to have an electricity grid that works for us and for our health and safety. And they also understand that maybe this is not a place for profits.And I've had folks wearing Birkenstocks and folks wearing MAGA hats sign the petition because I think Maine people are really resilient. We are proud of our ability to solve problems and I think the majority of us believe this is something that we can do and that we probably could do it better than some far-off foreign monopoly.David RobertsAnyway, I interrupted you. You were talking about how these giant bills are going to get paid. Basically you say it's going to take about four years to do all the work, to transfer everything over. Would the $5 billion or however much it turns out to be, be paid off over those four years or how will it be financed?Nicole GrohoskiNo. So we did meet with some municipal bond banks. This sort of acquisition, like in the case of Long Island, has been paid off over a long period of time. And that's how we're able to see the rate reduction. You know again, similar to renting versus owning. I was able to buy a home. My mortgage is less than my rent would be, but I am still paying it off. And even with the interest, it's still less. So we have the ability through revenue bonding to borrow that money backed by the ratepayers, not actually by the state government and the general fund, but by the ratepayers.We have the ability to borrow that money, and then pay it off over time, and borrow more as we need to build out the grid.David RobertsWould it being a public utility enable it to draw on state money? Because one of the points a few pods ago we were talking about a new offshore wind bill that would draw money from state coffers rather than from ratepayers. And one of the sort of arguments and defense of that is taking tax money from state taxpayers is much more progressive than taking it from ratepayers. Basically you're getting a much more progressive source of funding. Is there any talk of Pine Tree being able to draw on state money or would it still just operate as a utility and get all its money and revenue and stuff from ratepayers the same way a private utility would?Nicole GrohoskiThe enabling statute has it separate. I think that that is really important, especially to our union workers because they had concerns about becoming public sector workers and what that would mean for their right to strike, for instance. So we have ensured that they are private sector workers.David RobertsOh, interesting.Nicole GrohoskiWhether or not a future legislature might say we're able to maintain that and have the utility doing efficiency programs that are paid through the taxpayer dollars versus ratepayer dollars, I can't predict. To your point about regressivity, one of the things that is required in the bill language for the Pine Tree Power Company is to establish lower rates for low income residential customers in the first five year plan. So we are trying to address that challenge that you're absolutely correct. It's the regressive funding structure, unlike taxation.David RobertsAlso, one of the criticisms of these utilities is that they're sending all these cutoff notices, they're cutting off people from power, which is bad for all obvious reasons. But is Pine Tree going to pledge not to do that? And if it doesn't do that, where does that money to cover those people's rates come from? Because that would seem like an additional expense because whatever you might say about cutting people off, it does save the utilities money.Nicole GrohoskiRight. Well, we do have what's called the Arrearage Management Program here in Maine and that does help folks get out of arrears and that is ratepayer funded program. So that is a somewhat fiscally progressive approach to that. You know the details of that program are probably more than you'd want to know. But the long and short is if you get back on track then some of your debt will be just forgiven. But it's not forgiven by the utilities, it's forgiven by your neighbors.David RobertsRight. Well, would Pine Tree pledge not to cut people off? Like, is that part of the campaign here or how would it treat cutoffs ?Nicole GrohoskiYou know, it's a good question that surprisingly I don't know if anyone has posed to me it is not in the legislation one way or the other. I'm of the belief that if rates go down and we could have rates that were income stratified to some extent, that the amount of disconnection notices that we saw earlier this year would go way down just economically. But I think it would be really a decision of the board. And then I'm also not sure if the Public Utilities Commission if there are any rules on the books because this utility, unlike a lot of consumer utilities in the country, is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission as if it were an investor owned utility.So, there may be specific rules about that already.David RobertsYeah, I would just think though, if you're trying to sell this, making this public rather than private, one of the things you could sell is like we think this is a public right to have electricity on some level.Nicole GrohoskiThe one other thing about it that just comes to mind is that a couple of years ago during COVID, people were especially concerned about the disconnection notices, not knowing if they were going to be receiving a next paycheck but we were told that the disconnection notices were necessary in order to provide certain assistance. So the utilities said, "Oh don't worry, we're not actually going to disconnect anyone but we have to do this to get them into this next program." So, I don't know if that would come into play here but I'm not convinced that the utilities wouldn't have ultimately shut the people off but that was a way that they spun it at least.David RobertsOne more kind of semi-technical question that's a little bit of a side thing but is of interest, I think, to Volts listeners. One of the provisions in the IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, is that it makes some of the tax credits direct pay, which means you don't have to pay taxes to get it back. You can get it back directly as a check and one of the categories of entities that would qualify for this is tax-exempt entities. So I wonder, has anyone done any thinking, and maybe this is too in the weeds but done any thinking about what advantage it might pose for Maine to have its utility be tax-exempt, whether it will benefit from the IRA through that.Nicole GrohoskiIt is something we're thinking about because we were excited to see that direct pay provision sort of leveling the playing field for publicly owned generation which is another topic I'm very interested in, but I think it remains to be seen. In the case of Pine Tree Power, it is not allowed to own generation and it may be permitted to own some storage as is necessary to maintain the grid functioning. So I'm not entirely sure that that direct IRA provision would help in this case but what I think it does is sort of change the paradigm a bit there that may then also shift to other things. If the federal government says let's have an ITC or PTC for transmission lines, the next step might be —David RobertsPraise be.Nicole GrohoskiWell, let's make sure we set it up the same way we've just done with generation. Yes, I think it's a really important conversation even if it doesn't have a direct immediate effect on the Pine Tree Power Company.David RobertsInteresting. As I think anyone could predict just from what we've said so far, even knowing nothing else about it but what we've said so far, I'm sure people could predict that the private utilities in question are not excited about this happening and have mobilized to prevent it from happening. So tell us a little bit about the campaign against this. Is it as hysterical as one would predict?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, I mean hysterical is one word for it. Deeply troubling is another phrase that comes to mind. But these are utilities, like I mentioned, about the amount of profit that they make and that's just off of their Central Maine Power and Versant holdings. But Central Maine Power is just a small, small fraction of the entire Iberdrola conglomerate. So, yeah, we have seen them spending a lot of money against the campaign. They've put $27 million toward the campaign, both utilities, as of the end of June. So we expect to see more of course.David RobertsNot a small amount in a small state.Nicole GrohoskiNo. And honestly, talking to my neighbors, people are very upset by it. They're kind of irate that they're the people whose power goes out and doesn't come back on for a couple of days. They're the folks who had to spend $10,000 for a generator which isn't part of a clean energy solution last I checked. And there go the utilities putting $27 million toward just running ads.David RobertsYeah, I mean, are they experiencing it as a flood of ads? I mean, $27 million must allow you to kind of dominate the airwaves.Nicole GrohoskiYes, the airwaves are definitely bought up, as far as we can tell. And they have just their two donors, which are the utility parent companies, which are Avangrid and Enmax.David RobertsAre they funding 100% of this?Nicole Grohoski100%, yes. And these utilities, lest they tell you how amazing and green and climate-friendly they are, they are gas utilities, Avangrid and Enmax anyhow. And then on the flip side, we are a smaller organization. We don't have Mainers' pockets to pickpocket on a regular basis.David RobertsI'm guessing you guys haven't hit $27 million yet. How much money have you have?Nicole GrohoskiYou're closer to around a million, I think. And that's over 1000 donors, most of whom are just regular donors giving what they can because they understand these differences. And also I think the big difference is the utilities are putting out a lot of fear, doubt, scare tactic type ads. And on the flip side, what we're offering people is something different and something positive, something that we can all lean into and make sure that it succeeds because it would actually be ours. So I think that's resonating with folks.David RobertsWhat are the scare tactics specifically? Are they saying this will be expensive or what?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, expensive. I mean, you quoted some of their numbers and it's laughable. They're like, "Oh, we're going to get $13.5 billion." Well, they're worth $5.4 billion. That's what they pay taxes on. That's what they filed their official paperwork saying. So I think especially as we learn more and more about how decrepit certain portions of this grid are, they'd be lucky to get a little bit over that. So that's one of them. "Is there a plan? We don't have a plan, but do they have a plan?" is another one. You know what, a lot of it is just to my sensibility is a little insulting to Maine people.You don't know what you're doing, that kind of thing. Meanwhile, we're going to keep the line workers who are doing the work and we're giving them a retention bonus because we value their expertise, because they're the ones that actually know how the grids work, not the CEOs and the CFOs.David RobertsYeah, it is historically pretty easy though just to I mean, when you're fighting against change, you barely even need arguments. You know what I mean? You can just say "Booga booga booga change" and you're halfway there, it seems like.Nicole GrohoskiWell, I think that's why we're in such a unique position in Maine because while that can be kind of an initial gut reaction, I think people here are curious. We've certainly seen plenty of campaigns where one side was outspent a lot by the other and it didn't make a difference. We have led in other policy areas. Ranked choice voting could be one recent example. Clean elections one of the only states that splits our electoral college votes. So I think Maine people, I think we're interested in things that are different if they make sense to us.David RobertsWhere is the public on this? Do we know do we have enough polling or survey data or what have you to know kind of what the level of support is or where the public is on this? Do we have a barometer? Do we have a measure here?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, I think the most recent public polling was probably a couple of months ago. But what it showed was there were people that were solidly in each camp but a lot of undecided voters and it really put us in a dead heat in terms of the people that were decided. And what I think is interesting is folks are not being swayed by Central Maine Power and Versant ads mainly because we don't trust them. They have not been good faith actors.David RobertsAre they creating fake groups like "Mainers for puppy dogs and grandma"?Nicole GrohoskiYes, Maine Affordable Energy is one of them. Yeah, so they sound pretty good, but all you have to do is google that and you find out pretty quickly, because of our disclosure rules, that's 100% utility funded.David RobertsTo the extent that the public supports this, are they viewing it as primarily a green thing, a thing about clean energy? Or is it primarily " Screw these out of state —," you know what I mean? Like a Maine pride kind of thing. Is it a reliability? Do you know what it is about this that the public has taken from it? What it is the public is supporting when the public supports it?Nicole GrohoskiThat's a great question and it does vary depending on the person and their interest and maybe even where they live in the state because the utility rates are the worst where I live compared to all the other districts in the state. So it depends. I think if you're a person who tried to interconnect and you got told you have to wait two years and $10,000, then it might be about greening the grid. But I think for a lot of folks underlying whatever their specific reason might be, it is that question of trust. I think about this all the time we have aggressive clean electricity goals, but 50% of our carbon emissions in this state are coming from vehicles and we are the most heating oil dependent state in the country.So we've got to get people onto the electricity grid in order to have any hope of cleaning it up. But it's really hard for me to knock on someone's door and say, "I really hope you'll consider changing your whole house over to heat pumps, even though we have below zero temperatures sometimes. Or I know that the power went out for a week last year, but would you consider an EV?" So I think that in order to make this transition work, we have to have utilities that people trust and that are providing just basic service. People should not have to think as hard as they're thinking about if their electricity is going to be there for them.David RobertsYes, that's such an important point. And so generalizable too, like if electrification is the thing, then people have got to trust the institutions in charge of electrification and they do not have much public trust these days. So that's an interesting argument in favor, I think, of making utilities more accountable, more public. What about the other big argument against one of the big scare things is you have to buy all these assets, which is like a big bill, a big one-time bill. The other scare story is that utilities are going to immediately sue, that this is going to get mired in the courts, and that it's going to take 4, 5, 6, 7 years to even get it all settled, and until then it will be chaos and no one will know what's going on and blah, blah, blah.So realistically, what's your view of, say, voters approve this in November? What is your view of sort of how that plays out and when and how the inevitable legal wrangling gets resolved?Nicole GrohoskiBasically, the Pine Tree Power Board will offer a certain amount for the utility infrastructure. I don't expect that the utilities will accept that on first pass you're buying a used car, you don't just take the first price. Right. So we would expect some negotiation, but if that doesn't work, then it will go to the courts. And there is a refereed process that's spelled out in the legislation in the Superior Court that then can be appealed to the Supreme Court in the state of Maine. But there are timelines set up. So it cannot go on for years and years and years, because at some point, if you lose or win a case, that's it.You have one appeal. I think it's funny that this argument is coming from the utilities because if there are any lawsuits and if it got dragged out, as they say, even though we've protected against that to the best of our ability, that's coming from them. That is a choice that they are making.David Roberts"Don't make us do this."Nicole GrohoskiYeah, so it's kind of ironic but additionally, one of the things that comes up is how do we know the utilities will continue to invest in the meantime? And it's like the best parallel I could say to that is if I'm going to sell my house, I don't just stop fixing things before I sell it. I keep it up in really good shape. And in fact, utilities would have an incentive to invest more because usually they don't just sell it for exactly what it's worth. There's usually a multiplier. We expect it to be like 1.5 times.So we actually have increased the oversight capacity of the Public Utilities Commission to ensure that there isn't any of that sort of last-minute gold plating going on, because that is actually what we'd expect, not the further disrepair scenario.David RobertsOh, so you think if this goes through, they'll plow a bunch of money into high dollar upgrades just to boost their price that you have to pay for them?Nicole GrohoskiThat's what I would do if I were them. Fortunately, we're going to keep an eye on that on behalf of Maine people. But if you are able to invest a million dollars here and in two to three years time make $1.5 million because that's the multiplier that the courts assign, that's pretty good.David RobertsYeah. So what's your timeline in your head then? What do you envision? At what point is there just the one public utility operating and all this is behind us? Were you willing to predict?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, we're looking at fall 2027, so four years from now, and that includes having the elections for the board members next year. So that's the first major hurdle, which I think is exciting, especially because living in one of the more rural parts of Maine, we don't always feel here that our interests are represented at the Public Utilities Commission, which is folks from southern Maine. And I think this geographic component is really compelling to, you know, so that's our first step. And then basically we have to get a lot of information. I mean, the board would have to get a lot of information from the utilities in order to know what purchase price they should put forward, what's the business plan, what does the revenue bonding look like, and make sure they can secure that financing through a large municipal bond market.So that takes time and we want to make sure we do it right. On the other hand, doing nothing is also a risk that I think sets people in my generation and folks younger than me behind economically and environmentally for decades. So a couple of years to do it right is definitely worth it.David RobertsOkay, final question then. I can see lots of Maine-specific reasons why one might argue that this is a good deal; these utilities are particularly bad, Maine has a particular set of problems, it has a particular sort of public culture, a culture of participation and a culture of civic engagement, et cetera, et cetera. Lots of Maine-specific reasons why you could make the case for this. I wonder, to what extent do y'all have your eyes on other states and trying to make this the beginning of something bigger? Like, do you believe that taking private utilities public is a good idea across the board?Is that something you'd like to see become a national trend or are you just purely focused on Maine? How do you think about the influence this may or may not have on other states?Nicole GrohoskiI think that all the issues we've had in Maine are what led us to looking around for solutions, but it is a structural imbalance that we have with the regulated monopolies when they're for profit. So, I do think it is something that is exportable to other states. We people in our coalition have been working with and talking to people elsewhere in the country who are looking to make a similar transition also elsewhere in the world. It's kind of interesting. The Scottish power is also owned by Avengrid, which owns Central Maine Power, and they are looking to become a public, truly public utility over there.So, in doing this work, we've found a lot of interest for that business model change. And I think as we become another case study, we are standing on the shoulders of other case studies that have happened in this country. And as we become another one for folks, I think that we'll see some opportunities arise. And I would like to see that because I want every American to be able to afford their electricity and to be able to have clean energy and not a lot of hurdles to getting there, because we are literally all in this together as a country and as a world with our climate crisis.David RobertsThat seems like a wonderful note to wrap up on. Nicole Grohoski, thanks so much for coming on and walking through this with us. It's super fascinating and I think it will be an example to the rest of the country one way or the other. However it plays out.Nicole GrohoskiWe're hoping that we're a positive "yes" example. We're working every day toward that. And I want to thank you, David, for having me on and talking about this topic, which is, I think, endlessly important and fascinating.David RobertsAgreed, agreed. OK. Thanks, Nicole. Thank you for listening to the Volts podcast. It is ad-free, powered entirely by listeners like you. If you value conversations like this, please consider becoming a paid Volts subscriber at volts. WTF. Yes, that's volts.WTF so that I can continue doing this work. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time. Get full access to Volts at www.volts.wtf/subscribe

The themes were familiar between Kelly McCrimmon and Bruce Cassidy on opening day of VGK training camp. McCrimmon said he's glad the Golden Knights were able to keep most of their core together, save Reilly Smith, after winning the championship. And Cassidy feels the team is in a good position to win the Cup again. Our Chris Gawlik spent most of Thursday at City National. We hear from both McCrimmon and Cassidy on the goaltending situation. McCrimmon said Robin Lehner is still out due to hip surgery and out indefinitely on LTIR. Paul Cotter was among the players that stood out on opening day of training camp, lined up in the left flank along side Karlsson and Amadio. And, we have our WTF segment, What The Friday. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I remember looking in the mirror and being like WTF. I was so unhappy with how I was living my life, constantly making excuses for why I didn't look better, run faster, and feel stronger. I was so wishy-washy about what I even wanted to accomplish that it bled into how I showed up in other areas of my life. For the first time, there was no ‘season' for my training. I had spent years working through the fall season, winter workouts, spring season, and summer tournament season so I was used to everything having a time frame to it and being told when it was time to shift the focus. Creating that structure on my own felt impossible and eventually, I called myself on my bullshit.  I never stuck with anything long enough to actually see results. I treated my fitness journey like I was doing stations at a softball practice. Doing each thing for x amount of time before moving to the next station.  I started seeing results when I COMMITTED for more than just 30 days. I set goals and focused on where I wanted to be 6, 9, 12+ months down the road. I started asking myself, ‘Where do I want to be this time next year? How do I want to feel every day this time next year?' That mentality unlocked something in me. I showed up every day without stress or pressure to be perfect. I felt like an absolute badass when a few months later I put my progress photos side by side and realized how much had actually changed in such a short period when I went ALL IN.  LET'S CONNECT: IG: _linkfitness TT: _linkfitness FB: Former Athlete Community --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elevatedathletes/message

It is almost the end of September...WTF!? It's time to check in with ourselves, how are we? What do you need? Awaken Bake is here to love you babes, you're doing great!

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Welcome back, Alexis! She shares her COVID experience. So how did "WTF" go last week when Alexis was gone? Congrats Kendall on the arrival of her son -- Alexis throws it back to her pregnancy cravings, and is the end is sight for the WGA strike? There was an actual meeting! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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169: Welcome to our newest series called: how-to-be-a-magical-b*tch. As you know, magical is my favorite word & I decided it's time we explore WTF it even means. I love you, magical b*tches!!!!! COME SAY HI: IG // @lisaxgilmore TT // @lisaxgilmore @emmeclub Friendship episode with my bff, Mungi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices