go cocks

The Taliban have banned windows that look onto areas where Afghan women could be seen inside their homes.

"Seeing women working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts," government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X on Saturday.

A decree by the Taliban's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada states that new buildings should not have windows that show "the courtyard, kitchen, neighbor's well and other places usually used by women," according to a translation by France24.

Existing windows looking into such areas should be blocked with a wall or should have their views obstructed in some other way "to avoid nuisances caused to neighbors."


Jimmy Stewart unavailable for comment.

It wouldn’t really matter who Iowa picks up in the portal because Kirk is still going to be Kirk—ultra conservative, sitting on a small lead, terrible clock management, and playing not to lose.

Is that the gist of it?

Some excerpts from the linked article:

Running back Brevin Doll and defensive back Rashad Godfrey — both true freshmen — “have taken a step forward here,” Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods said after Friday’s practice in Nashville.

Doll and fellow true freshman Xavier Williams received some praise from Kamari Moulton — a redshirt freshman himself who is atop the depth chart ahead of the Music City Bowl. “We really are enthused about what we’ve seen of Xavier and Brevin Doll,” Ferentz said shortly after the bowl announcement earlier this month.

“Zach Ortwerth did a really, really great job,” Lachey said. “Continuing to get better.”

D.J. Vonnahme — a true freshman walk-on TE with 12 total snaps, per PFF — “does a really good job, too.”

Iowa safety Sebastian Castro said cornerback John Nestor “has been stepping up.”

“He’s been developing since when he first got here,” Castro said. Nestor appeared in nine games in 2024— five games with defensive snaps and another four only with special teams opportunities. He also appeared in 10 games on special teams as a true freshman in 2023.

Castro also said that linebacker Landyn Van Kekerix, a third-year sophomore, has been “pretty good” and has gotten “more reps with the ones.”

As Kade Pieper concludes his redshirt freshman season, he continues to look like a rising star on the offensive line.

“He’s really athletically gifted,” fellow offensive lineman Gennings Dunker said. “He almost outjumps LoJo (Logan Jones).”

Back in July at the Big Ten’s annual football media days, Ferentz said Pieper “really caught our eye last year.”

Pieper appeared in 10 games in 2024 and saw significant playing time against Michigan State (20 snaps), Northwestern (41 snaps) and Wisconsin (16 snaps).

Both Hank Brown & Jimmy Sullivan are with the team practicing, of course.

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Great guy, great player.

However, if I never hear the words "covid year" again, I won't be sad.

This season was his 6th year in college.

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The Iowa Players have 5 days to enter the portal. Do you see any player going to the portal? Starters, backup?

Raging against the machine was all the rage for Chicago sports fans in 2024, a year that somehow exceeded 2023 as the worst in most of our memories.


Imagine that.


White Sox fans openly rooted for a loss in a late September series against the Los Angeles Angels, just so they could say they witnessed the team’s record-setting 121st defeat.


Outraged Bears fans forced the McCaskeys to end their longstanding policy of not firing a head coach in season.


Bulls and Blackhawks fans complained about the new Chicago Sports Network not being carried on Comcast or YouTube TV, then stopped caring as the losses piled up.


Cubs fans repeatedly voiced their displeasure with the Rickettses and President Jed Hoyer over a fourth straight season without a postseason, only to see ticket prices rise again.


If an entire city of fans could lie in the fetal position and pull up the covers over our collective heads the rest of the winter, we gladly would do so.


Here are some of the things that helped make 2024 another year to forget … with a few notable exceptions.

Chant of the Year​

“Sell the team!”


After Sox fans chanted for Jerry Reinsdorf to divorce himself from the team they love during the Angels series, Bears fans picked up the slack Thursday by aiming the same chant at the McCaskeys during the brutal 6-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Game of the Year​

White Sox 3, Angels 2: Sept. 24 at Guaranteed Rate Field


Sox fans cheered Angels second baseman Jack López when he homered to give L.A. a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning, knowing the record-setting 121st loss was imminent. But the Sox rallied for three runs in the eighth to win. The Sox treated the series like it was their World Series.


“It’s huge,” Andrew Benintendi said. “I think if we swept the final series of the year, it would be, not funny, but it’d give us all a chuckle.”


The Sox swept the Angels, then lost No. 121 in Detroit. Chuckle, chuckle.

City of big coaching searches​

Sox general manager Chris Getz said his original list of candidates for the team’s managerial vacancy numbered more than 60. The two ex-Sox favorites whom fans cried for, Ozzie Guillen and A.J. Pierzynski, were not among the 60-plus. Getz’s eventual hire, Will Venable, could lose 99 games in 2025 and win the American League Manager of the Year award.


Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen, also promoted from within the organization, is so mellow he makes former coach Luke Richardson look excitable by comparison.


The Bears promoted Thomas Brown, who had recently been promoted to offensive coordinator to replace Shane Waldron, to replace coach Matt Eberflus, who flunked his timeout test by not calling one when he needed to at the end of the Thanksgiving Day loss in Detroit. Brown flunked his test Thursday by calling a timeout with the clock stopped after changing his mind about punting on fourth down with a little more than two minutes left in the loss to the Seahawks. Next up?

Chutzpah award​

It was a tie between Comcast — for raising its regional sports fee by 5.5% to $20.25 per month in 2025 despite not carrying CHSN, which televises Hawks, Bulls and Sox games — and Reinsdorf and Hawks Chairman Danny Wirtz for starting CHSN without a carriage deal with Comcast.

Clocked​

Bears fans were ecstatic when GM Ryan Poles was on the clock for the NFL draft, knowing USC quarterback Caleb Willams would be the No. 1 pick.


Bears fans were dismayed upon learning Williams was not a student of Clock Management 101, turning the two-minute drill into the three-minutes-and-counting drill in losses to the Lions and Seahawks.

It’s so hard to say goodbye​

The Bulls traded perhaps their most popular player, Alex Caruso, just as the Sox traded their most popular player, Jake Burger, one year earlier. Caruso was an undrafted player who made his reputation on hustling and defense. Burger overcame years of debilitating injuries to become a home run threat.


Reinsdorf apparently doesn’t tolerate players who play hard and actually relate to their fan base.

Chess game​

Hoyer waited until February to get agent Scott Boras to agree on a three-year, $80 million deal with two opt-outs for Cody Bellinger instead of the long-term deal Bellinger was seeking. Check. Bellinger had a below-average season and then opted in for $27.5 million in 2025, forcing Hoyer into a salary dump on the New York Yankees for next to nothing.


Checkmate.

Top 5 Schriff-isms​

The most memorable calls of first-year Sox broadcaster John Schriffen:

• “For all the haters …”
• “South Side, stand up!”
• “Radio losers”
• “We ain’t takin’ that.”
• “I need this win.”

Hall-worthy​

OK, not everything was awful in 2024. Former Bears Steve McMichael, Devin Hester and Julius Peppers entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, while the late former White Sox slugger Dick Allen was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame at the winter meetings.

Empty stats​

Angel Reese’s double-double record with the Sky versus Caleb Williams’ NFL rookie record streak without an interception. Which was more irrelevant in the big picture?

See y’all down the road. ✌🏻

A citizens group that works to protect streams and groundwater in Northeast Iowa has given notice it intends to file a federal lawsuit against a large meatpacking facility in Postville for its repeated wastewater pollution violations.



The Driftless Water Defenders sent notice last week to Agri Star Meat & Poultry that it plans to seek substantial fines — about $67,000 per day per violation — and a court order to comply with contaminant limits in its wastewater discharge permit.


The lawsuit would be an uncommon move by residents to force compliance with the federal Clean Water Act, which in Iowa typically is handled by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.




The most significant violations can be litigated by the Iowa Attorney General's Office. State Attorney General Brenna Bird has said similar citizen lawsuits aren't proper because they circumvent states' oversight.


Agri Star is a large meat-packer of kosher beef, chicken and turkey. In recent years it has processed more than 50 million pounds each of cattle and poultry annually, according to state documents related to its permit.


The company has an on-site wastewater treatment system with lagoons that discharge up to about a million gallons each day into nearby Hecker Creek, which flows to the Yellow River.

Numerous violations​

In the past four years, the Iowa DNR has noted more than 50 violations of the conditions of Agri Star's wastewater permit. Those were tied to excessive pollution of ammonia, copper, chloride, suspended waste particles and others.


The company is accused of failing to test its wastewater as frequently as required, which the company has attributed to staff turnover, Iowa DNR records show.


The Driftless group's notice also mentioned an incident in March 2024 when a blockage of Agri Star's wastewater system illegally redirected about 250,000 gallons of meat processing wastewater into the city of Postville's sewer system. The notice alleges Agri Star did not reduce its production speed to limit the contamination and that the company "was not aware of the blocked sewer line until contacted by the city," according to a copy of the notice obtained by The Gazette.


The company has since installed a system to detect irregular water flow and other measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. Egan Guerrero, an Agri Star supervisor, said the blockage was a result of "vandalism or sabotage," according to an April letter he sent to the Iowa DNR.


The department has sought in recent years to get Agri Star into compliance, but has not fined the company. It most recently issued violation notices to the company in November and December for excessive chloride and for failing to submit a required stream antidegradation analysis for some of its wastewater.


The company, through one of its operation managers, declined to comment for this article.


The Driftless group plans to file the federal lawsuit in about two months. The Clean Water Act allows such lawsuits when there is no pending enforcement action by state governments or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and it requires a 60-day notification period before the suit is filed.





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The Iowa DNR declined to comment for this article because litigation is pending.


In October, Bird decried a similar citizen suit in Washington state that she said seeks to wrest regulatory authority from states. The litigation strategy could be used against farmers, she said, by "woke green activists."


"It that's who we are, then I do think Iowans are becoming awakened to the fact that their water is becoming more contaminated and increasingly polluted, and that the pollution is affecting their health and well-being," said Jim Larew, an attorney for the Driftless group.


The group also is being represented by Public Justice and FarmSTAND, both of Washington, D.C., which have litigated environmental concerns on behalf of residents in other states.


“This potential citizen suit is an example of one of the key enforcement mechanisms of the (Clean Water) Act, ensuring that polluting industries are held accountable for violations of their permits,” said Dan Snyder, a Public Justice attorney. “There are many examples of these types of cases across the United States, for polluters are too often allowed to violate the law without meaningful enforcement.”


The Driftless group also has pending lawsuits against government officials in Winneshiek County, where it hopes to block the construction and operation of a manure digester.

What more do you want us to take from you?

Next time I’m in the QC, come meet me at Whiteys on 41st so I can throw a couple of dollars in your little Swarm bucket. Maybe that will get you a functional head coach who doesn’t punt on fourth and short.

Sad!

Classic!

@millah_22

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Wow

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this roadster includes a 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8, conveying an expected 600 drive and 590 lb-ft of force. This motor plan, roused by Cadillac’s hustling legacy. Empowers the XLR to accomplish a 0-60 mph time in just shy of four seconds.

I realize that she was hurt and did not practice/play for a long time, but it seems like what minutes she has earned have resulted in a lot of positives.
Seems like her minutes should increase but on the other hand we have a senior dominated starting 5 and most if not all subs have played well and you can only go so deep. To me she seems like a really good player.

https://newsgpt.ai/2024/12/31/madoff-victim-fund-completes-final-disbursement-of-131-million/

The final distribution from a fund established for victims of the infamous Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the late Bernie Madoff commenced on Monday, according to the Department of Justice. This last disbursement, amounting to over $131 million, is being allocated to more than 23,000 victims globally. Upon completion, the fund will have distributed over $4.3 billion to more than 40,000 victims across nearly 130 countries. This sum represents approximately 94% of the estimated total losses incurred from the fraudulent scheme.

I got my MIL posted up at the Whiteys on 41st street in Moline.

Poor woman can barely stand but I told her it Kirk can make $10 million a year to 💩 his pants on live TV, she can muster the courage to fund his salary by standing out in the rain and ring her swarm bell.

Please bring change or fiat currency. We tried setting up Venmo but she got scammed by some Tijuana Ladyboys for $150. Long story, don’t ask.

Been exchanging messages with a portal DL that has been in communication with Kelvin Bell.

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The irish looked more ready to play, more agressive. That first INT by IU QB down by the goal line was huge though as he just didnt look steady at all in the first half. Irish had a good game plan to pressure the qb. Those last couple of drives and a few other catches highlighted how athletic and skilled the IU receivers are. The irish have some good runners and what seemed to be a really good OLine, I havent seen enough of the qb to say if he is excellent.

I didnt watch PSU and SMU but I was not surprised at the outcome. I thought psu played well against ORegon. The box score shows psu really held down the smu run game.

I don’t think you can change NIL and I don’t really know all the details.

Two things I’d change:

One transfer per player, period. No exceptions.

Four seasons of eligibility. Medical year only if you were hurt in first half of schedule. No graduate student years, no COVID year, nothing else.

I've been stewing about this, and questionably, I'm asking HBOT for an opinion on this dispute.

Yesterday at about 2:30 p.m., Mrs. Tradition (no pics) says, "I have a hankering for BBQ. Let's go to Sonny's."

What????

I had three rapid-fire thoughts about this:

1. Sonny's BBQ sucks.
   
   
2. The skies to the north were blacker than a witch's tit, and it was getting ready to storm like hell (we got thunder and lightning, 2" of rain, and gale-force winds).
   
   
3. The Dolphins are playing the late afternoon game.

So, as we debated the pros and cons of going out on a lark to Sonny's BBQ, I had to point out that, "I make better BBQ than any freaking franchise crap."

She replied, "I don't have to give Sonny's three days notice before I get to eat it."

Fair enough.

So in the end, she went out in the shitstorm and got the big-ass family bundle ($70+) to-go and we watched the Dolphins while we ate weak-ass, fast-food BBQ.

Who was wrong here?

How stupid was 2024?

Let's start with the art world, which over the centuries has given humanity so many beautiful, timeless masterpieces. This year, the biggest story involving art, by far, was that a cryptocurrency businessman paid $6.2 million at a Sotheby's auction for ...

A banana.

Which he ate.

"It's much better than other bananas," he told the press.

And that was not the stupidest thing that happened in 2024. It might not even crack the top 10. Because this was also a year when:

• The Olympics awarded medals for breakdancing.
• Fully grown adults got into fights in Target stores over "Stanley" brand drinking cups, which are part of the national obsession with hydration that causes many Americans to carry large-capacity beverage containers at all times as if they're setting off on a trek across the Sahara instead of going to Trader Joe's.
• Despite multiple instances of property damage, injury and even death, expectant couples continued to insist on revealing the genders of their unborn children by blowing things up, instead of simply telling people.
• The number of people who identify as "influencers" continued to grow exponentially, which means that unless we find a cure, within 10 years everybody on the planet will be trying to make a living by influencing everybody else.
• Hundreds of millions of Americans set their clocks ahead in March, then set them all back in November — without having the faintest idea why. (Granted, Americans do this every year; we're just pointing out that it's stupid).

But what made 2024 truly special, in terms of sustained idiocy, was that it was an election year. This meant that day after day, month after month, the average American voter was subjected to a relentless gushing spew of campaign messaging created by political professionals who — no matter what side they're on — all share one unshakeable core belief, which is that the average American voter has the intellectual capacity of a potted fern. It was a brutal, depressing slog, and it felt as though it would never end. It may still be going on in California, a state that apparently tabulates its ballots on a defective Etch-a-Sketch.

For most of us, though, the elections and this insane year, are finally over. But before we move on to whatever (heaven help us) lies ahead, let's ingest our anti-nausea medication and take one last cringing look back at the events of 2024, starting with ...