Mon - Penguins, Beavers, Iguanas, and Nazi. A normal Monday

US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 539 Million Shots  (Population 333 Million)




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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Jan 25)

We had a great December, but January has been pretty terrible.   We have 3-4 months to get some significant rain.

There are no big storms in the 10-day forecast.


Reservoirs are still low, but they are filling up a bit.
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80% of the Eligible Population Has Had a Shot.  2/3rds Have Had Two or More.

38 million have had the first shot, but not the second.  At the current rate, it will take 6 months for them to get the second dose.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees

$1.5 Million for Fewer than 7,000 Fake Vaccination Cards

Two nurses on New York's Long Island allegedly forged Covid-19 vaccination cards and entered the false shots in the state's database in a scheme that raked in over $1.5 million, according to prosecutors.

Julie DeVuono, 49, the owner and operator of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, and her employee Marissa Urraro, 44, were arrested Thursday, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said Friday in a news release.
Both women were charged with one count of second-degree forgery. DeVuono was also charged with first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, according to the release.

DeVuono, a nurse practitioner, and Urraro, a licensed practical nurse, received Covid-19 vaccines, vaccination cards and medical syringes from the New York State Department of Health, prosecutors said.

They allegedly forged the official cards to indicate a vaccine was given to an undercover detective on one or more occasion even though they never received the shot. DeVuono and Urraro are also accused of entering the false information into the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) database.

They charged $220 for adults and $85 for children for the false vaccination cards, prosecutors said.

Law enforcement officers seized $900,000 during a search of DeVuono's home as well as a ledger that documented their profits in excess of $1.5 million from November 2021 to January 2022, according to the news release.

How Quickly they Forget All the Great Things He Did. --- What Exactly Did He Do?

Do Republicans love Donald Trump as they once did?

There are signs that some Republicans are less positive about him since the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. But his base holds firm, and that might be all he needs if he seeks the GOP nomination in 2024.

A new Marquette University Law School survey finds that 73 percent of Republicans nationally view Trump favorably. Meanwhile, the poll shows that 63 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of Republican-leaning independents say they would like to see Trump run again in 2024.

“That’s an interesting gap between 73 percent liking him but only about 60 percent saying they would like him to run again,” said Charles Franklin, the director of the poll. “That still leaves him as the odds-on favorite in a primary today, but you can see a gap between continued affection for Trump in the party but the opportunity to think about future candidates rather than past candidates."



Young, Dumb, and White




Maybe These Police ARE Following Their Training

A new Washington Post investigation dives back into the world of for-profit "police training," and yeesh, it's not exactly hard to see why some of our nation's police forces look and sound like taxpayer-funded domestic terror rings. It makes for a depressing read, but perhaps the most alarming takeaway is that, since there's little pressure for reviewing or accrediting training courses, the "training" offered advocates for increased violence, features instructors who offer "training" based on interactions with hostile enemy combatants in Afghanistan and, of course, training offered by pro-sedition domestic terrorist groups. Because sure, why not? What police department in America wouldn't jump at the chance to send their officers to one of those.

"This November," the Post reminds us, "a hacked membership list for the Oath Keepers, a far-right, anti-government group that participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, showed that 65 members had worked as law enforcement trainers."

Washington Post Article

What Do They Think About Mickey, Goofy, and Those Seven Dwarves?

On a Saturday, a group of Nazis, affiliated with the far-right, white supremacist group National Socialist Movement (NSM), have gathered on a busy intersection within the Alafaya/Waterford Lakes area of metro Orlando, about 5-10 minutes south of the University of Central Florida. As expected, they have waved flags and held salutes, that is, if they aren’t spewing hateful rhetoric towards Jews, African Americans, or transgender people.






As Voltaire Actually Wrote, "Common sense is not so common."

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) posted a quote from a neo-Nazi on Twitter on Sunday and incorrectly attributed it to Voltaire in an effort to attack National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Massie tweeted:



It’s not clear if Massie knew the true origin of the quote when he posted it. However, it was quickly pointed out on social media that the quote was not, as the image suggested, from Voltaire but rather from Kevin Alfred Strom, a notorious neo-Nazi who was convicted on child porn charges in 2008.

USA Today fact-checked the quote after it went viral last spring. Strom called it “kind of flattering.”

Joe Rogan Doesn't Want to Be Mean to Joni Mitchell

Joe Rogan has addressed recent criticism that his podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," has helped to spread COVID-19 misinformation.

A backlash from scientists and health professionals prompted Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to request that their music be taken off Spotify, which owns the podcast.

In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday, Rogan said of Young and Mitchell: "I'm very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don't want that."

He added, "I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time, and I'm very sorry that this is happening to them and that they're taking so much heat from it."

Spotify bought Rogan's podcast in May 2020 for a sum in excess of $100 million, reports said.

Earlier this month, an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" featured Robert Malone, a doctor who said mask-wearing had induced something called "mass formation psychosis," and that people were hypnotized into believing facts about COVID-19.

Soon after, a group of 270 doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators published an open letter that asked Spotify to tackle COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. Psychologists have rejected Malone's claims, saying "mass formation psychosis" does not exist.

In his video on Sunday, Rogan said he was a Neil Young fan, adding: "No hard feelings toward Neil Young, and definitely no hard feelings toward Joni Mitchell."

Rogan, in a nearly 10-minute video Sunday night on Instagram, said he’ll make two changes to his show, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” to accomplish that. The first: have mainstream experts give their viewpoints after guests espousing more fringe opinions.

The second: “do my best to make sure that I’ve researched these topics — the controversial ones in particular — and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.”

Cruzin' For a Bruisin'

Ted Cruz still wants to be president. Can he win over the Trump faithful?

His 2016 bid went badly. But if Trump stays out in 2024, Cruz is sure to make another try.
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Elmer and Lima Got An Egg for Christmas

Two male Humboldt penguins at a New York zoo who adopted an egg last year have become parents to a brand-new hatchling.

The same-sex foster couple, Elmer and Lima, are a first for the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, which is based in Syracuse, though a number of other zoos around the world have also had same-sex penguins successfully incubate eggs and raise chicks.

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo said on its website that it has had at least two breeding pairs of penguins accidentally break their fertilized eggs in the past. To improve the chances of hatching a chick, zookeepers may give an egg to a more successful pair.

Zoo Director Ted Fox said that not all penguin pairs are good at incubating eggs: “It takes practice.”

Elmer and Lima were given a dummy egg last year and “were exemplary in every aspect of egg care,” Fox said. That prompted zookeepers to give them an egg laid by another couple before Christmas.


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Did the Beavers Swipe Left or Swipe Right?

'Beaver dating agency' proves a success

The dam-building rodents were filmed grooming each other and gnawing trees at Willington Wetlands, where they were released last year.

Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain in the 16th Century for their fur, meat, and scent glands.

But they have been reintroduced to parts of Scotland, England and Wales in the hope they can restore wetland habitats and boost other species.

"All of our beavers had never met before they were released into Willington Wetlands, so it was a bit of a beaver dating agency when we brought them all on site," Kate Lemon, regional manager at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, said.

She added the beavers' behaviour suggested the arrival of kits in the spring was a possibility.

I Think There are a Lot of Beavers Mating in Corvallis
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It Was So Cold (How Cold Was It?)  It Was So Cold It was Raining Iguanas

Iguanas fall from trees as cold snap hits Florida

Iguanas are falling from trees in Florida as the US Sunshine State is hit with unusually cold weather conditions.

In South Florida, temperatures reached a low of -4C (25F) early on Sunday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The agency said the region was experiencing some of the coldest temperatures in more than a decade.

Iguanas are cold blooded and rely on the sun and natural heat from their surroundings to keep warm.

If the reptiles get too cold they can freeze and effectively end up in a coma, causing those resting in trees to lose their grip and fall.

Despite this, most remain alive as they keep breathing and their main body functions still work. They will later thaw out in the sun as temperatures rise again.
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It's Not Seven Dwarves Singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho" As They Head Off to the Crypto Mine

Last year Kazakhstan became the second biggest crypto-currency mining country in the world, thanks partly to a vast mine containing 50,000 computers in the desert near the northern city of Ekibastuz.

Young men work 12 hours a day for 15 days in a row without leaving the site, in order to keep it running round the clock.

But the rapid growth of crypto-mining in the country has put pressure on the energy sector, which relies heavily on polluting, carbon-intensive coal-fired power stations.

Earlier this month the rising cost of car fuel acted as the trigger for nationwide political protests. For five days the Kazakh crypto-mines could not connect to the internet, causing crypto-currency transactions across the world to slow down.

You can watch the full documentary, Our World - Kazakhstan's Crypto-Boom? on BBC News and BBC World News, from Friday 4 February and during the weekend.

Meanwhile Lots of Companies Want You To Put Your Retirement Money into Crypto
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Tigray is No Bed of Roses

Yohannes and Gebremeskel knew it would be freezing cold inside the bulk cargo area of the Airbus A350 plane on the long flight from Ethiopia's capital to Belgium.

But the two ground technicians with Ethiopian Airlines, both of Tigrayan origin, said they felt a threat from the Ethiopian authorities that left them no choice but to stow away among crates of fresh flowers.

Both men said family members had been detained under sweeping emergency laws that have targeted ethnic Tigrayans -- and that they feared it was their turn next. The laws were imposed in November as Ethiopian government troops battle forces from the northern Tigray region in a bitter conflict that has now dragged on for 14 months. The government denies the laws targeted any particular group and recently lifted the state of emergency.

So, in the early hours of December 4, Yohannes and Gebremeskel, both 25, made a spur of the moment decision to climb into the storage section of a converted Ethiopian Airlines cargo plane that was sitting in one of the hangars at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, waiting for the early morning flight to Brussels, Belgium.

As ground technicians with Ethiopia's flagship commercial airline for the past five years, they had access to the compartment for routine inspection purposes. But if their hiding place was discovered, they would face harsh punishment, they said. CNN has changed both men's names at their request for security reasons.

For more than three hours before take-off, they hid in the cold among the cabin crew's luggage, not far away from the plane's cargo shipment -- crates loaded with roses ready to be delivered to Europe. 

"We took the risk. We were -- we had no choice, we had no choice, we couldn't live in Addis Ababa, we were being treated as terrorists," Yohannes, who has now obtained asylum in Belgium, told CNN in one of several phone conversations.  

Four of his relatives have been killed, his fiancée is in prison in Ethiopia's Afar region and his sister, about seven months pregnant, was seized from his house along with his furniture, he said. Yohannes believes these killings and detentions were motivated by their Tigrayan ethnicity and actioned under Ethiopia's new emergency laws. "I don't know where she [his fiancée] is currently," he added. CNN has not been able to independently verify the deaths or imprisonment of Yohannes' relatives.  
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The Secret to Getting Kids to Read:  Tell Them Not To Do It



It Seems To Work For Adults, Too.

Maus, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, shot to the top of Amazon’s best-sellers list after a Tennessee school district banned it from being taught in classrooms last week.

On Sunday, the complete edition of Maus retained the #1 spot on the Amazon books best sellers list, and individual editions for parts one and two were also in the retailer’s top 10.

Sales soared in recent days after the McMinn County Board of Education unanimously voted to remove Maus from its eighth grade curriculum due to concerns about language and depictions of nudity. The book, which was published beginning in 1986, tells the story of Spiegelman’s parents’ experience during the Holocaust and their imprisonment in Auschwitz.

It won the Pulitzer Prize’s Special Award in Letters in 1992.
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