Post by mhbruin on Feb 5, 2022 9:22:11 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 543 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
--------------
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 2)
There has been no significant rain since the first week in January. There are no big storms in the 10-day forecast. After a great start, this could still turn out to be a bad season.
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
He Just Spoke Like a Racist Pig, and He Apologizes. That Must Mean Everything is OK.
The US podcast host Joe Rogan has issued an apology over his past use of racist language on his popular show.
A widely-shared compilation video showed him repeatedly using the N-word in early episodes of his show, which has been running for over a decade.
The 54-year offered his "deepest" apologies and called his past use of the slur "shameful".
Rogan also apologised for making a racist comment about visiting a predominantly black neighbourhood.
He said he "felt sick" watching the compilation, and wished he could take his comments back.
The Audience Is As Bad As Carr. Who Finds Mass Murder Funny? (Mel Brooks?)
Comedian Jimmy Carr has sparked outrage for a routine about the Holocaust in his latest Netflix stand-up special.
Carr has been described as "truly disturbing" for making light of the murders of hundreds of thousands of people from Europe's traveller communities during World War Two.
The comedian, who introduced his show as being "a career ender" and warned it contained "terrible things", said a "positive" of the Holocaust was that thousands of Gypsies were murdered.
The comments were greeted with applause and laughter from the audience.
Between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti people were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, according to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
India Stink
Her hair was cut off and her face painted black before she was paraded into the street where some people in a cheering crowd called for her to be raped.
But perhaps the most shocking aspect of the attack in a Delhi neighborhood last month is that video shared on social media shows that most of the baying mob were women.
At least 12 people have been arrested by the Delhi police, eight of whom are women. Two are minors. Police have not brought charges over the incident, but they say the 20-year-old victim of the January 26 attack was abducted and physically and sexually assaulted.
Swati Maliwal, the chairperson of the Delhi Commission of Women, said the woman told her she'd been raped by three men.
"There were women present (in the room)...instigating the men to be more brutal with her," Maliwal told CNN, recounting what the victim had told her.
Aarti told CNN her sister -- who is married -- was attacked by the relatives of a teenage boy, who they say killed himself after her sister spurned his advances. CNN has attempted to contact representatives for the alleged offenders though it is not clear if they have lawyers.
"They (alleged perpetrators) blamed her, but she didn't do anything," Aarti said. "I never thought they would go this far."
You Can Buy Counterfeit Money on Amazon? Really?
A Tempe, Arizona, Home Depot employee is facing a federal charge, after authorities said he repeatedly took cash from the store and replaced it with counterfeit currency before depositing it in the bank, according to a criminal complaint.
According to a US Secret Service news release, agents from the Phoenix field office arrested Adrian Jean Pineda, a vault employee at the store, who was responsible for counting cash and preparing it for deposit.
Pineda is accused of ordering counterfeit bills from Amazon, swapping them with money taken from store cash registers and sealing them in bags for transfer to the bank, according to the complaint. Pineda, the complaint said, admitted to switching the real money with fake bills in an interview with Secret Service agents.
Maybe He Can Find a Polling Place in Cancun
Sen. Cruz found a voting cause to rally around: A new bill that ensures Americans can enter polling places without having to show proof of vaccination. \
There is, The American Independent points out, one minor problem with the new bill. Nobody associated with the bill can identify any polling place, anywhere, that has such a rule in effect. It's not a thing. Nobody's introducing bills to keep unvaccinated Americans out of polling places because, uh, it's really just not a thing.
Today's Second Worst County in the World
The Board of Commissioners in a North Central Minnesota county that was won by Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020 wanted the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office to conduct an “audit” of both its results and the equipment used in the 2020 election. Secretary of State Steve Simon (he’s awesome btw!) told county officials, “No dice”.
Nestled in lake country, about two hours north of Minneapolis, Crow Wing County voted overwhelmingly Republican in 2020. They also did so in 2018. And in 2016.
Today's Worst County in the World. You Must Be Proud, Boys.
Voters in far northern California have solidified the ouster of a Republican county official, giving control of the Shasta county board of supervisors to a group supported by local militia members.
Leonard Moty, a retired police chief and Republican with decades of public service, lost his seat in a recall election in one of California’s most conservative counties. The Tuesday recall came as tensions reached a high in the county after two years of threats and increasing hostility toward moderate Republican officials over pandemic health restrictions.
History for One Dummy
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch took Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to task this week with a blistering editorial slamming his resistance to helping Ukraine defend itself from a possible invasion from Russia.
The newspaper’s editorial board slammed the Donald Trump apologist, who led Republican Senate objections to President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, as “grossly unfit” for office.
It also offered the controversial senator “a short history lesson” contesting his claim that Biden alone, and not Trump, would be to blame if Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded its neighbor.
“There once was a time when Hawley had presidential aspirations, but a badly timed fist-pump on Jan. 6, 2021, along with his appeasing advocacy of Russian supremacy just about closes the lid on his presidential dreams,” wrote the board.
“We thought Hawley should’ve resigned his Senate seat for his role in the Capitol insurrection,” it added. “But the idea that the United States should kneel down to Russia over Ukraine underscores how grossly unfit Hawley is to continue in office.”
He Tried to Steal From the Wrong Porn Star
Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of stealing from the client that helped him flirt with fame.
He was found guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after he surreptitiously diverted $300,000 that rightfully belonged to Stormy Daniels, the pornographic performer who hired Avenatti to represent her in litigation against former President Trump.
Avenatti had pleaded not guilty and argued the evidence against him was insufficient but the jury sided with federal prosecutors who said Avenatti convinced Daniels her book publisher was late with payments owed to her for her memoir, “Full Disclosure,” when he already had the money in an account he controlled. He will be sentenced on May 24.
--------------
The Last Time COVID Cases Were This Low Was December 29th.
There have been around 76 million confirmed cases in the US since the start of COVID. There are probably more people who have had it, but not been tested, and some people have had it more than once.
A rough guess is 25% - 33% of the population has had COVID.
900,000 deaths means around 1.1% of confirmed cases have died.
--------------
So What's the News Media Going to Criticize This Week?
The experience of three recent predecessors shows why it’s too early to count Biden out.
After a difficult first two years in the White House, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama each rebuilt enough public support to win a second term—not long after many observers had labeled them fatally damaged by their early setbacks.
Although the specific environment and challenges confronting those three presidents diverged in many ways, the trajectory of each man’s first term followed the same broad arc. Each was elected at a moment of great unease about the country’s direction, particularly in terms of the economy. Each saw his approval rating tumble over his first two years, as voters concluded that conditions were not improving as fast as they had expected, or at least hoped. For all three, that decline culminated in big losses during their first midterm election (especially for Clinton and Obama). But in the second half of each man’s first term, public attitudes about the country’s direction improved, lifting the president’s approval rating. Just two years after their midterm reversals, all three won reelection, Clinton and Obama by solid margins and Reagan by a historic 49-state landslide.
--------------
Are Pigs Flying? Pence Tells the Truth.
The Response is Predictable.
Trump yet again baselessly insisted that Pence had the power to refuse to certify electoral votes because of election “fraud” — which the former president has yet to present a shred of evidence to support.
“Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible,” Trump wrote on his blog, which was immediately posted by aide Liz Harrington on her Twitter account.
“Well, the Vice President’s position is not an automatic conveyor if obvious signs of irregularities or fraud exist,” he added.
There were no obvious signs — nor any signs — of irregularities or fraud.
--------------
I Love the Smell of Data in the Morning!
--------------
This is a Day Late and a Life Shy
The Minneapolis mayor imposed a moratorium on no-knock warrants Friday, two days after a SWAT team entered a downtown apartment and killed Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who his parents said was “executed” after he was startled from a deep sleep and reached for a legal firearm to protect himself.
Mayor Jacob Frey said while the moratorium is in place, he and police leadership will review and revise department policy with the help of two experts who helped shape Breonna’s Law, the ban on no-knock warrants that was imposed in Louisville, Kentucky, following the death of Breonna Taylor in a botched raid at her home in 2020.
“No matter what information comes to light, it won’t change the fact that Amir Locke’s life was cut short,” Frey said in a statement.
--------------
He's a Blooming Criminal
A man who allegedly kidnapped an employee at the Colorado ranch owned by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg at first asked her where the billionaire’s daughters were and later went on rants about Bloomberg, saying he wanted to “make an international scene” with him or his daughters, according to court documents.
The Bloomberg family was not at the ranch near rural Meeker, in the western part of the state, when Joseph Beecher allegedly rammed his pickup through its gates and kidnapped the female worker at gunpoint Wednesday.
Beecher, 48, then forced the woman to drive him in her truck to the Denver area and north to Wyoming, authorities said. Her name was initially released by authorities but redacted in Colorado state court documents released Friday.
--------------
"Gesundheit" to the Economy
Omicron was supposed to wreak havoc on the labor market. But it didn’t.
The jump in January hiring has underscored the economy’s growing capacity to weather renewed waves of surging coronavirus cases, suggesting a tight job market is forcing companies to retain workers now that hiring new ones has become costlier and more difficult.
Unlike previous waves of the virus, when businesses were quick to pause operations and lay off workers, many are now going to greater lengths to hang on to their employees. Overall, U.S. employers added 467,000 jobs in January, with much of those gains concentrated in hotels, restaurants, retailers and other services.
“Omicron was hugely disruptive — millions of workers were absent due to illness, office reopenings stalled, hiring and job searches slowed down — and yet the job recovery continued,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “Employers did not yank job postings and run for the hills. Hiring remained robust and in the end, the economy barely sneezed.”
Or Maybe It Was Just a Hiccup
--------------
Why Don't the Airlines Just Share Their Lists?
After the worst year in history for unruly airline passengers, Delta’s CEO is asking the Department of Justice to help create a national "no-fly" list for anyone convicted of federal offenses related to an on-board disruption.
CEO Ed Bastian wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday asking for his support in banning unruly passengers from all commercial carriers.
To date the airline has placed almost 2,000 people on Delta's internal no-fly list for refusing to wear a mask and has submitted around 1,000 banned names to the Transportation Security Administration to pursue civil penalties.
--------------
Whitey Bulger Was on the Run For 17 Years
A Milwaukee man who was on the FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list. was captured after 16 years on the run, the bureau announced Friday.
Octaviano Juarez-Corro, 47, was located and arrested Thursday evening in Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico, the FBI said. He was wanted in a 2006 mass shooting where authorities say he shot people execution style at a park. The shooting left two dead and injured three others, including his wife.
“Octaviano Juarez-Corro spent the last 16 years running from law enforcement, hiding in another country, and believing time and distance was on his side,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael Hensle of the FBI’s Milwaukee Field Office. “The FBI has a long reach and extraordinary law enforcement partnerships across the globe. I commend the tireless efforts of all our partners from Milwaukee to Mexico in closely coordinating with the FBI in capturing this wanted fugitive and helping to bring this violent offender to justice, as well as closure to the victims and their families.”
--------------
Have You Seen Peyton Manning Lately?
--------------
So What Do You Say, Taylor? Bono? Gaga?
Spotify won't ax Joe Rogan till Bad Bunny or The Weeknd protests too
The era of the political-protest artist may not be dead, but the ones protesting will need to be bigger now than Neil Young if they're going to spur Spotify to cancel Joe Rogan.
--------------
100,000 Dead Fish on the Wall, 100,000 Dead Fish ... The Longest Song Ever.
Aspill of more than 100,000 dead fish in the Atlantic Ocean off the French coast has been described by the French Maritime Minister as "shocking" in an incident that has drawn the attention of environmental activist groups.
The French arm of Sea Shepherd -- a non-profit marine conservation activism organization -- posted photos of the spill to its Twitter page on Thursday. "Here is what is happening right now in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of La Rochelle," the tweet said. "Four factory boats operate in that area, including the Margiris -- the second largest trawler in the world (banned in Australia)."
The images posted by Sea Shepherd show an astonishing mass of dead fish -- which are blue whiting, a sub-species of cod -- floating on the water. The Dutch-owned Margiris has been described as a "mammoth super-trawler" by Greenpeace.
In a statement, the owner said: "We would like to clarify that around 5.50am on 3 February 2022, an amount of blue whiting was involuntarily released into the sea from the Margiris vessel, due to a rupture in the cod-end part of its net. Such an accident is a rare occurrence and in this case was caused by the unexpectedly large size of the fish caught. In line with EU law, the incident and the quantities lost have been recorded in the vessel's log book and reported to the authorities of the vessel's flag state, Lithuania."
--------------
CDC doesn't do a good job of reporting around holidays.
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People 2 or More Doses | New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Feb 5 | 655,591 | 250,915,858 | 212,657,682 | ||
| Feb 4 | 680,135 | 250,731,754 | 212,481,465 | 313,117 | 2,404 |
| Feb 3 | 719,986 | 250,593,665 | 212,336,183 | 343,563 | 2,371 |
| Feb 2 | 494,092 | 250,378,993 | 212,130,684 | 378,015 | 2,403 |
| Feb 1 | 510,477 | 250,184,240 | 211,954,555 | 415,552 | 2,369 |
| Jan 31 | 575,732 | 250,029,773 | 211,818,885 | 446,355 | 2,287 |
| Jan 30 | 603,030 | 249,892,470 | 211,695,131 | 497,296 | 2,234 |
| Jan 29 | 595,871 | 249,695,301 | 211,533,229 | 522,626 | 2,261 |
| Jan 28 | 626,946 | 249,473,925 | 211,343,818 | 543,016 | 2,265 |
| Jan 27 | 643,725 | 249,267,851 (I don't know why) | 211,162,083 | 577,748 | 2,300 |
| Jan 26 | 962,958 | 251,518,114 | 210,850,212 | 596,859 | 2,288 |
| Jan 25 | 1,011,603 | 251,289,667 | 210,682,471 | 627,294 | 2,246 |
| Jan 24 | 1,201,186 | 250,964,433 | 210,459,963 | 692,359 | 2,166 |
| Jan 23 | 1,101,405 | 250,763,600 | 210,358,008 | 663,908 | 1,936 |
| Jan 22 | 1,002,322 | 250,568,431 | 210,229,586 | 686,715 | 1,939 |
| Jan 21 | 1,035,111 | 250,262,153 | 210,021,766 | 716,829 | 1,974 |
| Jan 20 | 1,094,988 | 250,028,635 | 209,842,610 | 726,870 | 1,843 |
| Jan 19 | 1,135,453 | 249,702,939 | 209,509,297 | 744,615 | 1,749 |
| Jan 18 | 1,158,537 | 249,393,487 | 209,312,770 | 755,095 | 1,669 |
| Jan 17 | No Data | 736,350 | 1,746 | ||
| Jan 16 | No Data | 771,131 | 1,851 | ||
| Jan 15 | 1,268,202 | 248,707,432 | 208,995,438 | 788,628 | 1,858 |
| Jan 14 | 1,286,773 | 248,338,448 | 208,791,862 | 798,335 | 1,784 |
| Jan 13 | 1,291,013 | 247,987,225 | 208,564,894 | 794,587 | 1,730 |
| Jan 12 | 1,234,672 | 247,695,845 | 208,182,657 | 782,765 | 1,729 |
| Jan 11 | 1,213,113 | 247,321,023 | 207,954,605 | 761,535 | 1,656 |
| Jan 10 | 1,307,445 | 247,051,363 | 207,796,335 | 750,996 | 1,633 |
| Jan 9 | 1,331,635 | 246,812,939 | 207,662,071 | 674,406 | 1,552 |
| Jan 8 | 1,286,783 | 246,447,823 | 207,452,448 | 680,330 | 1,544 |
| Jan 7 | 1,226,151 | 246,050,320 | 207,229,983 | 668,497 | 1,513 |
| Jan 6 | 1,164,127 | 245,653,518 | 207,016,514 | 614,552 | 1,350 |
| Jan 5 | 1,117,999 | 245,278,020 | 206,797,799 | 586,391 | 1,245 |
| Jan 4 | 1,093,005 | 244,947,293 | 206,581,659 | 554,328 | 1,238 |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 75.6% | 64.1% | 42.1% |
| % of Population 5+ | 80.3% | 68.1% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 85.3% | 72.7% | 45.5% |
| % of Population 18+ | 87.2% | 74.3% | 56.4% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 88.4% | 64.9% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 2)
There has been no significant rain since the first week in January. There are no big storms in the 10-day forecast. After a great start, this could still turn out to be a bad season.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | 2 Weeks ago | 3 Weeks ago | 4 Weeks ago | 5 Weeks ago | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 113% | 124% | 134% | 149% | 158% | 170% |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 99% | 110% | 121% | 138% | 156% | 170% |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 91% | 101% | 112% | 127% | 145% | 151% |
| Snow Water Content - North | 89% | 117% | 128% | 135% | 134% | |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 89% | 114% | 129% | 148% | 148% | |
| Snow Water Content - South | 92% | 121% | 135% | 160% | 158% |
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
He Just Spoke Like a Racist Pig, and He Apologizes. That Must Mean Everything is OK.
The US podcast host Joe Rogan has issued an apology over his past use of racist language on his popular show.
A widely-shared compilation video showed him repeatedly using the N-word in early episodes of his show, which has been running for over a decade.
The 54-year offered his "deepest" apologies and called his past use of the slur "shameful".
Rogan also apologised for making a racist comment about visiting a predominantly black neighbourhood.
He said he "felt sick" watching the compilation, and wished he could take his comments back.
The Audience Is As Bad As Carr. Who Finds Mass Murder Funny? (Mel Brooks?)
Comedian Jimmy Carr has sparked outrage for a routine about the Holocaust in his latest Netflix stand-up special.
Carr has been described as "truly disturbing" for making light of the murders of hundreds of thousands of people from Europe's traveller communities during World War Two.
The comedian, who introduced his show as being "a career ender" and warned it contained "terrible things", said a "positive" of the Holocaust was that thousands of Gypsies were murdered.
The comments were greeted with applause and laughter from the audience.
Between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti people were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, according to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
India Stink
Her hair was cut off and her face painted black before she was paraded into the street where some people in a cheering crowd called for her to be raped.
But perhaps the most shocking aspect of the attack in a Delhi neighborhood last month is that video shared on social media shows that most of the baying mob were women.
At least 12 people have been arrested by the Delhi police, eight of whom are women. Two are minors. Police have not brought charges over the incident, but they say the 20-year-old victim of the January 26 attack was abducted and physically and sexually assaulted.
Swati Maliwal, the chairperson of the Delhi Commission of Women, said the woman told her she'd been raped by three men.
"There were women present (in the room)...instigating the men to be more brutal with her," Maliwal told CNN, recounting what the victim had told her.
Aarti told CNN her sister -- who is married -- was attacked by the relatives of a teenage boy, who they say killed himself after her sister spurned his advances. CNN has attempted to contact representatives for the alleged offenders though it is not clear if they have lawyers.
"They (alleged perpetrators) blamed her, but she didn't do anything," Aarti said. "I never thought they would go this far."
You Can Buy Counterfeit Money on Amazon? Really?
A Tempe, Arizona, Home Depot employee is facing a federal charge, after authorities said he repeatedly took cash from the store and replaced it with counterfeit currency before depositing it in the bank, according to a criminal complaint.
According to a US Secret Service news release, agents from the Phoenix field office arrested Adrian Jean Pineda, a vault employee at the store, who was responsible for counting cash and preparing it for deposit.
Pineda is accused of ordering counterfeit bills from Amazon, swapping them with money taken from store cash registers and sealing them in bags for transfer to the bank, according to the complaint. Pineda, the complaint said, admitted to switching the real money with fake bills in an interview with Secret Service agents.
Maybe He Can Find a Polling Place in Cancun
Sen. Cruz found a voting cause to rally around: A new bill that ensures Americans can enter polling places without having to show proof of vaccination. \
There is, The American Independent points out, one minor problem with the new bill. Nobody associated with the bill can identify any polling place, anywhere, that has such a rule in effect. It's not a thing. Nobody's introducing bills to keep unvaccinated Americans out of polling places because, uh, it's really just not a thing.
Today's Second Worst County in the World
The Board of Commissioners in a North Central Minnesota county that was won by Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020 wanted the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office to conduct an “audit” of both its results and the equipment used in the 2020 election. Secretary of State Steve Simon (he’s awesome btw!) told county officials, “No dice”.
Nestled in lake country, about two hours north of Minneapolis, Crow Wing County voted overwhelmingly Republican in 2020. They also did so in 2018. And in 2016.
Today's Worst County in the World. You Must Be Proud, Boys.
Voters in far northern California have solidified the ouster of a Republican county official, giving control of the Shasta county board of supervisors to a group supported by local militia members.
Leonard Moty, a retired police chief and Republican with decades of public service, lost his seat in a recall election in one of California’s most conservative counties. The Tuesday recall came as tensions reached a high in the county after two years of threats and increasing hostility toward moderate Republican officials over pandemic health restrictions.
History for One Dummy
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch took Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to task this week with a blistering editorial slamming his resistance to helping Ukraine defend itself from a possible invasion from Russia.
The newspaper’s editorial board slammed the Donald Trump apologist, who led Republican Senate objections to President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, as “grossly unfit” for office.
It also offered the controversial senator “a short history lesson” contesting his claim that Biden alone, and not Trump, would be to blame if Vladimir Putin’s Russia invaded its neighbor.
“There once was a time when Hawley had presidential aspirations, but a badly timed fist-pump on Jan. 6, 2021, along with his appeasing advocacy of Russian supremacy just about closes the lid on his presidential dreams,” wrote the board.
“We thought Hawley should’ve resigned his Senate seat for his role in the Capitol insurrection,” it added. “But the idea that the United States should kneel down to Russia over Ukraine underscores how grossly unfit Hawley is to continue in office.”
He Tried to Steal From the Wrong Porn Star
Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of stealing from the client that helped him flirt with fame.
He was found guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after he surreptitiously diverted $300,000 that rightfully belonged to Stormy Daniels, the pornographic performer who hired Avenatti to represent her in litigation against former President Trump.
Avenatti had pleaded not guilty and argued the evidence against him was insufficient but the jury sided with federal prosecutors who said Avenatti convinced Daniels her book publisher was late with payments owed to her for her memoir, “Full Disclosure,” when he already had the money in an account he controlled. He will be sentenced on May 24.
--------------
The Last Time COVID Cases Were This Low Was December 29th.
There have been around 76 million confirmed cases in the US since the start of COVID. There are probably more people who have had it, but not been tested, and some people have had it more than once.
A rough guess is 25% - 33% of the population has had COVID.
900,000 deaths means around 1.1% of confirmed cases have died.
--------------
So What's the News Media Going to Criticize This Week?
The experience of three recent predecessors shows why it’s too early to count Biden out.
After a difficult first two years in the White House, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama each rebuilt enough public support to win a second term—not long after many observers had labeled them fatally damaged by their early setbacks.
Although the specific environment and challenges confronting those three presidents diverged in many ways, the trajectory of each man’s first term followed the same broad arc. Each was elected at a moment of great unease about the country’s direction, particularly in terms of the economy. Each saw his approval rating tumble over his first two years, as voters concluded that conditions were not improving as fast as they had expected, or at least hoped. For all three, that decline culminated in big losses during their first midterm election (especially for Clinton and Obama). But in the second half of each man’s first term, public attitudes about the country’s direction improved, lifting the president’s approval rating. Just two years after their midterm reversals, all three won reelection, Clinton and Obama by solid margins and Reagan by a historic 49-state landslide.
--------------
Are Pigs Flying? Pence Tells the Truth.
The Response is Predictable.
Trump yet again baselessly insisted that Pence had the power to refuse to certify electoral votes because of election “fraud” — which the former president has yet to present a shred of evidence to support.
“Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible,” Trump wrote on his blog, which was immediately posted by aide Liz Harrington on her Twitter account.
“Well, the Vice President’s position is not an automatic conveyor if obvious signs of irregularities or fraud exist,” he added.
There were no obvious signs — nor any signs — of irregularities or fraud.
--------------
I Love the Smell of Data in the Morning!
--------------
This is a Day Late and a Life Shy
The Minneapolis mayor imposed a moratorium on no-knock warrants Friday, two days after a SWAT team entered a downtown apartment and killed Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who his parents said was “executed” after he was startled from a deep sleep and reached for a legal firearm to protect himself.
Mayor Jacob Frey said while the moratorium is in place, he and police leadership will review and revise department policy with the help of two experts who helped shape Breonna’s Law, the ban on no-knock warrants that was imposed in Louisville, Kentucky, following the death of Breonna Taylor in a botched raid at her home in 2020.
“No matter what information comes to light, it won’t change the fact that Amir Locke’s life was cut short,” Frey said in a statement.
--------------
He's a Blooming Criminal
A man who allegedly kidnapped an employee at the Colorado ranch owned by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg at first asked her where the billionaire’s daughters were and later went on rants about Bloomberg, saying he wanted to “make an international scene” with him or his daughters, according to court documents.
The Bloomberg family was not at the ranch near rural Meeker, in the western part of the state, when Joseph Beecher allegedly rammed his pickup through its gates and kidnapped the female worker at gunpoint Wednesday.
Beecher, 48, then forced the woman to drive him in her truck to the Denver area and north to Wyoming, authorities said. Her name was initially released by authorities but redacted in Colorado state court documents released Friday.
--------------
"Gesundheit" to the Economy
Omicron was supposed to wreak havoc on the labor market. But it didn’t.
The jump in January hiring has underscored the economy’s growing capacity to weather renewed waves of surging coronavirus cases, suggesting a tight job market is forcing companies to retain workers now that hiring new ones has become costlier and more difficult.
Unlike previous waves of the virus, when businesses were quick to pause operations and lay off workers, many are now going to greater lengths to hang on to their employees. Overall, U.S. employers added 467,000 jobs in January, with much of those gains concentrated in hotels, restaurants, retailers and other services.
“Omicron was hugely disruptive — millions of workers were absent due to illness, office reopenings stalled, hiring and job searches slowed down — and yet the job recovery continued,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “Employers did not yank job postings and run for the hills. Hiring remained robust and in the end, the economy barely sneezed.”
Or Maybe It Was Just a Hiccup
--------------
Why Don't the Airlines Just Share Their Lists?
After the worst year in history for unruly airline passengers, Delta’s CEO is asking the Department of Justice to help create a national "no-fly" list for anyone convicted of federal offenses related to an on-board disruption.
CEO Ed Bastian wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday asking for his support in banning unruly passengers from all commercial carriers.
To date the airline has placed almost 2,000 people on Delta's internal no-fly list for refusing to wear a mask and has submitted around 1,000 banned names to the Transportation Security Administration to pursue civil penalties.
--------------
Whitey Bulger Was on the Run For 17 Years
A Milwaukee man who was on the FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list. was captured after 16 years on the run, the bureau announced Friday.
Octaviano Juarez-Corro, 47, was located and arrested Thursday evening in Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico, the FBI said. He was wanted in a 2006 mass shooting where authorities say he shot people execution style at a park. The shooting left two dead and injured three others, including his wife.
“Octaviano Juarez-Corro spent the last 16 years running from law enforcement, hiding in another country, and believing time and distance was on his side,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael Hensle of the FBI’s Milwaukee Field Office. “The FBI has a long reach and extraordinary law enforcement partnerships across the globe. I commend the tireless efforts of all our partners from Milwaukee to Mexico in closely coordinating with the FBI in capturing this wanted fugitive and helping to bring this violent offender to justice, as well as closure to the victims and their families.”
--------------
Have You Seen Peyton Manning Lately?
--------------
So What Do You Say, Taylor? Bono? Gaga?
Spotify won't ax Joe Rogan till Bad Bunny or The Weeknd protests too
The era of the political-protest artist may not be dead, but the ones protesting will need to be bigger now than Neil Young if they're going to spur Spotify to cancel Joe Rogan.
--------------
100,000 Dead Fish on the Wall, 100,000 Dead Fish ... The Longest Song Ever.
Aspill of more than 100,000 dead fish in the Atlantic Ocean off the French coast has been described by the French Maritime Minister as "shocking" in an incident that has drawn the attention of environmental activist groups.
The French arm of Sea Shepherd -- a non-profit marine conservation activism organization -- posted photos of the spill to its Twitter page on Thursday. "Here is what is happening right now in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of La Rochelle," the tweet said. "Four factory boats operate in that area, including the Margiris -- the second largest trawler in the world (banned in Australia)."
The images posted by Sea Shepherd show an astonishing mass of dead fish -- which are blue whiting, a sub-species of cod -- floating on the water. The Dutch-owned Margiris has been described as a "mammoth super-trawler" by Greenpeace.
In a statement, the owner said: "We would like to clarify that around 5.50am on 3 February 2022, an amount of blue whiting was involuntarily released into the sea from the Margiris vessel, due to a rupture in the cod-end part of its net. Such an accident is a rare occurrence and in this case was caused by the unexpectedly large size of the fish caught. In line with EU law, the incident and the quantities lost have been recorded in the vessel's log book and reported to the authorities of the vessel's flag state, Lithuania."
--------------
