Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2022 10:06:18 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 550 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 15)
January had NO rain or snow. February looks the same.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
Ain't She Suisse? Suisse Isn't So Sweet
Credit Suisse has hit out after a massive data leak has brought to light the hidden wealth of several clients of the bank.
Data on more than 18,000 bank accounts, holding more than $100bn (£73.6bn), was leaked to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by a whistleblower.
It includes personal, shared and corporate accounts, as well as those opened as far back as the 1940s.
Nearly 50 media organisations have spent months poring over the data.
In their investigations, they suggest they have found evidence Credit Suisse accounts had been used by clients involved in serious crimes such as money laundering or drug trafficking.
But the Swiss bank rejected the allegations in a statement on Sunday, saying it strongly rejected the allegations and insinuations about the bank's alleged business practices or lack of due diligence carried out.
This Man Was an Investigator for Prosecutors in Georgia
Gregory McMichael, a former prosecutorial investigator and the father of the man who shot Arbery, allegedly wished the late Georgia state representative and civil rights leader Julien Bond dead sooner. “I wish that guy had been in the ground years ago,” he reportedly told a New York real estate agent, according to testimony News 4 Jax covered. “All those Blacks are nothing but trouble and I wish they’d all die.”
McMichael was apparently as unprofessional as he was vile. He was working in the local prosecutor’s office at the time and was responsible for driving the realtor, Carole Sears, and her daughter to and from the airport when he made the remarks.
Kim Ballesteros, whose husband lived across the street from Gregory McMichael when they both worked as landlords, testified on Friday that Gregory mocked a Black woman he rented to, calling her a "walrus" and even turning off her air conditioner during a summer in which she was late paying rent.
The Flu Trux Klan is Disbursing
Canadian police appear to end protesters’ siege of Ottawa
Hundreds of police in riot gear swept through Canada’s capital Saturday, retaking control of the streets around the Parliament buildings and appearing to end the siege of Ottawa after three weeks of protests.
Protesters, angry over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, retreated from the largest police operation in the country’s history, with police arresting or driving out demonstrators and towing away their trucks.
In Ottawa, Interim Police Chief Steve Bell said that some smaller protests continued but “this unlawful occupation is over. We will continue with our mission until it is complete.”
While some protesters vowed to stay on Ottawa’s streets, one organizer told reporters they had “decided to peacefully withdraw.”
“We will simply regroup as a grassroots movement,” Tom Marazzo said at a press conference.
Blame Canada! Invade Canada!
Bait and Switch
Glenn Youngkin Goes Full MAGA
He ran as an amiable moderate. He’s governing like Trump.
His day-one executive orders canceled school mask mandates and banned the teaching of “critical race theory.” He established a snitchy tip line for citizens’ “reports and observations” of “divisive practices” in the classroom. He nominated Donald Trump–aligned figures to populate his administration, such as the former Trump EPA chief (and coal lobbyist) Andrew Wheeler. And he unleashed savage Trump-style Twitter attacks on perceived enemies of his agenda.
These moves have not gone over well in a purple state that has elected pragmatic moderates like U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and that gave Joe Biden a 10-point win in the 2020 presidential election.
When Oil and Gas Are Threatened Coal Joe Rides to the Rescue
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued sweeping new guidance yesterday for natural gas projects, including a first-ever climate change threshold, upending decades of precedent for how major energy infrastructure is approved.
FERC updated a 23-year-old policy for assessing proposed natural gas pipelines, adding new considerations for landowners, environmental justice communities and other factors. In a separate but related decision, the commission also laid out a framework for evaluating projects’ greenhouse gas emissions.
But while environmental advocates and some Democratic lawmakers welcomed the decisions, natural gas groups and their allies said the changes could raise energy costs and make it harder to meet demand for gas. FERC’s Republican commissioners also said the policies go beyond FERC’s role as an independent energy regulator, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the chair of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called FERC’s moves “reckless.”
If He's Not Careful, They May Not Let Him Return to Cancun
Mexican government officials have fired back at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), after he accused the country of “undermining the rule of law.”
“If he praised me, I might start thinking we weren’t doing things right,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday. “But if he says we are wrong, well that for me is something to be proud of.”
He said Cruz’s criticism was “expected” given their political differences, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The exchange followed the senator’s criticism of the country over recent killings of journalists and politicians there, with Cruz describing “deepening civil unrest in Mexico and the breakdown there of civil society, the breakdown of the rule of law.”
Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, also responded to Cruz, publishing an open letter to him on Thursday.
In his letter, Barragán said that at least Mexico’s political candidates accept defeat when they lose elections.
Proof? He Don't Need No Stinkin' Proof!
Donald Trump is still trying to blame anyone but himself for his longtime accounting firm’s decision last week to sever ties with the Trump Organization.
He insisted Sunday that the firm Mazars USA was “broken” by “Radical leftist racist prosecutors.”
Trump offers no evidence for his accusations that the prosecutors are racist. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and state Attorney General Letitia James — who are both investigating Trump Organization business practices — are Black.
He'll Be Putin Them to Death
The United States has informed the United Nations it has credible information showing that Moscow is compiling lists of Ukrainians “to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation,” according to a letter to the U.N. human rights chief obtained by The Washington Post on Sunday night.
The letter alleges that Moscow’s post-invasion planning would involve torture, forced disappearances and “widespread human suffering.” It does not describe the nature of the intelligence that undergirds its assessment.
Everyone He Touched Dies
The sister of Bernie Madoff, the infamous Ponzi schemer who died in prison last year, and her husband were found dead in their Florida home Thursday, in what police described as an apparent murder-suicide.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in a statement posted to its social media accounts Sunday said officers arrived in Boynton Beach about 1 p.m. Thursday after receiving a report that “a male and female were unresponsive inside their residence.” They found an elderly couple with gunshot wounds, and detectives said signs pointed to a murder-suicide, the statement added.
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When Is An Invasion Not An Invasion?
Russia will decide today whether to recognise the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has said.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been contested by Ukraine and Russia-backed rebels for years, with regular violence despite a ceasefire agreement.
Leaders of both regions asked Russia to recognise their independence on Monday.
But Western powers fear such a move could be used as a pretext for Russia to invade its eastern neighbour.
Since 2019, Russia has issued large numbers of passports to people living in the two regions.
And analysts say that if the two regions were recognised as independent, Russia might send troops into Ukraine's east under the guise of protecting its citizens.
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Here's a Glass 10% Full Guy
Five reasons why Putin might not invade:
1. It will be bloody
2. It won't be popular at home
3. Western sanctions will hurt
4. There will be a high political cost
5. Putin has already made his point
The Glass is Still 90% Empty
Russian media is circulating claims of car bombings and chemical attacks blamed on Ukraine.
The US, UK, and others have warned that Russia would seek to create a fake pretext for war.
Some videos given as evidence have metadata suggesting they were made in advance.
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Zoey Returns From the Dead
A dog has been reunited with her owners in California after being missing for 12 years.
Zoey had been dumped from a vehicle at a rural property near Stockton and was found by someone who called police, saying she seemed old and ill.
An animal services officer scanned the dog's microchip and discovered she had been missing since 2010.
"I definitely didn't expect this to ever happen so I'm really excited," said Zoey's owner Michelle.
Zoey had been missing for so long the microchip company had listed her as dead since 2015, San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office said.
Officer Brandon Levin, who scanned Zoey, got her owner's contact details from the chip firm, and found she still had the same mobile number. He said: "She was in complete shock."
The dog was found about 60 miles from where she had gone missing in 2010, her family home in Lafayette.
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Headline of the Week: "McDonald's Pig Fight With Billionaire Escalates"
Billionaire Carl Icahn has stepped up his fight with McDonald's over the welfare of pigs used in its food chain.
Mr Icahn, whose no-nonsense reputation for shaking-up companies made him a Wall Street legend, wants to put two people on McDonald's board.
He owns only 200 McDonald's shares but, reportedly spurred on by his animal welfare activist daughter, that gives him leverage to agitate for change.
McDonald's says it has led the way in improving animal welfare standards.
The battle centres on claims about pregnant sows being kept in small crates, a practice Mr Icahn said was "obscene".
He said McDonald's had not lived up to a promise to phase out the sourcing of pork from pigs housed in so-called gestational crates, a practice targeted by animal rights activists.
200 Shares? What Billionaire Owns 200 Shares of Anything?
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Who Knew Jobfishing Was a Thing
The Zoom call had about 40 people on it - or that's what the people who had logged on thought. The all-staff meeting at the glamorous design agency had been called to welcome the growing company's newest recruits. Its name was Madbird and its dynamic and inspirational boss, Ali Ayad, wanted everyone on the call to be ambitious hustlers - just like him.
But what those who had turned on their cameras didn't know was that some of the others in the meeting weren't real people. Yes, they were listed as participants. Some even had active email accounts and LinkedIn profiles. But their names were made up and their headshots belonged to other people.
The whole thing was fake - the real employees had been "jobfished". The BBC has spent a year investigating what happened.
The elaborate con that tricked dozens into working for a fake design agency
For months, Madbird's daily business hummed along, more designers were hired to meet the backlog of briefs being negotiated by the sales team.
But even before the truth about Madbird was revealed, its workers had a problem. Because of the unusual way their contracts had been written, they were yet to be paid.
They had all agreed to work on a commission-only basis for the first six months. It was only after they passed their probation period that they would be put on a salary - about £35,000 ($47,300) for most. Until then, they would only earn a percentage of every deal they negotiated. They were all young adults looking for work and living through a pandemic. Many felt they had no choice but to accept the terms in their contracts.
But no deals were ever finalised. By February 2021, not a single client contract had been signed. None of the Madbird staff had been paid a penny.
Some recruits ended up leaving after a few weeks, but many stayed. Many had been there for almost six months - forced to take out credit cards and borrow money from family to keep on top of bills.
The longer you worked at Madbird, the harder it became to leave. What if one of the big deals you'd been working on came through next week? It made no sense to resign just as you were about to finish your probation period. For many, a salary seemed within grasp. Plus, in the middle of the pandemic, jobs were hard to find.
It is obvious now why no-one was paid. Madbird had no money coming in. But that wasn't obvious to new staff. They mistakenly assumed their pay contracts were unique - and that their line managers must have been on salaries. Besides, Madbird was on the cusp of signing a whole bunch of deals. The money was finally coming.
Or that is how it appeared until everything crumbled one afternoon.
Here's the whole story
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Love Mosquitos? Then You'll Love the Future
Let’s take mosquitoes, for example. Most species of mosquitoes thrive in temperatures from 59 to 89 degrees Fahrenheit. In many parts of the U.S., warmer temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are contributing to a lengthening of the mosquito season. I asked a colleague, Dr. Hana Akselrod, an infectious disease doctor and assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, what this means for public health. “The lengthened mosquito season increases risk of transmission of West Nile virus, which is endemic to most of the U.S.,” she told me.
And Akselrod noted that across the Southeast U.S. and the Gulf Coast, the concerns of climate change are even greater. Global warming contributes to a habitat that is more hospitable to the Aedes mosquito, the vector that can carry the dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. While these viruses are endemic in the Caribbean region, Akselrod believes that “climate change increases the risk of them getting established in the United States.”
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NOAA Says We May Need Noah Soon
Sea level rise is accelerating rapidly and U.S. coasts could on average see another foot of water by 2050, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report released Tuesday.
“The United States is expected to experience as much sea level rise in 30 years as we saw over the span of the entire last century,” Rick Spinrad, the NOAA administrator, said. “Current and future emissions matter, but this will happen no matter what we do about emissions.”
The report predicted 10 to 12 inches of additional sea level rise by midcentury, though projections for specific regions and communities vary because of changes in land height. Some parts of the coastal U.S. are subsiding, while others are experiencing uplift or rebound
We Just Don't Want Two Republicans on the Ark
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I Am Sure Hospital Workers Would Like to Get Back to Normal Too, But Premature Relaxation Won't Help
Some U.S. governors defend their mask policy changes to ‘get back to normal.’
The governors of Maryland and New Jersey defended their moves to ease Covid restrictions, saying on Sunday that falling coronavirus cases in their states justified a change even as new cases and deaths remain fairly high in some regions of the United States.
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Remember What B.A. Stood for in "B. A. Baracus"?
Health officials are keeping a sharp eye on the COVID-19 omicron subvariant BA.2, which appears to be more contagious than the current BA.1 strain — but its health impacts are still unclear.
A new World Health Organization study reported that even as COVID-19 cases are falling, BA.2 accounted for 21.5% of all new omicron cases analyzed worldwide in the first week of February. (Omicron cases accounted for more than 98% of sequenced samples around the globe the previous 30 days.)
BA.2 accounted for the majority of cases a week ago in 10 countries, including Denmark, India, China, Guam and the Philippines.
Southeast Asia had the highest prevalence of BA.2 (44.7%), and North and South America had the lowest (1%).
But the subvariant’s health impacts are still unknown. In some countries where BA.2 is spreading, hospitalizations are still decreasing.
Baracus is from the A Team Tv Show
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"Personal Responsibility" -- Why Didn't We Think of That?
Scientists warned the British government on Monday not to weaken the country’s ability to monitor and track coronavirus after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ends the requirement for people in England to self-isolate if they contract COVID-19.
Johnson on Monday will announce the details in Parliament of the government’s plan for “living with COVID” by treating it like other transmissible illnesses such as flu. The legal requirement to self-isolate for at least five days after a positive coronavirus test is expected to be replaced by guidance, and mass testing for the virus will be scaled back.
The new plan foresees vaccines and treatments keeping the virus in check as it becomes endemic in the country. Everyone 75 and older will be offered a fourth vaccine dose, along with those 12 and up who have conditions that make them vulnerable to severe disease.
Johnson urged people not to “throw caution to the winds,” but said it was time to move “away from banning certain courses of action, compelling certain courses of action, in favor of encouraging personal responsibility.”
Maybe Because A Lot of People are Irresponsible
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Scattered Rain and Light Snow Won't Do It
A cold front approaching California is expected to bring scattered rain, wind, light snow and freezing temperatures starting Monday.
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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 21 | |||||
| Feb 20 | No Data | ||||
| Feb 19 | 473,537 | 252,791,817 | 214,745,073 | ||
| Feb 18 | 491,120 | 252,650,507 | 214,602,856 | 103,462 | 1,920 |
| Feb 17 | 493,892 | 252,539,755 | 214,474,721 | 112,653 | 1,998 |
| Feb 16 | 516,988 | 252,400,057 | 214,218,580 | 121,664 | 2,020 |
| Feb 15 | 544,184 | 252,277,758 | 214,104,148 | 134,468 | 2,100 |
| Feb 14 | 546,667 | 252,144,326 | 213,962,983 | 146,921 | 2,208 |
| Feb 13 | 555,669 | 252,054,215 | 213,869,678 | 161,197 | 2,196 |
| Feb 12 | 486,374 | 251,926,344 | 213,734,419 | 168,881 | 2,197 |
| Feb 11 | 568,820 | 251,755,851 | 213,563,173 | 175,395 | 2,241 |
| Feb 10 | 580,896 | 251,655,172 | 213,430,434 | 190,401 | 2,305 |
| Feb 9 | 591,786 | 251,467,303 | 213,246,140 | 215,418 | 2,313 |
| Feb 8 | 602,606 | 251,312,470 | 213,061,117 | 230,602 | 2,303 |
| Feb 7 | 611,742 | 251,176,199 | 212,920,278 | 247,319 | 2,404 |
| Feb 6 | 627,161 | 251,070,439 | 212,806,521 | 291,471 | 2,294 |
| Feb 5 | 655,591 | 250,915,858 | 212,657,682 | 298,890 | 2,331 |
| 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 |
| 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 | 76.1% | 64.7% | 43.2% |
| % of Population 5+ | 80.9% | 68.8% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 85.9% | 73.2% | 44.7% |
| % of Population 18+ | 87.7% | 74.8% | 46.5% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 88.7% | 65.9% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 15)
January had NO rain or snow. February looks the same.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | 2 Weeks ago | 3 Weeks ago | 7 Weeks ago | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 99% (59%) | 105% (59% of average for full season) | 113% | 124% | 170% |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 86% (51%) | 92% (51%) | 99% | 110% | 170% |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 79% (46%) | 84% (46%) | 91% | 101% | 151% |
| Snow Water Content - North | 68% (53%) | 80% (58%) | 89% | 134% | |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 75% (57%) | 80% (57%) | 89% | 148% | |
| Snow Water Content - South | 74% (54%) | 81% (57%) | 92% | 158% |
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
Ain't She Suisse? Suisse Isn't So Sweet
Credit Suisse has hit out after a massive data leak has brought to light the hidden wealth of several clients of the bank.
Data on more than 18,000 bank accounts, holding more than $100bn (£73.6bn), was leaked to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by a whistleblower.
It includes personal, shared and corporate accounts, as well as those opened as far back as the 1940s.
Nearly 50 media organisations have spent months poring over the data.
In their investigations, they suggest they have found evidence Credit Suisse accounts had been used by clients involved in serious crimes such as money laundering or drug trafficking.
But the Swiss bank rejected the allegations in a statement on Sunday, saying it strongly rejected the allegations and insinuations about the bank's alleged business practices or lack of due diligence carried out.
This Man Was an Investigator for Prosecutors in Georgia
Gregory McMichael, a former prosecutorial investigator and the father of the man who shot Arbery, allegedly wished the late Georgia state representative and civil rights leader Julien Bond dead sooner. “I wish that guy had been in the ground years ago,” he reportedly told a New York real estate agent, according to testimony News 4 Jax covered. “All those Blacks are nothing but trouble and I wish they’d all die.”
McMichael was apparently as unprofessional as he was vile. He was working in the local prosecutor’s office at the time and was responsible for driving the realtor, Carole Sears, and her daughter to and from the airport when he made the remarks.
Kim Ballesteros, whose husband lived across the street from Gregory McMichael when they both worked as landlords, testified on Friday that Gregory mocked a Black woman he rented to, calling her a "walrus" and even turning off her air conditioner during a summer in which she was late paying rent.
The Flu Trux Klan is Disbursing
Canadian police appear to end protesters’ siege of Ottawa
Hundreds of police in riot gear swept through Canada’s capital Saturday, retaking control of the streets around the Parliament buildings and appearing to end the siege of Ottawa after three weeks of protests.
Protesters, angry over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, retreated from the largest police operation in the country’s history, with police arresting or driving out demonstrators and towing away their trucks.
In Ottawa, Interim Police Chief Steve Bell said that some smaller protests continued but “this unlawful occupation is over. We will continue with our mission until it is complete.”
While some protesters vowed to stay on Ottawa’s streets, one organizer told reporters they had “decided to peacefully withdraw.”
“We will simply regroup as a grassroots movement,” Tom Marazzo said at a press conference.
Blame Canada! Invade Canada!
Bait and Switch
Glenn Youngkin Goes Full MAGA
He ran as an amiable moderate. He’s governing like Trump.
His day-one executive orders canceled school mask mandates and banned the teaching of “critical race theory.” He established a snitchy tip line for citizens’ “reports and observations” of “divisive practices” in the classroom. He nominated Donald Trump–aligned figures to populate his administration, such as the former Trump EPA chief (and coal lobbyist) Andrew Wheeler. And he unleashed savage Trump-style Twitter attacks on perceived enemies of his agenda.
These moves have not gone over well in a purple state that has elected pragmatic moderates like U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and that gave Joe Biden a 10-point win in the 2020 presidential election.
When Oil and Gas Are Threatened Coal Joe Rides to the Rescue
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued sweeping new guidance yesterday for natural gas projects, including a first-ever climate change threshold, upending decades of precedent for how major energy infrastructure is approved.
FERC updated a 23-year-old policy for assessing proposed natural gas pipelines, adding new considerations for landowners, environmental justice communities and other factors. In a separate but related decision, the commission also laid out a framework for evaluating projects’ greenhouse gas emissions.
But while environmental advocates and some Democratic lawmakers welcomed the decisions, natural gas groups and their allies said the changes could raise energy costs and make it harder to meet demand for gas. FERC’s Republican commissioners also said the policies go beyond FERC’s role as an independent energy regulator, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the chair of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called FERC’s moves “reckless.”
If He's Not Careful, They May Not Let Him Return to Cancun
Mexican government officials have fired back at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), after he accused the country of “undermining the rule of law.”
“If he praised me, I might start thinking we weren’t doing things right,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday. “But if he says we are wrong, well that for me is something to be proud of.”
He said Cruz’s criticism was “expected” given their political differences, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The exchange followed the senator’s criticism of the country over recent killings of journalists and politicians there, with Cruz describing “deepening civil unrest in Mexico and the breakdown there of civil society, the breakdown of the rule of law.”
Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, also responded to Cruz, publishing an open letter to him on Thursday.
In his letter, Barragán said that at least Mexico’s political candidates accept defeat when they lose elections.
Proof? He Don't Need No Stinkin' Proof!
Donald Trump is still trying to blame anyone but himself for his longtime accounting firm’s decision last week to sever ties with the Trump Organization.
He insisted Sunday that the firm Mazars USA was “broken” by “Radical leftist racist prosecutors.”
Trump offers no evidence for his accusations that the prosecutors are racist. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and state Attorney General Letitia James — who are both investigating Trump Organization business practices — are Black.
He'll Be Putin Them to Death
The United States has informed the United Nations it has credible information showing that Moscow is compiling lists of Ukrainians “to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation,” according to a letter to the U.N. human rights chief obtained by The Washington Post on Sunday night.
The letter alleges that Moscow’s post-invasion planning would involve torture, forced disappearances and “widespread human suffering.” It does not describe the nature of the intelligence that undergirds its assessment.
Everyone He Touched Dies
The sister of Bernie Madoff, the infamous Ponzi schemer who died in prison last year, and her husband were found dead in their Florida home Thursday, in what police described as an apparent murder-suicide.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in a statement posted to its social media accounts Sunday said officers arrived in Boynton Beach about 1 p.m. Thursday after receiving a report that “a male and female were unresponsive inside their residence.” They found an elderly couple with gunshot wounds, and detectives said signs pointed to a murder-suicide, the statement added.
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When Is An Invasion Not An Invasion?
Russia will decide today whether to recognise the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has said.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been contested by Ukraine and Russia-backed rebels for years, with regular violence despite a ceasefire agreement.
Leaders of both regions asked Russia to recognise their independence on Monday.
But Western powers fear such a move could be used as a pretext for Russia to invade its eastern neighbour.
Since 2019, Russia has issued large numbers of passports to people living in the two regions.
And analysts say that if the two regions were recognised as independent, Russia might send troops into Ukraine's east under the guise of protecting its citizens.
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Here's a Glass 10% Full Guy
Five reasons why Putin might not invade:
1. It will be bloody
2. It won't be popular at home
3. Western sanctions will hurt
4. There will be a high political cost
5. Putin has already made his point
The Glass is Still 90% Empty
Russian media is circulating claims of car bombings and chemical attacks blamed on Ukraine.
The US, UK, and others have warned that Russia would seek to create a fake pretext for war.
Some videos given as evidence have metadata suggesting they were made in advance.
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Zoey Returns From the Dead
A dog has been reunited with her owners in California after being missing for 12 years.
Zoey had been dumped from a vehicle at a rural property near Stockton and was found by someone who called police, saying she seemed old and ill.
An animal services officer scanned the dog's microchip and discovered she had been missing since 2010.
"I definitely didn't expect this to ever happen so I'm really excited," said Zoey's owner Michelle.
Zoey had been missing for so long the microchip company had listed her as dead since 2015, San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office said.
Officer Brandon Levin, who scanned Zoey, got her owner's contact details from the chip firm, and found she still had the same mobile number. He said: "She was in complete shock."
The dog was found about 60 miles from where she had gone missing in 2010, her family home in Lafayette.
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Headline of the Week: "McDonald's Pig Fight With Billionaire Escalates"
Billionaire Carl Icahn has stepped up his fight with McDonald's over the welfare of pigs used in its food chain.
Mr Icahn, whose no-nonsense reputation for shaking-up companies made him a Wall Street legend, wants to put two people on McDonald's board.
He owns only 200 McDonald's shares but, reportedly spurred on by his animal welfare activist daughter, that gives him leverage to agitate for change.
McDonald's says it has led the way in improving animal welfare standards.
The battle centres on claims about pregnant sows being kept in small crates, a practice Mr Icahn said was "obscene".
He said McDonald's had not lived up to a promise to phase out the sourcing of pork from pigs housed in so-called gestational crates, a practice targeted by animal rights activists.
200 Shares? What Billionaire Owns 200 Shares of Anything?
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Who Knew Jobfishing Was a Thing
The Zoom call had about 40 people on it - or that's what the people who had logged on thought. The all-staff meeting at the glamorous design agency had been called to welcome the growing company's newest recruits. Its name was Madbird and its dynamic and inspirational boss, Ali Ayad, wanted everyone on the call to be ambitious hustlers - just like him.
But what those who had turned on their cameras didn't know was that some of the others in the meeting weren't real people. Yes, they were listed as participants. Some even had active email accounts and LinkedIn profiles. But their names were made up and their headshots belonged to other people.
The whole thing was fake - the real employees had been "jobfished". The BBC has spent a year investigating what happened.
The elaborate con that tricked dozens into working for a fake design agency
For months, Madbird's daily business hummed along, more designers were hired to meet the backlog of briefs being negotiated by the sales team.
But even before the truth about Madbird was revealed, its workers had a problem. Because of the unusual way their contracts had been written, they were yet to be paid.
They had all agreed to work on a commission-only basis for the first six months. It was only after they passed their probation period that they would be put on a salary - about £35,000 ($47,300) for most. Until then, they would only earn a percentage of every deal they negotiated. They were all young adults looking for work and living through a pandemic. Many felt they had no choice but to accept the terms in their contracts.
But no deals were ever finalised. By February 2021, not a single client contract had been signed. None of the Madbird staff had been paid a penny.
Some recruits ended up leaving after a few weeks, but many stayed. Many had been there for almost six months - forced to take out credit cards and borrow money from family to keep on top of bills.
The longer you worked at Madbird, the harder it became to leave. What if one of the big deals you'd been working on came through next week? It made no sense to resign just as you were about to finish your probation period. For many, a salary seemed within grasp. Plus, in the middle of the pandemic, jobs were hard to find.
It is obvious now why no-one was paid. Madbird had no money coming in. But that wasn't obvious to new staff. They mistakenly assumed their pay contracts were unique - and that their line managers must have been on salaries. Besides, Madbird was on the cusp of signing a whole bunch of deals. The money was finally coming.
Or that is how it appeared until everything crumbled one afternoon.
Here's the whole story
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Love Mosquitos? Then You'll Love the Future
Let’s take mosquitoes, for example. Most species of mosquitoes thrive in temperatures from 59 to 89 degrees Fahrenheit. In many parts of the U.S., warmer temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are contributing to a lengthening of the mosquito season. I asked a colleague, Dr. Hana Akselrod, an infectious disease doctor and assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, what this means for public health. “The lengthened mosquito season increases risk of transmission of West Nile virus, which is endemic to most of the U.S.,” she told me.
And Akselrod noted that across the Southeast U.S. and the Gulf Coast, the concerns of climate change are even greater. Global warming contributes to a habitat that is more hospitable to the Aedes mosquito, the vector that can carry the dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses. While these viruses are endemic in the Caribbean region, Akselrod believes that “climate change increases the risk of them getting established in the United States.”
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NOAA Says We May Need Noah Soon
Sea level rise is accelerating rapidly and U.S. coasts could on average see another foot of water by 2050, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report released Tuesday.
“The United States is expected to experience as much sea level rise in 30 years as we saw over the span of the entire last century,” Rick Spinrad, the NOAA administrator, said. “Current and future emissions matter, but this will happen no matter what we do about emissions.”
The report predicted 10 to 12 inches of additional sea level rise by midcentury, though projections for specific regions and communities vary because of changes in land height. Some parts of the coastal U.S. are subsiding, while others are experiencing uplift or rebound
We Just Don't Want Two Republicans on the Ark
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I Am Sure Hospital Workers Would Like to Get Back to Normal Too, But Premature Relaxation Won't Help
Some U.S. governors defend their mask policy changes to ‘get back to normal.’
The governors of Maryland and New Jersey defended their moves to ease Covid restrictions, saying on Sunday that falling coronavirus cases in their states justified a change even as new cases and deaths remain fairly high in some regions of the United States.
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Remember What B.A. Stood for in "B. A. Baracus"?
Health officials are keeping a sharp eye on the COVID-19 omicron subvariant BA.2, which appears to be more contagious than the current BA.1 strain — but its health impacts are still unclear.
A new World Health Organization study reported that even as COVID-19 cases are falling, BA.2 accounted for 21.5% of all new omicron cases analyzed worldwide in the first week of February. (Omicron cases accounted for more than 98% of sequenced samples around the globe the previous 30 days.)
BA.2 accounted for the majority of cases a week ago in 10 countries, including Denmark, India, China, Guam and the Philippines.
Southeast Asia had the highest prevalence of BA.2 (44.7%), and North and South America had the lowest (1%).
But the subvariant’s health impacts are still unknown. In some countries where BA.2 is spreading, hospitalizations are still decreasing.
Baracus is from the A Team Tv Show
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"Personal Responsibility" -- Why Didn't We Think of That?
Scientists warned the British government on Monday not to weaken the country’s ability to monitor and track coronavirus after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ends the requirement for people in England to self-isolate if they contract COVID-19.
Johnson on Monday will announce the details in Parliament of the government’s plan for “living with COVID” by treating it like other transmissible illnesses such as flu. The legal requirement to self-isolate for at least five days after a positive coronavirus test is expected to be replaced by guidance, and mass testing for the virus will be scaled back.
The new plan foresees vaccines and treatments keeping the virus in check as it becomes endemic in the country. Everyone 75 and older will be offered a fourth vaccine dose, along with those 12 and up who have conditions that make them vulnerable to severe disease.
Johnson urged people not to “throw caution to the winds,” but said it was time to move “away from banning certain courses of action, compelling certain courses of action, in favor of encouraging personal responsibility.”
Maybe Because A Lot of People are Irresponsible
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Scattered Rain and Light Snow Won't Do It
A cold front approaching California is expected to bring scattered rain, wind, light snow and freezing temperatures starting Monday.
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