Post by mhbruin on Feb 26, 2022 10:35:57 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 552 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 22)
January had NO rain or snow. February looks the same.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
They Have Met the Enemy and It is Twitter
The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) began Thursday just after Russia initiated attacks on Ukraine, but many Republican leaders took the stage in Orlando to talk about something else: Big Tech.
As Russian missiles bombarded the European country, Republican senators, a former Trump adviser and a sitting governor all opined on major social media companies — which they say are politically censoring them — and celebrated the prospect of what some called a “parallel economy” that’s beginning to take shape in the form of new social media platforms, such as former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social.
The focus on Big Tech has served as a major rallying point for Republicans as they enter a crucial midterm election season, harnessing pent-up frustration from a steady drumbeat of suspensions of conservative influencers and commentators from major tech platforms, including Trump’s 2021 suspensions from both Twitter and Facebook.
It Was Self Defense. He Was Attacked with Popcorn. Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.
A Florida jury on Friday acquitted a retired police SWAT commander of murder for fatally shooting a fellow moviegoer during an argument over cellphone use.
Deliberations in the trial began Friday, and the six-person jury returned its verdict late that night, news outlets reported.
Retired Tampa police Capt. Curtis Reeves, now 79, had been charged with second-degree murder for killing Chad Oulson during an altercation at a suburban movie theater Jan. 13, 2014.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Richard Escobar said that Oulson, 43, made Reeves, then 71, reasonably believe his life was in danger by turning, yelling and reaching toward him. He said Reeves made the decision to shoot based on his nearly 30 years in law enforcement and hours of training on the justifiable use of deadly force. Reeves didn’t have to wait until he was hit before defending himself, Escobar said.
Reeves “had more knowledge, more experience, more study in that area than anyone in this courtroom,” Escobar said. “It’s a dangerous world.”
But prosecutor Scott Rosenwasser countered that Reeves killed Oulson because he threw popcorn in his face, angering him because it violated his self-image as an “alpha male.”
If the Sun Rises Today, Jim Jordan is Still an Ass
If the Sun Rises Today, Lindsey Graham is Whining
If the Sun Rises Today, MTG is Still Whatever She Is.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) spoke at a white nationalist conference in Florida on Friday evening.
Greene, a QAnon conspiracist and rabidly anti-trans Republican, was the surprise speaker at the third annual America First Political Action Conference in Orlando, organized by white nationalist figurehead Nick Fuentes.
Fuentes, an antisemite and racist who attended the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and who was recently subpoenaed for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, excitedly introduced Greene as the featured speaker from behind a lectern inside the Marriott Orlando World Center, according to a livestream of the event. (HuffPost was denied entrance to AFPAC.)
In her speech, Greene referred to the assembled AFPAC crowd — among them prominent right-wing extremists who have been photographed giving the Nazi salute and reciting the infamous “14 words,” a white supremacist slogan — as “canceled Americans.”
“You’ve been handed the responsibility to fight for our Constitution and stand for our freedoms, and stop the Democrats who are the communist party of the United States of America,” Greene said.
I Can Help Her With This. The Democrats Hired the Easter Bunny to Steal the Election
Controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is still convinced the 2020 presidential election was rigged but admits she has no evidence of election fraud.
Greene admitted she had no proof during an interview Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, but is sticking with her conviction that the presidential vote was rigged, even though she apparently doesn’t dispute the 2020 election results that made her a congresswoman:
“I proudly objected on Jan. 6,” Greene said. “I would object again today because I know for a fact there was so much wrong in that election and I believe it was stolen. Do I know how? No, I don’t know how.”
We Expected the VETO, But 3 Abstentions?
Russia on Friday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution telling Moscow to stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw all troops immediately.
The veto was expected, but the United States and its supporters argued that the effort would highlight Moscow’s international isolation.
The 11-1 vote — with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining — showed significant but not total opposition to Russia’s invasion of its smaller, militarily weaker neighbor.
She Ended Her Conversation with the Committee, When She Found Out She Was Talking to the Committee
A tense confrontation between the House select committee investigating the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and Kimberly Guilfoyle unfolded privately on Friday morning, with Guilfoyle and her lawyers abruptly ending her conversation with the committee over concerns about its ground rules, according to four people familiar with the exchange.
Guilfoyle, a longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump, was scheduled to meet virtually with the committee on February 25, following discussions between the committee and her lawyers.
When Guilfoyle appeared on Friday's virtual meeting, she and her lawyers grew immediately concerned when they saw who else was on the call, including lawmakers on the committee such as Representatives Adam Schiff of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland, both Democrats.
Guilfoyle spoke up and asked why members — and not just lawyers and committee staff — were on the call, three of the people said.
Which QOP Jackass Won't Allow Unanimous Consent in the Senate?
The White House asked Congress on Friday to approve $6.4 billion in aid to address the humanitarian and security crisis in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country this week, Biden administration and congressional aides said.
The request included $2.9 billion in security and humanitarian assistance and $3.5 billion for the Department of Defense.
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Los Angeles and Ventura Counties are Code Red. Orange Count is Orange. (How Perfect is That?)
Nationally cases are down 61% in the last week. Deaths are down 17%.
Want to know how your county is doing?
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It's Not Going So Well for Vlad the Invader
History shows that it's much easier to start a war than to end one.
That's certainly true of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. And it might turn out to be the same for President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.
There's an old axiom that military plans never survive the first contact with the enemy. It certainly appears to be true for Russia's forces in Ukraine.
Ed Arnold, an expert on European security at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), describes Russia's initial assault as "underwhelming" and "slower than expected".
The Russians are Facing Stubborn Resistance in an Urban Setting
Where have we heard about his before? What was the name of that city? Oh, yes...Stalingrad.
Somehow Dana Carvey has Turned Into Winston Churchill
Three years ago, he was playing a president in a popular television comedy. Today, he is Ukraine’s president, confronting Russia’s fearsome military might.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leading his country during an invasion that threatens to explode into the worst conflict in Europe’s post-World War II history.
On Friday, as Russian troops reached Kyiv, he posted a defiant handheld video to social media showing him next to the presidential palace in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, surrounded by members of his Cabinet.
“We are all here,” he said. “We are defending our independence, our country.”
The US government offered to evacuate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from Kyiv — but he declined.
“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” Zelensky said, The Associated Press reported, citing a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation.
Will Aeroflot Become Aeroflop?
Several European nations have closed their airspace to Russian flights, as Moscow faces rising pressure over the invasion of Ukraine.
Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania said on Saturday they were banning some flights from Russia.
Russia earlier said it would close its airspace to flights from Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic after they issued a ban on Russian jets.
Meanwhile, Russian-owned planes can no longer enter UK airspace.
What Will FIFA Do?
The Polish and Swedish national teams will not face Russia in a crucial 2022 World Cup qualification playoff matches in March in protest at Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The president of Poland's football association Cezary Kulesza announced the news on Saturday.
"No more words, time to act! Due to the escalation of the aggression of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine the Polish national team does not intend to play the play-off match against Russia," he tweeted.
"We are in talks with (Swedish) and (Czech) federations to bring forward a joint statement to FIFA."
Poland was due to travel to Moscow to face Russia on Thursday, March 24, while Ukraine was scheduled to travel to face Scotland on the same day.
The winner of the Poland-Russia game would host either Sweden or Czech Republic on March 29 in the final of their World Cup qualification route.
And the Swedish Football Association (SVFF) said on Saturday its board had decided that its men's national team "will not play a possible playoff match against Russia -- regardless of where the match is played.
"The Federal Board also urges FIFA to cancel the play-off matches in March in which Russia participates," the SVFF statement added.
The Champions League Kicks Themselves Out of Russia
UEFA announced that this year's Champions League Final will no longer take place in St. Petersburg following an extraordinary meeting of the governing body's Executive Committee on Friday.
The 2022 final was scheduled to be held at Krestovsky Stadium, which is sponsored by Russian state-owned company Gazprom, but will now be moved to the Stade de France in Paris to be played on the original date of May 28.
The Russians Will Have to Face Dr. Ironfist
Former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko said he would take up arms alongside his brother and fellow Hall of Famer Wladimir Klitschko to fight in what is a "bloody war" following Russia's invasion of their country, Ukraine.
Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by President Vladimir Putin. An estimated 100,000 people have fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities. Dozens have been reported killed.
Vitali Klitschko, who has been the mayor of Ukraine's capital Kyiv since 2014, said he was ready to fight.
"I don't have another choice, I have to do that. I'll be fighting," the 50-year-old, known as "Dr. Ironfist" during his fighting days, told UK broadcaster ITV's Good Morning Britain.
He's No Dr. Iornfist, but Good For Him!
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has taken up arms against the Russian army in his nation’s capital, saying resistance fighters are prepared to hold out “forever.”
The 56-year-old, who led Ukraine from 2014 to 2019, held up a Kalashnikov rifle during an interview with CNN’s John Berman on Friday as an example of the weaponry available to them. Poroshenko said the men around him did not have access to heavy artillery like tanks as Russia assaults Kyiv.
“I think that Putin never will catch Ukraine, no matter how many soldiers he has, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has,” Poroshenko said from a Kyiv street.
“We Ukrainians are free people,” he said.
Somehow, I Don't Think Vlad Worries Much About His US Approval Rating
What the Truck?
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It's Getting Hotter, Bit by Bit
Bitcoin is a pollution-creating mess. Despite efforts to make the energy-intensive mining process friendlier to the environment, it has grown significantly more reliant on fossil fuels over the past year.
China's cryptocurrency mining ban in the spring of 2021 significantly worsened Bitcoin's environmental impact, according to a new research on mining published in Joule. It is because Bitcoin miners were tapping into a significant amount of Chinese hydropower which suddenly evaporated when China made mining illegal, said Alex de Vries, one of the study's authors and a researcher at the School of Business and Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
So miners took their business elsewhere, including countries using significantly dirtier energy than China. Electricity sources powering the Bitcoin network were just 25.1% renewable in August 2021, nearly 17 percentage points lower than the 2020 average.
Mining Bitcoin each year produces as much pollution as Greece created in 2019, the study found. A single Bitcoin transaction results in the same carbon footprint as a traveler flying from New York to Amsterdam.
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What Would You Do with 1 Million New Space Objects?
Some 4.4 million space objects billions of light-years away have been mapped by astronomers, including 1 million space objects that hadn't been spotted before.
'Weird' space triangle captured by Hubble Space Telescope
The vast majority of these objects are galaxies that harbor massive black holes or rapidly growing new stars. Other discoveries include colliding groups of distant galaxies and flaring stars, which vary in brightness, within the Milky Way, according to a news statement from Durham University in England.
The observations were made by analyzing a huge amount of data from the sensitive Low Frequency Array telescope, known as LOFAR, which is using low radio frequencies to observe about a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's sky and catalog it in fine detail. It's operated by ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.
Billions of Light Years Away? This is Old News. Billions of Years Old.
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For a Change, We Know Who the Good Guys and Bad Guys Are
Few events create as much moral clarity as the unprovoked, brutal invasion of a peaceful nation by a militaristic empire. It’s the backdrop or the driving conflict of so many of our stories — Star Wars, Casablanca, Lord of the Rings, The Sound of Music — precisely because it creates heroes and villains so easily and automatically. On one side, the haughty, iron-fisted dictator with his legions of destruction — on the other side, children hiding underground while their parents make a desperate stand to protect their homeland.
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What Arrows Are Left in Our Sanctions Quiver
Suspending Russia from international organizations, like the SWIFT network of banks (as Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, suggested yesterday) and the Interpol network of law enforcement (as Garry Kasparov, the Russian opposition figure, has called for).
Seizing apartments, yachts and other assets owned by many members of the Russian elite in London, Miami and elsewhere, as Anne Applebaum of The Atlantic has suggested.
Cracking down on Vladimir Putin’s propaganda tools in the West, including the RT television network, and on people like Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor who now works for a Russian oil company.
Perhaps most significant, sharply reduce purchases of Russian oil and natural gas, by far the country’s largest source of revenue.
WTF is SWIFT? (You Can't Spell SWIFT Without WTF.)
SWIFT banking system could be used as sanction against Russia. What is it?
Some financial analysts have likened ousting Russia from SWIFT, which would be an unprecedented move against one of the world's largest economies, as a “nuclear option.”
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, is a cooperative of financial institutions formed in 1973 with headquarters in Belgium. It is overseen by the National Bank of Belgium in partnership with other major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve System, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
But SWIFT isn’t a traditional bank and doesn’t transfer funds. Rather, it acts as a secure messaging system that links more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories, alerting banks when transactions are going to occur. (For instance, U.S. banks have unique SWIFT codes that customers use for incoming wire transfers in U.S. dollars.)
SWIFT said it recorded an average of 42 million messages per day last year, an 11 percent increase from 2020, when Russia accounted for 1.5 percent of transactions.
Don't Worry. Previous Guy Will Create Something Even Better. It Will be Great!
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This Time It IS Different
The seven most dangerous words in journalism are: “The world will never be the same.” In over four decades of reporting, I have rarely dared use that phrase. But I’m going there now in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Our world is not going to be the same again because this war has no historical parallel. It is a raw, 18th-century-style land grab by a superpower — but in a 21st-century globalized world. This is the first war that will be covered on TikTok by super-empowered individuals armed only with smartphones, so acts of brutality will be documented and broadcast worldwide without any editors or filters. On the first day of the war, we saw invading Russian tank units unexpectedly being exposed by Google maps, because Google wanted to alert drivers that the Russian armor was causing traffic jams.
You have never seen this play before.
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6 questions every voter should ask about Donald Trump’s bizarre relationship with Russia
1. What’s behind Trump’s fascination with Vladimir Putin?
Trump is on record praising dictators from some of the world’s most brutal regimes, from Kim Jong-Un to Saddam Hussein. But his praise for Russia’s president is the most extensive and the most adoring.
2. Why does Trump surround himself with advisers with links to the Kremlin?
Trump’s top adviser and campaign manager Paul Manafort built his political career as a lobbyist for international dictators, rebel groups, and human-rights violators. […] Manafort isn’t the only Trump adviser with a cozy relationship with the Kremlin.
3. Why do Trump’s foreign policy ideas read like a Putin wish list?
Trump’s talk of “America First” isolationism worries our allies, threatening the alliances that have kept America strong and safe.
4. Do Trump’s still-secret tax returns show ties to Russian oligarchs?
Unlike every other major party presidential nominee for the past 40 years, Trump refuses to release a single tax return—you have to ask yourself “what’s he hiding?”
5. Why is Trump encouraging Russia to interfere in our election?
Russia has a known history of interfering in foreign elections, and there’s now extensive evidence that they’re doing just that in the United States.
6. Is Trump’s pro-Russia stance the result of his business ties to Russia? And what is he going to prioritize as president: our national security or his business interests?
Trump has worked to keep his business dealings a secret (as of today, he still refuses to release his tax returns). But reporters at ABC News uncovered a bombshell: Trump has profited from hundreds of millions of dollars from Russian interests.
Hillary Clinton Posted This on September 23rd, 2016
You can see it here
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Maybe They Can Pass the Diseases on to Some Russians
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brings a host of serious threats to public health beyond the military violence itself, experts warn.
The conflict could make it difficult for people with conditions like diabetes or cancer to get treatment, and it may increase the spread of infectious diseases, including Covid-19, as people gather in shelters or flee the country.
Ukraine is coming off its largest spike in Covid cases yet — its seven-day average hit a record of 37,408 on Feb. 10, according to an NBC News tally. Less than 40 percent of the population had been vaccinated as of Feb. 15.
What’s more, Ukraine has been trying to control a polio outbreak since October. Two children with paralytic polio have been identified, and 19 more were identified as infected with the virus but did not develop paralysis.
"Confirmation of the second paralytic case in January 2022 is evidence that the virus is still circulating in the country," World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said in a statement. "The current crisis in Ukraine increases the risk of national and international spread of the virus."
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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 26 | |||||
| Feb 25 | 372,242 | 253,232,298 | 215,318,037 | ||
| Feb 24 | 417,363 | 253,307,984 | 215,253,201 | 72,111 | 1,720 |
| Feb 23 | 425,810 | 253,179,401 | 215,129,430 | 75,208 | 1,674 |
| Feb 22 | 425,178 | 253,055,679 | 215,006,201 | 79,539 | 1,602 |
| Feb 21 | No Data | 78,306 | 1,872 | ||
| Feb 20 | No Data | 98,012 | 1,872 | ||
| Feb 19 | 473,537 | 252,791,817 | 214,745,073 | 100,129 | 1,890 |
| 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 |
| 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 | 76.3% | 64.9% | 43.6% |
| % of Population 5+ | 81.1% | 68.9% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 86.0% | 73.4% | 45.1% |
| % of Population 18+ | 87.8% | 74.9% | 46.9% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 88.7% | 66.1% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday Feb 22)
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 | 93% (60%) | 99% (59%) | 105% (59% of average for full season) | 113% | 170% |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 80% (51%) | 86% (51%) | 92% (51%) | 99% | 170% |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 75% (47%) | 79% (46%) | 84% (46%) | 91% | 151% |
| Snow Water Content - North | 61% (52%) | 68% (53%) | 80% (58%) | 89% | 134% |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 71% (59%) | 75% (57%) | 80% (57%) | 89% | 148% |
| Snow Water Content - South | 67% (54%) | 74% (54%) | 81% (57%) | 92% | 158% |
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
They Have Met the Enemy and It is Twitter
The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) began Thursday just after Russia initiated attacks on Ukraine, but many Republican leaders took the stage in Orlando to talk about something else: Big Tech.
As Russian missiles bombarded the European country, Republican senators, a former Trump adviser and a sitting governor all opined on major social media companies — which they say are politically censoring them — and celebrated the prospect of what some called a “parallel economy” that’s beginning to take shape in the form of new social media platforms, such as former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social.
The focus on Big Tech has served as a major rallying point for Republicans as they enter a crucial midterm election season, harnessing pent-up frustration from a steady drumbeat of suspensions of conservative influencers and commentators from major tech platforms, including Trump’s 2021 suspensions from both Twitter and Facebook.
It Was Self Defense. He Was Attacked with Popcorn. Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.
A Florida jury on Friday acquitted a retired police SWAT commander of murder for fatally shooting a fellow moviegoer during an argument over cellphone use.
Deliberations in the trial began Friday, and the six-person jury returned its verdict late that night, news outlets reported.
Retired Tampa police Capt. Curtis Reeves, now 79, had been charged with second-degree murder for killing Chad Oulson during an altercation at a suburban movie theater Jan. 13, 2014.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Richard Escobar said that Oulson, 43, made Reeves, then 71, reasonably believe his life was in danger by turning, yelling and reaching toward him. He said Reeves made the decision to shoot based on his nearly 30 years in law enforcement and hours of training on the justifiable use of deadly force. Reeves didn’t have to wait until he was hit before defending himself, Escobar said.
Reeves “had more knowledge, more experience, more study in that area than anyone in this courtroom,” Escobar said. “It’s a dangerous world.”
But prosecutor Scott Rosenwasser countered that Reeves killed Oulson because he threw popcorn in his face, angering him because it violated his self-image as an “alpha male.”
If the Sun Rises Today, Jim Jordan is Still an Ass
If the Sun Rises Today, Lindsey Graham is Whining
If the Sun Rises Today, MTG is Still Whatever She Is.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) spoke at a white nationalist conference in Florida on Friday evening.
Greene, a QAnon conspiracist and rabidly anti-trans Republican, was the surprise speaker at the third annual America First Political Action Conference in Orlando, organized by white nationalist figurehead Nick Fuentes.
Fuentes, an antisemite and racist who attended the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and who was recently subpoenaed for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, excitedly introduced Greene as the featured speaker from behind a lectern inside the Marriott Orlando World Center, according to a livestream of the event. (HuffPost was denied entrance to AFPAC.)
In her speech, Greene referred to the assembled AFPAC crowd — among them prominent right-wing extremists who have been photographed giving the Nazi salute and reciting the infamous “14 words,” a white supremacist slogan — as “canceled Americans.”
“You’ve been handed the responsibility to fight for our Constitution and stand for our freedoms, and stop the Democrats who are the communist party of the United States of America,” Greene said.
I Can Help Her With This. The Democrats Hired the Easter Bunny to Steal the Election
Controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is still convinced the 2020 presidential election was rigged but admits she has no evidence of election fraud.
Greene admitted she had no proof during an interview Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, but is sticking with her conviction that the presidential vote was rigged, even though she apparently doesn’t dispute the 2020 election results that made her a congresswoman:
“I proudly objected on Jan. 6,” Greene said. “I would object again today because I know for a fact there was so much wrong in that election and I believe it was stolen. Do I know how? No, I don’t know how.”
We Expected the VETO, But 3 Abstentions?
Russia on Friday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution telling Moscow to stop attacking Ukraine and withdraw all troops immediately.
The veto was expected, but the United States and its supporters argued that the effort would highlight Moscow’s international isolation.
The 11-1 vote — with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining — showed significant but not total opposition to Russia’s invasion of its smaller, militarily weaker neighbor.
She Ended Her Conversation with the Committee, When She Found Out She Was Talking to the Committee
A tense confrontation between the House select committee investigating the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and Kimberly Guilfoyle unfolded privately on Friday morning, with Guilfoyle and her lawyers abruptly ending her conversation with the committee over concerns about its ground rules, according to four people familiar with the exchange.
Guilfoyle, a longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump, was scheduled to meet virtually with the committee on February 25, following discussions between the committee and her lawyers.
When Guilfoyle appeared on Friday's virtual meeting, she and her lawyers grew immediately concerned when they saw who else was on the call, including lawmakers on the committee such as Representatives Adam Schiff of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland, both Democrats.
Guilfoyle spoke up and asked why members — and not just lawyers and committee staff — were on the call, three of the people said.
Which QOP Jackass Won't Allow Unanimous Consent in the Senate?
The White House asked Congress on Friday to approve $6.4 billion in aid to address the humanitarian and security crisis in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country this week, Biden administration and congressional aides said.
The request included $2.9 billion in security and humanitarian assistance and $3.5 billion for the Department of Defense.
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Los Angeles and Ventura Counties are Code Red. Orange Count is Orange. (How Perfect is That?)
Nationally cases are down 61% in the last week. Deaths are down 17%.
Want to know how your county is doing?
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It's Not Going So Well for Vlad the Invader
History shows that it's much easier to start a war than to end one.
That's certainly true of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. And it might turn out to be the same for President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.
There's an old axiom that military plans never survive the first contact with the enemy. It certainly appears to be true for Russia's forces in Ukraine.
Ed Arnold, an expert on European security at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), describes Russia's initial assault as "underwhelming" and "slower than expected".
The Russians are Facing Stubborn Resistance in an Urban Setting
Where have we heard about his before? What was the name of that city? Oh, yes...Stalingrad.
Somehow Dana Carvey has Turned Into Winston Churchill
Three years ago, he was playing a president in a popular television comedy. Today, he is Ukraine’s president, confronting Russia’s fearsome military might.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leading his country during an invasion that threatens to explode into the worst conflict in Europe’s post-World War II history.
On Friday, as Russian troops reached Kyiv, he posted a defiant handheld video to social media showing him next to the presidential palace in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, surrounded by members of his Cabinet.
“We are all here,” he said. “We are defending our independence, our country.”
The US government offered to evacuate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from Kyiv — but he declined.
“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” Zelensky said, The Associated Press reported, citing a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation.
Will Aeroflot Become Aeroflop?
Several European nations have closed their airspace to Russian flights, as Moscow faces rising pressure over the invasion of Ukraine.
Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania said on Saturday they were banning some flights from Russia.
Russia earlier said it would close its airspace to flights from Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic after they issued a ban on Russian jets.
Meanwhile, Russian-owned planes can no longer enter UK airspace.
What Will FIFA Do?
The Polish and Swedish national teams will not face Russia in a crucial 2022 World Cup qualification playoff matches in March in protest at Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The president of Poland's football association Cezary Kulesza announced the news on Saturday.
"No more words, time to act! Due to the escalation of the aggression of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine the Polish national team does not intend to play the play-off match against Russia," he tweeted.
"We are in talks with (Swedish) and (Czech) federations to bring forward a joint statement to FIFA."
Poland was due to travel to Moscow to face Russia on Thursday, March 24, while Ukraine was scheduled to travel to face Scotland on the same day.
The winner of the Poland-Russia game would host either Sweden or Czech Republic on March 29 in the final of their World Cup qualification route.
And the Swedish Football Association (SVFF) said on Saturday its board had decided that its men's national team "will not play a possible playoff match against Russia -- regardless of where the match is played.
"The Federal Board also urges FIFA to cancel the play-off matches in March in which Russia participates," the SVFF statement added.
The Champions League Kicks Themselves Out of Russia
UEFA announced that this year's Champions League Final will no longer take place in St. Petersburg following an extraordinary meeting of the governing body's Executive Committee on Friday.
The 2022 final was scheduled to be held at Krestovsky Stadium, which is sponsored by Russian state-owned company Gazprom, but will now be moved to the Stade de France in Paris to be played on the original date of May 28.
The Russians Will Have to Face Dr. Ironfist
Former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko said he would take up arms alongside his brother and fellow Hall of Famer Wladimir Klitschko to fight in what is a "bloody war" following Russia's invasion of their country, Ukraine.
Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday following a declaration of war by President Vladimir Putin. An estimated 100,000 people have fled as explosions and gunfire rocked major cities. Dozens have been reported killed.
Vitali Klitschko, who has been the mayor of Ukraine's capital Kyiv since 2014, said he was ready to fight.
"I don't have another choice, I have to do that. I'll be fighting," the 50-year-old, known as "Dr. Ironfist" during his fighting days, told UK broadcaster ITV's Good Morning Britain.
He's No Dr. Iornfist, but Good For Him!
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has taken up arms against the Russian army in his nation’s capital, saying resistance fighters are prepared to hold out “forever.”
The 56-year-old, who led Ukraine from 2014 to 2019, held up a Kalashnikov rifle during an interview with CNN’s John Berman on Friday as an example of the weaponry available to them. Poroshenko said the men around him did not have access to heavy artillery like tanks as Russia assaults Kyiv.
“I think that Putin never will catch Ukraine, no matter how many soldiers he has, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has,” Poroshenko said from a Kyiv street.
“We Ukrainians are free people,” he said.
Somehow, I Don't Think Vlad Worries Much About His US Approval Rating
What the Truck?
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It's Getting Hotter, Bit by Bit
Bitcoin is a pollution-creating mess. Despite efforts to make the energy-intensive mining process friendlier to the environment, it has grown significantly more reliant on fossil fuels over the past year.
China's cryptocurrency mining ban in the spring of 2021 significantly worsened Bitcoin's environmental impact, according to a new research on mining published in Joule. It is because Bitcoin miners were tapping into a significant amount of Chinese hydropower which suddenly evaporated when China made mining illegal, said Alex de Vries, one of the study's authors and a researcher at the School of Business and Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
So miners took their business elsewhere, including countries using significantly dirtier energy than China. Electricity sources powering the Bitcoin network were just 25.1% renewable in August 2021, nearly 17 percentage points lower than the 2020 average.
Mining Bitcoin each year produces as much pollution as Greece created in 2019, the study found. A single Bitcoin transaction results in the same carbon footprint as a traveler flying from New York to Amsterdam.
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What Would You Do with 1 Million New Space Objects?
Some 4.4 million space objects billions of light-years away have been mapped by astronomers, including 1 million space objects that hadn't been spotted before.
'Weird' space triangle captured by Hubble Space Telescope
The vast majority of these objects are galaxies that harbor massive black holes or rapidly growing new stars. Other discoveries include colliding groups of distant galaxies and flaring stars, which vary in brightness, within the Milky Way, according to a news statement from Durham University in England.
The observations were made by analyzing a huge amount of data from the sensitive Low Frequency Array telescope, known as LOFAR, which is using low radio frequencies to observe about a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's sky and catalog it in fine detail. It's operated by ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.
Billions of Light Years Away? This is Old News. Billions of Years Old.
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For a Change, We Know Who the Good Guys and Bad Guys Are
Few events create as much moral clarity as the unprovoked, brutal invasion of a peaceful nation by a militaristic empire. It’s the backdrop or the driving conflict of so many of our stories — Star Wars, Casablanca, Lord of the Rings, The Sound of Music — precisely because it creates heroes and villains so easily and automatically. On one side, the haughty, iron-fisted dictator with his legions of destruction — on the other side, children hiding underground while their parents make a desperate stand to protect their homeland.
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What Arrows Are Left in Our Sanctions Quiver
Suspending Russia from international organizations, like the SWIFT network of banks (as Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, suggested yesterday) and the Interpol network of law enforcement (as Garry Kasparov, the Russian opposition figure, has called for).
Seizing apartments, yachts and other assets owned by many members of the Russian elite in London, Miami and elsewhere, as Anne Applebaum of The Atlantic has suggested.
Cracking down on Vladimir Putin’s propaganda tools in the West, including the RT television network, and on people like Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor who now works for a Russian oil company.
Perhaps most significant, sharply reduce purchases of Russian oil and natural gas, by far the country’s largest source of revenue.
WTF is SWIFT? (You Can't Spell SWIFT Without WTF.)
SWIFT banking system could be used as sanction against Russia. What is it?
Some financial analysts have likened ousting Russia from SWIFT, which would be an unprecedented move against one of the world's largest economies, as a “nuclear option.”
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, is a cooperative of financial institutions formed in 1973 with headquarters in Belgium. It is overseen by the National Bank of Belgium in partnership with other major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve System, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
But SWIFT isn’t a traditional bank and doesn’t transfer funds. Rather, it acts as a secure messaging system that links more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories, alerting banks when transactions are going to occur. (For instance, U.S. banks have unique SWIFT codes that customers use for incoming wire transfers in U.S. dollars.)
SWIFT said it recorded an average of 42 million messages per day last year, an 11 percent increase from 2020, when Russia accounted for 1.5 percent of transactions.
Don't Worry. Previous Guy Will Create Something Even Better. It Will be Great!
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This Time It IS Different
The seven most dangerous words in journalism are: “The world will never be the same.” In over four decades of reporting, I have rarely dared use that phrase. But I’m going there now in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Our world is not going to be the same again because this war has no historical parallel. It is a raw, 18th-century-style land grab by a superpower — but in a 21st-century globalized world. This is the first war that will be covered on TikTok by super-empowered individuals armed only with smartphones, so acts of brutality will be documented and broadcast worldwide without any editors or filters. On the first day of the war, we saw invading Russian tank units unexpectedly being exposed by Google maps, because Google wanted to alert drivers that the Russian armor was causing traffic jams.
You have never seen this play before.
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6 questions every voter should ask about Donald Trump’s bizarre relationship with Russia
1. What’s behind Trump’s fascination with Vladimir Putin?
Trump is on record praising dictators from some of the world’s most brutal regimes, from Kim Jong-Un to Saddam Hussein. But his praise for Russia’s president is the most extensive and the most adoring.
2. Why does Trump surround himself with advisers with links to the Kremlin?
Trump’s top adviser and campaign manager Paul Manafort built his political career as a lobbyist for international dictators, rebel groups, and human-rights violators. […] Manafort isn’t the only Trump adviser with a cozy relationship with the Kremlin.
3. Why do Trump’s foreign policy ideas read like a Putin wish list?
Trump’s talk of “America First” isolationism worries our allies, threatening the alliances that have kept America strong and safe.
4. Do Trump’s still-secret tax returns show ties to Russian oligarchs?
Unlike every other major party presidential nominee for the past 40 years, Trump refuses to release a single tax return—you have to ask yourself “what’s he hiding?”
5. Why is Trump encouraging Russia to interfere in our election?
Russia has a known history of interfering in foreign elections, and there’s now extensive evidence that they’re doing just that in the United States.
6. Is Trump’s pro-Russia stance the result of his business ties to Russia? And what is he going to prioritize as president: our national security or his business interests?
Trump has worked to keep his business dealings a secret (as of today, he still refuses to release his tax returns). But reporters at ABC News uncovered a bombshell: Trump has profited from hundreds of millions of dollars from Russian interests.
Hillary Clinton Posted This on September 23rd, 2016
You can see it here
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Maybe They Can Pass the Diseases on to Some Russians
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brings a host of serious threats to public health beyond the military violence itself, experts warn.
The conflict could make it difficult for people with conditions like diabetes or cancer to get treatment, and it may increase the spread of infectious diseases, including Covid-19, as people gather in shelters or flee the country.
Ukraine is coming off its largest spike in Covid cases yet — its seven-day average hit a record of 37,408 on Feb. 10, according to an NBC News tally. Less than 40 percent of the population had been vaccinated as of Feb. 15.
What’s more, Ukraine has been trying to control a polio outbreak since October. Two children with paralytic polio have been identified, and 19 more were identified as infected with the virus but did not develop paralysis.
"Confirmation of the second paralytic case in January 2022 is evidence that the virus is still circulating in the country," World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said in a statement. "The current crisis in Ukraine increases the risk of national and international spread of the virus."
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