Post by mhbruin on Feb 28, 2022 10:37:51 GMT -8
AN ANNOUNCEMENT
I am planning to stop collecting vaccination data. It has slowed to the point, where it doesn't seem like anything is going to be worth tracking.
I still plan on following new cases and deaths.
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
FIFA Makes the NCAA and the NFL Look Good by Comparison
The president of the Polish Football Association has described FIFA's plan to allow a Russian team to continue playing international soccer matches as "disgraceful."
Football's world governing body announced on Sunday that Russia must play all upcoming international fixtures on neutral sites without fans under the name "Football Union of Russia," following the invasion of Ukraine.
"No flag or anthem of Russia will be used in matches where teams from the Football Union of Russia participate," added FIFA, which said its measures were "in line with recommendations from the International Olympic Committee."
Poland and Russia are scheduled to play in a World Cup playoff semifinal on March 24 on March 24 at the VTB Arena in Moscow.
Polish FA President Cezary Kulesza called the decision not to implement a total ban "unacceptable'' and said that the Polish national team would not play Russia "no matter what the name of the team is."
I Guess They Got the Message - This Just In
Football's world governing body Fifa is set to suspend Russia until further notice - as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommends that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials are banned from any organised international competitions.
Fifa's suspension would mean Russia's exclusion from the men's World Cup qualification play-offs in March.
The IOC has urged sport governing bodies not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, with the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games starting on Friday.
Even Ukrainians Can Get Nominated
Nigeria's government has condemned reports that its citizens, and those of other African countries, have been stopped from leaving war-torn Ukraine.
Isaac, a Nigerian man trying to get into Poland, said border staff told him they were "not tending to Africans".
"We've been chased back, we've been hit with police armed with sticks," he told the BBC.
South African foreign office official Clayson Monyela also said students had been "badly treated" at the border.
There have also been numerous reports of Ukrainian security officials preventing Africans from catching buses and trains going to the border.
Osemen, from Nigeria, told the BBC he had tried to get on a train in Lviv to take him to the Polish border but was told only Ukrainians would be allowed on board.
Show This to Putin
A wounded 6-year-old girl arrived at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Sunday.
Her mother wept outside the ambulance. Her father was at her side, covered in blood.
The family was at a supermarket on the outskirts of the southeastern port city when Russian shelling started, according to the Associated Press.
Now, a medical team was racing to save the young girl's life.
"Take her out! Take her out! We can make it!" a hospital worker shouted.
They placed her onto a gurney and wheeled her inside, where doctors and nurses fought to revive her. But she could not be saved.
A doctor who was pumping oxygen into her looked into the camera of an Associated Press videojournalist in the room.
"Show this to Putin," he said. "The eyes of this child, and crying doctors."
Nominated: Everyone Who Downplays or Ignores This
Climate change is on course to transform life on Earth as we know it, and unless global warming is dramatically slowed, billions of people and other species will reach points where they can no longer adapt to the new normal, according to a major report published Monday.
The UN-backed report, based on years of research from hundreds of scientists, found that the impacts from human-caused climate change were larger than previously thought. The report's authors say these impacts are happening much faster and are more disruptive and widespread than scientists expected 20 years ago.
The authors point to enormous inequities in the climate crisis, finding that those who contribute the least to the problem are the worst affected, and warn of irreversible impacts if the world exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.
A good summary of what's in the report
#1 on the List Could be SCOTUS
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday began hearing arguments in a case that could curb the use of federal power to address environmental issues and undermine President Joe Biden's plan to tackle climate change.
The court, whose 6-3 conservative majority has shown wariness toward broad federal agency actions, was weighing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal- and gas-fired power plants under the landmark Clean Air Act.
Minor League Player is a Major League Racist
Boston Red Sox minor league player Brett Netzer has been released from the team following a barrage of offensive, homophobic and racist tweets.
Netzer, 25, who hasn’t played since 2019, requested his release Saturday and the team granted it, a team spokesperson told NBC News Monday.
In a series of tweets on Friday and Saturday, Netzer attacked the team’s Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, calling him a “bad actor” and a “fraud,” while targeting his Jewish identity.
The team confirmed to the Boston Globe the posts were his and not a hack.
In one tweet Saturday, he took aim at Bloom for supporting Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community.
In his posts, Netzer targeted transgender people. In another, he said Black people should "go back to their roots and start to re-establish their true black culture."
In another tweet, he wrote: “I am a racist. I do sometimes make assumptions based on a persons race/ethnicity/culture. Glad that is out of the way.”
The Attacker is a Piece of Feces
A woman had human feces smeared on her face as she waited for the train at a New York City subway platform during rush hour, police say.
Police are looking for the man who they say attacked the woman, 43, as she was sitting on a bench at the East 241st Street subway station in the Bronx on Monday, Feb. 21.
Video shared by the New York City Police Department shows the man holding what appears to be a black plastic bag approach the woman and throw the bag into the front of her face at 5:15 p.m.
In the footage, the unidentified man appears to push the bag into her face. When she buckles forward, he continued to put the bag on the back of her head then walked away.
He REALLY Did Handle This Well
Arizona Is Second to None at Racism
Wendy Rogers said white nationalists are ‘patriots’ and called for hanging political enemies
A Republican state senator fawned over the leader of a white nationalist movement on Friday and told his followers that she fantasizes about hanging her perceived enemies from gallows.
“I’ve said we need to build more gallows. If we try some of these high-level criminals, convict them and use a newly built set of gallows, it’ll make an example of these traitors who have betrayed our country,” Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, said Feb. 25 in her speech to the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference in Florida.
Rogers told the white nationalists who were assembled in the ballroom at the Orlando World Center Marriott that they were “patriots.”
She addressed the AFPAC crowd remotely, speaking from Arizona, where she said she was busy pushing legislation. Rogers effusively praised Nick Fuentes, the event’s racist organizer, who she said had been “de-platformed everywhere” because he says things that upset “the media and the far left.”
“I truly respect Nick because he’s the most persecuted man in America,” she said to loud cheers, adding later that he was “standing up to tyranny” by creating AFPAC.
Not to Be Outdone
Later in the evening, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio gave a rambling, 40-minute speech.
“I have the reputation of being the biggest racist in the country,” he said, to robust applause.
At another point, Arpaio boasted about having a howitzer artillery gun while sheriff.
“Everyone said, ‘What are you using this for?’ I said, ‘To shoot people that come across the border,’” he said, eliciting raucous cheers from the crowd .
The NYT Need to Grow a Pair
According to the New York Times, “At CPAC, Trump Misleads About Biden, a Russian Pipeline and Gas Prices”. By way of explanation, “The former president made inaccurate claims about his border wall, the Biden administration and a Russian pipeline, among other topics.”
After a 2016 campaign full of lies and Russians, after four years of incompetence, pettiness, sociopathy, and more lies and more Russians, after a second campaign founded on and consisting of nothing but lies, and after more than a year of the biggest lie, undoubtedly buoyed by Russian trolls, the Times still cannot bring itself to call them “lies”.
What's Russian for "Proud Boys"?
Kremlin 'sends 400+ mercenaries from private militia Wagner into Kyiv to assassinate Zelensky'
From Mr. Bone Spurs
REPORTER: “[Zelensky is] not abandoning his people in Ukraine and he’s taking up arms for his countrymen. If you were in a similar situation as president, would you take up arms like Zelensky?”
TRUMP: “Well, you never know about bravery. Some people think they’re brave and they’re not brave, and other people don’t think of themselves as very brave and they step up. You never know until you get tested.”
He Threatened to Kill His Own Kids
Insurrectionist (Who Threatened To Shoot His Own Kids If They Turned Him In) Goes On Trial Tomorrow!
Guy Wesley Reffitt of Wylie, Texas — husband, father and alleged affiliate of the Three Percenters militia group — has been indicted on five counts. He's accused of transporting a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun to Washington, D.C., and then carrying the handgun onto U.S. Capitol grounds, where he allegedly participated in the January 6 riot and threatened law enforcement officers. He's one of only a handful of defendants accused of carrying a firearm.
He is also charged with obstruction of justice, illegally entering the Capitol complex, and obstructing Congress' counting of the 2020 Electoral College votes — a process that ultimately affirmed the election of President Biden.
But because it is the first to reach a courtroom, it will most likely set the tone for those that follow and serve as a kind of proving ground for the charges prosecutors have filed against hundreds of defendants. (More than 200 people have already pleaded guilty in cases related to the Capitol attack.)
If you want to read the details of what a piece of feces this guy is
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Today's Best Person in the World?
A Ukrainian sailor has admitted trying to sink a yacht owned by the head of a Russian state arms firm, in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
The 48m (157ft) Lady Anastasia, which belongs to Rosoboronexport director general Alexander Mikheev, was docked in Majorca in Spain when the mechanic opened valves in its engine room.
He was arrested by Civil Guard officers on Saturday and later released on bail.
He told a judge that he regretted nothing and would do it again.
The man said he tried to scuttle Mr Mikheev's yacht after watching news reports from Ukraine on the television.
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Russian To Get Their Money Out of the Bank, Russian Stocks, and the Ruble
Russia was scrambling to prevent financial meltdown Monday as its economy was slammed by a broadside of crushing Western sanctions imposed over the weekend in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin was due to hold crisis talks with his top advisers after the ruble crashed to a record low against the US dollar, the Russian central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20%, and the Moscow stock exchange was shuttered for the day.
The European subsidiary of Russia's biggest bank was on the brink of collapse as savers rushed to withdraw their deposits. Economists warned that the Russian economy could shrink by 5%.
The ruble lost about 20% of its value to trade at 100 to the dollar at 6 a.m. ET after earlier plummeting as much as 40%. The start of trading on the Russian stock market was delayed, and then canceled entirely, according to a statement from the country's central bank.
Oh, No! Not OZON! Are they Going to Stop Trading in AON and QANON Next?
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq imposed trading halts Monday on Russian-related companies after Western nations leveled punishing sanctions on Moscow.
The regulatory restrictions stop trading, temporarily, in eight companies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nasdaq announced trading halts for Moscow-based Internet company Yandex, Russian payment firm QIWI, e-commerce platform Ozon and Moscow-based HeadHunter Group. Yandex has lost a staggering 69% of its value so far this year.
The exchange also halted trading in Cyprus-based Nexters, a video game developer with a presence in Russia.
Putin Has a Tiny One
Russia isn't a superpower, at least not when it comes to the global economy.
Its gross domestic product puts it as only the 12th largest economy in the world according to the International Monetary Fund, about 25% smaller than Italy and more than 20% smaller than Canada, two countries with a fraction of its population.
So in the face of its invasion of Ukraine, why is the West reluctant to hit it with the full range of available economic sanctions as has been done with other rogue states?
The answer is simple: Oil and natural gas.
BP Is Heading for the Exit. But Where Will They Sell it if the Exchange is Closed?
BP announced on Sunday that it would “exit” its share in a major, state-owned Russian oil giant over the country’s invasion of Ukraine, saying the attack merited a “fundamental change” in its business holdings.
The British oil company said the share amounts to 19.75% of Russia’s Rosneft, a stake valued at $14 billion. It’s unclear how BP will divest itself of the holdings or who could buy them, but the decision reflects a broader shift among companies to abandon Moscow amid the ongoing assault.
If BP walks away from the holdings completely it could cost the company up to $25 billion, it said.
A Financial Mess the Size of Russia. Vlad the Invader Rubled the World the Wrong Way.
The ruble fell about 30% against the dollar Monday — making it worth less than 1 U.S. cent — after the U.S., European Union and United Kingdom announced moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system and to restrict Russia's use of its massive foreign currency reserves. The system is used to move billions of dollars around more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions around the world.
The ruble recovered ground after Russia's central bank sharply raised its key interest rate Monday to shore up the currency and prevent a run on banks. But it was trading at a record low 105.27 per dollar, down from about 84 per dollar late Friday.
A weaker ruble could cause inflation to surge, potentially angering Russians whose budgets will be stretched by soaring prices. It will also add to strains across Russia's financial system.
A sharp devaluation of the ruble would mean a drop in the standard of living for the average Russian, economists and analysts said. Russians are still reliant on a multitude of imported goods and the prices for those items are likely to skyrocket. Foreign travel would become more expensive as their rubles buy less currency abroad. And the deeper economic turmoil will come in the coming weeks if price shocks and supply-chain issues cause Russian factories to shut down due to lower demand.
Capital Economics estimated in a report that Russia's gross domestic product is likely to shrink roughly 5% as a result of the sanctions on the country's economy.
People wary that sanctions would deal a crippling blow to the economy have been flocking to banks and ATMs for days, with reports in social media of long lines and machines running out. Moscow's department of public transport warned city residents over the weekend that they might experience problems with using Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay to pay fares because VTB, one of the Russian banks facing sanctions, handles card payments in Moscow's metro, buses and trams.
The Russian government will have to step in to support declining industries, banks and economic sectors, but without access to hard currencies like the U.S. dollar and euro, they may have to result to printing more rubles. It's a move that could quickly spiral into hyperinflation.
To halt the slide in the ruble, Russia's central bank on Monday hiked the benchmark rate to 20% from 8.5%. That followed a Western decision Sunday to freeze Russia's hard currency reserves, an unprecedented move that could have devastating consequences for the country's financial stability.
"With it now uncertain if Russia can even get their hands on their large stock of [foreign exchange] reserves (whatever the denomination), are sovereign bond holders going to get paid back?" Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer with Bleakley Advisory Group, said in a report to investors. "With the rubble down 19% today to a fresh record low against the dollar, good luck getting paid back if one holds a dollar denominated Russian bond."
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Other Ukraine News
Why Is Everyone Surprised? Remember Afghanistan?
Sunday morning, Mark Sumner asked: “What the f**k is going on with the Russian military?” There was no answer. No one knows. What we do know is that the supposed “second strongest army in the world” is having a rough go at pacifying a nation with a vastly inferior military. And while you can argue that higher morale can overcome a superior army, all the Ukrainian spit and vigor shouldn’t have been able to prevent Russian air superiority in hour one of the conflict. Ukraine simply lacks much of an Air Force. And yet we still see Ukrainian jets, drones, and helicopters engaging the enemy.
Look at Russia’s cruise missile campaign. As of last night, the United States had counted “at least 200 cruise missile” launches since the start of the war. In the first two days of the Iraq War, the United States launched 504. Is it fair to compare Russia to the United States? Clearly not, as we can now see. But Vladimir Putin insisted Russia was a peer global super power. And it is one, but only because of its nukes. Take those away, and really, there doesn’t seem to be much left. Indeed, I saw an expert somewhere (sorry no link, I couldn’t find it in the sea of information we’re swimming in) speculate that Russia was rationing its missile launches—just a few a day to sow terror amongst the Ukrainian populace.
The Russian Army is Muddled
I Have Never Heard of Obozrevatel, and I have no idea how Reliable They Are, But ...
OBOZREVATEL is reporting that 5,000 contract servicemen -not conscripts, professional soldiers- rioted in the Belgorod region of Russia, which is right across the border from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
About 5,000 contract soldiers, who were hastily collected to be sent to Ukraine, refused to go to fight for Putin on the territory of our state.
Formally, the rebellious contractors argue their refusal to participate in hostilities in Ukraine by the fact that this is not provided for in their contracts.
Russia is trying to offset incompetence with increased brutality
The execution of Ukraine proves conclusively that Vladimir Putin’s reputation for strategic genius was massively overrated. It also proves that the Russian military’s reputation for tactical execution was equally exaggerated.
But the reputation of both for simple brutality remains intact. If anything, on Monday in Ukraine, that reputation is growing.
NATO Coming Together? Germany Rearming? Great Job Vlad!
Germany to Raise Defense Spending Above 2% of GDP in Response to Ukraine War
The Great Uniter
Since the invasion began, the scale and rapidity of geopolitical shifts have been astonishing. Already:
Russia has moved from a sullen, revisionist state to a clear and present danger to its neighbors, and has directly threatened countries beyond Ukraine. Governments have no trust in or tolerance for the Putin regime.
The world’s major economies, save China, have combined to foment a financial crisis in Russia, casting aside the previous worries about systemic economic risk. That, in turn, may provoke domestic unrest with unknown implications.
Germany has moved from a pacifist laggard on defense spending to announcing a huge increase, moving ahead of 2% of GDP. “We must put a stop to warmongers like Putin,” the new Chancellor says. “That requires strength of our own.” A new Germany.
Finland and Sweden are firmly aligned with the West and against Moscow, and the invasion may tip them into NATO membership.
Neutral Switzerland – Switzerland! – will freeze Russian assets as a result of Moscow’s aggression. Full neutrality has become untenable given popular revulsion at the invasion. (5)
He REALLY Has Handled This Well
Let's Hear Previous Guy Do This? On Second Thought, Please Let's Not!
A video of now President Volodymyr Zelensky voicing Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian version of the film has gone viral on social media.
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Is "Heat Wave Donald" Coming?
Heat waves are the deadliest weather disaster in the US. They account for nearly 150 fatalities per year, more than hurricanes and tornadoes combined.
New legislation in California hopes to reduce heat-related deaths by ranking heat waves similarly to hurricanes, by using categories and names. However, the National Weather Service (NWS) is currently in a multiyear experiment to also categorize heat waves.
"Globally, people are suffering from heat because of a deadly awareness gap," said Kurt Shickman, the director of Extreme Heat Initiatives at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock), which is helping lead the legislative action.
"On one hand, there is still a low level of awareness of the risks of heat illness and death. People simply don't think of themselves as vulnerable. And on the other hand, heat quietly kills about half a million people per year globally, making it the deadliest natural disaster we face."
Both the NWS and the groups behind the new measures are working to fix the deadly awareness gap.
The new legislation proposed in California is in the form of two separate bills with one goal, to create a statewide heat ranking system, similar to the Saffir-Simpson scale used for hurricanes, to better prepare the public.
"Assembly Bill 2238 is tightly focused on preparing and safeguarding people from heat," Shickman said. "Assembly Bill 2076 covers a broad set of heat efforts that will result in better heat resilience and mitigation."
The bills would establish a Chief Heat Officer role, create an interagency heat task force and an extreme heat advisory council.
'Hotlanta' is even more sweltering in these neighborhoods due to a racist 20th-century policy
Shickman added there have also been discussions about naming heat waves.
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Today's Best Headline
"The Texas primary has turned into a bad Netflix series"
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Target Raises the Ante
Workers at Target stores and distribution centers in places like New York, where competition for finding and hiring staff is the fiercest, could see starting wages as high as $24 an hour this year.
The Minneapolis-based discount retailer said Monday that it will adopt minimum wages that range from $15 to $24 an hour, with the highest pay going to hires in the most competitive markets. It currently pays a universal starting wage of $15 an hour.
The new starting wage range is part of a company plan to spend an additional $300 million on its labor force this year that will also include broader, faster access to health care coverage for its hourly workers
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I am planning to stop collecting vaccination data. It has slowed to the point, where it doesn't seem like anything is going to be worth tracking.
I still plan on following new cases and deaths.
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 552 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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 27 | 62,556 | 1,686 | |||
| Feb 26 | 369,644 | 253,395,029 | 215,457,016 | 66,053 | 1,719 |
| Feb 25 | 372,242 | 253,232,298 | 215,318,037 | 69,203 | 1,751 |
| 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 | 76.4% | 64.9% | 43.7% |
| % of Population 5+ | 81.2% | 69.0% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 86.1% | 73.4% | 45.3% |
| % of Population 18+ | 87.9% | 75.0% | 47.1% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 88.8% | 66.3% |
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
FIFA Makes the NCAA and the NFL Look Good by Comparison
The president of the Polish Football Association has described FIFA's plan to allow a Russian team to continue playing international soccer matches as "disgraceful."
Football's world governing body announced on Sunday that Russia must play all upcoming international fixtures on neutral sites without fans under the name "Football Union of Russia," following the invasion of Ukraine.
"No flag or anthem of Russia will be used in matches where teams from the Football Union of Russia participate," added FIFA, which said its measures were "in line with recommendations from the International Olympic Committee."
Poland and Russia are scheduled to play in a World Cup playoff semifinal on March 24 on March 24 at the VTB Arena in Moscow.
Polish FA President Cezary Kulesza called the decision not to implement a total ban "unacceptable'' and said that the Polish national team would not play Russia "no matter what the name of the team is."
I Guess They Got the Message - This Just In
Football's world governing body Fifa is set to suspend Russia until further notice - as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommends that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials are banned from any organised international competitions.
Fifa's suspension would mean Russia's exclusion from the men's World Cup qualification play-offs in March.
The IOC has urged sport governing bodies not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, with the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games starting on Friday.
Even Ukrainians Can Get Nominated
Nigeria's government has condemned reports that its citizens, and those of other African countries, have been stopped from leaving war-torn Ukraine.
Isaac, a Nigerian man trying to get into Poland, said border staff told him they were "not tending to Africans".
"We've been chased back, we've been hit with police armed with sticks," he told the BBC.
South African foreign office official Clayson Monyela also said students had been "badly treated" at the border.
There have also been numerous reports of Ukrainian security officials preventing Africans from catching buses and trains going to the border.
Osemen, from Nigeria, told the BBC he had tried to get on a train in Lviv to take him to the Polish border but was told only Ukrainians would be allowed on board.
Show This to Putin
A wounded 6-year-old girl arrived at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Sunday.
Her mother wept outside the ambulance. Her father was at her side, covered in blood.
The family was at a supermarket on the outskirts of the southeastern port city when Russian shelling started, according to the Associated Press.
Now, a medical team was racing to save the young girl's life.
"Take her out! Take her out! We can make it!" a hospital worker shouted.
They placed her onto a gurney and wheeled her inside, where doctors and nurses fought to revive her. But she could not be saved.
A doctor who was pumping oxygen into her looked into the camera of an Associated Press videojournalist in the room.
"Show this to Putin," he said. "The eyes of this child, and crying doctors."
Nominated: Everyone Who Downplays or Ignores This
Climate change is on course to transform life on Earth as we know it, and unless global warming is dramatically slowed, billions of people and other species will reach points where they can no longer adapt to the new normal, according to a major report published Monday.
The UN-backed report, based on years of research from hundreds of scientists, found that the impacts from human-caused climate change were larger than previously thought. The report's authors say these impacts are happening much faster and are more disruptive and widespread than scientists expected 20 years ago.
The authors point to enormous inequities in the climate crisis, finding that those who contribute the least to the problem are the worst affected, and warn of irreversible impacts if the world exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming.
A good summary of what's in the report
#1 on the List Could be SCOTUS
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday began hearing arguments in a case that could curb the use of federal power to address environmental issues and undermine President Joe Biden's plan to tackle climate change.
The court, whose 6-3 conservative majority has shown wariness toward broad federal agency actions, was weighing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal- and gas-fired power plants under the landmark Clean Air Act.
Minor League Player is a Major League Racist
Boston Red Sox minor league player Brett Netzer has been released from the team following a barrage of offensive, homophobic and racist tweets.
Netzer, 25, who hasn’t played since 2019, requested his release Saturday and the team granted it, a team spokesperson told NBC News Monday.
In a series of tweets on Friday and Saturday, Netzer attacked the team’s Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, calling him a “bad actor” and a “fraud,” while targeting his Jewish identity.
The team confirmed to the Boston Globe the posts were his and not a hack.
In one tweet Saturday, he took aim at Bloom for supporting Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community.
In his posts, Netzer targeted transgender people. In another, he said Black people should "go back to their roots and start to re-establish their true black culture."
In another tweet, he wrote: “I am a racist. I do sometimes make assumptions based on a persons race/ethnicity/culture. Glad that is out of the way.”
The Attacker is a Piece of Feces
A woman had human feces smeared on her face as she waited for the train at a New York City subway platform during rush hour, police say.
Police are looking for the man who they say attacked the woman, 43, as she was sitting on a bench at the East 241st Street subway station in the Bronx on Monday, Feb. 21.
Video shared by the New York City Police Department shows the man holding what appears to be a black plastic bag approach the woman and throw the bag into the front of her face at 5:15 p.m.
In the footage, the unidentified man appears to push the bag into her face. When she buckles forward, he continued to put the bag on the back of her head then walked away.
He REALLY Did Handle This Well
Arizona Is Second to None at Racism
Wendy Rogers said white nationalists are ‘patriots’ and called for hanging political enemies
A Republican state senator fawned over the leader of a white nationalist movement on Friday and told his followers that she fantasizes about hanging her perceived enemies from gallows.
“I’ve said we need to build more gallows. If we try some of these high-level criminals, convict them and use a newly built set of gallows, it’ll make an example of these traitors who have betrayed our country,” Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, said Feb. 25 in her speech to the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference in Florida.
Rogers told the white nationalists who were assembled in the ballroom at the Orlando World Center Marriott that they were “patriots.”
She addressed the AFPAC crowd remotely, speaking from Arizona, where she said she was busy pushing legislation. Rogers effusively praised Nick Fuentes, the event’s racist organizer, who she said had been “de-platformed everywhere” because he says things that upset “the media and the far left.”
“I truly respect Nick because he’s the most persecuted man in America,” she said to loud cheers, adding later that he was “standing up to tyranny” by creating AFPAC.
Not to Be Outdone
Later in the evening, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio gave a rambling, 40-minute speech.
“I have the reputation of being the biggest racist in the country,” he said, to robust applause.
At another point, Arpaio boasted about having a howitzer artillery gun while sheriff.
“Everyone said, ‘What are you using this for?’ I said, ‘To shoot people that come across the border,’” he said, eliciting raucous cheers from the crowd .
The NYT Need to Grow a Pair
According to the New York Times, “At CPAC, Trump Misleads About Biden, a Russian Pipeline and Gas Prices”. By way of explanation, “The former president made inaccurate claims about his border wall, the Biden administration and a Russian pipeline, among other topics.”
After a 2016 campaign full of lies and Russians, after four years of incompetence, pettiness, sociopathy, and more lies and more Russians, after a second campaign founded on and consisting of nothing but lies, and after more than a year of the biggest lie, undoubtedly buoyed by Russian trolls, the Times still cannot bring itself to call them “lies”.
What's Russian for "Proud Boys"?
Kremlin 'sends 400+ mercenaries from private militia Wagner into Kyiv to assassinate Zelensky'
From Mr. Bone Spurs
REPORTER: “[Zelensky is] not abandoning his people in Ukraine and he’s taking up arms for his countrymen. If you were in a similar situation as president, would you take up arms like Zelensky?”
TRUMP: “Well, you never know about bravery. Some people think they’re brave and they’re not brave, and other people don’t think of themselves as very brave and they step up. You never know until you get tested.”
He Threatened to Kill His Own Kids
Insurrectionist (Who Threatened To Shoot His Own Kids If They Turned Him In) Goes On Trial Tomorrow!
Guy Wesley Reffitt of Wylie, Texas — husband, father and alleged affiliate of the Three Percenters militia group — has been indicted on five counts. He's accused of transporting a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun to Washington, D.C., and then carrying the handgun onto U.S. Capitol grounds, where he allegedly participated in the January 6 riot and threatened law enforcement officers. He's one of only a handful of defendants accused of carrying a firearm.
He is also charged with obstruction of justice, illegally entering the Capitol complex, and obstructing Congress' counting of the 2020 Electoral College votes — a process that ultimately affirmed the election of President Biden.
But because it is the first to reach a courtroom, it will most likely set the tone for those that follow and serve as a kind of proving ground for the charges prosecutors have filed against hundreds of defendants. (More than 200 people have already pleaded guilty in cases related to the Capitol attack.)
If you want to read the details of what a piece of feces this guy is
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Today's Best Person in the World?
A Ukrainian sailor has admitted trying to sink a yacht owned by the head of a Russian state arms firm, in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
The 48m (157ft) Lady Anastasia, which belongs to Rosoboronexport director general Alexander Mikheev, was docked in Majorca in Spain when the mechanic opened valves in its engine room.
He was arrested by Civil Guard officers on Saturday and later released on bail.
He told a judge that he regretted nothing and would do it again.
The man said he tried to scuttle Mr Mikheev's yacht after watching news reports from Ukraine on the television.
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Russian To Get Their Money Out of the Bank, Russian Stocks, and the Ruble
Russia was scrambling to prevent financial meltdown Monday as its economy was slammed by a broadside of crushing Western sanctions imposed over the weekend in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin was due to hold crisis talks with his top advisers after the ruble crashed to a record low against the US dollar, the Russian central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20%, and the Moscow stock exchange was shuttered for the day.
The European subsidiary of Russia's biggest bank was on the brink of collapse as savers rushed to withdraw their deposits. Economists warned that the Russian economy could shrink by 5%.
The ruble lost about 20% of its value to trade at 100 to the dollar at 6 a.m. ET after earlier plummeting as much as 40%. The start of trading on the Russian stock market was delayed, and then canceled entirely, according to a statement from the country's central bank.
Oh, No! Not OZON! Are they Going to Stop Trading in AON and QANON Next?
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq imposed trading halts Monday on Russian-related companies after Western nations leveled punishing sanctions on Moscow.
The regulatory restrictions stop trading, temporarily, in eight companies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nasdaq announced trading halts for Moscow-based Internet company Yandex, Russian payment firm QIWI, e-commerce platform Ozon and Moscow-based HeadHunter Group. Yandex has lost a staggering 69% of its value so far this year.
The exchange also halted trading in Cyprus-based Nexters, a video game developer with a presence in Russia.
Putin Has a Tiny One
Russia isn't a superpower, at least not when it comes to the global economy.
Its gross domestic product puts it as only the 12th largest economy in the world according to the International Monetary Fund, about 25% smaller than Italy and more than 20% smaller than Canada, two countries with a fraction of its population.
So in the face of its invasion of Ukraine, why is the West reluctant to hit it with the full range of available economic sanctions as has been done with other rogue states?
The answer is simple: Oil and natural gas.
BP Is Heading for the Exit. But Where Will They Sell it if the Exchange is Closed?
BP announced on Sunday that it would “exit” its share in a major, state-owned Russian oil giant over the country’s invasion of Ukraine, saying the attack merited a “fundamental change” in its business holdings.
The British oil company said the share amounts to 19.75% of Russia’s Rosneft, a stake valued at $14 billion. It’s unclear how BP will divest itself of the holdings or who could buy them, but the decision reflects a broader shift among companies to abandon Moscow amid the ongoing assault.
If BP walks away from the holdings completely it could cost the company up to $25 billion, it said.
A Financial Mess the Size of Russia. Vlad the Invader Rubled the World the Wrong Way.
The ruble fell about 30% against the dollar Monday — making it worth less than 1 U.S. cent — after the U.S., European Union and United Kingdom announced moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system and to restrict Russia's use of its massive foreign currency reserves. The system is used to move billions of dollars around more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions around the world.
The ruble recovered ground after Russia's central bank sharply raised its key interest rate Monday to shore up the currency and prevent a run on banks. But it was trading at a record low 105.27 per dollar, down from about 84 per dollar late Friday.
A weaker ruble could cause inflation to surge, potentially angering Russians whose budgets will be stretched by soaring prices. It will also add to strains across Russia's financial system.
A sharp devaluation of the ruble would mean a drop in the standard of living for the average Russian, economists and analysts said. Russians are still reliant on a multitude of imported goods and the prices for those items are likely to skyrocket. Foreign travel would become more expensive as their rubles buy less currency abroad. And the deeper economic turmoil will come in the coming weeks if price shocks and supply-chain issues cause Russian factories to shut down due to lower demand.
Capital Economics estimated in a report that Russia's gross domestic product is likely to shrink roughly 5% as a result of the sanctions on the country's economy.
People wary that sanctions would deal a crippling blow to the economy have been flocking to banks and ATMs for days, with reports in social media of long lines and machines running out. Moscow's department of public transport warned city residents over the weekend that they might experience problems with using Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay to pay fares because VTB, one of the Russian banks facing sanctions, handles card payments in Moscow's metro, buses and trams.
The Russian government will have to step in to support declining industries, banks and economic sectors, but without access to hard currencies like the U.S. dollar and euro, they may have to result to printing more rubles. It's a move that could quickly spiral into hyperinflation.
To halt the slide in the ruble, Russia's central bank on Monday hiked the benchmark rate to 20% from 8.5%. That followed a Western decision Sunday to freeze Russia's hard currency reserves, an unprecedented move that could have devastating consequences for the country's financial stability.
"With it now uncertain if Russia can even get their hands on their large stock of [foreign exchange] reserves (whatever the denomination), are sovereign bond holders going to get paid back?" Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer with Bleakley Advisory Group, said in a report to investors. "With the rubble down 19% today to a fresh record low against the dollar, good luck getting paid back if one holds a dollar denominated Russian bond."
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Other Ukraine News
Why Is Everyone Surprised? Remember Afghanistan?
Sunday morning, Mark Sumner asked: “What the f**k is going on with the Russian military?” There was no answer. No one knows. What we do know is that the supposed “second strongest army in the world” is having a rough go at pacifying a nation with a vastly inferior military. And while you can argue that higher morale can overcome a superior army, all the Ukrainian spit and vigor shouldn’t have been able to prevent Russian air superiority in hour one of the conflict. Ukraine simply lacks much of an Air Force. And yet we still see Ukrainian jets, drones, and helicopters engaging the enemy.
Look at Russia’s cruise missile campaign. As of last night, the United States had counted “at least 200 cruise missile” launches since the start of the war. In the first two days of the Iraq War, the United States launched 504. Is it fair to compare Russia to the United States? Clearly not, as we can now see. But Vladimir Putin insisted Russia was a peer global super power. And it is one, but only because of its nukes. Take those away, and really, there doesn’t seem to be much left. Indeed, I saw an expert somewhere (sorry no link, I couldn’t find it in the sea of information we’re swimming in) speculate that Russia was rationing its missile launches—just a few a day to sow terror amongst the Ukrainian populace.
The Russian Army is Muddled
I Have Never Heard of Obozrevatel, and I have no idea how Reliable They Are, But ...
OBOZREVATEL is reporting that 5,000 contract servicemen -not conscripts, professional soldiers- rioted in the Belgorod region of Russia, which is right across the border from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
About 5,000 contract soldiers, who were hastily collected to be sent to Ukraine, refused to go to fight for Putin on the territory of our state.
Formally, the rebellious contractors argue their refusal to participate in hostilities in Ukraine by the fact that this is not provided for in their contracts.
Russia is trying to offset incompetence with increased brutality
The execution of Ukraine proves conclusively that Vladimir Putin’s reputation for strategic genius was massively overrated. It also proves that the Russian military’s reputation for tactical execution was equally exaggerated.
But the reputation of both for simple brutality remains intact. If anything, on Monday in Ukraine, that reputation is growing.
NATO Coming Together? Germany Rearming? Great Job Vlad!
Germany to Raise Defense Spending Above 2% of GDP in Response to Ukraine War
The Great Uniter
Since the invasion began, the scale and rapidity of geopolitical shifts have been astonishing. Already:
Russia has moved from a sullen, revisionist state to a clear and present danger to its neighbors, and has directly threatened countries beyond Ukraine. Governments have no trust in or tolerance for the Putin regime.
The world’s major economies, save China, have combined to foment a financial crisis in Russia, casting aside the previous worries about systemic economic risk. That, in turn, may provoke domestic unrest with unknown implications.
Germany has moved from a pacifist laggard on defense spending to announcing a huge increase, moving ahead of 2% of GDP. “We must put a stop to warmongers like Putin,” the new Chancellor says. “That requires strength of our own.” A new Germany.
Finland and Sweden are firmly aligned with the West and against Moscow, and the invasion may tip them into NATO membership.
Neutral Switzerland – Switzerland! – will freeze Russian assets as a result of Moscow’s aggression. Full neutrality has become untenable given popular revulsion at the invasion. (5)
He REALLY Has Handled This Well
Let's Hear Previous Guy Do This? On Second Thought, Please Let's Not!
A video of now President Volodymyr Zelensky voicing Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian version of the film has gone viral on social media.
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Is "Heat Wave Donald" Coming?
Heat waves are the deadliest weather disaster in the US. They account for nearly 150 fatalities per year, more than hurricanes and tornadoes combined.
New legislation in California hopes to reduce heat-related deaths by ranking heat waves similarly to hurricanes, by using categories and names. However, the National Weather Service (NWS) is currently in a multiyear experiment to also categorize heat waves.
"Globally, people are suffering from heat because of a deadly awareness gap," said Kurt Shickman, the director of Extreme Heat Initiatives at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock), which is helping lead the legislative action.
"On one hand, there is still a low level of awareness of the risks of heat illness and death. People simply don't think of themselves as vulnerable. And on the other hand, heat quietly kills about half a million people per year globally, making it the deadliest natural disaster we face."
Both the NWS and the groups behind the new measures are working to fix the deadly awareness gap.
The new legislation proposed in California is in the form of two separate bills with one goal, to create a statewide heat ranking system, similar to the Saffir-Simpson scale used for hurricanes, to better prepare the public.
"Assembly Bill 2238 is tightly focused on preparing and safeguarding people from heat," Shickman said. "Assembly Bill 2076 covers a broad set of heat efforts that will result in better heat resilience and mitigation."
The bills would establish a Chief Heat Officer role, create an interagency heat task force and an extreme heat advisory council.
'Hotlanta' is even more sweltering in these neighborhoods due to a racist 20th-century policy
Shickman added there have also been discussions about naming heat waves.
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Today's Best Headline
"The Texas primary has turned into a bad Netflix series"
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Target Raises the Ante
Workers at Target stores and distribution centers in places like New York, where competition for finding and hiring staff is the fiercest, could see starting wages as high as $24 an hour this year.
The Minneapolis-based discount retailer said Monday that it will adopt minimum wages that range from $15 to $24 an hour, with the highest pay going to hires in the most competitive markets. It currently pays a universal starting wage of $15 an hour.
The new starting wage range is part of a company plan to spend an additional $300 million on its labor force this year that will also include broader, faster access to health care coverage for its hourly workers
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