Post by mhbruin on Mar 10, 2022 9:52:24 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 555 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
First time we have been below 50,000 cases since July 22nd.
↓ 49.4% Cases, two-week change
↓ 27.6% Deaths, two-week change
968,262 Total confirmed deaths
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday March 8)
There was some rain in the Nor Cal. A little more in the ten-day.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
There's Abuse Going On Here, But It's Not Child Abuse. Does the QOP Really See Attacking Transgender Kids as a Winning Issue?
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday he is suing the Biden administration over guidance from federal health officials that conflicts with his legal opinion that gender affirming procedures in children should be considered "child abuse."
Paxton's February legal opinion -- which was seen by many as an attack on transgender children -- prompted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to direct the state's Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate instances of those procedures.
On March 2, the US Department of Health and Human Services released guidance saying healthcare providers who report families seeking gender-affirming care or refuse to provide treatment may be violating federal law. Families who believe their child has been denied gender-affirming care can file a complaint with the department's Office for Civil Rights, the guidance said.
Crypto and Fraud. Who's Surprised?
US authorities on Tuesday filed criminal charges against a cryptocurrency executive and civil charges against him and his sister, accusing them of defrauding retail investors out of millions of dollars with a digital token known as Ormeus Coin.
In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, the Justice Department said John Barksdale lied about the value and profitability of Ormeus Coin's mining assets, including that the coin was backed by a $250 million mining operation generating more than $5 million of monthly revenue.
Barksdale and his sister JonAtina Barksdale were separately charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with conducting fraudulent unregistered offerings of Ormeus Coin.
The SEC said the Barksdales since 2017 raised $124 million from more than 20,000 investors through their multi-level marketing company Ormeus Global SA, and spent millions of dollars on travel, real estate and other personal expenses.
Authorities said the siblings promoted Ormeus Coin through roadshows and social media, as well as a Times Square jumbotron in Manhattan proclaiming: "$250 Million Cryptocurrency Mining Farm Revealed in Legal Audit by Ormeus Coin."
Don't Draw Gay
In a statement attributed to “the LGBTQIA+ employees of Pixar, and their allies” obtained by Variety, employees of the animation studio allege that Disney corporate executives have demanded cuts from “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection… regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”
The stunning claim is part of a wider reaction to the company-wide memo sent to Disney employees by CEO Bob Chapek on Monday regarding its response to the recently passed legislation in Florida known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In the memo, Chapek states that the “biggest impact” the company can make “in creating a more inclusive world is through the inspiring content we produce.”
According to the Pixar letter, that claim is at odds with employees’ experience of trying to create content with same-sex affection approved by Disney executives.
“We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” the letter states. “Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
To date, Pixar has only included a tiny handful of LGBTQ characters in its feature films, most prominently in the 2020 fantasy film “Onward,” which features a cyclops police officer named Specter, voiced by Lena Waithe. The character’s sexuality is only acknowledged in passing, when Specter says, “It’s not easy being a new parent — my girlfriend’s daughter got me pulling my hair out, okay?” But the movie was still banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia due to the scene, and in the version released in Russia, the word “girlfriend” was changed to “partner.”
Eastman was Not the Least-Man When It Comes to Criminal Conspiracy
A federal judge in California is now poring over emails between John Eastman and Donald Trump that investigators on the Jan. 6 committee argue could reveal greater insights into a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Carter agreed to review 111 documents, all narrowed in scope to only those records Eastman sent or received from Jan. 4 to Jan. 7, 2021, while working at Chapman University.
The decision is the latest in a fast-paced legal fight ongoing between the Jan. 6th committee and the Trump ally and principal author of a strategy to stop or delay the 2020 election certification.
The judge has not seen the contents of the emails until now. Nor has the committee, but the committee has pushed for their inspection doggedly.
Evidence obtained by the committee’s overall probe so far—nearly 600 interviews and thousands of pages of illuminating records about the events around Jan. 6—has indicated to investigators that Eastman and Trump were engaged in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct or overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The Proof is in The TuKKKER
"The ruling repeatedly says Fox hosts, [Rudy] Giuliani and [Sydney] Powell made claims 'without any evidence' and 'without any basis.' It also says that claims made by Giuliani, Fox host Maria Bartiromo and now-former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs could meet the legal standard of claims being 'so inherently improbable that only a reckless person would have put [them] in circulation.'
"In the course of laying out the legal requirements for Smartmatic to prove its case, the judge noted that the company must prove Fox met the standard of acting with 'actual malice' — i.e. not merely promoting false claims, but doing so with malice. And on that count, the judge says the best evidence that it did is Carlson."
"Ironically, the statements of Tucker Carlson, perhaps the most popular Fox News host, militate most strongly in favor of a possible finding that there is a substantial basis that Fox News acted with actual malice."
Get This Menace off the Road! He Makes Laws. He Doesn't Follow Them.
Congressman Madison Cawthorn has been charged with driving with a revoked license, a misdemeanor that carries up to 20 days in jail.
Along with the misdemeanor, Cawthorn is facing two pending citations for speeding: 89 mph in a 65-mph zone in Buncombe County on Oct. 18 and 87 mph in a 70-mph zone in Polk County on Jan. 8.
Elections Have Consequences. This is What the QOP is Offering
Then late last month came what might have been the worst policy gaffe in recent political history: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) rolled out a plan to raise taxes on 100 million Americans and to let Social Security and Medicare expire in five years. Furthermore, he apparently aims to ban abortion nationwide and dictate what every school teaches students about race. (Why else put these items in an 11-point plan for the Senate?) He managed to combine the worst Republican economic ideas with the most abusive designs for government overreach.
And now Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — purveyor of some of the most egregious coronavirus disinformation, racist rhetoric and Russia propaganda — has confessed that Republicans still want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (Yes, they did try it when they had control of both houses and the White House, but John McCain gave the thumbs down on that unpopular idea.) To millions of Americans who have benefited from subsidized health insurance premiums, Johnson’s message amounts to: Tough luck.
He's So Freaking Rich That He Wants You Send Him Money
Former President Donald Trump appears to be fundraising for a new plane after his private jet made an emergency landing over the weekend.
Trump’s Save America PAC sent an email on Wednesday titled “Update: Trump Force One” that discussed the construction of a new plane, several news outlets reported.
The email was sent hours after news surfaced that a private plane carrying Trump from New Orleans to his Mar-a-Lago resort had to make an emergency landing Saturday because of an engine failure, Insider reported. That plane reportedly was loaned to Trump by a Republican donor.
“I have a very important update on my plane, but I need to trust that you won’t share it with anyone,” wrote Trump in the email, according to Newsweek. “My team is building a BRAND NEW Trump Force One.”
“The construction of this plane has been under wraps — not even the fake news media knows about it — and I can’t wait to unveil it for everyone to see,” it continued.
The email reportedly allowed recipients to “see” the new plane if they clicked an embedded link. The link actually directed to a donation page with the option to give between $5 and $2,000 to the Save America JFC PAC.
Is Putin About to Go With Gas? Not Even Hitler Used it on the Battlefield
The Biden administration warned Wednesday that Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, as it rejected Russia’s claims that U.S. biological weapons labs are operating in the war-torn country.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday called Russia’s claims “preposterous” and warned of “disinformation” campaigns.
She said Russia has long “maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law” and cited its military intervention in Syria in support of the Bashar al-Assad regime and its suspected poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny in 2020 with a Novichok-like nerve agent.
“Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false-flag operation using them. It’s a clear pattern,” she added.
Texas QOP Get Their Wish. They Stopped People From Voting. If Nobody Votes, There Can't Be Voter Fraud.
More than 27,000 mail ballots in Texas were flagged for rejection in the first test of new voting restrictions enacted across the U.S., jeopardizing votes cast by Democrats and Republicans alike and in counties big and small, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
It puts the rate of rejected mail ballots in Texas on track to significantly surpass previous elections. The preliminary figures — reported by Texas counties after votes were counted in the state's March 1 primary — is the fullest picture to date of how new election rules rushed into place by Republicans following the 2020 election made it harder for thousands of voters in both parties. Some will wind up not having their ballots count at all.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Huawei? No Way!
Two non-executive directors of Huawei UK have resigned over the company's stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
The BBC understands Sir Andrew Cahn and Sir Ken Olisa felt the firm's failure to quickly condemn the Russian invasion had made their positions untenable.
Huawei UK thanked both men for their "invaluable guidance".
Asked by BBC News if Huawei would continue to do business with Russia, the company said: "We are not commenting any further."
Do You Think Previous Guy Could Have Pulled This Off? He Wouldn't Have Tried. He Would Have Sent Military Aid to Russia.
As Russia’s isolation deepens, many of the world’s democracies have shown an unprecedented capacity to cooperate and defend the values they share. Swiftly designing and imposing the most severe sanctions in history and coordinating their adoption among many countries was not easy, but it got done. This is one of the most welcome side effects of the invasion: discovering that democracies can successfully tackle big problems. This experience can serve as a guide when facing the other global threats that lie ahead for us.
All You Have to Know About An Hour Of Previous Guy Drivel in 32 Seconds.
Arrested for a BWB (Banking While Black)
Movie director Ryan Coogler was briefly handcuffed by Atlanta police after a bank employee mistook him for a robber when he passed her a note while trying to withdraw a large amount of cash from his account.
The “Black Panther” director, who is Black, walked into a Bank of America branch Jan. 7 and passed the bank employee a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back asking her to “be discreet when handing him the cash,” according to a police report. He also had his California state identification card and his Bank of America account card.
He was trying to withdraw more than $10,000, and the bank employee “received an alert notification” from his account and quickly alerted her manager that Coogler was trying to rob the bank, the report says. The bank employee is a Black woman, the report says.
Police responding to the bank branch in the upscale Buckhead neighborhood saw a black Lexus SUV parked out front with the engine running. An officer talked to the male driver who said he was waiting for Coogler, who was inside the bank. A female passenger gave police the same information.
A description of Coogler given by the driver matched the description of the man reported to have been trying to rob the bank, the report says. The officer detained both the driver and passenger in the back of a police vehicle but they were not placed in handcuffs.
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Invasions Have Consequences
I Haven't Gotten Much Past Happy Faces
On 24 February, as Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, an image started to spread on social media - a picture of the Russian poet Pushkin, the number seven and rows of the "person walking" emoji.
To those in the know, the meaning was clear - a location (Pushkin Square, in Moscow), a time and a call to protest against the government's actions.
The emojis made reference to a code used for years in Russia to refer to protests - one so well known to the authorities, it is barely a code at all, according to human rights group OVD-Info.
Unauthorised protests have been banned in the country since 2014 and breaches of the rules can lead to up to 15 days detention for a first offence. Repeat offenders can receive prison sentences of up to five years.
Since then, it has been common for activists to use various coded phrases to organise online.
"It's like, 'Let's go for a walk to the centre,' or, 'The weather is great for a walk,'" Maria says. This is what she will text her friends to let them know she plans to attend a protest.
Patriots for Patriots
US European Command said in a statement Tuesday night that the US was sending two new Patriot missile batteries to Poland as defensive weapons to counter any potential threat to US and NATO allies amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Patriots are air defense missile systems designed to counter and destroy incoming short-range ballistic missiles, advanced aircraft and cruise missiles. Those missiles are heading to Poland for Ukraine,.
"Ukraine will win 2 weeks after the ground firms up."
Click here to see why this guy thinks this
"Russian losses are sure mounting and about to turn to complete rout now."
Or you can click here to read this guy's opinion
A Little Historical Perspective
Nearly thirty years ago the Soviet Union pulled its last troops out of Afghanistan, ending more than nine years of direct involvement and occupation. The USSR entered neighboring Afghanistan in 1979, attempting to shore up the newly-established pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. In short order, nearly 100,000 Soviet soldiers took control of major cities and highways. Rebellion was swift and broad, and the Soviets dealt harshly with the Mujahideen rebels and those who supported them, leveling entire villages to deny safe havens to their enemy. Foreign support propped up the diverse group of rebels, pouring in from Iran, Pakistan, China, and the United States. In the brutal nine-year conflict, an estimated one million civilians were killed, as well as 90,000 Mujahideen fighters, 18,000 Afghan troops, and 14,500 Soviet soldiers.
In less than a month the Russian Army has suffered almost 1/3 that number of casualties...
Slave Labor Running Nuclear Power Plants. This Seems Like a Recipe for Disaster. Does Vlad Want a Nuclear Disaster in Ukraine?
Limited access to medicine. No cellphone or landline connections. And no more electricity. Some 210 technical experts and guards inside the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant face “worsening” conditions, unable to leave the facility since Russian forces took control two weeks ago.
Over 340 miles southeast of Chernobyl, workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was set ablaze and also captured by Russian forces last week, are in “very bad psychological conditions,” according to Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy firm Energoatom. Nuclear technicians are being forced to work under gunpoint, Kotin told local media outlets Wednesday, adding that the plant is completely locked down by Russian forces.
Nuclear experts have raised concerns about the conditions faced by employees at both facilities as their occupation continues. The International Atomic Energy Agency, a nuclear watchdog for the United Nations, says sufficient rest is a pillar of nuclear safety: Employees must be able to rest and work in regular shifts and be able to make decisions free of “undue pressure.”
Damn! Dude, Where's My Lada?
Russia has banned exports of more than 200 types of product in retaliation for Western sanctions on Moscow.
Telecom, medical, agricultural, electrical and technology equipment, among other items, will affected by the ban which runs until the end of 2022.
It follows harsh western sanctions on Russia's financial system and energy in response to its war on Ukraine.
A growing number of Russian oligarchs have also been hit with asset freezes and travel bans.
Other items covered by Russia's export ban include cars, railway carriages, containers and turbines.
Goldman Sachs Finally Gets Around to Doing Something
Goldman Sachs said on Thursday that it will be shutting down its operations in Russia, making it the first major Wall Street bank to cut ties with the country since its invasion of Ukraine.
"Goldman Sachs is winding down its business in Russia in compliance with regulatory and licensing requirements," the bank said in a statement to Insider.
"We are focused on supporting our clients across the globe in managing or closing out pre-existing obligations in the market and ensuring the wellbeing of our people."
Goldman Sachs' business in Russia was relatively small by the banking giant's standards, with company filings showing about $650 million of credit exposure at the end of 2021, Reuters reported.
Bloomberg previously reported that some bank staffers were relocated from Moscow to Dubai, at their request.
Previous Guy May Be Right. Maybe He Did Keep Vlad From Invading
John Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump's national security advisor, on Wednesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't invade Ukraine while Trump was in office because "Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him."
Bolton pointed to Trump's outspoken criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the military and diplomatic alliance established in the wake of World War II.
"I think one of the reasons that Putin did not move during Trump's term in office was he saw the president's hostility of NATO. It was widely reported in American media," Bolton said during an interview with SiriusXM's Julie Mason. "And to Putin's mind, it's a binary proposition: a weaker NATO is a stronger Russia."
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There Was a Sucker Born Every Minute Back Then, Too.
Fossil of 328 million-year-old octopus relative still has suckers on its arms
The oldest ancestor of modern octopuses lived 328 million years ago and had 10 arms, according to a new study. Researchers have named the previously unknown species Syllipsimopodi bideni after US President Joe Biden.
The creature's discovery pushes back the time frame when vampyropods, the group to which cephalopods like octopuses belong, appeared in the ocean by almost 82 million years.
The study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Vampyropods are known for having eight legs, an internal shell made of chitin and a soft body -- the last of which doesn't show up often in the fossil record because it tends to deteriorate more quickly than hard structures like bone.
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Black, Gay, Female, and In Russia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
For those asking what WNBA star Brittney Griner was doing in Russia to begin with, Griner’s story puts in harsh light the gender equity gap in professional sports, where male NBA players receive guaranteed million-dollar contracts, while their female counterparts, like Griner, are compelled to hustle for every dollar, including playing overseas in countries such as Russia.
Griner’s predicament also comes as Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the authoritarian architect of the invasion of Ukraine that has galvanized world opposition, faces biting economic sanctions and is ratcheting up threatening rhetoric and violence on the ground.
While it is unclear how any of this may directly affect Griner, as an American gay athlete of color, she embodies multiple battlegrounds on which Putin has, in the past, exercised punishing authority or exerted influence. Putin’s bearing and actions as a strongman have made him a hero to White nationalists. His regime is known for its harsh treatment of LGBTQ people, including signing a 2013 so-called “gay propaganda” law and Putin’s self-presentation as a global champion for “traditional values.”
The intersection of sport, sexuality and identity is an arena in which Griner has experience fighting for herself and winning. During Griner’s collegiate career at Baylor University, she became one of the first women basketball players to consistently dunk in the college game. At Baylor, a school where until 2015 the code of conduct characterized “homosexual acts” as “misuses of God’s gift,” Griner has also said she struggled to acquiesce to demands that she keep her sexuality to herself, cover up her tattoos and play the role of a more conventional athlete.
Whether It Seems Fair or Not the WNBA Generates a LOT Less Money than the NBA. They Can't Afford the Same Salaries.
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Corporations Fiddle While American Household Budgets Burn
Consumer prices increased 7.9% in February compared with a year earlier, according to the federal government’s latest estimate, the fastest inflation surge since the early 1980s.
But not everybody is feeling the squeeze of higher prices in the same way. While consumer sentiment has cratered, corporate profits have soared as businesses reap the rewards of their customers’ continued willingness to pay more.
The top 30 companies in the major industry categories of the consumer price index have raised prices while collectively boosting their profits by $151 billion, according to the liberal watchdog group Accountable.US, which compared the firms’ latest yearly and quarterly earnings reports with the previous year’s filings.
The companies also bought back an additional $28 billion of their own shares, a strategy to boost the stock price, which also happens to boost executive compensation.
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Did They Count Each One As Three-Fifths of a Person?
Black, Latino and Native Americans living on reservations were undercounted at higher levels in the 2020 census than in the 2010 census, while non-Hispanic white people were overcounted, according to comparative demographic data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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We're Stressed and We're Not Starving While Bombs Keep Falling on Us
Financial woes, coupled with a barrage of horrifying scenes from Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion, have pushed a majority of Americans to unprecedented levels of stress, according to a new report from the American Psychological Association.
The association's annual "Stress in America" poll, published Thursday, found that U.S. adults — already weary from two years of the Covid-19 pandemic — are now overwhelmingly troubled by inflation and the war in Ukraine.
According to the results, 87 percent of those surveyed cited rising costs of everyday items, such as groceries and gas, as a "significant source of stress."
The same high percentage said their mental health was greatly affected by what has felt like a "constant stream of crises without a break over the last two years." And 84 percent said the Russian invasion of Ukraine is "terrifying to watch."
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A Rapture Index? I Checked the Raptor Index to See How Likely It Was that Dinosaurs Were Coming Back
The war in Ukraine has reignited beliefs among some conservative evangelicals that Russia could help fulfill biblical prophecies about the end of the world.
These evangelicals, particularly charismatic Christians who focus on end-times theories, have long believed that Russia has a special role to play in the end times and are sharing new theories about why the invasion of Ukraine might be part of God’s plan.
Earlier this month, California megachurch pastor Greg Laurie, who was part of President Donald Trump’s inner circle of pastor-advisors, told his followers he saw a “prophetic significance” to what is happening in Ukraine. And Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin was “compelled by God” to attack Ukraine. Since then, people who engage in prophecy have been giving their own biblical interpretations to global events, particularly around Russia’s role in triggering the end of the world.
A Rapture Index that tracks what it sees as end-times activity recently increased its index to 187 out of 200. The index hit 182 after Sept. 11, 2001. In its most recent update, it notes climate change, the coronavirus and the rise of oil prices as factors for recent changes.
Note to Evangelicals: Disease, War, and Inflation Are Nothing New.
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First time we have been below 50,000 cases since July 22nd.
↓ 49.4% Cases, two-week change
↓ 27.6% Deaths, two-week change
968,262 Total confirmed deaths
New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Mar 10 | ||
| Mar 9 | 37,146 | 1,179 |
| Mar 8 | 37,879 | 1,161 |
| Mar 7 | 40,433 | 1,208 |
| Mar 6 | 42,204 | 1,259 |
| Mar 5 | 43,665 | 1,281 |
| Mar 4 | 45,555 | 1,319 |
| Mar 3 | 49,888 | 1,413 |
| Mar 2 | 53,016 | 1,558 |
| Mar 1 | 56,253 | 1,674 |
| Feb 28 | 68,480 | 1,832 |
| Feb 27 | 62,556 | 1,686 |
| Feb 26 | 66,053 | 1,719 |
| Feb 25 | 69,203 | 1,751 |
| Feb 24 | 72,111 | 1,720 |
| Feb 23 | 75,208 | 1,674 |
| Feb 22 | 79,539 | 1,602 |
| Feb 21 | 78,306 | 1,872 |
| Feb 20 | 98,012 | 1,872 |
| Feb 19 | 100,129 | 1,890 |
| Feb 18 | 103,462 | 1,920 |
| Feb 17 | 112,653 | 1,998 |
| Feb 16 | 121,664 | 2,020 |
| Feb 15 | 134,468 | 2,100 |
| Feb 14 | 146,921 | 2,208 |
| Feb 13 | 161,197 | 2,196 |
| Feb 12 | 168,881 | 2,197 |
| Feb 11 | 175,395 | 2,241 |
| Feb 10 | 190,401 | 2,305 |
| Feb 9 | 215,418 | 2,313 |
| Feb 8 | 230,602 | 2,303 |
| Feb 7 | 247,319 | 2,404 |
| Feb 6 | 291,471 | 2,294 |
| Feb 5 | 298,890 | 2,331 |
| Feb 4 | 313,117 | 2,404 |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 76.5% | 65.1% | 444.0% |
| % of Population 5+ | 81.3% | 69.2% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 86.2% | 73.5% | 45.4% |
| % of Population 18+ | 87.9% | 75.1% | 47.3% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 88.8% | 66.5% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday March 8)
There was some rain in the Nor Cal. A little more in the ten-day.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | 2 Weeks ago | 3 Weeks ago | 9 Weeks ago | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 84% (61% of full season average) | 87% (60%) | 93% (60%) | 99% (59%) | 170% |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 74% (53%) | 76% (51%) | 80% (51%) | 86% (51%) | 170% |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 71% (51%) | 70% (48%) | 75% (47%) | 79% (46%) | 151% |
| Snow Water Content - North | 55% (52%) | 59% (53%) | 61% (52%) | 68% (53%) | 134% |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 59% (64%) | 58% (66%) | 71% (59%) | 75% (57%) | 148% |
| Snow Water Content - South | 60% (66%) | 54% (63%) | 67% (54%) | 74% (54%) | 158% |
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
There's Abuse Going On Here, But It's Not Child Abuse. Does the QOP Really See Attacking Transgender Kids as a Winning Issue?
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday he is suing the Biden administration over guidance from federal health officials that conflicts with his legal opinion that gender affirming procedures in children should be considered "child abuse."
Paxton's February legal opinion -- which was seen by many as an attack on transgender children -- prompted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to direct the state's Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate instances of those procedures.
On March 2, the US Department of Health and Human Services released guidance saying healthcare providers who report families seeking gender-affirming care or refuse to provide treatment may be violating federal law. Families who believe their child has been denied gender-affirming care can file a complaint with the department's Office for Civil Rights, the guidance said.
Crypto and Fraud. Who's Surprised?
US authorities on Tuesday filed criminal charges against a cryptocurrency executive and civil charges against him and his sister, accusing them of defrauding retail investors out of millions of dollars with a digital token known as Ormeus Coin.
In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, the Justice Department said John Barksdale lied about the value and profitability of Ormeus Coin's mining assets, including that the coin was backed by a $250 million mining operation generating more than $5 million of monthly revenue.
Barksdale and his sister JonAtina Barksdale were separately charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with conducting fraudulent unregistered offerings of Ormeus Coin.
The SEC said the Barksdales since 2017 raised $124 million from more than 20,000 investors through their multi-level marketing company Ormeus Global SA, and spent millions of dollars on travel, real estate and other personal expenses.
Authorities said the siblings promoted Ormeus Coin through roadshows and social media, as well as a Times Square jumbotron in Manhattan proclaiming: "$250 Million Cryptocurrency Mining Farm Revealed in Legal Audit by Ormeus Coin."
Don't Draw Gay
In a statement attributed to “the LGBTQIA+ employees of Pixar, and their allies” obtained by Variety, employees of the animation studio allege that Disney corporate executives have demanded cuts from “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection… regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”
The stunning claim is part of a wider reaction to the company-wide memo sent to Disney employees by CEO Bob Chapek on Monday regarding its response to the recently passed legislation in Florida known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In the memo, Chapek states that the “biggest impact” the company can make “in creating a more inclusive world is through the inspiring content we produce.”
According to the Pixar letter, that claim is at odds with employees’ experience of trying to create content with same-sex affection approved by Disney executives.
“We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” the letter states. “Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
To date, Pixar has only included a tiny handful of LGBTQ characters in its feature films, most prominently in the 2020 fantasy film “Onward,” which features a cyclops police officer named Specter, voiced by Lena Waithe. The character’s sexuality is only acknowledged in passing, when Specter says, “It’s not easy being a new parent — my girlfriend’s daughter got me pulling my hair out, okay?” But the movie was still banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia due to the scene, and in the version released in Russia, the word “girlfriend” was changed to “partner.”
Eastman was Not the Least-Man When It Comes to Criminal Conspiracy
A federal judge in California is now poring over emails between John Eastman and Donald Trump that investigators on the Jan. 6 committee argue could reveal greater insights into a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Carter agreed to review 111 documents, all narrowed in scope to only those records Eastman sent or received from Jan. 4 to Jan. 7, 2021, while working at Chapman University.
The decision is the latest in a fast-paced legal fight ongoing between the Jan. 6th committee and the Trump ally and principal author of a strategy to stop or delay the 2020 election certification.
The judge has not seen the contents of the emails until now. Nor has the committee, but the committee has pushed for their inspection doggedly.
Evidence obtained by the committee’s overall probe so far—nearly 600 interviews and thousands of pages of illuminating records about the events around Jan. 6—has indicated to investigators that Eastman and Trump were engaged in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct or overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The Proof is in The TuKKKER
"The ruling repeatedly says Fox hosts, [Rudy] Giuliani and [Sydney] Powell made claims 'without any evidence' and 'without any basis.' It also says that claims made by Giuliani, Fox host Maria Bartiromo and now-former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs could meet the legal standard of claims being 'so inherently improbable that only a reckless person would have put [them] in circulation.'
"In the course of laying out the legal requirements for Smartmatic to prove its case, the judge noted that the company must prove Fox met the standard of acting with 'actual malice' — i.e. not merely promoting false claims, but doing so with malice. And on that count, the judge says the best evidence that it did is Carlson."
"Ironically, the statements of Tucker Carlson, perhaps the most popular Fox News host, militate most strongly in favor of a possible finding that there is a substantial basis that Fox News acted with actual malice."
Get This Menace off the Road! He Makes Laws. He Doesn't Follow Them.
Congressman Madison Cawthorn has been charged with driving with a revoked license, a misdemeanor that carries up to 20 days in jail.
Along with the misdemeanor, Cawthorn is facing two pending citations for speeding: 89 mph in a 65-mph zone in Buncombe County on Oct. 18 and 87 mph in a 70-mph zone in Polk County on Jan. 8.
Elections Have Consequences. This is What the QOP is Offering
Then late last month came what might have been the worst policy gaffe in recent political history: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) rolled out a plan to raise taxes on 100 million Americans and to let Social Security and Medicare expire in five years. Furthermore, he apparently aims to ban abortion nationwide and dictate what every school teaches students about race. (Why else put these items in an 11-point plan for the Senate?) He managed to combine the worst Republican economic ideas with the most abusive designs for government overreach.
And now Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — purveyor of some of the most egregious coronavirus disinformation, racist rhetoric and Russia propaganda — has confessed that Republicans still want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (Yes, they did try it when they had control of both houses and the White House, but John McCain gave the thumbs down on that unpopular idea.) To millions of Americans who have benefited from subsidized health insurance premiums, Johnson’s message amounts to: Tough luck.
He's So Freaking Rich That He Wants You Send Him Money
Former President Donald Trump appears to be fundraising for a new plane after his private jet made an emergency landing over the weekend.
Trump’s Save America PAC sent an email on Wednesday titled “Update: Trump Force One” that discussed the construction of a new plane, several news outlets reported.
The email was sent hours after news surfaced that a private plane carrying Trump from New Orleans to his Mar-a-Lago resort had to make an emergency landing Saturday because of an engine failure, Insider reported. That plane reportedly was loaned to Trump by a Republican donor.
“I have a very important update on my plane, but I need to trust that you won’t share it with anyone,” wrote Trump in the email, according to Newsweek. “My team is building a BRAND NEW Trump Force One.”
“The construction of this plane has been under wraps — not even the fake news media knows about it — and I can’t wait to unveil it for everyone to see,” it continued.
The email reportedly allowed recipients to “see” the new plane if they clicked an embedded link. The link actually directed to a donation page with the option to give between $5 and $2,000 to the Save America JFC PAC.
Is Putin About to Go With Gas? Not Even Hitler Used it on the Battlefield
The Biden administration warned Wednesday that Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, as it rejected Russia’s claims that U.S. biological weapons labs are operating in the war-torn country.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday called Russia’s claims “preposterous” and warned of “disinformation” campaigns.
She said Russia has long “maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law” and cited its military intervention in Syria in support of the Bashar al-Assad regime and its suspected poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny in 2020 with a Novichok-like nerve agent.
“Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false-flag operation using them. It’s a clear pattern,” she added.
Texas QOP Get Their Wish. They Stopped People From Voting. If Nobody Votes, There Can't Be Voter Fraud.
More than 27,000 mail ballots in Texas were flagged for rejection in the first test of new voting restrictions enacted across the U.S., jeopardizing votes cast by Democrats and Republicans alike and in counties big and small, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
It puts the rate of rejected mail ballots in Texas on track to significantly surpass previous elections. The preliminary figures — reported by Texas counties after votes were counted in the state's March 1 primary — is the fullest picture to date of how new election rules rushed into place by Republicans following the 2020 election made it harder for thousands of voters in both parties. Some will wind up not having their ballots count at all.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Huawei? No Way!
Two non-executive directors of Huawei UK have resigned over the company's stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
The BBC understands Sir Andrew Cahn and Sir Ken Olisa felt the firm's failure to quickly condemn the Russian invasion had made their positions untenable.
Huawei UK thanked both men for their "invaluable guidance".
Asked by BBC News if Huawei would continue to do business with Russia, the company said: "We are not commenting any further."
Do You Think Previous Guy Could Have Pulled This Off? He Wouldn't Have Tried. He Would Have Sent Military Aid to Russia.
As Russia’s isolation deepens, many of the world’s democracies have shown an unprecedented capacity to cooperate and defend the values they share. Swiftly designing and imposing the most severe sanctions in history and coordinating their adoption among many countries was not easy, but it got done. This is one of the most welcome side effects of the invasion: discovering that democracies can successfully tackle big problems. This experience can serve as a guide when facing the other global threats that lie ahead for us.
All You Have to Know About An Hour Of Previous Guy Drivel in 32 Seconds.
Arrested for a BWB (Banking While Black)
Movie director Ryan Coogler was briefly handcuffed by Atlanta police after a bank employee mistook him for a robber when he passed her a note while trying to withdraw a large amount of cash from his account.
The “Black Panther” director, who is Black, walked into a Bank of America branch Jan. 7 and passed the bank employee a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back asking her to “be discreet when handing him the cash,” according to a police report. He also had his California state identification card and his Bank of America account card.
He was trying to withdraw more than $10,000, and the bank employee “received an alert notification” from his account and quickly alerted her manager that Coogler was trying to rob the bank, the report says. The bank employee is a Black woman, the report says.
Police responding to the bank branch in the upscale Buckhead neighborhood saw a black Lexus SUV parked out front with the engine running. An officer talked to the male driver who said he was waiting for Coogler, who was inside the bank. A female passenger gave police the same information.
A description of Coogler given by the driver matched the description of the man reported to have been trying to rob the bank, the report says. The officer detained both the driver and passenger in the back of a police vehicle but they were not placed in handcuffs.
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Invasions Have Consequences
I Haven't Gotten Much Past Happy Faces
On 24 February, as Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, an image started to spread on social media - a picture of the Russian poet Pushkin, the number seven and rows of the "person walking" emoji.
To those in the know, the meaning was clear - a location (Pushkin Square, in Moscow), a time and a call to protest against the government's actions.
The emojis made reference to a code used for years in Russia to refer to protests - one so well known to the authorities, it is barely a code at all, according to human rights group OVD-Info.
Unauthorised protests have been banned in the country since 2014 and breaches of the rules can lead to up to 15 days detention for a first offence. Repeat offenders can receive prison sentences of up to five years.
Since then, it has been common for activists to use various coded phrases to organise online.
"It's like, 'Let's go for a walk to the centre,' or, 'The weather is great for a walk,'" Maria says. This is what she will text her friends to let them know she plans to attend a protest.
Patriots for Patriots
US European Command said in a statement Tuesday night that the US was sending two new Patriot missile batteries to Poland as defensive weapons to counter any potential threat to US and NATO allies amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Patriots are air defense missile systems designed to counter and destroy incoming short-range ballistic missiles, advanced aircraft and cruise missiles. Those missiles are heading to Poland for Ukraine,.
"Ukraine will win 2 weeks after the ground firms up."
Click here to see why this guy thinks this
"Russian losses are sure mounting and about to turn to complete rout now."
Or you can click here to read this guy's opinion
A Little Historical Perspective
Nearly thirty years ago the Soviet Union pulled its last troops out of Afghanistan, ending more than nine years of direct involvement and occupation. The USSR entered neighboring Afghanistan in 1979, attempting to shore up the newly-established pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. In short order, nearly 100,000 Soviet soldiers took control of major cities and highways. Rebellion was swift and broad, and the Soviets dealt harshly with the Mujahideen rebels and those who supported them, leveling entire villages to deny safe havens to their enemy. Foreign support propped up the diverse group of rebels, pouring in from Iran, Pakistan, China, and the United States. In the brutal nine-year conflict, an estimated one million civilians were killed, as well as 90,000 Mujahideen fighters, 18,000 Afghan troops, and 14,500 Soviet soldiers.
In less than a month the Russian Army has suffered almost 1/3 that number of casualties...
Slave Labor Running Nuclear Power Plants. This Seems Like a Recipe for Disaster. Does Vlad Want a Nuclear Disaster in Ukraine?
Limited access to medicine. No cellphone or landline connections. And no more electricity. Some 210 technical experts and guards inside the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant face “worsening” conditions, unable to leave the facility since Russian forces took control two weeks ago.
Over 340 miles southeast of Chernobyl, workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was set ablaze and also captured by Russian forces last week, are in “very bad psychological conditions,” according to Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy firm Energoatom. Nuclear technicians are being forced to work under gunpoint, Kotin told local media outlets Wednesday, adding that the plant is completely locked down by Russian forces.
Nuclear experts have raised concerns about the conditions faced by employees at both facilities as their occupation continues. The International Atomic Energy Agency, a nuclear watchdog for the United Nations, says sufficient rest is a pillar of nuclear safety: Employees must be able to rest and work in regular shifts and be able to make decisions free of “undue pressure.”
Damn! Dude, Where's My Lada?
Russia has banned exports of more than 200 types of product in retaliation for Western sanctions on Moscow.
Telecom, medical, agricultural, electrical and technology equipment, among other items, will affected by the ban which runs until the end of 2022.
It follows harsh western sanctions on Russia's financial system and energy in response to its war on Ukraine.
A growing number of Russian oligarchs have also been hit with asset freezes and travel bans.
Other items covered by Russia's export ban include cars, railway carriages, containers and turbines.
Goldman Sachs Finally Gets Around to Doing Something
Goldman Sachs said on Thursday that it will be shutting down its operations in Russia, making it the first major Wall Street bank to cut ties with the country since its invasion of Ukraine.
"Goldman Sachs is winding down its business in Russia in compliance with regulatory and licensing requirements," the bank said in a statement to Insider.
"We are focused on supporting our clients across the globe in managing or closing out pre-existing obligations in the market and ensuring the wellbeing of our people."
Goldman Sachs' business in Russia was relatively small by the banking giant's standards, with company filings showing about $650 million of credit exposure at the end of 2021, Reuters reported.
Bloomberg previously reported that some bank staffers were relocated from Moscow to Dubai, at their request.
Previous Guy May Be Right. Maybe He Did Keep Vlad From Invading
John Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump's national security advisor, on Wednesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't invade Ukraine while Trump was in office because "Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him."
Bolton pointed to Trump's outspoken criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the military and diplomatic alliance established in the wake of World War II.
"I think one of the reasons that Putin did not move during Trump's term in office was he saw the president's hostility of NATO. It was widely reported in American media," Bolton said during an interview with SiriusXM's Julie Mason. "And to Putin's mind, it's a binary proposition: a weaker NATO is a stronger Russia."
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There Was a Sucker Born Every Minute Back Then, Too.
Fossil of 328 million-year-old octopus relative still has suckers on its arms
The oldest ancestor of modern octopuses lived 328 million years ago and had 10 arms, according to a new study. Researchers have named the previously unknown species Syllipsimopodi bideni after US President Joe Biden.
The creature's discovery pushes back the time frame when vampyropods, the group to which cephalopods like octopuses belong, appeared in the ocean by almost 82 million years.
The study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Vampyropods are known for having eight legs, an internal shell made of chitin and a soft body -- the last of which doesn't show up often in the fossil record because it tends to deteriorate more quickly than hard structures like bone.
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Black, Gay, Female, and In Russia: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
For those asking what WNBA star Brittney Griner was doing in Russia to begin with, Griner’s story puts in harsh light the gender equity gap in professional sports, where male NBA players receive guaranteed million-dollar contracts, while their female counterparts, like Griner, are compelled to hustle for every dollar, including playing overseas in countries such as Russia.
Griner’s predicament also comes as Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the authoritarian architect of the invasion of Ukraine that has galvanized world opposition, faces biting economic sanctions and is ratcheting up threatening rhetoric and violence on the ground.
While it is unclear how any of this may directly affect Griner, as an American gay athlete of color, she embodies multiple battlegrounds on which Putin has, in the past, exercised punishing authority or exerted influence. Putin’s bearing and actions as a strongman have made him a hero to White nationalists. His regime is known for its harsh treatment of LGBTQ people, including signing a 2013 so-called “gay propaganda” law and Putin’s self-presentation as a global champion for “traditional values.”
The intersection of sport, sexuality and identity is an arena in which Griner has experience fighting for herself and winning. During Griner’s collegiate career at Baylor University, she became one of the first women basketball players to consistently dunk in the college game. At Baylor, a school where until 2015 the code of conduct characterized “homosexual acts” as “misuses of God’s gift,” Griner has also said she struggled to acquiesce to demands that she keep her sexuality to herself, cover up her tattoos and play the role of a more conventional athlete.
Whether It Seems Fair or Not the WNBA Generates a LOT Less Money than the NBA. They Can't Afford the Same Salaries.
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Corporations Fiddle While American Household Budgets Burn
Consumer prices increased 7.9% in February compared with a year earlier, according to the federal government’s latest estimate, the fastest inflation surge since the early 1980s.
But not everybody is feeling the squeeze of higher prices in the same way. While consumer sentiment has cratered, corporate profits have soared as businesses reap the rewards of their customers’ continued willingness to pay more.
The top 30 companies in the major industry categories of the consumer price index have raised prices while collectively boosting their profits by $151 billion, according to the liberal watchdog group Accountable.US, which compared the firms’ latest yearly and quarterly earnings reports with the previous year’s filings.
The companies also bought back an additional $28 billion of their own shares, a strategy to boost the stock price, which also happens to boost executive compensation.
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Did They Count Each One As Three-Fifths of a Person?
Black, Latino and Native Americans living on reservations were undercounted at higher levels in the 2020 census than in the 2010 census, while non-Hispanic white people were overcounted, according to comparative demographic data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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We're Stressed and We're Not Starving While Bombs Keep Falling on Us
Financial woes, coupled with a barrage of horrifying scenes from Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion, have pushed a majority of Americans to unprecedented levels of stress, according to a new report from the American Psychological Association.
The association's annual "Stress in America" poll, published Thursday, found that U.S. adults — already weary from two years of the Covid-19 pandemic — are now overwhelmingly troubled by inflation and the war in Ukraine.
According to the results, 87 percent of those surveyed cited rising costs of everyday items, such as groceries and gas, as a "significant source of stress."
The same high percentage said their mental health was greatly affected by what has felt like a "constant stream of crises without a break over the last two years." And 84 percent said the Russian invasion of Ukraine is "terrifying to watch."
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A Rapture Index? I Checked the Raptor Index to See How Likely It Was that Dinosaurs Were Coming Back
The war in Ukraine has reignited beliefs among some conservative evangelicals that Russia could help fulfill biblical prophecies about the end of the world.
These evangelicals, particularly charismatic Christians who focus on end-times theories, have long believed that Russia has a special role to play in the end times and are sharing new theories about why the invasion of Ukraine might be part of God’s plan.
Earlier this month, California megachurch pastor Greg Laurie, who was part of President Donald Trump’s inner circle of pastor-advisors, told his followers he saw a “prophetic significance” to what is happening in Ukraine. And Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin was “compelled by God” to attack Ukraine. Since then, people who engage in prophecy have been giving their own biblical interpretations to global events, particularly around Russia’s role in triggering the end of the world.
A Rapture Index that tracks what it sees as end-times activity recently increased its index to 187 out of 200. The index hit 182 after Sept. 11, 2001. In its most recent update, it notes climate change, the coronavirus and the rise of oil prices as factors for recent changes.
Note to Evangelicals: Disease, War, and Inflation Are Nothing New.
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