Post by mhbruin on Mar 16, 2022 8:48:28 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 557 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
First time we have been below 50,000 cases since July 22nd.
↓ 44.7% Cases, two-week change
↓ 29.2% Deaths, two-week change
972,214 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
I Nominate English Chemists, and I Don't Mean Pharmacists.
Of the 575 chemistry professors in the UK, just one is black.
In the 15 years Robert Mokaya has been a professor at Nottingham university, he has had all his applications for funding for research projects turned down by Britain's main chemistry funding body, now called the UK Research and Innovation agency.
"That is not typical for a professor," he tells me phlegmatically. (When's the last time you used the word "phlegmatically"?)
"I have had research papers published which I would have expected would have enabled me to obtain funding to do follow-up research.
"I wonder if this is typical for someone of my sort of surname.
"It has been very, very difficult," he says.
Funding applications are reviewed and decided by fellow experts in the field whose names are not published, but the name of the applicant is known to the reviewers.
Despite the constant rejections of funding applications, Robert has done extremely well for himself. He is a noted materials chemist, specialising in the study of materials for sustainable energy storage and has had numerous publications in scientific journals.
He was able to do his research because of funding from charities and learned societies, such as the Royal Society, which funds only the researchers it judges to have a track record of excellence in their work.
Apparently "Don't Say Gay" Applies in Oklahoma, Too.
A private Christian college in Oklahoma has come under fire for terminating a professor who says he was let go for bringing an LGBTQ guest speaker to his classroom.
Michael O’Keefe taught graphic design at Oklahoma Christian University for more than 40 years before being fired March 7, NBC affiliate KFOR in Oklahoma City reported.
O’Keefe’s lawyer, Kevin Jacobs, accused the school of discrimination and said the school unfairly disciplined the longtime professor.
“Letting students expect a world where you may be different is the message Mr. O’Keefe wanted his students to hear. That’s the message this speaker delivered, not an advocacy of gay rights,” Jacobs said in a statement to KFOR. “Unfortunately, that’s not permitted at Oklahoma Christian University today. It cost Mr. O’Keefe his job.”
The speaker that allegedly cost O’Keefe his job was a guest in his senior-level class The Business of Branding Yourself, where one of the topics addressed was “overcoming obstacles and developing resilience and character,” according to Jacobs’ statement. The openly gay speaker, the statement noted, was also an Oklahoma Christian University alumnus and was employed as an adjunct professor at the university for nearly 20 years.
Another BWB (Banking While Black)
The QOP Has the Perfect Senate Candidate in Georgia. Perfect for the QOP.
Herschel Walker gave a speech at Sugar Hill Church in Georgia Sunday where he actually questioned the science of evolution, not just implying but challenging the notion that if apes and humans coexisted, that means there is no evolution. He’s the GOP front-runner.
“At one time, science said man came from apes, did it not? ... If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it,” Herschel said.
“Now you’re getting too smart for us, Herschel,” Lead Pastor Chuck Allen responded.
Walker has the full support of failed one-term, twice impeached President Donald Trump, despite the fact that he has lied about going to college, he has a long history of domestic violence, and he once hawked a new “FDA-approved spray” that kills COVID-19.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you,” Walker told Glenn Beck in 2020. “Do you know right now, I have something that [you can bring] into a building, that will clean you of COVID, as you walk through this, this dry mist?”
“As you walk through the door, it will kill any COVID on your body,” he continues. He leans in and adds, “EPA-, FDA-approved,” then continues: “When you leave—it will kill the virus as you leave, this here product,” Walker says. He adds that he has a second unspecified miracle product, a “spray” possibly indicated for use after the dry mist treatment.
“They don’t want to talk about that. They don’t want to hear about that,” Walker says. “And I’m serious.”
But big props to Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reporter Greg Bluestein for pointing out something a lot of people didn’t: Walker’s camp has been propagating the myth that Walker graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. That’s a lie.
Previous Guy Finds a Real Outrage
Never let it be said that Donald Trump doesn't know where his priorities lie. While the rest of the civilized world is consumed by the heinous war crimes being committed by Trump's BFF Vladimir Putin against the innocent people of Ukraine, Trump is busting his prodigious gut over the dire prospects for his favorite disinformation and Russian propaganda disseminator, One America News Network (OAN).
In a tweet posted by his Twitter ban defying spokes-shill, Trump unleashed a totally delusional diatribe against cable companies that he said were "terminating a very popular and wonderful news network (OAN)." His extended, run-on rant whined that...
“Time Warner (which hasn't existed since 2016), the owner of Fake News CNN, has just announced that they will be terminating a very popular (OAN's audience is actually so small that it isn't even tracked by Nielsen.) and wonderful news network (OAN). Between heavily indebted Time Warner, and Radical Left Comcast, which runs Xfinity, there is a virtual monopoly on news, thereby making what you hear from the LameStream Media largely FAKE, hence the name FAKE NEWS! I believe the people of this Country should protest the decision to eliminate OAN, a very important voice. Likewise, Comcast is terrible and expensive. Let them know that you're sick and tired of FAKE NEWS! In this modern age of technology, they are no longer necessary. Demand that OAN be allowed to stay on the air. It is far bigger and more popular than anyone knows (Right. Nobody knows.), and importantly, it represents the voice of a very large group of people!"
Texas and Tennessee: Worse and Worser
Tennessee has advanced an even more restrictive version of the anti-abortion legislation crafted in Texas, which has successfully evaded legal challenges because of its unusual enforcement mechanism.
The legislation, which lawmakers on the state’s House Health Subcommittee advanced Tuesday, would completely ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy unless the mother’s life or safety is at risk. It now goes to the full House Health Committee for review.
“This bill is modeled directly after the legislation passed in Texas last year,” the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Rebecca Alexander (R), said at Tuesday’s committee hearing. Abortions in Texas, she noted, have dropped 60% since the law went into effect in September.
Alexander’s version of the bill is even more far-reaching than the law in Texas, which bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Other than that, the bills are nearly identical and were strategically crafted to avoid federal court challenges. Instead of tasking state officials with enforcing the ban, it deputizes public citizens to do so and incentivizes them with a $10,000 reward if they successfully sue someone for “aiding or abetting” a person seeking an abortion.
A Leopard Can Change Its Name, But Not Its Spots
Despite repeated warnings that Facebook Marketplace allows the sale of recalled products that have killed children, the platform’s parent company, Meta, has still failed to prevent such items from being available on its site. Now, members of Congress are demanding the company do more, writing to Meta last week that its “continued failure” to block the sale of recalled items is a “remarkable dereliction of duty by your company on behalf of your users.”
Similar letters members of Congress sent in 2019 and 2020 failed to spark significant action by the social media giant. In addition, pressure from safety advocates, grieving families, federal regulators and a USA TODAY investigation have not led to meaningful changes to how Facebook addresses the danger.
“They cannot be trusted. They'll make statements that they'll do better,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., one of the authors of the letter, which was sent to Meta last week. "Then they don't abide by it. And the consequence is the loss of life.”
A USA TODAY investigation last year found deadly recalled children’s products regularly change hands through Facebook Marketplace despite available remedies such as photo or text recognition technology. USA TODAY found scores of listings on Marketplace spanning 14 separate recalled products that had contributed to the deaths of at least 121 children and hundreds more incidents or serious injuries. Many were listed using their brand names. Dozens of the products were later marked as having been sold.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
I Doubt the Average Russian Would Notice, But This Takes Courage.
When Marina Ovsyannikova burst into Russian living rooms on Monday's nightly news, denouncing the war in Ukraine and propaganda around it, her protest highlighted a quiet but steady stream of resignations from Russia's tightly controlled state-run TV.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked her, appealing to anyone working for what he calls Russia's propaganda system to resign. Any journalist working in what he calls the fourth branch of power risks sanctions and an international tribunal for "justifying war crimes", he warns.
Some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest cheerleaders on state-run TV have already faced sanctions, including Vladimir Solovyov who presents a talk show on Russia's biggest channel Rossiya-1, and Margarita Simonyan who has accused anyone ashamed of being Russian at this point as not really being Russian.
Hours after Marina Ovsyannikova's on-screen protest, three resignations came to light.
Channel One colleague Zhanna Agalakova quit her job as Europe correspondent while two journalists have left rival NTV. Lilia Gildeyeva had worked for the channel as a presenter since 2006 and Vadim Glusker had been at NTV for almost 30 years.
Ovsyannikova has been charged with organising an unauthorised public event.
The administrative charge could be punished with a fine, community service or up to 10 days in jail.
There were fears she would be prosecuted under a more serious, new criminal law that bans calling Russia's military action in Ukraine an "invasion" or spreading "fake news" about the conflict.
Apparently she has been fined 30,000 roubles, $280ish.
Looks like a decision from the top to not make her a rallying cry.
Three Leaders With Real Courage
Ukraine has praised the courage of three European leaders who made a long, hazardous journey by rail from Poland to Kyiv in a show of support as the city came under further Russian attack.
The prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening as a curfew began in Kyiv.
Afterwards, the Czech leader told Ukrainians that they were "not alone".
They are the first Western leaders to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded.
A Philosopher Joins The Fight. They Kant Lose. It's a Locke!
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month, 27-year-old Nigerian Ottah Abraham was outraged.
He picked up his phone and tweeted: "I want to join the team."
He was some 8,700km (5,400 miles) away from the front line, in a small apartment in Nigeria's main city, Lagos.
The philosophy graduate is one of several hundred Africans, from countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Algeria, who say they are willing to take up arms in the battle against Russia, partly to escape the bleak prospects faced by many young men at home.
"We know that it's war, it's not child's play," he told the BBC. "But being a soldier in Ukraine would be better than being here.
"I'll probably be allowed to stay if the war ends, plus I'll be a hero and fight an undeniable enemy."
It's 3 a.m. Do You Know Where Your President Is?
Biden Answered the 3 a.m. Call
It’s hard to imagine that any of his rivals from the last election could have matched the president’s performance in this crisis.
Joe Biden hasn’t received the full credit he deserves for his statecraft during this crisis, because he has pursued a policy of self-effacement. Rather than touting his accomplishments in mobilizing a unified global response to the invasion, he has portrayed the stringent sanctions as the triumph of an alliance. By carefully limiting his own public role—and letting France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz take turns as the lead faces of NATO—he has left Vladimir Putin with little opportunity to portray the conflict as a standoff with the United States, a narrative that the Russian leader would clearly prefer. He’s shown how to wield American leadership in the face of deep European ambivalence about its exercise.
This Ranks Right Up There With "Nuts! During the Battle of the Bulge."
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Invasions Have Consequences
Is a Whopper as Good as a Big Mac?
The invasion of Ukraine has led many Western brands to shun Russia, but some still have outlets open in the country and say they are not able to shut them.
Marks and Spencer, Burger King, and hotel groups Marriott and Accor are restricted by complex franchise deals preventing them from withdrawing.
The firms have outsourced the Russian businesses to third parties and do not own the operations bearing their name.
Together the firms have almost a thousand outlets still open in Russia.
M&S has 48 shops and Burger King has 800 restaurants still open, whilst Marriott and Accor have 28 and 57 hotels open respectively.
Vlad the Invader Won't Win Many Popularity Contests Among POWs.
"I want to tell our commander-in-chief to stop terror acts in Ukraine because when we come back we'll rise against him."
Russian President Vladimir Putin "has given orders to commit crimes. It's not just to demilitarize Ukraine or defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but now cities of peaceful civilians are being destroyed."
"The crimes that we committed; we all will be judged."
These are the voices of Russian prisoners of war now held by Ukraine.
Nearly a dozen have appeared in news conferences held by the Ukrainian authorities, just a few of the 600 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says have been captured.
Their public appearances may be questionable under the Geneva Conventions, which forbid states from causing unnecessary humiliation to prisoners of war. And it is possible that they felt pressure to express views sympathetic to those of their captors.
But three captured Russian air force pilots who spoke to CNN did not suggest they were speaking under duress.
Ouch! That Hurts! Not!
However, on Tuesday Putin provided some unintended comic relief when his foreign ministry released a list of Americans who Russia is sanctioning "as retaliation for sweeping economic penalties from the Biden administration targeting Russian entities over the invasion of Ukraine." Those sanctioned include...
President Joe Biden
Hunter Biden
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
White House press secretary Jen Psaki
Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan
CIA Director Bill Burns
Notice who didn't get sanctioned? Probably the only person who would have been hurt by the sanctions, Donald Trump. According to CBS News, those sanctioned "are prohibited from entering the country and any assets they hold there are frozen."
Another One Bites the Dust. And Another One Gone and Another One Gone.
One stat stands out as a dismal sign of the abject and utter failure of Putin’s war strategy: the number of Senior Command staff that has been killed in the space of just 2 weeks. There has been an unconfirmed report of another Major General killed near Mariupol bringing the total to 5 if you include the Chechen General Magomed Tushaev.
The General’s location may have been compromised as Russians have been using consumer cell phone networks. The Russian military encrypted phones don’t work because the Russians blew up the cell towers the system depended on. That has allowed the Ukrainians to eavesdrop on Russian military comms.
The Russians spent a fortune on the high-tech Era crypto phone system. The Russian Defense Ministry bragged that it was guaranteed to work in all conditions at its introduction. I guess the budget for the ‘working in all conditions’ tech was spent on the brass and mahogany fittings for the Minister’s mega-yacht.
Isn't This What a Strategic Oil Reserve is For?
Russia could soon be forced to curtail crude oil production by 30%, subjecting the global economy to the biggest supply crisis in decades — that is, unless Saudi Arabia and other major energy exporters start pumping more.
The world's second-largest crude oil exporter could be forced to limit output by 3 million barrels per day in April, the International Energy Agency warned on Wednesday, as major oil companies, trading houses and shipping companies shun its exports and demand in Russia slumps. Russia was pumping about 10 million barrels of crude per day, and exporting about half of that, before it invaded Ukraine.
"The implications of a potential loss of Russian oil exports to global markets cannot be understated," the IEA said in its monthly report. The crisis could bring lasting changes to energy markets, it added.
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have banned imports of Russian oil, affecting roughly 13% of Russia's exports. But moves by major oil companies and global banks to stop dealing with Moscow following the invasion are forcing Russia to offer its crude at a huge discount.
This Could Escalate
Russia and NATO are edging closer to direct confrontation in Ukraine, where Moscow's aggression and threats have failed to stem the rapid flow eastward of Western weapons to President Volodymyr Zelensky and his vaunted defenders.
These weapons are being delivered in a variety of ways, the logistical details closely-kept secrets for fear of interception and destruction by the Russians. Sunday's devastating attack on the Yavoriv military base—which previously hosted U.S. and NATO troops—close to the Polish border was a clear statement of intent from Moscow.
Russia cannot feasibly stop all Western weapons deliveries. But the more it strikes the transport and supply depots used to distribute them, the higher the risk of inflicting NATO casualties becomes. NATO itself is not arranging weapons supplies, all are being sent bilaterally by member states with no central coordination from Brussels.
"The strike on Yavoriv was, as I read it, intended as a renewed message that Russia is willing to go after all of Ukraine," German member of the European Parliament Reinhard Butikofer told Newsweek. "That should not surprise us and our reaction should be additional support for Zelensky's government."
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I Don't Mean to Make Light of the Deaths of People, and This is Bad News, But ...
Two journalists working for Fox News have been killed in Ukraine, staff at the US network say.
Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, and Oleksandra Kuvshinova, 24, were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire in Horenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Their colleague, Benjamin Hall, 39, was wounded and remains in hospital.
Fox News has Journalists. Who Knew?
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How They Caught Him
Capt. Kevin Kentish, a Queens native who now works with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, was scrolling through his social media over the weekend when something caught his eye.
Kentish, who still stayed up to date with news from his home state, saw footage that New York City police had released of a person of interest wanted in connection with the shootings of two homeless individuals there, one of whom was killed.
In Washington, Kentish and his team were investigating the March 9 killing of a homeless person. The detective flagged the photos to his colleagues and they reached out to New York and federal law enforcement agencies and began comparing evidence, including shell casings left behind at the scenes.
"Our partners at the ATF tested our evidence that was recovered, they tested the evidence that was recovered in New York and we got a hit," Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said. They were looking for the same person.
Authorities in Washington tied two more local shootings to the suspect. Leaders from both cities held a joint news conference Monday and appealed to the public for help in identifying the suspect. An anonymous tip helped lead to his identity.
ATF agents found and arrested 30-year-old Gerald Brevard on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington at around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said.
He was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to kill in connection with two non-fatal shootings of homeless people and with first-degree murder while armed for the killing of 54-year-old Morgan Holmes
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Could This Be a Sign of Improving Relations with Iran?
Two British citizens imprisoned in Iran for years were returning home on Wednesday, the U.K. government said, ending lengthy ordeals that have strained relations between Tehran and London.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran for nearly six years, was "in the air" and beginning her journey back to the U.K., her local lawmaker, Tulip Siddiq, said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “flying away from 6 years of hell in Iran,” Siddiq wrote on Twitter alongside an image of the aid worker seemingly aboard the plane.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, would return Wednesday. They added that another British citizen, Anoosheh Ashoori, a retired engineer in his 60s who has been held in Iran since 2017, was headed back to the U.K.
Both “will be reunited with their families later today,” Truss said, without specifying where that was set to take place.
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This is Silly. I Live in California and Donated Money to Georgia Senate Candidates in 2020.
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COVID: The Virus That Keeps on Taking
Are We Next?
As European nations continue to ease pandemic restrictions, COVID-19 cases are rising again due to the spread of a new coronavirus subvariant called omicron BA.2. That suggests the U.S. may soon face a surge.
COVID-19 cases in the U.K. increased 48% the week of March 6 compared with the week before, while hospitalizations rose by 17%, according to CNN. Over the past seven days, 492,103 people tested positive, U.K. government data shows. Despite the increases, preliminary research shows BA.2 does not present a higher risk of hospitalization than the original omicron strain known as BA.1, the U.K. Health Security Agency said.
U.S. public health experts are paying close attention.
“If we’ve learned anything in this pandemic, it is that the trends in Europe precede our own,” Dr. Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told NBC News.
BA.2: Coming to a Theater, and Person Near You.
Just as Americans start taking off their masks, the Omicron sub-variant BA.2 is quickly spreading across the United States, making up nearly a quarter of new COVID-19 infections, health officials estimate.
BA.2 is about 30% more transmissible than Omicron, but it does not appear to be more severe. And despite the spread of the new sub-variant, U.S. daily cases and hospitalizations continue to drop while deaths plateau.
The Global Picture
The number of new coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 17% in the last week while COVID-19 infections rose, reversing a decline in cases that first began in January, according to the World Health Organization.
In the U.N. health agency’s weekly report on the pandemic issued late Tuesday, WHO said there were more than 11 million new COVID-19 infections last week - about an 8% rise - and 43,000 new deaths. The number of COVID-19 deaths globally has been dropping for the past three weeks.
The biggest increase in cases were seen in the Western Pacific and Africa, where infections rose by 29% and 12% respectively. Elsewhere, cases dropped by more than 20% in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas. In Europe, cases inched up by about 2%.
WHO said those numbers “should be interpreted with caution.” It noted that many countries are changing their COVID-19 testing strategies as they exit the acute phase of the pandemic, and are testing far less than previously, meaning that many new cases are going undetected.
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Welcome to the US! At Least For a While
The Biden administration will provide immigration relief to tens of thousands of Afghans in the U.S., shielding them from deportation due to the deteriorating security and economic conditions in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last year, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.
After determining that Afghanistan is too dangerous to send deportees there, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas allowed Afghans in the U.S. to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which would protect them from deportation and allow them to work legally for 18 months.
The move, which was first reported by CBS News earlier Wednesday, is particularly significant for more than 76,000 Afghans who were evacuated and resettled by the U.S. after the chaotic American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The evacuees entered the U.S. under a two-year humanitarian classification known as parole, not as traditional refugees, leaving tens of thousands of them without a legal avenue to obtain permanent residency and at risk of facing deportation if their asylum claims are rejected.
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Blame Canada!
Just a third of Americans would blame President Joe Biden if gas prices continue to rise, and less than a third say he's responsible for recent price rises, according to a new poll published on Tuesday.
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that 33 percent of Americans believed Biden would be responsible for further rises in the price of gas, while 22 percent would place the blame on oil and gas companies, and 17 percent would consider Russia to be responsible.
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First time we have been below 50,000 cases since July 22nd.
↓ 44.7% Cases, two-week change
↓ 29.2% Deaths, two-week change
972,214 Total confirmed deaths
New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Mar 18 | 28,274 | 972 |
| Mar 17 | 29,317 | 1,035 |
| Mar 16 | 30,040 | 1,052 |
| Mar 15 | 30,934 | 1,107 |
| Mar 14 | 32,458 | 1,186 |
| Mar 13 | 34,113 | 1,187 |
| Mar 12 | 34,253 | 1,210 |
| Mar 11 | 34,805 | 1,198 |
| Mar 10 | 35,269 | 1,197 |
| 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 16, 2021 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 76.6% | 65.2% | 44.2% |
| % of Population 5+ | 81.4% | 69.3% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 86.3% | 73.6% | 45.8% |
| % of Population 18+ | 88.1% | 75.2% | 47.6% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 88.9% | 66.7% |
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
I Nominate English Chemists, and I Don't Mean Pharmacists.
Of the 575 chemistry professors in the UK, just one is black.
In the 15 years Robert Mokaya has been a professor at Nottingham university, he has had all his applications for funding for research projects turned down by Britain's main chemistry funding body, now called the UK Research and Innovation agency.
"That is not typical for a professor," he tells me phlegmatically. (When's the last time you used the word "phlegmatically"?)
"I have had research papers published which I would have expected would have enabled me to obtain funding to do follow-up research.
"I wonder if this is typical for someone of my sort of surname.
"It has been very, very difficult," he says.
Funding applications are reviewed and decided by fellow experts in the field whose names are not published, but the name of the applicant is known to the reviewers.
Despite the constant rejections of funding applications, Robert has done extremely well for himself. He is a noted materials chemist, specialising in the study of materials for sustainable energy storage and has had numerous publications in scientific journals.
He was able to do his research because of funding from charities and learned societies, such as the Royal Society, which funds only the researchers it judges to have a track record of excellence in their work.
Apparently "Don't Say Gay" Applies in Oklahoma, Too.
A private Christian college in Oklahoma has come under fire for terminating a professor who says he was let go for bringing an LGBTQ guest speaker to his classroom.
Michael O’Keefe taught graphic design at Oklahoma Christian University for more than 40 years before being fired March 7, NBC affiliate KFOR in Oklahoma City reported.
O’Keefe’s lawyer, Kevin Jacobs, accused the school of discrimination and said the school unfairly disciplined the longtime professor.
“Letting students expect a world where you may be different is the message Mr. O’Keefe wanted his students to hear. That’s the message this speaker delivered, not an advocacy of gay rights,” Jacobs said in a statement to KFOR. “Unfortunately, that’s not permitted at Oklahoma Christian University today. It cost Mr. O’Keefe his job.”
The speaker that allegedly cost O’Keefe his job was a guest in his senior-level class The Business of Branding Yourself, where one of the topics addressed was “overcoming obstacles and developing resilience and character,” according to Jacobs’ statement. The openly gay speaker, the statement noted, was also an Oklahoma Christian University alumnus and was employed as an adjunct professor at the university for nearly 20 years.
Another BWB (Banking While Black)
The QOP Has the Perfect Senate Candidate in Georgia. Perfect for the QOP.
Herschel Walker gave a speech at Sugar Hill Church in Georgia Sunday where he actually questioned the science of evolution, not just implying but challenging the notion that if apes and humans coexisted, that means there is no evolution. He’s the GOP front-runner.
“At one time, science said man came from apes, did it not? ... If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it,” Herschel said.
“Now you’re getting too smart for us, Herschel,” Lead Pastor Chuck Allen responded.
Walker has the full support of failed one-term, twice impeached President Donald Trump, despite the fact that he has lied about going to college, he has a long history of domestic violence, and he once hawked a new “FDA-approved spray” that kills COVID-19.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you,” Walker told Glenn Beck in 2020. “Do you know right now, I have something that [you can bring] into a building, that will clean you of COVID, as you walk through this, this dry mist?”
“As you walk through the door, it will kill any COVID on your body,” he continues. He leans in and adds, “EPA-, FDA-approved,” then continues: “When you leave—it will kill the virus as you leave, this here product,” Walker says. He adds that he has a second unspecified miracle product, a “spray” possibly indicated for use after the dry mist treatment.
“They don’t want to talk about that. They don’t want to hear about that,” Walker says. “And I’m serious.”
But big props to Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reporter Greg Bluestein for pointing out something a lot of people didn’t: Walker’s camp has been propagating the myth that Walker graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. That’s a lie.
Previous Guy Finds a Real Outrage
Never let it be said that Donald Trump doesn't know where his priorities lie. While the rest of the civilized world is consumed by the heinous war crimes being committed by Trump's BFF Vladimir Putin against the innocent people of Ukraine, Trump is busting his prodigious gut over the dire prospects for his favorite disinformation and Russian propaganda disseminator, One America News Network (OAN).
In a tweet posted by his Twitter ban defying spokes-shill, Trump unleashed a totally delusional diatribe against cable companies that he said were "terminating a very popular and wonderful news network (OAN)." His extended, run-on rant whined that...
“Time Warner (which hasn't existed since 2016), the owner of Fake News CNN, has just announced that they will be terminating a very popular (OAN's audience is actually so small that it isn't even tracked by Nielsen.) and wonderful news network (OAN). Between heavily indebted Time Warner, and Radical Left Comcast, which runs Xfinity, there is a virtual monopoly on news, thereby making what you hear from the LameStream Media largely FAKE, hence the name FAKE NEWS! I believe the people of this Country should protest the decision to eliminate OAN, a very important voice. Likewise, Comcast is terrible and expensive. Let them know that you're sick and tired of FAKE NEWS! In this modern age of technology, they are no longer necessary. Demand that OAN be allowed to stay on the air. It is far bigger and more popular than anyone knows (Right. Nobody knows.), and importantly, it represents the voice of a very large group of people!"
Texas and Tennessee: Worse and Worser
Tennessee has advanced an even more restrictive version of the anti-abortion legislation crafted in Texas, which has successfully evaded legal challenges because of its unusual enforcement mechanism.
The legislation, which lawmakers on the state’s House Health Subcommittee advanced Tuesday, would completely ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy unless the mother’s life or safety is at risk. It now goes to the full House Health Committee for review.
“This bill is modeled directly after the legislation passed in Texas last year,” the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Rebecca Alexander (R), said at Tuesday’s committee hearing. Abortions in Texas, she noted, have dropped 60% since the law went into effect in September.
Alexander’s version of the bill is even more far-reaching than the law in Texas, which bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Other than that, the bills are nearly identical and were strategically crafted to avoid federal court challenges. Instead of tasking state officials with enforcing the ban, it deputizes public citizens to do so and incentivizes them with a $10,000 reward if they successfully sue someone for “aiding or abetting” a person seeking an abortion.
A Leopard Can Change Its Name, But Not Its Spots
Despite repeated warnings that Facebook Marketplace allows the sale of recalled products that have killed children, the platform’s parent company, Meta, has still failed to prevent such items from being available on its site. Now, members of Congress are demanding the company do more, writing to Meta last week that its “continued failure” to block the sale of recalled items is a “remarkable dereliction of duty by your company on behalf of your users.”
Similar letters members of Congress sent in 2019 and 2020 failed to spark significant action by the social media giant. In addition, pressure from safety advocates, grieving families, federal regulators and a USA TODAY investigation have not led to meaningful changes to how Facebook addresses the danger.
“They cannot be trusted. They'll make statements that they'll do better,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., one of the authors of the letter, which was sent to Meta last week. "Then they don't abide by it. And the consequence is the loss of life.”
A USA TODAY investigation last year found deadly recalled children’s products regularly change hands through Facebook Marketplace despite available remedies such as photo or text recognition technology. USA TODAY found scores of listings on Marketplace spanning 14 separate recalled products that had contributed to the deaths of at least 121 children and hundreds more incidents or serious injuries. Many were listed using their brand names. Dozens of the products were later marked as having been sold.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
I Doubt the Average Russian Would Notice, But This Takes Courage.
When Marina Ovsyannikova burst into Russian living rooms on Monday's nightly news, denouncing the war in Ukraine and propaganda around it, her protest highlighted a quiet but steady stream of resignations from Russia's tightly controlled state-run TV.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked her, appealing to anyone working for what he calls Russia's propaganda system to resign. Any journalist working in what he calls the fourth branch of power risks sanctions and an international tribunal for "justifying war crimes", he warns.
Some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest cheerleaders on state-run TV have already faced sanctions, including Vladimir Solovyov who presents a talk show on Russia's biggest channel Rossiya-1, and Margarita Simonyan who has accused anyone ashamed of being Russian at this point as not really being Russian.
Hours after Marina Ovsyannikova's on-screen protest, three resignations came to light.
Channel One colleague Zhanna Agalakova quit her job as Europe correspondent while two journalists have left rival NTV. Lilia Gildeyeva had worked for the channel as a presenter since 2006 and Vadim Glusker had been at NTV for almost 30 years.
Ovsyannikova has been charged with organising an unauthorised public event.
The administrative charge could be punished with a fine, community service or up to 10 days in jail.
There were fears she would be prosecuted under a more serious, new criminal law that bans calling Russia's military action in Ukraine an "invasion" or spreading "fake news" about the conflict.
Apparently she has been fined 30,000 roubles, $280ish.
Looks like a decision from the top to not make her a rallying cry.
Three Leaders With Real Courage
Ukraine has praised the courage of three European leaders who made a long, hazardous journey by rail from Poland to Kyiv in a show of support as the city came under further Russian attack.
The prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening as a curfew began in Kyiv.
Afterwards, the Czech leader told Ukrainians that they were "not alone".
They are the first Western leaders to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded.
A Philosopher Joins The Fight. They Kant Lose. It's a Locke!
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month, 27-year-old Nigerian Ottah Abraham was outraged.
He picked up his phone and tweeted: "I want to join the team."
He was some 8,700km (5,400 miles) away from the front line, in a small apartment in Nigeria's main city, Lagos.
The philosophy graduate is one of several hundred Africans, from countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Algeria, who say they are willing to take up arms in the battle against Russia, partly to escape the bleak prospects faced by many young men at home.
"We know that it's war, it's not child's play," he told the BBC. "But being a soldier in Ukraine would be better than being here.
"I'll probably be allowed to stay if the war ends, plus I'll be a hero and fight an undeniable enemy."
It's 3 a.m. Do You Know Where Your President Is?
Biden Answered the 3 a.m. Call
It’s hard to imagine that any of his rivals from the last election could have matched the president’s performance in this crisis.
Joe Biden hasn’t received the full credit he deserves for his statecraft during this crisis, because he has pursued a policy of self-effacement. Rather than touting his accomplishments in mobilizing a unified global response to the invasion, he has portrayed the stringent sanctions as the triumph of an alliance. By carefully limiting his own public role—and letting France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz take turns as the lead faces of NATO—he has left Vladimir Putin with little opportunity to portray the conflict as a standoff with the United States, a narrative that the Russian leader would clearly prefer. He’s shown how to wield American leadership in the face of deep European ambivalence about its exercise.
This Ranks Right Up There With "Nuts! During the Battle of the Bulge."
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Invasions Have Consequences
Is a Whopper as Good as a Big Mac?
The invasion of Ukraine has led many Western brands to shun Russia, but some still have outlets open in the country and say they are not able to shut them.
Marks and Spencer, Burger King, and hotel groups Marriott and Accor are restricted by complex franchise deals preventing them from withdrawing.
The firms have outsourced the Russian businesses to third parties and do not own the operations bearing their name.
Together the firms have almost a thousand outlets still open in Russia.
M&S has 48 shops and Burger King has 800 restaurants still open, whilst Marriott and Accor have 28 and 57 hotels open respectively.
Vlad the Invader Won't Win Many Popularity Contests Among POWs.
"I want to tell our commander-in-chief to stop terror acts in Ukraine because when we come back we'll rise against him."
Russian President Vladimir Putin "has given orders to commit crimes. It's not just to demilitarize Ukraine or defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but now cities of peaceful civilians are being destroyed."
"The crimes that we committed; we all will be judged."
These are the voices of Russian prisoners of war now held by Ukraine.
Nearly a dozen have appeared in news conferences held by the Ukrainian authorities, just a few of the 600 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says have been captured.
Their public appearances may be questionable under the Geneva Conventions, which forbid states from causing unnecessary humiliation to prisoners of war. And it is possible that they felt pressure to express views sympathetic to those of their captors.
But three captured Russian air force pilots who spoke to CNN did not suggest they were speaking under duress.
Ouch! That Hurts! Not!
However, on Tuesday Putin provided some unintended comic relief when his foreign ministry released a list of Americans who Russia is sanctioning "as retaliation for sweeping economic penalties from the Biden administration targeting Russian entities over the invasion of Ukraine." Those sanctioned include...
President Joe Biden
Hunter Biden
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
White House press secretary Jen Psaki
Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan
CIA Director Bill Burns
Notice who didn't get sanctioned? Probably the only person who would have been hurt by the sanctions, Donald Trump. According to CBS News, those sanctioned "are prohibited from entering the country and any assets they hold there are frozen."
Another One Bites the Dust. And Another One Gone and Another One Gone.
One stat stands out as a dismal sign of the abject and utter failure of Putin’s war strategy: the number of Senior Command staff that has been killed in the space of just 2 weeks. There has been an unconfirmed report of another Major General killed near Mariupol bringing the total to 5 if you include the Chechen General Magomed Tushaev.
The General’s location may have been compromised as Russians have been using consumer cell phone networks. The Russian military encrypted phones don’t work because the Russians blew up the cell towers the system depended on. That has allowed the Ukrainians to eavesdrop on Russian military comms.
The Russians spent a fortune on the high-tech Era crypto phone system. The Russian Defense Ministry bragged that it was guaranteed to work in all conditions at its introduction. I guess the budget for the ‘working in all conditions’ tech was spent on the brass and mahogany fittings for the Minister’s mega-yacht.
Isn't This What a Strategic Oil Reserve is For?
Russia could soon be forced to curtail crude oil production by 30%, subjecting the global economy to the biggest supply crisis in decades — that is, unless Saudi Arabia and other major energy exporters start pumping more.
The world's second-largest crude oil exporter could be forced to limit output by 3 million barrels per day in April, the International Energy Agency warned on Wednesday, as major oil companies, trading houses and shipping companies shun its exports and demand in Russia slumps. Russia was pumping about 10 million barrels of crude per day, and exporting about half of that, before it invaded Ukraine.
"The implications of a potential loss of Russian oil exports to global markets cannot be understated," the IEA said in its monthly report. The crisis could bring lasting changes to energy markets, it added.
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have banned imports of Russian oil, affecting roughly 13% of Russia's exports. But moves by major oil companies and global banks to stop dealing with Moscow following the invasion are forcing Russia to offer its crude at a huge discount.
This Could Escalate
Russia and NATO are edging closer to direct confrontation in Ukraine, where Moscow's aggression and threats have failed to stem the rapid flow eastward of Western weapons to President Volodymyr Zelensky and his vaunted defenders.
These weapons are being delivered in a variety of ways, the logistical details closely-kept secrets for fear of interception and destruction by the Russians. Sunday's devastating attack on the Yavoriv military base—which previously hosted U.S. and NATO troops—close to the Polish border was a clear statement of intent from Moscow.
Russia cannot feasibly stop all Western weapons deliveries. But the more it strikes the transport and supply depots used to distribute them, the higher the risk of inflicting NATO casualties becomes. NATO itself is not arranging weapons supplies, all are being sent bilaterally by member states with no central coordination from Brussels.
"The strike on Yavoriv was, as I read it, intended as a renewed message that Russia is willing to go after all of Ukraine," German member of the European Parliament Reinhard Butikofer told Newsweek. "That should not surprise us and our reaction should be additional support for Zelensky's government."
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I Don't Mean to Make Light of the Deaths of People, and This is Bad News, But ...
Two journalists working for Fox News have been killed in Ukraine, staff at the US network say.
Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, and Oleksandra Kuvshinova, 24, were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire in Horenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Their colleague, Benjamin Hall, 39, was wounded and remains in hospital.
Fox News has Journalists. Who Knew?
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How They Caught Him
Capt. Kevin Kentish, a Queens native who now works with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, was scrolling through his social media over the weekend when something caught his eye.
Kentish, who still stayed up to date with news from his home state, saw footage that New York City police had released of a person of interest wanted in connection with the shootings of two homeless individuals there, one of whom was killed.
In Washington, Kentish and his team were investigating the March 9 killing of a homeless person. The detective flagged the photos to his colleagues and they reached out to New York and federal law enforcement agencies and began comparing evidence, including shell casings left behind at the scenes.
"Our partners at the ATF tested our evidence that was recovered, they tested the evidence that was recovered in New York and we got a hit," Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said. They were looking for the same person.
Authorities in Washington tied two more local shootings to the suspect. Leaders from both cities held a joint news conference Monday and appealed to the public for help in identifying the suspect. An anonymous tip helped lead to his identity.
ATF agents found and arrested 30-year-old Gerald Brevard on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington at around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said.
He was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to kill in connection with two non-fatal shootings of homeless people and with first-degree murder while armed for the killing of 54-year-old Morgan Holmes
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Could This Be a Sign of Improving Relations with Iran?
Two British citizens imprisoned in Iran for years were returning home on Wednesday, the U.K. government said, ending lengthy ordeals that have strained relations between Tehran and London.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran for nearly six years, was "in the air" and beginning her journey back to the U.K., her local lawmaker, Tulip Siddiq, said. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “flying away from 6 years of hell in Iran,” Siddiq wrote on Twitter alongside an image of the aid worker seemingly aboard the plane.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, would return Wednesday. They added that another British citizen, Anoosheh Ashoori, a retired engineer in his 60s who has been held in Iran since 2017, was headed back to the U.K.
Both “will be reunited with their families later today,” Truss said, without specifying where that was set to take place.
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This is Silly. I Live in California and Donated Money to Georgia Senate Candidates in 2020.
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COVID: The Virus That Keeps on Taking
Are We Next?
As European nations continue to ease pandemic restrictions, COVID-19 cases are rising again due to the spread of a new coronavirus subvariant called omicron BA.2. That suggests the U.S. may soon face a surge.
COVID-19 cases in the U.K. increased 48% the week of March 6 compared with the week before, while hospitalizations rose by 17%, according to CNN. Over the past seven days, 492,103 people tested positive, U.K. government data shows. Despite the increases, preliminary research shows BA.2 does not present a higher risk of hospitalization than the original omicron strain known as BA.1, the U.K. Health Security Agency said.
U.S. public health experts are paying close attention.
“If we’ve learned anything in this pandemic, it is that the trends in Europe precede our own,” Dr. Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told NBC News.
BA.2: Coming to a Theater, and Person Near You.
Just as Americans start taking off their masks, the Omicron sub-variant BA.2 is quickly spreading across the United States, making up nearly a quarter of new COVID-19 infections, health officials estimate.
BA.2 is about 30% more transmissible than Omicron, but it does not appear to be more severe. And despite the spread of the new sub-variant, U.S. daily cases and hospitalizations continue to drop while deaths plateau.
The Global Picture
The number of new coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 17% in the last week while COVID-19 infections rose, reversing a decline in cases that first began in January, according to the World Health Organization.
In the U.N. health agency’s weekly report on the pandemic issued late Tuesday, WHO said there were more than 11 million new COVID-19 infections last week - about an 8% rise - and 43,000 new deaths. The number of COVID-19 deaths globally has been dropping for the past three weeks.
The biggest increase in cases were seen in the Western Pacific and Africa, where infections rose by 29% and 12% respectively. Elsewhere, cases dropped by more than 20% in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas. In Europe, cases inched up by about 2%.
WHO said those numbers “should be interpreted with caution.” It noted that many countries are changing their COVID-19 testing strategies as they exit the acute phase of the pandemic, and are testing far less than previously, meaning that many new cases are going undetected.
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Welcome to the US! At Least For a While
The Biden administration will provide immigration relief to tens of thousands of Afghans in the U.S., shielding them from deportation due to the deteriorating security and economic conditions in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last year, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.
After determining that Afghanistan is too dangerous to send deportees there, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas allowed Afghans in the U.S. to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which would protect them from deportation and allow them to work legally for 18 months.
The move, which was first reported by CBS News earlier Wednesday, is particularly significant for more than 76,000 Afghans who were evacuated and resettled by the U.S. after the chaotic American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
The evacuees entered the U.S. under a two-year humanitarian classification known as parole, not as traditional refugees, leaving tens of thousands of them without a legal avenue to obtain permanent residency and at risk of facing deportation if their asylum claims are rejected.
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Blame Canada!
Just a third of Americans would blame President Joe Biden if gas prices continue to rise, and less than a third say he's responsible for recent price rises, according to a new poll published on Tuesday.
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that 33 percent of Americans believed Biden would be responsible for further rises in the price of gas, while 22 percent would place the blame on oil and gas companies, and 17 percent would consider Russia to be responsible.
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