Post by mhbruin on Apr 11, 2022 9:50:36 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 566 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday April 5)
There was some rain in the Nor Cal. A little more in the ten-day.
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Kleptomaniacs Always Take Things Literally
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
He's Just Following the Yellow Brick Road
For Donald Trump, all the world's a stage. And the most important people on it are the ones on TV.
That fact was borne out over the weekend when Trump endorsed TV doctor Mehmet Oz over hedge fund rich guy David McCormick in advance of next month's Republican Senate primary.
The words Trump used to announce his endorsement are telling.
"I have known Dr. Oz for many years, as have many others, even if only through his very successful television show," Trump said. "He has lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected and smart."
At a rally in North Carolina where, oddly, Trump talked about his endorsement of Oz, the former President was even more blunt about the reasoning behind his pick.
"When you're in television for 18 years, that's like a poll," Trump said of Oz. "That means people like you."
Consider what all Trump is saying there.
1. Oz was on TV regularly for more than a decade.
2. That makes him famous
3. It also makes him popular
4. Trump likes famous, popular people who were on TV
That's basically it. Trump isn't endorsing Oz for any reason other than Oz, like Trump, is on TV. That's good enough for Trump.
Count the Horrible People in This Story
After his father-in-law left the White House, Jared Kushner got a $2 billion golden parachute—from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Kushner predictably started a private equity firm despite his lack of experience in private equity, and went to the main Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), asking for an “investment.”
The professionals in charge of screening possible investments for the PIF raised a series of objections only to be overruled days later by the fund’s board, which is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom Kushner became close during his time as a senior White House adviser.
The objections to investing in Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, included “’the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management’; the possibility that the kingdom would be responsible for ‘the bulk of the investment and risk’; due diligence on the fledgling firm’s operations that found them ‘unsatisfactory in all aspects’; a proposed asset management fee that ‘seems excessive’; and ‘public relations risks’ from Mr. Kushner’s prior role as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, former President Donald J. Trump, according to minutes of the panel’s meeting last June 30,” The New York Times reports.
The reason given internally was that Kushner was worth the risk despite his inexperience and potential public relations problems, in order to “capitalize on the capabilities of Affinity’s founders’ deep understanding of different government policies and geopolitical systems.” That’s a lot of words when you could just say “buying access and influence.”
As a measure of how much the eventual bin Salman-led decision to hand over $2 billion to Kushner was driven by relationships, Steven Mnuchin, the former Trump treasury secretary, also started a private equity firm and went to Saudi Arabia asking for money. He got $1 billion despite having relevant experience in the field. Kushner is also getting a higher asset management fee from the PIF than Mnuchin is.
Is It a Coincidence That the Worst People in the World Are Fueled by Oil Money?
There Are Liars, and Lying Statistics. Then There is TucKKKer.
There Are Disgusting People. Then There is MTG.
It's Not Just His Hands that are Small
Donald Trump has long equated crowd size with success ― reportedly even bragging of the size of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to block the certification of the election and keep him in power.
GOP strategist Susan Del Percio said Trump is now falling short by that measure as his rally crowds decrease in size.
“That’s what you saw there: a very shrinking base,” she told MSNBC’s Cori Coffin one day after Trump addressed a surprisingly sparse crowd in Selma, North Carolina.
Local newspaper The News & Observer reported that Trump spoke to about 1,000 to 2,000 people ― a far cry from the 15,000 who turned out for him at the same venue in 2016.
The Selma event was the second in recent weeks marked by low turnout. In late March, the former president spoke at a rally in Georgia to a crowd local media called the smallest he has had in the area since the 2016 election.
ATF. WTF? Who Are You Protecting?
Over the last two decades, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives let some of the Midwest's most notorious gun sellers off the hook for serious violations of federal law, including selling to straw purchasers, transferring guns without background checks and doctoring sales records.
The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom, and USA TODAY obtained ATF inspection records for 13 gun dealers singled out by the city of Chicago as suppliers of a disproportionate number of guns used in city crimes. The records show the agency found more than 120 violations of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 at these stores. Only one store passed its inspection with no violations.
In 2017, on the heels of a record-breaking surge in homicides in Chicago, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel published a sweeping Gun Trace Report, which identified the sellers of thousands of guns recovered by Chicago police between 2013 and 2016. It showed nearly 1 in 4 guns picked up by city police came from just 10 stores located across Illinois and northern Indiana. The top three stores together accounted for some 2,000 crime guns.
The Trace and USA TODAY requested inspection documents for the gun dealers named in this report. They reveal the ATF routinely issued softer penalties than warranted under agency guidelines when it discovered violations at these stores — in step with a pattern of conciliatory inspections the media organizations first uncovered last year.
That investigation found that between 2015 and 2017, the ATF regularly downgraded penalties for lawbreaking retailers across the U.S. The review of more than 2,000 gun dealers showed that many dealers had brazenly flouted federal laws, selling weapons to convicted felons and domestic abusers, lying to inspectors and falsifying ledgers to hide their misconduct. When the ATF discovered these violations, it often issued warnings, sometimes repeatedly, and allowed stores to stay open.
The new batch of records provides details of inspections conducted as far back as 2009 and suggests the ATF’s lax approach to investigating gun dealers has continued for significantly longer than originally known.
In seven instances related to the stores supplying Chicago with crime guns, the ATF issued softer penalties than violations warranted. In at least three inspections, the agency discovered problems severe enough to warrant revoking a dealer’s license but issued warnings instead.
They Arrested Her and Then Went Looking for a Law She Violated. There Was None.
A local prosecutor in Texas will dismiss criminal charges against a 26-year-old woman who was arrested for a self-induced abortion in a case that had drawn national scrutiny and led abortion rights activists to demonstrate on her behalf.
Following a grand jury indictment of her on March 30, Lizelle Herrera was arrested on Thursday by the Starr County Sheriff's Office, according to Valley Central.com, which cited a spokesperson who said she "intentionally and knowingly caused the death of an individual by self-induced abortion."
Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez said on Sunday his office would file a motion to dismiss charges against her on Monday.
"In reviewing applicable Texas law, it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her," Ramirez said in a statement.
Neither the district attorney nor the sheriff's department responded to queries about when she would be released.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
They Say "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", But This One Got Rewarded, Too.
A German media outlet has hired dissident Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova as a correspondent.
She will work for the company which owns Die Welt newspaper, reporting from Ukraine and Russia, it announced.
Last month Ms Ovsyannikova staged a protest on Russian television, storming her Channel One employer's live broadcast with an anti-war placard.
The 43-year-old was detained and fined by a Russian court, and made international headlines.
She will now work as a freelance correspondent for Die Welt, writing for its flagship German newspaper and appearing as a contributor on a TV news channel it owns.
The Best Secretary in Nazi Germany
Mimi Reinhard, a secretary in Oskar Schindler’s office who typed up the list of Jews he saved from extermination by Nazi Germany, has died in Israel at the age of 107.
Reinhard died early Friday and was laid to rest Sunday in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, her son Sasha Weitman confirmed.
She was one of 1,200 Jews saved by German businessman Schindler after he bribed Nazi authorities to let him keep them as workers in his factories. The account was made into the acclaimed 1993 film “Schindler’s List” by director Steven Spielberg.
Who is the Real Randy Rainbow? It's Randy Rainbow, Of Course.
"All the People Living Life in Peace"
John Lennon’s first-born son Julian performed his dad’s famous song “Imagine” for the first time publicly to benefit war-torn Ukraine and its people.
He sang the song Saturday as part of the Global Citizen’s social media rally, Stand Up For Ukraine.
Julian Lennon, 59, had vowed never to perform his dad’s song, which imagines an ideal world of peace and love, free of hunger and pain, created through human intention.
But the “unimaginable tragedy” in Ukraine moved him to respond in the “most significant way I could,” he wrote on YouTube. “So today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, ‘Imagine,’” he added.
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Today's Dumbest People in the World
A 16-year-old was killed as he and another teen took turns firing guns at each other while wearing body armor, according to police in Florida.
The shooter and another teen have been arrested in connection with the death.
Joshua Vining and Colton Whitler, both 17, were arrested Thursday, the Belleview Police Department said in a press release posted to Facebook. Vining was arrested on suspicion of aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm, and Whitler was arrested on providing false information to law enforcement. Both teens are being charged as adults, police said.
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Invasions Have Consequences
As the War in Ukraine Raises Food Prices, This Will Get Worse
When lunchtime comes, Maybel Sequera and Juan González share a plate of noodles and beans at their home in a low-income neighborhood west of Venezuela’s capital. Their meager lunch was a gift from a nonprofit organization as the couple cannot afford to feed themselves.
Sequera, 72, and González, 74, worked for years as a seamstress and driver to build their two houses and raise their four children. But now, after 50 years of marriage, they rely on donations for food, medicines and clothing.
The government raised their combined monthly pensions from about $4 to roughly $60 last month. But it would have to be multiplied by six for them to be able to buy a basket of goods.
“Now that they have increased us to 130 (each), we are going to see how we manage with those 130 because it is not enough either,” Sequera said referring to the pension in bolívares, Venezuela’s official currency and in which pensions are paid.
In Venezuela, the pension is the amount paid monthly to workers who retire after reaching 750 weeks of Social Security contributions and turning 55, in the case of women, and 60 for men.
Since 1995 — years before Hugo Chavez imposed in the South American country what he considered socialism — a pension is equal to the monthly minimum wage. Workers contribute between 2% and 4% of their salary to Social Security while employers pay an additional 9% to 11% on behalf of workers.
The pensions of Sequera, González and millions of other similarly situated retirees went up last month because President Nicolás Maduro increased the monthly minimum wage from roughly $2 to about $30, an amount insufficient to pay basic goods, whose cost in February was estimated at $365, according to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, an organization specializing in economic studies.
Venezuela has just over five million pensioners, according to official figures. Annual inflation, which slowed last year but still reached 686.4%, has eaten up their pensions for years.
Although the country in the second half of the last decade experienced a severe shortage of food and hygiene items, prompting people to stand in long lines outside supermarkets to buy whatever they could, store shelves are now well stocked and display imported products. But high prices set in dollars make it impossible for much of the population to afford goods.
This dynamic leaves many older adults dependent on remittances from the more than six million Venezuelans who have migrated due to the economic, political and social crises of recent years.
Nonprofit organizations and churches fill some gaps, but it is not uncommon to see the elderly on the sidewalks of Caracas, the capital, selling candy or begging for money.
Actual Video of Russians Attacking a Ukrainian Town
Dnipro? No!
U.S. intelligence has been mostly good this entire war, so it’s hard to dismiss it out of hand. But … wut?
The obvious goal is to try and enact a pincer maneuver from Izyum in the north, to Mariupol in the south, to trap the third (or so) of the Ukrainian army currently holding defensive entrenched positions on the border with the purple separatist-held area. Efforts to breach those defensive positions head-on have repeatedly failed, all the way back to 2014, hence the effort to surround them and cut them off from supplies and reinforcements.
The pincer maneuver is tough enough, requiring Russia to stretch out around 200 kilometers (~120 miles). This opens them up to the same resupply issues they faced up in their Sumy-to-Kyiv effort, while simultaneously exposing themselves to flank attacks from both the east and the west.
Full Story
Dnipro? No! - Version 2
The Russian army is running out of options
There is growing speculation that following the Battle of Kyiv the Russians are now going to consolidate their forces in the east and south to restart major offensives. This could include surrounding Ukrainian forces in the Donbas and or even, as one general hypothesised on CNN, a large thrust to seize the strategically located Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Rushing Russian soldiers back into the war would be a sign of the panic engulfing Putin’s leadership and represent a huge risk for the Kremlin
The problem is that this would rely on a Russian army that does not seem to exist. Any force able to launch major operations in the east to advance rapidly through Ukrainian positions and seize major Ukrainian cities would need to be capable of quickly rebuilding and resupplying defeated units, learning a great deal from its earlier mistakes and mastering complex operations. The Russian army has struggled mightily with all of these things so far.
Did They or Didn't They?
The Russian military says it used sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles to destroy four S-300 air defense missile launchers near the city of Dnipro, just days after Slovakia sent Ukraine an S-300 air defense system in a deal worked out by the U.S.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement Monday that Ukraine had received the technology from an unnamed European country and that about two dozen Ukrainian troops were also hit by the strike.
“Our S-300 system has not been destroyed,” said Lubica Janikova, spokeswoman for Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger. It was unclear whether both sides are referring to the same airstrike as the Russians have targeted missile defense systems in three locations in recent days.
Slovakia was able to provide a system to Ukraine because the U.S. was willing to give Slovakia a Patriot battery to replace it, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.
Those Being Killed Are Not All Russians.
Eliza Kenenbaeva’s recent story “For Money Or A Passport: Many Kyrgyz Fighting Alongside Russians In Ukraine” explains why so many young men from central Asia are now coming home in coffins to be buried in a hurry.
Two months ago, Russia passed a law that reduced the delay for applying for Russian citizenship from 12 to 3 months, if the applicant agrees to sign a contract with the Russian military. These contracted soldiers (not mercenaries — that’s something else) are allowed by law to be sent as cannon fodder in Ukraine, whereas Russian law does not allow Russian conscripts to be sent to Ukraine. (Putin has skirted this law but fears to ignore it completely.)
Many central Asian migrants signed a contract with the Russian military, thinking that they’ll become citizens quickly this way. (The new law does not actually promise citizenship, but Russian Army recruiters don’t tell potential recruitees this detail.)
Worse, some Russian authorities told migrants from central Asia who were already Russian citizens that their citizenship would be stripped and they would be deported, unless they signed a contract and became soldiers. (Russian law does not actually say this.)
And then Putin invaded Ukraine.
Hey Vlad! The Club You Can't Join Is Getting Bigger
Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation".
It comes as US defence officials said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has been a "massive strategic blunder" which will likely bring Nato enlargement.
US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June.
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"I Have One Word for You Benjamin: 'Plastics'"
Few places on Earth — or in our bodies — seem to be free of microplastics.
Researchers in recent months have announced the discovery of microplastics traveling in the bloodstream of a handful of anonymous donors and embedded deep in the lung tissue of about a dozen patients awaiting surgery. Another recent study reported finding microplastics in placentas.
These discoveries have made for a dizzying series of headlines that some might find concerning — but the science remains far from settled.
What recent research makes clear so far is that microplastics are ubiquitous, that these particles enter peoples’ bodies regularly during inhalation or through consumption of food or drinks, and that they find their way into vital body systems.
Some studies of laboratory animals and cells grown outside the body suggest that there are reasons for concern about how these minuscule pieces of plastics affect our physiology.
What remains less apparent is what risks to health, if any, these tiny particles pose at the concentrations they’ve been found. Scientists say the flurry of recent studies, and headlines, represent their first steps toward understanding the impact these particles have on our daily lives.
Frank Zappa is An Acquired Taste
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I May Be a Luddite, But I Prefer a Credit Card. Does That Make Me One of the Plastic People?
Patrick Paumen causes a stir whenever he pays for something in a shop or restaurant.
This is because the 37-year-old doesn't need to use a bank card or his mobile phone to pay. Instead, he simply places his left hand near the contactless card reader, and the payment goes through.
"The reactions I get from cashiers are priceless!" says Mr Paumen, a security guard from the Netherlands.
He is able to pay using his hand because back in 2019 he had a contactless payment microchip injected under his skin.
"The procedure hurts as much as when someone pinches your skin," says Mr Paumen.
A microchip was first implanted into a human back in 1998, but it is only during the past decade that the technology has been available commercially.
And when it comes to implantable payment chips, British-Polish firm, Walletmor, says that last year it became the first company to offer them for sale.
"The implant can be used to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris - or at your local grocery store," says founder and chief executive Wojtek Paprota. "It can be used wherever contactless payments are accepted."
Walletmor's chip, which weighs less than a gram and is little bigger than a grain of rice, is comprised of a tiny microchip and an antenna encased in a biopolymer - a naturally sourced material, similar to plastic.
Mr Paprota adds that it is entirely safe, has regulatory approval, works immediately after being implanted, and will stay firmly in place. It also does not require a battery, or other power source. The firm says it has now sold more than 500 of the chips.
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An Anti-COVID Measure Than Can Help With Future Pandemics.
Two-plus years into the Covid-19 pandemic, you probably know the basics of protection: vaccines, boosters, proper handwashing and masks. But one of the most powerful tools against the coronavirus is one that experts believe is just starting to get the attention it deserves: ventilation.
Making sure our indoor air is healthy is not that complicated, Sherman said. "You just want to reduce the number of particles that might be carrying Covid or any other nasty [virus]."
The way you do that is through ventilation and filtration.
Filtration -- just like it sounds -- is filtering or cleaning the air, removing the infected particles. But think of ventilation as diluting the air. You're bringing more fresh air in to reduce the concentration of those particles.
More Details
We Added a UV Air Filter to Our Heating / AC System
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Moving to Neptune Is Not the Solution to Global Warming
Frigid and far-flung Neptune, our solar system’s outermost planet, is adding to its reputation as an enigmatic world, with astronomers puzzled by a surprising drop in its atmospheric temperatures during the past two decades.
Focusing upon Neptune’s stratosphere — the atmosphere’s relatively stable region above the turbulent weather layer — the researchers had expected to find rising temperatures in the part of the planet visible from Earth with the onset of its southern hemisphere summer, a season lasting four decades. Instead, they found temperatures declining significantly.
The study was based on more than 95 thermal-infrared images — every one ever taken — spanning 2003 to 2020 using ground-based telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, mostly the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. It is the most comprehensive assessment to date of Neptune’s atmospheric temperatures.
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Why Do They Think a Judge's Opinion Will Move Molasses Merrick?
Jan. 6 Panel Has Evidence for Criminal Referral of Trump, but Splits on Sending
The shift in the committee’s perspective on making a referral was prompted in part by a ruling two weeks ago by Judge David O. Carter of the Federal District Court for Central California. Deciding a civil case in which the committee had sought access to more than 100 emails written by John C. Eastman, a lawyer who advised Mr. Trump on efforts to derail certification of the Electoral College outcome, Judge Carter found that it was “more likely than not” that Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman had committed federal crimes.
The ruling led some committee and staff members to argue that even though they felt they had amassed enough evidence to justify calling for a prosecution for obstructing a congressional proceeding and conspiring to defraud the American people, the judge’s decision would carry far greater weight with Mr. Garland than any referral letter they could write, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.
Molasses Merrick Already has Enough to Indict Based on the Mueller Report
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Filling Up? Check Gas Buddy or the YP App.
When the cost of crude oil soared to new highs in early March with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, prices at the gasoline pump followed. They climbed 17 percent in a little over a week.
But when crude prices eased — they’re now down more than 20 percent from their March high — pump prices eased somewhat but have remained elevated.
This pattern is so common, especially with gas prices, that economists have a pet name for it: rockets and feathers. When crude prices jump, pump prices tend to rise like a rocket. But when crude prices fall, pump prices tend to descend gently, like a feather.
Drivers shop more carefully — and force stations to compete — when prices are rising, said Clemson economist and gas-price expert Matthew Lewis.
When drivers pull up to a gas station and see a higher price than they expect, they think they can get a better price somewhere else, Lewis said. They don’t realize West Texas Intermediate spot prices are driving up gasoline costs everywhere, so they’ll check a couple more stations’ prices before pumping.
But if that same person pulls up and sees a lower price than expected, they’re likely to assume they’re getting a good deal — they have no idea that crude prices are falling even more than the price they’re paying. They pump gas immediately, no search needed.
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Why Not Just Arrest the Guy?
The United States Postal Service has suspended its services for one block of residents in a Santa Monica neighborhood, after several reported assaults took place on carriers delivering mail in the area.
A report was filed back on Jan. 19 for an incident that occurred in the early evening, when a mail carrier was attacked by a resident who lives near the intersection of 14th Street and Arizona Avenue.
He reportedly swung a broomstick at the carrier, though they were not injured in the attack.
According to Santa Monica Police Department's Public Information Officer, the suspect is well-known amongst their ranks, as they've had several issues with him in the past - most of which are domestic.
Residents in the area were delivered notices from USPS, disclosing that "delivery service is hereby suspended to all addresses located on the 13-hundred block of 14th street."
As expected, homeowners in the area are more than upset, especially since the actions of just one person seem to have put them all at a loss.
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New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Apr 10 | 28,927 | 500 |
| Apr 9 | 28,339 | 509 |
| Apr 8 | 28,169 | 516 |
| Apr 7 | 26,286 | 471 |
| Apr 6 | 26,595 | 496 |
| Apr 5 | 26,845 | 533 |
| Apr 4 | 25,537 | 537 |
| Apr 3 | 25,074 | 572 |
| Apr 2 | 25,787 | 576 |
| Apr 1 | 26,106 | 584 |
| Mar 31 | 25,980 | 605 |
| Mar 30 | 25,732 | 626 |
| Mar 29 | 25,218 | 644 |
| Mar 28 | 26,190 | 700 |
| Mar 27 | 26,487 | 690 |
| Mar 26 | 26,593 | 697 |
| Mar 25 | 26,874 | 705 |
| Mar 24 | 27,235 | 732 |
| Mar 23 | 27,134 | 753 |
| Mar 22 | 27,545 | 787 |
| Mar 21 | 28,657 | 861 |
| Mar 20 | 27,786 | 901 |
| Mar 19 | 27,747 | 909 |
| 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 |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 76.9% | 65.5% | 44.8% |
| % of Population 5+ | 81.7% | 69.6% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 86.5% | 73.9% | 46.4% |
| % of Population 18+ | 88.3% | 75.4% | 48.2% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 89.0% | 67.2% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday April 5)
There was some rain in the Nor Cal. A little more in the ten-day.
| Percent of Average for this Date | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 74% (62% of full season average) |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 66% (55%) |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 62% (53%) |
| Snow Water Content - North | 46% |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 55% |
| Snow Water Content - South | 52% |
Kleptomaniacs Always Take Things Literally
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
He's Just Following the Yellow Brick Road
For Donald Trump, all the world's a stage. And the most important people on it are the ones on TV.
That fact was borne out over the weekend when Trump endorsed TV doctor Mehmet Oz over hedge fund rich guy David McCormick in advance of next month's Republican Senate primary.
The words Trump used to announce his endorsement are telling.
"I have known Dr. Oz for many years, as have many others, even if only through his very successful television show," Trump said. "He has lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected and smart."
At a rally in North Carolina where, oddly, Trump talked about his endorsement of Oz, the former President was even more blunt about the reasoning behind his pick.
"When you're in television for 18 years, that's like a poll," Trump said of Oz. "That means people like you."
Consider what all Trump is saying there.
1. Oz was on TV regularly for more than a decade.
2. That makes him famous
3. It also makes him popular
4. Trump likes famous, popular people who were on TV
That's basically it. Trump isn't endorsing Oz for any reason other than Oz, like Trump, is on TV. That's good enough for Trump.
Count the Horrible People in This Story
After his father-in-law left the White House, Jared Kushner got a $2 billion golden parachute—from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Kushner predictably started a private equity firm despite his lack of experience in private equity, and went to the main Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), asking for an “investment.”
The professionals in charge of screening possible investments for the PIF raised a series of objections only to be overruled days later by the fund’s board, which is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom Kushner became close during his time as a senior White House adviser.
The objections to investing in Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, included “’the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management’; the possibility that the kingdom would be responsible for ‘the bulk of the investment and risk’; due diligence on the fledgling firm’s operations that found them ‘unsatisfactory in all aspects’; a proposed asset management fee that ‘seems excessive’; and ‘public relations risks’ from Mr. Kushner’s prior role as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, former President Donald J. Trump, according to minutes of the panel’s meeting last June 30,” The New York Times reports.
The reason given internally was that Kushner was worth the risk despite his inexperience and potential public relations problems, in order to “capitalize on the capabilities of Affinity’s founders’ deep understanding of different government policies and geopolitical systems.” That’s a lot of words when you could just say “buying access and influence.”
As a measure of how much the eventual bin Salman-led decision to hand over $2 billion to Kushner was driven by relationships, Steven Mnuchin, the former Trump treasury secretary, also started a private equity firm and went to Saudi Arabia asking for money. He got $1 billion despite having relevant experience in the field. Kushner is also getting a higher asset management fee from the PIF than Mnuchin is.
Is It a Coincidence That the Worst People in the World Are Fueled by Oil Money?
There Are Liars, and Lying Statistics. Then There is TucKKKer.
There Are Disgusting People. Then There is MTG.
It's Not Just His Hands that are Small
Donald Trump has long equated crowd size with success ― reportedly even bragging of the size of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to block the certification of the election and keep him in power.
GOP strategist Susan Del Percio said Trump is now falling short by that measure as his rally crowds decrease in size.
“That’s what you saw there: a very shrinking base,” she told MSNBC’s Cori Coffin one day after Trump addressed a surprisingly sparse crowd in Selma, North Carolina.
Local newspaper The News & Observer reported that Trump spoke to about 1,000 to 2,000 people ― a far cry from the 15,000 who turned out for him at the same venue in 2016.
The Selma event was the second in recent weeks marked by low turnout. In late March, the former president spoke at a rally in Georgia to a crowd local media called the smallest he has had in the area since the 2016 election.
ATF. WTF? Who Are You Protecting?
Over the last two decades, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives let some of the Midwest's most notorious gun sellers off the hook for serious violations of federal law, including selling to straw purchasers, transferring guns without background checks and doctoring sales records.
The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom, and USA TODAY obtained ATF inspection records for 13 gun dealers singled out by the city of Chicago as suppliers of a disproportionate number of guns used in city crimes. The records show the agency found more than 120 violations of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 at these stores. Only one store passed its inspection with no violations.
In 2017, on the heels of a record-breaking surge in homicides in Chicago, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel published a sweeping Gun Trace Report, which identified the sellers of thousands of guns recovered by Chicago police between 2013 and 2016. It showed nearly 1 in 4 guns picked up by city police came from just 10 stores located across Illinois and northern Indiana. The top three stores together accounted for some 2,000 crime guns.
The Trace and USA TODAY requested inspection documents for the gun dealers named in this report. They reveal the ATF routinely issued softer penalties than warranted under agency guidelines when it discovered violations at these stores — in step with a pattern of conciliatory inspections the media organizations first uncovered last year.
That investigation found that between 2015 and 2017, the ATF regularly downgraded penalties for lawbreaking retailers across the U.S. The review of more than 2,000 gun dealers showed that many dealers had brazenly flouted federal laws, selling weapons to convicted felons and domestic abusers, lying to inspectors and falsifying ledgers to hide their misconduct. When the ATF discovered these violations, it often issued warnings, sometimes repeatedly, and allowed stores to stay open.
The new batch of records provides details of inspections conducted as far back as 2009 and suggests the ATF’s lax approach to investigating gun dealers has continued for significantly longer than originally known.
In seven instances related to the stores supplying Chicago with crime guns, the ATF issued softer penalties than violations warranted. In at least three inspections, the agency discovered problems severe enough to warrant revoking a dealer’s license but issued warnings instead.
They Arrested Her and Then Went Looking for a Law She Violated. There Was None.
A local prosecutor in Texas will dismiss criminal charges against a 26-year-old woman who was arrested for a self-induced abortion in a case that had drawn national scrutiny and led abortion rights activists to demonstrate on her behalf.
Following a grand jury indictment of her on March 30, Lizelle Herrera was arrested on Thursday by the Starr County Sheriff's Office, according to Valley Central.com, which cited a spokesperson who said she "intentionally and knowingly caused the death of an individual by self-induced abortion."
Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez said on Sunday his office would file a motion to dismiss charges against her on Monday.
"In reviewing applicable Texas law, it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her," Ramirez said in a statement.
Neither the district attorney nor the sheriff's department responded to queries about when she would be released.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
They Say "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", But This One Got Rewarded, Too.
A German media outlet has hired dissident Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova as a correspondent.
She will work for the company which owns Die Welt newspaper, reporting from Ukraine and Russia, it announced.
Last month Ms Ovsyannikova staged a protest on Russian television, storming her Channel One employer's live broadcast with an anti-war placard.
The 43-year-old was detained and fined by a Russian court, and made international headlines.
She will now work as a freelance correspondent for Die Welt, writing for its flagship German newspaper and appearing as a contributor on a TV news channel it owns.
The Best Secretary in Nazi Germany
Mimi Reinhard, a secretary in Oskar Schindler’s office who typed up the list of Jews he saved from extermination by Nazi Germany, has died in Israel at the age of 107.
Reinhard died early Friday and was laid to rest Sunday in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, her son Sasha Weitman confirmed.
She was one of 1,200 Jews saved by German businessman Schindler after he bribed Nazi authorities to let him keep them as workers in his factories. The account was made into the acclaimed 1993 film “Schindler’s List” by director Steven Spielberg.
Who is the Real Randy Rainbow? It's Randy Rainbow, Of Course.
"All the People Living Life in Peace"
John Lennon’s first-born son Julian performed his dad’s famous song “Imagine” for the first time publicly to benefit war-torn Ukraine and its people.
He sang the song Saturday as part of the Global Citizen’s social media rally, Stand Up For Ukraine.
Julian Lennon, 59, had vowed never to perform his dad’s song, which imagines an ideal world of peace and love, free of hunger and pain, created through human intention.
But the “unimaginable tragedy” in Ukraine moved him to respond in the “most significant way I could,” he wrote on YouTube. “So today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, ‘Imagine,’” he added.
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Today's Dumbest People in the World
A 16-year-old was killed as he and another teen took turns firing guns at each other while wearing body armor, according to police in Florida.
The shooter and another teen have been arrested in connection with the death.
Joshua Vining and Colton Whitler, both 17, were arrested Thursday, the Belleview Police Department said in a press release posted to Facebook. Vining was arrested on suspicion of aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm, and Whitler was arrested on providing false information to law enforcement. Both teens are being charged as adults, police said.
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Invasions Have Consequences
As the War in Ukraine Raises Food Prices, This Will Get Worse
When lunchtime comes, Maybel Sequera and Juan González share a plate of noodles and beans at their home in a low-income neighborhood west of Venezuela’s capital. Their meager lunch was a gift from a nonprofit organization as the couple cannot afford to feed themselves.
Sequera, 72, and González, 74, worked for years as a seamstress and driver to build their two houses and raise their four children. But now, after 50 years of marriage, they rely on donations for food, medicines and clothing.
The government raised their combined monthly pensions from about $4 to roughly $60 last month. But it would have to be multiplied by six for them to be able to buy a basket of goods.
“Now that they have increased us to 130 (each), we are going to see how we manage with those 130 because it is not enough either,” Sequera said referring to the pension in bolívares, Venezuela’s official currency and in which pensions are paid.
In Venezuela, the pension is the amount paid monthly to workers who retire after reaching 750 weeks of Social Security contributions and turning 55, in the case of women, and 60 for men.
Since 1995 — years before Hugo Chavez imposed in the South American country what he considered socialism — a pension is equal to the monthly minimum wage. Workers contribute between 2% and 4% of their salary to Social Security while employers pay an additional 9% to 11% on behalf of workers.
The pensions of Sequera, González and millions of other similarly situated retirees went up last month because President Nicolás Maduro increased the monthly minimum wage from roughly $2 to about $30, an amount insufficient to pay basic goods, whose cost in February was estimated at $365, according to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, an organization specializing in economic studies.
Venezuela has just over five million pensioners, according to official figures. Annual inflation, which slowed last year but still reached 686.4%, has eaten up their pensions for years.
Although the country in the second half of the last decade experienced a severe shortage of food and hygiene items, prompting people to stand in long lines outside supermarkets to buy whatever they could, store shelves are now well stocked and display imported products. But high prices set in dollars make it impossible for much of the population to afford goods.
This dynamic leaves many older adults dependent on remittances from the more than six million Venezuelans who have migrated due to the economic, political and social crises of recent years.
Nonprofit organizations and churches fill some gaps, but it is not uncommon to see the elderly on the sidewalks of Caracas, the capital, selling candy or begging for money.
Actual Video of Russians Attacking a Ukrainian Town
Dnipro? No!
U.S. intelligence has been mostly good this entire war, so it’s hard to dismiss it out of hand. But … wut?
The obvious goal is to try and enact a pincer maneuver from Izyum in the north, to Mariupol in the south, to trap the third (or so) of the Ukrainian army currently holding defensive entrenched positions on the border with the purple separatist-held area. Efforts to breach those defensive positions head-on have repeatedly failed, all the way back to 2014, hence the effort to surround them and cut them off from supplies and reinforcements.
The pincer maneuver is tough enough, requiring Russia to stretch out around 200 kilometers (~120 miles). This opens them up to the same resupply issues they faced up in their Sumy-to-Kyiv effort, while simultaneously exposing themselves to flank attacks from both the east and the west.
Full Story
Dnipro? No! - Version 2
The Russian army is running out of options
There is growing speculation that following the Battle of Kyiv the Russians are now going to consolidate their forces in the east and south to restart major offensives. This could include surrounding Ukrainian forces in the Donbas and or even, as one general hypothesised on CNN, a large thrust to seize the strategically located Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Rushing Russian soldiers back into the war would be a sign of the panic engulfing Putin’s leadership and represent a huge risk for the Kremlin
The problem is that this would rely on a Russian army that does not seem to exist. Any force able to launch major operations in the east to advance rapidly through Ukrainian positions and seize major Ukrainian cities would need to be capable of quickly rebuilding and resupplying defeated units, learning a great deal from its earlier mistakes and mastering complex operations. The Russian army has struggled mightily with all of these things so far.
Did They or Didn't They?
The Russian military says it used sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles to destroy four S-300 air defense missile launchers near the city of Dnipro, just days after Slovakia sent Ukraine an S-300 air defense system in a deal worked out by the U.S.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement Monday that Ukraine had received the technology from an unnamed European country and that about two dozen Ukrainian troops were also hit by the strike.
“Our S-300 system has not been destroyed,” said Lubica Janikova, spokeswoman for Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger. It was unclear whether both sides are referring to the same airstrike as the Russians have targeted missile defense systems in three locations in recent days.
Slovakia was able to provide a system to Ukraine because the U.S. was willing to give Slovakia a Patriot battery to replace it, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.
Those Being Killed Are Not All Russians.
Eliza Kenenbaeva’s recent story “For Money Or A Passport: Many Kyrgyz Fighting Alongside Russians In Ukraine” explains why so many young men from central Asia are now coming home in coffins to be buried in a hurry.
Two months ago, Russia passed a law that reduced the delay for applying for Russian citizenship from 12 to 3 months, if the applicant agrees to sign a contract with the Russian military. These contracted soldiers (not mercenaries — that’s something else) are allowed by law to be sent as cannon fodder in Ukraine, whereas Russian law does not allow Russian conscripts to be sent to Ukraine. (Putin has skirted this law but fears to ignore it completely.)
Many central Asian migrants signed a contract with the Russian military, thinking that they’ll become citizens quickly this way. (The new law does not actually promise citizenship, but Russian Army recruiters don’t tell potential recruitees this detail.)
Worse, some Russian authorities told migrants from central Asia who were already Russian citizens that their citizenship would be stripped and they would be deported, unless they signed a contract and became soldiers. (Russian law does not actually say this.)
And then Putin invaded Ukraine.
Hey Vlad! The Club You Can't Join Is Getting Bigger
Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation".
It comes as US defence officials said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has been a "massive strategic blunder" which will likely bring Nato enlargement.
US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June.
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"I Have One Word for You Benjamin: 'Plastics'"
Few places on Earth — or in our bodies — seem to be free of microplastics.
Researchers in recent months have announced the discovery of microplastics traveling in the bloodstream of a handful of anonymous donors and embedded deep in the lung tissue of about a dozen patients awaiting surgery. Another recent study reported finding microplastics in placentas.
These discoveries have made for a dizzying series of headlines that some might find concerning — but the science remains far from settled.
What recent research makes clear so far is that microplastics are ubiquitous, that these particles enter peoples’ bodies regularly during inhalation or through consumption of food or drinks, and that they find their way into vital body systems.
Some studies of laboratory animals and cells grown outside the body suggest that there are reasons for concern about how these minuscule pieces of plastics affect our physiology.
What remains less apparent is what risks to health, if any, these tiny particles pose at the concentrations they’ve been found. Scientists say the flurry of recent studies, and headlines, represent their first steps toward understanding the impact these particles have on our daily lives.
Frank Zappa is An Acquired Taste
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I May Be a Luddite, But I Prefer a Credit Card. Does That Make Me One of the Plastic People?
Patrick Paumen causes a stir whenever he pays for something in a shop or restaurant.
This is because the 37-year-old doesn't need to use a bank card or his mobile phone to pay. Instead, he simply places his left hand near the contactless card reader, and the payment goes through.
"The reactions I get from cashiers are priceless!" says Mr Paumen, a security guard from the Netherlands.
He is able to pay using his hand because back in 2019 he had a contactless payment microchip injected under his skin.
"The procedure hurts as much as when someone pinches your skin," says Mr Paumen.
A microchip was first implanted into a human back in 1998, but it is only during the past decade that the technology has been available commercially.
And when it comes to implantable payment chips, British-Polish firm, Walletmor, says that last year it became the first company to offer them for sale.
"The implant can be used to pay for a drink on the beach in Rio, a coffee in New York, a haircut in Paris - or at your local grocery store," says founder and chief executive Wojtek Paprota. "It can be used wherever contactless payments are accepted."
Walletmor's chip, which weighs less than a gram and is little bigger than a grain of rice, is comprised of a tiny microchip and an antenna encased in a biopolymer - a naturally sourced material, similar to plastic.
Mr Paprota adds that it is entirely safe, has regulatory approval, works immediately after being implanted, and will stay firmly in place. It also does not require a battery, or other power source. The firm says it has now sold more than 500 of the chips.
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An Anti-COVID Measure Than Can Help With Future Pandemics.
Two-plus years into the Covid-19 pandemic, you probably know the basics of protection: vaccines, boosters, proper handwashing and masks. But one of the most powerful tools against the coronavirus is one that experts believe is just starting to get the attention it deserves: ventilation.
Making sure our indoor air is healthy is not that complicated, Sherman said. "You just want to reduce the number of particles that might be carrying Covid or any other nasty [virus]."
The way you do that is through ventilation and filtration.
Filtration -- just like it sounds -- is filtering or cleaning the air, removing the infected particles. But think of ventilation as diluting the air. You're bringing more fresh air in to reduce the concentration of those particles.
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We Added a UV Air Filter to Our Heating / AC System
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Moving to Neptune Is Not the Solution to Global Warming
Frigid and far-flung Neptune, our solar system’s outermost planet, is adding to its reputation as an enigmatic world, with astronomers puzzled by a surprising drop in its atmospheric temperatures during the past two decades.
Focusing upon Neptune’s stratosphere — the atmosphere’s relatively stable region above the turbulent weather layer — the researchers had expected to find rising temperatures in the part of the planet visible from Earth with the onset of its southern hemisphere summer, a season lasting four decades. Instead, they found temperatures declining significantly.
The study was based on more than 95 thermal-infrared images — every one ever taken — spanning 2003 to 2020 using ground-based telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, mostly the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. It is the most comprehensive assessment to date of Neptune’s atmospheric temperatures.
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Why Do They Think a Judge's Opinion Will Move Molasses Merrick?
Jan. 6 Panel Has Evidence for Criminal Referral of Trump, but Splits on Sending
The shift in the committee’s perspective on making a referral was prompted in part by a ruling two weeks ago by Judge David O. Carter of the Federal District Court for Central California. Deciding a civil case in which the committee had sought access to more than 100 emails written by John C. Eastman, a lawyer who advised Mr. Trump on efforts to derail certification of the Electoral College outcome, Judge Carter found that it was “more likely than not” that Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman had committed federal crimes.
The ruling led some committee and staff members to argue that even though they felt they had amassed enough evidence to justify calling for a prosecution for obstructing a congressional proceeding and conspiring to defraud the American people, the judge’s decision would carry far greater weight with Mr. Garland than any referral letter they could write, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.
Molasses Merrick Already has Enough to Indict Based on the Mueller Report
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Filling Up? Check Gas Buddy or the YP App.
When the cost of crude oil soared to new highs in early March with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, prices at the gasoline pump followed. They climbed 17 percent in a little over a week.
But when crude prices eased — they’re now down more than 20 percent from their March high — pump prices eased somewhat but have remained elevated.
This pattern is so common, especially with gas prices, that economists have a pet name for it: rockets and feathers. When crude prices jump, pump prices tend to rise like a rocket. But when crude prices fall, pump prices tend to descend gently, like a feather.
Drivers shop more carefully — and force stations to compete — when prices are rising, said Clemson economist and gas-price expert Matthew Lewis.
When drivers pull up to a gas station and see a higher price than they expect, they think they can get a better price somewhere else, Lewis said. They don’t realize West Texas Intermediate spot prices are driving up gasoline costs everywhere, so they’ll check a couple more stations’ prices before pumping.
But if that same person pulls up and sees a lower price than expected, they’re likely to assume they’re getting a good deal — they have no idea that crude prices are falling even more than the price they’re paying. They pump gas immediately, no search needed.
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Why Not Just Arrest the Guy?
The United States Postal Service has suspended its services for one block of residents in a Santa Monica neighborhood, after several reported assaults took place on carriers delivering mail in the area.
A report was filed back on Jan. 19 for an incident that occurred in the early evening, when a mail carrier was attacked by a resident who lives near the intersection of 14th Street and Arizona Avenue.
He reportedly swung a broomstick at the carrier, though they were not injured in the attack.
According to Santa Monica Police Department's Public Information Officer, the suspect is well-known amongst their ranks, as they've had several issues with him in the past - most of which are domestic.
Residents in the area were delivered notices from USPS, disclosing that "delivery service is hereby suspended to all addresses located on the 13-hundred block of 14th street."
As expected, homeowners in the area are more than upset, especially since the actions of just one person seem to have put them all at a loss.
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