Post by mhbruin on Apr 25, 2022 10:20:31 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 572 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday April 19)
We had some rain up north this week.
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Where There's a Will, There's a Relative.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
Shed a Crocodile Tear for Bolsonaro
Brazil's president found himself ridiculed for his Covid policies as the world-famous Carnival took place for the first time since the pandemic.
During the São Paulo parade, a performer wearing a presidential sash transformed into a crocodile after "receiving a vaccine" on stage.
President Jair Bolsonaro once suggested that a Covid vaccine side effect could turn people into crocodiles.
The team behind the show said the jab at the president was a "little joke".
Was Little Baby Bear in the Car With Papa Bear?
Chicago Bears wide receiver Byron Pringle was arrested over the weekend after he was caught doing doughnuts on a Florida highway on a suspended license with a child in the back seat, authorities said.
Pringle was behind the wheel of an orange Dodge Challenger when he was spotted on State Route 56 near Meadow Pointe Drive in Pasco County, about 30 miles north of downtown Tampa, early Saturday evening, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.
"I observed a large cloud of smoke in the area of the median break," Sgt. Justin Bloom wrote in his arrest report. "I heard the sound of squealing tires and saw the cloud of smoke, which reduced the visibility to nearly zero for traffic on the westbound lanes of State Road 56."
Pringle's Dodge Challenger allegedly emerged from the smoke, showing all the signs of having just done high-speed circles in the roadway.
"I could smell the distinct smell of burnt rubber as I proceeded to turn around in the same median break," Bloom wrote. "I observed a series of tire marks on the roadway consistent with a vehicle performing" a doughnut.
Are They Going to Perform the Surgery With a Rifle?
Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in Michigan's new and competitive 7th Congressional District, recently sent out a fundraising appeal by text message falsely telling recipients that "your child's gender reassignment surgery has been booked," complete with a phony time for the appointment. Barrett, a far-right politician who has worn a "naturally immunized" wrist band and refused to say if he's vaccinated, deployed this tactic after David Drucker of the conservative Washington Examiner reported that he'd badly missed his own team's fundraising goals.
How Many Lines Did Previous Guy Cross? Here's Another.
Remember The Squad? What's the QOP Version? The QQuad?
Trump’s Most Loyal Lawmakers Are Actually Losing Money
The members of Congress trying to mirror Donald Trump’s politics the most are spending an awful lot.
Last year, it was a fundraising feast for the MAGA Goon Squad. But in 2022, without the donor stimulus of an attempted insurrection, things are going in the wrong direction.
The first three months of the year took more than $275,000 combined out of the pockets of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL)—the foursome of America First, Donald Trump-loving, exhibitionist election objectors. All told, it was their worst showing to date.
It wasn’t always like this.
Today's Worst Headline in the World. A Loss is a Loss.
Loss Is Victory For Far-Right Marine Le Pen In France's Election
Does Kellyanne Think Sexual Assault Is a Qualification for Office?
Former Trump administration White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said she heard last year about “some kind of sexual allegations” against GOP Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster — but she’s working to get him elected anyway.
You Can Take the Uyghurs Out of China, But You Can't Take the Evil Out of Xi
The Chinese government is not only mistreating Uyghurs within China's borders, it is hunting them down abroad — with help from countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — to clamp down on criticism of Beijing’s repression of Muslim minorities.
The scale of the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s efforts to harass, detain and extradite Uyghurs from around the world, and the cooperation it is getting from governments in the Middle East and North Africa, is described in unprecedented detail in a new report, “Great Wall of Steel,” by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.
More than 5,500 Uyghurs outside of China have been targeted by Beijing, hit with cyberattacks and threats to family members who remain in China, and more than 1,500 Uyghurs have been detained or forced to return to China to face imprisonment and torture in police custody, according to the report.
There Is No Defense for the Indefensible. No Excuse for the Inexcusable.
Jurors have heard — and rejected — an array of excuses and arguments from the first rioters to be tried for storming the U.S. Capitol. The next jury to get a Capitol riot case could hear another novel defense this week at the trial of a retired New York City police officer.
Thomas Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, has claimed he was acting in self-defense when he tackled a police officer who was trying to protect the Capitol from a mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Webster's lawyer also has argued that he was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights when he shouted profanities at police that day. Jury selection began on Monday and is expected to last most of the day.
Webster, 56, is the fourth Capitol riot defendant to get a jury trial. Each has presented a distinct line of defense.
An Ohio man who stole a coat rack from a Capitol office testified he was “following presidential orders” from Donald Trump. An off-duty police officer from Virginia claimed he only entered the Capitol to retrieve a fellow officer. A lawyer for a Texas man who confronted Capitol police accused prosecutors of rushing to judgment against somebody prone to exaggerating.
Those defenses didn't sway the juries at their respective trials. Collectively, a total of 36 jurors unanimously convicted the three rioters of all 17 counts in their indictments.
Webster faces the same fate if a federal judge's blistering words are any guide. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who will preside over Webster's trial, has described his videotaped conduct as “among the most indefensible and reprehensible” that the judge has seen among Jan. 6 cases, with “no real defense for it.”
“You were a police officer and you should have known better,” Mehta told Webster during a bond hearing last June, according to a transcript.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
The Kids Get A Nomination
Inept 'People's Convoy' chased out of Bay Area by egg-throwing kids
The dreams of the “People’s Convoy” quickly died in the Bay Area after a critical tactical error: turning onto a street with a Safeway and a group of bored kids.
The trucker convoy, which aimed to emulate the disruptive Canadian protests against COVID-19 restrictions, has failed spectacularly at every turn. During a few weeks of driving around Washington, D.C., the convoy was held up by a single bicyclist, and some convoy members said they were having difficulty finding places for bathroom breaks and, as a result, were forced to urinate in their pants.
After an anemic showing in Washington, the convoy made the long drive back across the country, landing in the Bay Area this week. Since the convoy began, practically all major COVID restrictions have been lifted in the United States, so it appears it’s switched its messaging to support other conservative causes.
On Friday afternoon, the small convoy of semitrucks, pickup trucks, minivans and other cars drove to Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ East Bay home to protest her support of an abortion rights bill. As they honked and used bullhorns in the quiet residential neighborhood, neighbors gathered to heckle them right back, yelling at the truckers to get off their street.
Livestreams posted by convoy participants show police arriving to protect Wicks’ home, which eventually prompted the group to move on. It was here the convoy members made their mistake, driving onto busy, one-lane College Avenue on the Berkeley-Oakland border. There, slowed down by the usual Friday afternoon traffic, they were sitting ducks outside the Safeway. A large group of kids, armed with eggs purchased at the grocery store, began pelting the convoy.
“We’re fighting for your freedoms too,” one convoy participant said as eggs flew amid shouts of “get the f—k out of here” by the gathering crowd. A few ill-advised convoy drivers had their windows rolled down, resulting in eggs splattering the insides of their vehicles. Passersby watched in confusion and amusement, with some adults stopping to cheer on the kids.
One livestreamer for the convoy begrudgingly conceded victory to the Bay Area youth. “Well, it’s convenient because there’s a Safeway right there that sells eggs,” he said on the stream.
Furious truckers then drove out of town, heading back on the highway toward their base in Sacramento. According to citizens band radio captured by the livestream audio, truckers complained about needing to wash their vehicles and seemed shocked at how poorly received they were by locals. According to Daily Beast reporter Zachary Petrizzo, the convoy also encountered setbacks the day before in San Francisco.
“The People’s Convoy made it to San Francisco and decided to try and locate Nancy Pelosi’s residence, but the planned activity of placing flags in her yard fell apart due to the group failing to come to a consensus on what home was actually Pelosi’s,” Petrizzo tweeted.
In the aftermath of its defeat at the Rockridge Safeway, the convoy has returned to Sacramento Raceway Park. It’s unclear what its future plans are, but according to its website, it has raised nearly $1.9 million in donations.
What Do They Serve at a $1 Million Lunch?
The world's most expensive lunch will go on sale again this spring when investor Warren Buffett auctions off a private meal to raise money for a California homeless charity one last time.
Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO, held the lunch auction once a year for 20 years before the pandemic began to raise money for the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless in San Francisco. The auction has been on hiatus for the past two years, but Glide said Monday — a few days before thousands of shareholders are expected to gather at this week's Berkshire annual meeting — that the event will be revived this year.
Every winning bid since 2008 has topped $1 million, and Buffett has raised nearly $34.5 million for the charity over the years.
Many of the past winners have been investors who revere Buffett for his remarkable track record of finding undervalues companies and stocks to buy for his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate. But in the last auction, a cryptocurrency pioneer paid $4,567,888 in 2019 for the chance to dine with Buffett.
Buffett’s first wife, Susie, introduced him to Glide after she volunteered there. She died in 2004, but the connection endured.
An American Treasure
It was exceedingly clear that Washington needed a laugh on Sunday night. Luckily, some of the country’s top satirical minds had gathered at the Kennedy Center to praise Jon Stewart at the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
It was the 23rd ceremony but the first in 2½ fairly dark years. Dave Chappelle was honored in October 2019, a ceremony that later aired as a slickly produced Netflix special. (This one will be broadcast on PBS on June 21.) It’s also the first in the now-permanent spring slot.
1,400 Gigawatts? Great Scott!
America's electric power system is undergoing radical change as it transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy. While the first decade of the 2000s saw huge growth in natural gas generation, and the 2010s were the decade of wind and solar, early signs suggest the innovation of the 2020s may be a boom in "hybrid" power plants.
A typical hybrid power plant combines electricity generation with battery storage at the same location. That often means a solar or wind farm paired with large-scale batteries. Working together, solar panels and battery storage can generate renewable power when solar energy is at its peak during the day and then release it as needed after the sun goes down.
A look at the power and storage projects in the development pipeline offers a glimpse of hybrid power's future.
Our team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that a staggering 1,400 gigawatts of proposed generation and storage projects have applied to connect to the grid -- more than all existing U.S. power plants combined. The majority are solar projects, and over a third of those projects involve hybrid solar plus storage plants.
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Invasions Have Consequences
They Didn't Have Campfires, Sing Camp Songs, or Go Canoeing
"You can't imagine how horrible the conditions were."
Oleksandr and Olena are two of the lucky few who recently managed to escape from Mariupol, which is now almost under full Russian control after weeks of bombardment.
The city is effectively sealed off from the world, and information about what is happening inside is difficult to confirm independently.
But the pair, and others, have given chilling accounts of life in Russia's so-called filtration camps, set up outside Mariupol to house civilians before they are evacuated.
Oleksandr and Olena, speaking from the relatively safe western city of Lviv, say they ended up at one of the centres when they tried to escape the city. After walking from their home to an evacuation point, they were driven to a Russian refugee hub at a former school in the village of Nikolske, north-west of Mariupol.
"It was like a true concentration camp," Oleksandr, 49, says.
The Whole Harrowing Tale
Job One
Silence Isn't Always Golden... Or Effective
Vladimir Putin’s regime has a bad habit of telling people they don’t exist.
Whether he’s refusing to count the votes of people who oppose him or denying them the right even to think of themselves as Russian, the message that “you’re no more than a fly” has been the consistent subtext of Putin’s conversation with voices of dissent. It’s jarring, then, to see him use the same tack against those whose sons and husbands are dying in his senseless war.
It was bad enough that the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the cruiser Moskva sank of its own free will. Worse in every possible respect was Moscow’s insistence that — until it admitted one fatality on April 23rd — none of the cruiser’s crew had been killed. That insistence defied logic and belief, and will almost certainly have sapped the already flagging morale of Russian sailors and soldiers. But it has also made the relatives of missing Moskva crew members fighting mad.
The father of one missing conscript, Egor Shkrebets, has taken to social media to berate the commanders who continue to deny the reality.
“My son is a conscript. His direct commanders from the Moskva told me that he isn’t listed as killed or wounded, but has been listed as missing. A conscript, who shouldn’t have taken part in combat, is listed as missing. Guys, how do you go missing in the open ocean?!!!” — Dmitry Shkrebets, on VKontakte
The independent investigative reporting site Agentstvo found another aggrieved parent, whose son, Mark Tarasov, evidently died on board the Moskva, and who also can’t get a straight answer from the military. And then the Belarusian site Vot Tak found several more. All of the families who lost their sons at sea share the same experience of silence from the state.
And the silence extends well beyond sinking of the Moskva. Another investigative reporting group, iStories, has been publishing reports on their Telegram channel of doctors being instructed not to inform the families of wounded soldiers about the nature and provenance of their injuries.
The captain and his ship
Sometimes You Can't Remain Neutral. Putin Crossed the Finnish Line.
Vlad the Invader Said Not Even a Fly Could Get in Or Out
Today was day 60 of this war. Two full months. Feels like a lifetime out here, in safety. Imagine what it must be like in Ukraine. (Even my own experience in El Salvador’s civil war was nowhere near the intensity of this all-out conventional war.)
Russian forces have no hope of taking Azovstal metal factory in Mariupol, literally designed to withstand a nuclear attack. I wondered on Friday whether Ukraine could supply defenders from the the Azov Sea on the factory’s southern approach, and it turns out that’s exactly what they’re doing:
Secretary of the National Security Council Alexei Danilov said that the supplies of the necessary to Mariupol took place with the help of helicopters, the defenders of the city asked only for ammunition.
The city’s defenders had plenty of time to stock the vast network of tunnels under the factor with food and water, and this report confirms that the only thing they’re lacking is ammunition. Too bad helicopters can’t safely land, would be nice to evacuate the children trapped in the complex. Not to mention, the last time Russia was able to interdict a helicopter run to the city, they shot two of the birds down. The kids are likely safer in the tunnels, for the time being.
Boom! Are They Literally Cutting Off Putin's Money Pipeline?
Fire!
At least 17 people have died in last week's fire at a Russian military research facility, authorities said Monday.
The regional government in Tver, a city about 180 kilometers (112 miles) northwest of Moscow, said that so far only five of the victims had been identified.
The blaze at the Central Research Institute for Air and Space Defense of the Russian Defense Ministry in Tver erupted Thursday and it took authorities a day to put it out.
Officials previously said 27 people were injured and 13 of them were hospitalized.
The cause of the fire wasn't immediately clear.
The research institute was involved in the development of some of the state-of-the-art Russian weapons systems, reportedly including the Iskander missile.
They Are Waiting. They Are Waiting. Oh, Yeah, Oh Yeah.
Back on March 10th I wrote Part 1 detailing how Ukraine would free Kyiv and then proceed to clear out the north. The Russians, in one of the few intelligent decisions they have made, decided to clear out before all their forces got cut off, but still not before losing a significant amount. They left enough material that Ukraine reportedly now has more tanks in country than Russia does, a stat that does not bode well for a country that continues to press an offensive at the worst possible time. So what happens next?
When the ground dries up, the Ukrainians are going to steam-roll Russia right out of the country. The Ukrainians currently continue to display patience and appropriate caution while counter-attacking at appropriate times. They have not launched any major offenses yet, nor should they. The Russians continue to make things easier for Ukraine by attacking into prepared defenses along roads bordered by impassible mud. Attacking is more dangerous than defending. Why go on the attack when the enemy throws themselves at defendable positions at the worst possible time of the year? The gains Russia is making is mostly due to them attacking in enough places that at least some of the attacks will succeed. While a few places Russia has taken has caused me a little unease, none of them are critical enough to signify a change in fortune. Ukraine is in a good spot at the moment (these things being relative of course).
Ukraine’s big counter-offensive will wait for dry ground. For those unclear how the mud affects things, imagine the following. The fighting is mostly taking place in large farm fields with occasional towns and small forests. For the most part, things are flat and wide open. This is considered tank country and highly favors armored forces. So why hasn’t Russia been more successful when they had the advantage in armor? Mud changes tank country into a large swamp which heavily flips the script and makes it far more advantageous to the defender.
Russia is going to learn all about how to properly conduct a combined arms offensive. They’re going to be on the receiving end of one in May or June (weather permitting).
OTOH, What If This Drags On?
The outrage in western countries sparked by Putin’s 24 February invasion is starting to fade. Likewise the burst of optimism that followed Ukraine’s success in repelling the Russian advance around Kyiv. Now, as Moscow begins a huge, slow-motion offensive in the east, concern grows that this conflict has no end-point and that the enormous economic and human damage that results may be permanent – and global.
The price of failure – the true cost of a Putin victory – could be staggering. It is potentially unsupportable for fractious western democracies and poorer countries alike, beset by simultaneous post-pandemic security, energy, food, inflation and climate crises. Yet out of myopic self-interest over issues such as Russian oil and gas imports, and from fear of wider escalation, western leaders duck the tough choices that could ensure Ukraine’s survival and help mitigate such ills.
David Malpass, head of the World Bank, said a “human catastrophe” loomed as an unprecedented, estimated 37% rise in food prices, caused by war-related disruption to supplies, pushed millions into poverty, increased malnutrition, and reduced funding for education and healthcare for the least well-off.
More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine in two months, and more will follow, exacerbating an international migration emergency that extends from Afghanistan to the Sahel. In drought-hit east Africa, the World Food Programme says 20 million people may face starvation this year. Putin’s war did not create the drought, but the UN warns it could hurt efforts to reduce global heating, thereby triggering further displacement and forced migration.
What Happens When He Sees His Own Lies on TV?
Can We Get American Gun Nuts to Donate Their Assault Rifles?
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China Brings out De-Fence Against COVID
Authorities battling Shanghai's latest Covid outbreak have installed fences to restrict the population's movement.
Green barriers have appeared without warning outside buildings where those inside are forbidden from leaving.
One resident told the BBC a green fence appeared inside his locked-up compound three days ago without any explanation.
For weeks Shanghai's 25 million-strong population has been shut in their homes while officials try to contain the city's worst Covid surge to date.
Many of the fences, which are around two-metres tall, were installed around buildings designated as "sealed areas" where at least one person has tested positive for Covid-19.
Everyone living inside a "sealed area" is forbidden from setting foot outside their homes whether or not they have the virus.
Is This a Pavlovidian Response?
When it first hit the market in December, the COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Paxlovid, was hailed as a game-changer, an effective medicine that kept at-risk people out of the hospital. But now some patients are reporting on social media an unusual and unnerving phenomenon: their COVID symptoms appear to rebound after taking the medication.
And it’s not just their symptoms that reappear. Many report that after finishing their five-day course of treatment, feeling better, and testing negative on an at-home rapid test, they then test positive again a few days later.
The issue has captured the attention of at least two teams of Boston-area scientists, who are trying to understand what might be fueling the problem. Resistance to the drug? Patients being quickly reinfected? Or maybe some people just need to take the medicine longer to mount a more effective immune response.
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Rented Crystal? Oh, the Embarrassment!
It was during the George W. Bush administration that it was first noticed in earnest, and the massive state dinners of the Barack Obama era only solidified the situation: The White House was desperately in need of crystal.
Not crystal balls, not crystal chandeliers -- just crystal, the kind one drinks from.
The need next fell to then-first lady Melania Trump, as first ladies are the ones ultimately tasked with assessing and acquiring needed items for preservation or continuity of tradition at the White House. However, three people with knowledge of the glassware discussions confirm that, though Trump was aware of the situation, she declined to carry out the suggested request. CNN reached out to Trump for comment and did not receive a response.
"The last crystal that was acquired for the White House for a full state service was during the Nixon era," said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, the nonprofit organization established in 1961 by then-first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to preserve the People's House. The Reagans did have new stemware made as a gift to the White House in the form of 130 pieces of Steuben glassware, but it was deemed only for private entertaining in the residence.
As the Bidens begin moving the White House to a more normal social schedule after years of pandemic-related restrictions, the lack of crystal is becoming an ever more pressing issue.
McLaurin said the need for crystal on the state level, approximately 120 to 160 settings, is just as important as every other element of a special event at the White House, as are the china and silver. There is plenty of china, apparently, and enough silver to set a few tables for VIP service. Using the real White House sterling silver collections for larger dinners can be a gamble, as forks, spoons and knives tend to go missing as souvenirs of the meal -- slipped into coat pockets or dropped discreetly into purses.
Today, when a state dinner is held -- whether on a small scale, as was the final Trump state dinner, for Australia in the Rose Garden; or a big blowout, such as the last Obama state dinner, the administration's 14th such event that had more than 350 guests in a chandelier-lit tent on the South Lawn -- the glassware is rented.
"It's like going to the Met Gala in a Rent the Runway gown," said one person, who formerly worked in the White House social secretary's office. "Here you are at the White House, but you're drinking from glasses you could get from the local caterer. Some people don't think it's a big deal, but some people really, really do."
Do They Need Metal Detectors When Guests Leave?
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Garbage In, Garbage Out
Many states are scaling back on how often they report key Covid-19 statistics, a shift that some experts worry might hinder efforts to mitigate outbreaks and negative effects of the coronavirus.
A year ago, all 50 states were reporting new Covid-19 cases on a daily basis. But that has gradually trailed off. This week, Pennsylvania will be the latest state to switch from daily to weekly updates, leaving just six states that will still be reporting new Covid-19 cases every day of the week.
About half of states now report just once a week, with Florida down to every two weeks.
There have always been fluctuations in daily reporting, making the seven-day average of daily change a smoother way to track trends than single day-to-day change. But scaling back makes the trends even bumpier; it's harder to isolate whether a week-over-week increase in cases is a true trend or the result of a data dump.
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Looking for Something to Read?
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Can You Get Robbed While On a Roller Coaster?
While 2022 has been a typically roller-coaster year for cryptocurrency buyers, it's shaping up to be exceptional for one group of virtual money enthusiasts: thieves. Criminals have already stolen more than $1 billion in crypto this year.
Attacks on Crypto.com in January, Wormhole in February and Ronin Network last month each resulted in multimillion-dollar losses. Cybersecurity experts say hackers are often target decentralized finance, or DeFi, platforms with weak security. DeFi services are typically built on public blockchains, allowing users to exchange crypto back and forth without the need for an established financial institution like a bank or credit union.
"We should expect these types of [sophisticated] attacks to continue to increase, as more and more criminal organizations build DeFi-hacking skills in-house," Mitchell Amador, CEO at cybersecurity auditing firm Immunefi, told Yahoo Finance earlier this month. "Furthermore, as DeFi gets bigger and bigger, these kinds of attacks become more and more lucrative."
The most recent attack came last week when an unknown hacker stole $182 million from Beanstalk Farms — the fourth-largest hack on a DeFi service to date. PeckShield, a blockchain security company in China, said thieves used a "flash loan" to exploit security weaknesses in Beanstalk. A flash loan is an unsecured loan that bypasses the need for collateral from the borrower by using smart contracts requiring repayment by the the end of a transaction — usually within seconds or minutes.
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This is Sad, But I Wouldn't Be Thrilled to Have a Tiger Roaming My Neighborhood.
Three critically endangered Sumatran tigers were found dead after being caught in traps on Indonesia’s Sumatra island in the latest setback for a species whose numbers are estimated to have dwindled to about 400, authorities said Monday.
A female and a male tiger were found dead Sunday with leg injuries caused by a snare trap near a palm oil plantation in East Aceh district of Aceh province, said local police chief Hendra Sukmana.
The body of another female tiger was found hours later about 500 meters (550 yards) away with a snare still embedded in her almost-severed neck and legs, he said.
Sukmana said authorities have appealed to the community and plantation companies not to set snares in forest areas where wild animals may cross.
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Florida Judge Rules That Airlines Cannot Require Passengers to Have Tickets
Calling the provision a “violation of individual freedom,” a federal judge in Florida has ruled that airlines can no longer require passengers to have tickets.
Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said that she came to her decision after finding that the United States Constitution makes “no reference whatsoever” to airline tickets.
“The Framers of the Constitution clearly wanted to prevent the infringement of Americans’ right to board any airplane they want,” the Trump appointee said. “And so I hereby lift the ticket mandate.”
As part of her ruling, Mizelle barred the airlines from giving seat assignments, calling that practice a violation of the First Amendment’s enshrinement of “freedom of sitting.”
The pilot of an airliner travelling from Denver to Chicago announced Mizelle’s decision in mid-flight on Wednesday, causing passengers to erupt in applause and wrestle for seats in first class.
Is this real news or fake news?
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New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | New Hospitalizations 7-Day Average | |
| Apr 24 | 44,416 | 314 | |
| Apr 23 | 45,413 | 315 | 1,629 |
| Apr 22 | 44,308 | 311 | 1,642 |
| Apr 21 | 40,744 | 346 | 1,647 |
| Apr 20 | 42,604 | 375 | 1,609 |
| Apr 19 | 40,985 | 385 | 1,582 |
| Apr 18 | 37,132 | 380 | 1,564 |
| Apr 17 | 35,212 | 373 | 1,542 |
| Apr 16 | 34,972 | 379 | 1,532 |
| Apr 15 | 34,778 | 399 | 1,510 |
| Apr 14 | 35,475 | 446 | 1,490 |
| Apr 13 | 31,391 | 409 | 1,477 |
| Apr 12 | 29,401 | 452 | 1,463 |
| Apr 11 | 30,208 | 483 | 1.447 |
| Apr 10 | 28,927 | 500 | 1,443 |
| 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 | |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 77.5% | 66.0% | 45.6% |
| % of Population 5+ | 82.3% | 70.2% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 87.1% | 74.5% | 47.4% |
| % of Population 18+ | 88.9% | 76.0% | 49.1% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 90.0% | 68.3% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday April 19)
We had some rain up north this week.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 79% (70%) | 73% (63% of full season average) |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 65% (58%) | 65% (57%) |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 60% (54%) | 61% (53%) |
| Snow Water Content - North | 29% | 15% |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 33% | 27% |
| Snow Water Content - South | 23% | 24% |
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Where There's a Will, There's a Relative.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
Shed a Crocodile Tear for Bolsonaro
Brazil's president found himself ridiculed for his Covid policies as the world-famous Carnival took place for the first time since the pandemic.
During the São Paulo parade, a performer wearing a presidential sash transformed into a crocodile after "receiving a vaccine" on stage.
President Jair Bolsonaro once suggested that a Covid vaccine side effect could turn people into crocodiles.
The team behind the show said the jab at the president was a "little joke".
Was Little Baby Bear in the Car With Papa Bear?
Chicago Bears wide receiver Byron Pringle was arrested over the weekend after he was caught doing doughnuts on a Florida highway on a suspended license with a child in the back seat, authorities said.
Pringle was behind the wheel of an orange Dodge Challenger when he was spotted on State Route 56 near Meadow Pointe Drive in Pasco County, about 30 miles north of downtown Tampa, early Saturday evening, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.
"I observed a large cloud of smoke in the area of the median break," Sgt. Justin Bloom wrote in his arrest report. "I heard the sound of squealing tires and saw the cloud of smoke, which reduced the visibility to nearly zero for traffic on the westbound lanes of State Road 56."
Pringle's Dodge Challenger allegedly emerged from the smoke, showing all the signs of having just done high-speed circles in the roadway.
"I could smell the distinct smell of burnt rubber as I proceeded to turn around in the same median break," Bloom wrote. "I observed a series of tire marks on the roadway consistent with a vehicle performing" a doughnut.
Are They Going to Perform the Surgery With a Rifle?
Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in Michigan's new and competitive 7th Congressional District, recently sent out a fundraising appeal by text message falsely telling recipients that "your child's gender reassignment surgery has been booked," complete with a phony time for the appointment. Barrett, a far-right politician who has worn a "naturally immunized" wrist band and refused to say if he's vaccinated, deployed this tactic after David Drucker of the conservative Washington Examiner reported that he'd badly missed his own team's fundraising goals.
How Many Lines Did Previous Guy Cross? Here's Another.
Remember The Squad? What's the QOP Version? The QQuad?
Trump’s Most Loyal Lawmakers Are Actually Losing Money
The members of Congress trying to mirror Donald Trump’s politics the most are spending an awful lot.
Last year, it was a fundraising feast for the MAGA Goon Squad. But in 2022, without the donor stimulus of an attempted insurrection, things are going in the wrong direction.
The first three months of the year took more than $275,000 combined out of the pockets of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL)—the foursome of America First, Donald Trump-loving, exhibitionist election objectors. All told, it was their worst showing to date.
It wasn’t always like this.
Today's Worst Headline in the World. A Loss is a Loss.
Loss Is Victory For Far-Right Marine Le Pen In France's Election
Does Kellyanne Think Sexual Assault Is a Qualification for Office?
Former Trump administration White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said she heard last year about “some kind of sexual allegations” against GOP Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster — but she’s working to get him elected anyway.
You Can Take the Uyghurs Out of China, But You Can't Take the Evil Out of Xi
The Chinese government is not only mistreating Uyghurs within China's borders, it is hunting them down abroad — with help from countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — to clamp down on criticism of Beijing’s repression of Muslim minorities.
The scale of the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s efforts to harass, detain and extradite Uyghurs from around the world, and the cooperation it is getting from governments in the Middle East and North Africa, is described in unprecedented detail in a new report, “Great Wall of Steel,” by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.
More than 5,500 Uyghurs outside of China have been targeted by Beijing, hit with cyberattacks and threats to family members who remain in China, and more than 1,500 Uyghurs have been detained or forced to return to China to face imprisonment and torture in police custody, according to the report.
There Is No Defense for the Indefensible. No Excuse for the Inexcusable.
Jurors have heard — and rejected — an array of excuses and arguments from the first rioters to be tried for storming the U.S. Capitol. The next jury to get a Capitol riot case could hear another novel defense this week at the trial of a retired New York City police officer.
Thomas Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, has claimed he was acting in self-defense when he tackled a police officer who was trying to protect the Capitol from a mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Webster's lawyer also has argued that he was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights when he shouted profanities at police that day. Jury selection began on Monday and is expected to last most of the day.
Webster, 56, is the fourth Capitol riot defendant to get a jury trial. Each has presented a distinct line of defense.
An Ohio man who stole a coat rack from a Capitol office testified he was “following presidential orders” from Donald Trump. An off-duty police officer from Virginia claimed he only entered the Capitol to retrieve a fellow officer. A lawyer for a Texas man who confronted Capitol police accused prosecutors of rushing to judgment against somebody prone to exaggerating.
Those defenses didn't sway the juries at their respective trials. Collectively, a total of 36 jurors unanimously convicted the three rioters of all 17 counts in their indictments.
Webster faces the same fate if a federal judge's blistering words are any guide. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who will preside over Webster's trial, has described his videotaped conduct as “among the most indefensible and reprehensible” that the judge has seen among Jan. 6 cases, with “no real defense for it.”
“You were a police officer and you should have known better,” Mehta told Webster during a bond hearing last June, according to a transcript.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
The Kids Get A Nomination
Inept 'People's Convoy' chased out of Bay Area by egg-throwing kids
The dreams of the “People’s Convoy” quickly died in the Bay Area after a critical tactical error: turning onto a street with a Safeway and a group of bored kids.
The trucker convoy, which aimed to emulate the disruptive Canadian protests against COVID-19 restrictions, has failed spectacularly at every turn. During a few weeks of driving around Washington, D.C., the convoy was held up by a single bicyclist, and some convoy members said they were having difficulty finding places for bathroom breaks and, as a result, were forced to urinate in their pants.
After an anemic showing in Washington, the convoy made the long drive back across the country, landing in the Bay Area this week. Since the convoy began, practically all major COVID restrictions have been lifted in the United States, so it appears it’s switched its messaging to support other conservative causes.
On Friday afternoon, the small convoy of semitrucks, pickup trucks, minivans and other cars drove to Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ East Bay home to protest her support of an abortion rights bill. As they honked and used bullhorns in the quiet residential neighborhood, neighbors gathered to heckle them right back, yelling at the truckers to get off their street.
Livestreams posted by convoy participants show police arriving to protect Wicks’ home, which eventually prompted the group to move on. It was here the convoy members made their mistake, driving onto busy, one-lane College Avenue on the Berkeley-Oakland border. There, slowed down by the usual Friday afternoon traffic, they were sitting ducks outside the Safeway. A large group of kids, armed with eggs purchased at the grocery store, began pelting the convoy.
“We’re fighting for your freedoms too,” one convoy participant said as eggs flew amid shouts of “get the f—k out of here” by the gathering crowd. A few ill-advised convoy drivers had their windows rolled down, resulting in eggs splattering the insides of their vehicles. Passersby watched in confusion and amusement, with some adults stopping to cheer on the kids.
One livestreamer for the convoy begrudgingly conceded victory to the Bay Area youth. “Well, it’s convenient because there’s a Safeway right there that sells eggs,” he said on the stream.
Furious truckers then drove out of town, heading back on the highway toward their base in Sacramento. According to citizens band radio captured by the livestream audio, truckers complained about needing to wash their vehicles and seemed shocked at how poorly received they were by locals. According to Daily Beast reporter Zachary Petrizzo, the convoy also encountered setbacks the day before in San Francisco.
“The People’s Convoy made it to San Francisco and decided to try and locate Nancy Pelosi’s residence, but the planned activity of placing flags in her yard fell apart due to the group failing to come to a consensus on what home was actually Pelosi’s,” Petrizzo tweeted.
In the aftermath of its defeat at the Rockridge Safeway, the convoy has returned to Sacramento Raceway Park. It’s unclear what its future plans are, but according to its website, it has raised nearly $1.9 million in donations.
What Do They Serve at a $1 Million Lunch?
The world's most expensive lunch will go on sale again this spring when investor Warren Buffett auctions off a private meal to raise money for a California homeless charity one last time.
Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO, held the lunch auction once a year for 20 years before the pandemic began to raise money for the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless in San Francisco. The auction has been on hiatus for the past two years, but Glide said Monday — a few days before thousands of shareholders are expected to gather at this week's Berkshire annual meeting — that the event will be revived this year.
Every winning bid since 2008 has topped $1 million, and Buffett has raised nearly $34.5 million for the charity over the years.
Many of the past winners have been investors who revere Buffett for his remarkable track record of finding undervalues companies and stocks to buy for his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate. But in the last auction, a cryptocurrency pioneer paid $4,567,888 in 2019 for the chance to dine with Buffett.
Buffett’s first wife, Susie, introduced him to Glide after she volunteered there. She died in 2004, but the connection endured.
An American Treasure
It was exceedingly clear that Washington needed a laugh on Sunday night. Luckily, some of the country’s top satirical minds had gathered at the Kennedy Center to praise Jon Stewart at the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
It was the 23rd ceremony but the first in 2½ fairly dark years. Dave Chappelle was honored in October 2019, a ceremony that later aired as a slickly produced Netflix special. (This one will be broadcast on PBS on June 21.) It’s also the first in the now-permanent spring slot.
1,400 Gigawatts? Great Scott!
America's electric power system is undergoing radical change as it transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy. While the first decade of the 2000s saw huge growth in natural gas generation, and the 2010s were the decade of wind and solar, early signs suggest the innovation of the 2020s may be a boom in "hybrid" power plants.
A typical hybrid power plant combines electricity generation with battery storage at the same location. That often means a solar or wind farm paired with large-scale batteries. Working together, solar panels and battery storage can generate renewable power when solar energy is at its peak during the day and then release it as needed after the sun goes down.
A look at the power and storage projects in the development pipeline offers a glimpse of hybrid power's future.
Our team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that a staggering 1,400 gigawatts of proposed generation and storage projects have applied to connect to the grid -- more than all existing U.S. power plants combined. The majority are solar projects, and over a third of those projects involve hybrid solar plus storage plants.
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Invasions Have Consequences
They Didn't Have Campfires, Sing Camp Songs, or Go Canoeing
"You can't imagine how horrible the conditions were."
Oleksandr and Olena are two of the lucky few who recently managed to escape from Mariupol, which is now almost under full Russian control after weeks of bombardment.
The city is effectively sealed off from the world, and information about what is happening inside is difficult to confirm independently.
But the pair, and others, have given chilling accounts of life in Russia's so-called filtration camps, set up outside Mariupol to house civilians before they are evacuated.
Oleksandr and Olena, speaking from the relatively safe western city of Lviv, say they ended up at one of the centres when they tried to escape the city. After walking from their home to an evacuation point, they were driven to a Russian refugee hub at a former school in the village of Nikolske, north-west of Mariupol.
"It was like a true concentration camp," Oleksandr, 49, says.
The Whole Harrowing Tale
Job One
Silence Isn't Always Golden... Or Effective
Vladimir Putin’s regime has a bad habit of telling people they don’t exist.
Whether he’s refusing to count the votes of people who oppose him or denying them the right even to think of themselves as Russian, the message that “you’re no more than a fly” has been the consistent subtext of Putin’s conversation with voices of dissent. It’s jarring, then, to see him use the same tack against those whose sons and husbands are dying in his senseless war.
It was bad enough that the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the cruiser Moskva sank of its own free will. Worse in every possible respect was Moscow’s insistence that — until it admitted one fatality on April 23rd — none of the cruiser’s crew had been killed. That insistence defied logic and belief, and will almost certainly have sapped the already flagging morale of Russian sailors and soldiers. But it has also made the relatives of missing Moskva crew members fighting mad.
The father of one missing conscript, Egor Shkrebets, has taken to social media to berate the commanders who continue to deny the reality.
“My son is a conscript. His direct commanders from the Moskva told me that he isn’t listed as killed or wounded, but has been listed as missing. A conscript, who shouldn’t have taken part in combat, is listed as missing. Guys, how do you go missing in the open ocean?!!!” — Dmitry Shkrebets, on VKontakte
The independent investigative reporting site Agentstvo found another aggrieved parent, whose son, Mark Tarasov, evidently died on board the Moskva, and who also can’t get a straight answer from the military. And then the Belarusian site Vot Tak found several more. All of the families who lost their sons at sea share the same experience of silence from the state.
And the silence extends well beyond sinking of the Moskva. Another investigative reporting group, iStories, has been publishing reports on their Telegram channel of doctors being instructed not to inform the families of wounded soldiers about the nature and provenance of their injuries.
The captain and his ship
Sometimes You Can't Remain Neutral. Putin Crossed the Finnish Line.
Vlad the Invader Said Not Even a Fly Could Get in Or Out
Today was day 60 of this war. Two full months. Feels like a lifetime out here, in safety. Imagine what it must be like in Ukraine. (Even my own experience in El Salvador’s civil war was nowhere near the intensity of this all-out conventional war.)
Russian forces have no hope of taking Azovstal metal factory in Mariupol, literally designed to withstand a nuclear attack. I wondered on Friday whether Ukraine could supply defenders from the the Azov Sea on the factory’s southern approach, and it turns out that’s exactly what they’re doing:
Secretary of the National Security Council Alexei Danilov said that the supplies of the necessary to Mariupol took place with the help of helicopters, the defenders of the city asked only for ammunition.
The city’s defenders had plenty of time to stock the vast network of tunnels under the factor with food and water, and this report confirms that the only thing they’re lacking is ammunition. Too bad helicopters can’t safely land, would be nice to evacuate the children trapped in the complex. Not to mention, the last time Russia was able to interdict a helicopter run to the city, they shot two of the birds down. The kids are likely safer in the tunnels, for the time being.
Boom! Are They Literally Cutting Off Putin's Money Pipeline?
Fire!
At least 17 people have died in last week's fire at a Russian military research facility, authorities said Monday.
The regional government in Tver, a city about 180 kilometers (112 miles) northwest of Moscow, said that so far only five of the victims had been identified.
The blaze at the Central Research Institute for Air and Space Defense of the Russian Defense Ministry in Tver erupted Thursday and it took authorities a day to put it out.
Officials previously said 27 people were injured and 13 of them were hospitalized.
The cause of the fire wasn't immediately clear.
The research institute was involved in the development of some of the state-of-the-art Russian weapons systems, reportedly including the Iskander missile.
They Are Waiting. They Are Waiting. Oh, Yeah, Oh Yeah.
Back on March 10th I wrote Part 1 detailing how Ukraine would free Kyiv and then proceed to clear out the north. The Russians, in one of the few intelligent decisions they have made, decided to clear out before all their forces got cut off, but still not before losing a significant amount. They left enough material that Ukraine reportedly now has more tanks in country than Russia does, a stat that does not bode well for a country that continues to press an offensive at the worst possible time. So what happens next?
When the ground dries up, the Ukrainians are going to steam-roll Russia right out of the country. The Ukrainians currently continue to display patience and appropriate caution while counter-attacking at appropriate times. They have not launched any major offenses yet, nor should they. The Russians continue to make things easier for Ukraine by attacking into prepared defenses along roads bordered by impassible mud. Attacking is more dangerous than defending. Why go on the attack when the enemy throws themselves at defendable positions at the worst possible time of the year? The gains Russia is making is mostly due to them attacking in enough places that at least some of the attacks will succeed. While a few places Russia has taken has caused me a little unease, none of them are critical enough to signify a change in fortune. Ukraine is in a good spot at the moment (these things being relative of course).
Ukraine’s big counter-offensive will wait for dry ground. For those unclear how the mud affects things, imagine the following. The fighting is mostly taking place in large farm fields with occasional towns and small forests. For the most part, things are flat and wide open. This is considered tank country and highly favors armored forces. So why hasn’t Russia been more successful when they had the advantage in armor? Mud changes tank country into a large swamp which heavily flips the script and makes it far more advantageous to the defender.
Russia is going to learn all about how to properly conduct a combined arms offensive. They’re going to be on the receiving end of one in May or June (weather permitting).
OTOH, What If This Drags On?
The outrage in western countries sparked by Putin’s 24 February invasion is starting to fade. Likewise the burst of optimism that followed Ukraine’s success in repelling the Russian advance around Kyiv. Now, as Moscow begins a huge, slow-motion offensive in the east, concern grows that this conflict has no end-point and that the enormous economic and human damage that results may be permanent – and global.
The price of failure – the true cost of a Putin victory – could be staggering. It is potentially unsupportable for fractious western democracies and poorer countries alike, beset by simultaneous post-pandemic security, energy, food, inflation and climate crises. Yet out of myopic self-interest over issues such as Russian oil and gas imports, and from fear of wider escalation, western leaders duck the tough choices that could ensure Ukraine’s survival and help mitigate such ills.
David Malpass, head of the World Bank, said a “human catastrophe” loomed as an unprecedented, estimated 37% rise in food prices, caused by war-related disruption to supplies, pushed millions into poverty, increased malnutrition, and reduced funding for education and healthcare for the least well-off.
More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine in two months, and more will follow, exacerbating an international migration emergency that extends from Afghanistan to the Sahel. In drought-hit east Africa, the World Food Programme says 20 million people may face starvation this year. Putin’s war did not create the drought, but the UN warns it could hurt efforts to reduce global heating, thereby triggering further displacement and forced migration.
What Happens When He Sees His Own Lies on TV?
Can We Get American Gun Nuts to Donate Their Assault Rifles?
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China Brings out De-Fence Against COVID
Authorities battling Shanghai's latest Covid outbreak have installed fences to restrict the population's movement.
Green barriers have appeared without warning outside buildings where those inside are forbidden from leaving.
One resident told the BBC a green fence appeared inside his locked-up compound three days ago without any explanation.
For weeks Shanghai's 25 million-strong population has been shut in their homes while officials try to contain the city's worst Covid surge to date.
Many of the fences, which are around two-metres tall, were installed around buildings designated as "sealed areas" where at least one person has tested positive for Covid-19.
Everyone living inside a "sealed area" is forbidden from setting foot outside their homes whether or not they have the virus.
Is This a Pavlovidian Response?
When it first hit the market in December, the COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Paxlovid, was hailed as a game-changer, an effective medicine that kept at-risk people out of the hospital. But now some patients are reporting on social media an unusual and unnerving phenomenon: their COVID symptoms appear to rebound after taking the medication.
And it’s not just their symptoms that reappear. Many report that after finishing their five-day course of treatment, feeling better, and testing negative on an at-home rapid test, they then test positive again a few days later.
The issue has captured the attention of at least two teams of Boston-area scientists, who are trying to understand what might be fueling the problem. Resistance to the drug? Patients being quickly reinfected? Or maybe some people just need to take the medicine longer to mount a more effective immune response.
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Rented Crystal? Oh, the Embarrassment!
It was during the George W. Bush administration that it was first noticed in earnest, and the massive state dinners of the Barack Obama era only solidified the situation: The White House was desperately in need of crystal.
Not crystal balls, not crystal chandeliers -- just crystal, the kind one drinks from.
The need next fell to then-first lady Melania Trump, as first ladies are the ones ultimately tasked with assessing and acquiring needed items for preservation or continuity of tradition at the White House. However, three people with knowledge of the glassware discussions confirm that, though Trump was aware of the situation, she declined to carry out the suggested request. CNN reached out to Trump for comment and did not receive a response.
"The last crystal that was acquired for the White House for a full state service was during the Nixon era," said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, the nonprofit organization established in 1961 by then-first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to preserve the People's House. The Reagans did have new stemware made as a gift to the White House in the form of 130 pieces of Steuben glassware, but it was deemed only for private entertaining in the residence.
As the Bidens begin moving the White House to a more normal social schedule after years of pandemic-related restrictions, the lack of crystal is becoming an ever more pressing issue.
McLaurin said the need for crystal on the state level, approximately 120 to 160 settings, is just as important as every other element of a special event at the White House, as are the china and silver. There is plenty of china, apparently, and enough silver to set a few tables for VIP service. Using the real White House sterling silver collections for larger dinners can be a gamble, as forks, spoons and knives tend to go missing as souvenirs of the meal -- slipped into coat pockets or dropped discreetly into purses.
Today, when a state dinner is held -- whether on a small scale, as was the final Trump state dinner, for Australia in the Rose Garden; or a big blowout, such as the last Obama state dinner, the administration's 14th such event that had more than 350 guests in a chandelier-lit tent on the South Lawn -- the glassware is rented.
"It's like going to the Met Gala in a Rent the Runway gown," said one person, who formerly worked in the White House social secretary's office. "Here you are at the White House, but you're drinking from glasses you could get from the local caterer. Some people don't think it's a big deal, but some people really, really do."
Do They Need Metal Detectors When Guests Leave?
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Garbage In, Garbage Out
Many states are scaling back on how often they report key Covid-19 statistics, a shift that some experts worry might hinder efforts to mitigate outbreaks and negative effects of the coronavirus.
A year ago, all 50 states were reporting new Covid-19 cases on a daily basis. But that has gradually trailed off. This week, Pennsylvania will be the latest state to switch from daily to weekly updates, leaving just six states that will still be reporting new Covid-19 cases every day of the week.
About half of states now report just once a week, with Florida down to every two weeks.
There have always been fluctuations in daily reporting, making the seven-day average of daily change a smoother way to track trends than single day-to-day change. But scaling back makes the trends even bumpier; it's harder to isolate whether a week-over-week increase in cases is a true trend or the result of a data dump.
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Can You Get Robbed While On a Roller Coaster?
While 2022 has been a typically roller-coaster year for cryptocurrency buyers, it's shaping up to be exceptional for one group of virtual money enthusiasts: thieves. Criminals have already stolen more than $1 billion in crypto this year.
Attacks on Crypto.com in January, Wormhole in February and Ronin Network last month each resulted in multimillion-dollar losses. Cybersecurity experts say hackers are often target decentralized finance, or DeFi, platforms with weak security. DeFi services are typically built on public blockchains, allowing users to exchange crypto back and forth without the need for an established financial institution like a bank or credit union.
"We should expect these types of [sophisticated] attacks to continue to increase, as more and more criminal organizations build DeFi-hacking skills in-house," Mitchell Amador, CEO at cybersecurity auditing firm Immunefi, told Yahoo Finance earlier this month. "Furthermore, as DeFi gets bigger and bigger, these kinds of attacks become more and more lucrative."
The most recent attack came last week when an unknown hacker stole $182 million from Beanstalk Farms — the fourth-largest hack on a DeFi service to date. PeckShield, a blockchain security company in China, said thieves used a "flash loan" to exploit security weaknesses in Beanstalk. A flash loan is an unsecured loan that bypasses the need for collateral from the borrower by using smart contracts requiring repayment by the the end of a transaction — usually within seconds or minutes.
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This is Sad, But I Wouldn't Be Thrilled to Have a Tiger Roaming My Neighborhood.
Three critically endangered Sumatran tigers were found dead after being caught in traps on Indonesia’s Sumatra island in the latest setback for a species whose numbers are estimated to have dwindled to about 400, authorities said Monday.
A female and a male tiger were found dead Sunday with leg injuries caused by a snare trap near a palm oil plantation in East Aceh district of Aceh province, said local police chief Hendra Sukmana.
The body of another female tiger was found hours later about 500 meters (550 yards) away with a snare still embedded in her almost-severed neck and legs, he said.
Sukmana said authorities have appealed to the community and plantation companies not to set snares in forest areas where wild animals may cross.
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Florida Judge Rules That Airlines Cannot Require Passengers to Have Tickets
Calling the provision a “violation of individual freedom,” a federal judge in Florida has ruled that airlines can no longer require passengers to have tickets.
Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said that she came to her decision after finding that the United States Constitution makes “no reference whatsoever” to airline tickets.
“The Framers of the Constitution clearly wanted to prevent the infringement of Americans’ right to board any airplane they want,” the Trump appointee said. “And so I hereby lift the ticket mandate.”
As part of her ruling, Mizelle barred the airlines from giving seat assignments, calling that practice a violation of the First Amendment’s enshrinement of “freedom of sitting.”
The pilot of an airliner travelling from Denver to Chicago announced Mizelle’s decision in mid-flight on Wednesday, causing passengers to erupt in applause and wrestle for seats in first class.
Is this real news or fake news?
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