Post by mhbruin on Apr 28, 2022 10:03:37 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 575 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday April 27)
We had some rain up north this week.
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The Problem With Political Jokes Is That They Sometimes Get Elected.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
No Accord Over Accordion Music. (Extra Credit If You Can Find Lesotho on a Map)
Rivalry between stars of a unique accordion-based style of music in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho has sparked years of deadly gang warfare that has turned the tiny country into the murder capital of the continent.
Famo has the gentlest of origins. It developed when traditional "wayfarers' hymns" - a form of spontaneous oral poetry, or rap, composed by herders or travellers to while away long hours guarding cattle or journeying on foot through Lesotho's mountains - began to be accompanied first on the concertina, and later the accordion.
But in 2004, after one Famo musician allegedly shot another, a cycle of revenge developed, fuelled by poisonous lyrics in songs. And over the last two decades scores of Famo artists and hundreds of other people connected with the music - producers, fans, DJs, musicians' family members - have been gunned down.
A Rouble Loophole
One of Germany's biggest energy firms has said it is preparing to buy Russian gas using a payment system that critics say will undermine EU sanctions.
Uniper says it will pay in euros which will be converted into roubles, meeting a Kremlin demand for all transactions to be made in the Russian currency.
Other European energy firms are reportedly preparing to do the same amid concerns about supply cuts.
Uniper said it had no choice but said it was still abiding by EU sanctions.
"We consider a payment conversion compliant with sanctions law and the Russian decree to be possible," a spokesman told the BBC.
"For our company and for Germany as a whole, it is not possible to do without Russian gas in the short term; this would have dramatic consequences for our economy."
Musk Morality. Make a Promise. They Ask Your Lawyers to Get You Out of It.
Elon Musk has lost a bid to get out of an agreement made with regulators requiring oversight of his tweets about his car firm Tesla.
The settlement was made after he tweeted he had "funding secured" to potentially take Tesla private despite a deal not being close.
The ruling comes just days after the world's richest person struck a deal to buy Twitter for $44bn (£35bn).
Mr Musk says he wants to make Twitter a bastion of free speech.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Mr Musk of misleading investors with the 2018 tweet, which caused Tesla's share price to fluctuate.
Mr Musk's lawyers argued that the SEC's pursuit of him "crossed the line into harassment" and interfered with his right to free speech.
US District Judge Lewis Liman rejected those arguments as well as Mr Musk's request to stop a separate SEC investigation into tweets he posted last year regarding the sale of some of his Tesla stock.
"Musk cannot now seek to retract the agreement he knowingly and willingly entered by simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time but now — once the spectre of the litigation is a distant memory and his company has become, in his estimation, all but invincible — wishes that he had not," Mr Liman wrote.
The agreement in 2018 required Mr Musk and Tesla to pay $20m each in civil fines and for him to step down as the chairman of the electric car maker.
It also required Mr Musk to obtain approval from Tesla's lawyers for tweets and other public statements about the company.
I Can Envision Her Defense. She Was Referring to Thurgood Marshal Law at Texas Southern University
Less than a week after appearing in a Georgia courtroom to defend herself in a reelection lawsuit, and swearing under oath to not remembering a damn thing, text messages to the contrary have been added to the slew of evidence against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The suit against Greene, filed by five voters represented by Free Speech for People, a legal nonprofit advocacy group, alleges the congresswoman cannot run for reelection because she “engaged in an insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power disqualifying her from serving as a Member of Congress under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.”
During a hearing on April 22, Greene took the stand and denied involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection or having any recollection of the events surrounding that day, including conversations about martial law.
Wednesday, petitioners filed a motion to that suit to add “newly discovered evidence”:— a damning text that shows Greene’s memory while on the stand was faulty at best, and perjurious at worst.
A text message from Greene sent on Jan. 17, 2021 to former President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows reads:
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law. I don't know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
The motion reads that the text “undermines Greene’s credibility,” and “sheds light on the meaning of her pre-January 6 statements. Eleven days after the failed insurrection, Greene was still fighting against the peaceful transfer of power by advocating extra-legal means."
Did He Forget His Swastika Armband?
Tennessee Republicans advanced legislation Wednesday that would place more scrutiny over what books are placed in public schools libraries, moments after the bill’s House sponsor said any inappropriate book should be burned.
The measure is just one of several proposals introduced in Tennessee this year designed to impose more scrutiny and transparency in public school libraries amid a national spike in book challenges and bans. School librarians have become the target of scorn from Republican lawmakers pushing for more oversight on materials provided to children — particularly those that touch on racism and LGBTQ issues.
Does Google Translate Convert Greene-Speak Into English?
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s double talk on her “Marshall law” text found a friendly ear in Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday.
The far-right House member, who in a text brought up the possibility of Donald Trump imposing martial law to keep himself in power after the 2020 election, said on “The Ingraham Angle” that ...
Well, her answers were so convoluted we’re not sure what she said.
“Those are reportedly my text messages,” the Georgia Republican told Ingraham. “I think if people read them for themselves, if those are my text message, they clearly say that I wasn’t calling for that. I actually said that’s something I don’t know about.”
Ingraham asked if she advocated for martial law. Greene again obfuscated, saying she didn’t remember doing so and questioned if the message was hers.
At a hearing earlier, she took a similar tack while being questioned about whether she supported martial law, saying she didn’t “recall.”
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law.” the spelling-challenged Greene wrote to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 17, 2021.
“I don’t know on those things,” she added. “I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
He Suffers from a Disability. Those Who Are Afflicted With Republicanism, Can't Stop Lying
Guns Don't Kill People. Tomatoes Do.
Well, this is bananas.
According to former President Donald Trump, hurling a fruit at someone can be a lethal act—one that justifies the use of violence to thwart any use of produce as projectile.
In transcripts of an October 2021 deposition, filed in court on Tuesday, the twice-impeached former president insisted tomatoes, pineapples, and bananas can be “very dangerous” weapons that justify violent acts of “self-defense.”
Trump was testifying under oath in a civil lawsuit brought by protesters alleging they were assaulted by his security guards outside his New York offices in 2015. Of particular interest to lawyers representing the protesters were Trump’s remarks during a campaign speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Feb. 1, 2016, in which he told attendees: “If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you?”
Asked why he made that specific request, Trump testified that his campaign had received a threat that day. “They were going to throw fruit,” he claimed. “And you get hit with fruit, it’s—no, it’s very violent stuff. We were on alert for that.”
In a comedic moment, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Benjamin Dictor dryly remarked, “A tomato is a fruit after all, I guess,” and Trump’s attorney Jeffrey Goldman jumped in to confirm: “It has seeds.”
The former president then continued on the subject of frightful fruits: “It’s worse than tomato, it’s other things also. But tomato, when they start doing that stuff, it’s very dangerous. There was an alert out that day.”
Trump conceded that his remarks may have been “said sort of in jest,” but quickly added that there was “a little truth to it” because hurled tomatoes are “very dangerous stuff.” He noted: “You can get killed with those things.”
Asked whether he was trying to “incentivize people to engage in violence,” the former president responded: “No, I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit.”
Trump continued with another tomato tirade: “And some fruit is a lot worse than—tomatoes are bad, by the way. But it’s very dangerous. No, I wanted them to watch. They were on alert. I remember that specific event because everybody was on alert. They were going to hit, they were going to hit hard.”
Asked whether anyone in attendance was actually found to have tomatoes in their possession that day, Trump conceded, “I don’t know. But… it worked out that nothing happened.”
Moments later, when grilled about further declaring during the Iowa speech that he’d pay the legal fees of anyone who “knocks the crap out of” a protester, Trump once again said he faced a “serious threat.”
“Is it your expectation that if your security guards see someone about to throw a tomato that they should knock the crap out of them?” Dictor then inquired, prompting Trump to yet again rattle off concerns about dangerous fruits.
“Well, a tomato, a pineapple, a lot of other things they throw,” he said. “Yeah, if the security saw that, I would say you have to—and it’s not just me, it’s other people in the audience get badly hurt—yeah, I think that they have to be aggressive in stopping that from happening. Because if that happens, you can be killed if that happens.”
“And getting aggressive includes the use of physical force?” the cross-examining lawyer followed up.
“To stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that, yeah,” Trump replied. “It’s dangerous stuff.”
Did They Have Friends in High Places or Low Places?
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday released a report alleging that top Trump administration officials awarded a $700 million pandemic relief loan to a struggling trucking company in 2020 over the objections of career officials at the Defense Department.
The report, released by the Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, describes the role of corporate lobbyists during the early months of the pandemic in helping to secure government funds as trillions of dollars of relief money were being pumped into the economy. It also suggests that senior officials such as Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, and Mark Esper, the former defense secretary, intervened to ensure that the trucking company, Yellow Corp., received special treatment despite concerns about its eligibility to receive relief funds.
“Today’s select subcommittee staff report reveals yet another example of the Trump administration disregarding their obligation to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Representative James Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, the chairman of the subcommittee, said in a statement. “Political appointees risked hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds against the recommendations of career DOD officials and in clear disregard of provisions of the CARES Act intended to protect national security and American taxpayers.”
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Can We Clone Katie Porter? Watch At Least the First 3 Minutes.
They Haven't Risen From the Dead, But It's Close
Morris Brown College may have had the comeback of the year Wednesday.
The historically Black college in Atlanta received its full accreditation after losing it 20 years ago, according to a news release from the school.
"Many thought that this feat was impossible, but due to our strong faith in God, our hardworking and wonderful faculty and staff, the support of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, our dedicated alumni, and our resilient spirit, we were able to achieve full accreditation," college President Kevin James said in a statement.
"This was truly The Hard Reset. This is just the beginning!" James said.
The college was rewarded its accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a Virginia-based accreditation agency.
CNN has reached out to TRACS for comment, but has not heard back.
Reaccreditation means the school is once again eligible to apply for federal education funding that could go toward student financial aid and Pell Grants or on-campus housing, so long as the college remains compliant with federal conditions and standards.
Morris Brown's comeback is also a beacon of hope for smaller HBCUs struggling with finances and enrollment, especially in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
School was holding on by a thread
The 20-year journey of Morris Brown begins in 2002, when the school's accreditation was revoked because of debt and financial mismanagement. The once-flourishing college then saw its enrollment plummet from about 2,000 to less than 50. Over the years, the enrollment ranged between 30 and 50 students.
The college never officially closed, but it was holding on by a thread.
Faced with mounting debt and a crumbling infrastructure, the school's board of trustees offered the administration an option: shutter their doors for good. The grounds could theoretically be converted into a museum or a site for private development, but its days as an active college appeared to be ended.
James, the college's president, disagreed. He believed there was still a chance to regain accreditation, and evolve as an operational campus.
James was named interim president in early 2019 and officially made president in May 2020. He immediately focused on what he has labeled "the hard reset" for the college.
In April 2021, Morris Brown officially received accreditation candidacy by TRACS. This meant an institution is in basic compliance with the standards and criteria of TRACS and has been evaluated by an on-site peer team that found the institution provides sound instruction and student services.
Fast forward a year later and the school is celebrating its reaccreditation.
Previous Guy Gets Special Treatment From the Court. Way to Go, Judge Engoron.
Donald Trump on Wednesday made a familiar move: He appealed a court ruling. This time it was a finding that he was in contempt of court. Two days earlier, a New York state judge, Arthur Engoron, found that Trump had failed to comply with a subpoena from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office as part of her civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices. Engoron ordered Trump to fulfill the subpoena’s demand for documents the AG is seeking and assessed a fine of $10,000 per day until he has complied to the court’s satisfaction.
I love it.
I love it for reasons that have little to do with politics, taxes or even Trump himself. I love it because, in litigating civil cases, I’ve observed that clients are rarely caught, let alone punished, for avoiding subpoenas or pretending to be unable to find documents they are supposed to disclose as part of the discovery process. Discovery takes place before a case goes to trial, and in it both sides are supposed to voluntarily share records with each other. When subpoenaed, a party must search their files and disclose records requested by the subpoena.
This is not a case of Trump exceptionally bending the rules. It’s a case of Trump being exceptionally called out for what he did.
Yet I’ve seen parties get away with sending their lawyer to court to say, “Well, the client says he looked for those documents, but…” and then insert any number of vague, largely unverifiable excuses, like something about a flood destroying the files (I’ve literally heard that) or a dog eating them (OK, I haven’t heard that — yet). I’ve observed litigants blow off discovery deadlines, and in some cases have suspected they flat-out concealed documents. They presumably do it because they expect to get away with it. Hey, the other side has no idea what’s in their files, so why not just say they looked and didn’t have it.
Trump, it appears, is trying to do the same. Of course, Trump’s team argued that they did fully comply with the subpoena. They insisted they conducted a diligent search but that Trump didn’t have what they asked for.
And that all may be true. But the problem is, no one other than Trump, and those close to him, know for sure. Even his own lawyers can’t know for certain that their client isn’t hiding documents — especially when they are dealing with a client who notoriously doesn’t leave much of an electronic paper trail. So the attorney general turned to the judge to make the case that Trump’s team, rather than simply not possessing any documents, was actually stonewalling.
The judge came down on her side, saying that the affirmation Trump’s counsel submitted about the search for the documents was “woefully inadequate.” He said that it “provided the Court with no basis to find that the search had been a thorough one or that it had been conducted in a good faith effort to provide these necessary records.”
This is not a case of Trump exceptionally bending the rules. It’s a case of Trump being exceptionally called out for what he did.
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Invasions Have Consequences
Pop-Top Tanks
Russian tanks with their tops blown off are just the latest sign that Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't going to plan.
Hundreds of Russian tanks are thought to have been destroyed since Moscow launched its offensive, with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Monday estimating it had lost as many as 580.
But Moscow's problems go beyond the sheer number of tanks it has lost. Experts say battlefield images show Russian tanks are suffering from a defect that Western militaries have known about for decades and refer to as the "jack-in-the-box effect." Moscow, they say, should have seen the problem coming.
The problem relates to how the tanks' ammunition is stored. Unlike modern Western tanks, Russian ones carry multiple shells within their turrets. This makes them highly vulnerable as even an indirect hit can start a chain reaction that explodes their entire ammunition store of up to 40 shells.
The resulting shockwave can be enough to blast the tank's turret as high as a two-story building, as can be seen in a recent video on social media.
"What we are witnessing with Russian tanks is a design flaw," said Sam Bendett, adviser with the Russia Studies Program at CNA and an adjunct senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security.
"Any successful hit ... quickly ignites the ammo causing a massive explosion, and the turret is literally blown off."
The flaw means the tank's crew -- usually two men in the turret and a third driving -- are sitting ducks, said Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer.
"If you don't get out within the first second, you're toast."
The 'jack-in-the-box" effect
Drummond said exploding munitions are causing problems for almost all of the armored vehicles Russia is using in Ukraine. He gave the example of the BMD-4 infantry fighting vehicle, typically manned by up to three crew and able to carry another five soldiers. He said the BMD-4 was a "mobile coffin" that was "just obliterated" when hit by a rocket.
'Structured ambush': Video appears to show strike on Russian tanks 01:40
But the design flaw with its tanks should be particularly galling for Moscow as the problems have been so widely telegraphed.
They came to the attention of Western militaries during the Gulf wars against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, when large numbers of the Iraqi army's Russian-made T-72 tanks suffered the same fate -- turrets being blown from their bodies in anti-tank missile strikes.
Drummond said Russia hadn't learned the lessons from Iraq and that consequently many of its tanks in Ukraine featured similar design flaws with their autoloading missile systems.
When the T-90 series -- the successor to the T-72 -- came into service in 1992 its armor was upgraded but its missile loading system remained similar to its predecessor's, leaving it just as vulnerable, Drummond said. The T-80, another Russian tank seeing action in the Ukraine invasion, has a similar missile loading system.
The losses are not just about equipment. When Wallace, the British defense secretary, gave his estimate of 580 lost tanks to the House of Commons he also said more than 15,000 Russian military personnel had been killed during its invasion.
It's hard to know how many of those are tank crew, but what is not in doubt is that the crews are not easy to replace.
Training a tank crew could take several months at a minimum and even 12 months could be considered quick, said Aleksi Roinila, a former tank crewman in the Finnish Defense Forces.
And for Russia to replace hundreds of crew at this point in the war would be a tall order -- especially when the tanks they are expected to use are so flawed.
Does This Sound Like a Suicide Cult?
It's Too Bad We Can't Just Pay Them to Stop Fighting
Now we’re getting serious. For the record, this is larger than Russia’s entire budget. Not their military budget. Their whole federal budget.
This is No Bull. Bulgaria Is Helping.
Bulgaria will be helping Ukraine in another important way — repairing equipment so it can get back in the field. At a Thursday meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petko, an agreement was reached to actually ship some equipment out of Ukraine to Bulgaria, where it can be repaired and put back into service.
In exchange, Ukraine is promising to increase the supply of gas and electricity it provides to Bulgaria to help compensate for the loss of Russian energy sources. Ukraine also reached an agreement to ship agricultural products — like the wheat and corn being grown in the areas of the country not currently directly threatened by the Russian invasion — through Bulgaria’s Black Sea port at Varna.
By routing wheat across Romania to the Bulgarian port at Varna, Ukraine can get food out to the international market while avoiding the blockade Russia is conducting on Ukrainian ports.
Now Putin Is Using Slave Labor
With its military manpower strained by the fighting in Ukraine, Russia appears to have devolved sea defense to a different mammal: dolphins.
Moscow has deployed trained dolphins at the entrance to a key port in the Black Sea, apparently to protect a naval base from potential Ukrainian attacks, according to a review of satellite images by the commercial firm Maxar and the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI).
Two transportable dolphin pens were moved to the Sevastopol harbor in February, around the time Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, according to analysis of the satellite images by H I Sutton, a submarine analyst who specializes in the use of marine mammal pens and wrote for the naval institute.
The dolphins may be tasked with preventing Ukrainian divers from infiltrating the harbor underwater and sabotaging warships there, which sit just out of reach of Ukrainian missiles, he said.
In an email to NBC News, Sutton said that dolphins were “the most obvious type of mammal” being used to protect the naval base in the Black Sea. He added that these were most likely the same pens that Russia deployed to Tartus in Syria in 2018, where they used dolphins to counter enemy divers, retrieve objects from the sea floor, and perform intelligence operations.
You Can't Remain Neutral With a Sociopath Next Door.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Finland and Sweden would be embraced with open arms should they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and could become members quite quickly.
“It’s their decision," Stoltenberg said. "But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly.”
Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night Stays the USPS From Polluting
Mail delivery trucks seem ideally suited to run on electricity: They travel on relatively short routes, can charge at night, and make frequent stops that can recharge the battery through regenerative braking. One analysis suggests that the U.S. Postal Service could save billions over the lifetime of its vehicles by replacing gas trucks with electric. But in February, the USPS announced that it was moving forward with an $11 billion plan to replace its aging vehicles with mostly fossil-powered trucks.
In three new lawsuits filed Thursday morning, multiple states and nonprofits argue that the Postal Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it made the decision to purchase as many as 148,000 new gas trucks. “The Postal Service has a historic opportunity to invest in our planet and in our future,” Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, said in a statement. “Instead, it is doubling down on outdated technologies that are bad for our environment and bad for our communities.”
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It's Hot Out There
Millions of Indians are experiencing a brutal heatwave that is throwing lives and livelihoods out of gear - and there is no relief in sight.
"Temperatures are rising rapidly in the country, and rising much earlier than usual," Prime Minister Narendra Modi told state chief ministers on Wednesday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a gradual rise in maximum temperatures by 2-4C over most parts of north-western and central India this week, with "no large change thereafter".
While heatwaves are common in India, especially in May and June, summer began early this year with high temperatures from March itself - average maximum temperatures in the month were the highest in 122 years. Heatwaves also began setting in during the month.
The Centre for Science and Environment, a think-tank, says that early heatwaves this year have affected around 15 states, including the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, known for its pleasant temperatures.
This week, the mercury in the capital, Delhi, is expected to cross 44C. (111 F).
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It's Dry Out There
The West is in the grips of a climate change-fueled megadrought, and Lake Mead -- the largest manmade reservoir in the country and a source of water for millions of people -- has fallen to an unprecedented low.
The lake's plummeting water level has exposed one of the reservoir's original water intake valves for the first time, officials say.
The valve had been in service since 1971 but can no longer draw water, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which is responsible for managing water resources for 2.2 million people in Southern Nevada, including Las Vegas.
Across the West, extreme drought is already taking a toll this year and summertime heat hasn't even arrived yet. Drought conditions worsened in the Southwest over the past week, the US Drought Monitor reported Thursday. Extreme and exceptional drought, the two worst designations, expanded across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado -- all states that are part of the Colorado River basin.
New Mexico's drought has been steadily intensifying since the beginning of the year, and extreme or exceptional drought now covers 68% of the state.
Further West, water officials in Southern California are now demanding that residents and businesses limit outdoor watering to one day a week, after a disappointing winter with very little rain and snow. It's the first time they've implemented such a strict rule.
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COVID May Just Be the Beginning
Climate change will result in thousands of new viruses spread among animal species by 2070 — and that’s likely to increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans, according to a new study.
This is especially true for Africa and Asia, continents that have been hot spots for deadly disease spread from humans to animals or vice versa over the last several decades, including the flu, HIV, Ebola and the coronavirus.
Researchers, who published their findings Thursday in the journal Nature, used a model to examine how over 3,000 mammal species might migrate and and share viruses over the next 50 years if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which recent research shows is possible.
They found that cross-species virus spread will happen over 4,000 times among mammals alone. Birds and marine animals weren’t included in the study.
Researchers said not all viruses will spread to humans or become pandemics the scale of the coronavirus but the number of cross-species viruses increases the risk of spread to humans.
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A Lone Voice in the Wilderness
In late March, White House press secretary Jen Psaki tested positive for the virus, her second breakthrough infection. A few weeks later, an outbreak at the annual Gridiron Club dinner seeded infections among House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and three members of President Biden’s cabinet. And on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive at the White House and had to cancel a meeting with Biden.
Yet on Saturday, Biden is planning to step into a tuxedo and into a cavernous underground ballroom for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the first time a sitting president has attended since 2016. Despite rising coronavirus cases in the D.C. region, up to 2,600 guests are expected to attend in full pre-pandemic “Nerd Prom” regalia — satin lapels, glittering gowns, and mask-free faces — albeit with proof of vaccination and a same-day negative Covid test.
At least one other American weighing similar risks reached a different conclusion. Late Tuesday night CNN reported that Anthony Fauci, the 81-year-old infectious disease expert and Biden’s chief medical adviser, would no longer attend the dinner amid concerns for his own health and worries it could turn into another superspreading event.
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Save the Children!
Moderna Inc said on Thursday it asked U.S. regulators to authorize its COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6, which would make it the first shot against the coronavirus available for those under 5-years-old.
The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE is authorized for children 5 and older. But their trial results for 2- to 4-year-olds showed a weaker immune response than in adults, forcing the study to be extended to test a third dose. Pfizer has said that data would come in April.
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Want More Privacy? This Should Help.
Google is now allowing people to remove their personal contact information — phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses — from its search results. The Alphabet-owned search giant on Wednesday said it is making the change to protect users from "unwanted direct contact or even physical harm."
Google said it had previously allowed people to request the removal of some specific types of info, but that the new policy represents a broader attempt to help protect personal data for users. Prior to the new policy, people could ask for more specific information to be removed, such as bank account or credit card numbers.
The change comes amid a surge in online fraud. The Federal Trade Commission reporting that consumers lost $5.8 billion to scammers last year, a jump of 70% from the previous year. Much of that fraud is perpetrated through online scams, such as romance swindles, as well as though telephone solicitations and identity theft.
Google noted that removing the information can also protect people from doxxing, which is when personal info like emails or addresses are shared publicly with malicious intent, such as to encourage online harassment.
Do it Here
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New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | New Hospitalizations 7-Day Average | |
| Apr 27 | 53,133 | 334 | |
| Apr 26 | 48,692 | 299 | 1,889 |
| Apr 25 | 47,407 | 330 | 1,840 |
| Apr 24 | 44,416 | 314 | 1,779 |
| 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 27)
We had some rain up north this week.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | 2 Weeks Ago | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 81% (74%) | 79% (70%) | 73% (63% of full season average) |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 67% (61%) | 65% (58%) | 65% (57%) |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 62% (57%) | 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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The Problem With Political Jokes Is That They Sometimes Get Elected.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
No Accord Over Accordion Music. (Extra Credit If You Can Find Lesotho on a Map)
Rivalry between stars of a unique accordion-based style of music in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho has sparked years of deadly gang warfare that has turned the tiny country into the murder capital of the continent.
Famo has the gentlest of origins. It developed when traditional "wayfarers' hymns" - a form of spontaneous oral poetry, or rap, composed by herders or travellers to while away long hours guarding cattle or journeying on foot through Lesotho's mountains - began to be accompanied first on the concertina, and later the accordion.
But in 2004, after one Famo musician allegedly shot another, a cycle of revenge developed, fuelled by poisonous lyrics in songs. And over the last two decades scores of Famo artists and hundreds of other people connected with the music - producers, fans, DJs, musicians' family members - have been gunned down.
A Rouble Loophole
One of Germany's biggest energy firms has said it is preparing to buy Russian gas using a payment system that critics say will undermine EU sanctions.
Uniper says it will pay in euros which will be converted into roubles, meeting a Kremlin demand for all transactions to be made in the Russian currency.
Other European energy firms are reportedly preparing to do the same amid concerns about supply cuts.
Uniper said it had no choice but said it was still abiding by EU sanctions.
"We consider a payment conversion compliant with sanctions law and the Russian decree to be possible," a spokesman told the BBC.
"For our company and for Germany as a whole, it is not possible to do without Russian gas in the short term; this would have dramatic consequences for our economy."
Musk Morality. Make a Promise. They Ask Your Lawyers to Get You Out of It.
Elon Musk has lost a bid to get out of an agreement made with regulators requiring oversight of his tweets about his car firm Tesla.
The settlement was made after he tweeted he had "funding secured" to potentially take Tesla private despite a deal not being close.
The ruling comes just days after the world's richest person struck a deal to buy Twitter for $44bn (£35bn).
Mr Musk says he wants to make Twitter a bastion of free speech.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Mr Musk of misleading investors with the 2018 tweet, which caused Tesla's share price to fluctuate.
Mr Musk's lawyers argued that the SEC's pursuit of him "crossed the line into harassment" and interfered with his right to free speech.
US District Judge Lewis Liman rejected those arguments as well as Mr Musk's request to stop a separate SEC investigation into tweets he posted last year regarding the sale of some of his Tesla stock.
"Musk cannot now seek to retract the agreement he knowingly and willingly entered by simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time but now — once the spectre of the litigation is a distant memory and his company has become, in his estimation, all but invincible — wishes that he had not," Mr Liman wrote.
The agreement in 2018 required Mr Musk and Tesla to pay $20m each in civil fines and for him to step down as the chairman of the electric car maker.
It also required Mr Musk to obtain approval from Tesla's lawyers for tweets and other public statements about the company.
I Can Envision Her Defense. She Was Referring to Thurgood Marshal Law at Texas Southern University
Less than a week after appearing in a Georgia courtroom to defend herself in a reelection lawsuit, and swearing under oath to not remembering a damn thing, text messages to the contrary have been added to the slew of evidence against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The suit against Greene, filed by five voters represented by Free Speech for People, a legal nonprofit advocacy group, alleges the congresswoman cannot run for reelection because she “engaged in an insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power disqualifying her from serving as a Member of Congress under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.”
During a hearing on April 22, Greene took the stand and denied involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection or having any recollection of the events surrounding that day, including conversations about martial law.
Wednesday, petitioners filed a motion to that suit to add “newly discovered evidence”:— a damning text that shows Greene’s memory while on the stand was faulty at best, and perjurious at worst.
A text message from Greene sent on Jan. 17, 2021 to former President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows reads:
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law. I don't know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
The motion reads that the text “undermines Greene’s credibility,” and “sheds light on the meaning of her pre-January 6 statements. Eleven days after the failed insurrection, Greene was still fighting against the peaceful transfer of power by advocating extra-legal means."
Did He Forget His Swastika Armband?
Tennessee Republicans advanced legislation Wednesday that would place more scrutiny over what books are placed in public schools libraries, moments after the bill’s House sponsor said any inappropriate book should be burned.
The measure is just one of several proposals introduced in Tennessee this year designed to impose more scrutiny and transparency in public school libraries amid a national spike in book challenges and bans. School librarians have become the target of scorn from Republican lawmakers pushing for more oversight on materials provided to children — particularly those that touch on racism and LGBTQ issues.
Does Google Translate Convert Greene-Speak Into English?
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s double talk on her “Marshall law” text found a friendly ear in Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday.
The far-right House member, who in a text brought up the possibility of Donald Trump imposing martial law to keep himself in power after the 2020 election, said on “The Ingraham Angle” that ...
Well, her answers were so convoluted we’re not sure what she said.
“Those are reportedly my text messages,” the Georgia Republican told Ingraham. “I think if people read them for themselves, if those are my text message, they clearly say that I wasn’t calling for that. I actually said that’s something I don’t know about.”
Ingraham asked if she advocated for martial law. Greene again obfuscated, saying she didn’t remember doing so and questioned if the message was hers.
At a hearing earlier, she took a similar tack while being questioned about whether she supported martial law, saying she didn’t “recall.”
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law.” the spelling-challenged Greene wrote to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 17, 2021.
“I don’t know on those things,” she added. “I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
He Suffers from a Disability. Those Who Are Afflicted With Republicanism, Can't Stop Lying
Guns Don't Kill People. Tomatoes Do.
Well, this is bananas.
According to former President Donald Trump, hurling a fruit at someone can be a lethal act—one that justifies the use of violence to thwart any use of produce as projectile.
In transcripts of an October 2021 deposition, filed in court on Tuesday, the twice-impeached former president insisted tomatoes, pineapples, and bananas can be “very dangerous” weapons that justify violent acts of “self-defense.”
Trump was testifying under oath in a civil lawsuit brought by protesters alleging they were assaulted by his security guards outside his New York offices in 2015. Of particular interest to lawyers representing the protesters were Trump’s remarks during a campaign speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Feb. 1, 2016, in which he told attendees: “If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you?”
Asked why he made that specific request, Trump testified that his campaign had received a threat that day. “They were going to throw fruit,” he claimed. “And you get hit with fruit, it’s—no, it’s very violent stuff. We were on alert for that.”
In a comedic moment, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Benjamin Dictor dryly remarked, “A tomato is a fruit after all, I guess,” and Trump’s attorney Jeffrey Goldman jumped in to confirm: “It has seeds.”
The former president then continued on the subject of frightful fruits: “It’s worse than tomato, it’s other things also. But tomato, when they start doing that stuff, it’s very dangerous. There was an alert out that day.”
Trump conceded that his remarks may have been “said sort of in jest,” but quickly added that there was “a little truth to it” because hurled tomatoes are “very dangerous stuff.” He noted: “You can get killed with those things.”
Asked whether he was trying to “incentivize people to engage in violence,” the former president responded: “No, I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit.”
Trump continued with another tomato tirade: “And some fruit is a lot worse than—tomatoes are bad, by the way. But it’s very dangerous. No, I wanted them to watch. They were on alert. I remember that specific event because everybody was on alert. They were going to hit, they were going to hit hard.”
Asked whether anyone in attendance was actually found to have tomatoes in their possession that day, Trump conceded, “I don’t know. But… it worked out that nothing happened.”
Moments later, when grilled about further declaring during the Iowa speech that he’d pay the legal fees of anyone who “knocks the crap out of” a protester, Trump once again said he faced a “serious threat.”
“Is it your expectation that if your security guards see someone about to throw a tomato that they should knock the crap out of them?” Dictor then inquired, prompting Trump to yet again rattle off concerns about dangerous fruits.
“Well, a tomato, a pineapple, a lot of other things they throw,” he said. “Yeah, if the security saw that, I would say you have to—and it’s not just me, it’s other people in the audience get badly hurt—yeah, I think that they have to be aggressive in stopping that from happening. Because if that happens, you can be killed if that happens.”
“And getting aggressive includes the use of physical force?” the cross-examining lawyer followed up.
“To stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that, yeah,” Trump replied. “It’s dangerous stuff.”
Did They Have Friends in High Places or Low Places?
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday released a report alleging that top Trump administration officials awarded a $700 million pandemic relief loan to a struggling trucking company in 2020 over the objections of career officials at the Defense Department.
The report, released by the Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, describes the role of corporate lobbyists during the early months of the pandemic in helping to secure government funds as trillions of dollars of relief money were being pumped into the economy. It also suggests that senior officials such as Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, and Mark Esper, the former defense secretary, intervened to ensure that the trucking company, Yellow Corp., received special treatment despite concerns about its eligibility to receive relief funds.
“Today’s select subcommittee staff report reveals yet another example of the Trump administration disregarding their obligation to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Representative James Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, the chairman of the subcommittee, said in a statement. “Political appointees risked hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds against the recommendations of career DOD officials and in clear disregard of provisions of the CARES Act intended to protect national security and American taxpayers.”
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Can We Clone Katie Porter? Watch At Least the First 3 Minutes.
They Haven't Risen From the Dead, But It's Close
Morris Brown College may have had the comeback of the year Wednesday.
The historically Black college in Atlanta received its full accreditation after losing it 20 years ago, according to a news release from the school.
"Many thought that this feat was impossible, but due to our strong faith in God, our hardworking and wonderful faculty and staff, the support of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, our dedicated alumni, and our resilient spirit, we were able to achieve full accreditation," college President Kevin James said in a statement.
"This was truly The Hard Reset. This is just the beginning!" James said.
The college was rewarded its accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a Virginia-based accreditation agency.
CNN has reached out to TRACS for comment, but has not heard back.
Reaccreditation means the school is once again eligible to apply for federal education funding that could go toward student financial aid and Pell Grants or on-campus housing, so long as the college remains compliant with federal conditions and standards.
Morris Brown's comeback is also a beacon of hope for smaller HBCUs struggling with finances and enrollment, especially in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
School was holding on by a thread
The 20-year journey of Morris Brown begins in 2002, when the school's accreditation was revoked because of debt and financial mismanagement. The once-flourishing college then saw its enrollment plummet from about 2,000 to less than 50. Over the years, the enrollment ranged between 30 and 50 students.
The college never officially closed, but it was holding on by a thread.
Faced with mounting debt and a crumbling infrastructure, the school's board of trustees offered the administration an option: shutter their doors for good. The grounds could theoretically be converted into a museum or a site for private development, but its days as an active college appeared to be ended.
James, the college's president, disagreed. He believed there was still a chance to regain accreditation, and evolve as an operational campus.
James was named interim president in early 2019 and officially made president in May 2020. He immediately focused on what he has labeled "the hard reset" for the college.
In April 2021, Morris Brown officially received accreditation candidacy by TRACS. This meant an institution is in basic compliance with the standards and criteria of TRACS and has been evaluated by an on-site peer team that found the institution provides sound instruction and student services.
Fast forward a year later and the school is celebrating its reaccreditation.
Previous Guy Gets Special Treatment From the Court. Way to Go, Judge Engoron.
Donald Trump on Wednesday made a familiar move: He appealed a court ruling. This time it was a finding that he was in contempt of court. Two days earlier, a New York state judge, Arthur Engoron, found that Trump had failed to comply with a subpoena from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office as part of her civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices. Engoron ordered Trump to fulfill the subpoena’s demand for documents the AG is seeking and assessed a fine of $10,000 per day until he has complied to the court’s satisfaction.
I love it.
I love it for reasons that have little to do with politics, taxes or even Trump himself. I love it because, in litigating civil cases, I’ve observed that clients are rarely caught, let alone punished, for avoiding subpoenas or pretending to be unable to find documents they are supposed to disclose as part of the discovery process. Discovery takes place before a case goes to trial, and in it both sides are supposed to voluntarily share records with each other. When subpoenaed, a party must search their files and disclose records requested by the subpoena.
This is not a case of Trump exceptionally bending the rules. It’s a case of Trump being exceptionally called out for what he did.
Yet I’ve seen parties get away with sending their lawyer to court to say, “Well, the client says he looked for those documents, but…” and then insert any number of vague, largely unverifiable excuses, like something about a flood destroying the files (I’ve literally heard that) or a dog eating them (OK, I haven’t heard that — yet). I’ve observed litigants blow off discovery deadlines, and in some cases have suspected they flat-out concealed documents. They presumably do it because they expect to get away with it. Hey, the other side has no idea what’s in their files, so why not just say they looked and didn’t have it.
Trump, it appears, is trying to do the same. Of course, Trump’s team argued that they did fully comply with the subpoena. They insisted they conducted a diligent search but that Trump didn’t have what they asked for.
And that all may be true. But the problem is, no one other than Trump, and those close to him, know for sure. Even his own lawyers can’t know for certain that their client isn’t hiding documents — especially when they are dealing with a client who notoriously doesn’t leave much of an electronic paper trail. So the attorney general turned to the judge to make the case that Trump’s team, rather than simply not possessing any documents, was actually stonewalling.
The judge came down on her side, saying that the affirmation Trump’s counsel submitted about the search for the documents was “woefully inadequate.” He said that it “provided the Court with no basis to find that the search had been a thorough one or that it had been conducted in a good faith effort to provide these necessary records.”
This is not a case of Trump exceptionally bending the rules. It’s a case of Trump being exceptionally called out for what he did.
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Invasions Have Consequences
Pop-Top Tanks
Russian tanks with their tops blown off are just the latest sign that Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't going to plan.
Hundreds of Russian tanks are thought to have been destroyed since Moscow launched its offensive, with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Monday estimating it had lost as many as 580.
But Moscow's problems go beyond the sheer number of tanks it has lost. Experts say battlefield images show Russian tanks are suffering from a defect that Western militaries have known about for decades and refer to as the "jack-in-the-box effect." Moscow, they say, should have seen the problem coming.
The problem relates to how the tanks' ammunition is stored. Unlike modern Western tanks, Russian ones carry multiple shells within their turrets. This makes them highly vulnerable as even an indirect hit can start a chain reaction that explodes their entire ammunition store of up to 40 shells.
The resulting shockwave can be enough to blast the tank's turret as high as a two-story building, as can be seen in a recent video on social media.
"What we are witnessing with Russian tanks is a design flaw," said Sam Bendett, adviser with the Russia Studies Program at CNA and an adjunct senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security.
"Any successful hit ... quickly ignites the ammo causing a massive explosion, and the turret is literally blown off."
The flaw means the tank's crew -- usually two men in the turret and a third driving -- are sitting ducks, said Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer.
"If you don't get out within the first second, you're toast."
The 'jack-in-the-box" effect
Drummond said exploding munitions are causing problems for almost all of the armored vehicles Russia is using in Ukraine. He gave the example of the BMD-4 infantry fighting vehicle, typically manned by up to three crew and able to carry another five soldiers. He said the BMD-4 was a "mobile coffin" that was "just obliterated" when hit by a rocket.
'Structured ambush': Video appears to show strike on Russian tanks 01:40
But the design flaw with its tanks should be particularly galling for Moscow as the problems have been so widely telegraphed.
They came to the attention of Western militaries during the Gulf wars against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, when large numbers of the Iraqi army's Russian-made T-72 tanks suffered the same fate -- turrets being blown from their bodies in anti-tank missile strikes.
Drummond said Russia hadn't learned the lessons from Iraq and that consequently many of its tanks in Ukraine featured similar design flaws with their autoloading missile systems.
When the T-90 series -- the successor to the T-72 -- came into service in 1992 its armor was upgraded but its missile loading system remained similar to its predecessor's, leaving it just as vulnerable, Drummond said. The T-80, another Russian tank seeing action in the Ukraine invasion, has a similar missile loading system.
The losses are not just about equipment. When Wallace, the British defense secretary, gave his estimate of 580 lost tanks to the House of Commons he also said more than 15,000 Russian military personnel had been killed during its invasion.
It's hard to know how many of those are tank crew, but what is not in doubt is that the crews are not easy to replace.
Training a tank crew could take several months at a minimum and even 12 months could be considered quick, said Aleksi Roinila, a former tank crewman in the Finnish Defense Forces.
And for Russia to replace hundreds of crew at this point in the war would be a tall order -- especially when the tanks they are expected to use are so flawed.
Does This Sound Like a Suicide Cult?
It's Too Bad We Can't Just Pay Them to Stop Fighting
Now we’re getting serious. For the record, this is larger than Russia’s entire budget. Not their military budget. Their whole federal budget.
This is No Bull. Bulgaria Is Helping.
Bulgaria will be helping Ukraine in another important way — repairing equipment so it can get back in the field. At a Thursday meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petko, an agreement was reached to actually ship some equipment out of Ukraine to Bulgaria, where it can be repaired and put back into service.
In exchange, Ukraine is promising to increase the supply of gas and electricity it provides to Bulgaria to help compensate for the loss of Russian energy sources. Ukraine also reached an agreement to ship agricultural products — like the wheat and corn being grown in the areas of the country not currently directly threatened by the Russian invasion — through Bulgaria’s Black Sea port at Varna.
By routing wheat across Romania to the Bulgarian port at Varna, Ukraine can get food out to the international market while avoiding the blockade Russia is conducting on Ukrainian ports.
Now Putin Is Using Slave Labor
With its military manpower strained by the fighting in Ukraine, Russia appears to have devolved sea defense to a different mammal: dolphins.
Moscow has deployed trained dolphins at the entrance to a key port in the Black Sea, apparently to protect a naval base from potential Ukrainian attacks, according to a review of satellite images by the commercial firm Maxar and the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI).
Two transportable dolphin pens were moved to the Sevastopol harbor in February, around the time Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, according to analysis of the satellite images by H I Sutton, a submarine analyst who specializes in the use of marine mammal pens and wrote for the naval institute.
The dolphins may be tasked with preventing Ukrainian divers from infiltrating the harbor underwater and sabotaging warships there, which sit just out of reach of Ukrainian missiles, he said.
In an email to NBC News, Sutton said that dolphins were “the most obvious type of mammal” being used to protect the naval base in the Black Sea. He added that these were most likely the same pens that Russia deployed to Tartus in Syria in 2018, where they used dolphins to counter enemy divers, retrieve objects from the sea floor, and perform intelligence operations.
You Can't Remain Neutral With a Sociopath Next Door.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Finland and Sweden would be embraced with open arms should they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and could become members quite quickly.
“It’s their decision," Stoltenberg said. "But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly.”
Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night Stays the USPS From Polluting
Mail delivery trucks seem ideally suited to run on electricity: They travel on relatively short routes, can charge at night, and make frequent stops that can recharge the battery through regenerative braking. One analysis suggests that the U.S. Postal Service could save billions over the lifetime of its vehicles by replacing gas trucks with electric. But in February, the USPS announced that it was moving forward with an $11 billion plan to replace its aging vehicles with mostly fossil-powered trucks.
In three new lawsuits filed Thursday morning, multiple states and nonprofits argue that the Postal Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it made the decision to purchase as many as 148,000 new gas trucks. “The Postal Service has a historic opportunity to invest in our planet and in our future,” Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, said in a statement. “Instead, it is doubling down on outdated technologies that are bad for our environment and bad for our communities.”
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It's Hot Out There
Millions of Indians are experiencing a brutal heatwave that is throwing lives and livelihoods out of gear - and there is no relief in sight.
"Temperatures are rising rapidly in the country, and rising much earlier than usual," Prime Minister Narendra Modi told state chief ministers on Wednesday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a gradual rise in maximum temperatures by 2-4C over most parts of north-western and central India this week, with "no large change thereafter".
While heatwaves are common in India, especially in May and June, summer began early this year with high temperatures from March itself - average maximum temperatures in the month were the highest in 122 years. Heatwaves also began setting in during the month.
The Centre for Science and Environment, a think-tank, says that early heatwaves this year have affected around 15 states, including the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, known for its pleasant temperatures.
This week, the mercury in the capital, Delhi, is expected to cross 44C. (111 F).
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It's Dry Out There
The West is in the grips of a climate change-fueled megadrought, and Lake Mead -- the largest manmade reservoir in the country and a source of water for millions of people -- has fallen to an unprecedented low.
The lake's plummeting water level has exposed one of the reservoir's original water intake valves for the first time, officials say.
The valve had been in service since 1971 but can no longer draw water, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which is responsible for managing water resources for 2.2 million people in Southern Nevada, including Las Vegas.
Across the West, extreme drought is already taking a toll this year and summertime heat hasn't even arrived yet. Drought conditions worsened in the Southwest over the past week, the US Drought Monitor reported Thursday. Extreme and exceptional drought, the two worst designations, expanded across New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado -- all states that are part of the Colorado River basin.
New Mexico's drought has been steadily intensifying since the beginning of the year, and extreme or exceptional drought now covers 68% of the state.
Further West, water officials in Southern California are now demanding that residents and businesses limit outdoor watering to one day a week, after a disappointing winter with very little rain and snow. It's the first time they've implemented such a strict rule.
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COVID May Just Be the Beginning
Climate change will result in thousands of new viruses spread among animal species by 2070 — and that’s likely to increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans, according to a new study.
This is especially true for Africa and Asia, continents that have been hot spots for deadly disease spread from humans to animals or vice versa over the last several decades, including the flu, HIV, Ebola and the coronavirus.
Researchers, who published their findings Thursday in the journal Nature, used a model to examine how over 3,000 mammal species might migrate and and share viruses over the next 50 years if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which recent research shows is possible.
They found that cross-species virus spread will happen over 4,000 times among mammals alone. Birds and marine animals weren’t included in the study.
Researchers said not all viruses will spread to humans or become pandemics the scale of the coronavirus but the number of cross-species viruses increases the risk of spread to humans.
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A Lone Voice in the Wilderness
In late March, White House press secretary Jen Psaki tested positive for the virus, her second breakthrough infection. A few weeks later, an outbreak at the annual Gridiron Club dinner seeded infections among House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and three members of President Biden’s cabinet. And on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive at the White House and had to cancel a meeting with Biden.
Yet on Saturday, Biden is planning to step into a tuxedo and into a cavernous underground ballroom for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the first time a sitting president has attended since 2016. Despite rising coronavirus cases in the D.C. region, up to 2,600 guests are expected to attend in full pre-pandemic “Nerd Prom” regalia — satin lapels, glittering gowns, and mask-free faces — albeit with proof of vaccination and a same-day negative Covid test.
At least one other American weighing similar risks reached a different conclusion. Late Tuesday night CNN reported that Anthony Fauci, the 81-year-old infectious disease expert and Biden’s chief medical adviser, would no longer attend the dinner amid concerns for his own health and worries it could turn into another superspreading event.
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Save the Children!
Moderna Inc said on Thursday it asked U.S. regulators to authorize its COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6, which would make it the first shot against the coronavirus available for those under 5-years-old.
The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE is authorized for children 5 and older. But their trial results for 2- to 4-year-olds showed a weaker immune response than in adults, forcing the study to be extended to test a third dose. Pfizer has said that data would come in April.
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Want More Privacy? This Should Help.
Google is now allowing people to remove their personal contact information — phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses — from its search results. The Alphabet-owned search giant on Wednesday said it is making the change to protect users from "unwanted direct contact or even physical harm."
Google said it had previously allowed people to request the removal of some specific types of info, but that the new policy represents a broader attempt to help protect personal data for users. Prior to the new policy, people could ask for more specific information to be removed, such as bank account or credit card numbers.
The change comes amid a surge in online fraud. The Federal Trade Commission reporting that consumers lost $5.8 billion to scammers last year, a jump of 70% from the previous year. Much of that fraud is perpetrated through online scams, such as romance swindles, as well as though telephone solicitations and identity theft.
Google noted that removing the information can also protect people from doxxing, which is when personal info like emails or addresses are shared publicly with malicious intent, such as to encourage online harassment.
Do it Here
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