Post by mhbruin on May 8, 2022 9:50:07 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 578 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday May 3)
We had some rain up north this week.
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Despite the High Cost of Living, It Remains Popular.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
QANON Believer in Congress or the Nuclear Energy Industry. Which is Scarier?
J.R. Majewski, the Air Force veteran who won the GOP primary for Ohio's new 9th Congressional District, was a January 6 rally participant and has repeatedly shared pro-QAnon material -- including a video showing him painting his lawn to say Trump 2020 with "Q" replacing the zeros.
Majewski emerged victorious in Tuesday's crowded Republican primary and will face off against long-serving Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the newly drawn district this November.
Before running for Congress, Majewski was best known as the Trump supporter who painted his front lawn into a 19,000-square-foot Trump 2020 sign. He later appeared in the MAGA rapper Forgiato Blow's song "Let's Go Brandon Save America," by rapping one verse decrying "woke" politics after he launched his campaign.
Majewski was deployed in the Middle East in the early 2000s during Operation Enduring Freedom, according to his campaign website. He currently works in the nuclear energy industry.
Sextortion is Not Sex With a Contrortionist
Internet blackmailers are increasingly duping young men and boys into sending them sexually explicit content online by posing as young girls on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and then extorting them in a scheme known as "sextortion" — and dozens of these cases have ended with the victims taking their own lives, police and child advocates told NBC News.
In a sign of how serious the problem is becoming, the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles released a warning last month aimed directly at the parents of young men caught in the crosshairs of these cyber-criminals who often operate in foreign countries.
“The FBI is receiving an increasing number of reports of adults posing as young girls coercing young boys through social media to produce sexual images and videos and then extorting money from them,” the FBI warning said.
Dozens of boys have reported being “victims of sextortion; mostly for money, although others were reportedly sextorted for additional images,” the agency said in a subsequent news release.
One of those victims was 17-year-old Ryan Last, who lived near San Jose, California. Last died by suicide in February after an extortionist, threatening to post compromising pictures of him on the internet, was demanding more and more money from the teen, his mother, Pauline Stuart, said.
It Didn't Start in 2016
Don't Hold Your Breath ... And Don't Wait for Clarence to Do This, Either.
Did This Chicago Tribune Writer Slip Up and Tell the Truth By Using "Investment" Instead of Donation?
Billionaire Ken Griffin has upped his investment in Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s Republican bid for governor, kicking in an additional $25 million to the campaign after seeding Irvin’s candidacy with an initial $20 million, state campaign finance records showed Thursday.
By doubling his financial commitment to Irvin, Griffin appears to be showing confidence in a campaign strategy that has been high in the use of TV ads and mailers while low in public contact and visibility.
Griffin, founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund, is the state’s wealthiest person with a net worth of $26.7 billion, according to Forbes. He is an ardent foe of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and the nation’s wealthiest elected politician with a net worth estimated at $3.6 billion, according to Forbes.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
They Want to Save Babies ... And Mothers
The United States is in a maternal health crisis.
Maternal mortality and morbidity rates across the country have increased steadily over the past 20 years, even as rates in all other developed countries have decreased significantly.
New government data shows that US maternal deaths jumped by 14% during the first years of the pandemic, to 861 in 2020 from 754 in 2019. The rate of maternal deaths for Black women in the US was nearly three times higher than it was for white women over that time frame.
Goldman Sachs wants to change that. Mahmee, a six-year-old maternal healthcare startup, has announced the closing of a $9.2 million Series A funding round led by Goldman's Growth Equity Business.
High maternal mortality rates in the US, especially among minority groups, have "become a systemic issue and something that we're not paying attention to," said Mahmee founder and CEO Melissa Hanna. "But we can also turn this around."
The investment is part of Goldman Sachs' One Million Black Women initiative, a $10 billion commitment to narrow opportunity gaps for Black women over the next decade.
Mahmee, which has also received funding from Serena Williams and Mark Cuban, hopes to build the digital infrastructure needed to bring patients and providers together and make healthcare data widely available in an industry where it's often siloed.
Monk Has Been Renewed. Not the TV Show
One of the world’s most endangered seal species has some flippin’ good news.
The population of Hawaiian monk seals, an animal found in the wild only in Hawaii, has surpassed 1,500 seals, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week.
That’s higher than their numbers have been in more than 20 years, which is good news not only for them, but for the environment as a whole.
“If we have healthy monk seals, we know that the ecosystem that is supporting those animals is healthy and thriving,” Michelle Barbieri, lead scientist with the NOAA’s monk seal research program, told The Associated Press.
The expressive-faced creatures are up against a slew of threats. A big one is habitat loss caused by climate change, as rising sea levels swallow up the low-lying landmasses where the seals live.
Other dangers include getting tangled up in fishing nets and other marine debris, eating harmful trash like fishing hooks, diseases, disturbances from human activity on beaches, and even some people intentionally killing them.
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Invasions Have Consequences
How do You Say "Shit Show" in Russian?
Troops sent into Ukraine to back up Russian forces say they had no choice but to leave because Russian military was in shambles and “they deceived us at every step.”
Soldiers from the breakaway state of South Ossetia—speaking to South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov at a meeting publicized by the independent news outlet MediaZona—rattled off a list of complaints about faulty equipment, lack of leadership and intel, and brainless tactics.
South Ossetia, which relies heavily on military and financial aid from Russia, sent troops to Ukraine in late March to “defend Russia.” Ukrainian military officials said at the time that some 150 South Ossetian troops were joining forces with Russia, but Tskhinvali never gave any official figures.
Many of the soldiers are said to be part of Russian military units based in South Ossetia; Moscow and Tskhinvali struck a deal in 2017 to partially incorporate their armed forces.
But reports soon surfaced of many of them refusing to take part in the fight, vowing not to become “cannon fodder.”
“Nobody got scared here, it’s just that they deceived us at every step,” one of the soldiers told Bibilov of their decision to abandon the fight.
“Of the 11 days [that we were there,] I wouldn’t even wish on an enemy what happened there. All the equipment didn’t work, I’m telling you straight… There was no command staff,” another soldier told the South Ossetian leader.
Out of 10 tanks, the first soldier said, only three fired. “The artillery mortar for the mortar-gunners didn’t work, the legs were all crooked,” he said.
“There was no command. And if the officers didn’t know what to do, what is the sergeant doing there?” another soldier was quoted saying.
He said “99 percent of the equipment” in another unit didn’t even work, but when the troops warned the senior in command that their vehicles didn’t work and their guns “did not fire,” he shrugged it off and said to just “go like that.”
In another case, troops complained of their commander “disappearing” every time fighting started.
“He was afraid of his own men. He made himself a security team out of a few of the guys. The commander refused to come out and talk to his own guys and was saying that he’d be beaten,” one soldier said.
Eventually, “some guys from spetsnaz [special forces]” really did beat him and left his “face all bloody,” he said.
They said the Russian troops never had backup plans, or escape routes. Another soldier said one of his wounded comrades in Russian-occupied Donetsk was getting no medical care.
“He says that the first day they bandaged him, but there’s still shrapnel inside him. He says his hand is very swollen, and nobody is doing anything, the doctors aren’t even coming to see him. He’s been there for five days, and the doctors are only asking him for money,” he said.
After hearing the soldiers paint a picture of such utter dysfunction, Bibilov asked the men directly if they believe Russia will lose the war.
One soldier spoke up: “Yes, we believe they will lose.”
Situation on the Ground and In the Air
Russian forces destroyed several bridges to slow Ukrainian forces and may be conducting a limited withdrawal northeast of Kharkiv city in the face of the successful Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukrainian forces are making significant progress around Kharkiv and will likely advance to the Russian border in the coming days.
Ukrainian forces continued to repel Russian advances toward Barvinvoke and Russian forces have likely abandoned efforts to drive directly southeast toward Slovyansk. ISW cannot confirm claims of a Ukrainian counteroffensive toward Izyum at this time.
Russian forces claimed to capture Popasna on May 7 but remain largely stalled in eastern Ukraine.
By all indications, Russian forces will announce the creation of a Kherson People’s Republic or possibly forcibly annex Kherson Oblast in the near future and are intensifying occupation measures in Mariupol.
Putin Now Faces Only Different Kinds of Defeat
It's Too Long to Excerpt Here, but Worth Reading
Stories Like This Should Crush Russia's Tourism Industry
A British YouTuber has been detained at a Russia-controlled space centre in Kazakhstan, officials have said.
Benjamin Rich, known for his travel channel Bald and Bankrupt, was held near a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
Dmitry Rogozin said Mr Rich was being investigated over "illegal acts".
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was investigating the reports.
A woman named Alina Tseliupa and reported to be from Belarus was also apprehended, said Mr Rogozin.
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This Will Probably Be a Terrible Summer for Wildfires
"Historic" and "extreme" weather conditions could fan a wildfire in New Mexico which is already the second biggest ever seen in the US state.
The so-called Hermits Peak Fire has been burning for more than a month and has torn through an area larger than the city of Chicago.
Many families have been left homeless and thousands have been evacuated.
Winds, near-record high temperatures and dry conditions are now expected to stoke the blaze further.
The National Weather Service in Albuquerque tweeted that its forecasters are "using exceedingly rare language" in its warning for a "long duration and extreme fire weather event".
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It Wasn't a Xoloitzcuintli or a Komondor
A Massachusetts family was surprised to learn that a lost puppy they rescued was, in fact, a baby coyote.
The male pup was found "wandering and distressed" on the side of the road, according to a Facebook post from Cape Wildlife Center. Concerned for its safety, the family picked up the pup in their car. But shortly afterward, they realized it might not be a dog after all.
"After realizing their mix up they called us for assistance," said the wildlife center, part of the New England Wildlife Center, a nonprofit that provides free veterinary care to around 5,000 animals per year.
This Komondor Is Not Named "Lionel Ritchie"
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It Could Be Worse. They Could Be on a Cruise to Russia
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a recent Covid-19 outbreak on a Carnival cruise ship that docked in Seattle after a two-week voyage.
The Carnival Spirit, which sailed through the Panama Canal, departed Miami on April 17 and arrived in Seattle on May 3, according to a statement from the cruise line. The ship holds 2,124 guests and 930 crew members, Carnival said.
The CDC says it's not permitted to publicly share the number of passengers and crew members who quarantined or tested positive. But the ship is labeled as orange status per the agency's cruise ship Covid-19 threshold, indicating that 0.3% or more of total passengers and or crew members tested positive, according to CDC's guidelines.
The ship's color status helps the CDC determine the scope of investigation, the agency said.
Carnival Spirit is one of 62 cruise ships currently sailing at orange status, the CDC said in a statement to CNN.
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Today's Health Tip: Don't Kiss a Monkey. (I'd Stay Away From Anti-Vaxers, Too.)
A rare case of monkeypox has been diagnosed in a patient in England, the UK Health Security Agency said in a statement Saturday.
Monkeypox is a rare viral infection which does not spread easily between people, the agency said, qualifying the overall risk to the general public as "very low."
"The infection can be spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person; however, there is a very low risk of transmission to the general population," the statement read.
The patient is believed to have contracted the infection in Nigeria, the UKHSA said, before recently traveling to the UK. He or she is receiving treatment in London at the expert infectious disease and isolation unit at the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.
Per the UKHSA, initial symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.
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What Is Dead, Walks, and Has One Horn? A Zombie Unicorn
It was fun while it lasted, but after years of sky-high valuations, Silicon Valley is engulfed in its worst sell-off since the 2008 stock market crash.
After a pandemic-fueled boom sent tech names soaring, many of those businesses have seen the worst six months of their lives as publicly traded companies. Peloton, the exercise startup, is emblematic of this ominous reality: Its shares have cratered from a high of $163 at the end of 2020 to about $17. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported company executives were looking to sell a minority stake to an outside investor.
“Investor sentiment in Silicon Valley is the most negative since the dot-com crash,” David Sacks, a venture capitalist in San Francisco and a former PayPal executive, said this week in a tweet, referring to the turbulent days of the early 2000s.
Tech companies are often especially vulnerable during an economic downturn, because most of these early-stage enterprises aren’t profitable, relying instead on venture capital investments to cover expenses while they focus on rapid growth — something that’s much more difficult when consumer demand slows down.
Firms that had scored headlines in the past 18 months for raising millions of dollars to achieve billion-dollar “unicorn” valuations have announced layoffs. They include the celebrity video-clip company Cameo; the stock market trading app Robinhood; Thrasio, which buys and sells third-party brands on Amazon; and the employment group Workrise.
Some people have begun to use the phrase “zombie unicorns” to refer to highly valued but shaky startups that might need new investors to rescue them.
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The View From Abroad
What a tonic and pleasure it would be not to have to consider or write, however briefly, about America.
It is, of course, impossible. We cannot turn America off or change the dial. The sad, infuriating, and debilitating cacophony of America is inescapable. America is everywhere, around the clock.[...]
And the news is bad, bad, bad. One convulsion after another. Repeated over and over in a loop, until a new convulsion arrives. Each one reverberates like an earthquake, damaging people and places in visible and invisible ways.
It has been like this for a while. From 9/11 on, in particular. Year after year. President after president. A war, then another. Death. Lost hope and homes. Secret dungeons. Torture and other violations – big and small. Explosions of hate, violence and ignorance. Twenty-six children massacred at school. Their murders “a hoax.” A 100 percent proof fascist riding an escalator into the presidency. More explosions of hate, violence and ignorance. A white police officer kneeling on a Black man’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Disinfectants and other fantastical potions to tame a plague. An insurrection in defence of a lie.
It never ends.
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Who Won the Week?
Democrat Carol Glanville, who flipped a deep-red seat blue in a western Michigan state House race
Karine Jean-Pierre, who will become America's first Black woman and first openly LGBTQ person to be White House Press Secretary when Jen Psaki steps down this month
President Biden: signs cybercrime bill; tours Alabama factory making Javelin anti-tank weapons for Ukraine; exercises comedy chops at WHCD; and employment in USA is back to pre-pandemic levels
Nancy Pelosi, for becoming the highest-level U.S. leader to visit Ukraine (and is awarded the Order of Princess Olga medal from President Zelenskyy)
Oberlin High School (Ohio) history teacher Kurt Russell, who was honored at the White House as the 2022 National Teacher of the Year
Ukraine, for turning Putin's planned May 9 "glorious victory" tank parade into a hollow bullshit spectacle by morphing Russia's war machine into scrap metal
The crowds who turned out to protest the leaked decision by five Puritan inquisitors on the Supreme Court (plus John Roberts in spirit) to overturn Roe v. Wade
Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter, both stewards on the polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough, for becoming the first same-sex couple to marry in Antarctica
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, the Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Eminem, Carly Simon…and Dolly!
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New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | New Hospitalizations 7-Day Average | |
| May 7 | |||
| May 6 | 68,807 | 340 | |
| May 5 | 67,263 | 341 | 2.363 |
| May 4 | 64,780 | 334 | 2,267 |
| May 3 | 61,712 | 325 | 2,219 |
| May 2 | 60,410 | 318 | 2.214 |
| May 1 | 57,020 | 307 | 2,072 |
| Apr 30 | 56,581 | 310 | 1,882 |
| Apr 29 | 56,166 | 308 | 1,946 |
| Apr 28 | 54,696 | 311 | 1,955 |
| Apr 27 | 53,133 | 334 | 1,941 |
| 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 | |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 77.7% | 66.3% | 45.9% |
| % of Population 5+ | 82.6% | 70.4% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 87.4% | 74.7% | 47.7% |
| % of Population 18+ | 89.1% | 76.2% | 49.5% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 90.4% | 68.8% |
California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday May 3)
We had some rain up north this week.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | 2 Weeks Ago | 3 Weeks Ago | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 80% (74%) | 81% (74%) | 79% (70%) | 73% (63% of full season average) |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 66% (61%) | 67% (61%) | 65% (58%) | 65% (57%) |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 61% (57%) | 62% (57%) | 60% (54%) | 61% (53%) |
| Snow Water Content - North | 20% | 29% | 15% | |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 27% | 33% | 27% | |
| Snow Water Content - South | 17% | 23% | 24% |
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Despite the High Cost of Living, It Remains Popular.
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
QANON Believer in Congress or the Nuclear Energy Industry. Which is Scarier?
J.R. Majewski, the Air Force veteran who won the GOP primary for Ohio's new 9th Congressional District, was a January 6 rally participant and has repeatedly shared pro-QAnon material -- including a video showing him painting his lawn to say Trump 2020 with "Q" replacing the zeros.
Majewski emerged victorious in Tuesday's crowded Republican primary and will face off against long-serving Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the newly drawn district this November.
Before running for Congress, Majewski was best known as the Trump supporter who painted his front lawn into a 19,000-square-foot Trump 2020 sign. He later appeared in the MAGA rapper Forgiato Blow's song "Let's Go Brandon Save America," by rapping one verse decrying "woke" politics after he launched his campaign.
Majewski was deployed in the Middle East in the early 2000s during Operation Enduring Freedom, according to his campaign website. He currently works in the nuclear energy industry.
Sextortion is Not Sex With a Contrortionist
Internet blackmailers are increasingly duping young men and boys into sending them sexually explicit content online by posing as young girls on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and then extorting them in a scheme known as "sextortion" — and dozens of these cases have ended with the victims taking their own lives, police and child advocates told NBC News.
In a sign of how serious the problem is becoming, the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles released a warning last month aimed directly at the parents of young men caught in the crosshairs of these cyber-criminals who often operate in foreign countries.
“The FBI is receiving an increasing number of reports of adults posing as young girls coercing young boys through social media to produce sexual images and videos and then extorting money from them,” the FBI warning said.
Dozens of boys have reported being “victims of sextortion; mostly for money, although others were reportedly sextorted for additional images,” the agency said in a subsequent news release.
One of those victims was 17-year-old Ryan Last, who lived near San Jose, California. Last died by suicide in February after an extortionist, threatening to post compromising pictures of him on the internet, was demanding more and more money from the teen, his mother, Pauline Stuart, said.
It Didn't Start in 2016
Don't Hold Your Breath ... And Don't Wait for Clarence to Do This, Either.
Did This Chicago Tribune Writer Slip Up and Tell the Truth By Using "Investment" Instead of Donation?
Billionaire Ken Griffin has upped his investment in Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin’s Republican bid for governor, kicking in an additional $25 million to the campaign after seeding Irvin’s candidacy with an initial $20 million, state campaign finance records showed Thursday.
By doubling his financial commitment to Irvin, Griffin appears to be showing confidence in a campaign strategy that has been high in the use of TV ads and mailers while low in public contact and visibility.
Griffin, founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund, is the state’s wealthiest person with a net worth of $26.7 billion, according to Forbes. He is an ardent foe of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and the nation’s wealthiest elected politician with a net worth estimated at $3.6 billion, according to Forbes.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
They Want to Save Babies ... And Mothers
The United States is in a maternal health crisis.
Maternal mortality and morbidity rates across the country have increased steadily over the past 20 years, even as rates in all other developed countries have decreased significantly.
New government data shows that US maternal deaths jumped by 14% during the first years of the pandemic, to 861 in 2020 from 754 in 2019. The rate of maternal deaths for Black women in the US was nearly three times higher than it was for white women over that time frame.
Goldman Sachs wants to change that. Mahmee, a six-year-old maternal healthcare startup, has announced the closing of a $9.2 million Series A funding round led by Goldman's Growth Equity Business.
High maternal mortality rates in the US, especially among minority groups, have "become a systemic issue and something that we're not paying attention to," said Mahmee founder and CEO Melissa Hanna. "But we can also turn this around."
The investment is part of Goldman Sachs' One Million Black Women initiative, a $10 billion commitment to narrow opportunity gaps for Black women over the next decade.
Mahmee, which has also received funding from Serena Williams and Mark Cuban, hopes to build the digital infrastructure needed to bring patients and providers together and make healthcare data widely available in an industry where it's often siloed.
Monk Has Been Renewed. Not the TV Show
One of the world’s most endangered seal species has some flippin’ good news.
The population of Hawaiian monk seals, an animal found in the wild only in Hawaii, has surpassed 1,500 seals, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week.
That’s higher than their numbers have been in more than 20 years, which is good news not only for them, but for the environment as a whole.
“If we have healthy monk seals, we know that the ecosystem that is supporting those animals is healthy and thriving,” Michelle Barbieri, lead scientist with the NOAA’s monk seal research program, told The Associated Press.
The expressive-faced creatures are up against a slew of threats. A big one is habitat loss caused by climate change, as rising sea levels swallow up the low-lying landmasses where the seals live.
Other dangers include getting tangled up in fishing nets and other marine debris, eating harmful trash like fishing hooks, diseases, disturbances from human activity on beaches, and even some people intentionally killing them.
--------------
Invasions Have Consequences
How do You Say "Shit Show" in Russian?
Troops sent into Ukraine to back up Russian forces say they had no choice but to leave because Russian military was in shambles and “they deceived us at every step.”
Soldiers from the breakaway state of South Ossetia—speaking to South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov at a meeting publicized by the independent news outlet MediaZona—rattled off a list of complaints about faulty equipment, lack of leadership and intel, and brainless tactics.
South Ossetia, which relies heavily on military and financial aid from Russia, sent troops to Ukraine in late March to “defend Russia.” Ukrainian military officials said at the time that some 150 South Ossetian troops were joining forces with Russia, but Tskhinvali never gave any official figures.
Many of the soldiers are said to be part of Russian military units based in South Ossetia; Moscow and Tskhinvali struck a deal in 2017 to partially incorporate their armed forces.
But reports soon surfaced of many of them refusing to take part in the fight, vowing not to become “cannon fodder.”
“Nobody got scared here, it’s just that they deceived us at every step,” one of the soldiers told Bibilov of their decision to abandon the fight.
“Of the 11 days [that we were there,] I wouldn’t even wish on an enemy what happened there. All the equipment didn’t work, I’m telling you straight… There was no command staff,” another soldier told the South Ossetian leader.
Out of 10 tanks, the first soldier said, only three fired. “The artillery mortar for the mortar-gunners didn’t work, the legs were all crooked,” he said.
“There was no command. And if the officers didn’t know what to do, what is the sergeant doing there?” another soldier was quoted saying.
He said “99 percent of the equipment” in another unit didn’t even work, but when the troops warned the senior in command that their vehicles didn’t work and their guns “did not fire,” he shrugged it off and said to just “go like that.”
In another case, troops complained of their commander “disappearing” every time fighting started.
“He was afraid of his own men. He made himself a security team out of a few of the guys. The commander refused to come out and talk to his own guys and was saying that he’d be beaten,” one soldier said.
Eventually, “some guys from spetsnaz [special forces]” really did beat him and left his “face all bloody,” he said.
They said the Russian troops never had backup plans, or escape routes. Another soldier said one of his wounded comrades in Russian-occupied Donetsk was getting no medical care.
“He says that the first day they bandaged him, but there’s still shrapnel inside him. He says his hand is very swollen, and nobody is doing anything, the doctors aren’t even coming to see him. He’s been there for five days, and the doctors are only asking him for money,” he said.
After hearing the soldiers paint a picture of such utter dysfunction, Bibilov asked the men directly if they believe Russia will lose the war.
One soldier spoke up: “Yes, we believe they will lose.”
Situation on the Ground and In the Air
Russian forces destroyed several bridges to slow Ukrainian forces and may be conducting a limited withdrawal northeast of Kharkiv city in the face of the successful Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukrainian forces are making significant progress around Kharkiv and will likely advance to the Russian border in the coming days.
Ukrainian forces continued to repel Russian advances toward Barvinvoke and Russian forces have likely abandoned efforts to drive directly southeast toward Slovyansk. ISW cannot confirm claims of a Ukrainian counteroffensive toward Izyum at this time.
Russian forces claimed to capture Popasna on May 7 but remain largely stalled in eastern Ukraine.
By all indications, Russian forces will announce the creation of a Kherson People’s Republic or possibly forcibly annex Kherson Oblast in the near future and are intensifying occupation measures in Mariupol.
Putin Now Faces Only Different Kinds of Defeat
It's Too Long to Excerpt Here, but Worth Reading
Stories Like This Should Crush Russia's Tourism Industry
A British YouTuber has been detained at a Russia-controlled space centre in Kazakhstan, officials have said.
Benjamin Rich, known for his travel channel Bald and Bankrupt, was held near a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
Dmitry Rogozin said Mr Rich was being investigated over "illegal acts".
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was investigating the reports.
A woman named Alina Tseliupa and reported to be from Belarus was also apprehended, said Mr Rogozin.
--------------
This Will Probably Be a Terrible Summer for Wildfires
"Historic" and "extreme" weather conditions could fan a wildfire in New Mexico which is already the second biggest ever seen in the US state.
The so-called Hermits Peak Fire has been burning for more than a month and has torn through an area larger than the city of Chicago.
Many families have been left homeless and thousands have been evacuated.
Winds, near-record high temperatures and dry conditions are now expected to stoke the blaze further.
The National Weather Service in Albuquerque tweeted that its forecasters are "using exceedingly rare language" in its warning for a "long duration and extreme fire weather event".
--------------
It Wasn't a Xoloitzcuintli or a Komondor
A Massachusetts family was surprised to learn that a lost puppy they rescued was, in fact, a baby coyote.
The male pup was found "wandering and distressed" on the side of the road, according to a Facebook post from Cape Wildlife Center. Concerned for its safety, the family picked up the pup in their car. But shortly afterward, they realized it might not be a dog after all.
"After realizing their mix up they called us for assistance," said the wildlife center, part of the New England Wildlife Center, a nonprofit that provides free veterinary care to around 5,000 animals per year.
This Komondor Is Not Named "Lionel Ritchie"
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It Could Be Worse. They Could Be on a Cruise to Russia
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a recent Covid-19 outbreak on a Carnival cruise ship that docked in Seattle after a two-week voyage.
The Carnival Spirit, which sailed through the Panama Canal, departed Miami on April 17 and arrived in Seattle on May 3, according to a statement from the cruise line. The ship holds 2,124 guests and 930 crew members, Carnival said.
The CDC says it's not permitted to publicly share the number of passengers and crew members who quarantined or tested positive. But the ship is labeled as orange status per the agency's cruise ship Covid-19 threshold, indicating that 0.3% or more of total passengers and or crew members tested positive, according to CDC's guidelines.
The ship's color status helps the CDC determine the scope of investigation, the agency said.
Carnival Spirit is one of 62 cruise ships currently sailing at orange status, the CDC said in a statement to CNN.
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Today's Health Tip: Don't Kiss a Monkey. (I'd Stay Away From Anti-Vaxers, Too.)
A rare case of monkeypox has been diagnosed in a patient in England, the UK Health Security Agency said in a statement Saturday.
Monkeypox is a rare viral infection which does not spread easily between people, the agency said, qualifying the overall risk to the general public as "very low."
"The infection can be spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person; however, there is a very low risk of transmission to the general population," the statement read.
The patient is believed to have contracted the infection in Nigeria, the UKHSA said, before recently traveling to the UK. He or she is receiving treatment in London at the expert infectious disease and isolation unit at the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.
Per the UKHSA, initial symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.
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What Is Dead, Walks, and Has One Horn? A Zombie Unicorn
It was fun while it lasted, but after years of sky-high valuations, Silicon Valley is engulfed in its worst sell-off since the 2008 stock market crash.
After a pandemic-fueled boom sent tech names soaring, many of those businesses have seen the worst six months of their lives as publicly traded companies. Peloton, the exercise startup, is emblematic of this ominous reality: Its shares have cratered from a high of $163 at the end of 2020 to about $17. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported company executives were looking to sell a minority stake to an outside investor.
“Investor sentiment in Silicon Valley is the most negative since the dot-com crash,” David Sacks, a venture capitalist in San Francisco and a former PayPal executive, said this week in a tweet, referring to the turbulent days of the early 2000s.
Tech companies are often especially vulnerable during an economic downturn, because most of these early-stage enterprises aren’t profitable, relying instead on venture capital investments to cover expenses while they focus on rapid growth — something that’s much more difficult when consumer demand slows down.
Firms that had scored headlines in the past 18 months for raising millions of dollars to achieve billion-dollar “unicorn” valuations have announced layoffs. They include the celebrity video-clip company Cameo; the stock market trading app Robinhood; Thrasio, which buys and sells third-party brands on Amazon; and the employment group Workrise.
Some people have begun to use the phrase “zombie unicorns” to refer to highly valued but shaky startups that might need new investors to rescue them.
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The View From Abroad
What a tonic and pleasure it would be not to have to consider or write, however briefly, about America.
It is, of course, impossible. We cannot turn America off or change the dial. The sad, infuriating, and debilitating cacophony of America is inescapable. America is everywhere, around the clock.[...]
And the news is bad, bad, bad. One convulsion after another. Repeated over and over in a loop, until a new convulsion arrives. Each one reverberates like an earthquake, damaging people and places in visible and invisible ways.
It has been like this for a while. From 9/11 on, in particular. Year after year. President after president. A war, then another. Death. Lost hope and homes. Secret dungeons. Torture and other violations – big and small. Explosions of hate, violence and ignorance. Twenty-six children massacred at school. Their murders “a hoax.” A 100 percent proof fascist riding an escalator into the presidency. More explosions of hate, violence and ignorance. A white police officer kneeling on a Black man’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Disinfectants and other fantastical potions to tame a plague. An insurrection in defence of a lie.
It never ends.
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Who Won the Week?
Democrat Carol Glanville, who flipped a deep-red seat blue in a western Michigan state House race
Karine Jean-Pierre, who will become America's first Black woman and first openly LGBTQ person to be White House Press Secretary when Jen Psaki steps down this month
President Biden: signs cybercrime bill; tours Alabama factory making Javelin anti-tank weapons for Ukraine; exercises comedy chops at WHCD; and employment in USA is back to pre-pandemic levels
Nancy Pelosi, for becoming the highest-level U.S. leader to visit Ukraine (and is awarded the Order of Princess Olga medal from President Zelenskyy)
Oberlin High School (Ohio) history teacher Kurt Russell, who was honored at the White House as the 2022 National Teacher of the Year
Ukraine, for turning Putin's planned May 9 "glorious victory" tank parade into a hollow bullshit spectacle by morphing Russia's war machine into scrap metal
The crowds who turned out to protest the leaked decision by five Puritan inquisitors on the Supreme Court (plus John Roberts in spirit) to overturn Roe v. Wade
Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter, both stewards on the polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough, for becoming the first same-sex couple to marry in Antarctica
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, the Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Eminem, Carly Simon…and Dolly!
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