Post by mhbruin on May 11, 2022 9:58:56 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 580 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesday May 10)
We had some rain up north this week.
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My New Stair Lift Is Just Driving Me Up the Wall.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
$1,000 Reward for Theft of Priceless Objects.
Officials are offering a reward after rare fossils dating as far back as 251 million years ago were stolen from Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.
The trace reptile track fossils dating from the Triassic period were removed from a trackway in the park between August 2017 and August 2018, the National Park Service said in a news release Tuesday.
Officials said the fossils are "irreplaceable" and are offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the identification and prosecution of whoever is responsible. The U.S. Park Rangers are seeing help from the public.
It Wasn't ALMOST Too Stupid For Words. It Was Too Stupid For Words. He Wanted to Start a War With China
Near the beginning of Donald Trump’s time in office, the then-president had a pressing question for his national-security aides and administration officials: Does China have the secret technology — a weapon, even — to create large, man-made hurricanes and then launch them at the United States? And if so, would this constitute an act of war by a foreign power, and could the U.S. retaliate militarily? Then-President Trump repeatedly asked about this, according to two former senior administration officials and a third person briefed on the matter.
“It was almost too stupid for words,” said a former Trump official intimately familiar with the then-sitting president’s inquiry. “I did not get the sense he was joking at all.”
Lock Them Up!
President Donald Trump wanted to court-martial two prominent retired military officers for their perceived slights and disloyalty.
Trump had developed a disdain for Stanley McChrystal and William H. McRaven, popular and influential leaders who, in retirement, criticized the president.
First You Ban Abortion. Then You Ban Birth Control, So More Abortions Are Needed. The Goal Must Be To Create More Crime.
With Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, Republicans have increasingly been speaking up about other Supreme Court cases they don’t like. After all, with conservatives possessing a 6-3 majority, why not make a wish list?
One of the cases that’s coming up is Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 decision that said married couples have a right to contraception access. It struck down a Connecticut law that outlawed the use of birth control devices.
Griswold was a landmark case, ruling against Connecticut on the basis of a married couple’s right to privacy. It set the stage for future decisions ensuring contraception access for unmarried couples, same-sex marriage rights and, of course, abortion access in Roe v. Wade.
Many Republicans abhor Griswold precisely because it is the foundation for so many other decisions.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) recently said it was “constitutionally unsound.” Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters’ campaign website said he would only support judges “who understand that Roe and Griswold and Casey were wrongly decided, and that there is no constitutional right to abortion.”
In February, Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Jeff Bartos called Griswold a “terrible decision.” That same month, Matt DePerno, the Republican nominee for Michigan attorney general, said, “Listen, all these cases that deal — Griswold, Roe v. Wade, Dobbs — these are all state right issues. ... It’s going to be a state right issue on all of these things — as it should be!”
Masters has clarified that he does not favor banning contraceptives.
But if Republicans get what they want ― an overturning of Griswold ― it would kick the issue back to the states and open the door to restrictions or bans on birth control methods, because there would be no federal guarantee of access.
The Didn't Pick the Groper
Charles Herbster, accused of sexually assaulting eight women, lost the Republican primary for Nebraska governor Tuesday to University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen.
The race was largely a three-way contest between Herbster, a multimillionaire agribusiness executive; State Sen. Brett Lindstrom and Pillen.
In 2021, Pillen introduced a resolution to bar the teaching of critical race theory from the university system. The Board of Regents, however, voted it down.
Yet much of the attention on the race focused around Herbster ― both his association with Donald Trump and his controversies.
Herbster is a longtime donor and ally of the former president, and he received a boost when the Trump endorsed him late last year. Trump went to the state to campaign for him as recently as May 1 and held a tele-rally less than a week before the election.
Californians Are Watering Like It's 1999.
California's drought is worsening and yet residents used more water in March than any month since 2015, defying pleas for conservation from Gov. Gavin Newsom and other authorities, state officials announced Tuesday.
Water usage jumped nearly 19% in March compared to 2020, which was one of the driest months on record. Newsom last summer asked residents to voluntarily cut water use by 15% compared to 2020. He encouraged people to water their yards less often, run dishwashers less and install more efficient appliances.
The state's conservation rate gradually increased, aided by some intense fall and early winter storms that reduced water demand. But the first three months of 2022 have been some of the driest ever recorded. Water use increased slightly in January and February before exploding in March when compared to 2020 figures.
Americans Are Fantastic Plastic Lovers
Americans' use of plastic boomed during the pandemic, including mountains of single-use items such as takeout containers, plastic bags and, of course, face masks. At the same time, we're recycling less of this waste than in the past, according to a pair of recent studies.
Even before the health crisis, only 5% of plastic made in the U.S. was recycled in 2019 — less than the amount of plastic that was burned that year, scientists with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory wrote in April.
"It is dismally low," said Judith Enck, president of advocacy group Beyond Plastics of the nation's recycling rate.
Beyond Plastics and The Last Beach Cleanup recently examined government data from the Environmental Protection Agency and on U.S. exports to come up with a recycling estimate. Their report found that, similar to the NREL's study, only between 5% and 6% of plastic made in the U.S. is recycled.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Fry the Friendly Skies. But Are They Frying My Potatoes in Jet Fuel?
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is among the first major hubs to convert yesterday's french fries to tomorrow's jet fuel, in a super-sized effort to boost sustainable energy efforts.
Used cooking oil, such as the greasy goodness coming from fryers at the DFW McDonald's restaurants, is now being repurposed and converted to fuel in a surprisingly efficient manner, airport officials said.
"If you are Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and you have a fryer in your restaurant — you're recycling oil," DFW McDonald's franchisee Chalmer McWilliams told NBC News.
"When it's no longer at the quality to make those great fries and we can repurpose it, why wouldn't you do that?"
Pratik Chandhoke, technical services manager for sustainable aviation fuel at Houston-based Neste US Inc., said the chemical composition between cooking oil and jet fuel isn't too far off.
The company strains out leftover fries and McNuggets, heats the oil and adds hydrogen — among other steps — to convert it to jet fuel.
"If you look at any oil, they all have these building molecules, hydrocarbons. We can take those atoms and we then do some processing magic in our refineries and we actually mimic the chemistry of a jet fuel," said Chandhoke, who insisted that fryer-based fuel is exactly the same as all other petroleum fuels going into jets across America today.
You Might Want to Think Twice Before Taking on Jen. Assuming You Think At All.
Democrats Need to Get This Guy on TV More
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Invasions Have Consequences
Day 77
Fighting
The governor of Kharkiv region said attacks are intensifying, particularly in residential areas, with 44 bodies of civilians found under a destroyed building in Russian controlled eastern town of Izium.
Ukrainian officials claim the country’s forces have recaptured villages from Russian troops north and northeast of Kharkiv.
Russian forces shelled the border regions of Sumy and Chernihiv, and continued attacks on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where the city’s last defenders are holed up.
Ukraine “successfully” struck Russian air defences and resupply vessels in the western Black Sea, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence reported.
The civilian death toll in Ukraine is “thousands higher” than the official United Nations figure of 3,381, according to the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Diplomacy and aid
The United States House of Representatives has approved a bill of $40bn aid package to provide Ukraine with military and economic assistance, $7bn more than President Joe Biden requested in April.
Moscow announced that “liberated” areas in southern Ukraine would be part of Russia.
Two US senators introduced a resolution to list Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and prior support for fighters in Syria and Chechnya.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock promised accountability and justice for war crimes committed by Russian forces in Bucha and the rest of Ukraine.
Canada has contributed $2.5m to the UN to report on human rights violations in Ukraine.
The new leader of the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia said on Wednesday it would wait for a signal from Moscow before holding a referendum on joining Russia.
Energy
Ukraine’s main gas system operator announced it will stop the flow of gas through the Sokhranivka entry point with reports of a top Ukrainian energy official threatening to sue Russia’s Gazprom if it does not pay for the transit of its natural gas via Ukraine.
Greece will finish building a pipeline to Bulgaria, ending Russia’s gas monopoly in the region.
Hungary’s foreign minister called for Russian shipments via pipelines to be exempted from planned European Union oil sanctions against Moscow that Hungary says could destroy its economy.
Moldova’s national gas supplies have been unaffected by Ukraine’s decision to stop some gas transit from Russia, Moldova’s national gas operator, Moldovagaz, said.
Cyberattacks
Russia was behind a cyberattack against a satellite internet network in central Europe, the US, UK, Canada and the EU said.
Russia’s embassy in the US denied its involvement in the cyberattack and labelled the allegations as “absurd”.
Do You Like Watching Russian Things Go Boom?
South of the Border. Down Ukraine Way.
For days, it’s seemed every story about activity in Kharkiv has included the phrase “and we don’t actually know what’s happening on the west bank of the Siverskyi Donets River.” After racing up the river to surprise everyone by grabbing Staryi Saltiv, Ukrainian forces then began shelling the area surrounding the bridge near Rubiznhe. When that bridge was blown, shells began falling farther north near Starytsya. But did that mean Ukrainian forces were racing up the river? Were they moving forces out of the area after failing to capture an intact bridge?
Why not option C? Ukrainian forces today pushed through Russian positions to reach … Russia.
In another massive and unexpected move, Ukrainian forces have reportedly cut a path 18km northwest of Staryi Saltiv and recaptured the town of Ternova along with the surrounding territory. If true, this means that Russian-occupied territory within Ukraine is no longer contiguous, but has been split on the north end.
Assuming Ukrainian forces have taken the areas as described, it isn’t the first time that Ukraine has reached the Russian border, of course. Ukraine already controlled the Russian border region all the way from just east of Chernahiv in the north down to just outside Kozacha Lopan north of Kharkiv. But there’s no doubt that any action at Ternova is making Russia gulp. Not only does it place Ukrainian forces at the border in a location very close to critical Russian supply lines, Ukraine has twice in the last few days demonstrated the ability to move quickly, surprise Russian troops, and capture a large chunk of territory in an unexpected direction.
In addition, Ukraine reportedly took villages like Slobozhanske and Pytomynk, tightening down the space still occupied by Russian forces. There is still fighting just outside of Lyptsi, and whether Russia still controls Petrivka … who knows? There’s a good chance that if Russian forces are still there, it won’t stay that way for long.
Perhaps the best thing about Ukrainian forces unexpectedly moving to recapture Ternova is that it puts us right back into the position we were in this morning — we have no idea what Ukrainian forces in this area are going to do next. Neither does Russia.
The Dollars Are Coming! The Dollars Are Coming! (Until Some Jerk QOP Senator Finds a Rule to Delay Things.)
The House emphatically approved a fresh $40 billion Ukraine aid package Tuesday as lawmakers beefed up President Joe Biden’s initial request, signaling a magnified, bipartisan commitment to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody three-month-old invasion.
The measure sailed to passage by a lopsided 368-57 margin, providing $7 billion more than Biden’s request from April and dividing the increase evenly between defense and humanitarian programs. The bill would give Ukraine military and economic assistance, help regional allies, replenish weapons the Pentagon has shipped overseas and provide $5 billion to address global food shortages caused by the war’s crippling of Ukraine’s normally robust production of many crops.
The measure was backed by every voting Democrat and by nearly 3 out of 4 Republicans. House debate reflected a perspective, shared broadly by both parties, that the U.S. has even more at stake than standing by Ukraine.
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A Politician Who Didn't Want to Be Full Of It When He Spoke
A Canadian lawmaker has apologised for appearing remotely for a parliamentary session from a toilet cubicle.
Liberal MP Shafqat Ali was panned by a Conservative party lawmaker on Friday after colleagues noticed the familiar background of the building's washroom.
"The camera was mounted on the ledge or ridge on the wall just above the back of the toilet," a rival MP said.
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How Many Deaths Has COVID Really Caused? He Looked at Excess Deaths in the US. It's Around 1.1 Million.
We compare these estimates with the observed numbers of deaths to obtain excess deaths for each county-month. An estimated 936,911 excess deaths occurred during 2020 and 2021, of which 171,168 were not assigned to Covid-19 on death certificates.
Excess all-cause mortality across counties in the United States, March 2020 to December 2021
And Red Counties Had More Deaths Not Assigned to COVID Than Blue Ones.
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Abortion Doesn't Have to Affect Every Race
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The Pandemic Isn't Over. Neither is the Epidemic
More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, setting another tragic record in the nation's escalating overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Wednesday.
The provisional 2021 total translates to roughly one U.S. overdose death every 5 minutes. It marked a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before. The CDC reviews death certificates and then makes an estimate to account for delayed and incomplete reporting.
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A Little Less Inflation. And the Interest Rate Hikes Haven't Really Kicked in Yet.
Inflation in the United States slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households.
Consumer prices jumped 8.3 percent last month from 12 months earlier, the US Department of Labor said Wednesday. That was below the 8.5 percent year-over-year surge in March, which was the highest rate since 1981.
On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3 percent from March to April, a still-elevated rate but the smallest increase in eight months. Consumer prices had spiked 1.2 percent from February to March, mostly because of a sudden jump in petrol or gas prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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They Say Democrats Are Always Fighting Among Themselves, But ...
As the 2022 midterm elections approach, some GOP super PACs are spending millions of dollars to oppose primary candidates endorsed by Donald Trump -- suggesting a deepening rift within the Republican Party.
In several high-profile primaries, GOP donors -- some dissatisfied with the direction of the national party as Trump teases another White House bid in 2024 -- have poured large sums into supporting Republicans running against Trump-backed candidates, financial disclosures show.
The Ohio Senate GOP primary last week was an early demonstration of Trump's continued influence over the party, as the Trump-endorsed candidate, Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, claimed victory with the backing of Trump-aligned megadonors like Peter Thiel and Rebekah Mercer. Yet Vance's GOP rivals -- most of whom also identify as supporters of Trump -- were backed by millions of dollars from top Republican donors like Bernard Marcus, Stephen Warren and Paul E. Singer.
All told, the race drew more than $40 million in spending from super PACs and outside groups over the last few months, according to Federal Election Commission disclosure filings.
Similarly, the Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary slated for next week has already seen close to $30 million in spending from outside groups, including from super PACs funded by top Republican donors like Singer, Ken Griffin, and Stephen Schwarzman. To date, GOP groups have spent more than $20 million to attack Trump-endorsed candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and support his primary rival David McCormick, filings show.
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Carvana Is Far From Nirvana
Carvana, the fast-growing used-car seller based in Tempe, announced Tuesday its plans to lay off 2,500 employees – more than 10% of its workforce – as losses mount.
The company, which operates a network of high-profile vehicle "vending machines" including one at Loop 202 and Scottsdale Road, said the move was designed to "better align staffing and expense levels with sales volumes."
Carvana reported a $506 million loss in its first quarter ending March 31, well above red ink of $82 million during the same stretch of 2021, despite a 56% jump in revenue to $3.5 billion and a 14% increase in vehicles sold.
The company has never logged an annual profit over its 10 years of existence, preferring instead to plow cash flow into expansion.
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A Moment of Sanity in Florida
After an outcry from students and parents over yearbook censorship, a Florida school board overruled their superintendent's plan to cover up a page showing students waving rainbow flags and a “love is love” sign during a walkout against the state's so-called “Don't Say Gay" law.
The superintendent told the board that the page violated their policy by seeming to endorse a student walkout. Stickers to cover the entire page had already arrived and would be added before yearbooks are handed out this week, she said.
Seminole County School Board members rejected that plan Tuesday night, voting 5-0 to order smaller stickers that don't cover up the page's words and pictures while explaining that the March protest over the Florida Parental Rights in Education bill outside Lyman High School was unauthorized.
“I would be happy out of my own personal pocket to pay for different stickers to say this was not a school-sponsored event,” Board Chair Amy Pennock said to applause from the crowd.
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Americans Are the Biggest Losers
Inflation may be soaring, supply chains remain snarled and the coronavirus just won't go away, but America's casinos are humming right along, recording the best month in their history in March.
The American Gaming Association, the gambling industry's national trade group, said Wednesday that U.S. commercial casinos won more than $5.3 billion from gamblers in March, the best single-month total ever. The previous record month was July 2021 at $4.92 billion.
The casinos collectively also had their best first quarter ever, falling just short of the $14.35 billion they won from gamblers in the fourth quarter of last year, which was the highest three-month period in history.
Americans Are Losing In Another Way, Too.
The rate of U.S. gun deaths surged 35% in 2020 to the highest point since 1994, with especially deadly levels for young Black men, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report published on Tuesday.
African Americans as a whole were at least four times more likely to be killed by a gun than the overall population, and 12 times more likely than a white person, the data showed.
Increased gun violence linked to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has been widely noted previously, with an FBI report last year showing homicides increased 30%.
The CDC report goes further in placing the rate of homicides caused by firearms to the highest level in 26 years, while also noting disparities based on race, ethnicity and poverty.
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Bleach Wasn't a Good Treatment for COVID. Bleaching Isn't Good For Coral Either.
More than 90% of Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed this year was bleached in the fourth such mass event in seven years in the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, Australian government scientists said.
Bleaching is caused by global warming, but this is the reef's first bleaching event during a La Niña weather pattern, which is associated with cooler Pacific Ocean temperatures, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority said in its annual report released late Tuesday that found 91% of the areas surveyed were affected.
Bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020 damaged two-thirds of the coral in the famed reef off Australia's eastern coast.
Coral bleaches as a heat stress response and scientists hope most of the coral will recover from the current event, said David Wachenfeld, chief scientist at the authority, which manages the reef ecosystem.
“The early indications are that the mortality won’t be very high,” Wachenfeld said on Wednesday.
“We are hoping that we will see most of the coral that is bleached recover and we will end up with an event rather more like 2020 when, yes, there was mass bleaching, but there was low mortality,” Wachenfeld added.
The bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 led to “quite high levels of coral mortality,” Wachenfeld said.
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New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | New Hospitalizations 7-Day Average | |
| May 10 | 78,236 | 326 | |
| May 9 | 74,712 | 323 | 2,597 |
| May 8 | 66,564 | 323 | 2,510 |
| May 7 | 67,561 | 335 | 2,310 |
| May 6 | 68,807 | 340 | 2,396 |
| 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 |
| 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 10)
We had some rain up north this week.
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | 2 Weeks Ago | 4 Weeks Ago | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 80% (75%) | 80% (74%) | 81% (74%) | 73% (63% of full season average) |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 65% (61%) | 66% (61%) | 67% (61%) | 65% (57%) |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 61% (57%) | 61% (57%) | 62% (57%) | 61% (53%) |
| Snow Water Content - North | 29% | |||
| Snow Water Content - Central | 26% | |||
| Snow Water Content - South | 9% |
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My New Stair Lift Is Just Driving Me Up the Wall.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
$1,000 Reward for Theft of Priceless Objects.
Officials are offering a reward after rare fossils dating as far back as 251 million years ago were stolen from Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.
The trace reptile track fossils dating from the Triassic period were removed from a trackway in the park between August 2017 and August 2018, the National Park Service said in a news release Tuesday.
Officials said the fossils are "irreplaceable" and are offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the identification and prosecution of whoever is responsible. The U.S. Park Rangers are seeing help from the public.
It Wasn't ALMOST Too Stupid For Words. It Was Too Stupid For Words. He Wanted to Start a War With China
Near the beginning of Donald Trump’s time in office, the then-president had a pressing question for his national-security aides and administration officials: Does China have the secret technology — a weapon, even — to create large, man-made hurricanes and then launch them at the United States? And if so, would this constitute an act of war by a foreign power, and could the U.S. retaliate militarily? Then-President Trump repeatedly asked about this, according to two former senior administration officials and a third person briefed on the matter.
“It was almost too stupid for words,” said a former Trump official intimately familiar with the then-sitting president’s inquiry. “I did not get the sense he was joking at all.”
Lock Them Up!
President Donald Trump wanted to court-martial two prominent retired military officers for their perceived slights and disloyalty.
Trump had developed a disdain for Stanley McChrystal and William H. McRaven, popular and influential leaders who, in retirement, criticized the president.
First You Ban Abortion. Then You Ban Birth Control, So More Abortions Are Needed. The Goal Must Be To Create More Crime.
With Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, Republicans have increasingly been speaking up about other Supreme Court cases they don’t like. After all, with conservatives possessing a 6-3 majority, why not make a wish list?
One of the cases that’s coming up is Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 decision that said married couples have a right to contraception access. It struck down a Connecticut law that outlawed the use of birth control devices.
Griswold was a landmark case, ruling against Connecticut on the basis of a married couple’s right to privacy. It set the stage for future decisions ensuring contraception access for unmarried couples, same-sex marriage rights and, of course, abortion access in Roe v. Wade.
Many Republicans abhor Griswold precisely because it is the foundation for so many other decisions.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) recently said it was “constitutionally unsound.” Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters’ campaign website said he would only support judges “who understand that Roe and Griswold and Casey were wrongly decided, and that there is no constitutional right to abortion.”
In February, Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Jeff Bartos called Griswold a “terrible decision.” That same month, Matt DePerno, the Republican nominee for Michigan attorney general, said, “Listen, all these cases that deal — Griswold, Roe v. Wade, Dobbs — these are all state right issues. ... It’s going to be a state right issue on all of these things — as it should be!”
Masters has clarified that he does not favor banning contraceptives.
But if Republicans get what they want ― an overturning of Griswold ― it would kick the issue back to the states and open the door to restrictions or bans on birth control methods, because there would be no federal guarantee of access.
The Didn't Pick the Groper
Charles Herbster, accused of sexually assaulting eight women, lost the Republican primary for Nebraska governor Tuesday to University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen.
The race was largely a three-way contest between Herbster, a multimillionaire agribusiness executive; State Sen. Brett Lindstrom and Pillen.
In 2021, Pillen introduced a resolution to bar the teaching of critical race theory from the university system. The Board of Regents, however, voted it down.
Yet much of the attention on the race focused around Herbster ― both his association with Donald Trump and his controversies.
Herbster is a longtime donor and ally of the former president, and he received a boost when the Trump endorsed him late last year. Trump went to the state to campaign for him as recently as May 1 and held a tele-rally less than a week before the election.
Californians Are Watering Like It's 1999.
California's drought is worsening and yet residents used more water in March than any month since 2015, defying pleas for conservation from Gov. Gavin Newsom and other authorities, state officials announced Tuesday.
Water usage jumped nearly 19% in March compared to 2020, which was one of the driest months on record. Newsom last summer asked residents to voluntarily cut water use by 15% compared to 2020. He encouraged people to water their yards less often, run dishwashers less and install more efficient appliances.
The state's conservation rate gradually increased, aided by some intense fall and early winter storms that reduced water demand. But the first three months of 2022 have been some of the driest ever recorded. Water use increased slightly in January and February before exploding in March when compared to 2020 figures.
Americans Are Fantastic Plastic Lovers
Americans' use of plastic boomed during the pandemic, including mountains of single-use items such as takeout containers, plastic bags and, of course, face masks. At the same time, we're recycling less of this waste than in the past, according to a pair of recent studies.
Even before the health crisis, only 5% of plastic made in the U.S. was recycled in 2019 — less than the amount of plastic that was burned that year, scientists with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory wrote in April.
"It is dismally low," said Judith Enck, president of advocacy group Beyond Plastics of the nation's recycling rate.
Beyond Plastics and The Last Beach Cleanup recently examined government data from the Environmental Protection Agency and on U.S. exports to come up with a recycling estimate. Their report found that, similar to the NREL's study, only between 5% and 6% of plastic made in the U.S. is recycled.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Fry the Friendly Skies. But Are They Frying My Potatoes in Jet Fuel?
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is among the first major hubs to convert yesterday's french fries to tomorrow's jet fuel, in a super-sized effort to boost sustainable energy efforts.
Used cooking oil, such as the greasy goodness coming from fryers at the DFW McDonald's restaurants, is now being repurposed and converted to fuel in a surprisingly efficient manner, airport officials said.
"If you are Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and you have a fryer in your restaurant — you're recycling oil," DFW McDonald's franchisee Chalmer McWilliams told NBC News.
"When it's no longer at the quality to make those great fries and we can repurpose it, why wouldn't you do that?"
Pratik Chandhoke, technical services manager for sustainable aviation fuel at Houston-based Neste US Inc., said the chemical composition between cooking oil and jet fuel isn't too far off.
The company strains out leftover fries and McNuggets, heats the oil and adds hydrogen — among other steps — to convert it to jet fuel.
"If you look at any oil, they all have these building molecules, hydrocarbons. We can take those atoms and we then do some processing magic in our refineries and we actually mimic the chemistry of a jet fuel," said Chandhoke, who insisted that fryer-based fuel is exactly the same as all other petroleum fuels going into jets across America today.
You Might Want to Think Twice Before Taking on Jen. Assuming You Think At All.
Democrats Need to Get This Guy on TV More
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Invasions Have Consequences
Day 77
Fighting
The governor of Kharkiv region said attacks are intensifying, particularly in residential areas, with 44 bodies of civilians found under a destroyed building in Russian controlled eastern town of Izium.
Ukrainian officials claim the country’s forces have recaptured villages from Russian troops north and northeast of Kharkiv.
Russian forces shelled the border regions of Sumy and Chernihiv, and continued attacks on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where the city’s last defenders are holed up.
Ukraine “successfully” struck Russian air defences and resupply vessels in the western Black Sea, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence reported.
The civilian death toll in Ukraine is “thousands higher” than the official United Nations figure of 3,381, according to the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Diplomacy and aid
The United States House of Representatives has approved a bill of $40bn aid package to provide Ukraine with military and economic assistance, $7bn more than President Joe Biden requested in April.
Moscow announced that “liberated” areas in southern Ukraine would be part of Russia.
Two US senators introduced a resolution to list Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and prior support for fighters in Syria and Chechnya.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock promised accountability and justice for war crimes committed by Russian forces in Bucha and the rest of Ukraine.
Canada has contributed $2.5m to the UN to report on human rights violations in Ukraine.
The new leader of the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia said on Wednesday it would wait for a signal from Moscow before holding a referendum on joining Russia.
Energy
Ukraine’s main gas system operator announced it will stop the flow of gas through the Sokhranivka entry point with reports of a top Ukrainian energy official threatening to sue Russia’s Gazprom if it does not pay for the transit of its natural gas via Ukraine.
Greece will finish building a pipeline to Bulgaria, ending Russia’s gas monopoly in the region.
Hungary’s foreign minister called for Russian shipments via pipelines to be exempted from planned European Union oil sanctions against Moscow that Hungary says could destroy its economy.
Moldova’s national gas supplies have been unaffected by Ukraine’s decision to stop some gas transit from Russia, Moldova’s national gas operator, Moldovagaz, said.
Cyberattacks
Russia was behind a cyberattack against a satellite internet network in central Europe, the US, UK, Canada and the EU said.
Russia’s embassy in the US denied its involvement in the cyberattack and labelled the allegations as “absurd”.
Do You Like Watching Russian Things Go Boom?
South of the Border. Down Ukraine Way.
For days, it’s seemed every story about activity in Kharkiv has included the phrase “and we don’t actually know what’s happening on the west bank of the Siverskyi Donets River.” After racing up the river to surprise everyone by grabbing Staryi Saltiv, Ukrainian forces then began shelling the area surrounding the bridge near Rubiznhe. When that bridge was blown, shells began falling farther north near Starytsya. But did that mean Ukrainian forces were racing up the river? Were they moving forces out of the area after failing to capture an intact bridge?
Why not option C? Ukrainian forces today pushed through Russian positions to reach … Russia.
In another massive and unexpected move, Ukrainian forces have reportedly cut a path 18km northwest of Staryi Saltiv and recaptured the town of Ternova along with the surrounding territory. If true, this means that Russian-occupied territory within Ukraine is no longer contiguous, but has been split on the north end.
Assuming Ukrainian forces have taken the areas as described, it isn’t the first time that Ukraine has reached the Russian border, of course. Ukraine already controlled the Russian border region all the way from just east of Chernahiv in the north down to just outside Kozacha Lopan north of Kharkiv. But there’s no doubt that any action at Ternova is making Russia gulp. Not only does it place Ukrainian forces at the border in a location very close to critical Russian supply lines, Ukraine has twice in the last few days demonstrated the ability to move quickly, surprise Russian troops, and capture a large chunk of territory in an unexpected direction.
In addition, Ukraine reportedly took villages like Slobozhanske and Pytomynk, tightening down the space still occupied by Russian forces. There is still fighting just outside of Lyptsi, and whether Russia still controls Petrivka … who knows? There’s a good chance that if Russian forces are still there, it won’t stay that way for long.
Perhaps the best thing about Ukrainian forces unexpectedly moving to recapture Ternova is that it puts us right back into the position we were in this morning — we have no idea what Ukrainian forces in this area are going to do next. Neither does Russia.
The Dollars Are Coming! The Dollars Are Coming! (Until Some Jerk QOP Senator Finds a Rule to Delay Things.)
The House emphatically approved a fresh $40 billion Ukraine aid package Tuesday as lawmakers beefed up President Joe Biden’s initial request, signaling a magnified, bipartisan commitment to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody three-month-old invasion.
The measure sailed to passage by a lopsided 368-57 margin, providing $7 billion more than Biden’s request from April and dividing the increase evenly between defense and humanitarian programs. The bill would give Ukraine military and economic assistance, help regional allies, replenish weapons the Pentagon has shipped overseas and provide $5 billion to address global food shortages caused by the war’s crippling of Ukraine’s normally robust production of many crops.
The measure was backed by every voting Democrat and by nearly 3 out of 4 Republicans. House debate reflected a perspective, shared broadly by both parties, that the U.S. has even more at stake than standing by Ukraine.
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A Politician Who Didn't Want to Be Full Of It When He Spoke
A Canadian lawmaker has apologised for appearing remotely for a parliamentary session from a toilet cubicle.
Liberal MP Shafqat Ali was panned by a Conservative party lawmaker on Friday after colleagues noticed the familiar background of the building's washroom.
"The camera was mounted on the ledge or ridge on the wall just above the back of the toilet," a rival MP said.
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How Many Deaths Has COVID Really Caused? He Looked at Excess Deaths in the US. It's Around 1.1 Million.
We compare these estimates with the observed numbers of deaths to obtain excess deaths for each county-month. An estimated 936,911 excess deaths occurred during 2020 and 2021, of which 171,168 were not assigned to Covid-19 on death certificates.
Excess all-cause mortality across counties in the United States, March 2020 to December 2021
And Red Counties Had More Deaths Not Assigned to COVID Than Blue Ones.
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Abortion Doesn't Have to Affect Every Race
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The Pandemic Isn't Over. Neither is the Epidemic
More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, setting another tragic record in the nation's escalating overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Wednesday.
The provisional 2021 total translates to roughly one U.S. overdose death every 5 minutes. It marked a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before. The CDC reviews death certificates and then makes an estimate to account for delayed and incomplete reporting.
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A Little Less Inflation. And the Interest Rate Hikes Haven't Really Kicked in Yet.
Inflation in the United States slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households.
Consumer prices jumped 8.3 percent last month from 12 months earlier, the US Department of Labor said Wednesday. That was below the 8.5 percent year-over-year surge in March, which was the highest rate since 1981.
On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3 percent from March to April, a still-elevated rate but the smallest increase in eight months. Consumer prices had spiked 1.2 percent from February to March, mostly because of a sudden jump in petrol or gas prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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They Say Democrats Are Always Fighting Among Themselves, But ...
As the 2022 midterm elections approach, some GOP super PACs are spending millions of dollars to oppose primary candidates endorsed by Donald Trump -- suggesting a deepening rift within the Republican Party.
In several high-profile primaries, GOP donors -- some dissatisfied with the direction of the national party as Trump teases another White House bid in 2024 -- have poured large sums into supporting Republicans running against Trump-backed candidates, financial disclosures show.
The Ohio Senate GOP primary last week was an early demonstration of Trump's continued influence over the party, as the Trump-endorsed candidate, Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, claimed victory with the backing of Trump-aligned megadonors like Peter Thiel and Rebekah Mercer. Yet Vance's GOP rivals -- most of whom also identify as supporters of Trump -- were backed by millions of dollars from top Republican donors like Bernard Marcus, Stephen Warren and Paul E. Singer.
All told, the race drew more than $40 million in spending from super PACs and outside groups over the last few months, according to Federal Election Commission disclosure filings.
Similarly, the Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary slated for next week has already seen close to $30 million in spending from outside groups, including from super PACs funded by top Republican donors like Singer, Ken Griffin, and Stephen Schwarzman. To date, GOP groups have spent more than $20 million to attack Trump-endorsed candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and support his primary rival David McCormick, filings show.
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Carvana Is Far From Nirvana
Carvana, the fast-growing used-car seller based in Tempe, announced Tuesday its plans to lay off 2,500 employees – more than 10% of its workforce – as losses mount.
The company, which operates a network of high-profile vehicle "vending machines" including one at Loop 202 and Scottsdale Road, said the move was designed to "better align staffing and expense levels with sales volumes."
Carvana reported a $506 million loss in its first quarter ending March 31, well above red ink of $82 million during the same stretch of 2021, despite a 56% jump in revenue to $3.5 billion and a 14% increase in vehicles sold.
The company has never logged an annual profit over its 10 years of existence, preferring instead to plow cash flow into expansion.
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A Moment of Sanity in Florida
After an outcry from students and parents over yearbook censorship, a Florida school board overruled their superintendent's plan to cover up a page showing students waving rainbow flags and a “love is love” sign during a walkout against the state's so-called “Don't Say Gay" law.
The superintendent told the board that the page violated their policy by seeming to endorse a student walkout. Stickers to cover the entire page had already arrived and would be added before yearbooks are handed out this week, she said.
Seminole County School Board members rejected that plan Tuesday night, voting 5-0 to order smaller stickers that don't cover up the page's words and pictures while explaining that the March protest over the Florida Parental Rights in Education bill outside Lyman High School was unauthorized.
“I would be happy out of my own personal pocket to pay for different stickers to say this was not a school-sponsored event,” Board Chair Amy Pennock said to applause from the crowd.
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Americans Are the Biggest Losers
Inflation may be soaring, supply chains remain snarled and the coronavirus just won't go away, but America's casinos are humming right along, recording the best month in their history in March.
The American Gaming Association, the gambling industry's national trade group, said Wednesday that U.S. commercial casinos won more than $5.3 billion from gamblers in March, the best single-month total ever. The previous record month was July 2021 at $4.92 billion.
The casinos collectively also had their best first quarter ever, falling just short of the $14.35 billion they won from gamblers in the fourth quarter of last year, which was the highest three-month period in history.
Americans Are Losing In Another Way, Too.
The rate of U.S. gun deaths surged 35% in 2020 to the highest point since 1994, with especially deadly levels for young Black men, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report published on Tuesday.
African Americans as a whole were at least four times more likely to be killed by a gun than the overall population, and 12 times more likely than a white person, the data showed.
Increased gun violence linked to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has been widely noted previously, with an FBI report last year showing homicides increased 30%.
The CDC report goes further in placing the rate of homicides caused by firearms to the highest level in 26 years, while also noting disparities based on race, ethnicity and poverty.
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Bleach Wasn't a Good Treatment for COVID. Bleaching Isn't Good For Coral Either.
More than 90% of Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed this year was bleached in the fourth such mass event in seven years in the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, Australian government scientists said.
Bleaching is caused by global warming, but this is the reef's first bleaching event during a La Niña weather pattern, which is associated with cooler Pacific Ocean temperatures, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority said in its annual report released late Tuesday that found 91% of the areas surveyed were affected.
Bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020 damaged two-thirds of the coral in the famed reef off Australia's eastern coast.
Coral bleaches as a heat stress response and scientists hope most of the coral will recover from the current event, said David Wachenfeld, chief scientist at the authority, which manages the reef ecosystem.
“The early indications are that the mortality won’t be very high,” Wachenfeld said on Wednesday.
“We are hoping that we will see most of the coral that is bleached recover and we will end up with an event rather more like 2020 when, yes, there was mass bleaching, but there was low mortality,” Wachenfeld added.
The bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 led to “quite high levels of coral mortality,” Wachenfeld said.
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