Tues - Is Putin Losing & Breathing Can Kill You (In India)

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Today's Worst Joke in the World

After my friend turned vegan, it was as if I had never seen herbivore.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees

Follow the Money ... Into His Pocket

Trump’s campaign used the “big lie” to raise $250 million after the election, according to the committee’s findings. Much of the money was supposed to go to an “Official Election Defense Fund,” but no such fund existed. Instead, the big beneficiary was the Save America political action committee that Trump controls. According to Jan. 6 committee researchers, more than $200,000 found its way to the bottom line of the Trump Hotel Collection.

Who could have guessed that a big pot of money would be found at the heart of this whole sordid affair? Anyone remotely familiar with Trump’s modus operandi over his entire career, that’s who.

The Question of the Day.  How Can You Tell?

“I’m just curious about how you even know when Rudy Giuliani is drunk?” Noah asked. “No, because when a normal person is drunk, they say crazy things, they yell, they sweat a lot. So how does that work for Rudy? Does it work in reverse? Like does he start talking normally? His hair dye sucks back in his hair?”

Before There Was Jan 6th, There Was Jan 3rd

Three days before Congress was slated to certify the 2020 presidential election, a little-known Justice Department official named Jeffrey Clark rushed to meet President Donald Trump in the Oval Office to discuss a last-ditch attempt to reverse the results.

Clark, an environmental lawyer by trade, had outlined a plan in a letter he wanted to send to the leaders of key states Joe Biden won. It said that the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns” about the vote and that the states should consider sending “a separate slate of electors supporting Donald J. Trump” for Congress to approve.

In fact, Clark’s bosses had warned there was not evidence to overturn the election and had rejected his letter days earlier. Now they learned Clark was about to meet with Trump. Acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen tracked down his deputy, Richard Donoghue, who had been walking on the Mall in muddy jeans and an Army T-shirt. There was no time to change. They raced to the Oval Office.

The full story

Is Coinbase Run By Previous Guy?  Getting Rich While Everyone Else Loses.

Just four months ago, Coinbase reportedly spent $14 million on a Super Bowl ad that consisted almost entirely of a colorful QR code bouncing around the screen, pointing viewers to a website where they could get $15 in Bitcoin just by signing up. Now, its fortunes have turned so sharply that it will lay off about 1,100 employees, or 18 percent of its workforce, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a post on the company blog, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong first blamed changing economic conditions that may lead to a “crypto winter” and waited until his third bullet point to mention that the company has “over-hired,” citing its attempt to take advantage of “new use cases enabled by crypto getting traction practically every week.”

Four days ago, Armstrong responded on Twitter to an employee petition calling for the removal of Coinbase execs, calling it “really dumb on multiple levels” and encouraging employees unhappy with the situation or proposed solutions to quit.

The employee petition cited issues that don’t seem nearly as dumb as Armstrong claimed, calling out the company for “aggressively hiring for thousands of roles, despite the fact that it is an unsustainable plan and is contrary to the wisdom of the crypto industry.” It didn’t mention the Super Bowl promotion, but it did note the over-prioritization of certain projects. That starts with the Coinbase NFT platform that launched with what appears to be exceptionally bad timing considering a drop in activity in the overall marketplace and which has failed to catch on among people who trade in the digital tokens.

In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that company executives, including Armstrong, his fellow co-founder Fred Ehrsam, president and COO Emilie Choi, and CPO Surojit Chatterjee had netted $1.2 billion in share sales since Coinbase’s IPO in April 2021. The company’s shares opened at a price of $382 and are currently trading at about $52.

This staff reduction comes after Coinbase started rescinding job offers that had already been accepted by candidates. The sudden change left even some visa holders in limbo as well as others who’d bypassed other opportunities or arranged to leave their previous jobs. In a report yesterday, Motherboard counted over 300 people whose offers were rescinded.

Other cryptocurrency firms like BlockFi, Crypto.com, and Gemini have also announced layoffs recently after the price of Bitcoin has gone down in each of the last 12 weeks and now sits around $21,884 after peaking at about $69,000 last November.

Would He Drop a Nuke on Them?

An Israeli lawmaker from the prime minister's party came under fire Tuesday for saying that if he could push a button to make all Palestinians disappear, he would.

Deputy Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana made the remarks to high school students in a West Bank settlement. In his comments, which were caught on video, he was explaining his view that clashing narratives between Israelis and Palestinians were a major obstacle to peace. He appeared to be making the point that Israelis and Palestinians had no choice but to find a way to live together.

“If there was a sort of button you could push that would make all the Arabs disappear, send them on an express train to Switzerland,” he said, “I would press that button.



Walker is An Amateur.  Previous Guy is Still Undsiputed Champion of the World


Donald Trump set a very high bar for distinction as a liar. One of his most prominent 2022 endorsees clears that bar with ease, and has done so going back decades. That would be Herschel Walker, the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia.

The latest Walker lie to be uncovered, courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is that he worked in law enforcement. Walker made various versions of this claim over a period of years, but what all the versions have in common is that they were false.
In 2000, a police report in Irving, Texas, “involving a conflict with an intoxicated man” had Walker telling police he was a “certified peace officer.”

In 2013, at a U.S. Army suicide prevention event, Walker said, “I worked in law enforcement, so I had a gun. I put this gun in my holster, and I said, ‘I’m gonna kill this dude.’” He was describing a 2001 incident that prompted him to seek mental health care.

In a 2017 speech, he said, “I work with the Cobb County Police Department, and I’ve been in criminal justice all my life.”

In a 2019 speech at a military installation, Walker claimed, “I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?” (Does that make him a secret agent?)

That’s four different times over 19 years when Walker claimed law enforcement credentials he did not have. Because here’s the reality: Walker majored in criminal justice at the University of Georgia, but he did not graduate (though he lied about having done so). He rather famously spent his career in football, not law enforcement. His campaign told the AJC he was an honorary deputy in Cobb County and three other unnamed counties. And a 1989 Associated Press story recounts his single week in a program at Quantico.

”They had an obstacle course, and you shoot at targets to protect your partner as you advanced up the course,” he told the AP at the time. “I had fun. There were about 200 recruits there.” In other words, he went to FBI camp. It takes a college degree and 20 weeks of training at Quantico to be an FBI agent.

Similarly, being an honorary deputy does not mean you “worked in law enforcement” or have “been in criminal justice” for any period of time. Additionally, the Cobb County Police Department said Walker had not been associated with them, and the Cobb County sheriff’s office could not confirm any such association.

In any case, being an honorary deputy is “like a junior ranger badge,” according to former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan.

Another Amateur Liar








Nobody Told Him That Spelling Would Be on the Test

Republican Pennsylvania Senate nominee Mehmet Oz misspelled the name of his Keystone State residence on an official campaign form.

Oz, the celebrity doctor and Trump-endorsed candidate who had been living in New Jersey in the years before running for office, put down "Huntington Valley" instead of "Huntingdon Valley." While there's also a town called Huntingdon in Pennsylvania, Huntington Valley does not exist.

Oz's candidacy stoked controversy early on in the Republican primary after the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he used his in-laws' Pennsylvania address to register to vote in the state last year, despite living in New Jersey for several years.

On the campaign's website, Huntingdon Valley is spelled correctly.

It's unclear if the Huntingdon Valley address is different from the Bryn Athyn residence an Oz spokesperson referenced in 2021.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees

Saluting a True American Idiot



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Invasions Have Consequences

Day 111

Fighting

The price for the battle for the Donbas is “very high” for Ukraine and “just scary”, and will be remembered in military history as one of the most violent battles in Europe, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s main goal in Ukraine is to protect the breakaway self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed.

All of the bridges in Severodonetsk have been destroyed, making it impossible to bring in humanitarian supplies or evacuate citizens, the governor said. Satellite images show destroyed bridges around Severodonetsk.

Russian troops pushed Ukrainian forces away from the Severodonetsk city centre on Monday but did not fully capture the city, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Russia’s defence industry could struggle to further meet the demands of the war in Ukraine, partly due to the effects of sanctions and lack of expertise, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry said.

Ukraine will “liberate” all cities, towns and regions now occupied by Russia’s forces, its president said in an encouraging address to the nation.

Amnesty International said Russia has committed war crimes in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv as the rights body accused Moscow of using banned cluster bombs and carrying out indiscriminate attacks killing hundreds of civilians.

Diplomacy

The European Commission will recommend granting Ukraine official status as an EU candidate country, Politico reported late on Monday, citing several unnamed officials. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that the EU executive’s opinion would be ready in the coming week.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declined to comment on Monday on reports that he is planning to visit Ukraine together with his counterparts from France and Italy.

Pope Francis refused the distinction between “good and bad” in the war in Ukraine, Jesuit European cultural magazine reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his South Korean counterpart Park Jin in Washington, DC, and discussed a wide range of issues, including Ukraine.

Blinken held a call with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and discussed the continued coordination of support for Ukraine.

The human cost of the war

Ukraine’s police chief said authorities are investigating the killings of more than 12,000 Ukrainians in the war.

Monday’s attacks on the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have killed five and injured 33, separatist officials said, according to Moscow’s Tass news agency.

More than 1,700 people managed to leave Russian-occupied territories of the Kharkiv region on Monday, Interfax news agency quoted the head of a regional village as saying.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said: “About 500 civilians remain on the grounds of the Azot (chemicals) plant… 40 of them are children,” he said.

Ukrainian investigators have exhumed seven bodies from makeshift graves in a forest near Kyiv, where Ukraine alleges that Russian forces who occupied the area carried out systematic executions in an abortive attempt to capture the capital. Russia denies that.

The father of a Moroccan man sentenced to death on mercenary charges by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine said his son should be treated as a prisoner of war as he is a Ukrainian national who handed himself in voluntarily.

Economy

Russia earned $98bn from fossil fuel exports during the first 100 days of its war in Ukraine, with the EU being the top importer, according to new research.

Colombia is set to increase coal and petroleum production as it steps up to fill the void created by sanctions against Russia, energy minister Diego Mesa said.

About half of Australian farmers believe the war in Ukraine will hurt farm businesses, a survey found.

Russia is Losing According to Newsweek

Putin Is Losing the War. Don't Be Fooled by What Happened in Severodonetsk

William M. Arkin

[William M. Arkin is an American political commentator, best-selling author, journalist, activist, blogger, and former United States Army soldier. He has previously served as a military affairs analyst for the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.]

Russia is losing the Ukraine war. Though Moscow is poised to capture the eastern city of Severodonetsk, it again has proven itself incapable of attaining a broader conquest over its smaller neighbor. The Russian army's so-called victory is the latest installment in its humiliating military display and comes with a crushing human cost.

"The Russian military is getting weaker by the day, with little prospect of overall replenishment or meaningful reinforcement," a senior Defense Intelligence Agency official tells Newsweek. "Meanwhile, Ukraine is holding on ... [and] standing on the brink of major western augmentation of its offensive capability."

Most experts predict the war will continue to grind on for months, and many analysts are saying the tide has turned in Vladimir Putin's favor. It hasn't. Even as Severodonetsk falls, it's important to remember that Russia has already suffered three major embarrassing losses. First was Moscow's inability to reach Kyiv, depose the government there, and its subsequent withdrawal from the north. Second was its failure to take Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, with another retreat from its environs. Third is its inability to move forward in the south, contrary to Kremlin predictions. Odesa and Mykolaiv are no longer threatened by Russia.

The fighting in Severodonetsk will likely go on for a week or more, and even longer if it turns into another Mariupol. "Even if Russia manages to take all of Donbas in the coming weeks, we'll still see a standoff where Ukraine increasingly has an advantage," the DIA official says.

But wait! There's more!

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree




The United Kingdom’s entire tank force is 227 tanks. Germany has 266 total. France has 222. The United States has lots. 5,000 in active service, 3,000 in reserve. But maintaining and supplying those to Ukraine would be as difficult as aircraft—American tanks literally use jet engines, and mileage is around 3 gallons per mile (not a typo). Getting regular fuel to the front lines is hard enough. Adding jet fuel to the logistical requirements for such a thirsty vehicle would be nearly impossible, particularly as Ukraine prepares to field another thirsty weapons system—HIMARS rocket artillery (each pod with six rockets weighs 2.5 tons, and they’ll have to ship thousands to the front lines).

The entire active U.S. Army has 330 artillery pieces (M777 and M109 self-propelled guns). Ukraine is asking for 1,500.

They Are Making Good Use of What They Have.  From a Russian Soldier.

Ukrainian bombs and GRADs flew into our artillery which positioned 1 kilometer away from us. They also hit the 2nd company which was bigger than ours and more combat-ready 

All this time [Russian unit] marched under heavy mortar and artillery shelling. Dead and wounded started appearing. When we reported to our battalion commander Major Vasyura about dead and wounded, he cussed: ‘leave them and keep advancing!!!’ 

In May [Russia] brought the remnants of ‘Bars’ (trained reservists from all of Russia) – 14 people. They assaulted Dolgen’koye for a month and remained in the area. As I understand it, they were attached to the leadership of our wicked division. In total, 340 of them arrived to Ukraine. After a month of shelling only 57 remained. Moreover, half of the survivors were at the headquarters. Most of them were wounded. They never had a single firefight, all the losses came from Ukrainian artillery fire 

Ukrainian army continuously shells our positions with mortars, artillery, Tochka-U’s. I have no idea where Ukraine got so many Tochka-U’s from.

Uber for Artillery

Ukraine has another major weapon in its artillery toolbox—its “Uber for artillery” app called Krapiva. Rather than routing targeting missions through individual units and their fire direction people, targeting units (whether drones or human spotters) punch in the coordinates and the app determines which guns are most efficiently located to handle the fire mission. This home-grown solution dramatically increases the efficiency of the nation’s artillery forces.

The average time required to deploy a howitzer battery has been reduced by a factor of 5 — to three minutes -; the time required to engage an unplanned target by a factor of 3, to one minute; while the time required to open counter-battery fire has been divided by 10, down to 30 seconds. In a nutshell, and combined with the systematic use of drones for fire correction, Kropyva has increased the effectiveness of Ukrainian artillery by an order of magnitude, acting as a force multiplier.

Also, Ukraine is more efficient in its artillery use—it targets military targets. How much of Russia’s artillery tonnage is wasted on civilian targets in places like Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, done so out of spite and rage as opposed to any broader tactical or strategic goal?

You Be the General.  Where Would You Send Newly Deployed Troops?

Where would you send them?

Kharkiv—The Kharkiv news above suggests Ukrainian General Staff will focus their best efforts and equipment elsewhere. It’s just too hard to deal with Russian artillery across the border. Still, would be great to take out key supply hubs to its east.

Kherson—The most significant city under Russian control. Liberate Kherson, and Russia’s entire Novorossiya (New Russia) dream, connecting the Russian mainland all the way through Odesa to Transnistria, crashes and burns. Kherson also opens up lines of attack toward Crimea proper, and Melitopol and Mariupol to the east. And let’s not forget Crimea’s water supply in nearby Nova Kakhovka.

Popasna—Russia’s ambitious goals to encircle the entire Donbas region are long dead. But retaking Popasna would shatter Russia modest goals to encircle Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. Given the importance Ukraine is placing on defending that pocket, eliminating the Popasna threat would go a long way toward securing that territory.

Izyum—Same as Popasna, but from the other direction. I know people (including Russia) think this pocket can threaten Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two legitimately strategic Ukrainian strongholds in the Donbas, but no way their supply lines hold over that distance, not with their western flanks full exposed. Liberating Izyum would eliminate a significant chunk or Russia’s combat power in a location where it can't mass its artillery as effectively.

Melitopol—It would be fun to see Ukraine push down from Zaporizhia to Melitopol, the center of Ukraine’s fiercest partisan resistance movement. Taking the city would cut Russian supply lines from Crimea to the south Donbas front. However, that front has been under-resourced by Russia since the fall of Mariupol, putting far less pressure on Ukrainian defenders holding the line.

Lada: Nada Safe Car

A Russian car company stymied by international sanctions over the country’s invasion of Ukraine resumed production last week but the manufacturer was forced to eliminate key safety features, including air bags, on the latest version of its popular sedan.

Avtovaz halted the production of its Lada brand in March and furloughed many of its workers because it was not able to acquire certain parts due to the sanctions. But, after the Russian government's decision to slash safety regulations, assembly lines roared back to life.

As a result, the company’s affordable four-door passenger car Lada Granta, will no longer feature air bags, anti-lock braking systems, electronic stability control or emergency retraction locks on seat belts. It also fails to fulfill the 21st century emission standards adopted by many of Russia’s neighbors.
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Look!  Up in the Sky!  It's a Bird!  It's a Plane!  It's Amazon!

Amazon says it will begin delivering parcels to shoppers by drone for the first time later this year, pending final regulatory approval.

Users in the Californian town of Lockeford will be able to sign up to have thousands of goods delivered by air to their homes, it said.

The shopping giant has promised drone delivery for years but has faced delays and reported setbacks.

But it said it planned to roll out the service more widely after Lockeford.
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Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Türkiye Hava Yolları!

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the Turkish national carrier will rebrand as “Türkiye Hava Yolları” instead of “Turkish Airlines” as part of a push for his country to be known internationally as “Türkiye” instead of “Turkey”.
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Beautiful Clean Coal.  Uttar Pradesh is Utterly Dreadful.

Microscopic air pollution caused mostly by burning fossil fuels is reducing life expectancy by nearly 10 years in the Indian capital, one of the most polluted cities in the world, says a study.

The study by Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), released on Tuesday, said lung and heart disease caused by so-called PM2.5 pollution reduces life expectancy in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – home to 300 million people – by eight years.

Across South Asia, an average person would live five years longer if levels of fine particulate matter met World Health Organization standards, according to the Air Quality Life Index published by EPIC.

Worldwide, air pollution is shortening lives by more than two years, it said.
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If this Doesn't Get the QOP to Back Gun Control, I Don't Know What Will

The sale of guns to Black Americans rose 58 percent in 2020 — the year George Floyd was murdered by a Minnesota police officer, sparking a nationwide social justice movement — according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms trade association. It was the highest bump in gun sales of any ethnic group that year.

Further, in the first quarter of 2021, another NSSF report revealed 90 percent of gun retailers reported a general increase of Black customers, including an 87 percent increase among Black women.

The foundation said 40 percent of the overall gun sales in 2020 were to first-time gun purchasers. Black gun owners, old and new, say the rise is a byproduct primarily of a heightened fear they could be targeted like those in Buffalo or at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, when nine Black church members were killed by a white supremacist.

Black Men With Guns.  Racists Biggest Fear.
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Lizzo is No Longer a Spaz

Lizzo on Monday said she is changing the lyrics to "Grrrls" following criticism from many in the disabled community that the single contains a word that is considered an "ableist slur."

The song, which was released Friday and is part of Lizzo’s upcoming album “Special,” has a lyric that uses the word “spaz.”

"It's been brought to my attention that there is a harmful word in my new song "GRRRLS". Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language," the three-time Grammy winner wrote in an Instagram post.

"As a fat black woman in America, I've had many hateful words used against me so I understand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case unintentionally). I'm proud to say there's a new version of GRRRLS with a lyric change."
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The Dumbest Father's Day Gift in the World

After California in 2018 and Arizona in 2019, Michigan is the third state to give the all-clear to digital license plates. A California company called Reviver makes what it calls its RPlate and RPlate Pro for all three states, the firm saying 10 more states are in the process of approving the units.

We'll start with what are claimed to be the benefits of a digital plate. First, there's customization; the plate can be switched between light and dark modes, and there's space for a personalized banner message at the bottom of the rectangle. Second, ease; renewing registration can be done through the Reviver app. Third, broadcasting; The plate can display public safety announcements like Amber Alerts. Fourth, tracking ability; the RPlate Pro contains GPS and telematics transponders, so it can locate a vehicle — one lost in a parking lot or one that's stolen, for instance. Because the Pro version is tailored for fleets, its telematics transponder can also do things like track mileage.

The price for all that is, well, pricey. Both plates require subscription plans that are far more expensive than getting new stickers for a dumb piece of aluminum. Subscribers can get the battery-powered RPlate for $215.40 per year for a four-year total of $861.60, or for $19.95 monthly for a four-year total of $957.60. The RPlate Pro is wired into the vehicle, so after paying $150 for professional installation, a subscriber forks over either $275.40 per year for $1,101.60 after four years, or $24.95 monthly for a total of $1,197.60 after four years. Subscribers should also know those prices can change. When Car and Driver spoke to Reviver in 2020, one plan for the RPlate and its five-year replaceable battery cost $861.60 for three years instead of four, but it could be had for as low as $719 for four years with a $499 up-front payment.
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