Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Biden Vows To Block Russia-Germany Pipeline

Daily Mail Graphic 2/8/22

President Biden met with visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House yesterday, and said that if Russia invades Ukraine, the Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany pipeline, which has been completed, but hasn't yet begun operating, will be blocked. Biden stated, "If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it." Doing so would hurt Russia economically, among tough sanctions the U.S. has promised in the event of an invasion. Biden and Scholz also spoke about contingency plans for providing gas supplies to Europe should Russia cut off the supply. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron met yesterday in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to defuse the crisis. Macron said the talks were "substantial" and "deep," focused on conditions that could help de-escalation. He stated, "The upcoming days will be crucial and deep discussions together will be needed." Putin again denied Russia intends to invade Ukraine.


➤SUPREME COURT PUTS COURT RULING ON HOLD DIRECTING ALABAMA TO DRAW NEW CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS: The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday put a lower court ruling on hold that had directed Alabama to draw new congressional districts before the midterm elections in November. The 5-4 decision -- in which Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the high court's liberals -- means the elections will be held under a map drawn by the state's Republican-controlled legislature after the 2020 Census that has only one majority-Black district in a state in which more than one-quarter of the population is Black. The lower court had ruled the state had likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of Black voters by not creating a second district in which they made up a majority, or close to it. Alabama asked the Supreme Court to put the ruling on hold while it appeals and it agreed, with two of those in the majority, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito, saying the lower court's order came too close to the 2022 election cycle. The justices will at some point later decide on the issue of the case, whether the Alabama map violates the Voting Rights Act.



GOVERNORS OF FOUR STATES PLAN TO END SCHOOL MASK MANDATES: The governors of four states -- Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Oregon -- announced yesterday that they will lift statewide mask requirements for schools by the end of February or March because of the rapid decline of the omicron-driven Covid-19 surge. The four states are among a dozen that have mask mandates for schools. New Jersey and Connecticut will allow individual school districts to keep their mask mandates if they choose. It's unclear if Delaware and Oregon will.

Daily Mail Graphic 2/8/22
➤POLICE LOOKING FOR MAN WHO OPENED FIRE IN WASHINGTON SUPERMARKET, KILLING ONE: Police are looking for a man who opened fire at a Fred Meyer supermarket in Richland, Washington, on Monday, killing one person and critically wounding another. The suspect, identified as 39-year-old Aaron Christopher Kelley, has had contact with law enforcement in the past. Police responding to the store just after 11 a.m. found the two victims, both of them men, near each other, one of them already dead. Video footage showed the suspect and the man who died had an interaction before the shooting, but police said they don't know what it was about and don't know if they two men knew each other. The person who died didn't work at the store, while the critically injured man does.

➤BIDEN'S TOP SCIENCE ADVISER RESIGNS OVER TREATMENT OF STAFF: President Biden’s top science adviser, Eric Lander, resigned yesterday over his treatment of staff. The resignation of the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy came hours after the White House confirmed that an internal investigation found credible evidence that he mistreated his staff. The probe, which came after a workplace complaint, found evidence Lander bullied staffers and treated them disrespectfully. He said in his resignation letter, "I am devastated that I caused hurt to past and present colleagues by the way in which I have spoken to them." The resignation came after the administration had earlier in the day indicated Lander would be allowed to stay in the job.

➤IRS TO STOP USING FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY: The Internal Revenue Service said Monday that it will stop using facial recognition to authenticate the identity of people who create online accounts. The action to stop using a third-party service, called ID.me, that was doing the facial recognition was taken after criticism from some members of Congress and from privacy advocates. IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said, "The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised. . . . we are quickly pursuing short-term options that do not involve facial recognition."

➤NATIONAL ARCHIVES: 15 BOXES OF DOCUMENTS RETURNED THAT TRUMP IMPROPERLY TOOK FROM WHITE HOUSE: The National Archives said Monday that former President Donald Trump had to return 15 boxes of documents that were improperly taken from the White House, confirming a Washington Post report. They were returned last month. The Post said that among them were letters between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the handwritten letter former President Barack Obama had left in the Oval Office for Trump, following presidential tradition. The National Archives said it believes Trump has more records that need to be turned over, and that his representatives told them they are looking for any additional documents.
 

➤NBC OKAYS LESLIE JONES TO KEEP SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATES:   Beijing Olympics broadcaster NBC said last night that it's okay for Leslie Jones to keep doing her social media commentary on the Games, hours after the former Saturday Night Live star said she might stop doing the live tweeting because some of the posts were getting blocked due to their use of video of NBC's coverage. An NBC spokesman said some of Jones' videos were blocked because of a, quote, "third-party error," not because of NBC, stating, "We have resolved the situation. He told AP, "She is free to do her social media posts as she has done in the past. She is a super fan of the Olympics and we are super fans of her." 


Jones had said earlier on Twitter and Instagram, "I love the athletes and they love me doing it. And I know y’all love it. But now it’s just gotten too hard. And no one is fighting for or with me. Soooo I guess I’ll leave it to the professionals." Jones has live-tweeted about the Olympics since the 2016 Rio Summer Games. She was a guest of NBC in Rio and at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.

➤STUDY..LIFTING WEIGHTS FOR AS LITTLE AS A FEW SECONDS A DAY CAN HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON MUSCLE STRENGTH:  It doesn’t take much to increase your muscle strength. Edith Cowan University researchers found that participants who performed one muscle contraction each day, specifically an eccentric bicep curl, at maximum effort for three seconds per day had their muscle strength increase more than ten percent after doing so five days per week over a four-week period. Lead researcher Professor Ken Nosaka explains, “The study results suggest that a very small amount of exercise stimulus—even 60 seconds in four weeks—can increase muscle strength. Many people think you have to spend a lot of time exercising, but it's not the case. Short, good quality exercise can still be good for your body and every muscle contraction counts. […] Also, performing only one maximal contraction per day means you don’t get sore afterwards.”


🎿BEIJING WINTER OLYMPICS: Highlights:
  • U.S. Figure Skater Chen in First Place After Record-Breaking Men's Short Program - U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen is in first place after the men's figure skating short program, scoring 113.97 points to set a new world record, putting him in front by more than five points ahead of the free skate. Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan stunningly bailed out of his opening quad jump attempt and is nearly 20 points back.
  • U.S. Figure Skater Zhou Withdraws After Covid Positive - Hours before the men's figure skating short program, American Vincent Zhou officially withdrew from the singles competition after further testing confirmed an initial positive Covid-19 test. Zhou, who was expected to contend for a medal, shared the news in an emotional Instagram video, calling the situation "pretty unreal," explaining, "[I]'ve taken all the precautions I can. I've isolated myself so much that the loneliness I felt in the last month or two has been crushing at times." Zhou competed with the U.S. in team event, winning the silver medal with them.
  • U.S.-Born Gu of China Wins Gold in Women's Freestyle Big Air - American-born Eileen Gu of China won gold in women's freestyle big air. The 18-year-old, who grew up in San Francisco, landed a 1620 -- four-and-a-half spins -- on her final jump, the first of her career in competition. It also made her only the second woman to land one in competition.
  • American Cochran-Siegle Wins Silver in Men's Super-G - American skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle won the silver medal in the men's super-G, the first Alpine medal for the U.S. in Beijing. It came 50 years after his mother, Barbara Cochran, won gold in the slalom in the 1972 Olympics. He finished .04 seconds behind Matthias Mayer of Austria, who won gold for a second straight Olympics. Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde took bronze.
  • U.S. Women's Hockey Team Beaten 4-2 By Archrival Canada - The defending Olympic champion U.S. women's hockey team was beaten 4-2 by archrival Canada in the Group A finale. Canada now has the tournament's top seed entering the playoff round. Unless there's a major upset, it's expected the U.S. and Canada will face each other again in the gold-medal final game.
  • Dutch Speedskater Wust Sets Olympics Record with Gold in Fifth Games - Dutch speedskater Ireen Wüst won gold in the women's 1,500 meters, and the victory putting the 35-year-old in the record books. Wust became the first Olympic athlete, including both men and women, and the Winter and Summer Games, to win individual gold medals at five different Olympics. Already the most decorated speedskater in Olympics history, Wust now has 12 medals, six of them gold.
MEDAL COUNT: (As of 4:00 a.m. ET) - The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is in first place with eight medals, followed by Austria with seven and Canada with six. In the gold medal count, China and Sweden are tied with three each and six countries have two. The U.S. has four medals overall, all of them silver.   ESPN'S MEDAL TRACKER: https://es.pn/3LhCHxF

OTHER SPORTS:

🏈TEXANS HIRE LOVE SMITH AS NEW HEAD COACH: The Houston Texans hired Lovie Smith as their new head coach Monday, replacing David Culley, who was fired after one season. It will be the third NFL head coaching job for Smith, who is Black, the second minority candidate to be hired this offseason. Brian Flores, who was fired by Miami after two seasons, interviewed for the Houston position, and filed a lawsuit accusing the NFL, Dolphins and two other teams of racist hiring practices for coaches and general managers. He issued a statement through his legal team applauding the Texans for hiring a Black man, but questioning why he wasn't offered the job, stating, "it is obvious that the only reason Mr. Flores was not selected was his decision to stand up against racial inequality across the NFL."

🏈REPORTS: SAINTS CHOOSE DENNIS ALLEN AS HEAD COACH: Dennis Allen has been chosen as the New Orleans Saints as their new head coach, elevated from being the team's defensive coordinator, according to media reports yesterday. This is Allen's second NFL head-coaching position. He'll be replacing Sean Payton, who resigned last month after 16 years with the Saints, during which he was the franchise's all-time leader in victories and led them to their only Super Bowl championship in the 2009 season.

⚾MLB DRUG TESTING HAS STOPPED DURING ONGOING LOCKOUT: Drug testing in Major League Baseball has stopped for the first time in nearly 20 years since the ongoing lockout began on December 1st, the Associated Press reported Monday. The testing stopped because of the expiration of the drug agreement at the same time that the five-year labor contract expired before the league imposed the lockout. The AP said both MLB and the union declined to comment, but Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said, "It should be a major concern to all those who value fair play," adding "[Y]ou would have hoped they would have been able to get that figured out, so that when the game does restart, you don’t have questions hanging over individual players[.]" The two sides remain far apart on a new labor deal.
 

🏈POLICE: VIDEO SUPPORTS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SAINTS' KAMARA: Video surveillance supports the battery charges against New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, according to a Las Vegas police report that says it shows him punching a man eight times in a casino Saturday morning, before people with him stomped on the man several times on the ground. The man, who was knocked unconscious, suffered an orbital fracture to his eye and other injuries. He told police the altercation began after he started a conversation with a member of Kamara's group while waiting for an elevator. When the elevator doors opened and he walked toward it, Kamara put his hand on the man's chest to stop him. He said he pushed the hand off and Kamara pushed back hard enough to make him stumble, and he then remembered being hit and kicked by multiple people. Kamara told police the man called one of his friends ugly and later said, "I'll whup your ass too." Kamara said he saw a fight break out. When asked why he punched the man, Kamara said he thought he was running away and had done something to the people with him. A hearing is scheduled for March.



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