Friday, February 18, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Biden..Ukraine Invasion Still 'Very High'


President Biden warned yesterday that the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is still, quote, "very high," saying at the White House, "Every indication we have is they’re prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed before the U.N. Security Council some U.S. intelligence conclusions about the situation. Blinken said that a sudden, seemingly violent event staged by Russia to justify an invasion would start it, mentioning things like a staged terrorist bombing in Russia or drone strike. He said the offensive would begin with cyberattacks, along with missiles and bombs across Ukraine, and then the Russian troops massed on Ukraine's border advancing into the country. For its part, Russia made a new move towards diplomacy, while still condemning the West for not meeting its demands about NATO, saying in response to U.S. offers to hold talks on limiting missile deployments in Europe, restrictions on military drills and other confidence-building measures, that it was ready to do so.


➤CALIFORNIA SHIFTS TO 'ENDEMIC' APPROACH TO COVID, FIRST STATE TO DO SO: California is shifting its policy to an endemic approach to the coronavirus, the first state to do so, with Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday announcing a plan that emphasizes prevention and quick detection and reaction to outbreaks, leaving mask mandates and business shutdowns behind. The plan also looks to hire more health care workers and stockpile tests, and also push back against false Covid claims and misinformation. Newsom said, "We are moving past the crisis phase into a phase where we will work to live with this virus."

NY Post 2/18/22


⛟POLICE ARREST TWO CANADIAN TRUCK PROTEST LEADERS: Police in Ottawa arrested two leaders of the weeks-long truck protests in Canada yesterday, and continued to threaten to break up the protest involving hundreds of trucks clogging the downtown area of the nation's capital city. 
Tamara Lich arrested
In addition to the arrests of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, workers put up extra fences around government buildings and police began sealing off much of the downtown area to to everyone except those who live or work there. Interim Police Chief Steve Bell, said, "The action is imminent. We absolutely are committed to end this unlawful demonstration." Defiant truckers, however, continued to blast their horns in defiance of a court injunction against it because of the disturbance to residents.


➤JUDGE SAYS TRUMP MUST TESTIFY IN NYC CIVIL PROBE OF BUSINESS: A judge ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state's civil investigation of his business practices. Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump's two oldest children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., must also sit for depositions, with all three having to do so within 21 days. They were subpoenaed in December by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump in a statement accused James' office of, quote, "doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process." James has said her office's probe has found evidence that the Trump Organization used "fraudulent or misleading" valuations of assets like buildings and golf courses to get loans and tax benefits.

📲HOW PICKING UP YOUR SMARTPHONE COULD REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY:  The time you spend on different smartphone apps is enough to identify you out of a larger group of people in more than 30 percent of cases. University of Bath researchers found a statistical model could identify an individual when provided with only six days of app usage data with accuracy one-third of the time. This might not sound like much, but when the models made a prediction regarding who data belonged to, it could also provide a list of the most to the least-likely candidates, and it was possible to view the top 10 most-likely individuals that a specific day of data belonged to. In addition, around 75 percent of the time, the correct user would be among the top 10 most likely candidates. Researchers say it's important to acknowledge that app usage data alone, which is often collected by a smartphone automatically, can potentially reveal a person’s identity. This provides new opportunities for law enforcement and poses risks to privacy if this type of data is misused.

➤ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS INVITED TO STATE OF THE UNION: All members of Congress are being invited to President Biden's State of the Union address on March 1st, in contrast to last year, when only a much-reduced number of members were allowed to attend because of the pandemic, and in contradiction of earlier reports that had said attendance was likely to be limited this year too. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office released the guidelines yesterday from the Sergeant at Arms’ office in consultation with the Office of the Physician. Everyone will be required to be tested for Covid-19 ahead of time and wear masks during the speech, and no guests will be allowed. Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices and military leaders traditionally attend the State of the Union, but it's not yet clear if they will be invited.

🌈SEVEN PERCENT OF U.S. ADULTS NOW IDENTIFY AS LGBTQ: A new high of 7.1 percent of U.S. adults now identify as LGBTQ -- meaning lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or otherwise not heterosexual -- double the percentage from 2012, according to Gallup. The increase in recent years is largely being driven by a higher prevalence of these identities among the youngest adults. Some 21 percent of Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2003, identify as LGBT, nearly double the percentage of Millennials who do so, and the gap is even wider in older generations.

🦅WIDESPREAD LEAD POISONING AMONG BALD EAGLES: A new study in Science provides the startling information that there is widespread lead poisoning among bald eagles, the national bird. Researchers who tested more than 1,200 live and dead eagles from across the U.S. between 2010 and 2018 found that 46 percent of bald eagles had "chronic, toxic levels of lead," as did 47 percent of golden eagles. It's mainly coming from lead bullets, as the eagles scavenge on animals shot by hunters, and the lead from the ammunition contaminates them as they eat. The researchers estimate the lead poisoning suppresses the population growth of bald eagles by about four percent a year and golden eagles by one percent.

🧠STUDY: BRAINS DO NOT SLOW DOWN UNTIL AFTER AGE 60: It’s a widely accepted fact that our brains slow down as we age, but a new study suggests mental processing speed remains nearly constant until the age of 60. Heidelberg University researchers looked at data on more than one million people, and say their findings suggest perceived reductions in mental speed is due to people becoming more cautious as they get older, and could account for the large body of research that has says mental processing peaks at the around age 20 and then undergoes a steady decline from that point forward. Researcher, Dr. Mischa von Krause adds, “Our finding is encouraging, as our results show that average levels in mental speed in contests demanding fast and forced decisions do not decline until relatively late in the lifespan.”




🎿BEIJING WINTER OLYMPICS:

Russian Shcherbakova Wins Women's Figure Skating Gold, Valieva Stuns with Fourth Place Finish - Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who's been the focus of intense attention as she was allowed to continue to compete despite a positive doping test in December, and who'd been heavily-favored to win the gold, stunningly finished in fourth place after falling repeatedly during the women's free skate. Her teammates, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova won gold and silver, respectively, and Japan's Kaori Sakamoto won an unexpected bronze. The 15-year-old Valieva was sobbing and inconsolable as she saw her scores, while Trusova was angry and also in tears because she hadn't won gold despite landing four quadruple jumps. She declared, "I hate this sport!," and also lashed out at controversial Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze, who coaches all three athletes who competed. Alysa Liu was the highest-finishing American, in seventh place.

IOC President Critical of Valieva's Treatment By Entourage After Free Skate - International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach criticized the treatment of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva by her entourage after her fourth-place finish following multiple falls during her free skate. Bach said at a news conference, "When I afterwards saw how she was received by her closest entourage, with such, what appeared to be a tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this. Rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her, you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance." As Valieva got off the ice, her controversial coach, Eteri Tutberidze, was captured on camera saying to her, "Why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting?"

  • U.S.-Born Eileen Gu Wins Gold in Ski Halfpipe for China, Third Medal - U.S.-born and raised freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who competes for her mother's native China, won gold in the ski halfpipe, her third medal in Beijing. She also won gold in freestyle big air and took silver in the slopestyle. She is the first freeski athlete to medal in three events in a single Olympics.
  • U.S. Men Lose to Canada in Curling Bronze Medal Game - The defending Olympic champion U.S. men lost to Canada in the curling bronze medal game. The U.S. was playing for bronze after losing to Great Britain in their semifinal match. The British team will play Sweden for the gold, after the Swedes beat Canada in their semifinal.
  • Second Ukrainian Positive for Doping - A second Ukrainian has tested positive for doping in Beijing, with the International Testing Agency saying that bobsledder Lidiia Hunko tested positive for an anabolic steroid after competing Monday in the monobob, in which she come in 20th. Ukrainian cross-country skier Valnetyna Kaminska also tested positive for doping at the Olympics, as did Iranian skier Hossein Saveh Shemshaki. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who was allowed to continue competing, tested positive in a sample taken in December.
🥇MEDAL COUNT: (As of 4:00 a.m. ET) - Norway is in first place with 31 medals, followed by the Russian Olympic Committee with 27, and Canada with 23. In the gold medal count, Norway is first with 14, Germany is second with 10, and the U.S. and China have eight each. The U.S. has 21 medals overall, eight gold, eight silver and five bronze.  ESPN'S MEDAL TRACKER

OTHER SPORTS:

⚾TALKS BETWEEN MLB AND PLAYERS LAST JUST 15 MINUTES: One day after what was supposed to the be the start of spring training with the reporting of pitchers and catchers, talks between MLB and the locked-out players Thursday lasted just 15 minutes after resuming following a four-day break. There's no date set for the main talks to resume, while there is a discussion session set for today for non-core issues. There's about two weeks left to reach a new labor deal that would leave enough spring training time for the season to begin on time.

⚾EX-ANGELS EMPLOYEE CONVICTED OF GIVING SKAGGS DRUGS THAT LED TO HIS OVERDOSE DEATH: Former Los Angeles Angels employee Eric Kay was convicted yesterday of providing late pitcher Tyler Skaggs with the drugs that led to his overdose death in 2019 at age 27 while they were in Texas for a road game. Kay, who was the team's public relations contact on many road trips, was convicted of one count each of drug distribution resulting in death and drug conspiracy, and faces at least 20 years in prison and potentially up to a life sentence. The trial included testimony from five MLB players, including pitcher Matt Harvey, who said they received oxycodone pills from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019.

🏀LAKERS' DAVIS TO BE OUT AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS WITH FOOT SPRAIN: The L.A. Lakers said yesterday that Anthony Davis will be out for at least four weeks after an MRI showed he'd suffered a mid-foot sprain. Davis was hurt in L.A.'s 106-101 win over the Utah Jazz Wednesday. The Lakers said doctors will reevaluate the injury in four weeks. Davis missed 17 straight games in December and January with a strained MCL in his knee.

🏀NBA TO HONOR 75TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM DURING ALL-STAR GAME: The NBA will honor its 75th anniversary team during the All-Star Game on Sunday (February 20th), just as they did for the 50th anniversary team. The All-Star game is being played in Cleveland, where teams drafted by captains LeBron James, who is making his record 18th consecutive All-Star start, and Kevin Durant will face off against each other.





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