Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Putin Orders Troops To Move

Daily Mail 2/22/22

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine yesterday, claiming the forces to be "peacekeepers," after declaring the regions independent. His action came after a lengthy, grievance-filled speech in which he laid out his version of more than a century of history and referred to Ukraine as a country created by the Soviet Union that was inextricably linked to Russia, raising fears of Russian military action in Ukraine beyond the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. He also blamed NATO for the crisis and called the organization an existential threat to Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his country after Putin's actions, "We are not afraid of anyone or anything. We don’t owe anyone anything. And we won’t give anything to anyone."


The U.N. Security Council held a nighttime emergency meeting at which several nations condemned Putin's actions as a violation of international law and Ukraine’s sovereignty. The U.S. issued an executive order banning U.S. investment and trade in the two separatist regions and said more actions are to be announced today. AP said those likely will be sanctions, but also cited a senior administration official as saying those sanctions are independent of what the U.S. has planned if there is a Russian invasion.


More than 14,000 people have been killed in eight years of fighting in Donetsk and Luhansk between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces that began soon after Russia annexed Crimea. Putin's announcement yesterday violated a 2015 peace deal for the conflict under which Ukraine would have been required to give broad self-rule to the two separatist regions.


➤FINAL OFFICER TESTIFIES IN GEORGE FLOYD CASE FEDERAL TRIAL: Closing arguments are expected today in the federal trial of the three former Minneapolis police officers who were with former Officer Derek Chauvin when he kneeled on George Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, leading to his death, in May 2020. They are charged with violating Floyd's civil rights. Thomas Lane, who held Floyd's feet, testified on Monday, the last of the officers to take the stand, and said he didn't realize how serious Floyd's condition was until paramedics arrived and turned him over. He also testified that he asked twice if Floyd should be rolled over, but Chauvin dismissed doing so both times. Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao are charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care as Chauvin kneeled on his neck, and Kueng and Thao are also charged with failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. The prosecution has argued that the former officers had violated their training by not rolling Floyd onto his side or giving him CPR, but the defense has portrayed the police department's training as inadequate and said there was a culture that emphasized deference to senior officers like Chauvin.

➤CASE GOES TO JURY IN FEDERAL TRIAL OF MEN CONVICTED IN ARBERY KILLING: The jury began deliberating after closing arguments yesterday in the federal hate crimes trial of three white men who were convicted on state charges in Georgia in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who'd been jogging through their neighborhood, in February 2020. Jurors have to decide whether Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan were motivated by racism when they chased Arbery down in pickup trucks and Travis McMichael fatally shot him. A federal prosecutor said yesterday that the men had acted out of, quote, "pent-up racial anger," while defense attorneys argued McMichael had acted in self-defense and they were suspicious of Arbery because he'd gone into an house being built in the neighborhood several times on earlier runs through the neighborhood.


➤RITTENHOUSE SAYS WILL SUE WHOOPI GOLDBERG, OTHERS: Nineteen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of criminal charges after he shot and killed two protesters and wounded a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020, after the police shooting of a Black man, said on Fox News yesterday that he plans to sue Whoopi Goldberg, media companies and others for negative statements about him. Rittenhouse said, "Politicians, celebrities, athletes. Whoopi Goldberg's on the list. She called me a murderer after I was acquitted by a jury of my peers. She went on to still say that. And there’s others. Don’t forget about Cenk [Uyger] from The Young Turks. He called me a murderer before verdict and continues to call me a murderer." He also said he will sue others who accused him of being a white supremacist.


🏫FLORIDA BILL WOULD REQUIRES SCHOOLS TO TELL PARENTS IF STUDENT ISN'T STRAIGHT: A new amendment to controversial proposed legislation in Florida that opponents have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill that has drawn national attention would require schools to inform parents of their child's sexual orientation within six weeks of learning that the student isn't straight. The original version of the legislation included an exemption to the notification requirement if educators were concerned that disclosure to parents could lead to abuse, neglect or abandonment. The amendment removes that exemption, saying instead that school leaders should develop a plan to give parents the information, quote, "through an open dialogue in a safe, supportive, and judgment-free environment that respects the parent-child relationship and protects the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of the student." A Democratic state representative has filed another amendment in response that would allow students to sue the Florida Department of Education for damages from, quote, "irreparable harm" caused by the disclosure of their sexual orientation. The overall bill bans educators in Florida schools from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary schools.

➤STUDY..EATING COOKED VEGETABLES MAY NOT PROTECT FROM HEART DISEASE: Struggling to eat your vegetables? A study of 400,000 British diets has found that raw vegetables may benefit the heart, but not cooked vegetables. Even the advantages of eating raw vegetables seem to disappear when other lifestyle factors are taken into account.

"Our large study did not find evidence for a protective effect of vegetable intake on the occurrence of CVD [cardiovascular disease]," researcher and epidemiologist Qi Feng told CNN. This study is receiving pushback by other experts who claim multiple factors influence cardiovascular health, not just vegetable intake.


🏀MICHIGAN HEAD COACH HOWARD SUSPENDED FOR LAST FIVE GAMES OF SEASON: Michigan men's basketball head coach Juwan Howard was suspended Monday for the final five games of the regular season and was fined $40,000 for hitting a Wisconsin assistant in the head after the team's 77-63 win over Michigan Sunday, setting off a brawl. The Big Ten Conference also suspended two Michigan players and one Wisconsin player. Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard was fined $10,000 for violating the sportsmanship policy. Howard was upset that Gard had called a timeout with 15 seconds left and his team leading by 15 points. When Gard grabbed Howard's arm in the postgame handshake line to explain why he called the timeout, Howard yelled, "Don't [expletive] touch me!" and put his finger in Gard's face as they began to argue. After they were separated, Howard swung his hand and hit Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft on the side of his head. Players from each side then got involved. Howard apologized Monday and said, "I will learn from this mistake, and this mistake will never happen again. No excuses."

🏇MEDINA SPIRT STRIPPED OF KENTUCKY DERBY WIN: Medina Spirit was stripped of last year's Kentucky Derby victory yesterday in a ruling by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and runner-up Mandaloun was declared the winner. Medina Spirit, who has since died, tested positive after the race for a steroid that's banned on race day. The racing commission also suspended Medina Spirit's Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert, for 90 days and fined him $7,500. Baffert was banned by Churchill Downs for two years after the positive test. Medina Spirt is only the second horse in the 147-year history of the Derby to be disqualified for a banned substance, after Dancer's Image in 1968, which gave Forward Pass the win.

⚾MLB-PLAYER NEGOTIATIONS RESUME: Negotiations between MLB and the locked-out players resumed Monday, with only about a week left for a labor agreement to be reached that would allow the regular season to begin on time. Spring training was supposed to begin last Wednesday. The last time the two sides met, on Thursday, they only talked for 15 minutes. Union head Tony Clark was at the negotiations for the first time since MLB locked out the players on December 2nd.

🏒FLAMES TOP JETS 3-1 FOR 10TH STRAIGHT WIN: The Calgary Flames defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 yesterday (February 21st) for their 10th straight win, tying a franchise record set twice before, from 2016-17 and 1978-79. Elias Lindholm scored one of Calgary's three goals, extending his goal streak to eight games, also tying a franchise record.

🏀REPORTS: DRAGIC SIGNS WITH NETS: Free-agent Goran Dragic is signing with the Brooklyn Nets for the rest of the season, according to media reports yesterday (February 21st). The 35-year-old veteran guard began the season with the Toronto Raptors before being sent to the San Antonio Spurs at the trade deadline, and later had his contract bought out. Dragic is in his 15th NBA season.


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