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Monday, February 28, 2022

Wake-UP Call: Putin Puts Nuke Force On High Alert

Daily Mail graphic 2/28/22

UKRAINE AGREES TO TALKS: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his country's nuclear forces put on high alert yesterday, dramatically ramping up tensions, citing, quote, "aggressive statements" by NATO and the tough financial sanctions that have been imposed by Western nations in the past few days. AP said the practical meaning of the order wasn't immediately clear, but White House press secretary Jen Psaki told ABC Putin is doing the same thing he did in the weeks before the invasion, quote, "which is to manufacture threats that don’t exist in order to justify further aggression."

Putin took the step as Russian forces continued to face strong opposition in Ukraine, with U.S. officials saying they believe the invasion has been slower and more difficult that Moscow believed would be the case. But that could soon change, with AP citing a senior U.S. intelligence official as saying neighboring Belarus is expected to send troops into Ukraine on Russia's side as early as today. Even without that aid, Russian forces are continuing to close in around the capital of Kyiv. There was street fighting in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Russian forces were advancing on and attacking cities in the south, and they took Berdyansk, a city of 100,000 people. Ukraine's Interior Ministry said yesterday that 352 Ukrainian civilians had been killed, including 14 children.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office announced there had been an agreement to meet with for talks with a Russian delegation on the Belarusian border "without preconditions." It wasn't immediately clear when the meeting would take place. Zelenskyy expressed doubt that the meeting would produce results, but said he agreed to it, quote, "so that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as president, did not try to stop the war when there was a small chance." Meanwhile, the 193-member U.N. General Assembly is holding an emergency session today on the invasion.

 
➤Western Sanctions, Weapons

The U.S. and other Western nations continued to ratchet up their response to the invasion yesterday, saying they would increase sanctions and send weapons to Ukraine. The U.S. increased the number of weapons it's sending, announcing it will include Stinger missiles that can take down helicopters and other aircraft, and European nations are also sending Stingers. The European Union said that fighter jets will also be sent, that the E.U. will close its airspace to Russian airlines, and that it will ban some pro-Kremlin media outlets. The U.S., European Union, U.K. and Japan agreed to block certain Russian banks from the SWIFT system, which moves money around banks and other financial institutions worldwide. The assets of Russian oligarchs close to Putin and sanctioned companies are also being targeted, with NBC News citing a senior White House official as saying the U.S. is launching a trans-Atlantic task force to identify any, quote, "ill-gotten gains" those elites.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said yesterday that American citizens should consider leaving Russia "immediately."

NY Post graphic 2/28/22



➤Refugees

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Sunday that the number of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country has reached 368,000 and was continuing to rise. Many of them were fleeing into bordering nations like Romania, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and Slovakia.

➤Anti-War Protests in Russia

In addition to anti-war protests in Western nations, including a massive one with 100,000 people in Berlin, Germany, yesterday, there were protests across Russia again Sunday, as there have been each day since the invasion Thursday. They've been taking place despite Russian police quickly cracking down on them and arresting hundreds of protesters daily. AP cited the OVD-info rights group that tracks political arrests as saying nearly 6,000 people have been arrested in Russia over the four days. Russia has also taken action to restrict access to Twitter and Facebook.

➤FIRST JANUARY 6TH TRIAL BEGINS TODAY: The first trial of a defendant in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol begins today with jury selection in the case against a Texas man charged with bringing a gun onto Capitol grounds, interfering with police officers, and threatening his teenage children if they reported him to authorities. The outcome of Guy Wesley Reffitt's trial could be a guide to how other cases will go, with a conviction potentially leading more defendants to reach a plea deal, and an acquittal potentially leading others to want to go to trial instead, according to AP. Reffitt is a member of a militia-style group called the "Texas Three Percenters," according to prosecutors. More than 750 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the attack. Over 200 have pled guilty, mostly to misdemeanors carrying a maximum sentence of six months in jail. More than 100 defendants have been sentenced, and at least 90 others have trial dates this year.

➤NYC SET TO LIFT INDOOR VACCINE MANDATE: Nearly seven months after it became the first U.S. city to require vaccinations for indoor locations like restaurants, event venues, and more, New York City is set to lift it soon. Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday (February 27th) that the mandate would end on March 7th as long as Covid-19 case numbers continue to trend downward. Adams also said the mask mandate for public schools will be lifted as well, as long as there is no spike in cases before then. New York City's mandate, which was announced last August, requires people to show proof of vaccination for places like restaurants, bars, movie theaters, museums, sports, arenas, and theaters, among other places. Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the statewide mask mandate for schools will end on Wednesday, citing a big drop in Covid infections and the new federal guidelines released Friday.


➤D.C. FENCES BACK UP, MASK MANDATE REMOVED FOR STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS: Fences that were put up around the U.S. Capitol after the January 6th attack and remained for months are being put back ahead of President Biden's State of the Union address tomorrow night. There's been growing concern about potential demonstrations or truck convoys against pandemic restrictions disrupting traffic in Washington, D.C., and Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said Sunday that the fencing is being put up for the speech, quote, "out of an abundance of caution." 


Meanwhile, masks are now optional for Biden's speech, as Congress is lifting its mask requirement on the House floor after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released relaxed masking guidelines on Friday. Congress' Office of the Attending Physician announced the policy change Sunday, lifting the mask requirement that has been in place for much of the past two years. All attendees at the State of the Union, however, will be required to take a Covid test before entering the chamber. All members of Congress are invited this year, unlike last year, when it was capped at about 20 percent of its usual capacity due to Covid.

➤TWO NEW STUDIES SHOW COVID-19 LIKELY ORIGINATED IN WUHAN MARKET: Two new studies came down on the side of Covid-19 having originated in a market in Wuhan, China, and not in a leak from a lab in the same city, the New York Times reported Sunday. Both studies show the virus likely came from live mammals sold in the market in 2019, and University of Arizona evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey, who was the lead author on one study and a co-author on the other, said that in light of the findings, the lab-leak theory, quote, "no longer . . . makes sense." Worobey signed a letter last May that got a lot of attention urging further study of the lab-leak theory, but he now believes the research doesn't show that's what happened. CNN reports one study "used spatial analysis to show that the earliest known Covid-19 cases . . . were centered on the market" and the other showed that "the two major viral lineages were the result of at least two events in which the virus crossed species into humans."

➤NEARLY HALF OF FREE HOME COVID TESTS PEOPLE COULD GET FROM U.S. GOV'T. STILL AVAILABLE: Nearly half of the 500 million free home Covid-19 tests that the administration made available for people to order and be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service are still available. The tests were first made available to order online in January at COVIDtests.gov at the height of the omicron-driven surge, with a limit of four per household, after people had scrambled ahead of the holidays to find home tests as stores were sold out. But now, cases have plunged and people don't have that same urgency to test. The White House says about 46 percent of the tests are still available. In other ways to get home tests, private insurers are now required to cover eight free tests per person, per month, Medicare coverage will start in the spring, and the administration has been making free tests available at libraries, clinics and other community locations.

➤BARR CRITICAL OF TRUMP, PROSPECT OF SECOND TERM IN NEW BOOK: Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who served under then-President Donald Trump from February 2019 to December 2020, is critical of Trump in his upcoming memoir. Barr calls Trump "manic and unreasonable" and having, quote, "neither the temperament nor persuasive powers" to lead the country, and says the prospect of him running for president again is "dismaying." In the book, called, One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General, Barr writes of the 2020 election and Trump's claims about it, "The election was not 'stolen,' Trump lost it." Barr also addresses what led to Trump's first impeachment, the former president's attempt to blackmail Ukraine to get dirt on Joe Biden's son, calling it a "harebrained gambit," "idiotic beyond belief," and "the result of abject stupidity." However, he maintained that it was not a criminal offense.

➤WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE SAYING ‘WORDLE’ IS HARDER NOW?:  The New York Times now owns the wildly popular word game Wordle, and some players say it’s now harder than ever. But, the Times said the only change it's made since buying the game is removing a few words they thought to be too obscure, thereby actually making the game a bit easier. So the New York Times is officially not to blame for your losing streak lately, so why do many people think it is? Rachel Kowert works for Take This, a non-profit that provides mental health resources to the gaming community, and tells Mashable that it’s human nature to want to blame someone else other than ourselves when something goes wrong. 
She explains the mentality, saying, “It’s not that I am unable to figure out this puzzle today, it’s that they made the puzzle too difficult to figure out.” She also says it could just be that you have the opinion that the New York Times is a sophisticated paper with notoriously difficult puzzles to solve, so since they now own Wordle, you might reason the same difficulty now applies to the game. In addition, Kowert says social contagion—the process of ideas spreading through a network—plays a huge role in this as well. Once enough people believe in something, it’s easy to believe it along with them. The take-home message here: the New York Times hasn’t made Wordle harder, it’s just that you've (maybe) been struggling with the game lately.

🐶NEW STUDY SHOWS THE EFFECT OWNING PETS HAS ON OWNERS' BRAINS:  Having a pet is generally good for you. University of Florida researchers found that having pets may help owners stave off memory loss and cognitive decline. The effect was most notable among dog and cat owners, but was also seen among bird, and fish owners, as well as those owning smaller pets. It’s also believed that interacting with pets can reduce stress levels, and lower blood pressure, both of which can benefit one’s memory. Pets also give their owners companionship and a sense of purpose. The research also shows that while people feel attached to their pets, laws and regulations still view them as property, which can cause undue stress in certain situations.

⚾MLB DEADLINE TODAY, REPORT SAYS SIDES STILL FAR APART: MLB and the players union met for more than six hours on Sunday (February 28th), but with the MLB's deadline for reaching a new collective bargaining agreement before regular-season games start being canceled arriving at the end of negotiations today, ESPN cited a union source as saying the two sides are still far apart. If there's no agreement by the end of the day, Opening Day on March 31st will be canceled, along with potentially the first week of games. The players have been locked out by the owners since December 2nd.

 
🏀WARRIORS HAVE 19-POINT COLLAPSE IN 107-101 LOSS TO MAVERICKS: The Golden State Warriors suffered a collapse last night after going into the fourth quarter up by 19 points, and lost to the Dallas Mavericks 107-101. From 9:44 in the fourth quarter to just about 1:30 left in the game, Dallas went on a 26-1 run. The 19-point advantage was the largest blown fourth-quarter lead in the NBA this season, and it was the second game of their previous three in which the Warriors gave up a big fourth-quarter advantage.

⚽FIFA DOESN'T EXPEL RUSSIA FROM WORLD CUP QUALIFYING, SAYS CAN'T USE FLAG, ANTHEM: The international soccer association FIFA wouldn't expel Russia Sunday from World Cup qualifying play over its invasion of Ukraine, but said it remained an option. Instead, Russia will play under "RFU," the acronym of its soccer federation, the Russian Football Union, and the Russian flag an anthem can't be associated with the team. FIFA also said the RFU team can only play on neutral territory and without spectators. However, the head of the Polish soccer association said it won't play Russia in their scheduled World Cup qualification playoff semifinal on March 24th. The winner of that playoff is supposed to host Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29th to decide who advances to the World Cup finals later this year. But both nations have said they won't play Russia either.

➤OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL-WINNING BOX LOMACHENKO JOINS UKRAINE BATTALION: Vasiliy Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has joined a territorial defense battalion in his native Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion. The 34-year-old, who won gold in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in the featherweight and lightweight categories, respectively, was in Greece when the invasion began. His flight was delayed when air traffic was grounded, so he flew into Romania and traveled through that country Saturday to reach his home in Ukraine. Lomachenko's most recent fight was in December. Hall of Fame boxer Vitali Klitschko, who's the mayor of Ukraine's capital of Kyiv, has announced he was taking up arms to fight against the attack, and his brother, fellow Hall of Famer and former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, enlisted in Ukraine's reserve army earlier this month ahead of the expected invasion.

🏈BUCCANEERS' MARPET UNEXPECTEDLY RETIRES AT AGE 28: In a stunning and unexpected move, Tampa Bay Buccaneers left guard Ali Marpet announced on Instagram yesterday that he's retiring. The 28-year-old had just had his first Pro Bowl season and is considered one of the Bucs' best offensive linemen. ESPN cited a source as saying Marpet made the decision because of concerns about his overall health. Marpet has spent all seven of his NFL seasons with Tampa Bay, and was due to make $10 million next season. Marpet's father, Bill, told ESPN, "I think he accomplished his goals, values his health, is looking for more challenges."



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