Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Russian Navy Joins Attack On Port City


Russia began strikes on the besieged city of Mariupol from naval vessels in the Sea of Azov, AP cited a senior U.S. defense officials as saying Tuesday (March 22nd), adding to the bombardment of the port city that's been going on for weeks using air and land strikes. In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of blocking a humanitarian aid convoy trying to get desperately needed food and other supplies into Mariupol despite agreeing to the route ahead of time, and Ukrainian leaders charged Russia seized 15 rescue workers and aid drivers from the convoy.


 Zelenskyy also said more than 7,000 people were evacuated from Mariupol Tuesday, and estimated that about 100,000 civilians still remained in the city, which had a pre-war population of 430,000.

The Ukrainian state agency responsible for the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the contaminated area around the decommissioned nuclear plant, said yesterday that Russian military forces had destroyed a new laboratory at the Chernobyl power plant. The lab, among other things, works to improve management of radioactive waste. The agency said the lab contained, quote, "highly active samples and samples of radionuclides that are now in the hands of the enemy." Radionuclides are unstable atoms of chemical elements that release radiation.


Biden Leaving for Europe: President Biden is leaving today for Europe, where he will attend an emergency NATO summit Thursday in Brussels on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Biden, who will also address the European Council summit, plans to announce new sanctions on Russia while in Brussels, according to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Biden will also travel to Poland during his trip, which has taken in more than two million of the 3.5 million refugees who've fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion.

Polish President Compares Russian Attacks to Nazi's Actions: Poland's President Andrzej Duda yesterday compared Russia's attacks on Ukraine to the Nazis' actions during World War Two, specifically mentioning the Polish capital of Warsaw. He said, "My countrymen, Poles, are looking today at Mariupol and are saying, 'God . . . Mariupol looks like Warsaw did in 1944 when Nazis, Hitler’s Germans, were brutally bombing houses, killing people, killing civilians with no mercy at all.'"

NY Post 3/23/22

➤TORNADO STRIKES PARTS OF NEW ORLEANS, SUBURBS: At least one person was killed when a tornado struck parts of New Orleans and its suburbs last night, with parts of St. Bernard Parish, which borders New Orleans to the southeast, appearing to get the worst of it. Parish President Guy McInnis said there was widespread damage. The tornado appeared to have also moved through the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. But New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell tweeted that there were no reports of casualties or significant damage to the city. The same storm system had caused tornadoes that hit parts of Texas and Oklahoma, killing one person and causing widespread damage. Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a disaster declaration for 16 counties.

 

➤SUPREME COURT NOMINEE JACKSON DEFENDS RECORD ON SECOND DAY OF SENATE HEARINGS: Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson strongly defended her record during the second day of her Senate confirmation hearings Tuesday, contesting claims from some Republican senators that she was soft on crime. In a long day of questioning that lasted more than 13 hours, Jackson noted that her brother and two uncles were police officers, stating, "crime and the effect on the community, and the need for law enforcement -- those are not abstract concepts or political slogans to me." Questioned by Republican senators about representing Guantanamo Bay detainees 15 years ago, Jackson said public defenders don’t pick their clients and are, quote, "standing up for the constitutional value of representation." She was also asked by several GOP senators about child porn sentences she gave that were lighter than federal guidlines, and she said sentences are based on many factors, not just the guidelines. There will be second day of questioning by senators today.

➤SEARCH AT CHINESE PLANE CRASH SITE LOOKS FOR BLACK BOXES: The search at the site of a plane crash in China Monday was suspended Wednesday due to rain at the remote mountain site, where the China Eastern Boeing 737-800 plunged crashed about an hour after takeoff and burst into flame with 123 passengers and crew on board. The searches haven't found any survivors, and were still looking for the two black boxes that could help them determine what caused the plane to go into an unexplained dive. The director of China's Office of Aviation Safety said Tuesday evening that an air traffic controller tried to contact the pilots several times after seeing the plane’s altitude drop sharply, but got no reply.

➤RUSSIA'S JAILED TOP OPPOSITION LEADER SENTENCED TO NINE MORE YEARS IN PRISON: Russia's jailed top opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was convicted Tuesday of fraud and contempt of court and sentenced to nine more years in prison. The action was seen as an effort to keep President Vladimir Putin's biggest foe in prison for as long as possible. Navalny is already serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for parole violation. He was jailed after surviving a 2020 poisoning with a nerve agent that he blames on the Kremlin. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price denounced what he called the court's "sham ruling," saying it was, quote, "the latest in a series of attempts to silence Navalny and other opposition figures and independent voices."


💰REPORT..A THIRD OF U-S WORKFORCE EARN LESS THAN $15 AN HOUR:  A new report out yesterday from Oxfam America shows that just under one-third of the American workforce, 32 percent of workers, make less than $15 an hour. Women are more likely to be in this category, at 40 percent of female workers compared to 25 percent of male workers. People of color are also more likely to make less than $15 an hour. The information comes as the Democratic-led effort to boost the national minimum wage to $15 an hour has stalled in Congress. The national minimum wage was last raised in 2009 to $7.25 an hour. However, some minimum wage workers do make more than that if the minimum wage in their state is higher.

😃WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT REVEALS THE US HAS GOTTEN HAPPIER IN 2022: The US seems to be getting happier. The annual World Happiness Report for 2022 was recently released, and the U.S. moved up three spots in the rankings from last year. In 2021, the U.S. was ranked the 19th happiest country in the world, and this year, it’s ranked the 16th happiest out of 146 countries. Finland managed to maintain its position as the happiest country in the world for the fifth year in a row, and Denmark follows in second place, with Iceland in third, Switzerland in fourth, and the Netherlands in fifth. Coming in sixth was Luxembourg, followed by Sweden, Norway, Israel, and New Zealand came in tenth place. Jeffrey Sachs, one of the editors of the report, said the World Happiness Report was created out of a “worldwide determination to find the path to greater global well-being” and that “Now, at a time of pandemic and war, we need such an effort more than ever. And the lesson of the World Happiness Report over the years is that social support, generosity to one another, and honesty in government are crucial for well-being.”

😔PROLONGED GRIEF DISORDER IS NOW OFFICIALLY CONSIDERED A MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER:  A new diagnosis has been added to the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the catalog of psychological conditions used widely by clinicians to diagnose patients is the standard classification of mental disorders. That new condition is prolonged grief disorder. It’s characterized by incapacitating feelings of grief, prolonged grief disorder happens when a person loses someone close to them within at least six months for children and adolescents or within at least 12 months for adults. Other signs: when the person’s bereavement lasts longer than social norms, causes distress or problems functioning in important aspects of the person’s life, identity disruption, a marked sense of disbelief about the death, avoidance of reminders that person is dead, intense emotional pain, intense loneliness, emotional numbness, or a feeling that life is meaningless, among others. President of the American Psychological Association (APA), Dr. Vivian Pender says, “The circumstances in which we are living, with more than 675,000 deaths due to COVID, may make prolonged grief disorder more prevalent.” The inclusion of prolonged grief disorder into the DSM means clinicians can now bill insurance companies for treating people for the condition.

➤UTAH, INDIANA GOVERNORS VETO TRANSGENDER SPORTS BANS: Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox yesterday vetoed a ban on transgender students playing in girls’ sports, one day after fellow Republican Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana also vetoed a transgender sports ban in his state. Cox cited the possible effect on transgender young people, saying, "I always try to err on the side of kindness, compassion and mercy," while Holcomb said Indiana's Legislature hadn't demonstrated transgender youth had undermined fairness in sports. Eleven states have enacted bans targeting transgender athletes.


🎾WOMEN'S TOP-RANKED TENNIS PLAYER BARTY RETIRES AT AGE 25: Australian Ash Barty, the world's top-ranked women's tennis player, made the surprise announcement Wednesday that she's retiring from the sport at age 25, less than two months after winning the Australian Open for her third Grand Slam singles title. Barty said in a video posted on her Instagram account that it was time to, quote, "chase other dreams," saying, "I just know at the moment, in my heart, for me as a person, this is right." She stated, "I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top level any more."

🏈ARMSTEAD REACHES DEAL WITH DOLPHINS: Offensive tackle Terron Armstead, one of this year's top NFL free agents, has reached a deal with the Miami Dolphins, confirming the news in a video posted to Instagram yesterday, saying, "I'll be taking my talents to South Beach." ESPN reported that Armstead agreed to a five-year deal worth up to $87.5 million. Armstead, who's a three-time Pro Bowler, has been with the New Orleans Saints for his entire nine-year NFL career.

⚾MLB, PLAYERS AGREE TO 'SHOHEI OHTANI RULE': MLB and the players' union have agreed to a rule change being dubbed the "Shohei Ohtani rule," the New York Post reported yesterday, after the Los Angeles Angels player who's both a star pitcher and hitter. With the designated hitter having now been expanded to the National League, the new rule says that if the starting pitcher is also hitting in the lineup, the player can remain in the game as the DH even if he's been pulled as the pitcher for a reliever. The agreement also includes the return of having a runner put on second base to begin each inning in extra innings, but it's only for the upcoming 2022 season.
 

➤CHEERLEADER WHO FREED STUCK BALL DURING MARCH MADNESS GETS OWN NIL DEAL: Cassidy Cerny, the cheerleader who was lifted up by her teammate to free a basketball that was stuck in the backboard during the game between Indiana and Saint Mary's during the first round of the men's NCAA basketball tournament last week, has gotten her own name, image and likeness (NIL) deal. Cerny's deal is with sports apparel company Break T., which has created a T-shirt showing the moment that went viral with the caption, "The cheerleader saves the day."




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