Monday, January 9, 2023

Wake-UP Call: Biden Visits Border, But No Migrants


President Joe Biden walked a muddy stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and inspected a busy port of entry Sunday on his first trip to the region after two years in office, a visit shadowed by the fraught politics of immigration as Republicans blame him for record numbers of migrants crossing into the country.

At his first stop, the president observed as border officers in El Paso demonstrated how they search vehicles for drugs, money and other contraband. Next, he traveled to a dusty street with abandoned buildings and walked along a metal border fence that separated the U.S. city from Ciudad Juarez. His last stop was the El Paso County Migrant Services Center — but there were no migrants in sight. As he learned about the services offered there, he asked an aid worker, “If I could wave the wand, what should I do?” The answer was not audible.

El Paso Location Before Visit, Afterward


Biden’s nearly four-hour visit to El Paso was highly controlled. He encountered no migrants except when his motorcade drove alongside the border and about a dozen were visible on the Ciudad Juárez side. His visit did not include time at a Border Patrol station, where migrants who cross illegally are arrested and held before their release. He delivered no public remarks.


Abbott Gives Letter To Biden

➤TEXAS GOV FROSTY: The Republican governor of Texas delivered a frosty welcome to President Joe Biden in El Paso on Sunday, accusing him of opening the southern border to illegal immigrants and handing him a letter demanding that he take more action to tackle the crisis. Gov. Greg Abbott also blasted Biden's visit - his first to the border as president - saying that the city had been cleaned up for his trip. 'President Biden's border visit today is to a sanitized version of El Paso,' he tweeted, referencing the way law enforcement agents have cleared out migrant camps in the city. 'He has no plans to enforce federal immigration laws. Biden's plan will only entice MORE illegal crossings.'

➤ANYONE FEEL SORRY FOR HARRY? Prince Harry sat down with 60 Minutes' Anderson Cooper to promote his book. During the interview - his second of the day - Harry, 38, attacked his father's wife, claiming that her desire to 'rehabilitate her image' after Princess Diana branded her the 'third person in her marriage' in a 1995 interview made Camilla 'dangerous'. Harry claims her 'connections with the press' made her dangerous and alleges that 'there was an open willingness on both sides to trade information'. His latest attack on his father’s wife comes after Harry revealed in his explosive memoir Spare that he and his brother ‘begged’ Charles not to marry Camilla – something that he opened up about once again in this new TV interview, telling Cooper: ‘We thought it would do more harm than good… Why got that far if you don’t really need to?

Prince Harry has claimed that his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate's 'stereotyping' of his wife Meghan meant she was not welcomed as a member of the Royal Family. The Duke of Sussex was speaking in tonight's interview with ITV's Tom Bradby. He said that there was a 'lot of stereotyping' of Meghan after she was introduced to the Royal Family, because she is an 'American actress, divorced, biracial', adding that even he was 'guilty' of it. The ITV interview with Bradby is part of a publicity blitz for his bombshell memoir Spare, which is being released on Tuesday but was leaked at the end of last week. Harry and Bradby joked about how, after he introduced Meghan to his family, he discovered his family were fans of Suits, the show that she starred in during her time as an actress.


➤6-YEAR-OLD SHOOTS TEACHER: A six-year-old boy at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, intentionally shot his first-grade teacher as she was about to confiscate his gun. The incident occurred after the class had finished reading a story and was about to go to an art class. Children fled to another classroom for safety, where they remained in lockdown. Their teacher, Abby Zwerner, 25, was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries but is now in serious but stable condition. Classes have been canceled for the 550 students at the school, which serves kindergarten through fifth grade.


➤A BRIGHT GREEN COMET MAY BE VISIBLE WITH THE NAKED EYE STARTING LATER THIS MONTH: A comet known as C/2022 E3, marked by its bright green nucleus and long faint ion tail, will be on display in the Earth sky later this month, possibly for the first time ever or at least for thousands of years. According to Jon Giorgini, senior analyst at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, If C/2022 E3 has ever passed through the solar system before, it would have last been seen in the sky more than 10,000 years ago.

➤EATING ALMONDS DAILY BOOSTS EXERCISE RECOVERY MOLECULE BY 69%: A randomized controlled trial in Frontiers in Nutrition showed that female and male participants who ate 57g almonds daily for one month had more of the beneficial fat 12,13-dihydroxy-9Z-octadecenoic acid (12,13-DiHOME) in their blood immediately after a session of intense exercise than control participants. This molecule, a so-called oxylipin (oxidized fat) is synthetized from linoleic acid by brown fat tissue, and has a beneficial effect on metabolic health and energy regulation.

➤STUDY: EXERCISE LINKED TO REDUCED DEPRESSION IN CHILDREN:  An analysis of 21 studies involving 2,400 children and teens noted that exercise programs are associated with a reduction in depression symptoms. The data also suggests that an hour of physical activity three times a week provided the best relief.  The study also found that exercise programs lasting 12 weeks or less produced greater benefits. This could be because such a program gives participants a sense of accomplishment. "These physical activity programs that we have are reducing depressive symptoms without even trying," Professor Eduardo Bustamante said. "We're getting this impact without even really explicitly trying to reduce depression."
 
➤SORE THROAT, RUNNY NOSE NO LONGER COMMON COVID SYMPTOMS: According to ZOE Health Study, their latest data finds that the top symptoms reported by contributors with positive COVID tests are: a sore throat, a runny nose, a blocked nose, sneezing & a cough without phlegm. But over time, the health science company said their COVID research showed these symptoms change frequently. Now, ZOE Health Study decided to report the top ten symptoms, which they claim remain more stable. Those symptoms include: a headache, a cough with phlegm, a hoarse voice, muscle aches and pains, an altered sense of smell. A publication in the National Journal of Medicine reports that muscle aches and pains (also known as myalgia) can be the onset symptom of 36% of patients with COVID-19.

🎥‘AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER’ BECOMES SEVENTH HIGHEST-GROSSING FILM OF ALL TIME: Avatar: The Way of Water brought in $45 million at the box office over the weekend, causing the running total to pass the half-billion mark domestically, according to Deadline. With $1.7 billion globally, the film has become the seventh-highest grossing film ever, surpassing Jurassic World at $1.67 million.  In other movie news, the horror flick M3GAN had a successful debut over the weekend, bringing in $30.2 million and taking second place at the domestic box office. Box Office Numbers from Friday (January 6th) through Sunday (January 8th):

1. Avatar: The Way of Water, $45 million
2. M3GAN, $30.2 million
3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, $13.1 million
4. A Man Called Otto, $4.2 million
5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, $3.39 million
6. I Wanna Dance With Somebody, $2.4 million
7. The Whale, $1.5 million
8. Babylon, $1.4 million
9. Violent Night, $740,000
10. The Menu, $713,000


🏈TEXANS COACH FIRED: Lovie Smith was fired as coach of the Houston Texans on Sunday night after just one season in which the team went 3-13-1. It’s the second straight season in which the Texans have fired a coach after just one year. They parted ways with David Culley last January after he went 4-13 in his only season. “I’m constantly evaluating our football operation and believe this is the best decision for us at this time,” general manager Nick Caserio said in a statement announcing Smith’s firing. “It is my responsibility to build a comprehensive and competitive program that can sustain success over a long period of time. We aren’t there right now, however, with the support of the (team owner) McNair family and the resources available to us, I’m confident in the direction of our football program moving forward.”  The Texans had the league’s worst record for most of the season, but won two of their last three games, capped by Sunday’s win over the Colts that cost the team the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft. 

🏈NFL SCORES:

  • Atlanta Falcons 30 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17
  • Buffalo Bills 35 New England Patriots 23
  • Minnesota Vikings 29 vs Chicago Bears 13
  • Cincinnati Bengals 27 Baltimore Ravens 16
  • Houston Texans 32 vs Indianapolis Colts 31
  • Miami Dolphins 11 New York Jets 6
  • Carolina Panthers 10 vs New Orleans Saints 7
  • Pittsburgh Steelers 28 Cleveland Browns 14
  • Denver Broncos 31 Los Angeles Chargers 28
  • Philadelphia Eagles 22 New York Giants 16
  • San Francisco 49ers 38 Arizona Cardinals 13
  • Seattle Seahawks 18 Los Angeles Rams 16
  • Washington Commanders 26 Dallas Cowboys 6
  • Detroit Lions 20 vs Green Bay Packers 16

🏈RAVENS' JUSTIN HOUSTON MISSES $500K BONUS BY HALF A SACK: Baltimore Ravens linebacker Justin Houston entered Week 18 needing one more sack to activate a portion of a $1.5 million incentive written into his contract. Houston got to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow early in the fourth quarter and Houston was initially credited with the full sack, pushing him to 10 sacks. However, on closer examination, it was ruled that the sack would be split between Houston and Odafe Oweh. This stat correction knocked Houston's sack total back down from 10 to 9.5 costing him the incentive. Houston wasn't able to tack on another sack (or half a sack) in the game's remaining 11 minutes.

🏈CHICAGO BEARS CLINCH NO. 1 OVERALL PICK WITH LOSS AND TEXANS VICTORY: The Bears earned the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft after a 29-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the season finale. Chicago, which held the No. 2 pick entering Week 18, jumped Houston in the draft order after the Texans beat the Indianapolis Colts 32-31. The Bears needed to lose and have the Texans win to secure the top spot in the draft.

⚾LOS ANGELES DODGERS CUT TIES WITH PITCHER TREVOR BAUER: The Los Angeles Dodgers cut ties with starting pitcher Trevor Bauer on Friday. He was placed on unconditional release waivers last Thursday and will become an official free on Friday, Jan. 13th. The Dodgers' decision came two weeks after an independent arbitrator trimmed Bauer's suspension from 324 games to 194, reinstating him immediately but docking his pay for another 50 games to begin the 2023 season.

⚾SEATTLE MARINERS AGREE ON 1-YEAR, $7 MILLION DEAL WITH AJ POLLOCK: Outfielder AJ Pollock and the Seattle Mariners are in agreement on a one-year, $7 million contract. The deal, which is pending a physical, would bring Pollock, 35, to Seattle to join outfielder Teoscar Hernandez and second baseman Kolten Wong on a Mariners team that made the postseason for the first time in two decades last season.

➤STILL STORMY: California was hit with more turbulent weather Sunday as thunderstorms, snow and damaging winds swept into the northern part the state, preceding another series of incoming storms and raising the potential for road flooding, rising rivers and mudslides on soils already saturated after days of rain. The National Weather Service warned of a “relentless parade of atmospheric rivers” — storms that are long plumes of moisture stretching out into the Pacific capable of dropping staggering amounts of rain and snow.  In the state capital, more than 60,000 customers were still without electricity Sunday evening — down from more than 350,000 — after gusts of 60 mph (97 kph) knocked trees into power lines, according to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

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