Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Wake-Up Call: U-S Sending More Armor To Ukraine


The United States and Germany are poised to boost Ukraine's war effort with the delivery of heavy tanks, sources said, support Russia condemned as a "blatant provocation". The expected tank deliveries come as Ukraine dismissed several senior officials as part of an anti-corruption drive, an issue that has become even more important given the need to keep Western backers onside. Washington was expected to announce as soon as Wednesday that it will send M1 Abrams tanks and Berlin has decided to dispatch Leopard 2 tanks, the sources said.

While there was no official confirmation, officials in Kyiv hailed what they see as a possible gamechanger in a war that is now 11 months old - even if the rumored tank numbers, in the dozens, would be short of the hundreds they say they need.

➤CLASSIFIED DOCS: Former President Jimmy Carter once found classified documents in his home, according to a new report, illustrating the long-running nature of the records-control issues now plaguing President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Carter found the classified materials at his home in Plains, Georgia and returned them to the National Archives. The revelation comes as former Vice President Mike Pence also discovered classified records in his home, saying that like Biden he had turned them over willingly after a search he had requested. Carter, a Democrat, left office in 1981, but it is unclear at what point the classified documents were discovered at his home and handed in. 

Barack Obama's spokesman on Tuesday refused to confirm whether the former president was scouring his own homes for classified material, as legal and political analysts said the waters were now muddy. Joe Biden and his team alerted the Justice Department to the presence of the files and handed them over, while Donald Trump spent months arguing about the circumstances of his own papers. Yet Trump insists he is being treated unfairly. 'Politically it has effectively let former President Donald J. Trump off the hook for hoarding secret papers,' wrote Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times. David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, told Baker that although Trump's actions and Biden's were dramatically different, 'in the court of public opinion' they may be perceived as equal.

➤GOP'S McCARTHY SAYS HE'LL BLOCK DEM FROM COMMITTEES: Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday confirmed he was blocking Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee, citing Schiff 'lying to the public' and Swalwell's association with a Chinese spy. Both Schiff and Swalwell reacted angrily, insisting they had done nothing wrong and saying they were being singled out for their investigation into Donald Trump. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a letter sent to McCarthy over the weekend, asked that Schiff and Swalwell be reappointed to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a prestigious panel with access to sensitive, classified information. There is no 'precedent or justification' for rejecting them, Jeffries said. McCarthy refused, and on Tuesday angrily defended his decision.

🏠PRICES FOR HOUSES EXPECTED TO DROP: House prices will plummet this year with San Jose, Austin, Phoenix, and San Diego staring down the barrel of 25% boom-to-bust declines, according to Goldman Sachs. The Fed's ongoing inflation battle, which sent mortgage rates soaring from 3% to 7% in 2022, has throttled the housing market and sparked the biggest price correction since the 2008 crash. Goldman warned investors in a research paper earlier this month titled, 'Getting worse before getting better', that housing markets were particularly overheated in the Southwest and Pacific Coast. While Goldman's outlook for the national housing market is less dire, with prices seen dropping 6% this year before rising next year, certain cities could see sharp declines in home valuations. San Jose, Austin, Phoenix, and San Diego are projected to be stung with peak-to-trough declines of 25% that would rival the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis which saw house prices plunge 27% nationwide. 

➤PROPOSED WEALTH TAX IN CALIFORNIA WOULD MAKE RICH RESIDENTS PAY EVEN AFTER THEY LEAVE STATE: California’s richest residents, even those who move out of state, could be required to pay a new wealth tax as early as next year. A new bill proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee would tack on an additional 1.5% tax for Californians who have a worldwide net worth of more than $1 billion, beginning January 2024. An extra 1% tax would be added to those who make more than $50 million, beginning in 2026.



➤HAWAII MAN IMPRISONED FOR 1991 MURDER, RAPE RELEASED: A judge on Tuesday ordered a man released from prison immediately after his attorneys presented new evidence and argued that he didn’t commit the crimes he was convicted of and spent more than 20 years locked up for: the 1991 murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of a woman visiting Hawaii. Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, who was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 130 years in prison, should be “released from his shackles immediately,” Judge Peter Kubota ruled.

➤ARKANSAS OFFICERS CHARGED IN VIOLENT ARREST CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Two former Arkansas law enforcement officers are charged with civil rights violations in the violent arrest of a man outside a convenience store that was caught on video and widely shared on social media. Former Crawford County sheriff's deputies Zack King and Levi White are charged with using excessive force by hitting Randal Worcester multiple times while he was on the ground during an Aug. 21 arrest. A bystander used a cellphone to record the arrest in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, near the border with Oklahoma. If convicted, each deputy faces up to 10 years in prison.

⏰'DOOMSDAY CLOCK' MOVES CLOSEST EVER TO MIDNIGHT:  Top scientists and security experts moved the "Doomsday Clock" forward on Tuesday to just 90 seconds to midnight, signaling an increased risk to humanity's survival from the nuclear shadow over the Ukraine conflict and the growing climate crisis. According to Yahoo News, the new timing of the clock set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is closer to midnight than ever before.

The hands of the clock, which the Bulletin describes as a "metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation," had been at 100 seconds to midnight since January 2020, the closest to midnight it had been in its history. "We are living in a time of unprecedented danger, and the Doomsday Clock time reflects that reality," said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. "90 seconds to midnight is the closest the clock has ever been set to midnight, and it's a decision our experts do not take lightly," Bronson said.

🎥‘EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE’ LEADS THE 2023 OSCAR NOMINATIONS: The 95th annual Academy Award nominations were announced on Tuesday (January 24th), and Everything Everywhere All at Once took the lead with 11 nods. The Banshees of Inisherin and All Quiet on the Western Front followed close behind with nine nods each. All three films are nominated for Best Picture, alongside big box office hits like Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick.

Variety reports that this year’s lineup is historic for Asian actors, who received more nominations in 2023 than any year prior. Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu were all nominated for their roles in Everything Everywhere All at Once, while Hong Chau was nominated for her role in The Whale. However, as no Black actors were nominated in the lead acting categories and no women were nominated for Best Director, some are criticizing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over a lack of diversity. Till director Chinonye Chukwu wrote on Instagram Tuesday (January 24th): “We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women.”

Two of the biggest snubs this year include Viola Davis in The Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler in Till. Other snubs include Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick and Brad Pitt in Babylon.

Those celebrating include Brendan Fraser, who received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor in The Whale, and Austin Butler for his role in Elvis. Butler dedicated his nomination to Lisa Marie Presley. Angela Bassett also celebrated her nod for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as did Jamie Lee Curtis for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

➤STUDY: ANTI-AGING GENE COULD BE THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH:  Scientists have used an anti-aging gene to create a treatment that could rewind your heart's biological age! A team from the University of Bristol and the MutiMedica Group studied the mutant gene BPIFB4, a gene found in many people who live to be 100. These gene could keep the heart young by protecting it from disease. Scientists administered a mutant anti-aging gene to mice and stopped decay in heart function. The older mice actually saw their hearts "de-age!" The study also examined how the treatment would work on human heart cells in a lab, with positive results. "Our findings confirm the healthy mutant gene can reverse the decline of heart performance in older people," Professor Paolo Madeddu said. "We are now interested in determining if giving the protein instead of the gene can also work."


⚾EIGHT-TIME GOLD GLOVE 3B SCOTT ROLEN MAKES BASEBALL HALL OF FAME: Scott Rolen has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, preventing a shutout in the BBWAA balloting for the second time in three years. None of the other 27 players listed on the 2023 Hall ballot cleared the 75% threshold for election, though there were a couple of near-misses.


🏀NBA ALL-STAR CAPTAINS PICKING ROSTERS LIVE ON NIGHT OF GAME: The NBA All-Star Game is Feb. 19. And nobody will know the All-Star rosters until that night. Not even the players themselves.  The team captains, probably LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and either Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo or Brooklyn's Kevin Durant, will make their picks in a live, televised pregame segment shortly before the game begins in Salt Lake City.

⚾WHITE SOX'S MIKE CLEVINGER UNDER INVESTIGATION BY MLB: Mike Clevinger, a starting pitcher who signed with the Chicago White Sox earlier this offseason, is under investigation for allegedly violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy. The investigation stems from allegations made by a woman, Olivia Finestead, who accused Clevinger of physical and emotional abuse toward his three children and their two mothers, herself included. She agreed to be named in an interview with The Athletic.

🏈49ERS DE CHARLES OMENIHU ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Charles Omenihu was arrested on Monday afternoon on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence. Omenihu, 25, was arrested in San Jose after police were called to a home to investigate a domestic violence report. When they arrived, Omenihu's girlfriend, whose name is being withheld, alleged that Omenihu had pushed her to the ground during an argument. According to the police, she complained of pain in her arm, but declined to seek medical treatment, and the officers claim to have seen no visible injuries.

🏀BRONNY JAMES, D.J. WAGNER HEADLINE BOYS MCDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN ROSTER: The McDonald's All-American Game is the most prestigious high school basketball honor for any high school senior, and the 2023 game will feature a pair of legacy kids: Bronny James and D.J. Wagner. LeBron James played in the game in 2003, and his son, Bronny, was one of the 24 players announced Tuesday as participating this year.

🏀NBA SCORES:
  • Indiana Pacers 116 Chicago Bulls 110
  • Miami Heat 98 Boston Celtics 95
  • New York Knicks 105 Cleveland Cavaliers 103
  • Denver Nuggets 99 New Orleans Pelicans 98
  • Washington Wizards 127 Dallas Mavericks 126
  • Phoenix Subs 128 Charlotte Hornets 97
  • Los Angeles Clippers 133 Los Angeles Lakers 115



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