;)
02-22-2022*
*AND, as Bobby Lee notes, Twosday.
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Vladimir Isachenkov, et al., of the AP: "President Joe Biden announced the U.S. was ordering heavy financial sanctions against Russian banks and oligarchs on Tuesday, declaring that Moscow had flagrantly violated international law in what he called the 'beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.' 'None of us will be fooled' by Russian President Vladimir Putin's claims about Ukraine, the U.S. President said. And he said more sanctions could be on the way if Putin proceeds further."
Andrew Das of the New York Times: "A six-year fight over equal pay that had pitted key members of the World Cup-winning United States women's soccer team against their sport's national governing body ended on Tuesday morning with a settlement that included a multimillion-dollar payment to the players and a promise by their federation to equalize pay between the men's and women's national teams. Under the terms of the agreement, the athletes -- a group consisting of several dozen current and former women's national team players -- will share $24 million in payments from the federation, U.S. Soccer. The bulk of that figure is back pay, a tacit admission that compensation for the men's and women's teams had been unequal for years."
Joe Drape of the New York Times: "Medina Spirit is no longer the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The colt, who died unexpectedly in December, was officially disqualified by Kentucky racing officials on Monday for failing a drug test after winning the race.... The ruling also erased the Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's seventh Kentucky Derby victory, which had been a record. In addition, Baffert was suspended for 90 days beginning March 8 and fined $7,500."
Fuhgeddaboudit. John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away an appeal by former President Trump in his dispute with congressional investigators who have sought access to Trump-era records as part of a House panel's investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The court's move, which came in a brief unsigned order issued without comment, comes after the justices denied Trump's emergency request to block the transfer of his White House records from the National Archives to the House select committee, a process that began last month. Tuesday's development formally ends Trump's legal effort to stymie lawmakers' efforts to obtain a batch of schedules, call logs, emails and other requested documents that the committee says could illuminate key circumstances surrounding the deadly Capitol riot."
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Russ Bynum of the AP: "The three men convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery's fatal shooting were found guilty of federal hate crimes Tuesday for violating Arbery's civil rights and targeting him because he was Black. The jury reached its decision after several hours of deliberation on the charges against father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William 'Roddie' Bryan. During the trial, prosecutors showed roughly two dozen text messages and social media posts in which Travis McMichael and Bryan used racist slurs and made derogatory comments about Black people. The FBI wasn't able to access Greg McMichael's phone because it was encrypted. The McMichaels grabbed guns and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue Arbery after seeing him running in their neighborhood outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick in February 2020. Bryan joined the pursuit in his own pickup and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery."
Adam Zagoria of the New York Times: "After slapping an assistant coach for the Wisconsin men's basketball team in the head in the handshake line after his team's loss on Sunday, Michigan Coach Juwan Howard was suspended for five games -- the remainder of the regular season -- and fined $40,000, the Big Ten Conference announced on Monday. He will be eligible to return for the conference tournament. In a statement on Monday, Howard apologized for the first time. 'After taking time to reflect on all that happened, I realize how unacceptable both my actions and words were, and how they affected so many,' Howard said in the statement. 'I am truly sorry.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Ukraine/Russia crisis are here: "The United States and allied nations sought to isolate Russia on Monday at an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting over the Ukraine crisis, calling Moscow's recognition of two separatist regions and the deployment of Russian troops a blunt defiance of international law that risks war. The unusual late-evening meeting of the Council was requested by Ukraine after President Vladimir V. Putin ordered troops into the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, escalating a conflict that Western officials warn could explode into one of the biggest armed clashes in Europe since World War II." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of the Ukraine/Russia crisis are here: "The United States and its allies are gearing up to impose a fresh set of sanctions on Russia Tuesday after Moscow formally recognized two breakaway enclaves in eastern Ukraine and sent so-called peacekeeping troops there Monday, in a move that the West fears could create a pretext for a wider invasion of Kyiv. Russia's maneuvers appeared to be increasingly out of step with world opinion, and were sharply rebuked by several nations at a hastily convened meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday night. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting the world to 'travel back in time to a time before the United Nations -- to a time when empires ruled the world,' and testing the international rules-based system." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates are here.
Myah Ward of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Monday issued an executive order sanctioning Russia for recognizing two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine as independent.... Biden's executive order will 'prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by U.S. persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine' as well as 'provide authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine,' [press secretary Jen] Psaki said in a statement....'... these measures are separate from and would be in addition to the swift and severe economic measures we have been preparing in coordination with Allies and partners should Russia further invade Ukraine,' the White House said."
Foster Klug of the AP: "World leaders scrambled Tuesday to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin -- and to signal possible sanctions -- after he ordered his forces into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. While Russia's troop movements were still not clear, leaders in Asia and elsewhere voiced strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty, along with worries about how a European war could hurt global and local economies and endanger foreign nationals trapped in Ukraine.... China, a traditional ally of Russia, sounded a cautious note, calling for restraint and a diplomatic solution to the crisis."
Monique Beals of the Hill: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that he would not concede his country's land despite escalating tensions with Russia amid the possibility of an invasion. 'We are committed to the peaceful and diplomatic path, we will follow it and only it,' Zelensky said, according to Reuters. 'But we are on our own land, we are not afraid of anything and anybody, we owe nothing to no one, and we will give nothing to no one.' The president also accused Moscow of violating Ukraine's sovereign territory and called for an emergency meeting of the leaders from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France as well as support from Ukraine's allies, Reuters reported."
Ivana Kottasová, et al., of CNN: "Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops into separatist-held parts of eastern Ukraine in what the Kremlin called a 'peacekeeping' mission, just hours after he signed decrees recognizing the independence of the Moscow-backed regions. It is unclear if Russian troop movements marked the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine that Western leaders have warned about for weeks. But multiple US and Western officials cautioned Monday's move could serve as the opening salvo of a larger military operation targeting the country."
Robyn Dixon, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of two Moscow-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and ordered Russian forces onto their territory for 'peacekeeping' purposes, a dramatic escalation in a crisis that is threatening a full-scale war. Putin's action -- in direct defiance of U.S. and European warnings -- was swiftly condemned by Washington and Brussels, with top officials promising sanctions in response to the recognition of the self-declared republics. Secretary of State Antony Blinken decried the recognition as 'a clear attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.' But amid reports of Russian military columns already appearing in the breakaway territories late Monday, the White House stopped short of announcing the full-fledged sanctions that President Biden had said Russia would face in the event of an invasion."
The New York Times has maps of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions here.
Vladimir Isachenkov, et al., of the AP: "A long-feared Russian invasion of Ukraine appeared to be imminent Monday, if not already underway, with Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering forces into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine. A vaguely worded decree signed by Putin did not say if troops were on the move, and it cast the order as an effort to 'maintain peace.' But it appeared to dash the slim remaining hopes of averting a major conflict in Europe that could cause massive casualties, energy shortages on the continent and economic chaos around the globe." This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon. ~~~
~~~~ Earlier Lede: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will decide later Monday whether to recognize the independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, a move that would ratchet up tensions with the West amid fears that Moscow could launch an invasion of Ukraine imminently. At the carefully orchestrated, pre-recorded meeting of the presidential Security Council, a stream of top Russian officials argued for recognizing the separatist regions' independence, though some suggested Putin didn't have to do it immediately. It came amid a spike in skirmishes in those regions that Western powers believe Russia could use as a pretext for an attack on the western-looking democracy that has defied Moscow's attempts to pull it back into its orbit." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sorta like the U.S. noting that there are many English-speaking people living in Toronto, Ottawa & Montreal, so we'll just "recognize-by-force" that region of Canada as an "independent nation" allied with the U.S. Too bad, Canada, our military is bigger than your military.
Monique Beals of the Hill: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Monday that the State Department would be relocating its embassy operations to Poland from Ukraine amid a possible invasion by Russia.... Blinken said in a statement ... that the U.S. commitment to Ukraine remained 'unwavering.'"
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: Putin is missing his puppet Donald Trump. "With President Biden leading the response, Putin's potential costs are rising -- while his hoped-for benefits have evaporated.... His threat to invade has not divided and weakened the Western alliance. Thanks largely to Biden, it has had the opposite effect.... Contrast [Biden's actions] with what possibly, or probably, would have happened had Trump still been in office. His 'America First' foreign policy was infused with a heavy dose of the kind of neo-isolationism that is nightly given voice by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who argues that Putin is justified in insisting that Ukraine be firmly within Russia's orbit and never join NATO."
Another Democratic President Cleans Up Mess Left by Republican President*. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "In the year since President Biden halted border wall construction, his administration has been developing plans to put its own stamp on Trump's pet project.... In recent weeks, CBP officials have been soliciting input from ranchers, environmental advocates, landowners and others as the Biden administration prepares to spend hundreds of millions for border wall remediation. The money, which will include unused construction funds, will go to clean up worksites, stabilize areas facing erosion and remedy some of the worst environmental damage, while also allowing CBP to close gaps in the wall. The precise details -- where and how much money -- remain undefined." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Devin Nunes Is in Charge. What Could Go Wrong? Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "'Truth Social, the Trump-created Twitter alternative, went live in Apple's App Store on Sunday night, and would-be users immediately ran into glitches and error messages, [the Daily Beast reported]. 'Around 11 p.m. ET, select users who tried to create accounts were repeatedly met with a red error warning: "Something went wrong. Please try again." Shortly thereafter, around midnight, others were told told...: "Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist."'... Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), now heading up ... Donald Trump's just-launched Twitter competitor 'Truth Social' is saying he hopes to have all of the problems in the service fixed by late March." The Beast story, which is firewalled, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Three doses of a Covid vaccine -- or even just two -- are enough to protect most people from serious illness and death for a long time..., a flurry of new ... studies suggest[s].... The Omicron variant can dodge antibodies -- immune molecules that prevent the virus from infecting cells -- produced after two doses of a Covid vaccine. But a third shot of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech or by Moderna prompts the body to make a much wider variety of antibodies, which would be difficult for any variant of the virus to evade, according to the most recent study, posted online on Tuesday. The diverse repertoire of antibodies produced should be able to protect people from new variants, even those that differ significantly from the original version of the virus, the study suggests."
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Say What? WHAT? Sam Sachs of WFLA Tampa: "A new amendment to Florida's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill would explicitly require schools to inform parents of their child's sexual orientation, and put a deadline on how soon they must tell the family. The amendment filed by bill sponsor Rep. Joe Harding, R-Williston, on Feb. 18 changes the bill to instead not only require disclosure, but requires schools to tell parents within six weeks of learning the student is any sexual orientation other than straight.... As written, the amendment does not specify how the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of the student would be protected...."
Georgia. Tariro Mzezewa & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A federal prosecutor in the hate crimes trial for the three white men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery told the jury in closing arguments on Monday that the defendants had targeted Mr. Arbery because of his race and did not help him after he was shot because they considered him to be 'subhuman.'... On Monday afternoon, a jury began deliberating on whether the five-minute pursuit, which ended in the fatal shooting of Mr. Arbery, amounted to a crime of interfering with his right to use public streets because of his 'race and color,' as an indictment put it."
Minnesota. Tim Arango of the New York Times: "The defense cases in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers accused of crimes in the death of George Floyd concluded on Monday with a common theme: that they were not guilty because their training led them to trust the senior officer at the scene, Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee to the neck of Mr. Floyd for more than nine minutes until he stopped breathing. The three former officers -- Tou Thao, 36; J. Alexander Kueng, 28; and Thomas Lane, 38 -- are accused of violating Mr. Floyd's constitutional rights by not intervening against Mr. Chauvin and by failing to provide Mr. Floyd with medical care. All three testified in their own defense."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Paul Farmer, a physician, anthropologist and humanitarian who gained global acclaim for his work delivering high-quality health care to some of the world's poorest people, died on Monday on the grounds of a hospital and university he had helped establish in Butaro, Rwanda. He was 62. Partners in Health, the global public health organization that Dr. Farmer helped found, announced his death in a statement that did not specify the cause." ~~~
~~~ John Green, in a Washington Post op-ed, remembers Paul Farmer. and how he "saved millions of lives."
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Reader Comments (17)
Could it be merely coincidence that 22-02-2022, Twosday, happens to fall on a Tuesday?
As for the problems with Trumps version of 'Pravda", is Devin Nunez really in charge or is it his cow?
Just got a feeling we won't have much levity today, so .....
I guess that trump tower moscow is now on hold unless he becomes
president* again and hooks up with his old buddy Vlad. Hopefully
they'll both ride shirtless into the sunset and never be seen again.
Not to Florida parents: actually you don't really have to wait for
the school to report your kids sexual orientation if you pay attention.
For example, if your son only dates boys, that's a pretty good
indication, so thought my parents.
Cheer up everyone and get out those muffin tins. It's national
muffin day.
Forrest!
Dude! I haven’t even had my tea yet and now I have the extremely disgusting image of Fatso Trumpy, shirtless, on a horse, the horse laboring under its wobbly load, as he and the poor creature amble after a shirtless Putin like a dim Sancho Panza bouncing after a murderous Don Quixote.
Now I’ve got to come up with a better image to replace that horrid mental spectacle, like maybe roadkill baking in the sun, being picked over by vultures.
Geeez.
Just wondering…
How often have blustering, bellicose bullies cited war as an instrument of peacekeeping? Hmmm…just recently, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and now Putin. There’s a rogues gallery for you. Peacekeepers, all. But Putin will have a ways to go to catch up to Bush. His “peacekeeping” is still going on.
@Forrest Morris: I can see where a few kids in Florida (like about 10 of them) might be glad to have a trusted teacher help them come out to their parents. But the idea of having the school "tell on" gay kids is horrifying to me. In fact, when I was, say 14, I would have been horrified to have the school notify my parents of anything about me having to do with sex.
Semper paratus!
War is imminent, or…perhaps, could be sidestepped by some miracle of diplomacy. Whatever the outcome, Fox is prepared. For anything.
On one hand, Biden isn’t doing enough. On the other, too much. So, if Putin rolls his tanks into Kyiv (didn’t it used to be Kiev?), starts murdering Ukrainians, and Biden doesn’t immediately nuke him, he’s a useless wuss. BUT, if he is able to head things off through a combination of diplomacy, NATO solidarity, and threats of crippling sanctions, then he’s a bullying buttinski who has no business telling poor Putie which nations he can and cannot invade.
Whichever the outcome, Faux is ready: Biden’s to blame!
This business of minding our own (business), and letting Putin have his way with Ukraine, currently being trumpeted by authoritarian-loving traitor TuKKKer KKKarlson, is interesting. (In the way that watching gory documentaries about serial killers is interesting.) I don’t recall anyone on Fox, or a single soul within the right-wing circle jerk club citing such concerns for regional autonomy when Bush and Cheney were beating the drums for war against a sovereign nation that had zip, zero, nada to do with 9/11. Back then it was “Oooh! We must rescue the poor people of Iraq from a murderous dictator! Iraqi Freeeedom!!!
Now it’s “We must allow the murderous dictator to kill whomever he wants because Authoritarian Freeeedom!”
Whatever the result, the right insists that it is always correct. Always prepared with a hat full of bullshit for any outcome.
Gotta love it.
Marie,
SNL beat you to it, speaking of being outed by school administrators for anything sexual.
In a sketch with Bill Murray and Laraine Newman, Murray, as a high school kid, goes to someone in the office complaining of “painful urination”. When told he has an STD, the school administrator badgers him for the name of his sexual partner. He’s told that her name (the Laraine Newman character) will be kept confidential. Cut to a shot of the exterior of the school building and a loudspeaker shouting “Will anyone who has had sex with Laraine Newman, please report to the office. She has the clap.”
The sketch was done for laughs as something outrageous and bestial. Republicans would like to make this sort of thing a reality.
The Florida sexual "reorientation" bill would be quite a reversal.
Seems Florida would leave only the kids schools judged to be "straight" in the closet.
More seriously, I can't imagine how much grief this law might cause--and I certainly would not have wanted to be the teacher, counselor or administrator responsible for making the determination--or the phone call.
My mean streak detector also whispers in my ear some of the manifold possibilities this law presents for students doing mischief and potentially great harm to others.
Once had to have a very uncomfortable conversation with a teacher about her sexual orientation. Still remember it. She dealt with what had become a community issue--which was why I was talking with her, wishing I were somewhere else--by making up stories about relationships she didn't have...We got through the awkwardness somehow; I don't think she suffered great or permanent harm; and I didn't have to call her parents. But I still remember it.
Can't imagine being forced to have a similar talk with a kid...let alone many such.
Craven doesn’t begin to describe these people…
Speaking of how the Party of Treason is ready on all fronts to slam Biden no matter what Russia does, reprehensible pond scum and senate candidate in Ohio, J.D. Vance, went on equally reprehensible Steve Bannon’s show to inform listeners that he doesn’t give a shit about what happens to Ukraine. He was subsequently disparaged (and rightly so) by a Twitter comment from Barry McCaffrey, a former four star, highly decorated, US Army general, who called Vance (famous for shifting positions on a dime to go with whatever shit wind is blowing from right wing world) a “shameful person unsuitable for public office”, further describing him as a Putin stooge.
Well, I never! Vance went full Donaldovich on the general:
“ Your entire time in military leadership we won zero wars. You drank fine wine at bullshit security conferences while thousands of working class kids died on the battlefield. Oh, by the way, how much do you stand to gain financially from a war with Russia, Barry?”
Like his hero (whom he once attacked as being morally corrupt—when he thought it would help him), Fatso Trump, he likes war heroes who weren’t captured, or who “won wars”.
This is, of course, A classic piece of shit attack by another Republican (and Yalie) on a military guy. It’s amazing how the military continues to support these creeps while simultaneously bending over and taking it up the ass from them in the press. First John McCain. Now a guy like this. And of course, Vance is irredeemably wrong on pretty much every point in his screed:
McCaffrey was wounded in combat multiple times leading troops as a company commander in Vietnam.
His own kids have served.
And, as the general points out, he doesn’t drink wine.
But McCaffrey was the fucking on-the-ground, direct operational commander of the main body blow of our one successful war - Desert Storm.
And as for those supporting Vance’s attack, these scurrilous traitors forget that several of the “wars we didn’t win” were perpetrated by lying Republicans, under the direction of a deserter.
And when was the last time you heard a Democrat trying to completely eviscerate a decorated general officer? (We’ll leave out traitors like Flynn.)
Conversely, when even a moderate calls out a war criminal Navy Seal - whose own squad members turned him in for, essentially, “Conduct Unbecoming” - that guy is a fucking hero to these idiots. Trump invited him to the White House!
But the Republican Party is the big supporter of our troops. More bullshit.
https://www.mediaite.com/news/jd-vance-gets-completely-dunked-on-by-retired-four-star-general-in-brutal-twitter-spat/
While horse torturers are being mentioned, https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/12/politics/roy-moore-horse-vote/index.html. Imagine some lard ass got to sit on you? It's a dog's life sometimes.
Ken wrote “My mean streak detector also whispers in my ear some of the manifold possibilities this law presents for students doing mischief and potentially great harm to others.”
I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right, and as soon as I read this, I thought “Oh yeah, ‘The Children’s Hour”!
I once saw a performance of the Hellman play in, appropriately enough, P-Town (Provincetown, MA), a beach town known for its large gay community. As the play unfolded, I could see tears in many eyes, hands being clasped, as audience members likely recalled painful times similar to that experienced by the women in the play, outed by the mean girls.
Republicans would love to continue the pain. Comme d’habitude. They revel in the pain of those they hate and fear. Bless their black little hearts!
Bobby Lee's "Twosday" points to only one of this week's calendar oddities, a week of numeric palindromes...
Tomorrow: 2-23-22 just one instance...
Our daughter in law brought this to our attention. I'm guessing it's a meme making the internet rounds...
@Ken: Tell your daughter-in-law to wait 200 years for a day to look
forward to: 02/22/2222. That hasn't happened since 01/11/1111,
as I recall.
Good memory, Forrest!
The 2000 year-old man (ala Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner) would be proud.
@Forrest Morris: I was wondering this morning if the monks & other illuminati back in the day got all excited about 11/11/1111.
Probably a part of Putins figuring is how will Americans react to sky high gas prices. Nervous oil markets were already heading for 100$ a barrel and the fire and explosion at a big Louisiana refinery overnight hasn't helped any. We will be looking at very high priced transportation and some very unhappy people.
Too busy today to comment but now having read the days' offerings, what jumped out at me is–– Ak drinks TEA in the morning! Now that is news and gives us a glimpse into why he is so prolific–-coffee just gets your motor running--- tea, on the other hand, is the magic potion that the Irish and the English drink in order to soothe anything and everything that comes their way. Aren't we the lucky duckies that can take advantage of that.