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Interesting but not surprising. Sorry, no link, came over in the news in my ToS Platform and can't link it. Here's a useful link to FollowTheMoney site though with the three govs searched.
www.followthemoney.org/show-me
10/28/22 15:18:55: A Sinister Reason May Be Behind Governors' Opposition To Cannabis Legalization
As one Republican governor after another rejects President Biden’s suggestion to pardon simple cannabis possession convictions, one wonders what they're thinking. After all, cannabis legalization is all the rage these days, with support skyrocketing and midterms approaching. Even the President is leaning in that direction with his recent pardons of thousands of federal cannabis offenders.
A quick trip over to FollowTheMoney.org might shed some light on at least three governors who remain adamant, despite the will of their constituents, about keeping weed illegal and people locked up tight for violations.
Republican Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas, Bill Lee of Tennessee and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas who all rushed to publicly pan Biden's pardon request happen to have received a total of $263,875 from donors linked to the private prison industry, David Sirota pointed out. Hutchinson received less than $10 grand. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb also joined the unforgiving group though his donors showed no private prison connections.
Is The Anti-Cannabis Lobby Keeping The Beds Filled In Private Prisons?
The U.S. has a combination of government-run prisons and private, for-profit prisons. We also have the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world. This translates to over two million prisoners nationwide with 45% imprisoned for drug offenses, including many for cannabis, according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
A total of 26 states and the federal government use private corporations such as the GEO Group (NYSE:GEO), CoreCivic (NYSE: CXW) (formerly Corrections Corporation of America, CCA), Management and Training Corporation and LaSalle Corrections, which combined incarcerated nearly 100,000 Americans in 2020. Since then, the number of people incarcerated in private prisons has increased by 14%.
Then there’s Palantir (NYSE:PLTR), the secretive data-mining firm co-founded by Trump adviser Peter Thiel who also co-founded PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Atai Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ATAI) psychedelics company. Palantir, which specializes in big data analytics, has faced sizzling criticism for its work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Let’s Look At Florida's Anti-Cannabis Lobby, As An Exampe
Private prisons in Florida are very busy. In fact, the prison population has doubled since 2000 and is still growing despite Biden's 2021 executive order to end their use and not renew any contracts. The Washington Post reported that GEO and CoreCivic donated nearly $2.5 million to the GOP of Florida PAC over the last two decades, which covered the campaigns of Sen. Marco Rubio and former Governor and now Sen. Rick Scott who received a six-figure donation from GEO seemingly encouraging him to oppose the legalization of medical marijuana. Current Gov. Ron DeSantis has grudgingly accepted MMJ though he has also said he’d never sign a full legalization bill.
Who Owns All These Private Prison Stocks?
Fidelity, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), State Street (NYSE:STT) and Vanguard are all big private prison investors. BlackRock is the largest investor in CoreCivic with a stake of 15.38%.
CoreCivic and rival GEO Group have faced numerous lawsuits and accusations of housing people in unsafe conditions and keeping inmates as long as they can to maximize revenue. The stock of CoreCivic, the first to operate both private prisons and for-profit immigration detention centers, took a beating recently due to the above.
Bill Keller, award-winning journalist and founding editor-in-chief of The Marshall Project told The Guardian recently that it was President Reagan who first pushed “the idea of privately run, for-profit prisons. Since the new prison owners were paid the same way as hotel proprietors, by occupancy, they had no incentive to prepare prisoners for release.”
So, without those 45,000 cannabis prisoners, there will be lots more empty beds in prisons, both public and private. Any questions?
Another smokers incident? They really should stop throwing their butts around so carelessly and shouldn't put their buts where they don't belong.
Visegrád 24 liked
MAKS 22????
@Maks_NAFO_FELLA
6h
Saint-Petersburg
25 OCT, 17:47
Some 160 firefighters, 45 vehicles tackling major blaze in St. Petersburg
The area of ??fire was 12 thousand square meters
https://tass.com/emergencies/1527319
We seem to be in the era of giving the sickest worst people the biggest platform and followings for their abilities in doing the most damage to society that possibly could be done. Perfect examples are people like Demon Kanye, Traitor Trump, and Alex Jones, with all of their ensembles.
LOCAL NEWS
Holocaust Museum of LA flooded with antisemitic messages after offering Kanye West a private tour
los angeles
BY CBSLA STAFF
OCTOBER 24, 2022 / 9:21 PM / CBS LOS ANGELES
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/holocaust-museum-of-la-flooded-with-antisemitic-messages-after-offering-kanye-west-a-private-tour/
The Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles said it has been flooded with antisemitic messages after artist Kanye West rejected their offer of a private tour.
The influx of hateful messages comes after West, who legally changed his name to Ye, made a series of antisemitic remarks. Despite his comments, the CEO of the Holocaust Museum of L.A. Beth Kean and the museum offered a private tour to West hoping that it would change his views...........................
Holocaust Museum LA
@hmla1961
https://twitter.com/hmla1961/status/
Some consolation, but payments never cover the damage done.
Kanye West’s antisemitism cost him Adidas and most of his empire
The sportswear giant ended its Yeezy deal, which was the biggest portion of Ye’s net worth
By Jaclyn Peiser and Jacob Bogage
Updated October 25, 2022 at 8:17 p.m. EDT|Published October 25, 2022 at 6:55 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/25/adidas-kanye-west-partnership-ends/
And why did it take Adidas so long?
Yeezy generated an estimated $2 billion a year, close to 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue, Morningstar analyst David Swartz said. Adidas said the split will cost the company 250 million euros ($248 million) this year.
I hear you, that damage is exactly what Putin is working on inflicting. And they were just a bunch of suckers giving that letter out. I expect that stuff from Putin's Trumpians or the New GOP, but definitely expect a whole lot better out of the more intelligent or democracy side of the isle.
They withdrew it. Shouldn't have ever happened in the first place. ANYTHING given to Putin will have extreme cost into the future. It was said to be written some time back and "accidently" got sent out. Whatever.
Putin's got an out. Get the hell out of Ukraine, stop murdering, torturing, and blowing up it's people and their offspring. And then reparations to the max for rebuilding Ukraine.
Progressive Democrats retract Biden Ukraine letter after furious debate
Dramatic U-turn from progressive caucus, withdrawing letter sent to US president urging talks to end war in Ukraine
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/25/democrats-joe-biden-ukraine-war-russia-letter
Him and his whole right wing clan, including his sister DeVos.
An excerpt from the 2021 Times article, but they have witch hunts, an upside-down bible, and an old laptop to control trumptards amygdala.
But the Ukrainians had serious concerns about working with Prince, according to three people involved in the negotiations. Prince’s choice of allies in Kyiv—two men with ties to Russia—raised particular alarm. His Ukrainian business partner is Andriy Artemenko, who made headlines in 2017 by offering the Trump Administration a “peace plan” for the war in Ukraine that envisioned ways for the U.S. to lift sanctions against Russia. Another Prince ally in Kyiv was Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian legislator whom the U.S. has accused of being an “active Russian agent.” Both Artemenko and Derkach worked to advance Prince’s business ventures in Ukraine last year.
“We had to wonder: Is this the best sort of partnership we can get from the Americans? This group of shady characters working for a close ally of Trump?” says Novikov, the former aide to Ukraine’s president. “It felt like the worst America had to offer.” Those concerns only heightened when, at a pivotal moment in negotiations, one of Prince’s associates proferred in writing a “participation offer” that Novikov considered an attempted bribe.
As the deals ran into resistance from the government in Ukraine, Prince’s allies faced bigger problems in New York City, where both Artemenko and Derkach are now under criminal investigation. The U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment on the investigation, which is reportedly focused on whether the two men were involved in a suspected Russian plot to sway the 2020 presidential election.
Here's the site;
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-feds/id1456045551
When I'm using desktop OS Windows 11 Pro, this free download works on that platform for those podcasts. Not sure on any other OS like Win 10, or Android that might conflict too much with Apple product. That's if your not on Apple with iTunes already of course.
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/itunes/9PB2MZ1ZMB1S?hl=en-us&gl=us
Makes sense on the red hair. There was a whole population of Vikings (which the Valerians were) that had a lot of red hair. Don't know enough of ancient history, only what I've read, and don't know whether Prince Oleg of Kievian Rus ancestry came from from the Vikings in western Scandinavia or the Norsemen who had a lot of blonde hair. Probably both populated the land at that time and Rus meaning red could have been a thing.
But Moscovites is good, "when in Rome......".
But she did get involved with him.
Wonder why they don't call them Varyags or maybe Olegs after the Varangian prince. Depends on how far back they want to go I guess.
I don't see embarrassment. The upward lift of eyebrows and if you look close enough the wrinkles in the forehead shows anxiety and/or fear, a blank look not focused on anywhere in particular can be showing sadness or helplessness, the whole body what you can see is not relaxed or showing that she really wants to be there, tensed veins in her hand and wrists indicating it's her unwanted duties from a man with features that I can only describe as evil and cruel. I could be wrong, but that's what I see, something terribly wrong with the picture. Hope the Ukrainians nail his ass to the wall at any rate.
Instead of leaving you with that picture, here's a laugh to be had.
Dog and rooster play a hilarious game of chase
— Gabriele Corno (@Gabriele_Corno) October 21, 2022
🎥 tammy.sattler16 pic.twitter.com/MEeGNHf1Jq
Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
·
40m
The Ukrainian intelligence agency SBU has detained 83-y-old Vyacheslav Boguslaev, CEO & one of the main shareholders of Ukrainian plane and helicopter engine giant Motor Sich, on suspicion of treason.
He apparently sold engines to the Russian Army.
He earlier sold MS to China.
Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
·
36m
Boguslaev was always known as a Russophile and a good friend of Yanukovych.
Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
Aggregating and curating news, politics, current affairs, history and culture from Central and Eastern Europe.????????????????
Visegradvisegrad24.orgJoined January 2020
653 Following
305.8K Followers
Followed by Rep. Liz Cheney, Alex Alvarova????Victory to Ukraine??Author, and Julia Davis
https://twitter.com/visegrad24
More on China and its state controlled business.
The Port of Hamburg (German: Hamburger Hafen, pronounced ['ham?b??g? 'ha?fn?]] (listen)) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, 110 kilometres (68 mi) from its mouth on the North Sea.
Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (Tor zur Welt),[4] it is the country's largest seaport by volume.[5] In terms of TEU throughput, Hamburg is the third-busiest port in Europe (after Rotterdam and Antwerp) and 15th-largest worldwide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Hamburg
A report by Germany’s public broadcaster shows Scholz is blocking the initiative of the Economy Ministry, supported by Germany’s intelligence agency, to stop the Chinese attempt to buy a significant part of the Port of Hamburg.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 22, 2022
The agency views it as critical infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/M2UkrPRoLm
We should have let the mainland Chinese have Taiwan very early on, long before it became the major economic power it is today.
Now it’s very complicated.
DOJ says it needs more money for the Jan. 6 probe. The next spending bill may be its last chance.
The Justice Department says extra funding is "critically needed" to sustain its investigation into Jan. 6, but the message hasn't broken through with some on the Hill.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-says-needs-money-jan-6-probe-spending-bill-may-last-chance-rcna51767
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration says it is in critical need of more money to bring the Jan. 6 rioters to justice. But it’s not clear Congress will grant that request in a major funding bill planned for December. And if it fails to do so before the new year, a potential Republican-led House could imperil the resources they need.
With just weeks of work left in this Congress, the future of the sprawling federal criminal investigation into the thousands of rioters who stormed the building in support of then-President Donald Trump rests, in part, in the hands of congressional appropriators who craft funding bills to keep the government running.
“There are lots of requests,” House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said when asked about the Department of Justice's request for the extra Jan. 6 funding in the year-end bill. “We’re taking a look at all of them and seeing what makes it and seeing what doesn’t make it.”
The Justice Department has called Jan. 6 “the most wide-ranging investigation” in its history, with more than 870 arrests so far. For 21 months, the investigation, led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, has largely been propped up with help from 93 federal prosecutors' offices from across the country who are volunteering personnel.
But the work is far from over and the department needs more resources to move full-speed ahead, more than a dozen sources close to the investigation told NBC News in July. As one official put it, "We don’t have the manpower."
Online sleuths had identified hundreds of additional Jan. 6 rioters who have not yet been arrested; one of the sleuths who is closely tracking the Justice Department’s caseload noted that the number of outstanding cases is going down, with sentences now outpacing new arrests, which have slowed to roughly four per week since the beginning of 2022. That falls far below the number of arrests made in 2021, which have kept the court docket in federal court in D.C. loaded up as cases work their way through the process.
While a new crop of assistant U.S. attorneys filling temporary roles could help pick up the pace of arrests in the coming months, the long-term trajectory of the criminal probe depends in part on the fiscal year 2023 budget, which Congress is planning to pass in December, around the time the Jan. 6 committee is expected to issue its final report.
The Justice Department has told Congress that more than $34 million in funding is "critically needed" to fund the investigation.
“The cases are unprecedented in scale and is expected to be among the most complex investigations prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” the Justice Department wrote to the legislative branch.
Failure to get extra funds, the department said, will have a “detrimental impact” on U.S. Attorney's Offices across the country, which would “need to incur a budget reduction to fund these prosecutions.” That, in turn, could keep offices from filling vacancies and prosecuting other important cases in their home jurisdictions, the Justice Department told Congress.
Congress has until Dec. 16 to strike a funding agreement and negotiators plan to return after the Nov. 8 election to try to hash out a full-year deal. Before they broke for recess, lawmakers involved in the talks told NBC News that the fate of the Justice request was still unsettled.
While the department has conveyed its needs to the Hill, senior lawmakers said they were not aware that the future of the Jan. 6 investigation could depend on the next budget round.
“There are a lot of items that are up in the air at this point. We are negotiating at the highest levels, and I don’t actually know where that provision might be," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, the No. 2 Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.
Dominion CEO says unfounded voter fraud claims have put employees ‘into danger’ “People have been put into danger,” Dominion CEO John Poulos told “60 Minutes” correspondent Anderson Cooper during an interview set to air this weekend, “all because of lies.”
BY DOMINICK MASTRANGELO - 10/21/22 11:00 AM ET
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/3698392-dominion-ceo-says-unfounded-voter-fraud-claims-have-put-employees-into-danger/
Arizona refers voter intimidation report to Justice Department
Kyung Lah
By Kyung Lah, CNN
Updated 7:29 PM EDT, Thu October 20, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/politics/arizona-voter-intimidation-report-justice-department/index.html
The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office has referred to the US Department of Justice and Arizona Attorney General’s Office a report of voter intimidation, Murphy Hebert, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.
The unidentified voter reported that they were approached and followed by a group of individuals when the voter was trying to drop off their ballot at an early voting drop box on Monday, according to Hebert.
CNN on Thursday obtained from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office the report in which the voter detailed the alleged incident. It occurred, the voter wrote, around 6:40 p.m. at the Juvenile Justice Court drop box in Mesa, within Maricopa County.
The voter wrote that a “group of people” filmed, photographed and raised accusations against them as they attempted to return their early ballots.
“There’s a group of people hanging out near the ballot dropbox filming and photographing my wife and I as we approached the dropbox and accusing us of being a mule,” the voter said, adding that the group took photographs of them, their license plate and followed them out of the parking lot.
MORE ON VOTING RIGHTS
Arizona refers voter intimidation report to Justice Department
Texas secretary of state’s office announces inspection of general election count in most populous county
Florida police cameras show August arrests for alleged voter fraud
Ballot measures in at least eight states will set ground rules for future elections
Tougher voting rules hit turnout efforts in key battleground states
The secretary of state’s office talked to the voter, informed Maricopa County, and referred the report to the DOJ and Arizona attorney general for further investigation.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer held a news conference last week and told reporters that people had been recording voters dropping off their ballots at the Mesa drop box. But this new complaint is an escalation from those initial reports.
CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, who has embraced the politics of former President Donald Trump’s election lies and has not committed to accepting the results of her own race if she loses, said on Wednesday that she hadn’t “heard anything about” the report, but immediately seized on it to promote a central plank of her campaign.
“I haven’t heard anything about it. It just shows you how concerned people are, though. People are so concerned about the integrity of our election and this is another reason, Kate, this is another reason we have to restore integrity,” she told CNN’s Kate Sullivan at a campaign event in Scottsdale.
Lake continued, “We can’t have half of the population or more doubting our elections. It’s not impossible to restore honesty and integrity to our elections. And I assure you, when I’m governor, we will do that.”
This story has been updated with additional reaction.
Kentucky governor hopeful faces charges after allegedly chasing nephew’s truck
BY JULIA SHAPERO - 10/21/22 11:48 AM ET
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3698467-kentucky-governor-hopeful-faces-charges-after-allegedly-chasing-nephews-truck/
Deters is charged with one count of menacing, two counts of harassing communications and third-degree criminal trespassing.
What's a billion here, billion there, two billion over there from murderers and the friend of our enemy, they've got an old laptop and some imaginary mules.
Top senator seeks answers over Qatar link to $1.2bn Kushner property rescue
Senate finance panel chair sends detailed questions to financial firm on deal for property owned by then White House aide’s family
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/13/jared-kushner-qatar-property-deal-ron-wyden-senate
A financial firm that operates billions of dollars in real estate properties around the world is facing new questions from the powerful chairman of the Senate finance committee about whether Qatar was secretly involved in the $1.2bn (£1bn) rescue of a Fifth Avenue property owned by Jared Kushner’s family while Kushner was serving in the White House.
The troubling overlap between Jared Kushner's business interests and US foreign policy
Mohamad Bazzi
Read more
Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who leads the finance committee, has given the chief executive of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management until 24 October to answer a series of detailed questions about a 2018 deal in which Brookfield paid Kushner Companies for a 99-year lease on the family’s marquee 666 Fifth Avenue property.
When the deal was announced in August 2018, it was seen as the end of a drawn-out saga surrounding the property. The rescue, it was said in media reports, generated enough money for the Kushner family to pay $1.1bn (£970m) of debt on the building and buy out a partner.
In a statement on Thursday, Wyden accused Brookfield of stonewalling his committee and refusing to answer questions about the transaction, including whether Brookfield “intentionally misled” the public when it said that “no Qatar-linked entity” had been involved in the deal. In fact, it has since been alleged by Wyden that Brookfield used a Qatari-backed fund – called Brookfield Property Partners – to fund the transaction. At the time of the deal, Wyden said, the Qatari Investment Authority was the fund’s second largest investor.
“I remain deeply concerned that funding from a foreign government was involved in the rescue of a Kushner-owned property while Jared Kushner was employed as a senior White House official closely involved in the formulation of US policy towards the Middle East,” Wyden said. “This is a serious issue, as federal criminal conflict of interest statutes for White House officials extend not only to matters affecting their own financial interests, but that of their direct relatives and spouses.”
Wyden also noted that Kushner was involved at the time in matters involving a diplomatic blockade against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. He pointed to recent testimony by the former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who said Kushner frequently engaged with foreign officials in a manner that was inconsistent with the views of other US government officials. In the case of Qatar, Tillerson said, Kushner expressed support for the blockade despite opposition from the Departments of State and Defense.
Kushner’s investment fund, Affinity Partners, has recently secured a $2bn (£1.7bn) investment from Saudi Arabia, which Wyden said raised additional questions about his communications with both Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and whether Kushner changed his stance on the Qatar blockade only after his family secured funding for the deal.
A spokesperson for Brookfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kushner could not immediately be reached for comment.
In his letter, Wyden asked for a wide range of documents and correspondence in connection with the transaction.
The AG should and could, don't think they would though. Too much of a political minefield. Abbot and DeSantis know that and count on it. That side can break any law just so they can say it's political weaponizing and hold it up in their courts as their base laps it up, and they never get accountability.
But then there's this. Don't think this is quite what they were after. LOL
Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard may get visas after being declared victims of crime
Sheriff’s certification of ‘unlawful criminal restraint’ would open the path for U-visa, which usually leads to a green card
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/14/marthas-vineyard-migrants-visas-victims-crime-florida-texas
Samira Asma-Sadeque
Fri 14 Oct 2022 10.21 EDT
A Texas sheriff has certified that 48 migrants who were involuntarily flown to Martha’s Vineyard were victims of a crime, a procedure that would immediately qualify them for a US visa or green card.
The certification by the Bexar county sheriff, Javier Salazar, would open the path for a U-visa, which usually leads to a green card, for the victims.
The migrants were flown to Martha’s Vineyard in September by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who is under investigation for using $615,000 of taxpayer money to do so.
The “certification” of a crime is required for the processing of the U-visa, and involves confirmation that a “qualifying” crime – which includes everything from sexual assault to female genital mutilation to various forms of kidnapping – has taken place, that the victim has cooperated in the investigation and that they will probably assist in the identification of the criminal activity.
The sheriff filed the certification under “unlawful criminal restraint”, according to a statement from his office.
“Based upon the claims of migrants being transported from Bexar county under false pretenses, we are investigating this case as possible Unlawful Restraint,” Salazar said. “We have submitted documentation through the federal system to ensure the migrants’ availability as witnesses during the investigation.”
Rachel Self, an attorney from Massachusetts who has been working with the migrants and is coordinating with Salazar on the U-visa process, said the certification will also help the migrants “heal”.
“These certifications will ensure that the migrants can continue to help our law enforcement officials, and that they will be able to process and heal from the incredibly traumatic experiences they have suffered as a result of the cruel, heartless acts committed against them,” Self told GBH News on Thursday.
Just curious, what's your view of why they are one of the worst performing REIT's and your view on holding to that dividend longer term. Since I'm picking at your brain, view on the worry with Steward Health Care tenant and any deeper recession. Tech wise, I can see some positive if they can hold the bounce off the lows.
Environmental factors (with war on fertilizer shortages) showing it's effects. Something that will get worse before it gets better. Today;
USDA says Florida orange crop to be smallest since 1943 due to Hurricane Ian.
CBot Soybeans #'s surge after USDA cuts U.S. production estimate in monthly crop report.
“We're really way behind in our corn sales for this time of the year,” he says. “This is the time of the year where we should be shipping a lot of beans and corn. But we have barges backed up like crazy due to the low water levels. While we're losing that export potential, somebody else is taking it.”
Here is a big Awwwww video story.
Ending today with this. Good night. 💚pic.twitter.com/QJ4Fnc4KhP
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) October 10, 2022
Nobel economics prize awarded to U.S.-based economists including Bernanke for work on crises
Things like this do and will effect the economy and impact inflation. Probably there is a 100 of environmental factors that will effect and won't be able to be under Fed control. Other things like droughts, record in 1200 years, dust bowling our food supplies, or too much water taking out other supplies and economics. Many things that the market isn't paying attention to or pricing in. All on the back of extreme over evaluations and irrational exuberance for years and a war.
California migration of millions of birds brings ‘unprecedented’ avian flu threat
H5N1 strain, first detected in Europe, has spread rapidly across the country, and with no vaccine available, options are limited
Katharine Gammon
Mon 10 Oct 2022 09.14 EDT
Ever year during the fall migration season, 5.4 million waterfowl descend on California, as birds from Canada and Alaska make their way south on an aerial transnational highway known as the Pacific Flyway.
This year, the arrival of the birds also brings concern. A new avian influenza is circulating, and that means trouble for domestic chickens, wild birds and even mammals.
“The prediction is we’re going to be hammered in the next several months,” said Maurice Pitesky, who monitors and forecasts bird viruses at the University of California, Davis.
There are 144 known types of bird viruses, most of them mild. Just as human viruses do, they swirl around the world and pop up in different places.
This year’s flu, known as H5N1, came from Europe, scientists say. Since its first detection in the US in January, in a wild duck in North Carolina, the high-pathogenic virus has spread rapidly across the country. In California, the strain was first recognized in geese and pelicans in the Central Valley in July of this year. Since then, more than 10 counties in the state have documented cases.
“Geographically speaking, we’re dealing with something unprecedented,” Pitesky said. “It’s only going to speed up over the next couple of months.”
The most recent bad flu year for birds in North America was 2014-15, when 50 million chickens and turkeys were killed, either from the virus itself or culled to stop the flu from advancing – something known in the poultry industry as depopulation.
Compared with that year, this flu is already shaping up to be worse: then 15 US states were impacted, but already 41 states and 47 million poultry have been affected.
The US is a major producer and exporter of chickens, so losing birds this fall will have an impact on food prices, Pitesky said. “Food inflation is already an issue, and this will act as an additional pressure on the supply chain.”
In addition to affecting wild birds and chickens, the H5N1 virus is a danger to wild species as well. Bobcats, raccoons, foxes and even harbor seals and dolphins are turning up sick. “There is so much virus in the environment that it’s just spilling over everywhere,” said Pitesky.
Depopulation, quarantine or vaccine
Measures limiting the spread of H5N1 are limited, scientists say.
The spread of the flu is largely driven by wild birds, especially wild waterfowl such as ducks and geese, said Steve Lyle, a spokesperson with the California department of food and agriculture.
Habitat destruction is causing diseases like H5N1 to spread more rapidly. Migrating waterfowl spend only 5% of their day flying, Pitesky pointed out, and most of their time roosting in habitats like flooded fields or wetlands. That kind of environment has mostly been taken up by humans, which means that more species are crowding into less space and interacting more.
How migrating ducks and geese end up infecting chicken is an open question. Organic chicken farmers have their flocks outside, so they are at higher risk for disease transmission through poop or contact on the ground. Conventional farmers may not see wild birds in their barns – but sparrows and songbirds can find their way in to grab food or water, and those songbirds may have contact with waterfowl. Or farmers could be tracking traces of the virus on their boots or truck tires.
Once a virus is circulating, there are just three tools for controlling it in animals: depopulating them, quarantining them to prevent them from moving, and vaccination.
But with no avian influenza vaccine available, trade restrictions banning the export of vaccinated poultry, and the logistical challenges of quarantining migrating birds, authorities really have just one main option: killing birds.
For Kristen Schuler, a wildlife disease ecologist at Cornell University in New York, there is not much to be done but monitor the situation. With wild birds, “we can’t go out and vaccinate all the birds, we can’t give them antibiotics, and we can’t cull in mass operations,” she says.
Schuler said researchers have found birds who test positive for H5N1 but are healthy – a sign that some birds may be adapting to living with the virus. “We’re of the mindset now that it’s something here to stay,” she said, “and we’re in a wait-and-see mode.”
She pointed to the virus as being another stressor for birds whose lives are already challenged by climate change, like nesting seabirds or bald eagles: “Their ability to cope with other challenges, whether it’s the development of wind energy projects or new viruses, can cause additional challenges.
“If we are constantly challenging wildlife with new things, it will start to have a broad-scale impact.”
Pitesky said avian influenza is endemic in itself, and over time, the virus most likely adapts to its host and becomes less virulent, shedding less virus into the environment. “I think we learn to live with it, and the waterfowl will adapt to it,” he says. “But we’re periodically going to have this pop up.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/10/california-avian-flu-migration-birds-waterfowl
For ones who like buitengebieden, Gabriele Corno in Switzerland has a great feed. Lots of animals, people, and places from around the world. There is some where the artistry and photography are the star of the show. Some examples;
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https://twitter.com/Gabriele_Corno
You never know, might be what's happening. LOL
One view on it.
Ukrainian interior ministry advisor explains why Putin cannot remove Shoigu
October 9, 2022, 11:13 AM
https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukrainian-interior-ministry-advisor-explains-why-putin-cannot-remove-shoigu-50275610.html
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will not remove Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu from his post over fears of increasing the political influence of the FSB security service, Vadym Denysenko, an advisor to Ukraine's Interior Minister, told Radio NV on Oct. 9.
“Of course, they (FSB) aren’t as important as Putin himself, of course, they can hardly be people who claim to have the influence of Putin’s level,” the advisor said.
“But judging by the complimentary statements made by (Chechen warlord Ramzan) Kadyrov, we can say that it’s obvious that the degree of their criticism (I mean both Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is the owner of Russia’s Wagner mercenary company) of the Ministry of Defense, of the leadership of the so-called ‘special military operation’ may decline somewhat.”
“Although I think they’ll continue to criticize Shoigu and (Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery) Gerasimov, but at this moment I can clearly say that Shoigu kept his position, including thanks to the blowing up of the Crimean bridge.”
Commenting on the reports of the detention of top military personnel in Moscow, Denysenko said it is necessary to wait for the further course of events and take into account Putin’s fear of enhancing the political influence of certain groups.
“We’ll have to look at the development of events, but we can clearly say that it’s obvious for the population (which more or less follows the events)that it’s necessary to replace the Russian military leadership because it has failed,” he said.
“Fortunately, Putin is not going to make any changes for us yet. He understands there are two groups of influence that can theoretically organize ‘palace coups’ — the army and the FSB.”
“Strengthening the FSB now by removing Shoigu, Gerasimov, and appointing people from their entourage would mean (Putin) weakening himself. That’s why Putin did not resort to any drastic moves. He made (certain reshuffles) and appointed (Sergey) Surovikin, who met the approval both by Shoigu and the Kadyrov and Prigozhin troops, the FSB, etc.”
Putin on Oct. 8 appointed General Sergey Surovikin commander of the Russian Federation forces in Ukraine.
According to the UK Ministry of Defense, “for over 30 years, Surovikin’s career has been dogged with allegations of corruption and brutality.”
The reasons for Putin’s move were not announced. However, experts believe it was probably related to the Russian army’s failures in Ukraine.
Watch video. This woman thinks drug dealers are handing out fentanyl on Halloween. Why? Because Fox News told her. pic.twitter.com/BHRErKO17M
The Good Liars
@TheGoodLiars
This woman thinks drug dealers are handing out fentanyl on Halloween. Why? Because Fox News told her.
Kerch Bridge explosion is personal for Putin: UK intelligence
BY LAURA KELLY - 10/09/22 7:47 AM ET
https://thehill.com/policy/international/3679889-kerch-bridge-explosion-is-personal-for-putin-uk-intelligence/
(VIENNA) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely personally affected by the explosion on a crucial bridge linking Russia and the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula it occupies, which occurred hours after his birthday, England’s Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.
The British intelligence report makes a key link between Putin’s emotions and the military setback Russia now faces by damage to the Kerch Strait Bridge, signaling a major blow to both Russian operations and morale further under pressure by the Ukrainian military’s successful counteroffensive advances.
“This incident will likely touch President Putin closely; it came hours after his 70th birthday, he personally sponsored and opened the bridge, and its construction contractor was his childhood friend, Arkady Rotenberg,” the Ministry of Defence tweeted.
The assessment added that while damage to the rail crossing is uncertain, “any serious disruption to its capacity will highly likely have a significant impact on Russia’s already strained ability to sustain its forces in southern Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s military has not officially claimed responsibility for the explosion on the Kerch Bridge on Saturday, which damaged a section of freight railroad and severed a roadway that collapsed into the sea.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday tweeted a short, undated video of traffic moving on the bridge with a caption signaling that transit operations were continuing as normal.
Russian investigators said the explosion occurred from a truck.
Damage to the bridge is interpreted as a personal attack targeting Putin, with the span viewed as the Russian leader’s major, concrete manifestation of his stated claims to retake Ukraine. Russia invaded and occupied Crimea in 2014, imposing a referendum and annexing the territory in a move rejected by the international community at the time.
Putin celebrated the opening of the nearly $4 billion bridge in 2018 by driving a dump truck across a 12-mile section even as international powers condemned its construction as violation of international law and rejected Russia’s claims to Crimea.
Timothy Snyder, Yale historian of Russia and Ukraine, tweeted on Saturday that the bridge explosion “cripples Russian logistics and dissolves the major symbol of Putin’s power.”
Michael Kofman, director of the Russia studies program at the Virginia-based think tank CNA, said the explosion on the Kerch Bridge was meant to have “real operational effects” by disrupting Russian military supply lines related to its occupation of Ukraine’s Kherson region and efforts to control the region of Zaporizhzhia, with the Russian military occupying the region’s nuclear power plant but not all of the territory.
Kofman on the podcast “Geopolitics Decanted” said the explosion on the bridge was “very coordinated” and meant “potentially to degrade the supply lines to the south, to Kherson, Zhaporzhzhia, both from Crimea and both from mainland Russia.”
“I don’t think the attack on the Kerch bridge was just meant to be symbolic,” he added. “I think it was also meant to have real operational effects.”
The explosion and damage to the bridge, coupled with growing criticism in Russia of the war in Ukraine, still called a “special military operation,” are raising the possibility that Putin will lash out with nuclear weapons, amid his repeated threats of Moscow’s capabilities.
Hours after the bridge explosion, Russian missile strikes reportedly hit civilian areas in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, with at least 12 killed and at least 49 injured, including six children.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “merciless strikes on peaceful people again.”
“Absolute meanness. Absolute evil. Savages and terrorists. From the one who gave this order to everyone who fulfilled this order. They will bear responsibility. For sure. Before the law and before people,” Zelensky wrote on his Facebook page.
Earlier, the Ukrainian president responded to the Kerch Bridge explosion and said the future for Ukraine is “sunny.”
Mykhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of Ukrainian president, tweeted that “Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.”
And Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine, tweeted that “Israeli Mossad acknowledged today that they are no longer numbers one in the rating of world’s special services.”
Biden wasn't talking about singular and the word was plural. There is at least about 6000 of them in Russia alone. He also talked only of "risks" (plural) and expressed closeness to them in comparison of times past.
The amount of money worldwide being spent on nuclear weaponry every year isn't really known and only estimated, but what we are recording and known (a very conservative amount) is 70-100 BILLION $ every year. In 2019 a record $73 Billion and it's gone up from there.
For example in the US, the law requires the CBO to project 10-year costs of nuclear forces every two years. The last one (2021-2030) DoD's (the biggest bulk of it) and DOE's budget was over $600 Billion projected for that period. Over a 25 % increase from 2019-2028 just two years prior. Those amounts are only what's not secret.
In comparison to a few billion or more costs of a nuclear energy plant, which by the way there are 400-500 of them in the world now and 300-400 being proposed and about 100 in the actual planning stages and about 50 under construction right now in the world. Nuclear energy plants can and are being used as a weapon.
So I believe statements made to the effect that we are "closer to" or "at greater risks of" nuclear nihilation than before are quite accurate.
No matter what happened or happens the Fed is going 75 next. This was pretty well set in stone before today. In my humble opinion, a global recession has been set in stone also. No matter what today was going to bring, 100 if we're lucky 150 if we're not by end of year.
Whoever said the market has seen everything before is fos. Relatively in civilization the market is like a teenager that thinks they know everything and as they grow old realize that they know very little compared to everything there is to know. There will be many similarities, but there is and going to be many things that are different and require a different box, but not throwing away the old one.
A professor told me once that there hasn't been any story that hasn't already been told. I believe that. Doesn't mean billions have ever heard it, dealt with it, or know how to deal with it.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) traded lower Friday after the Labor Department reported strong U.S. jobs market numbers from September.
The U.S. added 263,000 jobs in September, beating average economist estimates of 250,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell 0.2% to 3.5%, below consensus estimates of 3.7%. Wages were up 5% year-over-year and increased 0.3% from August.
Economy Cooling, But Still Strong: Mark Putrino, chief market technician and lead educator at Benzinga.com, said a strong economy is bad for stock prices for now.
"The unexpected economic strength is a signal that inflation is probably still moving higher," Putrino said.
Russell Evans, chief investment officer for Avitas Wealth Management, said slowing job growth may be an early indicator that inflation levels are headed lower.
"One month of slowing job growth is likely not enough for the Fed to make any drastic changes to its policy and we would need to see several months of a weakening employment picture in order for the Fed to act," Evans said.
Bryce Doty Sr. VP/senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment, said the strong jobs report would normally be wonderful news for the Fed, but the central bank is hoping unemployment rates will rise somewhat and alleviate inflationary pressures.
"So full steam ahead on rate increases, which investors know is a mistake," Doty said.
Related Link: Are Declining American Job Openings A Good Sign? Why This Analyst Thinks So
Bad News For Markets: Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth, said the report keeps the Fed's monetary policy tightening trajectory on track.
"We are going to remain in the environment where good news for the economy is bad news for markets," Hodge said.
Peter Essele, head of portfolio management at Commonwealth Financial Network, said financial market volatility will continue until Wall Street gets a clear indication inflation is under control.
"Until then, price fluctuation will be the norm and investors should look to strategies that can take advantage of periods of volatility," Essele said.
Jan Szilagyi, CEO and co-founder of Toggle, said the economy no longer appears to be overheating.
"A slightly lower growth in wage growth — combined with lower job openings two days ago — suggests [the] labor market is moderating even as it remains strong," Szilagyi said.
Recession Coming? Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, said predictions of a mild recession may be underestimating the threat.
"Given the conditions that we are operating under, we believe it’s prudent to begin preparing for a recession and the talk of a shallow recession that is now the narrative-du-jour, strikes us as eerily similar to the 'inflation is transitory' narrative of last year."
Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, said slowing jobs and wage growth are signs the Fed's aggressive campaign against inflation is starting to have an impact.
"Still, the market's initial negative reaction underscores that inflationary pressures are not decreasing fast enough for the market to be convinced that the Fed is closer to the end of its tightening cycle," Krosby said.
Remarks about "nuclear Armageddon"......in this situation, they are not really accurate.
“Federal Reserve has given short sellers reason to push markets lower, Wells Fargo says PUBLISHED MON, OCT 3 202210:40 AM EDT thumbnail Hugh Son @HUGH_SON
“The Federal Reserve has inadvertently given short sellers the all-clear signal to pummel markets, according to Wells Fargo equity analysts led by Christopher Harvey.
“As cracks begin to form in global markets for currencies and bonds, analysts and investors are increasingly calling for the Fed to consider pausing its campaign to raise interest rates further. While many point to the impact that the Fed’s aggressive rate increases have had on the dollar, the Wells Fargo analysts point to another dynamic: The impact the Fed is having on investor psychology.
“Many investors interpret the Fed’s statements to mean that it will not rescue capital markets until something breaks, meaning investors will keep pushing until something does break,” Harvey said.
“Dog whistle to shorts
“The messaging is a `dog whistle’ to short-sellers that want to lean into the market,” he said. A dog whistle is a message that can only be understood by a particular subset of listeners. While the analysts didn’t identify the types of short sellers it was referring to, they would typically include large hedge funds.”
I like how they got their excess mortality rate. Even though it was only 80% of deaths in the US, the way they did it eliminated the argument of who died of Covid (where Florida had about 5 times the average of labeled "flu deaths" in the same period). This is where Traitor Trump and his GOP made the focus of not counting Covid infections or deaths and untruthfully blaming other factors.
The study was subject to vaccines but really it's the attitudes that the study mentioned toward ALL forms of Covid mitigation. This study just matched up to 100's of years of medical science and thousands of studies confirming that using all forms of mitigation to restrict infections and spread of viruses and other diseases factually work. That's why the Dems had better figures than the Reps even before vaccines were widely available. They were more believing in all the past medical science and focused more on all the other forms of mitigation that were available.
Mitigation works period and saves countless number of lives. Whether it's mask's, vaccines, scrubbing or washing hands, or space and quarantines. Lot's of doctors have lost their licenses and criminal charges put against them for less than what Traitor Trump and his cohorts did with their created attitudes towards the Covid Wars including the War on Covid Mitigation.
Their political gambit for power literally killed 100's of thousands of lives more than Covid would have if protocols were followed or encouraged. The GOP have infected the the attitudes to effect other spreads of viruses and diseases with vaccine attitudes into the future.
So "Is this really a problem?", positively YES! Just ask my sister who was an RN in the middle of the war zone throughout the major portion of Covid, now retired. Dealt with the patients dropping like flies (and her coworkers), dealt with the bs trumpians and their stupidity, anger, and violence. Dealt with 16 hour days 7 days a week, the stress of things like lack of simple masks where I had to travel hundreds of miles radius, ordering online just to have cancelled, ordering again, cancelled again, finally receiving a portion of what was ordered to send her whatever the heck I could round up.
I repeat, yes it was a problem, is a problem, and will be a problem for it will continue to cost lives and lively hoods to ones that don't deserve it. It extends far beyond this particular Covid virus or it's vaccine.
Dogs are one of the most faithful and loyal friends to the end and beyond.
Defense of Ukraine
@DefenceU·
Sep 30
Ukraine government organization
This dog, Krym, still waits for granny Alla, mom Natasha, kids Vasylisa & Ivan. For a day now, he has been sitting, crying, on the edge of a 20-m crater, in the place where his house used to be. The dog is crying while russians launch missiles at Dnipro again.
Expensive missile criminally targeted at civilians, destroying a house and killing a family of four.
Malcolm Nance Retweeted
olexander scherbaUA
@olex_scherba
Zaporizhzhia oblast today.
This dog just laid there, next to his master killed by RU shelling...
#dogsofukraine