Stalemated Horror 🌻🌻🌻

Ukraine:  Military experts and the various and sundry pundits who insist that they are now experts report that Ukraine is holding its own, that Putin’s war is now at a stalemate as if stalemate can accurately describe the horror that has thus far resulted in ten million Ukrainians fleeing their homes and more than 3.5 million fleeing their country. It’s hard to know how many people have been killed so far as both sides are being less than candid about their death counts but the UN reports that around 850 Ukrainians civilians have died with at least another 1300 injured and estimates of Ukrainian military deaths are north of 1500. Those figures are likely undercounts but we do know for sure that one of the civilians killed this week was Kharkiv resident Boris Romantschenko, a 96 year old Holocaust survivor who died after his apartment building was bombed, further “proof” of how that Russian “denazification” plan is working. Things are far from hunky dory on the Russian side.  It’s reported that several hundred thousand Russian citizens, not including oligarchs, have left their country to protest the war, many fearing retribution for expressing views critical of the government. Yesterday a Russian Defense ministry website posted but then took down data indicating that 9861 Russian soldiers had been killed so far with an additional 16,153 injured.  Those are staggering numbers, by comparison US fatalities in Afghanistan were just over 2400 in a war that went on for almost 20 years.  Sadly, instead of genuinely looking for a way out, Putin appears to be doubling down, because if he can’t have Ukraine, no one else can either.  Biden is headed to the region, he’ll be attending a NATO meeting in Belgium before going to Poland to express appreciation for all the refugees they’ve taken in and also probably to talk about military equipment transfers, quietly this time.  For his part, the Former Guy, whose sons continue to assert that none of this would have happened on his watch either because Putin respected him so much or more likely because their father would have just handed Vlad the keys to Ukraine’s door by pulling out of NATO, is spending a lot of time on the air reminding us of his profound stupidity.  Last night the presumptive Republican 2024 candidate told Fox Business News that if he were still in the White House, he’d “send nuclear submarines to the country's coast to pressure Russia to back out of Ukraine. You should say, 'If you mention that word [nuclear] one more time, we're gonna send [nuclear submarines and planes] over and we'll be coasting back and forth, up and down your coast." Yes I said presumptive 2024 candidate because though he’s lost some luster, he still has a huge following. Also, while a whole bunch of Republican Senators have taken to criticizing President Biden for not doing enough for Ukraine, keep in mind that 33 of them, including the most vocal, voted against providing aid to the war torn country.  Also, only 8 Congresspeople, all Republicans including the usual suspects of Massie, Boebert, Gaetz, Biggs, Grothman, Roy, Bishop and Margie Q voted against rescinding Russia’s most favored trade status upset maybe because they fear the cut off of some of those alleged NRA Russia funded donations?     

The Supremes:  Justice Clarence Thomas quietly slipped into the hospital on Friday evening, though we didn’t learn about his trip until Sunday night. As far as we know, he’s still there being treated with antibiotics for flu like systems that “are not COVID.” Thomas is 73 years old and triply vaccinated.  Meantime back in the Senate yesterday marked the beginning of Judge Ketanji Jackson’s confirmation hearings. Judge Jackson is incredibly well qualified for the job, she checks more qualification boxes than any of the other sitting justices and certainly more than the Former Guy’s three appointments but of course either out of payback for “I love beer” Kavanaugh’s rough ascent to the bench, or because they’re just a-holes, or because they’re racists, or because they’re auditioning for the presidency, or all of the above the usual set of Republican Senators have already made it clear that they plan to grill Judge Jackson, part of their attempt to paint her as a left wing radical with dubious qualifications. Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn said that she plans to ask Judge Jackson if it’s her plan to incorporate Critical Race Theory into the US legal system.  Texas charmer Ted Cruz, fresh off of causing a scene at a Montana airport where the responding officer had no idea who he was which had to hurt, brought up how Kavanaugh was mistreated over “normal teenage dating practices.”  Not to be outdone, Missouri’s Josh Hawley, best known for that fist pump on insurrection day, asserted that Judge Jackson was too nice to pedophiles, his nod to those Qsters who still believe that Pizzagate was for real. This from the party of underage dater Matt Gaetz and the Former Guy who once gleefully admitted how he liked to go back stage at his teenage beauty contests to visit while the girls were getting dressed.  Also, that’s the party where Eric Greitens, the disgraced former Missouri Governor, is trying to become the Republican nominee to run for Senator to succeed Roy Blunt who is not running for reelection while his ex-wife accuses him of pretty gnarly abuse.  As to Republican candidates, yesterday Alaska’s former Governor/one time Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin teased that she’d accept in a “heartbeat” the seat just vacated by the death of Alaska Congressman Don Young. Who doesn’t think that she’d fit right in between Boebert and MargieQ?     

Viral Musings:  It’s back, well the truth is COVID never left.  The BA 2 variant is on its way to becoming dominant in the US and is already making a name for itself in the Northeast and West, the usual US starting points for new COVID waves.  In fact, the NY Times reports that BA 2 already makes up 42% of new NY cases.  That said, given how many people were infected by the first BA wave, combined with high vaccination rates in NY, the experts don’t expect to see a significant spike in hospitalizations or deaths, though infection levels have started to move upward, partly due to the recent drop of mask mandates as well as things like the St Patrick Days festivities.  Only time will tell, because if we’ve learned anything it’s that COVID is unpredictable.  Also unpredictable, or at the very least predictably ignorant of science, Congress did not include additional funding for COVID in the package that was passed last week because the votes weren’t there and COVID’s over, right?  That’s a problem because if Pfizer and Moderna are right, fourth shots are coming and testing is still needed. Speaking of shots, it turns out that the J & J shot has withstood the test of time and in terms of durability is actually holding its own when compared to the mRNA options despite all those early reports that it wasn’t working as well.