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Author: John Hanno
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Bogan High School. Worked in Alaska after the earthquake. Joined U.S. Army at 17. Sergeant, B Battery, 3rd Battalion, 84th Artillery, 7th Army. Member of 12 different unions, including 4 different locals of the I.B.E.W. Worked for fortune 50, 100 and 200 companies as an industrial electrician, electrical/electronic technician.
The latest jobs data suggest that workers may be losing some of the leverage they gained during the pandemic.
By Lora Kelley – July 10, 2023
Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty
The latest jobs data give a mixed picture of the economy—and raise questions about how America’s workers will fare.
Losing Ground?
In the spring of 2021, I traveled to Pennsylvania to attend a graduation. Driving around the area, I was struck by all the signs in diner and fast-food storefronts seeking workers. As I recall, the signs had a desperate tone, advertising bonuses and high wages to anyone willing to work. I was witnessing in real time a fascinating economic moment: Low-wage workers were in high demand, and that meant they were gaining leverage.
The signs I saw in Pennsylvania were emblematic of what was happening across the economy. Restaurants are a “microcosm” of the Great Resignation, the pattern that took off in 2021 in which workers quit their jobs to seek higher wages and better benefits‚ Nick Bunker, an economist at Indeed’s Hiring Lab, told me. That spring, as freshly vaccinated Americans went out to spend their stimulus checks, they frequented restaurants. Demand for services soared, and so in turn did the demand for service workers. Businesses had to compete for staff. And when workers saw that they could find better wages and conditions elsewhere, many quit their jobs in favor of new ones.
The latest jobs data suggest that workers might be losing some of this power. The economy added about 209,000 jobs in June, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released last week. It was the 30th consecutive month of job gains, but gains were at their lowest rate since the streak began. “The picture that emerged was a mixed one,” Julia Pollak, the chief economist at ZipRecruiter, told me. “Workers are still in the driver’s seat in many industries, other than tech, but they are losing leverage.” However, she added, the job market is “still more favorable to workers than before the pandemic.”
What’s happening in hospitality, a sector that includes restaurants and bars, tells us a lot about the job market more broadly. That was true in 2021, Bunker told me, and it’s still true now. Looking at the behavior of the hospitality sector in last week’s report, Bunker noted, we can see that “the labor market is moderating but still strong.”
As the job market softens somewhat, workers may be losing some of the leverage they gained when the market was tighter. As Ben Casselman reported in The New York Times last week, “The rate at which workers voluntarily quit their jobs has fallen sharply in recent months—though it edged up in May—and is only modestly above where it was before the pandemic disrupted the U.S. labor market.” When workers quit jobs, it reflects their confidence that they can find another, better job. Casselman reported that hourly earnings for hotel and restaurant workers rose 28 percent from the end of 2020 to the end of 2022, which was faster than the rates of both inflation and overall wage growth. But now, after surging in late 2021 and early 2022, growth for low-wage workers has slowed, and fewer workers in the hospitality industry are separating from their jobs now compared with the same period last year.
This slowing wage growth could be seen as a sign that workers are losing ground. But another possible reason that wage growth has slowed, Bunker explained, is that many workers’ base pay has gone up compared with a couple of years ago. Employers are “giving raises off a wage rate that has risen a lot since the spring of 2021,” Bunker said.
The Fed will be happy to see the job market cooling off, Bunker told me, so we might see fewer interest-rate hikes in the months to come: “Reduced competition for workers is going to reduce wage growth, which is—in the Fed’s view—going to put less pressure on employers to raise prices, so that should bring inflation down.” But after pausing their hikes last month, following 10 consecutive rate hikes, the Fed is still widely expected to raise rates at its meeting at the end of this month.
The monthly job-openings report tells us more about the recent past than it does about our current reality. The patterns we saw in last week’s numbers contain new information about a moment that’s already slightly dated. And they raise fresh questions about whether the Great Resignation is over. Bunker, for his part, riffed on Mark Twain, saying that in his opinion, “rumors of the Great Resignation’s demise are greatly exaggerated.” But, he added, in a few months, we may be able to say more definitively whether the heyday of the Great Resignation really is behind us.
Nearly half of U.S. adults over 30 show signs of gum disease, which can cause tooth loss. (Hoi Chan/The New York Times)
If your spit is sometimes tinged pink at least a couple of times a week after you brush or floss, it’s possible you have early-stage gum disease. This condition can also have other surprising symptoms — or none.
“It’s a very, very quiet disease,” said DRodrigo Neiva, chair of periodontics at Penn Dental Medicine.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of American adults older than age show signs of gum disease, and 9% have severe gum disease, known as periodontal disease.
When left untreated, gum disease can become more difficult to remedy. “Patients may eventually end up losing their teeth,” Neiva said. And some research has connected periodontal disease with other health conditions, such as dementia, diabetes and heart disease.
Early gum disease is called gingivitis, and it is characterized by inflammation of the gums, also known as gingiva.
“It is caused by bacteria on teeth — plaque — that release products that irritate the gums,” said Deborah Foyle, interim department head of periodontics at Texas A&M University School of Dentistry.
Good oral hygiene is key to preventing gum disease, because it removes plaque from the teeth before bacteria can harm the gums. Often, people develop gingivitis because they aren’t brushing and flossing adequately. Sometimes, only parts of the gums become affected — especially the gums around the backs of the teeth where people often don’t brush as well, Neiva said.
Dentists can diagnose gingivitis by using a special instrument that measures the distance between gums and teeth, said Y. Natalie Jeong, professor and chair of the department of periodontology at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Larger spaces are indicative of the condition.
When gingivitis is left untreated, the bacteria can invade and destroy the tissues under the gums, causing advanced gum disease. “The bone supporting the teeth starts to break down, leaving the roots of the teeth exposed and sensitive in some cases,” Foyle said. “Spaces develop between the teeth, and the teeth start to get loose.”
People who smoke, have diabetes or grind their teeth have an increased chance of developing gum disease, Jeong said. Some medications, such as steroids, and certain epilepsy and cancer drugs, can also increase the risk. Genetics can also make people more or less susceptible, she noted.
People who rarely get cavities may be more likely than other people to get gum disease, too, Neiva said. That’s because the bacteria that cause gum disease outcompete and suppress the bacteria that cause cavities.
“It’s very common to see patients with very, very advanced periodontal disease not having a single cavity,” he said.
Gingivitis often goes unnoticed because it doesn’t cause pain. But people with gingivitis may notice that their gums bleed when they brush or floss, Neiva said. The part of the gums adjacent to their teeth may also look red rather than pink.
Smokers with gingivitis may not experience any bleeding or other symptoms, Jeong said. “People tend to think, ‘OK, my gums never bleed, I should be just fine,’” she said — but that’s a misconception.
Regular brushing and flossing can help prevent gum disease, but once gingivitis has set in, good oral hygiene at home may not be enough. That’s because the bacteria may have started to accumulate below the gum level, Neiva said. In these cases, a professional cleaning and, sometimes, antibiotics, can treat — and cure — gingivitis.
Once gingivitis has progressed into more advanced periodontal disease, people’s gums may start to recede, causing their teeth to look longer, Jeong said. They may also experience increased sensitivity around the gums. Their teeth may not fit together the same way when they bite because they have shifted, and they might have chronic bad breath. Eventually, their teeth may start to loosen and even fall out.
Advanced periodontal disease can be incurable. Dentists and periodontists can, however, recommend treatments that slow down or prevent further gum and bone loss. They may also deep-clean the roots of affected teeth and recommend gum surgery.
Keeping your gums healthy is ultimately simple: Brush twice a day, floss once a day and see your dentist for cleanings at least every six months, Neiva said.
“The sooner we detect it,” he said, “the more we can do.”
Republican’s hold on nominations leaves Marines without confirmed leader for 1st time in 100 years
Lolita C. Baldor – July 10, 2023
Acting Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith speaks during a relinquishment of office ceremony for U.S. Marine Corps Gen. David Berger on Monday, July 10, 2023, at the Marine Barracks in Washington. Smith has been nominated to be the next leader, but will serve in an acting capacity because he hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate. Berger’s term as Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps expired Monday. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) ASSOCIATED PRESSU.S. Marine Corps Gen. David Berger, left, whose term as Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps expires Monday, holds the battle colors during a relinquishment of office ceremony, Monday, July 10, 2023, at the Marine Barracks in Washington. Assistant Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, right, has been nominated to be the next leader, but will serve in an acting capacity because he hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century as Gen. David Berger stepped down as commandant on Monday and a Republican senator is blocking approval of his successor.
Berger took over as the 38th commandant in July 2019, and is required to leave the job after four years. Gen. Eric Smith, currently the assistant commandant, has been nominated to be the next leader, but will serve in an acting capacity because he hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.
Under the law, Smith can serve as the acting commandant, but he can do nothing that would presume confirmation. As a result, he can’t move into the main residence or the commandant’s office, or issue any new formal commandant’s planning guidance, which is traditional for a new leader. He has the authority to implement new policies such as budget, training and other personnel decisions.
Smith’s promotion delay is the first of what could be many top level military officers held up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. Tuberville has stalled all nominations for senior military jobs because he disagrees with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to have the Defense Department pay for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. Abortion is now illegal in Alabama.
Speaking at a ceremony at the Marine Barracks Washington, just down the street from Capitol Hill, Austin and Berger called on the Senate to take action.
“We need the Senate to do their job so that we can have a sitting commandant that’s appointed and confirmed. We need that house to be occupied,” said Berger, with a nod to the commandant’s quarters at the edge of the parade field.
Austin and other Pentagon officials have pressed the Senate to move forward, saying that delays are already impacting more than 200 military officers, and many key leaders.
“You know, it’s been more than a century since the U.S. Marine Corps has operated without a Senate confirmed commandant,” Austin said during the ceremony.
Because of Berger’s requirement to step down in July, the Marine job is the first of the military chiefs to be affected by Tuberville. The Army, Navy and Air Force are all expected to face the same delay later this year, as could the nomination of the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The current chairman, Army Gen. Mark Milley, leaves his job at the end of September. Gen. CQ Brown, the current chief of the Air Force, has been nominated to replace Milley, and is scheduled to go before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his hearing on Tuesday.
The hold, however, is also impacting scores of one, two and three-star officers who are assigned to new commands but can’t move on. It also affects their families, who usually relocate over the summer to their new military communities so school-age children can settle in before fall.
“Smooth and timely transitions of confirmed leadership are central to the defense of the United States and to the full strength of the most powerful fighting force in history,” said Austin. “Stable and orderly leadership transitions are also vital to maintaining our unmatched network of allies and partners. And they’re crucial for our military readiness.”
Smith hit the thorny issue head on during his remarks at the ceremony Monday — saying he wanted to get one thing out fast.
“If you’re saying, ‘what am I supposed to call you?’ ACMC. That is my title, and one that I’m proud of,” said Smith, using the shorthand for his assistant commandant role. But he quickly added, “to make sure that there is no confusion — all orders, directives and guidance, which were in effect this morning remain in effect, unless I direct otherwise. Further guidance to the force will follow.”
Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Monday that as of last Friday, there were 265 senior officers whose promotions have been held up by Tuberville, and that number could leap to 650 by the end of the year if the issue isn’t corrected. She noted that in more than 100 cases, officers — like Smith — would be forced to do two jobs at the same time because no one can move up.
She said the Pentagon is asking officers to delay planned retirements and stay on, while in other cases officers are doing more senior ranking jobs without getting the pay for that new rank.
Later in the day, Jack Reed, D-R.I., chairman of the Senate committee, spoke on the Senate floor, asking that Smith be confirmed and criticizing Tuberville for what he called an unprecedented hold that is driving the U.S. military “to a potential breaking point.
“In General Smith we have a Purple Heart recipient — this man has literally shed his blood for his country,” said Reed, who attended the Marine ceremony. “He stands ready to continue his service to our nation and the Marines he will lead for four more years. He simply awaits our action.”
Tuberville, however, blocked a vote and in a Senate floor speech said the holds would have “minimal effect” on Smith’s ability to lead.
“There may be a delay in his planning guidance, and yet he cannot move into the commandant’s residence, but there is little doubt about General Smith’s ability to lead effectively,” said Tuberville.
The last time the Corps was led by an acting commandant was in 1910. Then-Maj. Gen. George Elliott, who was the commandant, reached the required retirement age in November 1910 and left the office. Col. William Biddle served as the acting commandant until he was promoted to major general and became commandant in February 1911.
Berger, a native of Woodbine, Maryland, graduated from Tulane University and was commissioned in 1981. He commanded at every level including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During his tenure, he spearheaded a broad campaign to transform the Marine Corps to better be able to fight amphibious wars in the Pacific after years of battling terrorist groups in the Middle East. The plan was lauded by many in the Pentagon and Congress as a critical way for the Marines to prepare for a potential conflict with China.
Smith, a career infantry officer, is a highly decorated Marine who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, including time in Fallujah and Ramadi during heavy combat in 2004 and 2005 in Operation Iraq Freedom. He later was the senior military adviser to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
Be on the lookout for invasive, jumping “earthworms on steroids”
Li Cohen – July 10, 2023
As you tend to your garden this summer, there’s a creepy, crawly creature to be on the lookout for: an invasive worm that moves like a snake, thrashes around, jumps into the air and will even shed its tail in an attempt to escape.
While worms are generally considered to be an excellent addition to help soil and gardening, there are thousands of species — not all of them equally welcome. Invasive jumping worms are one species known to actually worsen soil and make it “inhospitable” to many plants. They have been spotted in recent years, and most recently, may have even been seen in Wisconsin.
Here’s what to know about the invasive species.
What are invasive jumping worms?
Invasive jumping worms, Amynthas agrestis, go by many names, according to the USDA: Alabama jumpers, Jersey wriggles, wood eel, crazy worms, snake worms and crazy snake worms. But all those names stem from one notable feature of the critter.
“Invasive Asian jumping worms got their name because of the way they thrash around,” Forest Service researcher Mac Callaham said in a post by the USDA last year. “They can flip themselves a foot off the ground.”
The worms are thought to have first made it to the U.S. some time in the early to mid 1900s from eastern Asia, and can be transported to new areas in shipments of mulch or potted plants.
The invasive jumping worm has popped up across the U.S. in summer months after they reach maturity. / Credit: DNR
Where are they found?
The critters, which been described as “earthworms on steroids,” had infiltrated Connecticut and more than 30 other states as of last summer. According to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the worms are often found in the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada, where the climate is “similar to the area in Japan where jumping worms come from.”
“Jumping worms are well adapted to these humid continental and humid subtropical climates, and so they have a strong potential to invade the entire eastern half of the United States and parts of Canada,” the department says.
And most recently, they may have been found in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin officials said the Door County Invasive Species Team received a report from a local resident that there may be jumping worms in a mulch pile at Sturgeon Bay’s compost site. The city, which issued a statement on July 6, said it is investigating the report and that the site will be treated “as if it is infested” until it is proved otherwise.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the worms typically live within the top inch or two of the soil’s surface, often in debris and leaves, and can be found in yards, gardens, mulch, compost and potted plants. They spend the summer months eating and growing and are most noticeable in the late summer and early autumn once they reach maturity and start to reproduce — which they can do without mates.
Why are jumping worms bad?
Wisconsin officials explain that the worms eat the organic matter in soil and leave behind waste that looks like “hard little pellets,” known as castings, that “alter the texture and composition of soil” to make it look like large coffee grounds. That soil lacks the structure and support necessary for many native plants to survive.
The worms are also known to have build-ups of toxic metals within their systems, including mercury, cadmium, copper and lead, according to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. If those metals, which are found in soil, reach high levels within the worms, it can “negatively impact” the birds that may feed on them, researchers said.
What do invasive jumping worms look like?
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources describes invasive jumping worms as having a “smooth, glossy dark gray/brown color” with a cloudy-white to gray-colored band, known as the clitellum. The worms are known to have a “snake-like movement,” are often found in large numbers, and will “thrash, spring into the air and can even shed their tails to escape,” when they are disturbed, the department says.
Invasive jumping worms often have a gray or milky white clitellum band that’s flat against the rest of their bodies. / Credit: Shikha Singh, JLW CISMA/Michigan Invasive Species Program
How can you prevent and get rid of invasive jumping worms?
There are not yet any official methods to help control or prevent jumping worms, but Wisconsin officials say the best thing people can do is to educate themselves about how to recognize the creatures. People are also encouraged to clean soil and debris if moving it between areas, and only sell or purchase plants and gardening materials inspected and believed to be jumping worm-free.
If jumping worms are found, remove and destroy them by sealing them in a bag and throwing that bag in the trash, Wisconsin officials say. They also said research has shown that the worms and their cocoons can’t live through temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or above for more than three days — a temperature that can be easily hit in compost piles or can be reached by putting clear plastic over garden topsoil exposed to the sun.
Florida is America’s inflation hotspot, thanks to a persistent problem with sky-high housing costs.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area has the highest inflation rate of metro areas with more than 2.5 million residents, with a 9% inflation rate for the 12 months ended in April.
That’s more than double the national average of 4%, according to data from the Consumer Price Index. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro had the third-highest inflation rate in the country, at 7.3% for the year ended in May.
Other metro areas, however, have seen some welcome progress. Minneapolis had an inflation rate of 1.8% in May from a year earlier, the lowest of the 23 metro areas for which the Labor Department publishes inflation data. Urban Hawaii had the second lowest inflation rate at 2% — mirroring the Federal Reserve’s target for its preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index.
Here are some notable inflation trends for the biggest metros in the US and the dynamics behind those shifts.
A vexing inflation problem in the Sunshine State
In Florida, the state’s growing population has been pushing up inflation — particularly via housing costs. It’s a trend that accelerated during the pandemic, when remote work gave some Americans the freedom to relocate, economists say.
“A lot of people are still coming to Florida because the economy is really strong, and many like the fact that we don’t have an income tax like in New York, for example,” said Amanda Phalin, an economist at the University of Florida. “And in places like Miami, we’re seeing a lot of real estate demand from non-Floridians or non-American investors — generally wealthy folks who want to have a nice home here.”
Florida’s population grew the most of any state from July 2021 to July 2022 because of domestic migration, according to the Census Bureau’s latest estimates. During that same period, Florida also had the fastest population growth by percentage, the first time it has notched that top spot since 1957.
Housing costs account for almost a third of the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, and population gains heavily influence that component. An influx of residents boosts demand in a local economy across the board — for transportation, services and housing. That has pushed up inflation rates.
Rising interest rates, limited housing stock in cities such as Miami, and more expensive property insurance have also pushed up housing costs, Phalin said.
“Both the rental and purchasing markets are seeing upward pressures on prices from all these factors,” Phalin said. She added that there’s a shortage of available rental units because “a lot of homes are converting themselves into Airbnbs and some homeowner associations prohibit people from renting out their homes.”
That has all resulted in a growing affordability issue for residents who have lived in cities such as Miami and Tampa Bay for decades or their entire lives.
Progress on inflation
Housing costs also loom large in the metro area with the lowest inflation rate: Minneapolis and St. Paul.
“Shelter costs grew faster in Minneapolis and peaked a little bit earlier,” said Tyler Schipper, associate professor of economics at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. “They peaked about six months before they did on average of the rest of the country.”
Also likely playing a role is how the Bureau of Labor Statistics tabulates shelter costs within the CPI and the timing of when readings are collected for various regions.
Shelter carries a lot of weight in the CPI calculations. However, it comes at a significant lag because of how infrequently the data is collected (every six months versus monthly or two months for other CPI prices) and because of how infrequently rents change (many leases are for 12 months, and rents typically are raised when a tenant leaves).
“I think that’s leading to this divergence where inflation peaked at about the same time for [the Twin Cities and the nation], but it just has dropped off faster here than in the rest of the country,” he said.
Helping that along has been a surge of multifamily construction, putting more apartments on the market and bringing down rents in the process.
Last year, multifamily permits made up nearly half of the total housing permits issued in the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ district, which spans the Upper Midwest into the Mountain West. The activity — which was the highest share on record for that district, the regional Fed noted — is particularly evident in southeastern Minnesota, where large apartment projects are flourishing throughout the Twin Cities.
Even though the Twin Cities’ inflation rate is currently the lowest among major cities, it might not feel that way to residents, Schipper said.
“Because the CPI is so weighted toward housing, our overall numbers still looked really good, but those food prices went higher and stayed higher relative to other metro areas,” he said. “You’re going to have a hard time convincing people that inflation is getting better if their grocery store prices are still going up.”
Minneapolis resident Latoya Rogers isn’t feeling much price relief when she’s out getting groceries or buying other home goods. Aside from grabbing an item or two if she’s near a Target or a Cub grocery store, most of her shopping is done at Costco or Sam’s Club, she said.
“I budget a lot because things are so expensive these days,” she said during a quick run to Target in south Minneapolis. “Buying in bulk will last you longer.”
Still high, but doing better
At one point, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro was America’s inflation hotspot.
Inflation soared in Atlanta for the reason it did in other cities in the South: The population grew, driven by Americans fleeing expensive coastal cities.
However, inflation in this metro area has come down steadily in the past year as supply and demand in the region’s housing market has come into better balance as migration into the city has slowed.
Atlanta notched an inflation rate of 5.8% in the 12 months ended in April — about half of the 11.7% peak it saw in August 2022.
“If you look at the data, housing inventory in Atlanta has increased quite a bit from a year ago, so there’s a lot more supply in the market, while the number of sales has been declining,” said Kaiji Chen, an economics professor at Emory University in Atlanta.
A drop in transportation costs also helped slow Atlanta’s inflation rate, he said.
Father claims he ‘ended’ his young son’s health problems by making one small change in his home: ‘[It] offers zero benefit’
Brett Aresco – July 9, 2023
The national debate over gas stoves in homes has reached a fever pitch, with advocates praising their cooking precision and critics condemning their adverse health effects. With more Americans than ever debating the costs and benefits, many have started sharing their own stories about abandoning gas stoves on social media.
Writer Jamelle Bouie is one person who’s gone through that questioning — and come out the other side praising the benefits of induction stoves over gas-powered ones. Bouie, a dad, says the decision to switch had a major effect on his son’s health.
Bouie posted a TikTok explaining his reasoning, in which he says that “there is a lot of evidence going back many decades that gas stoves produce levels of indoor pollution that would be considered highly dangerous if experienced outside.”
“I’m not here to tell you that you can’t have a gas stove,” Bouie adds, noting that he and his family purchased an induction range in 2022 and have already seen the benefits.
“My son had pre-asthma,” Bouie goes on, “and removing the gas stove from our house pretty much ended any respiratory problems he had.”
Research now shows that gas stoves are a major contributor to childhood asthma cases because they release dangerous chemicals like nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde. According to the California Air Resources Board, “Natural gas and propane stoves can release carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and other harmful pollutants into the air, which can be toxic to people and pets.”
Induction stoves are an excellent alternative that can eliminate many of the problems with gas stoves. They’re also lightning-fast, easy to clean, and usually cheaper than their gas counterparts. Bouie says his induction range “cooks as good as gas,” and he found a lot of support for his switch from fellow TikTokers who commented on the video.
“We switched to an induction stove a few months ago,” one user writes. “I like it better than gas, heats up cast iron fast and boils water very fast.”
“Induction is better by every metric,” writes another. “Gas offers zero benefit.”
Other commenters lamented that they lived in rented homes and didn’t have the power to replace their gas stoves. “I would get rid of the stove,” one writes, “but I’m in an apartment.”
“Renters need recourse,” another commenter writes. “Not like we can legally replace them ourselves.”
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An MSNBC panel had some strong words for Florida’s First Lady, Casey DeSantis, over the weekend—with one guest going so far as to dub her “America’s Karen.”
As the charismatic wife to a reportedly uncharismatic presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis, Casey has become a national figure off her attempts to soften her husband’s hardline far-right campaign. But those attempts can’t change the basis of hate the couple’s shared political project rests upon, according to former Republican Rep. David Jolly, who represented DeSantis’ home state of Florida from 2014 to 2017.
“For some, she’s become the brighter side to Florida’s angry governor,” Jolly said on MSNBC’s The Saturday Show With Jonathan Capehart. “For many others, she’s become America’s Karen.”
He went on to say that DeSantis’ zero-sum, scorched earth culture war campaign is a losing message—and that no amount of charisma can make up for the couple’s lack of a positive message about the future of the country they’d like to govern.
“She’s a more effective messenger than Ron DeSantis, but if all she’s doing is amplifying her husband’s messages, she’s actually only clarifying his weaknesses,” Jolly added. “It doesn’t matter if it’s presented in heels or boots, the DeSantis doctrine is a losing one.”
The label prompted a round of laughs from fellow panelist and conservative pundit Tara Setmayer, as well as host Jonathan Capehart.
“Tara, I think David’s beaten you in terms of taking my breath away during a segment,” Capehart joked, adding: “America’s Karen, hoo boy.”
For her part, Setmayer continued on the topic by calling Casey DeSantis a “Serena Waterford wannabe,” in reference to the antagonist in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale.
“She needs to stop measuring the drapes at the White House and drop this belief that she’s Jackie [Onassis] reincarnate,” Setmayer added. “Keep an eye on her, she’s a wily figure.”
How many Russians have died in Ukraine? Data shows what Moscow hides
Erika Kinetz – July 10, 2023
A Russian soldier killed during combats against Ukrainian army lies on a corn field in Sytnyaky, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to a new statistical analysis. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)Ukrainian servicemen load bodies of Russian soldiers in to a railway refrigerator carriage in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 13, 2022. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to a new statistical analysis. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) Relatives of servicemen who died during the Russian Special military operation in Donbas pose for a photo holding portraits of Russian soldiers killed during a fighting in Ukraine, after attending the Immortal Regiment march through a street marking the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Sevastopol, Crimea, May 9, 2022. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to a new statistical analysis. (AP Photo, File)A woman at a cemetery in Volzhsky, outside Volgograd, Russia, on May 26, 2022, looks at the graves of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine. Some experts say that Europe’s largest conflict since World War II could drag on for years. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to a new statistical analysis. (AP Photo, File)The father and son of Russian army Sgt. Daniil Dumenko, 35, who was killed in Ukraine, mourn his death at a ceremony in Volzhsky, outside Volgograd, Russia, on May 26, 2022. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to a new statistical analysis. (AP Photo, File)Ukraine’s military official workers move bodies of killed Russian soldiers into a refrigerator in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 18, 2022. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to a new statistical analysis. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko, File)The remains of one of the Russian soldiers killed in battles and abandoned by the Russian troops in Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. Volunteers of a Ukrainian search group look for the remains of Ukrainian and Russian servicemen to identify them. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to the first independent statistical analysis of Russia’s war dead. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko, FileUkrainian servicemen pack the dead body of a Russian soldier, killed in a recent battle in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Saturday, April 8, 2023. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to the first independent statistical analysis of Russia’s war dead. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko, File)A grave of a Russian serviceman who died during the Russian-Ukrainian war at the cemetery in the village of Dinskaya, Krasnodar region, southern Russia, on Saturday, April 1, 2023. Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to the first independent statistical analysis of Russia’s war dead. (AP Photo, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) — Nearly 50,000 Russian men have died in the war in Ukraine, according to the first independent statistical analysis of Russia’s war dead.
Two independent Russian media outlets, Mediazona and Meduza, working with a data scientist from Germany’s Tübingen University, used Russian government data to shed light on one of Moscow’s closest-held secrets — the true human cost of its invasion of Ukraine.
To do so, they relied on a statistical concept popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic called excess mortality. Drawing on inheritance records and official mortality data, they estimated how many more men under age 50 died between February 2022 and May 2023 than normal.
Neither Moscow nor Kyiv gives timely data on military losses, and each is at pains to amplify the other side’s casualties. Russia has publicly acknowledged the deaths of just over 6,000 soldiers. Reports about military losses have been repressed in Russian media, activists and independent journalists say. Documenting the dead has become an act of defiance; those who do so face harassment and potential criminal charges.
Despite such challenges, Mediazona and the BBC’s Russian Service, working with a network of volunteers, have used social media postings and photographs of cemeteries across Russia to build a database of confirmed war deaths. As of July 7, they had identified 27,423 dead Russian soldiers.
“These are only soldiers who we know by name, and their deaths in each case are verified by multiple sources,” said Dmitry Treshchanin, an editor at Mediazona who helped oversee the investigation. “The estimate we did with Meduza allows us to see the ‘hidden’ deaths, deaths the Russian government is so obsessively and unsuccessfully trying to hide.”
To come up with a more comprehensive tally, journalists from Mediazona and Meduza obtained records of inheritance cases filed with the Russian authorities. Their data from the National Probate Registry contained information about more than 11 million people who died between 2014 and May 2023.
According to their analysis, 25,000 more inheritance cases were opened in 2022 for males aged 15 to 49 than expected. By May 27, 2023, the number of excess cases had shot up to 47,000.
That surge is roughly in line with a May assessment by the White House that more than 20,000 Russians had been killed in Ukraine since December, though lower than U.S. and U.K. intelligence assessments of overall Russian deaths.
In February, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said approximately 40,000 to 60,000 Russians had likely been killed in the war. A leaked assessment from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency put the number of Russians killed in action in the first year of the war at 35,000 to 43,000.
“Their figures might be accurate, or they might not be,” Treshchanin, the Mediazona editor, said in an email. “Even if they have sources in the Russian Ministry of Defense, its own data could be incomplete. It’s extremely difficult to pull together all of the casualties from the army, Rosgvardia, Akhmat battalion, various private military companies, of which Wagner is the largest, but not the only one. Casualties among inmates, first recruited by Wagner and now by the MoD, are also a very hazy subject, with a lot of potential for manipulation. Statistics could actually give better results.”
Many Russian fatalities – as well as amputations – could have been prevented with better front-line first aid, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence assessment published Monday. Russia has suffered an average of around 400 casualties a day for 17 months, creating a “crisis” in combat medical care that is likely undermining medical services for civilians in border regions near Ukraine, the ministry said.
Independently, Dmitry Kobak, a data scientist from Germany’s Tübingen University who has published work on excess COVID-19 deaths in Russia, obtained mortality data broken down by age and sex for 2022 from Rosstat, Russia’s official statistics agency.
He found that 24,000 more men under age 50 died in 2022 than expected, a figure that aligns with the analysis of inheritance data.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it harder to figure out how many men would have died in Russia since February 2022 if there hadn’t been a war. Both analyses corrected for the lingering effects of COVID on mortality by indexing male death rates against female deaths.
Sergei Scherbov, a scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, cautioned that “differences in the number of deaths between males and females can vary significantly due to randomness alone.”
“I am not saying that there couldn’t be an excess number of male deaths, but rather that statistically speaking, this difference in deaths could be a mere outcome of chance,” he said.
Russians who are missing but not officially recognized as dead, as well as citizens of Ukraine fighting in units of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics, are not included in these counts.
Kobak acknowledged that some uncertainties remain, especially for deaths of older men. Moreover, it’s hard to know how many missing Russian soldiers are actually dead. But he said neither factor is likely to have a huge impact.
“That uncertainty is in the thousands,” he said. “The results are plausible overall.”
Asked by the Associated Press on Monday about the Meduza and Mediazona study, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a conference call with reporters he wasn’t aware of it as the Kremlin had “stopped monitoring” Meduza. Peskov also refused to comment on the number of deaths mentioned in the study, saying only that “the Defense Ministry gives the numbers, and they’re the only ones who have that prerogative.”
Meduza is an independent Russian media outlet that has been operating in exile for eight years, with headquarters in Riga, Latvia. In April 2021, Russian authorities designated Meduza a “foreign agent,” making it harder to generate advertising income, and in January 2023, the Kremlin banned Meduza as an illegal “undesirable organization.”
Moscow has also labeled independent outlet Mediazona as a “foreign agent” and blocked its website after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Dasha Litvinova contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.
Exclusive-Wagner fighters neared Russian nuclear base during revolt
July 10, 2023
Exclusive-Wagner fighters neared Russian nuclear base during revolt
(Reuters) – As rebellious Wagner forces drove north toward Moscow on June 24, a contingent of military vehicles diverted east on a highway in the direction of a fortified Russian army base that holds nuclear weapons, according to videos posted online and interviews with local residents.
Once the Wagner fighters reach more rural regions, the surveillance trail goes cold – about 100 km from the nuclear base, Voronezh-45. Reuters could not confirm what happened next, and Western officials have repeatedly said that Russia’s nuclear stockpile was never in danger during the uprising, which ended quickly and mysteriously later that day.
But in an exclusive interview, Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the Wagner fighters went far further. He said that they reached the nuclear base and that their intention was to acquire small Soviet-era nuclear devices in order to “raise the stakes” in their mutiny. “Because if you are prepared to fight until the last man standing, this is one of the facilities that significantly raises the stakes,” Budanov said.
The only barrier between the Wagner fighters and nuclear weapons, Budanov said, were the doors to the nuclear storage facility. “The doors of the storage were closed and they didn’t get into the technical section,” he said.
Reuters was not able to independently determine if Wagner fighters made it to Voronezh-45. Budanov did not provide evidence for his assertion and he declined to say what discussions, if any, had taken place with the United States and other allies about the incident. He also didn’t say why the fighters subsequently withdrew.
A source close to the Kremlin with military ties corroborated parts of Budanov’s account. A Wagner contingent “managed to get into a zone of special interest, as a result of which the Americans got agitated because nuclear munitions are stored there,” this person said, without elaborating further.
A source in Russian occupied east Ukraine, with knowledge of the matter, said this caused concern in the Kremlin and provided impetus for a hastily negotiated end to the rebellion on the evening of June 24, brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
U.S. officials expressed doubts about this account. In response to a query about whether Wagner forces reached the base and sought to acquire nuclear weapons, White House National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said, “We are not able to corroborate this report. We had no indication at any point that nuclear weapons or materials were at risk.”
The Kremlin and Wagner commander Yevgeny Prigozhin did not respond to questions for this article.
Matt Korda, a Senior Research Associate and Project Manager for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said it would be “virtually impossible for a non-state actor” to breach Russian nuclear security. Wagner may have had thousands of troops at its disposal, he said, but it’s unlikely any of them knew how to detonate a bomb.
“If you had a malicious actor who was able to get their hands on a nuclear weapon, they would find the weapons stored in a state of incomplete assembly,” he said. “They would need to be completed by installing specialised equipment and then unlocking permissive action links, and in order to do that they would need the cooperation of someone from the 12th Directorate” responsible for protecting Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
Budanov is the first official to suggest Wagner fighters came close to acquiring nuclear weapons and further escalating an armed mutiny that has been widely interpreted as the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power. U.S. officials have long feared the nightmare possibility that strife in Russia might lead to nuclear devices falling into rogue hands.
Wagner fighters drove in the direction of Voronezh-45 after peeling away from a larger convoy of heavy weaponry that was advancing along the M4 highway that runs north from Rostov, where the rebellion began. This smaller group headed east, and engaged Russian forces in a firefight at the first village it reached, according to residents and social media posts. But then it appears to have passed without hindrance for 90 km, including driving unchallenged through the centre of a town that houses a military base.
Reuters followed the group’s progress to the town of Talovaya, about 100 km from the base, which dates back to the Soviet era. It is one of Russia’s 12 “national-level storage facilities” for nuclear weapons, according to a report by U.N. scientists. At Talovaya, Russian forces attacked the column, according to local people who spoke to Reuters. A Russian helicopter was shot down, killing the two crew.
Reuters interviewed Budanov in his Kyiv office, which Russia targeted with strikes as recently as May. Dressed in military fatigues with a black pistol tucked into his waistband, Budanov spoke in front of a painting that depicts an owl, a symbol of Ukraine’s spy bureau, clutching a bat, symbol of Russia’s military intelligence agency. He said Voronezh-45 houses small nuclear devices that can be carried in a backpack. “This was one of the key storage facilities for these backpacks,” he said, without providing evidence for this assertion. Reuters was unable to establish if the backpack-sized nuclear charges, referred to by Budanov, are kept at Voronezh-45.
Such small nuclear bombs – light enough to be carried by a single person – are Cold War relics. American troops trained to parachute from planes with nuclear weapons strapped to their bodies and Soviet troops trained to deploy them behind enemy lines on foot. But by the early 1990s, both nations agreed to remove them from their arsenals as tensions eased, and did so, though Russia kept some to mine harbours, said Hans Kristensen, who leads the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, based in Washington.
Several former U.S. nuclear nonproliferation officials cautioned that it’s difficult to know for sure whether the Russians kept their promise to destroy their backpack-style nuclear weapons. “I don’t believe the Russians still have them, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it,” said David Jonas, former general counsel to the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, which tracks atomic weapons and radioactive material worldwide.
Amy Woolf, a nuclear weapons specialist for U.S. lawmakers at the Library of Congress from 1988 to 2022, raised doubts about the potency of such weapons if they do still exist. “It’s possible there’s still some old crap stuck in storage somewhere,” she said. “But is it operational? Almost certainly not.”
Jonas, who advised top Pentagon officials on nonproliferation, agreed, noting that such portable weapons need to be maintained and updated, and degrade over time. He said Russia has struggled to maintain its conventional forces, let alone its atomic stockpile.
A FALLING OUT
Wagner was founded by Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, a former special forces officer in Russia’s GRU military intelligence. Cast as a private army, Wagner enabled Russia to dabble in wars in countries including Syria, Libya and Mali with full deniability. U.S. officials also say Prigozhin’s business operated a social media troll factory that interfered with the 2016 American presidential election. In recent days, Putin confirmed the Russian state financed Wagner. State television reported that Prigozhin’s operations had received more than 1.7 trillion roubles ($19 billion) from the Russian budget.
Prigozhin fired the opening salvo of his mutiny on June 23 when he accused the Russian military of launching a missile strike on a Wagner camp in Russian-occupied east Ukraine. Russia denied any such operation.
At least half a dozen sources inside and outside Russia say the conflict had been brewing for some time and that money and tensions between rival clans lay at its heart. For months, Prigozhin had been openly insulting Putin’s most senior military men, casting Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov as corrupt and incompetent and blaming them for reversals in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The insults went unanswered in public for a long time. Then Shoigu hit back. On June 10, he ordered Wagner fighters to sign contracts with his ministry agreeing to become part of the regular army by month’s end. Prigozhin refused. On June 13, Putin publicly sided with Shoigu. The state was moving to cut Wagner’s funding and this, the sources inside and outside Russia told Reuters, was the trigger for the mutiny.
In the early hours of June 24, Wagner forces arrived in the southern city of Rostov, an important command centre for Russia’s operations in Ukraine. Wagner took charge of the base there and within hours video emerged of Prigozhin chatting with Russian commanders. Around the same time, other contingents of Wagner forces struck out north, heading in the direction of Moscow along the M-4 highway.
Wagner fighters encountered little resistance.
Some Russian units that stood in their path or were instructed to intercept them did nothing, according to five sources: a Russian security source, three people close to the Kremlin, and a person close to the Russian-installed leadership in eastern Ukraine. The security source said two Russian military formations around the south-west of the country received orders to resist Wagner but they did not act on the command.
Some Russian units did nothing because they were taken by surprise and were outgunned, the sources said, while others stood by because they assumed, until Putin went on television at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time to denounce Prigozhin, that Wagner was acting on the Kremlin’s orders. The sources said some officers were reluctant to move against Wagner because they felt solidarity with the private army and shared Prigozhin’s disillusionment with the way the Defence Ministry top brass was running the war.
At the Bugayevka crossing between Ukraine and Russia, images posted by a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel on the morning of June 24 showed dozens of Russian troops standing in line, unarmed. The caption said they had laid down their weapons.
Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, told Reuters that many in the Russian military sided with Prigozhin. “There are so many commanders who sympathise with Wagner and don’t want to follow Putin,” he said, adding that he knew of 14 Russian generals who supported Prigozhin. Reuters was not able to independently verify his account about the generals.
One branch of the Wagner force headed north along the M-4 highway, in the direction of Moscow. Their route took them right past Boguchar, a garrison town where a Russian unit is stationed. Three local residents who spoke to Reuters said that the military there did nothing to resist, and that a significant number of people in the town, including people serving in the military, felt sympathy with the Wagner force.
One woman said of Prigozhin: “Who else should we support? At least there’s one dignified person who was not frightened.” Another female resident also said Wagner had widespread support in the town, and that many Wagner fighters are from Boguchar. “They’re all friends,” she said.
A NUCLEAR DETOUR
As the main Wagner column advanced northwards towards Moscow, a group of military vehicles, and some civilian pickups and vans, turned eastwards. The moment is captured on a video posted on a Voronezh region news site. Reuters geo-located the video to a junction near the town of Pavlovsk. The breakaway contingent rumbled through villages and along a road that cut through patches of forest and flat farmland, skirting gulleys carved out by tributaries of the Don River.
A video posted on a local online bulletin board shows a field in the dawn light near the village of Elizavetovka on June 24. In the distance there is an explosion and gunfire, and panicked cries from a male voice: “Has a war started?”
Then a fresh round of automatic gunfire, closer this time.
Reuters spoke to the man’s neighbour, who said the Russian military had attacked the Wagner force. At 08:24 am, a user on the same online bulletin board, Anna Sandrakova, wrote: “Shells are flying, low-flying helicopters, we could hear explosions, automatic gunfire.” Maxim Yantsov, the local government chief for Pavlovsk district, wrote on his Telegram channel that 19 households were damaged as a result of shooting around Elizavetovka.
A few hours later, the convoy passed through another village, Vorontsovka, still moving in the direction of the nuclear facility. Two videos posted to Telegram show more than a dozen vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, tanks and trucks mounted with machine guns or carrying artillery.
Next on the route, the convoy reached Buturlinovka, according to posts on the town’s online bulletin board and a video that Reuters identified as being recorded in the town. Buturlinovka, closer still to the nuclear facility, is the location of a military air base.
By Saturday evening, users on a VKontakte online forum started reporting the presence of a military column at the town of Talovaya, 110 km from the military base. A video shared by a local resident with Reuters shows a column of military vehicles moving through the outskirts of the town. A second video, provided by another resident, showed at least 75 vehicles in a convoy on the edge of the town, including 5 armoured personnel carriers, two ambulances, and an artillery gun towed behind a truck. A third resident said local people offered food and water to the Wagner troops. The situation was calm, he said, until a Russian helicopter fired at the column. It fired back and the helicopter fell to the ground, followed by explosions and a cloud of smoke.
Russian state media later broadcast video of a wooden cross erected at the site in Talovaya district where the helicopter, a Ka-52 attack aircraft, crashed. Pskov region governor Mikhail Vedernikov said the two crewmen who were killed were stationed at a military base in his region, in north-west Russia. “True to their oath, they did everything to protect our country,” he said in a video address posted on his Telegram channel.
Reuters couldn’t determine what the column did next. A resident of Talovaya said that as far as he was aware, it did not move any further and the following day – after the truce was announced – the column turned around and went back the way it came.
Budanov said in his interview that an unspecified number of fighters did in fact press on to Voronezh-45 with the intention of seizing portable, Soviet-era nuclear weapons stored at the facility.
The nuclear facility at Voronezh-45 is operated and guarded by military unit no. 14254, part of the defence ministry’s 12th Main Directorate responsible for protecting Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, according to the Russian Defence Ministry’s website and publicly available records. What is stored there is a closely guarded secret. Russia does not publicly acknowledge even keeping nuclear weapons there; that information has emerged from the reports of foreign scientists.
Reuters was unable to establish if the backpack-sized nuclear charges referred to by Budanov are kept at the facility. But there is evidence that such devices were developed by the Soviet Union. In testimony to the U.S. Congress, in 1997 Alexei Yablokov, a former Russian presidential science advisor, said Soviet scientists in the 1970s created suitcase-sized nuclear munitions for use by secret agents.
Kristensen, the Federation of American Scientists researcher who said that Russia and the United States discarded thousands of suitcase-sized nukes in the 1990s, said that he doubts any remain stored Voronezh-45. He said he believes – but cannot be certain – that other nuclear weapons are stored at Voronezh-45, which satellite images show to be well-maintained.
Given the 12th Main Directorate’s control over the facility, the movement of weapons would take time and likely be detected by U.S. satellites, he added.
Further north, there is evidence that the Russian military undertook drastic measures to block off another potential access route to Voronezh-45. The E-38 road branches off the M-4 highway at a settlement called Rogachevka. This road also leads to Voronezh-45. On the evening of June 24, local residents reported hearing explosions. A video posted on a Telegram channel captured the sound of an aircraft followed by an explosion. A motorist driving along the E-38 posted a video that shows the road covered in debris near a bridge over the river Bityug. In one lane is a deep crater.
A DEAL IS STRUCK
On the evening of June 24 there was an unexpected announcement by Belarusian state media. The country’s president, Alexsandr Lukashenko, had negotiated Prigozhin’s agreement to halt his forces’ advances. Prigozhin said in an audio message that his forces had come within 125 miles of Moscow and were “turning around” to head back to their training camps. Under the deal, Russia would not prosecute the rebels and Wagner fighters would either withdraw to Belarus or join Russia’s regular army.
A European intelligence source said Prigozhin was persuaded to abandon his revolt after realising he didn’t have sufficient support amongst the military.
Prigozhin’s whereabouts and future plans are unclear.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Putin held talks with the Wagner leader on June 29 and “gave his assessment of the events” of June 24.
One of Prigozhin’s private jets has made multiple trips between Belarus and Russia in the days since the rebellion, according to flight tracking data.
When Belarusian president Lukashenko hosted a group of journalists in Minsk on July 6, he said Wagner’s fighters had yet to arrive at their new Belarusian base. “As for Yevgeny Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. Or perhaps this morning he flew to Moscow. Or perhaps he’s somewhere else. But he’s not in Belarus,” Lukashenko said.
(Reporting by Mari Saito, Tom Balmforth, Sergiy Karazy and Anna Dabrowska in Kyiv, John Shiffman and Phil Stewart in Washington, Polina Nikolskaya in London, Maria Tsvetkova in New York, Anton Zverev, Christian Lowe in Paris, David Gauthier-Villars in Istanbul, Stephen Grey, Reade Levinson and Eleanor Whalley in London, Milan Pavicic and Daria Shamonova in Gdansk; edited by Janet McBride)
Degenerative disc disease treatment aims to minimize symptoms and prevent further disc degeneration. Damage to the disc cannot be reversed. The right treatment option may depend on the extent of deterioration.
Degenerative disc disease is caused by the wear of the shock-absorbing discs (intervertebral discs) between the spinal vertebrae. It can occur in any area of the spine. The symptoms of degenerative disc disease include back pain (especially when sitting), numbness and tingling in the hands or feet, and weakness in the legs.
This article will cover the different treatment options for degenerative disc disease, including conservative treatment and surgery.
Medication
Medication can minimize pain and inflammation in people with degenerative disc disease. It will not stop the progression of the condition, but decrease its symptoms.
Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
NSAIDs are medications that decrease inflammation and pain. They can relieve the associated back pain and decrease inflammation in the joints in those with degenerative disc disease.
Aspirin and Advil or Motrin (ibuprofen) are common over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs. Prescription NSAIDs include Nalfon (fenoprofen), ketoprofen, and sulindac.
Potential side effects of NSAIDs include ringing in the ears, dizziness, gas, bloating, constipation, and nervousness. People who are on blood thinners, have poor kidney function, or are pregnant should talk to their healthcare provider before taking an NSAID.
Nonnarcotic Pain Relievers
Tylenol (acetaminophen) is a common OTC pain reliever. Prescription nonnarcotic pain relievers may also be recommended by a healthcare provider.
Narcotic Medications
Narcotic pain medications may be prescribed by a healthcare provider when pain is moderate to severe.
Narcotics like codeine and morphine work in the central nervous system (CNS) to numb pain. While narcotics are an effective pain medication, they do carry many side effects. These include:
Constipation is a very common narcotic side effect. Talk to a healthcare provider about starting a stool softener or increasing dietary fiber.
Muscle Relaxants
If someone is having muscle spasms in their back then a muscle relaxant may be a good choice to help relieve pain and spasms. Common muscle relaxants include Soma (carisoprodol) and Flexeril (cyclobenzaprine).
Muscle relaxants should not be used long-term, but rather for just three to four days. There are serious side effects like depression and drowsiness.
Antidepressants
Antidepressants may be used to treat pain and poor sleep in people with degenerative disc disease. The chemical reactions in neurons that cause depression seem to be the same nerve pathways as pain.
Using an antidepressant may not be right for everyone, but can be helpful to regain a normal sleep routine due to back pain.
Physical Therapy
People with degenerative disc disease may benefit from physical therapy. The overall goal of physical therapy will be to decrease pain and improve muscle strength and flexibility. This will help the body support the spine and reduce pain and stiffness.
There are many different treatments used under the physical therapy umbrella. They may include:
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): The electrical stimulation from a TENS unit interferes with or blocks pain signals and can work for back pain.
Strength training: Strengthening the core can stabilize the spine and reduce back pain.
Improving flexibility: This can improve spine mobility and range of motion. Stretching also decreases back spasms.
Posture training: Poor posture contributes to back pain. A physical therapist can teach someone how to sit, stand, and move correctly.
Exercise
Regular exercise is an important component in maintaining spine health. Exercise strengthens back and abdominal muscles, which support the spine. A person with degenerative disc disease should talk to a healthcare provider before beginning an exercise routine. Ask if any motions (such as twisting) should be avoided.
Many types of exercise can be used, like weight training, aerobic exercise, and aquatic therapy, as follows:
Weight training combines weights with exercise and helps to prevent bone loss and strengthen muscles.
Aerobic exercise like walking, cycling, or running increases the heart rate and blood pressure while also releasing endorphins (the body’s natural pain relievers).
Aquatic therapy, or exercise in a pool, is an effective and low-impact aerobic exercise that is beneficial to people with degenerative disc disease. The water decreases pressure on the spine allowing the person to get the benefits of a workout without all the physical stress.
Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic care uses adjustments to the spine to correct improper alignments, reduce pain, and improve the body’s ability to heal itself. There is limited research on the effectiveness and safety of chiropractic care for people with degenerative disc disease, so it should be discussed with a healthcare provider before use.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine practice in which thin needles are inserted into the skin in different areas of the body. An acupuncturist will place the needles along meridians (traditional energy pathways). Acupuncture may improve healing by increasing blood flow or relieve pain by releasing endorphins.
Cold therapy works by applying an ice pack or cold towel to the painful area for 20 minutes at a time. The cold will interrupt the pain signal, thereby reducing pain. It will also cause the surrounding blood vessels to tighten, which will reduce swelling.
Heat can be used with a warm towel or heating pad. The heat will soothe sore muscles and dilate the surrounding blood vessels, which improves blood flow to the area.
Spine Injections
A steroid spine injection can reduce back pain and inflammation caused by degenerative disc disease. The injections use a combination of steroid medication and numbing medicine. Pain relief usually starts soon after the injection and lasts a few weeks to months.
Healthcare providers may limit the number of steroid injections a person can receive in a year. Too many can cause an infection or skin discoloration. Steroid injections are typically used when other conservative treatments are not successful.
Bracing
Another nonsurgical option for degenerative disc disease is a back brace. A back brace is a medical device that is wrapped around the lower back and secured with Velcro. The brace does not completely immobilize the back but does reduce the ability to move. It can stabilize the spine and reduce tension in people with degenerative disc disease.
Surgery
When degenerative disc disease does not respond to conservative treatment, surgery may be necessary. Below are the different surgical options that can be used.
Disc Replacement
Disc replacement is used in place of a spinal fusion in people under 65 years of age who have a herniated disc in the neck. An artificial disc is placed where the damaged disc is removed. One of the greatest benefits is that it allows flexibility and stability in the spine.
People who have a disc replacement can usually go home after one night in the hospital and can walk within 24 hours. They may need to wear a brace for support during the first few weeks after surgery.
Discectomy
A discectomy is a common surgery used in the treatment of degenerative disc disease. During the procedure, the injured part of the disc is removed. This alleviates pressure on the surrounding nerves by making room in the spinal canal.
Spinal Fusion
A spinal fusion is when a surgeon permanently joins the vertebrae to eliminate movement and stabilize parts of the spine. Spinal fusion may be necessary when there is a severely degenerated disc. It is sometimes done in conjunction with a discectomy and is more often done on the neck than the lower back.
A spinal fusion requires an overnight stay at the hospital. The patient may need to wear a brace after surgery and will need to minimize activity until their surgeon clears them.
How to Prevent Degenerative Disc Disease From Getting Worse
While preventing degenerative disc disease may not be possible, there are several ways to decrease the rate of degeneration. Here are a few steps that can be taken:
Stop smoking. Research shows that smoking increases the rate at which the intervertebral disc degenerates.
Exercise. Regular exercise will strengthen the back and core muscles that support the spine.
Maintain a healthy weight. People with elevated body mass index (BMI) have a higher likelihood of developing degenerative disc disease.
Summary
Degenerative disc disease is a progressive condition that results when the cushions in between the vertebrae wear down. There is no cure for the condition and treatment is aimed at reducing symptoms and preventing further degeneration. Current treatments include exercise, physical therapy, and in severe cases surgery. Talk to a healthcare provider to determine the best treatment route.
