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.

If You Want To Lose Visceral Fat, Dietitians Say You Should Avoid These Foods

She Finds

If You Want To Lose Visceral Fat, Dietitians Say You Should Avoid These Foods

Georgia Dodd – March 9, 2023

Some types of body fat—like the visceral fat that lies deep in your abdomen and surrounds your internal organs—are more harmful to your health than others. Visceral fat increases your risk for certain health conditions, including breast cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. But, luckily, exercising, cutting calories, and limiting certain foods can help minimize it.

To learn more about foods that you should avoid if you want to lose visceral fat, we spoke with Trista Best, a registered dietitian at Balance One Supplements, and Pam Hartnett MPH, a registered dietitian-nutritionist, owner of The Vitality Dietitians and health/nutrition writer. They agree that refined carbohydrates and sugary beverages should be avoided at all costs because they contain high levels of high-fructose sugar and are full of “empty calories.” Read on below to learn more!

READ MORE: 6 Foods No One Should Be Eating Anymore Because They Cause Visceral Fat

Visceral fat

Before we get into which foods to avoid, let’s first define “visceral fat.” Visceral fat, or abdominal fat, can be detrimental to your overall health for a plethora of reasons. “First, it is carried at the front of the body where it creates significant stress on the heart and other vital organs. This puts the individual at risk for heart disease and stroke, among other chronic conditions. Second, if allowed to persist it will form around organs and tissues which makes it difficult to lose, also increasing the risk of chronic disease,” Best explains. “Third, visceral belly fat can be a hidden danger for those who otherwise have a normal body weight. A person with a healthy BMI may be carrying a lot of belly fat while other areas of the body are relatively thin. This can create a false sense of reassurance that they do not need to worry [about] health or weight loss.” When you put on enough visceral fat, you may end up with a hard “pot belly” or a more apple-shaped physique.

Refined Carbohydrates

Refined carbohydrates are grain-based foods. They have the bran and germ extracted during the refining process. Not only does the process of refining a food remove the fiber, but it also removes much of the food’s nutritional value, including B-complex vitamins, healthy oils, and fat-soluble vitamins. Without fiber, refined carbohydrates provide no actual sustenance and only increase visceral fat. Some popular examples of refined carbohydrates include white bread and pasta.

“White bread,” Best says, “is made from refined flour, which is high in simple carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are quickly digested and absorbed, causing a rapid spike in blood sugar levels. This can lead to insulin resistance, which can increase the accumulation of visceral fat.”

Similarly, refined pasta “is low in fiber, which can further contribute to blood sugar spikes and insulin resistance,” she says. “Fiber helps to slow down the digestion process, which can help to regulate blood sugar levels and reduce the accumulation of visceral fat,” Best continues. Consuming too many refined carbs can lead to stomach inflammation which will only worsen visceral fat.

Sugary Beverages

Sugary beverages like soda, sweet tea, and high-sugar coffee drinks, only increase visceral fat. “Sugary beverages are often sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is rich in fructose (hence the name), a type of sugar that is converted into fat by the liver.  People who consume excess fructose intake can develop non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is linked to an increase in visceral fat,” Hartnett says. “High sugar intake and rapid spikes in blood sugar can be inflammatory. Chronic inflammation can result in excess fat storage in the abdominal region.”

The high sugar content in soda and coffee (learn how heavily sweetened coffee can stall weight loss goals!) can cause a rapid spike in blood sugar. “Over time, your calls may become less responsive to the hormone insulin, resulting in insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance has been linked to increased visceral fat accumulation,” Hartnett says.

Instead of refined carbohydrates and sugary beverages, Hartnett suggests opting for healthy fats. Consuming avocados, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish (like salmon, which is also good for boosting hair thickness and shine!), can help to reduce inflammation in the body and help prevent visceral fat accumulation. And, these foods can also keep you fuller, longer so you won’t feel the need to over-snack later in the day. But, dieting by itself won’t get rid of significant amounts of visceral fat. It’s best if you also exercise, too. Try some of these exercise methods to tone up your stomach and back fat!

Putin’s Troops Filmed Threatening to Turn Weapons on Bosses

Daily Beast

Putin’s Troops Filmed Threatening to Turn Weapons on Bosses

Allison Quinn – March 8, 2023

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

A group of Russian troops sent to Ukraine to fight for the Kremlin’s “new” territory is threatening to raise absolute hell over what they describe as pointless suicide missions—and they’ve made clear they’re willing to turn their weapons on members of their own team if necessary.

The draftees from Kaliningrad have already appealed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin to complain of ancient weapons, lack of training, and people dying “for nothing.” In a video released publicly earlier this week, they shamed top military brass by saying there appears to be no battlefield strategy whatsoever and declaring that “this is no way to fight a war.”

Now, a video has leaked capturing the aftermath of their complaints. In a five-minute clip released by the independent outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti, the men can be seen surrounding a commander sent out from Kaliningrad and warning him they will put up a fight if they are not heard.

“You can jail us all! How many years is it, 5, 7, 10? We don’t give a fuck!,” one soldier yells after the commander tries but fails to convince them to obey orders and storm Ukrainian positions.

The troops say they were never meant to be part of assault teams, but were instead assigned as members of territorial defenses. The Kremlin-backed proxy troops fighting in occupied Donetsk, they say, send them on suicide missions while they themselves “run away” or sit around away from the gunfire.

‘You’ve Been Screwed’: Russian Inmates Rebel and Flee From Commanders

They shout that they’d rather go to jail than go on guaranteed-to-fail assault missions “for who knows what.”

“Did you see that puddle of blood here? That person was sent to storm [Ukrainian positions], so he pulled the trigger, because he knew where he was headed,” one soldier says. “Do you want suicides here?”

After the commander responds that they’ve presented a “weak” argument for not obeying orders, they warn that they will use force.

“No one is going on this storm. You can fucking jail us all. And if someone tries to trick us and say we supposedly aren’t going there and then they throw us on the frontline, it will be a shitshow, it won’t be forgiven, we will just go head to head against them,” one soldier says.

“Honestly, we’re ready for that,” he says, asking the entire group: “Is everyone ready for that?”

“Yes, yes! Everyone!” the group responds in unison.

“We are so fucking angry after the deaths of our friends, … we’ll walk on foot, we’ll leave by taxi. Fight your fucking self!” the apparent leader of the group says.

He goes on to tell the commander that several other soldiers had been “taken away,” apparently after also protesting conditions.

“They came at night. What is that? Is it 1939? NKVD? Black ravens?” he said, referring to the Soviet secret police rounding up “enemies” in night-time raids.

The latest uprising by draftees is just the latest of many as the Russian war machine finds itself running out of men to use as cannon fodder. And in a particularly ironic twist, more and more of the same young Russian citizens that Putin claimed to be trying to protect from outside forces with his full-scale invasion are now being sacrificed for the sake of his conquest on Ukrainian land.

“Previously, the Donetsk and Luhansk draftees were used as expendable materials, but now it’s the Russians,” military analyst Kirill Mikhailov told iStories of the mounting conflict between Kremlin-backed troops in Ukraine’s occupied territories. “They cannot fight any other way. If the approach doesn’t fundamentally change, which I doubt, then Russian draftees will keep dying this way.”

When Trump Passes the MAGA Hat, His Aides Clutch Their Wallets

The New York Times

When Trump Passes the MAGA Hat, His Aides Clutch Their Wallets

Michael C. Bender – March 8, 2023

Steve Bannon speaks during AmericaFest in Phoenix, Ariz. on Dec. 20, 2022. (Rebecca Noble/The New York Times)
Steve Bannon speaks during AmericaFest in Phoenix, Ariz. on Dec. 20, 2022. (Rebecca Noble/The New York Times)

WASHINGTON — To pay for three presidential campaigns, Donald Trump has raised billions of dollars from corporate executives, online donors and, during his first race, even his own pocket.

One source of money Trump has never successfully tapped: the people closest to him.

While other recent presidents routinely drew financial support from key campaign aides and West Wing advisers, contributions to Trump from his team have been the exception rather than the norm.

The lack of contributions from the Trump team is surprising, given the former president’s penchant for testing his top staff members’ allegiances and his tendency to view loyalty through a starkly transactional lens. Trump is also known to harbor deep resentment over the manner in which aides — in real or perceived ways — have leveraged their connections to him for their own financial gain.

The contrast also offers a window into how Trump, whose temperamental management style led to record turnover in the West Wing, has treated the people he has worked with most closely.

Many of Trump’s advisers, who were often expected to work around the clock, said this time spent working for him was worth more to the campaign than any check they could afford to write. Others pointed to Trump’s personal wealth and his already brimming campaign coffers, suggesting that their contribution either would not matter or would not be missed.

Meanwhile, aides to Trump’s predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, and his successor, Joe Biden, explained their contributions as a reflection of the loyalty and enthusiasm inspired by their respective bosses.

A review of eight years of campaign finance records showed only a handful of contributions to Trump’s campaigns or political committees from more than 40 of his senior staff members who had a hand in his three presidential campaigns and during his four years in the White House.

The opposite was true for a similar list of key advisers for Biden, Obama and Bush. The list was also checked against Federal Election Commission records for the presidents’ campaigns and related committees.

Reince Priebus, Trump’s first White House chief of staff, spent roughly $130,000 on federal candidates and political committees during the past eight years. Those donations included $5,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2020 and $1,000 in 2018 to a leadership political action committee run by former Vice President Mike Pence. Priebus, who declined to comment, never directly contributed to Trump.

David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, the top strategists for Obama’s first campaign, and Karl Rove, who held a similar position for Bush, contributed to the campaigns that employed them. So did Mike Donilon, who was Biden’s chief strategist in 2020.

Steve Bannon, who was Trump’s top strategist in 2016 and in the White House, gave $25,000 in 2017 to a group called Black Americans for a Better Future and contributed $2,800 in 2019 to Kris Kobach’s campaign for Senate in Kansas. But Bannon never gave to Trump.

“I have never given to any politician except a buddy, Kris Kobach,” Bannon said.

Among the first four Trump campaign managers, the only one to give a maximum contribution was Brad Parscale, who was often the subject of unproven accusations from his colleagues — as well as Trump — that he was pocketing money from the campaign.

Bill Stepien, who offered to take a pay cut when he replaced Parscale as campaign manager, gave the Trump campaign a series of small contributions.

Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, has not contributed to Trump, but he has spent about $17,000 on other federal campaigns. Similarly, Kellyanne Conway, another former campaign manager, has not contributed to Trump but has spent nearly $30,000 on other campaigns in the past eight years.

“I have donated thousands upon thousands of hours of my time to help President Trump without compensation,” Lewandowski said, adding that he had also paid for his own travel to support the former president since 2017.

Conway said she “gave at the office.”

“In 2016, I did better than stroke a check; I became Trump’s campaign manager, and he won,” she said, adding that she did not contribute to any federal candidates during the four years she worked in the Trump White House.

There are also no donations in the past eight years from Trump’s senior leadership team for his 2024 campaign, including Susie Wiles, who worked without a salary for two years before the campaign started in November, and Chris LaCivita. LaCivita’s only federal contribution during the past eight years was to a Virginia House candidate.

Jason Miller, who is working for Trump for the third consecutive campaign, has given nearly $40,000 to other federal campaigns since 2015. But he has never donated to Trump.

“President Trump represents and fights for the working men and women of America, and the people who work for him are a reflection of that,” said Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump. “In contrast to how the swamp usually operates, people on the campaign have dedicated their lives to this honorable cause.”

One outlier inside Trump’s entourage was Anthony Scaramucci, who contributed more than $250,000 to the Trump campaign and political committees in 2016 before working as the Trump White House communications director. Scaramucci was fired after 11 days and has since contributed to numerous anti-Trump candidates and causes.

Major donors, like Scaramucci, are often selected for administration roles. Steven Mnuchin, who was the Trump campaign finance director in 2016, served as Treasury secretary. Penny Pritzker was the Obama campaign’s finance director in 2012 and later served as the administration’s commerce secretary.

Trump also has not received contributions from most of his children, who have been unusually active in his political career.

Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s eldest son, gave $5,000 in 2017 to America First Action, a political action committee that supported the president. But the only other gift from his siblings was a $376.20 in-kind contribution from Eric Trump to cover meals at a meeting during the 2016 race. Both of those Trump sons and their significant others, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lara Trump, have helped raise tens of millions for Donald Trump’s political efforts, according to people familiar with the matter.

Biden’s children Ashley and Hunter gave their father small online donations during the 2020 campaign. Michelle Obama, Obama’s wife, gave her husband $399 during his first campaign in 2007.

Both of Barack Obama’s campaign managers, David Plouffe and Jim Messina, contributed to their boss, as did Bush’s two campaign managers, Joe Allbaugh and Ken Mehlman, and Biden’s general election manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon.

Some Obama and Bush aides described an unspoken expectation for campaign contributions, particularly among top aides, though they said this was not rooted in direct pressure from the candidate.

Put simply, aides wanted to give money to the boss.

“I wanted to be on that list” of contributors, said Jennifer Palmieri, an Obama White House communications director. “Especially as senior staff, I wanted to show I was doing my part. Because this was not just a job for me — it’s my calling; it’s what I’m about.”

Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary for Bush, recalled writing a $500 check to the 2000 Bush campaign while he was working on it. Bush, then the governor of Texas, was on the ropes after losing three early primary contests to Sen. John McCain of Arizona, and his huge war chest had taken a significant hit.

“It was a lot of money for me at the time, but I was happy to part with it because I wanted him to win,” Fleischer said.

For Bush’s second campaign, Fleischer had left the White House and opened a consulting firm. He was eager to give Bush a maximum contribution.

Anita Dunn, who donated to both of the Obama and Biden campaigns she worked for, said she felt a “deep commitment to the success” of those candidacies.

“The best presidential campaigns feel like crusades, and you want to support that person in every way possible — with your efforts and financially, if you have the ability to do so,” Dunn said.

While none of Trump’s four White House chiefs of staff, including Priebus, donated to the president they served, both of Biden’s chiefs, Ron Klain and Jeffrey Zients, donated to the president’s 2020 campaign, on which they served as advisers.

Obama did not receive contributions from his first two chiefs of staff, Rahm Emanuel and Pete Rouse, but did from his third and fourth, William M. Daley and Jacob J. Lew. Bush’s first White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., donated to his campaign, but his second, Joshua B. Bolten, did not.

But the Obama and Bush chiefs who did not contribute also had no record of giving to any other federal committee or candidate during the 10 years their bosses each were in office and running for office.

On the other hand, Mark Meadows, Trump’s final chief of staff, has given more than $8,000 to other candidates and committees during the past eight years.

Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s second-longest-serving chief of staff with 15 months in the job, gave about $20,000 to other candidates during that time.

Why did Mulvaney never contribute to Trump?

“I never got the impression that he needed the money,” he said.

Red tide has overtaken much of Florida’s southwest coast. See the hot spots.

USA Today

Red tide has overtaken much of Florida’s southwest coast. See the hot spots.

Orlando Mayorquin and Kimberly Miller – March 8, 2023

'Red tide' toxic algae bloom kills sea life and costs Florida millions

Dead fish are washing up on the Southwest Florida coast thanks to a toxic algae known as red tide that can pose a risk to humans.

The algae, which is known formally as the single-cell Karenia brevis, has concentrated near Tampa and neighboring communities.

Scientists have found the algae at rates ranging from 10,000 cells per liter to more than 1 million cells per liter – levels that result in fish kills and breathing difficulties in exposed humans, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The FWC said Wednesday that red tide was detected at concentrations greater than 100,000 cells per liter in samples from the following counties: Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier and Monroe.

The agency said red tide becomes harmful to people at 10,000 cells per liter.

Red tides produce a toxin called brevetoxin that can make humans ill if they breathe the toxin in through sea spray or get wet with contaminated water.

The illness can cause a range of symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including:

  • Coughing and sneezing
  • Shortness of breath
  • Eye, skin, and throat irritation
  • Asthma attacks

The FWC it had received multiple reports of dead fish respiratory irritation at communities through the Southwest Florida. One community, Indian Rocks Beach, decided to cancel a beach festival slated for next month amid red tide concerns.

Red tides are a naturally occurring phenomenon that have been observed in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1800s. Nascent studies have connected nutrient-laden runoff from farms and developments to increased levels of red tide along the coast.They begin to form on the coast beginning in the fall, and typically clear up by Spring.

Here’s where you can find red tide in Florida.

Florida red tide map

Josh Hawley thinks you’re too stupid to realize Tucker Carlson is lying to you

The Kansas City Star – Opinion

Josh Hawley thinks you’re too stupid to realize Tucker Carlson is lying to you | Opinion

The Kansas City Star Editorial Board – March 8, 2023

Facebook/HawleyMO

Fox News lies to its viewers. Josh Hawley is fine with that.

Old news? Maybe. Certainly, we’ve known of both Fox’s mendacity and the Missouri Republican senator’s cynicism for a long time. But fresh developments have revealed yet again how deep the rot goes.

Monday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson offered a ludicrous alternative take on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — that deadly attack on American democracy in the name of defying the will of the voters in order to keep Donald Trump in the White House. Using a feeble smattering of clips eked out of 40,000 hours of unseen Capitol surveillance video furnished to him by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Carlson made a ridiculously weak case that it wasn’t actually a rebellion against the lawful and constitutional transfer of power to Joe Biden — instead, it was simply “mostly peaceful chaos,” generated by sightseers and tourists.

“The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress,” Carlson said. It was a bald-faced attempt to rewrite history, to tell Americans that what they witnessed on Jan. 6 wasn’t real. “Gaslighting” is an overused term, but it describes Carlson’s efforts perfectly.

The good news is that many Republicans who typically defer to Fox News pushed back on Carlson’s falsehoods. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina used a barnyard epithet to describe the absurdity. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell aligned himself with a letter from the Capitol Police chief, who accused Carlson of “cherry-picking” his video clips to show calmer moments amid the insurrectionist storm.

These leaders showed it’s more than possible to be a member of the GOP and still respect the truth of what happened on Jan. 6.

Unless you’re Josh Hawley. He embraced Carlson’s version of the insurrection. “Sunshine is always the right answer,” he tweeted Tuesday, openly and directly mocking McConnell’s rightful denunciation of the Fox idiocy.

Please. It’s not “sunshine” to furnish government videos only to one favored propagandist, as McCarthy did to Carlson. Real transparency would’ve meant making the footage widely available to all the news outlets that asked for it.

But it’s no surprise McCarthy gave the videos to Fox. Over the last few weeks, filings in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the network have revealed that Fox hosts were happy to air Trump’s false and discredited claims even though senior figures — all the way up to owner Rupert Murdoch and prime-time host Sean Hannity — knew at the time they were patently false. Instead, Hannity and Carlson actively undermined Fox’s few real journalists, even calling for the firing of one reporter who debunked Trump’s lies.

Why? Because they were afraid of losing conservative viewers to even further-right-wing alternatives such as Newsmax. “Weak ratings make good journalists do bad things,” Fox News exec Bill Sammon wrote in a December 2020 email. He might believe that. We don’t.

Fox host on Trump: ‘I hate him passionately’

Believing one thing and telling viewers another is a regular practice at Fox, clearly. Carlson is a fierce defender of Trump when he’s on the air. Behind the scenes? “I hate him passionately,” Carlson said of Trump, in a text revealed by the Dominion lawsuit. “What he’s good at is destroying things.” His viewers never heard that view.

That is the guy McCarthy put in charge of shedding “sunshine” on Jan. 6.

We don’t know Hawley’s real feelings about Trump. But we suspect that — like those up and down the ranks at Fox News — the senator knew better than to believe the former president’s lies, yet still embraced them out of expediency and fear. That’s likely why he led the ludicrous and doomed Senate effort to deny Biden’s rightful election.

Fox executives worried about losing viewers. Hawley had donors and voters to think about.

Now? There’s the matter of his reputation. Carlson on Monday said the famous video showing Hawley fleeing from the insurrectionists was “edited deceptively” by the Jan. 6 committee because, in fact, several other senators were also running away. We’re not sure how that makes Hawley look better, but the senator must take comfort in having an embarrassing moment ever-so-slightly whitewashed.

The problem is that Carlson’s insurrection denialism won’t wash. More than two dozen of Hawley’s Missouri constituents — including, most recently, a member of the Missouri National Guard — have been arrested or charged for their participation in the insurrection. Across the border, another nine Kansans have also been accused of involvement.

Anybody who cares to know what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, understands it was the bloody, violent and irredeemable affair we all saw unfolding in real time with our own eyes.

The folks at Fox News know it, no matter what Tucker Carlson says on his show. And Josh Hawley knows it too.

What will Miami look like with more sea rise? This high-tech car helps us picture it

Miami Herald

What will Miami look like with more sea rise? This high-tech car helps us picture it

Alex Harris – March 8, 2023

Hurricane Ian’s destructive storm surge last fall shocked many Floridians, even some who’d weathered severe hurricanes before. In some places, the waters were so high that survivors had to scramble to the second story or their roof for safety.

Experts say it’s tough for people to visualize what those record-breaking levels of surge would look like until they arrive.

But FloodVision, a new tool from nonprofit climate advocacy group Climate Central, could change that, with help from a high-tech car they’ve nicknamed the “flood rover.”

The vehicle isn’t anything special (it’s actually a rental), but the cameras and sensors strapped onto it are. They form a mobile scanning system that acts a lot like a souped-up Google Maps car, except the finished product is a simulation of a future flooded street.

Benjamin Strauss, CEO and chief scientist of Climate Central, calls it a “visual, visceral, powerful” way to explain the risks of hurricanes — and rising seas — to communities most at risk.

“We know the images are more powerful than any map we can make, or any graphic we can show you,” he said.

Strauss’ team has already done some scanning in Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, and they debuted the car and the new system at the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference in Miami Beach this week.

This is a simulation of what a Miami street could look like in 2070 with no interventions to slow down sea level rise. It was produced with FloodVision, a new technology from Climate Central.
This is a simulation of what a Miami street could look like in 2070 with no interventions to slow down sea level rise. It was produced with FloodVision, a new technology from Climate Central.

In one example in Miami, researchers at Climate Central captured a picture of a neighborhood with the car cameras, then superimposed the two or so feet of sea rise the region is projected to see by 2070 under NOAA’s intermediate high standard.

The result: enough water to come halfway up a tree and soak through the doors of parked cars. It’s a familiar sight to residents of flood-prone neighborhoods like Brickell, which can reach the same levels of flooding after an intense rainstorm.

Strauss plans to use the technology to simulate images of what sea rise or intense storm surge could look like to educate communities about the risks they face from climate change. One potential hurdle is that the technology does not account for protections that local governments may have already installed, like elevated roads or higher sea walls and stronger stormwater pumps.

Without that, the picture of what could likely happen is skewed in places like Miami Beach, which has spent millions installing new protections against rising seas. But despite the growing body of scientific evidence showing the need for coastal cities to adapt to sea level rise, the execution of these projects has been controversial in the places that need them most.

Strauss hopes that his team’s work can be used to help cut through the noise and visually show residents the benefit of investing in flood protection.

“It’s expensive to build flood protections, and it’s also disruptive,” he said. “This technology can be used, essentially, to show what you’re preventing.”

Miami Beach’s latest road-raising squabble: Who gets swamped by the flood waters?

California Readers Share Photos of Their Winter Wonderland

By Soumya Karlamangla – March 8, 2023

The Owens River Gorge in eastern California.
The Owens River Gorge in eastern California. Credit…Stephen Cunha
So much snow has transformed the landscape across the state.

Winter weather in the Golden State, of all places, continues to draw national attention this year.

First, atmospheric rivers flooded towns and swallowed cars. Then, snow fell in Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz, Oakland and a whole host of places unaccustomed to it. Graupel, an ice-snow combo, dusted the Hollywood sign. Yosemite National Park closed indefinitely after record snowfall buried cabins and blanketed roads.

And starting Thursday, another set of heavy storms is expected to hit much of the state, which could bring more flooding and rain damage. I don’t need to tell you — it’s been a wild winter.

Late last month I was driving in Paso Robles, a city on the Central Coast known for its wineries and olive groves, when I noticed the tops of the gently sloping green hills sprinkled with snow. I’d never seen anything like it.

The small town of Shandon in San Luis Obispo County last month.
The small town of Shandon in San Luis Obispo County last month. Credit…Soumya Karlamangla/The New York Times

Twenty miles east in Shandon, a small community also in San Luis Obispo County, the skies were mostly blue — but the roofs of cars, small homes and wooden barns were all blanketed in snow. I watched as a father and daughter, bundled in scarves and jackets, assembled a wobbly snowman from what had fallen on a grassy field in the city’s park.

Today we’re sharing photos you emailed us of what this winter has looked like in your neck of the woods. Leslie Bates, a reader who lives in Gualala on the Mendocino Coast, said that she had been sending snow pictures to her brother who lives in the Catskills in New York: “The world turned upside down!”

Craig Whichard’s cabin in Arnold.
Craig Whichard’s cabin in Arnold. Credit…Craig Whichard

Sandra Sincek, who lives in Julian, a small mountain town northeast of San Diego, described her child’s first sled run of the year.

“Occasionally we will get a few inches of snow, but this was a glorious winter event,” she wrote. “When the clouds finally parted, our son carried his wooden snow sled to the top of the hill, carefully positioned it, climbed in, and let go.”

Craig Whichard wrote to us from his cabin in Arnold, on the western side of the Sierra Nevada and about 70 miles east of Stockton. He said that the five feet of snow that fell late last month was more than he’d seen in his 14 years there.

  • Struggling to Recover: Weeks after a brutal set of atmospheric rivers unleashed a disaster, the residents of Planada in Merced County are only beginning to rebuild.
  • Exploring Los Angeles: Walking down Rosecrans Avenue is not necessarily a pleasure. But it does offer a 27-mile canvas of the city’s vastness and its diverse communities coexisting.
  • A Bridge Goes Dark: A light installation across part of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, had to be turned off because of the region’s harsh weather. They hope to raise $11 million to refurbish it.
  • California’s Heavy Snows: Back-to-back storms left many people stuck as snow piled high. More is still in the forecast.

“It is truly a winter wonderland,” he wrote.

In Cloverdale in Sonoma County.
In Cloverdale in Sonoma County. Credit…Star Carpenter
A geodesic dome in the Santa Cruz mountains.
A geodesic dome in the Santa Cruz mountains. Credit…Karrie Gaylord
The view from Hollister in San Benito County.
The view from Hollister in San Benito County. Credit…Susan Heck
Snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains, seen from Glassell Park in Los Angeles.
Snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains, seen from Glassell Park in Los Angeles. Credit…Emily Zuzik Holmes
Snow-covered mountains behind the Hollywood sign.
Snow-covered mountains behind the Hollywood sign. Credit…Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Studying Ukraine war, China’s military minds fret over US missiles, Starlink

Reuters

Studying Ukraine war, China’s military minds fret over US missiles, Starlink

Eduardo Baptista and Greg Torode – March 7, 2023

Video: How U.S. support of Ukraine affects a potential defense of Taiwan Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman. 

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) -China needs the capability to shoot down low-earth-orbit Starlink satellites and defend tanks and helicopters against shoulder-fired Javelin missiles, according to Chinese military researchers who are studying Russia’s struggles in Ukraine in planning for possible conflict with U.S.-led forces in Asia.

A Reuters review of almost 100 articles in more than 20 defence journals reveals an effort across China’s military-industrial complex to scrutinise the impact of U.S. weapons and technology that could be deployed against Chinese forces in a war over Taiwan.

The Chinese-language journals, which also examine Ukrainian sabotage operations, reflect the work of hundreds of researchers across a network of People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-linked universities, state-owned weapons manufacturers and military intelligence think-tanks.

While Chinese officials have avoided any openly critical comments about Moscow’s actions or battlefield performance as they call for peace and dialogue, the publicly available journal articles are more candid in their assessments of Russian shortcomings.

China’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the researchers’ findings. Reuters could not determine how closely the conclusions reflect the thinking among China’s military leaders.

Two military attaches and another diplomat familiar with China’s defence studies said the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, headed by President Xi Jinping, ultimately sets and directs research needs, and that it was clear from the volume of material that Ukraine was an opportunity the military leadership wanted to seize. The three people and other diplomats spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss their work publicly.

A U.S. defence official told Reuters that despite differences with the situation in Taiwan, the Ukraine war offered insights for China.

“A key lesson the world should take away from the rapid international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is that aggression will increasingly be met with unity of action,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the topic’s sensitivity, without addressing concerns raised in the Chinese research about specific U.S. capabilities.

STARLINK GAZING

Half a dozen papers by PLA researchers highlight Chinese concern at the role of Starlink, a satellite network developed by Elon Musk’s U.S.-based space exploration company SpaceX, in securing the communications of Ukraine’s military amid Russian missile attacks on the country’s power grid.

“The excellent performance of ‘Starlink’ satellites in this Russian-Ukrainian conflict will certainly prompt the U.S. and Western countries to use ‘Starlink’ extensively” in possible hostilities in Asia, said a September article co-written by researchers at the Army Engineering University of the PLA.

The authors deemed it “urgent” for China – which aims to develop its own similar satellite network – to find ways to shoot down or disable Starlink. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

The conflict has also forged an apparent consensus among Chinese researchers that drone warfare merits greater investment. China has been testing drones in the skies around Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that Beijing has vowed to bring under its control.

“These unmanned aerial vehicles will serve as the ‘door kicker’ of future wars,” noted one article in a tank warfare journal published by state-owned arms manufacturer NORINCO, a supplier to the PLA, that described drones’ ability to neutralise enemy defences.

While some of the journals are operated by provincial research institutes, others are official publications for central government bodies such as the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, which oversees weapons production and military upgrades.

An article in the administration’s official journal in October noted that China should improve its ability to defend military equipment in view of the “serious damage to Russian tanks, armored vehicles and warships” inflicted by Stinger and Javelin missiles operated by Ukrainian fighters.

Collin Koh, a security fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the Ukrainian conflict had provided impetus to long-standing efforts by China’s military scientists to develop cyber-warfare models and find ways of better protecting armour from modern Western weapons.

“Starlink is really something new for them to worry about; the military application of advanced civilian technology that they can’t easily replicate,” Koh said.

Beyond technology, Koh said he was not surprised that Ukrainian special forces operations inside Russia were being studied by China, which, like Russia, moves troops and weapons by rail, making them vulnerable to sabotage.

Despite its rapid modernisation, the PLA lacks recent combat experience. China’s invasion of Vietnam in 1979 was its last major battle – a conflict that rumbled on until the late 1980s.

Reuters’ review of the Chinese journals comes amid Western concern that China may be planning to supply Russia with lethal aid for its assault on Ukraine, which Beijing denies.

TAIWAN, AND BEYOND

Some of the Chinese articles stress Ukraine’s relevance given the risk of a regional conflict pitting China against the United States and its allies, possibly over Taiwan. The U.S. has a policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether it would intervene militarily to defend the island, but is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns has said that Xi has ordered his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, while noting that the Chinese leader was probably unsettled by Russia’s experience in Ukraine.

One article, published in October by two researchers at the PLA’s National Defence University, analysed the effect of U.S. deliveries of high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine, and whether China’s military should be concerned.

“If HIMARS dares to intervene in Taiwan in the future, what was once known as an ‘explosion-causing tool’ will suffer another fate in front of different opponents,” it concluded.

The article highlighted China’s own advanced rocket system, supported by reconnaissance drones, and noted that Ukraine’s success with HIMARS had relied on U.S. sharing of target information and intelligence via Starlink.

Four diplomats, including the two military attaches, said PLA analysts have long worried about superior U.S. military might, but Ukraine has sharpened their focus by providing a window on a large power’s failure to overwhelm a smaller one backed by the West.

While that scenario has obvious Taiwan comparisons, there are differences, particularly given the island’s vulnerability to a Chinese blockade that could force any intervening militaries into a confrontation.

Western countries, by contrast, are able to supply Ukraine by land via its European neighbours.

References to Taiwan are relatively few in the journals reviewed by Reuters, but diplomats and foreign scholars tracking the research say that Chinese defence analysts are tasked to provide separate internal reports for senior political and military leaders. Reuters was unable to access those internal reports.

Taiwanese Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said in February that China’s military is learning from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that any attack on Taiwan would have to be swift to succeed. Taiwan is also studying the conflict to update its own battle strategies.

Several articles analyse the strengths of the Ukrainian resistance, including special forces’ sabotage operations inside Russia, the use of the Telegram app to harness civilian intelligence, and the defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

Russian successes are also noted, such as tactical strikes using the Iskander ballistic missile.

The journal Tactical Missile Technology, published by state-owned weapons manufacturer China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, produced a detailed analysis of the Iskander, but only released a truncated version to the public.

Many other articles focus on the mistakes of Russia’s invading army, with one in the tank warfare journal identifying outdated tactics and a lack of unified command, while another in an electronic warfare journal said Russian communications interference was insufficient to counter NATO’s provision of intelligence to the Ukrainians, leading to costly ambushes.

A piece published this year by researchers at the Engineering University of the People’s Armed Police assessed the insights China could glean from the blowing-up of the Kerch Bridge in Russian-occupied Crimea. The full analysis has not been released publicly, however.

Beyond the battlefield, the work has covered the information war, which the researchers conclude was won by Ukraine and its allies.

One February article by researchers at the PLA Information Engineering University calls on China to preemptively prepare for a global public opinion backlash similar to that experienced by Russia.

China should “promote the construction of cognitive confrontation platforms” and tighten control of social media to prevent Western information campaigns from influencing its people during a conflict, it said.

(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; additional reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart in Washington. Editing by David Crawshaw.)

Ukraine-Russia war: Russian officers mutiny after devastating tank battle

The Telegraph

Ukraine-Russia war: Russian officers mutiny after devastating tank battle

Arthur Scott-Geddes – March 7, 2023

Ukrainian servicemen fire a 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops outside the frontline town of Bakhmut - Reuters
Ukrainian servicemen fire a 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops outside the frontline town of Bakhmut – Reuters

Senior Russian officers have reportedly refused to continue pressing the attack on Vugledar after suffering heavy losses in a failed assault on the eastern Ukrainian town.

Russia is believed to have lost around 130 tanks and armoured fighting vehicles in a recent disastrous attempt to take the town from Ukraine’s forces.

Ukrainian military officials told the Kyiv Post that the officers of the 155th Brigade, which is believed to have suffered 300 casualties per day during the three-week assault, were refusing orders to continue attacking.

“The leaders of the brigade and senior officers are refusing to proceed with a new senseless attack as demanded by their unskilled commanders – to storm well-defended Ukrainian positions with little protection or preparation,” the Ukrainian military said.

It comes as Russian forces continued their attempt to seize Bakhmut, the eastern salt-mining town at the center of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.

07:33 AM
Mud hampers Ukraine’s Bakhmut resupply efforts

Muddy conditions around Bakhmut are likely hampering Ukraine’s efforts to resupply its troops, according to the Ministry of Defence.

In its daily intelligence briefing, the ministry said: “Muddy conditions are likely hampering Ukrainian resupply efforts as they increasingly resort to using unpaved tracks.”

Numerous reports have suggested that Ukrainian troops defending the eastern town are running seriously low on ammunition as they battle to hold back Russia’s advance.

“The Ukrainian defence of Bakhmut continues to degrade forces on both sides,” the ministry said. “Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces likely stabilised their defensive perimeter following previous Russian advances into the north of the town.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 7 March 2023

07:25 AM

China claims Ukraine crisis driven by ‘invisible hand’

The Ukraine crisis seems to be driven by an invisible hand pushing for the protraction and escalation of the conflict, China’s foreign minister Qin Gang has claimed.

The “invisible hand” is “using the Ukraine crisis to serve certain geopolitical agendas”, Mr Qin said on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing, calling for dialogue to begin as soon as possible.

The battle for Bakhmut is getting so close that ‘fistfights have been happening,’ Ukrainian soldier says

Business Insider

The battle for Bakhmut is getting so close that ‘fistfights have been happening,’ Ukrainian soldier says

John Haltiwanger – March 7, 2023

Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut
Ukrainian soldiers on the outskirts of Bakhmut on January 14, 2023.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
  • A Ukrainian soldier told the Washington Post the fighting in Bakhmut is brutal and at close quarters.
  • The soldier said there have even been fistfights as they fight off waves of Russian mercenaries.
  • Bakhmut is widely expected to fall to Russian forces soon, but it will be a hollow victory.

Fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been one of the primary battles in the war for months, has featured brutal, close quarters combat, according to a Ukrainian soldier.

In some cases, Ukrainian troops have searched house-to-house for the enemy and been forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat, Dmytro Vatagin, a 48-year-old Ukrainian soldier, told the Washington Post.

“Fistfights have been happening,” Vatagin said. “Everyone has their own fighting story.”

The infamous Wagner mercenary group has played a central role in the fight for Bakhmut. Vatagin told the Post that Wagner has thrown its forces — a mix of seasoned fighters and newly released convicts — “like meat” at the frontline in relentless waves that have exhausted Ukrainian defenders. Wagner has recruited Russian prisoners for the fight and treated them like “cannon fodder,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said last month.

Similarly, UK officials have claimed that some Russian reservists in the attacks were told to fight with shovels.

The mercenary group has suffered roughly 30,000 casualties in the war, Kirby said.

Russia’s extreme costs in assaulting Bakhmut, a city of roughly 70,000 before the war, are seen by most Western analysts as out of step with the strategic value of the gained territory, from which they could advance down two highways should they still have combat power.

“It is more of a symbolic value than it is strategic and operational value,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said of Bakhmut in comments to reporters on Monday, per Reuters.

“The fall of Bakhmut won’t necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the tide of this fight,” Austin added.

The city is seemingly on the verge of falling to Russian forces, but Ukraine is not giving up without a fight and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday said that his top generals have called for reinforcing Bakhmut’s defense. That said, top military experts have suggested that it might be time for Ukraine to cut its losses in Bakhmut.

“The tenacious defense of Bakhmut achieved a great deal, expending Russian manpower and ammunition. But strategies can reach points of diminishing returns,” Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military at the Center for Naval Analyses, said on Twitter.

“This fight doesn’t play to Ukraine’s advantages as a force,” Kofman said, warning that if Ukrainian forces continue to expend resources on Bakhmut “it could impede the success of a more important operation.”