Read About The Tarbaby Story under the Category: About the Tarbaby Blog
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.
Warm atmospheric rivers in California forecast could spell trouble for massive snowpack
The risk of flooding could rise dramatically with the arrival of warm rains later this month.
David Knowles, Senior Editor – March 2, 2023
A series of atmospheric river storms brought heavy snowfall to the region around Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Jan. 22. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Californians are bracing for the arrival of more atmospheric rivers over the coming weeks that could dump rain on the state’s massive snowpack and dramatically increase the risk of flooding.
“I would suggest that literally anyone who lives in the flood plains of these rivers, which is millions of people, pay attention to what’s going on and be prepared for floods,” Peter Gleick, climate scientist and founder of the Pacific Institute, told Yahoo News.
With snowpack levels already near all-time highs, cold temperatures in the state have begun moderating in recent days, and there is a roughly 20% chance of warmer atmospheric river rains later this month.
“The really big worry for flooding when you have a lot of snow in the mountains, your reservoirs are relatively full and you get a really warm, massive storm that dumps a lot of rain and melts a lot of snow, is that you overwhelm the reservoirs,” Gleick said.
On the bright side, this year’s rain and snow amounts have helped erase or ease California’s long-term drought crisis.
But the impressive snowpack coupled with warmer air and rain poses other risks.
“This is a good pattern for drought relief,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain told Yahoo News about the rain and snowpack. “We’ve got to think about what happens when that all comes downstream in the late spring and early summer. There’s almost guaranteed to be at least minor snowmelt flooding this year. The question is whether we’re lucky and it’s nice and gradual and it doesn’t cause any big problems. Do we get some huge early season heat waves? That would be big uh-oh.”
Swain and Gleick both stress that human beings are not good at predicting weather more than a few days in advance. But the arrival of one or more warm atmospheric rivers in California over the coming weeks could be bad news for those living downstream from the snowpack.
“There’s no way to know. It depends on where that storm comes,” Gleick said. “Probably the most vulnerable area, generically speaking, is Sacramento on the American River. The main reservoir that protects Sacramento from flooding is Folsom, which is on the American River. Folsom, I think everyone would acknowledge, is undersized for the level of protection that Sacramento really needs.”
So far this year, in terms of historical averages for March 2, Folsom is at 114% of average capacity, a little more than half-full overall. But multiple additional atmospheric river rain events could be problematic.
Imposing snowbanks in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“We have the classic dilemma in California, which is that we want to keep our reservoirs relatively empty in the winter for flood protection, and we want them as full as possible at the end of the rainy season in April,” Gleick said. “The biggest demand for water is during the dry season, April through September, the growing season. So reservoir operators have to balance those two things. They don’t want to fill the reservoirs too soon if there’s a risk of flooding, and it’s bad if they don’t capture as much water as they can for the dry part of the year.”
While Republicans like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California often criticizes Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for not diverting runoff water during the rainy season into reservoirs, Gleick explained that reservoir managers have a difficult task this year due to the above-average rain and snowfall.
“They look at how much water is in the mountains stored as snow and they look at what’s in the reservoirs. They have models that tell them, Well, you can add this much water, you can let this much out. That’s the way they operate the system,” Gleick said. “The problem of course is that historical data are just averages, they’re not perfect and you can be surprised. The other problem, of course, is that climate change is telling us that all of the historical data are no longer a guide to the future.”
For now, the Sierra Nevada continued to receive multiple feet of snow this week.
“If we were to get heavy rain with a warm system and a lot of tropical moisture feeding into it, that would melt all of the snow that just fell in the mountains,” David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, told the Los Angeles Times, adding, “We need to stick that in the back of our mind and think, ‘Boy, I sure hope that doesn’t happen.’”
California’s snow-stranded residents need food, plows, help
Ben Finley and Amy Taxin – March 2, 2023
Kenny Rybak, 31, shovels snow around his car in Running Springs, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Beleaguered Californians got hit again Tuesday as a new winter storm moved into the already drenched and snow-plastered state, with blizzard warnings blanketing the Sierra Nevada and forecasters warning residents that any travel was dangerous. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)A local resident who declined to give his name walks to his home in Running Springs, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Tremendous rains and snowfall since late last year have freed half of California from drought, but low groundwater levels remain a persistent problem, U.S. Drought Monitor data showed Thursday, March 2. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Olivia Duke said she’s been trapped in her home in the snow-plastered mountains east of Los Angeles for so long that by Thursday the only food she had left was oatmeal.
Snow plows have created a wall of ice between her driveway and the road in the San Bernardino Mountains, and there are at least 5 feet (1.5 meters) of snow weighing on her roof. While her power has been restored, she only has half a gallon of gas left for her generator in case it goes out again.
“California is not used to this. We don’t have this kind of snow,” said Duke, a corporate recruiter who lives in the community of Cedarpines Park. “I thought I was prepared. But not for this kind of Godzilla bomb of snow. This is something you couldn’t possibly really have prepared for.”
With Southern California’s mountain communities under a snow emergency, residents are grappling with power outages, roof collapses and lack of baby formula and medicine. Many have been trapped in their homes for a week, their cars buried in snow. County workers fielded more than 500 calls for assistance Wednesday while firefighters tackled possible storm-related explosions and evacuated the most vulnerable with snowcats.
Californians are usually elated to see snow-covered mountains from Los Angeles and drive a couple of hours up to sled, ski and snowboard. But what started out as a beautiful sight has become a hazardous nightmare for those renting vacation homes in the scenic, tree-lined communities or who live there year-round. Back-to-back-snowstorms have blanketed the region repeatedly, giving people no time to even shovel out.
Some resort communities received as much as 10 feet (3 meters) of snow over the past week, according to the National Weather Service. So much snow fell that ski resorts had to close and roads became impassable. No snow was falling Thursday, and authorities said they hoped to clear as much as possible from the roads while the weather was benign.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared an emergency in 13 counties late Wednesday and called up the National Guard to assist.
In the northern part of the state, mountain communities are grappling with similar conditions, though the population is smaller and residents are more accustomed to significant snowfall, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
“These are just areas that don’t typically get that much snow,” he said of Southern California’s mountain communities. “It exceeded the public’s perception of what the risk is.”
James Norton, 39, said he and his girlfriend have been stranded in Crestline for nearly a week after their SUV got trapped in the snow. They’ve been racking up credit card debt to pay for a hotel while buying TV dinners from a nearby convenience store.
Norton, who lives about 45 minutes away in San Bernardino, said he is worried about losing his job at an Amazon packaging facility because he’s missing shifts. He said they made the trip to dog sit for a friend on Friday and thought they were prepared because he installed chains on the tires of the SUV.
“We knew there was going to be a snowstorm,” Norton said. “We didn’t know it was going to be a disaster.”
Firefighters have been evacuating residents who are medically vulnerable and have no heat or damaged homes to a Red Cross shelter set up at a local high school. They’ve also been responding to reports of gas leaks and storm-related fires with hydrants buried in deep snow, said Mike McClintock, San Bernardino County Fire Battalion Chief.
Two homes reported explosions that are under investigation but atypical for the area and likely storm-related, he said.
More than 1,000 customers lacked power as of Wednesday night, he said. Many roads were closed and emergency escorts provided to motorists earlier in the week to access the area were suspended as the region received a fresh 2 feet feet (60 centimeters) of snow.
About 80,000 people live in the San Bernardino Mountain communities either part- or full-time. The county has fielded more than 500 calls on a hotline set up for the emergency, many from people seeking plow assistance, baby formula and medicine, said Dawn Rowe, chair of the county board of supervisors.
Community members also have been helping each other through the Rim Guardian Angels Facebook group. They responded to requests to get an elderly man with high blood pressure to a hospital after he ran out of medication, to provide bandages to someone who suffered a deep laceration and food to people who were trapped in a rented house.
Andrew Braggins, 43, said the ceiling in his kitchen in Crestline began to bow from the weight of all the snow, prompting him to shovel his roof. The snow on it was 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep.
But Braggins, who is one of the administrators for the Facebook group, considers himself one of the luckier ones.
“I’ve got friends just a few roads away, and they’ve been without power for days,” said Braggins, who works as a wedding and event planner. “You can stock up for a storm. But this storm kind of kept coming.”
State officials are urging people to stay off mountain roads this weekend to keep them clear for first responders.
No snow is forecast for Southern California’s mountains for several days, but the National Weather Service said Northern California mountains can expect heavy snow on Saturday with a winter storm watch in effect for communities east of Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe on the Nevada border.
Letters to the Editor: Gavin Newsom’s very presidential blunder on water
March 2, 2023
A biologist stands beside the bones of a dead Chinook salmon on the banks of the Sacramento River in Redding on Jan. 20. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Salmon don’t vote, make political contributions or confer with business interests nationally. They depend on our state leaders to protect them.
Newsom’s decision to cut river flows in favor of storage even after recent storms is a disappointing prioritization of profits for a few over the long-term needs of a declining natural resource that feeds Californians healthy protein.
Think about this as the next drought restrictions for Angelenos are imposed by the Colorado River negotiations, and remember that water is the other word for politics in our beloved state.
Carrie Chassin, Encino
..
To the editor: Thanks to Skelton for his continued coverage of our water shortage, or what Newsom calls the “drought.”
The signs in the Central Valley that declared “food grows where water flows” became annoying when I realized they were talking about overseas almond lovers’ food. It was enough to make a guy become an “America firster.”
Having lived in California almost 60 years, and having driven north many times each year, I’ve watched the way agriculture has changed. The first few years after the 5 Freeway opened, one drove through desert in the San Joaquin Valley. Available water changed that.
But for me, the most remarkable change was the miles and miles of almond trees I increasingly began to pass. I’ve come to believe using so much water for nonessential cash crops is wasteful, and the salmon that depend on river flows aren’t the only creatures suffering.
Robert Von Bargen, Santa Monica
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To the editor: On behalf of the Southern California Water Coalition, I applaud Newsom’s swift action to keep more water in reservoirs by suspending a 1999 regulation temporarily.
We see this as a common-sense, prudent action to allow California to adapt in the face of changed climate conditions and severe pressure on the state’s other main source of supply, the Colorado River. Let’s hold on to this water now in case drier times are ahead.
That 1999 regulation, a fairly rigid rule tied to water-year type, was correctly suspended this February and March. It is incumbent on us all to support balanced, beneficial uses and time the release of water supplies to ensure we have the water that is needed for health and safety water for our urban communities, to sustain our economy and farms, and to protect our ecosystems and natural habitats.
Charles Wilson, Corona
The writer is executive director of the Southern California Water Coalition.
For older adults, every 500 additional steps taken daily associated with lower heart risk
March 2, 2023
Research Highlights:
A study of people ages 70 and older found walking an additional 500 steps per day, or an additional quarter mile of walking, was associated with a 14% lower risk of heart disease, stroke or heart failure.
Compared to adults who took less than 2,000 steps per day, adults who took about 4,500 steps per day had a 77% lower observed risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event.
Only about 3.5% of participants who took around 4,500 steps per day had a cardiovascular event, compared to 11.5% of those who took less than 2,000 steps per day, over the 3.5-year follow-up period.
(NewMediaWire) – March 02, 2023 – DALLAS A new study found that walking an additional 500 steps, or about one-quarter of a mile, per day was associated with a 14% lower risk of heart disease, stroke or heart failure, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2023. The meeting will be held in Boston, February 28-March 3, 2023, and offers the latest science on population-based health and wellness and implications for lifestyle and cardiometabolic health.
“Steps are an easy way to measure physical activity, and more daily steps were associated with a lower risk of having a cardiovascular disease-related event in older adults,” said Erin E. Dooley, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health and lead researcher of the study. “However, most studies have focused on early-to-midlife adults with daily goals of 10,000 or more steps, which may not be attainable for older individuals.”
Participants in the current analysis were part of a larger study group of 15,792 adults originally recruited for the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. The present study evaluated health data collected from ARIC study visit 6 (2016-17) to evaluate the potential association between daily step counts and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers analyzed health data for 452 participants who used an accelerometer device similar to a pedometer, worn at the hip, that measured their daily steps. Participants were an average age of 78 years old; 59% were women; and 20% of participants self-identified as Black adults (70% of whom were women, and 30% of whom were men).
The devices were worn for three or more days, for ten or more hours, and the average step count was about 3,500 steps per day. Over the 3.5-year follow-up period, 7.5% of the participants experienced a cardiovascular disease event, such as coronary heart disease, stroke or heart failure.
The analysis found:
Compared to adults who took less than 2,000 steps per day, adults who took approximately 4,500 steps per day had a 77% lower observed risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event.
Nearly 12% of older adults with less than 2,000 steps per day had a cardiovascular event, compared to 3.5% of the participants who walked about 4,500 steps per day.
Every additional 500 steps taken per day was incrementally associated with a 14% lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
“It’s important to maintain physical activity as we age, however, daily step goals should also be attainable. We were surprised to find that every additional quarter of a mile, or 500 steps, of walking had such a strong benefit to heart health,” Dooley said. “While we do not want to diminish the importance of higher intensity physical activity, encouraging small increases in the number of daily steps also has significant cardiovascular benefits. If you are an older adult over the age of 70, start with trying to get 500 more steps per day.”
Additional research is needed to determine if meeting a higher daily count of steps prevents or delays cardiovascular disease, or if lower step counts may be an indicator of underlying disease.
The study had limitations. Participants had to enroll in the accelerometer device study, and hip-worn accelerometers are limited in capturing other activity behaviors that may also be important to heart health, such as bicycling and swimming. Study participants were more likely to have had at least some college or above education compared to the overall ARIC sample, and primarily self-identified as white and female, which may limit the study’s generalizability. Additionally, steps were only measured at one single point in time, and the researchers were unable to examine if changes in steps over time impacted CVD event risk.
Co-authors are Brady Rippon, M.S.; Pablo Martinez-Amezcua, M.D., Ph.D.; Amanda Paluch, Ph.D.; Lisa Pompeii, Ph.D.; Priya Palta, Ph.D.; and Kelley Pettee Gabriel, Ph.D. Authors’ disclosures are listed in the abstract.
The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study has been funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health; the National Institutes of Health; and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Statements and conclusions of studies that are presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. Abstracts presented at the Association’s scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, rather, they are curated by independent review panels and are considered based on the potential to add to the diversity of scientific issues and views discussed at the meeting. The findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
The Association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers and the Association’s overall financial information are available here.
Additional Resources:Video interview: American Heart Association volunteer expert, Monica C. Serra, Ph.D., associate professor and research investigator in the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology & Palliative Medicine and the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at UT Health San Antonio and vice-chair of the program committee for the Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2023.
The American Heart Association’s EPI/LIFESTYLE 2023 Scientific Sessions is the world’s premier meeting dedicated to the latest advances in population-based science. The meeting will be held Tuesday-Friday, February 28March 3, 2023, at the Omni Boston Seaport in Boston, Massachusetts. The primary goal of the meeting is to promote the development and application of translational and population science to prevent heart disease and stroke and foster cardiovascular health. The sessions focus on risk factors, obesity, nutrition, physical activity, genetics, metabolism, biomarkers, subclinical disease, clinical disease, healthy populations, global health and prevention-oriented clinical trials. The Councils on Epidemiology and Prevention and Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health (Lifestyle) jointly planned the EPI/Lifestyle 2023 Scientific Sessions. Follow the conference on Twitter at #EPILifestyle23.
About the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public’s health and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century.
My dad was diagnosed with dementia 5 years ago. It’s hard watching him slowly slip away.
Kelly Burch – March 1, 2023
The author and her dad on her wedding day.Courtesy of Kelly Burch
My father has vascular dementia caused by strokes, diagnosed five years ago.
These days he has trouble even operating a phone.
There’s nothing I can do but remain compassionate.
The first time I noticed my dad was suffering from dementia, he asked me to pull through the ATM. I was driving, so he handed me his card and told me his PIN — not that he needed to; it’d been the same since I was a child.
But when I handed him crisp $20s, he looked at the bills with utter confusion, unable to understand what they were worth or where they’d come from. I hid my tears as I tucked the money into his wallet.
At that point in 2017, I was already used to parenting my parent. I grew up knowing my dad was bipolar. A severe mental breakdown when I was in college left him unable to work, and he moved from our family home back in with his mother. For years he rarely got out of bed. Then a series of small strokes set him back even further.
That day in the car, I felt terrified. Mental illness has cognitive effects, and I’d seen my dad dazed or confused before. But I always had hope that his symptoms might abate with the right form of medication and therapy. As a health reporter, I’ve written about dementia. I knew the condition was progressive, and the reality was that my dad would get worse, not better. The hope I’d held for the future — working on writing projects with my author father or watching him frolic with my children — slipped even further away.
My dad has trouble dialing the phone now
A few short years later, my dad was unable to care for himself. He was admitted to a nursing home with a diagnosis of vascular dementia, a type of dementia caused by changes in blood flow to the brain. In my dad’s case, it was caused by strokes. It’s different from frontotemporal dementia — the type the actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with — which can affect personality, but vascular dementia still changed who my dad is and my relationship with him.
There are lots of misconceptions about dementia. Sometimes my dad’s long-term memory is better than mine. He’ll tell me about dreams he had when I was a child or recall conversations with neighbors we haven’t seen in years.
His memory loss shows up in small but impactful ways. He doesn’t remember to shower, get a haircut, or take his medications — all reasons he requires full-time care. For years he called me 10 times a day or more, oblivious to the fact that we’d just talked. This year he’s been unable to operate a phone on his own; the absence of those calls is a blow I wasn’t prepared for.
People respond differently to dementia than to mental illness
I’ve been helping my dad navigate chronic illnesses since I was 18. And while there are a lot of similarities between his bipolar disorder and his dementia, there are stark differences too.
Healthcare providers and laypeople seem to take his medical needs more seriously now. Though both bipolar disorder and dementia are very serious, there was always an underlying attitude that my dad should “just” treat his mental illness: Just take your meds, just do what you’re supposed to, just get up. Now that he has dementia, there’s a recognition that his brain simply can’t do those things — but that was true long before his strokes and the dementia they caused.
While I’ve always been outspoken about mental health, other family members are much more comfortable talking about dementia than they were about bipolar disorder. It’s easier to explain that a loved one’s deficits are because of a condition that people have pity for rather than one that’s wrapped in blame and shame.
I talk to my daughters about being compassionate for their papa
My daughters are now 4 and 8. We’re having more and more conversations about my dad’s condition. My oldest daughter, who has an attitude more like a teenager’s every day, gets annoyed if he repeats questions or says something strange.
“You have to be patient,” I remind her. “Papa’s brain doesn’t work right anymore.”
That’s the truth of the matter — one that’s so difficult to accept. Dementia is more than memory loss: It changes a person’s personality, communication, and interactions with the world. It’s earth-shattering, and yet all we can do is love them and ourselves through it.
Strike the heart of Russia and watch its resolve crumble
Con Coughlin – March 2, 2023
Vladimir Putin takes part in the ceremony of the opening of the Big Circle Line (BCL) of the Moscow subway – MIKHAIL METZEL/Shutterstock
From the moment Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, there has been a distinct feeling of unease among some Western leaders at the prospect of Ukrainian forces attacking targets on Russian soil. While the Russians have shown no qualms about targeting Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure, the Ukrainians have been actively discouraged from responding in kind for fear of provoking a wider escalation in the conflict.
This twisted logic has meant that, even though Russia has maintained its relentless assault on the Ukrainian people, Western allies have been reluctant to provide weaponry that would enable Ukraine to take the fight to Russia.
The provision of long-range Western missile systems is a case in point. After some hesitancy, the US, Britain and other allies eventually agreed to give Kyiv missiles, such as the American HIMARS, but on condition that they were only used to target Russian military operations in Ukraine. The imposition of such restrictions on these and other weapons has placed the Ukrainians at a distinct disadvantage compared with their Russian foes.
No one is advocating that the Ukrainians resort to committing war crimes, as the Russians have done repeatedly during the past year, by targeting Russian civilians. But a number of recent incidents suggest that Ukrainian commanders are no longer prepared to tolerate the constraints placed on them by their Western allies, and are seeking to take the fight well beyond their borders.
Such acts of sabotage are modest compared with the constant bombardment the Russian’s have carried out against Ukraine’s infrastructure. But with the war at a critical juncture, Ukraine is clearly seeking to extend its operations, a development its Western allies should encourage, not hinder.
For all Putin’s attempts to portray the conflict as a great national struggle, the reality is that the war continues to go very badly for the Russian leader. With the number of Russian deaths and casualties said to have reached the 200,000 mark, it is estimated that Moscow has suffered more combat fatalities than it experienced in all the wars it has fought since the Second World War.
That figure, moreover, is likely to rise significantly if Putin continues to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of raw conscripts by resorting to tactics last seen on the blood-soaked battlefields of the First World War. In recent weeks, as Russian forces have launched a counter-offensive to capture key cities in eastern Ukraine such as Bakhmut, they are believed to have lost a staggering 40,000 soldiers.
This time last year, a combination of poorly trained and ill-equipped Russian forces, combined with the inhospitable Ukrainian terrain, meant that the much-vaunted military offensive suffered an ignominious defeat. And there is every likelihood the Russians will suffer a similar fate this year as, despite the constant changes in military command and the recruitment of hundreds of thousands of conscripts, they seem determined to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Yet, with the state-controlled Russian media making no mention of the true scale of the losses, the Russian public are unaware of the true extent of the disaster that is befalling their country. Instead they are treated to the grotesque spectacle of pro-Putin supporters seeking to romanticise Russia’s role in invading Ukraine, as was evident from the carefully choreographed rally held at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium to mark the first anniversary of the war.
Another concern must be the increasingly erratic behaviour of Putin himself who, when not travelling around the country in a special armoured train on secret railway tracks, reportedly spends his time at his palatial mansion on the outskirts of Moscow, cavorting with his long-term lover, a former Olympic rhythmic gymnastics champion.
If the Russian people truly understood the scale of the calamity facing their country, it is unlikely that they would tolerate the antics of their president, nor the incompetence of his military commanders.
By taking the war deep within Russia’s borders, the Ukrainians are demonstrating to the Russian people in graphic terms that Putin’s so-called “special military operation” is not going as well as he would like them to believe.
Such a strategy is not without risk. Russian efforts to demoralize the Ukrainian people by constantly attacking the country’s infrastructure have ultimately proved counterproductive, as they have only served to strengthen the Ukrainians’ resolve. But if Ukraine is ultimately to prevail in the conflict, the Russian people need to understand that, despite Putin’s claims to the contrary, they are fighting a war they have no chance of winning.
These days, they let their freak flag fly. And no, I’m not talking about dubious yarns of after-hours debauchery—though I am old enough to remember Steve Stockman’s hot tub party (no, I wasn’t there). I’m talking instead about political statements that will be uttered on stage by credentialed speakers or on camera by attention-starved activists and attendees. I mean, the event just kicked off Thursday, and already, a video with a self-described “Jan. 6 political prisoner” is garnering buzz.
Those small potatoes will quickly be forgotten. Every CPAC has a narrative, but what will this year be? Attendance could be down. That’d be embarrassing. Big names like Gov. Ron DeSantis are skipping this year’s event. Could it be that CPAC isn’t as relevant as it used to be? What is more, this year’s meeting is taking place on the heels of allegations that the event’s organizer, Matt Schlapp, groped a Herschel Walker campaign aide.
Any of these stories could be the big one. But my money’s on another option: The Trumpification of CPAC.
Kellyanne Conway envisioned this future back in 2017, when she dubbed the event “TPAC.” Of course, back then, Trump was a newly-minted president—not a perpetual drag on the party’s electoral prospects. The fact that CPAC is doubling down on Trumpism now tells you all you need to know about the direction of the movement and the party, not to mention their penchant for lost causes (one of the other big speakers this year will be election-denier Kari Lake).
This is not how it was supposed to go. Trust me, I know. Back in 2012, I was CPAC’s “Blogger of the Year.” I know what you’re thinking: What’s a blogger? It doesn’t matter. The point is that a mere eleven years ago, I wasn’t just the kind of person that CPAC could tolerate, I was feted.
But even for those who aren’t huge McCain fans, the contrast is clear. My friend Craig Shirley, the acclaimed conservative historian, was recently quoted in The New York Times lamenting the conference’s decline since the ‘70s. “It’s more of like a boat show,” Shirley said.
I can think of other words besides “boat.” Ship might be closer.
CPAC was serious and wonky back in the Reagan era, but that started to change long before I attended the first of my many CPACs in 2000. By then, the hall was bustling with young college students who had presumably been bussed in by organizers and/or campaigns vying to win the presidential straw poll.
To be sure, there have always been eccentric attendees. A tongue-in-cheek essay I wrote for the Daily Caller in 2012 lamented the “gadflies” and “time burglars” who populate these events.
But there used to be a lot of intellectually stimulating things to do and see.
To be sure, CPAC speakers have long existed on a spectrum, somewhere between William F. Buckley and P.T. Barnum. But in the last dozen years, or so (coinciding, it seems, with the election of Barack Obama—and then exploding with Trump’s election), it began skewing very heavily toward the Barnum end.
There are numerous warning signs along the way, but let me remind you of just a few:
In 2009, my friend and former boss Tucker Carlson was briefly booed at CPAC for praising The New York Times for accuracy.
In 2011, CPAC invited Donald Trump—who was just a crazy celebrity touting “birtherism”—to give a speech.
In what might be considered his political coming out (as a conservative) party, Trump “was by far the best-received speaker and the audience lapped up his act,” reported Maggie Haberman.
None of these things, in and of themselves, were terribly surprising or noteworthy (the straw poll was always manipulated by campaigns, which is to say the results were far from organic or even scientific). Collectively, however, these developments now strike me as telling. They were harbingers of things to come.
My conclusion is this: If you want to know what the conservative movement will look like in five years, look at what today’s CPAC hall is like.
That is a scary thought, because if that analysis turns out to be true, Donald Trump is the GOP’s future. After all, he’s their celebrated hero. And with Ron DeSantis presumably sitting this CPAC out, he’s the only game in town.
Trump can be sued for Jan. 6 riot harm, Justice Dept. says
Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer – March 2, 2023
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as President in Washington. Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday, March 2, 2023, in an ongoing federal court case testing the limits of executive power. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)A federal court filing from the Justice Department is photographed Thursday, March 2, 2023. Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured U.S. Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said in a federal court case testing Trump’s legal vulnerability and the limits of executive power. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick) In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington. Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday, March 2, 2023, in an ongoing federal court case testing the limits of executive power. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies as the Senate Judiciary Committee examines the Department of Justice, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in an ongoing federal court case testing the limits of executive power. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trump’s legal vulnerability for his speech before the riot.
The Justice Department told a Washington federal appeals court in a legal filing that it should allow the lawsuits to move forward, rejecting Trump’s argument that he is immune from the claims.
The department said it takes no position on the lawsuits’ claims that the former president’s words incited the attack on the Capitol. Nevertheless, Justice lawyers told the court that a president would not be protected by “absolute immunity” if his words were found to have been an “incitement of imminent private violence.”
“As the Nation’s leader and head of state, the President has ‘an extraordinary power to speak to his fellow citizens and on their behalf,’ they wrote. “But that traditional function is one of public communication and persuasion, not incitement of imminent private violence.”
The brief was filed by lawyers of the Justice Department’s Civil Division and has no bearing on a separate criminal investigation by a department special counsel into whether Trump can be criminally charged over efforts to undo President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Capitol riot. In fact, the lawyers note that they are not taking a position with respect to potential criminal liability for Trump or anyone else.
Trump’s lawyers have argued he was acting within the bounds of his official duties and had no intention to spark violence when he called on thousands of supporters to “march to the Capitol” and “fight like hell” before the riot erupted.
“The actions of rioters do not strip President Trump of immunity,” his lawyers wrote in court papers. “In the run-up to January 6th and on the day itself, President Trump was acting well within the scope of ordinary presidential action when he engaged in open discussion and debate about the integrity of the 2020 election.”
A Trump spokesperson said Thursday that the president “repeatedly called for peace, patriotism, and respect for our men and women of law enforcement” on Jan. 6 and that the courts “should rule in favor of President Trump in short order and dismiss these frivolous lawsuits.”
The case is among many legal woes facing Trump as he mounts another bid for the White House in 2024.
In the separate investigation into Trump and his allies’ efforts to keep the Republican president in power, special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence, who has said he will fight the subpoena.
Trump is appealing a decision by a federal judge in Washington, who last year rejected efforts by the former president to toss out the conspiracy civil lawsuits filed by the lawmakers and police officers. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Trump’s words during a rally before the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol were likely “words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.”
“Only in the most extraordinary circumstances could a court not recognize that the First Amendment protects a President’s speech,” Mehta wrote in his February 2022 ruling. “But the court believes this is that case.”
One of the lawsuits, filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., alleges that “Trump directly incited the violence at the Capitol that followed and then watched approvingly as the building was overrun.” Two other lawsuits were also filed, one by other House Democrats and another by officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby.
The House Democrats’ lawsuit cites a federal civil rights law that was enacted to counter the Ku Klux Klan’s intimidation of officials. The cases describe in detail how Trump and others spread baseless claims of election fraud, both before and after the 2020 presidential election was declared, and charge that they helped to rile up the thousands of rioters before they stormed the Capitol.
The lawsuits seek damages for the physical and emotional injuries the plaintiffs sustained during the insurrection.
Even if the appeals court agrees that Trump can be sued, those who brought the lawsuit still face an uphill battle. They would need to show there was more than fiery rhetoric, but a direct and intentional call for imminent violence, said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor.
“We are really far away from knowing that even if the court allows the lawsuit to go forward whether they would be successful,” she said. “Even if the court says hypothetically you can bring an action against a president, I think they’re likely to draw a line that is very generous to the president’s protected conduct.”
In its filing, the Justice Department cautioned that the “court must take care not to adopt rules that would unduly chill legitimate presidential communication” or saddle a president with burdensome and intrusive lawsuits.
“In exercising their traditional communicative functions, Presidents routinely address controversial issues that are the subject of passionate feelings,” the department wrote. “Presidents may at times use strong rhetoric. And some who hear that rhetoric may overreact, or even respond with violence.”
New College conservative board votes to abolish DEI office
Curt Anderson and Jocelyn Gecker – February 28, 2023
A group of parents of New College of Florida current students and one recent alum protest dressed as handmaids from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” ahead of a meeting by the college’s board of trustees, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. A sign in German addressed to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, reads, “DeSantis, Are you copying the Nazis?” The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up a measure making wholesale changes in the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)A person cheers as New College of Florida students and supporters protest ahead of a meeting by the college’s board of trustees, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up a measure making wholesale changes in the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)New College of Florida’s Interim President Richard Corcoran, center, listens during a meeting of the college’s board of trustees, alongside trustee Matthew Spalding, left, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up measures making changesNew College of Florida students and supporters protest ahead of a meeting by the college’s board of trustees, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up a measure making wholesale changes in the school’s diversity, equity and inclusionNew College of Florida students and supporters protest ahead of a meeting by the college’s board of trustees, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up a measure making wholesale changes in the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)New College Conservatives Protest New College of Florida students and supporters protest ahead of a meeting by the college’s board of trustees, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up a measure making wholesale changes in the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Two members of a group of parents of New College of Florida current students and a recent alum who came dressed as handmaids from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” talk together as they wait to give public comment during a meeting of the college’s board of trustees, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up measures making changes in the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
New College of Florida students and supporters protest ahead of a meeting by the college’s board of trustees, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The conservative-dominated board of trustees of Florida’s public honors college was meeting Tuesday to take up a measure making wholesale changes in the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Trustees picked by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee New College of Florida voted Tuesday to abolish its small office that handles diversity, equity and inclusion programs targeted by conservatives throughout the state university system.
The trustees voted 9-3 to get rid of the school’s Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, with four full-time staff positions to be transferred elsewhere to vacant jobs. The board also voted to permit interim President Richard Corcoran to consider ending a single online mandatory employee diversity training program that few actually take.
“This is not a very impressive DEI bureaucracy, is what I’m seeing,” said student body president Grace Keenan, who is a trustee and was not appointed by DeSantis. “Any DEI practices we do have here are all about inclusion. We don’t discriminate against anyone here.”
Although they are relatively small programs, some of the seven new trustees at the historically progressive college said it was important to take a stand on issues they believe cause discrimination based on racial, gender, LGBTQ and other group identities rather than focusing on a student, faculty or staff member’s individual merit.
“I think it’s important that we take a position,” said trustee Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist on education issues nationally. “It is essential to say we are taking this mandate seriously.”
The decision comes as DeSantis, widely expected to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, has said a key goal for Florida’s higher education system is to defund DEI programs so they “whither on the vine” on campuses. DeSantis is backing a measure introduced for the upcoming legislative session to prevent colleges and universities from promoting, supporting or maintaining programs related to DEI or critical race theory.
The trustees’ vote to abolish the New College DEI office and transfer staff to other positions will save about $250,000 a year, according to documents provided at Tuesday’s meeting. Although that amount may seem relatively minor, supporters of the change said it will send a message.
“This is a question of what is being imposed and advocated, supported and funded, by the college,” said trustee Matthew Spalding. “If it’s a minor situation, it should be abolished.”
The trustee meeting drew a crowd of about 300 protesters before it began, holding signs that read, “Our Students Are Not Political Pawns” and, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” among others.
Chai Leffler, a third-year student, said he came from a southern, conservative family where being gay was difficult, but New College changed his life.
“I was taught how to love myself again and to stand up for myself like we all are today,” Leffler said. “I understand we are everything DeSantis hates.”
New College, nestled along Sarasota Bay, has fewer than 1,000 students. It was founded in 1960 as a private school in part by funding from the United Church of Christ, said Rev. John Dorhauer, the church’s president and general minister. Dorhauer gave public testimony at the meeting and spoke to the protesters about the “moral outrage” he feels at the changes being made by the conservative trustees chosen by DeSantis.
“The long arc of history will grind you into dust, and they (students) will win this battle and you will be remembered for the sycophants you are,” he told the trustees.
Emotional meeting ends with DeSantis’ New College of Florida board abolishing diversity office
Zac Anderson, USA TODAY NETWORK – March 1, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis proposes a plan to remove and reform diversity-based education programs
Governor Ron DeSantis plans to remove and reform education programs that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from state universities.
New College of Florida’s Board of Trustees abolished the office handling diversity, equity and inclusion programs during a contentious and emotional meeting Tuesday that included testimony from students worried that a board reshaped by Gov. Ron DeSantis is making the school unwelcoming to minorities.
DeSantis appointed six members to New College’s board on Jan. 6 in an effort to transform the school, putting the small Sarasota institution at the center of the GOP’s nationwide pushback on education policies aimed at supporting historically marginalized groups, including racial minorities and LGBTQ individuals.
Eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives − which have become a major flashpoint for conservatives and a target of DeSantis throughout Florida’s public university system − is among the first substantive actions by New College’s revamped board, which also fired the former president last month and hired DeSantis ally Richard Corcoran as interim president. Corcoran’s first board meeting was Tuesday.
Among DeSantis’ New College board appointees is prominent conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who pushed at his first meeting on Jan. 31 to abolish diversity programs.
The board opted to wait until more research could be done. College administrator Brad Thiessen presented the results of his DEI review Tuesday, delving into everything from faculty training to hiring practices and student admissions.
Thiessen said there was little mandatory diversity training and that only recently had prospective faculty been asked to submit a statement in their job application outlining how they would promote diversity.
Richard Corcoran the new interim president of New College of Florida was not welcomed by the majority of students and adult speakers.
Additionally, only one of the employees in the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence was primarily focused on DEI programs. The others managed grants, worked on community outreach and performed other activities that aren’t controversial.
That led Trustees Grace Keenan and Matthew Lepinski to question whether the impacts of the DEI programs had been overstated.
“I’m concerned that we’re solving a problem that isn’t serious, or doesn’t really exist,” Lepinski said.
Keenan wondered if the board was spending a lot of time and energy on something that was relatively limited in scope. She suggested that the effort spent weeding out DEI programs was out of proportion to the amount of DEI that actually exists on campus.
“This is not a very impressive DEI bureaucracy,” Keenan said.
Keenan, Lipinski and Trustee Mary Ruiz voted against eliminating the diversity office.
Conservative appointee Christopher Rufo: DEI efforts discriminatory
Rufo conceded that DEI isn’t as deeply embedded in the college’s practices as he expected, but said it was still important to remove it on “principle.” Rufo and Trustee Matthew Spalding both suggested it is discriminatory to take race into account when setting the college’s priorities.
“It treats people differently on the basis of their skin color,” Rufo said.
“This is discrimination, it should be gone,” Spalding added.
The majority of trustees voted to have Corcoran move forward with eliminating the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, which handles DEI programs. The Office’s four employees will be offered other jobs.
New College students protest before a board of trustees meeting on campus Tuesday.
Trustees also voted to eliminate the diversity statement when hiring faculty and to direct Corcoran to consider adopting a prohibition on diversity training for employees.
Additionally, the board voted to have Corcoran create a school policy that prohibits spending money on any DEI efforts.
Under the new regulation, DEI will be defined to include “any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of the faculty or student body with reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity.”
The definition of DEI also would include: “Any effort to promote as the official position of the administration, the college, or any administrative unit thereof, a particular, widely contested opinion referencing unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neo-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial or sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts.”
The rollback of New College’s diversity programs came at the end of a 3-1/2-hour meeting that featured emotional testimony for students, parents and others. About 200 people attended the meeting.
Economics and finance student Joshua Epstein, 17, argued diversity programs are important at a meeting of the board of trustees of New College of Florida Feb. 28, 2023. The board votes to abolish the school’s office handling diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Where is New College of Florida?
New College of Florida is in Sarasota, in the central part of the state just south of Tampa on the Gulf Coast. The college bills itself as a community of “Free Thinkers, Risk Takers and Trailblazers,” and invites prospective New College students to “discover a public arts and science education driven by your curiosity, career aspirations, and individual learning style.”
Parents, students decry abolishing diversity programs
Economics and finance student Joshua Epstein, 17, said he graduates next year and plans to become a corporate lawyer or banker.
“Folks, I am so far from woke,” Epstein said.
Yet Epstein argued that the school’s diversity programs are important. Epstein said his grandparents on his father’s side survived the Holocaust and his grandfather on his mother’s side was a tank commander in the Israeli Army “where he fought for the survival of a Jewish state to fight to have a place where I’d be safe from persecution if people ever saw Jews as less than human again.”
“Today I fear that other groups of people are being seen as less than human; today I fear that we may eliminate the office that ensures that the composition of our classrooms resemble that of our great nation,” Esptein added.
The concerns raised by the public extended beyond eliminating diversity programs to DeSantis’ broader effort to reshape the school, Corcoran’s $699,000 base salary and other issues.
Corcoran thanked DeSantis during his first public remarks as interim president, saying the governor has “a heartfelt desire to have New College be a leader” in liberal arts education.
Earlier in the day students joined religious and political leaders in a large protest before the board meeting.
About 300 people gathered in front of the Hamilton Center on New College’s Sarasota campus to again criticize DeSantis’ conservative takeover of the school and vow continued resistance. Many of the speakers were minority students who criticized the push to eliminate the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence.
Lianna Paton, a minority student in her first year at New College, said targeting DEI programs is an attempt to suppress and “erase students of color.”
“You do not get to say diversity is divisive when its very existence is what makes communities like my own feel welcome and safe,” Paton said.
New College supporters protested before a board of trustees meeting on campus Tuesday.
Members of the crowd held up signs saying “Black history is American history” and “Jesus was/is woke.”
Chai Leffler, 21, a gay third year New College student, said he struggled with his sexuality growing up and went through a dark time in high school. He went to a youth center in Sarasota where he met New College students who made him feel welcome.
“There’s one thing they cannot change,” Leffler said. “Us. We the students of New College are the spirit of New College and we will not let that be taken away from us.
Church leader accuses DeSantis’ of prioritizing presidential ambitions
Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer leads the church that helped found New College as a private school in 1960 before it became part of the state university system. He said he is outraged by what DeSantis is doing to the school.
“I want to express my moral outrage at Gov. DeSantis willing to compromise and sacrifice the future, the vision, the hopes, the dreams and the safety of the students on this campus for his aspirations to serve as president,” Dorhauer said.
Dorhauer’s United Church of Crist provided funding to create New College and church members were active in the school during its early days.
Dorhauer also spoke at the board meeting, where he told trustees that their actions will be judged harshly by history.
“The long arc of history will grind you into dust and… you will be remembered for the sycophants that you are,” he said. “That’s what history does.”
