It was close, but not too close. At night’s end, Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, bested opponent Herschel Walker, the Republican, by a margin of almost 3%.
Warnock adds to the Democrats’ majority in the Senate, 51 seats to 49. That will help the party in some ways, although faced with a Republican House majority and the filibuster, real legislative progress over the next two years will be difficult.
No. America’s deep breath wasn’t based on blue versus red politics, but on a firm understanding that Walker should never have been anywhere near a U.S. Senate seat. He may have been the worst major party Senate candidate in modern history.
The former football star repeatedly demonstrated a lack of understanding of the basics of American constitutional government, committing gaffe after gaffe that revealed his utter lack of preparation for public office.
Not even the most Walker-friendly Georgians could have believed that a U.S. Senate seat was the highest and best use of Walker’s abilities. Yet he still earned more than 1.7 million votes, an astonishing number. How did that happen?
Part of the answer may be Walker’s celebrity — college football is a pretty big part of many Georgians’ lives. The more disturbing answer is the hundreds of thousands of Georgians who apparently cared more about the R next to Walker’s name than his character, experience or preparation for the job.
He may be a disaster, those voters seemed to be saying, but he’s our disaster.
The nation’s founders would be aghast. They believed character was immensely more important than party, which they resisted and feared. They believed in a government of wise men (and, of course, it was only men at the time).
That idea has been turned on its head. Donald Trump is the worst example of partisanship overwhelming character and personal integrity, but Walker — endorsed by Trump — was in the running for the same trophy.
Of course, Walker lost. And Trump, for all his bluster, has never won a popular vote. We can take some comfort in that.
Perhaps Tuesday’s results offer a reassuring sign that a majority of voters, albeit a slim majority, still believe that quality trumps party — whether it’s in Kansas, where Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly won a second term in a state dominated by Republicans, or in Deep South Georgia, where many Republicans crossed party lines to vote for Warnock, the Democrat.
Certainly, Republicans around the country should engage in rethinking its approach to these races, and others. That’s true in purely political terms: Republicans are losing voters in suburban places (see, for example, Johnson County, Kansas) precisely because residents have grown tired of Trumpesque bluster, or Walker-like incompetence.
It’s also true morally. Republicans had to have known of Walker’s problems, yet they nominated him anyway. It was deeply cynical, and dangerous. This nation has serious problems, and Walker was never a serious candidate.
Congratulations to Sen. Warnock, whose election night promise to serve all Georgians was eloquent and welcome. The nation could use more people like him, and if Republicans push more people like Herschel Walker, the nation will get them.
Which Billionaire Owns The Most Land In The U.S.? Hint, It’s Not Bill Gates
AJ Fabino – December 7, 2022
Earlier this year, in May, claims were made that Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates owned the majority of America’s farmland.
While that is false, with the billionaire amassing nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across the country, compared to 900 million total farm acres, a different billionaire privately owns 2.2 million acres, making him the largest landowner in the U.S.
John Malone, the former CEO of Tele-Communications Inc., which AT&T Inc. purchased for more than $50 billion in 1999, has a variety of ranching and real estate businesses, primarily in Maine, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Worth $9.6 billion, Malone, a media veteran, said he purchased the land because “they are not making it anymore.” He also owns three hotels in Dublin, Ireland, and a fourth in Limerick.
The current Liberty Media Corp chairman made the decision to put his billions of dollars in wealth into land after spending a summer working on a family farm in Pennsylvania.
Bell Ranch in New Mexico, a 290,100-acre plain dotted with mesas, rimrock canyons, meadows, and a distinctive bell-shaped mountain, was one of his first significant acquisitions. In addition, Florida’s Bridlewood Farms is a noteworthy asset.
He now holds the title of the largest landlord in the US, surpassing Ted Turner, with a total of 2.2 million acres of crops, ranch property, and woodland.
Malone noted in a CNBC interview that preservation was his primary motivation for purchasing land, and he intends to purchase more. He said that his properties serve as a reliable source of income and a solid hedge against inflation.
“The conservation of lands is important,” the billionaire said. “That was a virus that I got from Ted Turner.”
He continued, “the forestry part of it in the Northeast is a pretty good business, with very low return on capital, but very stable and leverageable,” Malone said. “And we think it will provide good inflation protection in the long run. That’s basically the motivation there. It just seemed like a good thing to do.”
Nearly half of COVID patients worldwide still have symptoms after 4 months, according to a giant new study
Erin Prater – December 7, 2022
Hyoung Chang—The Denver Post/Getty Images
Almost half of COVID survivors globally—both children and adults—have lingering symptoms four months later, according to a landmark new study.
Researchers at the University of Leicester in England performed an analysis of nearly 200 studies of prior COVID patients, involving nearly 750,000 people in all. The patients—some of whom were hospitalized and some of whom weren’t—lived across the globe.
More than 45% of study participants had at least one lingering symptom four months out from their initial infection. A quarter of the patients reported fatigue, and a similar number said they felt pain or discomfort. Meanwhile, sleep issues, breathlessness, and problems participating in normal daily activities were reported in just under a quarter of patients, according to the study.
Often, no clinical abnormalities could be found to explain such symptoms. But some signs were reported in many patients who had been hospitalized with COVID, including changes in lung structure and function. An abnormal CT scan and/or X-rays were found in nearly half of previously hospitalized patients, in addition to a decreased capacity to diffuse carbon monoxide in nearly a third of patients.
“Changes in pulmonary function are similar to those observed following other viral infections including SARS and MERS,” the authors wrote.
When nonhospitalized COVID survivors were singled out, more than a third of them had lingering symptoms at four months, the study found.
“The reasons as to why so many patients are experiencing long COVID remains unknown,” the authors wrote, adding that possible causes include organ damage, inflammation, altered immune systems, and psychological effects.
While some studies have found a higher rate of long COVID in females, the study out of Leicester didn’t find that any particular age group or gender experienced higher rates of the disabling condition. Researchers weren’t able to reliably assess any potential association with race, as only a quarter of studies examined provided participants’ race or ethnicity.
Nearly 20% of American adults who’ve had COVID—an estimated 50 million—report having long COVID symptoms, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau this summer.
Long COVID is roughly defined as symptoms that persist or appear long after the initial infection is gone, but a consensus definition has not yet been broadly accepted. Many experts contend that long COVID is best defined as a chronic-fatigue-syndrome–like condition that develops after COVID illness, similar to other post-viral syndromes that can occur after infection with herpes, Lyme disease, and even Ebola. Other post-COVID complications, like organ damage and post–intensive-care syndrome, should not be defined as long COVID, they say.
US sees worst flu outbreak in 10 years: Which states are being hit hardest by ‘tripledemic’?
Linda Carroll – December 6, 2022
Fears of a “tripledemic” in the U.S. seem to be coming to true, as flu hospitalizations hit their highest level in a decade, COVID cases rise following Thanksgiving gatherings, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) continues to sicken children across the country.
“This year’s flu season is off to a rough start,” Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, board chair of the American Medical Association, said at a Dec. 5 press briefing hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Flu is here. It started early, and with COVID and RSV also circulating, it’s a perfect storm for a terrible holiday season.”
While cases of RSV, which have been straining children’s hospitals since the early fall, may have peaked in some parts of the country, flu activity is surging ahead of schedule, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at the briefing. And the number of new COVID-19 cases per day has increased 16% over the past two weeks, according to NBC News’ tally.
The continued shortage of health workers is also making this winter a difficult one for illnesses. Even prior to the pandemic, there were already too few health workers to go around, but it’s gotten worse in the years since. In fact, TODAY.com previously reported that some hospitals have beds available but no staff to care for those patients.
What is a tripledemic?
The tripledemic of 2022 refers to the possibility that COVID-19, seasonal influenza and RSV will all surge at the same time. COVID-19 and the flu are certainly on the upswing, but RSV may be slowing down, per CDC data. That said, all three viruses are still continuing to cause widespread illness.
The number of positive RSV tests in the U.S. fell from over 19,000 the week ending Nov. 12 to 7,500 the week ending Nov. 26, per CDC data. At the Dec. 5 briefing, Walensky said RSV cases have peaked in the South and Southeast and plateaued in the Mid-Atlantic, New England and Midwest. It’s not clear if the trend will hold, however.
“RSV is usually seen in January and February,” Dr. Roberto Posada, a professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in New York City, tells TODAY.com. “We hadn’t seen that much in the way of RSV and even influenza over the past two years, and that may be because of masking and people not getting together.” Because of that, people have less immunity at a time when they are gathering more and masking less, Posada explains.
Influenza is also on the rise, with the U.S. seeing the highest number of hospitalizations for this time of year in a decade, NBC News reported. Roughly 78,000 people have been hospitalized with flu and 4,500 have died since early October, NBC News reported. The number of flu hospitalizations in the U.S. doubled from the second-to-last week in November to the last. Since Oct. 1, the flu has caused 8.7 million illnesses; for context, 9 million illnesses were reported for the entire 2021-2022 flu season.
And third, putting the “triple” in “tripledemic,” is the steady increase in COVID-19 cases since the Thanksgiving holiday. In addition to the increase in daily new cases recorded by the NBC News tally, daily COVID-related hospital admissions increased 18% from the week ending Nov. 22 to the week ending Nov. 29, per CDC data. Experts previously told TODAY.com that it’s likely cases will continue to increase as people gather for Christmas and New Year’s and spend more time indoors as temperatures drop.
“If you add an omicron surge to the current RSV surge, there’s no place … to put another 50 kids that need to be admitted to the hospital,” Dr. Jason Newland, professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, tells TODAY.com.
Even though flu and RSV may be a bit early, it’s typical in winter to see a surge of these viruses, Dr. Michael Angarone, associate professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, tells TODAY.com. But this year is likely to be different: “What we are worried about is having the typical cold and flu seasons combined with SARS-CoV-2,” he says.
The real fear around a tripledemic is the possibility that the three viruses will peak at the same time and inundate hospitals, filling every bed and stretching staff thin, Posada adds.
What parts of the U.S. are highest risk for a tripledemic in 2022?
RSV, COVID-19 and flu are more likely to have a severe impact on parts of the country that are colder, Dr. David Buchholz, a pediatrician and founding medical director of primary care at Columbia University in New York City, tells TODAY.com.
When the air is frigid, people are more likely to huddle indoors and keep their windows closed, which makes transmission of the viruses more likely, Buchholz says. “Where it’s warmer, people are more likely to spend time outdoors and open their windows,” he adds.
Another factor pumping up the spread of these three bugs in cold climates is the viruses’ affinity for cool, dry air, Dr. Timothy Brewer, professor of medicine and epidemiology at University of California, Los Angeles, tells TODAY.com. In fact, this phenomenon may explain the burst of flu activity in Texas and the Southeast in early November, which experienced a cold snap right before, he says.
As of the week ending in Nov. 26, all but five states are experiencing “high” or “very high” flu activity, the CDC reported. Based on the CDC’s flu activity ranking by level, New Hampshire is the only state at level 1 (also called “minimal”), and 11 states are at the highest level recorded so far, 13. These are:
California
Colorado
Kentucky
Nebraska
New Mexico
Ohio
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Brewer also says the parts of the U.S. with the lowest vaccination rates against COVID-19 and flu “will most likely get into trouble with these viruses,” he said. (There’s no vaccine against RSV.)
Many of the Mountain and Southern states have low vaccination rates against COVID-19, per CDC data; in 15 states, including Idaho, Alabama, South Carolina, Wyoming, Tennessee and Mississippi, less than 60% of the eligible population completed the primary series, which is approved for everyone 6 months and older.
Flu shot distribution is also lagging across the country. As of the week ending Nov. 26, the immunization rate is lower than at the same point in the previous two seasons. These states had the lowest flu vaccination rates during last year’s season, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Mississippi
Wyoming
Nevada
Idaho
Florida
How to protect yourself during a tripledemic
The best way for people to protect themselves amid the possibility of a tripledemic is to get the latest COVID-19 booster and a flu shot, Angarone says. So far, it looks like the flu vaccine this year is a good match to the strains of influenza virus currently circulating, Brewer adds. There’s no vaccine for RSV, but one could be on the horizon.
Even though most people will not experience severe symptoms with RSV and the flu, “we have to be aware of others when we are sick,” Angarone says. “Even though it’s not COVID-19, you probably should not go to work and get your colleagues sick. You should make sure you are washing your hands.”
Having trouble breathing, such as the skin around the ribs sucking in or the nostrils flaring when the child tries to breathe.
Grunting in babies, or difficulty speaking in older kids.
Diminished number of wet diapers and other signs of dehydration.
Increased or persistent lethargy, such as a child being difficult to wake.
Any sign of blue around the lips.
Irritability, such as crying that won’t stop.
The good news is RSV and influenza aren’t new, so we know how to prevent and treat them, and there are vaccines available to protect against two of the three viruses that contributing to the tripledemic.
Forget diets: This is how to lose weight and keep it off for good
Kristin Kirkpatrick – December 6, 2022
Losing weight is notoriously difficult. And as hard as it is to get the scale to tick down, it’s even harder to keep the weight off. Unfortunately, recent studies show that most of us will put weight back on in two years. By fiveyears, almost all of it may come back. Further, many people end up gaining more weight than they lost.
But keeping your focus on the end goal — better health and longevity — may increase your odds more than any extreme diet and fitness regime. In fact, the path to maintaining a healthy weight starts long before you get close to your goal weight. Here are some evidence-based ways to approach weight loss and maintenance in a healthy way.
Don’t fixate on the numberon the scale
When I see patients for the first time, we discuss their health goals. The truth is that most people are aiming for a particular number. “I want to lose this many pounds,” or “I want to reach this number on the scale.” But fixating on a goal weight may work against a lot of us. Studies show that focusing on the numbers that speak to overall health may be more impactful in sustained behavior change. So, throw out the scale and focus on your lipid panel, your blood-sugar numbers, or perhaps even your inflammation markers.
Paying attention to health, rather than weight can shift the reason why you want to drop pounds in the first place. Other quality of life parameters — like better sleep, less chronic pain or increased energy —can all be major motivation for changing your habits. Finally, if you must rely on a scale, choose an option that assess body fat and muscle mass.
Learn from weight maintenance warriors
Multiple studies have tried to demystify why one person succeeds at weight loss while another doesn’t. Two studies in the journalObesity surveyed almost 6,000 individuals who had participated in a structured weight-loss program. The surveyed participants lost on average 50 pounds and kept their weight off for three years or more.
Based these studies, as well as previous data, people who were successful at losing weight and keeping it off did these things:
Made healthy food choices most of the time — and found that these choices effortless and “unconscious.”
Self-monitored and journaled about their food intake.
Celebrated their past achievements and embraced their current health.
Another crucial component of weight loss success was mindset — especially in the face of challenges and adversity. While both health and appearance were significant motivating factors, greater confidence and being more mentally and physically fit topped the list for being able to maintain healthy habits.
A recent study from the University of Colorado found that when individuals engaged in physical activity, they maintained more steps per day (about 12,000) and maintained a higher energy expenditure. Another study published in the Archives of Internal Medicinefound that in order to maintain weight loss, women needed to exercise at least 55 minutes, five days per week. This recommendation surpasses the current guidelines for exercise, which calls for only 150 minutes of moderate physical activity throughout the week and two days of muscle-building training.
Adding protein to each meal — like enjoying an egg white omelet for breakfast — has been shown to help maintain weight loss. (Sergio Amiti / Getty Images)
Fall in love with protein
A 2020 study in the Journal of Nutrition found that high-protein diets were associated with greater success in maintaining weight loss. The study showed that having more protein often counteracted the process of adaptive thermogenesis — a state where the body adapts to a new weight by altering energy expenditure. An easy way to up your protein intake is to add some kind of protein to every meal and snack. For example, consuming eggs whites at breakfast, hummus for a snack and wild salmon for dinner.
Assess your social circle
If you’ve ever had a friend tell you that “one bite of something won’t kill you,” you know that your loved ones can have a major influence on your health habits. A study from The University of North Carolina found that individuals that lose weight may face a “lean stigma” where friends and family consciously or unconsciously sabotage or undermine efforts of the successful weight loss.
Researchers found that effective communication techniques were one way to mitigate comments and discouraging attitudes from friends and family. For example, telling loved ones ahead of time your motivation to lose weight or communicating weight-loss efforts as a way to obtain better health — and not better appearance — is a good way to let your loved ones know why your health goals are important to you.
Accept the fact that there’s no magic weight loss fix
“Unfortunately, there’s no magic bullet to lose weight quickly and sustainably,” Samantha Cassetty, a registered dietitian and author of “Sugar Shock,” told TODAY.com. “Some people like the idea of a jump-start plan, which may involve fewer calories or carbs as you’re starting out. If that helps you feel motivated and get in the right mindset to form lasting habits, go for it. But for permanent weight loss, be realistic about what you can sustain,” Cassetty explained.
Also, Cassetty added, it’s important to keep in mind that when you fast weight loss, you might overlook behaviors that need to be addressed — such as nighttime snacking or eating when you’re bored. Cassetty said that a jump-start plan probably doesn’t include your favorite foods, but it’s much more realistic to learn how to live with indulgences than to try to avoid them forever. “Overly restricting less healthy foods can be stressful, which can stall weight loss efforts,” said Cassetty.
Embrace your body — and adapt to it when it changes
Studies indicate that frequent attempts to lose and then regain weight (often referred to as yo-yo dieting) can have an adverse impact on health and lead to an increased risk of further weight gain. A 2016 study showed that repeated dieting could cause the brain to think it’s going through periods of famine. In response, the body continues to work toward fat storage to prepare for the next round. The body adapts and becomes efficient at the current lower weight, and if you don’t adapt with it, you will most likely gain the weight back.
Imagine putting on a 20-pound vest and taking a walk around the block. The walk would be challenging, and you may have to work harder during the activity. Exertion is higher, and with it so are the calories you are burning as well. Now imagine taking the vest off. The body does not have to work that hard anymore to get you around the block. If you’ve lost 50 pounds, and changed nothing in your physical activity or eating habits, you are more likely to gain that weight back. Your metabolism works with the new weight, so constant adaptation is essential.
Let go of the idea that you can target belly fat
There’s a lot of trending advice about how to lose belly fat, but the truth is that it’s difficult to target weight loss. “If you lose weight, you will lose fat in your midsection, but it’s impossible to target belly fat,”Cassetty told TODAY. However, belly fat tends to respond well to modifications in your diet and activity, Cassetty explained. “And there’s evidence that when your waist shrinks, cholesterol and blood sugar levels improve,” she said.
If you experience, belly-specific health issues, you may need to address those. “If your belly seems bigger after you eat and you experience painful bloating, it could be a sign of a food sensitivity or gut health problem,” Cassettty said. “If this is the case, consult with your healthcare provider to determine the cause and treatment plan.”
Take a break from dieting
If your idea of weight loss and weight maintenance is a “diet,” then studies show you are likely bound for failure. A 2017 randomized controlled trial found that individuals that took breaks from dieting were more likely to lose weight and keep it off. The cornerstone of dieting is often restriction. The more restricted, the less we lose. So, take a break from diets and embrace lifestyle changes instead.
Weight loss — especially when the reduction occurs in the midsection — can have a significant impact on health and longevity, though. When you focus on longevity, happiness and increased energy, your reasons for losing the weight in the first place will be clear and your ability to maintain better health will be easier.
Russia, mired in war, faces economic pain and attempts to isolate it
Andrew Osborn – December 6, 2022
Russian conscripts depart for garrisons, in Omsk
LONDON (Reuters) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plunged Europe into its biggest land war since World War Two, igniting a conflict that has killed thousands, displaced millions, pulverised Ukrainian cities and damaged the global economy.
Despite warnings from U.S. intelligence in the run-up to Feb. 24, many European and Ukrainian officials did not believe it would happen. It was far too much for the Russian army to bite off, went the thinking.
Putin, who turned 70 in October, was, however, incensed by what he saw as Ukraine’s treacherous Westwards pivot, and ordered an invasion – which he called “a special military operation” – nonetheless.
His goal was to root out what he saw as excessive and potentially dangerous Western influence in an area where Moscow once held sway and to speed up what he saw as an inevitable historical shift to a multi-polar world.
When in September he announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions his troops partially controlled, a move the West declared illegal, his desire to enlarge Russia, already the world’s biggest country by territory, became explicit.
The war has so far not gone well for Putin. His forces were beaten back from the Ukrainian capital and then from the north-eastern Kharkiv region. In November, they were forced to quit the southern city of Kherson and the River Dnipro’s west bank.
As winter sets in, his army, which still controls a large chunk of Ukraine, has had more success at destroying Ukrainian infrastructure, inflicting prolonged power and water outages, something Moscow says has a military purpose. Ukraine has accused Russia of terrorism.
After overseeing the Kherson withdrawal, the commander of Russia’s forces is under pressure to deliver on the battlefield.
On the home front, where space for dissent has shrunk to nearly zero and hundreds of thousands of young men are missing from the workforce after fleeing abroad to avoid being called up, people are trying to get on with their lives.
But they cannot escape reminders of the war.
State TV schedules are dominated by rolling talk shows whose guests explain why the war is necessary and funerals for the war dead, whose number is a secret in Russia but estimated in the tens of thousands by the West, have become regular occurrences.
Despite military setbacks and political infighting, eight sources told Reuters in October that Putin’s grip on power remained firm and unofficial polls give him a 70-80% approval rating. Some said that could change fast if defeat beckoned.
WHY IT MATTERS
Russia’s invasion up-ended geopolitics.
NATO, an alliance that French President Emmanuel Macron said in 2019 was in the grips of “brain death”, is poised to add Finland and Sweden even though its further expansion was the very thing Putin opposed.
The United States, which the Democrats fretted had become too isolationist under former president Donald Trump, has provided Ukraine with the lion’s share of the financial and military aid required to keep it in the fight.
Ukraine, which before Feb. 24, had sometimes struggled to get the West interested in a slow-burning war against Russian proxies in its east, has received aid and Western support that once seemed unimaginable.
And Russia, one of the world’s biggest energy and commodity producers, has been hit with the harshest Western sanctions in its modern history.
That and its own retaliatory measures have shrunk its role as one of Europe’s biggest oil and gas suppliers, disrupted global grain and fertiliser markets, fuelled global inflation and increased nuclear tensions to their highest level since the Cuban Missile crisis.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR 2023?
With Ukraine adamant that Russia withdraw from its territory before any peace talks happen, including from annexed Crimea, even a temporary ceasefire looks hard to achieve.
For Russia, 2023 is likely to be a year when it tries to stave off more Western attempts to isolate it.
Political leaders in Iran, North Korea and Belarus remain staunch supporters. China and India have stepped in to buy heavily discounted Russian oil, though Beijing has not been as full-throated in its public support of Moscow as expected.
Cracks have meanwhile begun to open up in the former Soviet Union, where Moscow’s influence is under pressure as some countries try to change the status quo while Russia is busy in Ukraine.
At least two Central Asian countries have voiced public disagreement with Moscow, and Russia’s role as a mediator in a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia is being squeezed by the EU and Washington.
Moscow will have to manage its sanctions-hit economy too, a task made harder after the exodus of young men. Economic stability is linked to political stability, which the authorities have tried to ensure by intensifying a crackdown on anyone perceived a threat.
Reuters reported in November that Russia plans to spend nearly a third of its 2023 budget on defence and domestic security while slashing funding for schools, hospitals and roads.
As Putin pays up to keep the war in Ukraine grinding on, managing its fallout at home and abroad is likely to get harder.
Explore the Reuters round-up of news stories that dominated the year, and the outlook for 2023.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Angus MacSwan)
Appeal Hearing Held Over Navalny’s 9-Year Sentence
Russian opposition politician, anti-corruption campaigner and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Alexey Navalny is seen on the screen during his legal appeal against his nine-year prison sentence, in Moscow’s City Court, on May 24, 2022, in Moscow, Russia. Appeal of Kremlin critic Navalny was rejected by the court on Tuesday. Credit – Getty Images
Over the past couple of years, the name Alexei Navalny has become known outside of Russia. You’ve read about him founding the Anti-Corruption Foundation to investigate the illicit wealth of Russian elites, getting detained numerous times over the years for attending protests against Putin’s regime, running for president in 2018, being poisoned in 2020, miraculously recovering and going back to fight for the better future of his country.
For you, these are just headlines around the world. For me, it’s the reality.
My name is Dasha Navalnaya. I’m a 21-year-old studying at Stanford University. My father—Alexei Navalny, became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by fighting the Kremlin’s corrupt and bloodthirsty regime.
Since 2011 the Anti-Corruption Foundation has been exposing the corruption of high-ranking government officials in Russia, one of the most famous investigations being Putin’s Palace. In August 2020, my father survived a chemical weapon poisoning with Novichok performed by FSB officers and, several months after recovering, successfully investigated his own assassination attempt.
Despite the dangers he faced, in January 2021, Alexei Navalny went back to Russia and was unlawfully arrested at the airport. He has since been serving his time in prison eye-to-eye with Putin’s jailers. Shortly after his arrest, the Anti-Corruption Foundation was recognized as an extremist organization in Russia. Its team members were prosecuted and forced into exile.
We all know that prison isn’t a place where you want to end up anywhere in the world, but, the conditions of the Russian prison system are far worse than those in the U.S. or Europe. There is nothing like a Russian prison to cripple even those in perfect health. My father survived a chemical weapons poisoning, which took a toll; he spent more than two weeks in a coma and over a month in intensive care. The rehabilitation took months. Shortly after the imprisonment, he started experiencing back pains and a gradual loss of control in his legs. He had to endure a 24-day hunger strike just to get access to medical help.
Barely surviving the hunger strike did not break his spirit—nothing ever will. But the solitary confinement conditions he is now subject to are clearly aimed at mentally breaking and physically killing him. My dad’s “residence” for over two months now – a 7 by 8 feet punishment cell, which is more of a concrete cage for someone of 6 ‘3 height. He spends days sitting on a low-iron stool (which exacerbates his back pain), with a mug being the only thing he’s allowed to keep. Even his bed is fastened to the wall from 6 AM to 10 PM.
On Thursday, November 17th, my dad was moved to the strict regime in a solitary housing unit. The rest of the prisoners live in barracks, which they can freely exit, but he will be permanently locked in the solitary cell. He wrote: “It is a regular cramped cell, like the punishment cell, except that you can have not one, but two books with you and use the prison kiosk, albeit with a very limited budget.” These new conditions will also prevent him from receiving any family visits—they are all completely banned. Being able to have a second book is definitely a bonus for an extremely fast reader like my dad.
I am proud to be my father’s daughter and walk tall knowing that despite the inhuman conditions, he has been standing up against Putin’s war in Ukraine and calling on the Russian people to do everything in their power to fight it.
Protesters hold a banner reading “FREE NAVALNY” as some 2,500 supporters of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny march in protest to demand his release from prison in Moscow on January 23, 2021 in Berlin, Germany.Omer Messinger-Getty Images
“Everything has a price, and now, in the spring of 2022, we must pay this price. There’s no one to do it for us. Let’s not ‘be against the war.’ Let’s fight against the war,”—he stated during the trial in March. It is now December, and since August my father has spent 78 days in the punishment cell, serving eight solitary confinement terms back-to-back.
Why was he sent to the solitary confinement punishment cell and now to a long term solitary confinement cell, you ask? Among the violations from the colony administration, my father has been sent to the punishment cell because: unbuttoning jumpsuit” (it is physically impossible to button as the jumpsuit is a few sizes smaller than his), refusing to mop the fence,” and “sweeping the exercise yard poorly and insulting the Сriminal Investigator Lieutenant by addressing him by title and surname instead of his first name and patronymic.” The most recent is simply being an “egregious offender” worthy of the “cell-type” room.
The real reason behind the constant punishments is and always has been, of course, Navalny’s condemnation of the Ukraine war and his opposition to the Putin regime. My father uses every appeal hearing as an opportunity to make an anti-war statement. During his recent hearing, he said: “Your Honor, I declare that I am an innocent person. And I believe that I and others like me did everything possible to prevent what is happening now. And we will continue to do so. And I call on all citizens of Russia to fight this regime, this war, and mobilization.”
“I will spend as much time in a punishment cell as will be necessary to defend my right to speak out against a historic crime Putin is committing” —is a sadly self-fulfilling prophecy in his case. The prison administration made it clear there’s no such thing as a glimpse of the rule of law when it comes to Navalny.
The latter is also attested by the fact that my father’s attorney-client confidentiality privilege no longer exists. The penal colony administration had simply decided to waive it. In recent months, all communication he has had with his lawyers goes through the prison administration. The window in the visiting room has been covered with an opaque film, so lawyers can only hear a voice and see their client’s silhouette as they discuss the defense in the new criminal cases against him (he currently is facing up to 30 years behind bars). My dad’s lawyers no longer have a visual understanding of his health and physical conditions. This is unique even by the low standards of the Russian judicial system.
To me, Alexei Navalny is not only a determined, hard-working, and charismatic leader but also a funny, caring, and incredible father. He taught me how to ride a bike; he helped with math equations and grammar questions when I simply could not wrap my elementary school brain around the concept of semicolons. In middle school, when I made my first attempt to cook porridge, when it turned out to be way too salty, my dad smiled, didn’t discourage me, and ate the whole thing. For hours he helped me learn the poem “The Prophet” by Alexander Pushkin so well it is still engraved in my mind. Every September, he walked my younger brother and me to school on the first day of class. My dad was there for our competitions, concerts, and graduations. And has always written me or anyone he holds close a loving and hilarious letter on our birthday if he was arrested and couldn’t be with us in person.
Now he can’t even do that.
Our family has always taken pride in its optimism: we prefer jokes over complaining when the worse comes. We’ve seen a lot over the years and made sure not to take it too close to heart. My father was detained at least once almost every year between 2011 and 2021, with time spent in prison longer and longer. My mother was detained and tried; my uncle served 3.5 years in prison for the simple crime of having the same last name. Our whole family, including my grandparents and great-grandparents, has been harassed and unlawfully prosecuted many times. Not to mention the “good old times” when the FSB poisoners were close to killing my mother and almost killed my father
It is impossible to get used to the idea that your loved ones can be imprisoned or killed at any time for a made-up reason, but over time it became part of our family routine. “So, I assume you won’t be coming to dinner tonight?” I’d ask my dad whenever he was getting ready to go to a protest. He would respond with a snicker.
The Russian regime has always been based on corruption and it is now based on war – for Putin, these are the two prerequisites for staying in power. That is why he is ready to destroy anyone who dares to expose them. And he treats my father with a personal hatred—as his most implacable opponent for many years.
As you read these lines, Navalny is in mortal danger, but he continues to stand by what he believes in. He has proven willing to sacrifice his freedom, health, and even his life to see Russia become a democratic, prosperous country. And right now, even from prison, he is fighting to make it peaceful. By his example, he supports and inspires millions of Russians who, like him, are unwilling to tolerate war and injustice.
Putin must be defeated. He is a threat not only to Russia and Ukraine but to the world. The very essence of authoritarian power involves a constant increase in bets, an increase in aggression, and the search for new enemies. In order not to lose in this struggle, we must unite.
My father is one of the leaders of this struggle, and he must be out there. He challenges Putin every day, but together we can ensure that his efforts are not in vain and that his words are heard around the world. I now turn to world leaders and ask them to support my call to the Russian government to release my father.
Let’s all strive for a better, more prosperous global future where we can choose our own leaders. Free Alexei Navalny!
Russian Cruise Missiles Were Made Just Months Ago Despite Sanctions
John Ismay – December 6, 2022
Smoke rises after a Russian artillery bombardment in Kherson, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. (Finbarr O’Reill/The New York Times)
Some of the cruise missiles that Russia launched at Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure in late November were manufactured months after the West imposed sanctions intended to deprive Moscow of the components needed to make those munitions, according to a weapons research group.
Experts examined remnants of Kh-101 cruise missiles found in Kyiv, the capital, after an attack Nov. 23 that knocked out electricity and shut down water systems in large areas of the country. One of the missiles was made this summer, and another was completed after September, markings on the weapons show, according to a report released by investigators Monday.
That Russia has continued to make advanced guided missiles such as the Kh-101 suggests that it has found ways to acquire semiconductors and other materiel despite the sanctions or that it had significant stockpiles of the components before the war began, one researcher said.
The findings are among the most recent by Conflict Armament Research, an independent group based in Britain that identifies and tracks weapons and ammunition used in wars. A small team of its researchers arrived in Kyiv just before the attack at the invitation of the Ukrainian security service.
In four previous research trips to Kyiv since the invasion, the investigators found that almost all of the advanced Russian military gear they examined — including encrypted radios and laser range finders — was built with Western semiconductors.
The investigators were unable to determine whether the Kh-101 remnants they studied were from missiles that reached their targets and exploded or were intercepted in flight and shot down.
The Kh-101 missiles were marked with a 13-digit numerical sequence. Investigators said they believe that the first three digits represent the factory where the missile was made, followed by another three-digit code indicating which of two known versions of the Kh-101 it is and two digits indicating when it was manufactured. A final string of five numbers is believed to denote the missile’s production batch and serial number.
Piotr Butowski, a Polish journalist who has written extensively about Russia’s warplanes and military munitions, said the group’s numerical analysis matched up with his research.
“The first three digits are always ‘315’ — this is the production facility code,” Butowski said in an email. “Kh-101 missiles are developed and manufactured by the Raduga company in Dubna near Moscow.”
In an interview before the report was released, a U.S. defense intelligence analyst said that Butowski’s analysis was consistent with the government’s understanding of how Russian missile producers — including those that make the Kh-101 — mark their weapons. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Russia was generally believed to be experiencing ammunition stockpile problems and may be using newer munitions alongside those that are much older.
The analyst said that reports from Russia indicate that the government has ordered employees at munition plants to work additional hours in an effort to produce more ordnance, and that it is clear that Russia is now firing fewer long-range weapons such as cruise missiles at a smaller number of targets in Ukraine.
Pentagon officials say Russia has fired thousands of long-range weapons including cruise missiles as well as short- and medium-range ballistic missiles at targets in Ukraine since the war began.
Whether Russia has depleted its inventory of older cruise missiles is unclear. But militaries often use older munitions first in combat because they typically make up a majority of a nation’s stockpile.
On Nov. 23, the same day as the cruise missile attack on Kyiv, Lloyd Austin, the U.S. secretary of defense, told reporters that Russia’s supply of precision-guided weapons had been “significantly reduced” and that it would be more difficult for Russia to rapidly produce them “because of the trade restrictions they have on microchips and other types of things.”
But Damien Spleeters, who led Conflict Armament Research’s investigation, said it would be difficult to say that the Russians are running short on weapons.
“Those claims have been made since April,” he said, “so we’re just pointing to the fact that these cruise missiles being made so recently may be a symptom of that, but it’s not a certainty.”
If There Is a ‘Male Malaise’ With Work, Could One Answer Be at Sea?
Talmon Joseph Smith – December 6, 2022
A crew member of the tugboat Millennium Falcon boards the tank barge Dale Frank Jr. in Seattle’s Elliott Bay, Oct. 5, 2022. (Lindsey Wasson/The New York Times)
SEATTLE — Before dawn on a recent day in the port of Seattle, dense autumn fog hugged Puget Sound and ship-to-shore container cranes hovered over the docks like industrial sentinels. Under the dim glimmer of orange floodlights, the crew of the tugboat Millennium Falcon fired up the engines for a long day of towing oil barges and refueling a variety of large vessels, like container ships.
The first thing to know about barges is that they don’t move themselves. They are propelled and guided by tugs like the Falcon, which is owned by Centerline Logistics, one of the largest U.S. transporters of marine petroleum. Such companies may not be household names, but the nation’s energy supply chain would have broken under the pandemic’s pressure without the steady presence of their fleets — and their crews.
“We’re a floating gas station,” said Bowman Harvey, a director of operations at Centerline, as he stood aboard the Falcon, his neck tattoo of the Statue of Liberty pivoting from the base of his flannel whenever he gestured at a machine or busy colleague nearby. Demand is solid, he said, and the enterprise is profitable. The company’s client list, which includes Exxon Mobil and Maersk, the global shipping giant, is robust. But manning the fleet has become a struggle.
Multiyear charter contracts for key lines of business — refueling ships, transporting fuel for refineries and general towing jobs — are locked in across all three coasts, plus Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico, Harvey said. Yet as pandemic-related staffing shortages have eased in other industries, Centerline is still short on staff.
“Hands down,” Harvey said, “our biggest challenge right now is finding crew.”
Safely moving, loading and unloading oil at sea requires both simple and highly skilled jobs that cannot be automated. And the labor supply issues in merchant marine transportation are emblematic of the conundrum seen in a variety of decently paying, male-heavy jobs in the trades.
Over the past 50 years, male labor force participation, the share of men working or actively looking for work, has steadily fallen as female participation has climbed.
Some scholars have a grim explanation for the trend. Nicholas Eberstadt, the conservative-leaning author of “Men Without Work,” argues that there has been a swell in men who are “inert, written off or discounted by society and, perhaps, all too often, even by themselves.” Others, like Brookings Institution senior fellow Richard V. Reeves, put less emphasis on potential social pathologies but say a “male malaise” is hampering households and the economy.
Centerline employees are among about 75,000 categorized by the Department of Labor as water transportation workers, a group in which men outnumber women 5-to-1.
Though the gender split in the industry is more even for onshore office roles, workers and applicants for jobs on the water are predominantly male. Centerline says it has roughly 220 offshore crew members and about 35 openings.
Captains and company managers agree that changing attitudes toward work among young men play a part in the labor shortage. But the strongest consensus opinion is that structural demographic shifts are against them.
“We’re seeing a gray wave of retirement,” Harvey, 38, said.
Even though replacements are needed and, on the whole, lacking, there are new young recruits who are thriving, such as Noah Herrera Johnson, 19, who has joined Centerline as a cadet deckhand, an entry-level role.
On a Thursday morning out in the harbor, Herrera Johnson deftly unknotted, flipped and refastened a series of sailing knots as the crew unmoored from a sister boat that was aiding the refueling of a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. A small crowd of curious cruise passengers peeked down as he bopped through the sequences and the sun’s glare began to pierce the fog, bouncing off the undulating waves.
“I enjoy it a lot,” Herrera Johnson said of his work as he sliced some meat in the galley later on. (Some kitchen work and cleaning are part of the gig and the fraternal ritual of paying dues.)
“I get along with everyone — everyone has stories to tell,” he said. “And I was never good at school.”
Herrera Johnson, who is Mexican American and whose mother is from Seattle, spent most of his life in Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California, until he moved back to the United States shortly after turning 18.
Though entry-level roles aboard don’t require college credentials, new regulations have made at least briefly attending a vocational maritime academy a necessity for those who want to rise quickly up the crew ladder.
Because he is interested in becoming a captain by his late 20s, he began a two-year program at the nearby Pacific Maritime Institute in March, and he earns course credits for work at Centerline between classes.
He got his “first tug” in May: an escapade from New Orleans through the Panama Canal to San Francisco, patched with some bad weather.
“Two months, two long months. It was fun,” he said. “We had a few things going on. We lost steering a few times. But it was cool.”
In short, the industry needs far more Noahs. Many Centerline employees have informally become part-time recruiters — handing out cards, encouraging seemingly capable young men who may be between jobs, undecided about college or disillusioned with the standard 9-to-5 existence to consider being a mariner instead.
“When I’m trying to get friends or family members to come into the business,” Harvey said, “I make sure to remind them: Don’t think of this as a job, think of it as a lifestyle.”
Internet connections aboard are common these days, and there is plenty of downtime for movies, TV, reading, cooking and joking around with sea mates. (On slow days, captains will sometimes do doughnuts in the water like victorious race car drivers, turning the whole vessel into a Tilt-a-Whirl ride for the crew: Sea legs required.)
Of course, those leisurely moments punctuate days and nights of heaving lines, tying knots, making repairs, executing multiple refueling jobs and helping to navigate the tugboat: rain or shine, heat or heavy seas.
It’s “an adventurous life,” Harvey said, one that he and others acknowledge has its pros and cons. Mariners in this sector — whether they are entry-level deckhands, midtier mates and engineers, or crew-leading tankermen and captains — are usually on duty at sea in tight quarters and bunk beds for a month or more.
On the bright side, however, because of an “equal time” policy, full-time crew members are given roughly just as much time off for the same annual pay.
“When I go home, you know, I’m taking essentially 35 days off,” said Capt. Ryan Buckhalter, 48, who’s been a mariner for 20 years. For many, it’s a refreshing work-life balance, he said: none of the nettlesome emails or nagging office politics in between shifts often faced by the average modern office worker trying to get ahead.
Still, Buckhalter, who has a wife and a young daughter, echoed other crew members when he admitted that the setup could also be “tough at times” for families, including his own.
Crew members say they value knowing that their work, unlike more abstract service jobs, is essential to world trade. Average starting salaries for deckhand jobs are $55,000 a year (or about $26 an hour) and as high as $75,000 in places like the San Francisco area, with higher living costs.
The company also offers low-cost health, vision and dental care for employees, and a 401(k) plan with a company match. So CEO Matt Godden said in an interview that he didn’t think wages or benefits were a central reason that his company and competitors with similar offerings had struggled to hire.
“Right now a lot of companies are really hurting,” Buckhalter said. “You kind of got a little gap here with the younger generation not really showing up.”
If the labor market, like any other, operates by supply and demand, managers in the maritime industry say the supply side of the nation’s education and training system is also at fault: It has given priority to the digital over the physical economy, putting what are often called “the jobs of the future” over those society still needs.
Harvey adds that his industry is also grappling with increased Coast Guard licensing requirements for skilled roles, like boat engineers and tankermen, who lead the loading and discharging of oil barges. The regulations help ensure physical and environmental safety standards, Harvey said, but reduce the already limited pool of adequately credentialed candidates.
Women remain a rare sight aboard. Some captains make the case that this stems from hesitance toward a life of bunking and sharing a bathroom with a crop of guys at sea — a self-reinforcing dynamic that company officials say they are working to alleviate.
“We actually do have women that work on the vessels!” said Kimberly Cartagena, senior manager for marketing and public relations at Centerline. “Definitely not as much as men, but we do have a handful.”
Several economists and industry analysts suggested in interviews that another way for companies like Centerline to add crew members would be to expand their digital presence and do social media outreach. Godden said he remained wary.
“If you did something very simple, like you set up a TikTok account, and you sent somebody out every day to create varied little snippets, and you get viral videos of strong men pulling lines and big waves and big pieces of machinery,” Godden said, then a company would risk introducing an inefficient churn of young recruits who would “like the idea of being on a boat” but not be a fan of the unsexy “calluses” that come with the job.
But in the long term, he said, there is reason for optimism. He pointed to the recent establishment of the Maritime High School, which opened a year ago just south of the Seattle-Tacoma airport with its first ninth grade class.
“I think their first class is looking to graduate a hundred people, and then they got goals of getting up to 300, 400 graduates a year,” Godden said. He has been meeting with the school’s leaders this fall and is convinced they will help create the next pipeline in the profession.
“Yes, labor shortages may increase or decrease depending upon how the market works, but I always have this sense that there’s always going to be this sort of built-in group of folks who cannot — just cannot — stand seeing themselves sitting at a desk for 30, 40, 50 years,” Godden said.
“It’s this hands-on business almost like, you know, when you’re a kid and you’re playing with trucks or toys, and then you get to do it in the life-size version.”
270,000 homebuyers who bought in 2022 are underwater on their mortgage
Gabriella Cruz Martinez, Personal finance writer – December 6, 2022
About 270,000 homebuyers who bought during the red-hot housing market this year already owe more than their house is worth, a new analysis found.
Among the 450,000 underwater borrowers in the third quarter, nearly 60% had mortgages originated in the first nine months of 2022, Black Knight found. That’s about 1 in 12 homes purchased in 2022 with a mortgage, or 8%. Nearly 40% of homes bought this year have less than 10% of equity left to tap.
The figures reflect yet another fallout from rapidly rising mortgage rates this year, which have put pressure on housing values as home price growth cools at a record pace month over month.
“Though the home price correction has slowed, it has still exposed a meaningful pocket of equity risk,” Ben Graboske, president of Black Knight data and analytics, said in a news statement. “Make no mistake: negative equity rates continue to run far below historical averages, but a clear bifurcation of risk has emerged between mortgaged homes purchased relatively recently versus those bought early in or before the pandemic.”
(Credit: Black Knight)
Lower-income households hurt the most
Borrowers with purchase loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Veterans Affairs (VA) were most likely to have slipped underwater, the report found. These are more popular among first-time and lower-income buyers.
Those with FHA loans faced the largest equity challenges, Black Knight found, with more than 25% of folks with FHA loans falling underwater. Additionally, some 80% had less than a 10% equity stake in their homes.
Early-payment defaults (EDP) — loans delinquent within six months of origination — were also rising across product types in recent months with the largest increases among FHA borrowers over the past year. As of October, EDP rates for FHA loans were 150% above 2013-2018 levels, and 25% above their early 2000 averages, the report found.
By contrast, early-payment default among those with conforming loans were more than 70% below early 2000 levels, and VA loans were less than half that same threshold.
“Such loans [FHA] rely on rising home values and principal pay-downs over time to gradually improve their equity position,” Graboske said. “This is … unfortunately, potentially vulnerable cohort that we will continue to keep a close eye on in the months ahead.”
A ‘Just Sold’ sign hangs in front of a home in Miami, Florida. (Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Recent buyers at greater risk
Most of the folks at risk of having their loans slip underwater were those who purchased when home prices were at their highest, Black Knight found. At least 10% of June purchase originations – when home prices peaked at $438,000 – were underwater, with more than 30% having less than 10% equity.
Although homeprices have cooled for the last seven months, with prices now 3.2% down from June’s high, the pricing adjustment hasn’t been enough to ease homebuyers’ affordability concerns.
“In a world of interest rates 6.5% and higher, affordability remains perilously close to a 35-year low,” Graboske said. “Risk among earlier purchases is essentially nonexistent given the large equity cushions these mortgage holders are sitting on. More recent homebuyers don’t fare as well.”
Higher mortgage rates may also be limiting the pace of price corrections, Graboske said, due to its damping effect on inventory inflow and subsequent gridlock on home sales activity. The volume of new homes for sale was 19% below the 2017-2019 average, the largest deficit in six years with the exception of March and April 2020 during pandemic-induced lockdowns.
According to the report, the current market is short by more than a half-million listings of what is considered normal by historical measures.
“Add in the effects of typical seasonality and one might expect a far steeper correction in prices than we have endured so far,” Graboske said. “But the never-ending inventory shortage has served to counterbalance these other factors.”
