It's Monday morning, what do we know?

Dec 26, 2022

What do we know?

Several busloads of migrants were dropped off Saturday in front of the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, the location of the vice president’s residence. The migrants, some of them wearing little more than t-shirts and jeans, arrived to temperatures in the teens and low-20’s. The new arrivals were immediately given blankets and taken to a local church. Volunteers were on the scene when the buses arrived, having received advance warning from NGOs on the Texas-Mexico border that the migrants were enroute. Three governors—Greg Abbott, Doug Ducey & Ron DeSantis—have perpetrated public relations stunts using migrants. According to reports, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who claims to be Christian, is responsible for the latest incident, which occurred on Christmas Eve

At least 28 people died over the holiday weekend as a result of the “bomb cyclone” and accompanying blizzard. Though much of the Plains and Upper Midwest endured blizzard conditions, it was western New York, around Buffalo, that suffered the worst of it. Buffalo remained almost completely paralyzed on Sunday night after experiencing hurricane force winds and heavy snowfall for more than 24 hours. According to officials, unknown scores of people remained stranded in their cars Sunday night, having been stranded for half a day or more. Elsewhere, city residents were trapped in their homes with no heat and power. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that almost every fire truck in Buffalo was stranded on Saturday night, marking the first time in the city’s modern history that officials were unable to respond to emergency calls because of winter weather. The storm is being called the worst in the snowy city’s history

Four aid organizations operating in Afghanistan have suspended their work after the Taliban banned women from working for NGOs. The organizations said they will be unable to provide services to Afghans without their female employees. The organizations typically comply with local laws and customs and, in this case, do not wish to put their female workers in danger. Once again, we Americans did this and it is one of the great tragedies and outrages of the early 21st century. Truly shameful
As many as 37 million people may have been infected with the coronavirus on a single day last week in China, obliterating the previous record for most cases in a 24 hour period. It’s possible that as many as 250 million Chinese have had Covid in the month of December. Public health officials have expressed concern that the high infection rate coupled with low levels of effective immunity due to vaccine of questionable quality will lead to the emergence of dangerous new variants

The House passed the $1.66 trillion omnibus package on Friday, it now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed this week. The bill, which includes the single most important piece of legislation of 2022, an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act, passed along largely partisan lines. Only nine Republicans voted for the bill, underscoring the urgency of passing it before the new Congress convenes in January
The horseshoe theory of politics proved in the real world:

What do we know in Ukraine?

Ukraine enjoyed a Christmas of relative peace, despite air raid sirens that howled throughout the day across the country. By Sunday evening the sirens had gone quiet and officials declared all-clear without any major attacks, save a few cities on the frontlines. Saturday was another matter. Russian shells pounded the recently liberated city of Kherson, killing at least ten and leaving another 55 injured. President Volodymyr Zelenskky, recently returned from Washington, DC, posted images of the destruction on Twitter

On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a television interview that Russia was ready for peace talks. Putin’s gambit is nothing more than a ploy to pause the war so Russian troops can be reinforced and resupplied. Putin also deployed the usual bromides, faulting Ukraine and the West for the continued fighting
You can read Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Christmas address to his nation here

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