Ok, this piece will likely be more than 80 sentences, Y’all know how verbose this Editor can get, but you have to admit it is a catchy headline.
Let’s start in Europe. Heating gas prices in Europe are soaring, up over 400% over the same period last year. That said, it is starting to look like the cost per megawatt hour equivalent is dropping. The current benchmark is at 98.59 euro, down from a high of 185 euro. Part of the reason for this is delivery of US LNG, with at least 15 ships heading for Europe as of this writing.
Elsewhere in Europe, it looks like the threat to Ukraine from Russia has abated somewhat . While there are still tens of thousands of russian troops within 50km of the disputed Donbass region, a large chunk of Russian troops have headed back to their home bases. There is an exercise that was sheduled to start the 24th, involving around 1400 Russian Airborne troops and some specialized mine removal and bridging troops. That exercise is to be held in Crimea, which Russia siezed from Ukraine in 2014, and the Krasnodar region, which borders Luhansk and Donestk oblasts in Ukraine.
As of today, the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, ordered all troops back to their home bases. However, the withdrawal will take until May and all heavy equipment will be left at a depot about 160km from the border with Ukraine. “I consider the goals of the snap check of readiness fulfilled,” Shoigu said. “The troops have shown their defense capability and I decided to complete the drills in the South and Western military districts.”
Closer to home, the USS Milwaukee is stuck in port at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. No, it’s not a powerplant issue for the Freedom class Little Crappy Ship. There’s a covid outbreak among the entirely vaxxed crew. The Navy isn’t saying how many of the 105 sailors aboard have tested positive, nor are they saying how many have been boosted. That leads me to believe the answer is all of them to both questions.
The Milwaukee was just a week into her deployment in support of drug interdictions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific when the outbreak started.
Also covid related, hosptals in New Hampshire and Vermont are struggling with capacity due to covid. But, not for the reasons you might think (or not, most of you have been reading what this Editor has written about covid). No, they aren’t full of seriously ill covid patients, their ERs are being overrun with asymptomatic individuals who have tested at home. Yup, the emergency rooms are being filled with people who are convinced they’re gonna die because they caught the ‘ro. As was mentioned above, the vast majority are completely asymptomatic, yet because of covid related psychosis they think they’re about to die. This Editor blames the media. . .
While we’re on the subject of media coverage of covid, this Editor would like call something to your attention. The media has all but stopped noting hospitalizations and deaths from covid. There is a reason for that, deaths and hospitalizations have decoupled from case counts. That is good news, very good news. That said, the media wants to keep you scared, so they present soaring case counts without the context of steady or falling hospitalizations and deaths.
In a rational society, at this point we would put aside all of the mitigation attempts and get on with our lives. However, there are people in the media and in government who very much enjoy the powers they wield.
How many of you saw the story about the dad who got the Hologram to say Let’s go Brandon on a televised call with kids on Christmas Eve?
This Editor has to say he’s of two minds about it. First, the loss of decorum in general is a travesty. Even though this editor is guilty of it from time to time (see above), the fact is, it is bothersome. It should be understood that while this Editor realizes it was the left that started the trend, he still laments the fact it is happening.
On the other hand, this editor finds the whole episode f*cking hilarious. The fact that the Hologram repeated the phrase only makes it funnier.
All that aside, the left wing media ahs already started the process of destroying this man. The hypocrisy is stunning. Many of the same people who held up those who did similar things while Trump was President are condemning this man. It’s worse than that, the ones they defended were actually vulgar, this man just said Let’s go Brandon.