Stephen K. Bannon's Blog, page 843

CDC Drastically Alters Key Measure That Influences Mask Mandates Across US

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Feb. 25 drastically changed a key measure that is used by officials across the country to determine whether or not to require mask-wearing.
The federal agency now says nearly three-quarters of Americans don’t need to wear masks because they live in areas with low or medium community risk from COVID-19.
The dramatic switch comes because the CDC switched from only using COVID-19 cases as a factor and are taking into account other metrics, including hospitalizations.
“This updated approach focuses on directing our prevention efforts toward protecting people at high risk for severe ailments and preventing hospitals and healthcare systems from being overwhelmed,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, told reporters on a call.
Walensky said the CDC “came up with indicators, including new hospital admissions and hospital beds utilized” and combined “them with case incidents to really create a packet of metrics to be able to understand what’s happening at the local level.”
The CD …

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Russian Navy Masses 16 Warships Near Syria — USNI News

Slava-class guided-missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov departs Russian Northern Fleet base Severomorsk. Russian MoD Photo
Two Russian guided-missile cruisers from Russia’s North and Pacific fleets met off the coast of Syria as part of a 16-ship Russian Navy formation, according to satellite photos taken on Thursday.
Slava-class cruisers RTS Marshal Ustinov (055) and RFS Varyag (011) were part of a 16-ship formation in Syrian territorial waters near Russia’s sole foreign naval base in Tartus as captured by European Space Agency’s satellite imagery, reported Naval News.
“This is the concentration of essentially the entire Russian Navy in the Mediterranean, in one place. Ordinarily, these vessels would be operating in distinct groups,” reads the report from Naval News.
The formation includes the two Slavas, two Udaloy-class destroyers, two guided-missile frigates, two Kilo diesel-electric attack submarines, a Buyan-class corvette, two assault boats and a variety of auxiliary vessels.
Russian Navy ships off the coast of Syria on Feb. 24, 2022. Naval News Graphic by H I Sutton used with permission
The two Slavas had been operating at either end of the Mediterranean as the head of two separate surface action groups. A third Slava, RTS Moskva (121), is in the Black Sea.
The 11,500-ton Slavas were designed around launchers that can hold 16 SS-N-12 Sandbox anti-ship cruise missiles – each about the size of a telephone pole. The 1970s era ships and missiles were crafted to battle U.S. and NATO aircraft carriers by overwhelming them with a barrage of high-speed cruise missiles to sink ships.
The formation resembles a photo exercise rather than a military formation. PHOTOEXs, held by navies around the world, are designed to produce dramatic photographs of ships in naval formations that otherwise have limited operational value.
While the operations of the Slavas are in part to send a provocative message to NATO forces, officials say, the actual capabilities of the Russian surface fleet in the Mediterranean are outmatched by just U.S. assets surged to the region.
On Tuesday, defense officials confirmed the intent of the cruisers was likely to complicate the operations of three NATO carrier strike groups also operating in the Mediterranean
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), ITS Cavour (CVH-550) and French Navy carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R 91) their escorts and air wings have been part of an ongoing reassurance mission to NATO allies in the lead up to Thursday’s invasion.
There are about a dozen U.S. guided-missile cruisers and destroyers in U.S. 6th Fleet, and some surged to the region with the last two months.
Four East Coast guided-missile destroyers – USS Donald Cook (DDG-75), USS Mitscher (DDG-57), USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) and USS Gonzalez (DDG-66) – left in January for Europe as Russian ships departed from the Arctic and Pacific, USNI News reported.
Those ships are in addition the forward-deployed U …

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A Look at Beijing’s Balancing Act With Ukraine and Potential Fissures in the Sino-Russian Partnership

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It’s Time to Reopen Congress to the Public

Commentary: It’s Time to Re-Open the People’s House

2/25/2022



By

Gene Moran

iStock photo

No matter one’s political ideology, we can be confident that the legislation Congress considers and passes for fiscal year 2022 policy and spending will be less than it could have been. Why? Because the inputs were substandard and we mostly just went through the motions to get to an outcome.
A partial solution is within our grasp and not nearly as difficult as reforming the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process heralded in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
The solution: Re-open the doors of the People’s House.
The federal legislative season for fiscal year 2023 has begun before resolving spending decisions for fiscal year 2022. We’ve been here before many times in the past decade. Balanced budget acts, fiscal cliffs, defense vs. non-defense debates, sequestration, continuing resolutions, omnibuses, minibuses and cromnibuses are just a few of the manifestations of legislative disfunction. We rebuild this house of cards annually, and we are not in a good place.
The movement to reform the PPBE process i …

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Biden has announced his Supreme Court nominee

It is exactly two years to the day since Biden pledged to nominate the first black woman to the Supreme Court. That pledge came during a South Carolina primary debate.

To begin the process, Biden must make the formal offer to the nominee, which was expected to happen either Thursday night or Friday morning. Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader of the Senate, promised to confirm justice lifetime as quickly as possible.

The conservative court’s tilt is not expected to change with his choice, but his focus on younger nominees ensures that his choice will have a lasting impact… KEEP READING»>

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Inflation Rises to Highest Level in Four Decades in Metric Used by Federal Reserve

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Longtime Republican Retiring From Senate

Oklahoma GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe is expected to announce his retirement, which will trigger a special election to replace him this fall.

“The 87-year-old Oklahoma Republican was elected to another six-year term in 2020, but has missed more votes than usual recently and told reporters in December his wife has been sick. His decision to step down will surely fuel a competitive Republican primary to succeed him in ruby-red Oklahoma,” Politico reported.

“Inhofe is expected to serve the remainder of the current Congress and to announce his retirement on Monday. He’s a longtime top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. GOP senators are expected to try and talk Inhofe out of leaving office early, according to the person familiar with Inhofe’s plans. Inhofe planned to reveal his intentions in a video announcement, but news reports of his potential retirement preempted its release, according to one GOP source familiar with the matter. Another GOP source said the announcement has been moved up and is expected to come as early as Friday,” Politico added.

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Ukraine: Applebee’s pulls ads from CNN

Applebee’s has reportedly paused their advertising on CNN following an odd ad transition Thursday. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the network went from broadcasting air raid sirens in Ukraine to showing a picture-in-picture ad for the restaurant chain, featuring a cowboy shaking his butt to the Zac Brown Band song “Chicken Fried.“The ad also featured women walking into an Applebee’s, as well as shots of chicken and beer. While the ad ran, it was on a split screen with the Ukraine footage in a small box on with a headline reading, “Russia Invades Ukraine.“Some on social media even commented that the ad placement almost made it appear as if the air raid was sponsored by the chain.WW3 sponsored by Applebees. We’re living in an episode of South Park.pic.twitter.com/Ex5MTM2krr— NUFF (@nuffsaidny) February 24, 2022
An Applebee’s spokesperson told Ad Age, “When we were made aware that our ad was placed in this manner, we immediately reached out to CNN to pause our advertising on their network. It never should have aired, and we are disappointed in the actions of the network.“The spokesperson went on to say that the restaurant chain is “…deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine.“Applebees couldn’t get a Super Bowl commercial, so they took the WW3 CNN slot. Savage. https://t.co/3PWl7lW8Eu— Applebee’s wylin (@VeryBlesseth) F …

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Zelensky TakeS Shot At Biden

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to take a shot at Democrat President Joe Biden for not doing more to assist Ukraine as it fought back an invasion from Russia.“This morning we are defending our state alone. Like yesterday, the world’s most powerful forces are watching from afar,” he said. “Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough.”Zelensky’s comments come as Biden said on Thursday that “no one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening.”Zelensky added in-part during a speech:We are left alone in defense of our state. Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly – I do not see such. Who is ready to guarantee Ukraine’s accession to NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid. … I tell all the partners of our state: now is an important moment – the fate of our country is being decided. I ask them: are you with us? They answer that they are with us. But they are not ready to take us to the Alliance. Today, I asked the twenty-seven leaders of Europe whether Ukraine will be in NATO. I asked directly. Everyone is afraid. They do not answer.And we are not afraid of anything. We are not afraid to defend our state. We are not afraid of Russia. We …

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Moscow Open to Talks Once Ukraine Surrenders

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Russia will be open to talks with Kyiv as soon as Ukrainian forces surrender.CNBC reported Friday that Lavrov said “we are ready for talks any time, as soon as the Ukrainian armed forces respond to the call of our president, stop resisting and surrender their weapons” during a meeting with officials from the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.“No one is going to attack or oppress them, let them go back to their families,” Lavrov added, according to Russian news agency Interfax.CNN reporter Matthew Chance said that Friday morning he was invited to a press conference call with Sergey, where he asked him if it was Russia’s intention to “decapitate” Ukraine and replace it with a “puppet regime controlled by Moscow.”According to Chance, Lavrov said that “nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine” and that there will be “no strikes on civilian infrastructure.” “I …

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