March 16, 2022

Japan hit by strong quake cutting power to millions

Update to LBN post earlier:

BBC




A powerful earthquake has been recorded in north-east Japan and is reported to have cut power to two million homes.

The tremor was recorded at magnitude 7.3 and in some areas is said to have reached 6-plus on Japan's shaking intensity scale, making it too forceful for people to stand.

People living in the Fukushima, Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures have been told to expect aftershocks.

...

An advisory for tsunami waves of one metre (3.3ft) has also been issued for parts of the north-east coast.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60770100

March 15, 2022

New Device Helps Patients Recover From Opioid Addiction

NBCWashington
By Doreen Gentzler, News4 Anchor and Patricia Fantis

A small, wearable device is helping patients survive the awful symptoms of opioid withdrawal.

Spark Biomedical created the FDA-approved Sparrow Therapy System. It’s essentially an earpiece that sends mild electrical pulses to the brain to help alleviate the withdrawal symptoms that patients go through while they’re detoxing, like insomnia, tremors, chills and sweating, bone pain, mood swings, and more.

“One of the reasons there's an opioid epidemic is that the withdrawal symptoms, the painful, excruciating detox process to get off opioids, is so bad that most people can't endure it,” Spark Biomedical President and CEO Daniel Powell.

“We're able to deliver mild amounts of electrical stimulation at points near and around the ear, where surface area nerves, cranial nerves come up and they tell the brain to calm down and they actually drive the brain to produce its own endogenous endorphins, which fill the vacant opioid channels when somebody is going through opioid withdrawal,” Powell said.

More at link

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/new-device-helps-patients-recover-from-opioid-addiction/3000216/

March 14, 2022

People's Convoy Trucker Punches D.C. Driver's Window in Road Rage Fit

Daily Beast
Zachary Petrizzo
Media Reporter
Published Mar. 14, 2022 5:19PM ET

A trucker member of the so-called “People’s Convoy” apparently can’t hack it in D.C. traffic and engaged in a little road rage on Monday afternoon, getting out of his truck to confront a driver and punch his window. During his own live stream, truck driver John Bigard, host of the OTR Survival YouTube channel, was seen getting out of his vehicle on U.S. 395 and confronting a driver who seemingly attempted to merge from a far left lane towards an exit. At one point, Bigard was seen yelling at the driver before repeatedly striking the driver side window of the silver car. Upon getting back into his truck, the convoy trucker appeared to mock the driver’s accent while calling him a “fucking idiot.” People’s Convoy organizers and the D.C. metro police didn’t immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on the incident. This was not the anti-vaccine mandate trucker convoy’s first episode of road rage, as they have been spitefully boxing in cars in response to drivers giving them the middle finger. “We will continue to address any violations of the law while we maintain the free flow of traffic,” a Maryland State Police official told The Daily Beast Monday morning.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/peoples-convoy-trucker-punches-dc-drivers-window-in-road-rage-fit?ref=home?ref=home

Temper, temper now

March 14, 2022

FreeDumb Convoy causing major rush hour traffic mess in DC area

Trucker Convoy Causing Traffic Delays in DC Area

NBC Washington

A convoy of truck drivers and others protesting COVID-19 restrictions is causing major traffic delays in D.C. during Monday’s evening rush hour.

The convoy brought traffic to a grinding halt on some roadways as hundreds of trucks and SUVs headed into the District and police and transportation officials blocked exit ramps to limit access to the downtown area.

Backups could be seen at about 4 p.m. along I-695 near the exits for the U.S. Capitol, as well as on the 14th Street Bridge and I-395.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/trucker-convoy-causing-traffic-delays-in-dc-area/2998920/

March 14, 2022

Making Trumper heads explode: Putin OKs online voting

Putin signs law to allow online voting at elections across Russia

March 14 (Reuters) - An online voting system that was criticised by some defeated candidates at parliamentary elections last year will be rolled out for use across Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed electronic voting procedures into law on Monday.

A coalition of defeated parliamentary candidates in Moscow claimed they were cheated of victory in a parliamentary election last September by the system and sought to try to overturn the results via lawsuits and public pressure.

Then only used in some regions, the system can now be used at elections and referendums across Russia at a national and regional level, after an online government portal showed Putin had signed the law, which had already passed through parliament.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-signs-law-allow-online-voting-elections-across-russia-2022-03-14/?utm_source=reddit.com

There's going to be only one choice: DA

March 13, 2022

Moscow accused of phosphorus gas attacks in Donbas

AFP 13 Mar, 2022 via Business Recorder

KYIV: A senior Ukrainian police officer has accused Russian forces of launching phosphorus bomb attacks in the eastern region of Lugansk.

International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus shells in heavily populated civilian areas, but allows them in open spaces to be used as cover for troops.

Oleksi Biloshytsky, head of police in Popasna, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Lugansk city, said late Saturday that Russian forces had used the chemical weapon in his area.

"It's what the Nazis called a 'flaming onion' and that's what the Russcists (amalgamation of 'Russians' and 'fascists') are dropping on our towns. Indescribable suffering and fires," he wrote on Facebook.

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40160454/moscow-accused-of-phosphorus-gas-attacks-in-donbas

March 13, 2022

Russia Captures Second Ukrainian Mayor, Yevhen Matveyev: Ukraine

Newsweek

Russian forces have captured the Ukrainian Mayor of Dniprorudne, Matveev Sergeevich, according to Ukrainian leaders.

Governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Olexandr Starukh, announced the capture on his Facebook page on Sunday morning.

"Military crimes are becoming systematic. The mayor of Dniproudnogo Matveev Sergeevich was abducted," he said in the post according to a Google translation.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Russian forces of a "turn to terror."

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-captures-ukraine-mayor-yevhen-matveyev-kidnap-war-1687519

https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1502945209159761923?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1502945209159761923%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2Ftd8xev%3Fresponsive%3Dtrueis_nightmode%3Dfalse

March 13, 2022

Reports: Russians shoot American journalists in Irpin

https://twitter.com/helenbmB1/status/1502994934827302916

Kyiv Independent

According to Andriy Nebytov, the head of the Kyiv Oblast police, video journalist Brent Renaud was killed on March 13 in Irpin, a satellite city outside of Kyiv that has been a hot spot of Russia’s war. Two other journalists were wounded in Irpin and hospitalized.

https://kyivindependent.com/tag/russias-war/

CNN

Kyiv region police say American journalist killed by Russian forces in Irpin

From CNN's Clarissa Ward in Kyiv and Mick Krever in Poland

Kyiv region police said that an American journalist was killed by Russian forces in Irpin, Ukraine, according to social media posts on Sunday. Kyiv police said another American journalist was wounded by Russian troops.

CNN has been unable to verify which media outlet the American journalists were working for in Ukraine. CNN has been unable to independently verify the death.

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-13-22/index.html


https://twitter.com/ertytoro/status/1502989254238035970?s=20&t=84Owyn0BNm-8yUIcHkysvA

March 9, 2022

Ukraine: Russia claims Ukrainians planning chemical weapons attack

https://twitter.com/StacyCFS/status/1501623555779436551

March 9, 2022

Russian Agent Maria Butina Claims Ukrainians Are Bombing Themselves

Rolling Stone
Ryan Bort
March 9, 2022

Maria Butina, the Russia agent who infiltrated the National Rifle Association and charmed several Republican figures before landing an 18-month prison sentence, has emerged as one of Vladimir Putin’s most vocal advocates as Russian forces continue to wreak havoc on Ukraine and its people. In fact, Butina is so deep in Putin’s propaganda hole that she’s suggesting it’s Ukraine itself, not Russia, laying waste to Ukraine.

“We have tons of evidence that the Russia army does not touch, does not bomb civilian populations,” she told BBC Radio’s Nick Robinson on Wednesday.

The remark came at the end of a tense exchange in which Robinson pressed Butina on whether she believed Ukraine has been bombing itself. “I want to seriously see the evidence that these are Russians,” Butina said before touting Russia’s plan to create “humanitarian corridors” to evacuate people from Ukrainian cities under attack. The corridors, however, lead into Russia and Belarus. “They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky told Reuters.

“Are you suggesting that the shells that are flattening Ukrainian cities are being fired by Ukrainians?” Robinson asked again.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/maria-butina-russian-agent-says-ukraine-bombing-itself-1318782/


ALSO THIS:

https://twitter.com/VALERIEinNYT/status/1498355979829891072