The Full Belmonte, 1/30/2022
“Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s possible retirement created a frenzy Saturday, when ESPN first reported that the seven-time Super Bowl champion is planning to retire after 22 seasons.
NFL Network confirmed ESPN’s story , and a league source also confirmed the report to the Globe. Around the same time, TB12, Brady’s performance and wellness brand, posted a tweet congratulating him on a storied career.
But by midafternoon, the story took a turn, when Don Yee, Brady’s longtime agent, issued a carefully-worded statement that seemed to cast doubt on the star’s retirement without actually refuting the news.
‘I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future,’ Yee said. ‘Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.’” Read more at Boston Globe
Snow fills up a Target parking lot in North Quincy, Mass. (David Degner for The Washington Post)
“A powerful blizzard unleashed driving snow and punishing winds as it moved up the Northeast coast on Saturday, crippling transportation and leaving more than 100,000 people without power.
The nor’easter brought dangerous whiteout conditions to at least six states — Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Parts of southeastern Massachusetts received as much as 30 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. In Boston, nearly 2 feet of snow fell, according to NPS, tying the city’s one-day record.
On Cape Cod, where winds gusted above 75 mph, thousands lost electricity and heat as the storm howled and frigid water flooded streets.
Transportation ground to a halt across a swath of the Northeast. At least 4,500 flights were canceled nationwide and Amtrak suspended train service between New York and Boston. Rhode Island issued a blanket ban on vehicle traffic until just before midnight, with exceptions for public safety and health care.
Photos: Nor'easter slams East Coast with extreme snow and wind
Fearing a storm of historic proportions, governors in the region pleaded with residents to stay home to avoid potentially life-threatening conditions on roads. A blizzard, unlike a winter storm, is marked by at least three hours of high winds and blowing snow that severely reduces visibility.” Read more at Washington Post
“The White House on Saturday issued a forceful rebuke to a U.S. senator from Mississippi who said President Biden’s promise to pick a Black woman for the Supreme Court would ensure that the nominee is a ‘beneficiary’ of affirmative action.
The comments from Republican Sen. Roger Wicker came Friday during a wide-ranging radio interview, in which he bemoaned the ‘left-wing judge’ that Biden is likely to nominate to replace retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer. Asked by host Paul Gallo on SuperTalk Mississippi Radio about Biden’s vow to nominate a Black woman, Wicker acknowledged the president was fulfilling a campaign promise.
‘The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very same time hearing casesabout this sort of affirmative racial discrimination, while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota,’ Wicker said, in comments first reported by the Mississippi Free Press.
‘The majority of the court may be saying writ large that it’s unconstitutional. We’ll see how that irony works out,’ he said, adding that whoever Biden nominates ‘will probably not get a single Republican vote.’
University admission policies on race face Supreme Court review
On Saturday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement that Biden’s promise to elevate a Black woman to the highest U.S. court ‘is in line with the best traditions of both parties and our nation.’
Bates noted that Ronald Reagan had pledged during his presidential campaign to send the first woman to the court, saying that it ‘symbolized’ the American ideal that ‘permits persons of any sex, age, or race, from every section and every walk of life to aspire and achieve in a manner never before even dreamed about in human history.’
Reagan selected Sandra Day O’Connor for a vacancy in 1981. She served on the Supreme Court until 2006.
“While I’ve been studying candidates’ backgrounds and writings, I’ve made no decisions except one: The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity, and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court,” Biden said Thursday at an event marking Breyer’s retirement. ‘It’s long overdue, in my view.’
The White House said Saturday that Biden has established a strong track record in dozens of judicial appointments, choosing “extraordinarily qualified and groundbreaking nominees.”
Biden plans rapid Supreme Court push as Breyer announces departure
Bates noted that when President Donald Trump lived up to his promise to pick a woman for the Supreme Court by nominating Amy Coney Barrett in 2020, Wicker backed her selection and said he hoped she would be “an inspiration” to his five granddaughters.” Read more at Washington Post
“A second version of the omicron variant is putting scientists on alert. Officially called omicron BA.2, the new omicron sibling could be more contagious than the original. Here’s what we know so far.
Free N95 masks are arriving at pharmacies and grocery stores,courtesy of the Biden administration. Here’s how to get yours.
Home COVID tests seem to be less accurate in detecting the omicron variant. One possible reason: Omicron might be showing up first in the mouth and throat, while at-home rapid tests require a nose swab.” Read more at NPR
Former president Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a ‘Save America’ rally in Conroe, Tex., on Jan. 29, 2022. (Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images)
“CONROE, Texas — Former president Donald Trump suggested Saturday night he will pardon the rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol if he is elected president in 2024.
Trump, who has teased but not confirmed another run for president, has repeatedly criticized the prosecution of individuals who violently stormed the Capitol to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president. But his comments at a Texas rally on Saturday marked the first time he dangled pardons, an escalation of his broader effort to downplay the deadly events of Jan. 6.
Some of those involved in the riot held out hope for a Trump pardon before he left office 14 days later, but none were granted.
‘If I run and I win, we will treat those people from January 6 fairly,’ he said near the end of a lengthy campaign rally in Conroe, a city about 40 miles north of Houston. ‘We will treat them fairly, and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.’
Authorities have arrested and charged more than 700 people in connection with a sprawling investigation into the insurrection. Earlier this month, the Justice Department charged Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers group, and 10 other members or associates of the group with seditious conspiracy, the most serious charges levied as part of the department’s investigation.
Trump also bashed the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, as he continued to spread baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him.” Read more at Washington Post
“Just a few years ago, snazzy restaurant perks included a shift drink at the evening’s end and maybe a crack at the rib-eye declared “definitely not medium-rare” by a diner. No retirement benefits, health plans or team-building retreats.
The Great Resignation is upgrading restaurant industry benefits and perks.
Restaurant owners are offering shorter workweeks, life insurance, mental health services, college tuition and more paths to career advancement. They are giving out free Spotify subscriptions, adding nursing stations for lactating employees, and promising signing bonuses and free food to anyone off the street who fills out an application….
While there has always been high turnover in the industry, restaurants in particular have been ravaged by some of the largest numbers of employees quitting in the Great Resignation sweeping the labor force in recent months….
In 2021, restaurant jobs advertised on ZipRecruiter only received about 18 applicants on average, down from 61 back in 2019, said ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak. Now, restaurant manager and cook job ads getaround 40 percent fewer applications than the industry-wide average, she said. With restaurant employers competing for far fewer applicants, new enticements have become common, she added.
In response, 84 percent of restaurants reported raising wages, according to the National Restaurant Association, with hospitality industry workers now earning an average of $19.57 per hour, a 13 percent increase from a year ago, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Still, restaurant workers are restive, switching jobs, leaving the industry, and demanding compensation and perks that would have been inconceivable two years ago.
Sweetgreen now offers health, dental and vision benefits, even for part-time employees, as well as five months paid parental leave. Gusto 54 Restaurant Group advertises health insurance and wellness benefits. Fanny’s Restaurant in Los Angeles has disability and life insurance, pet insurance and identity theft protection for employees.
Some Chick-fil-A operators are now offering average wages of $19 per hour, said spokeswoman Jackie Jags, in many cases a jump from around $15 an hour before the pandemic. Some have added other perks. Justin Lindsey, a store owner in Kendall, Fla., has started offering three-day workweeks to help employees with work-life balance. Over the holidays, an owner in Robinson, Pa., gifted employees with Steelers tickets, a month of rent or mortgage payments, big-screen televisions and even a new car.
Lisa Dribben, who owns six McDonald’s restaurants in the Dallas suburbs, has hired and lost hundreds of workers over the past two years. During the holidays, she gave her hourly managers jackets and other McDonald’s branded clothing as well as bonuses. In addition to employee meals, her workers have gotten $20 each week to spend on food to take home to their families during the pandemic. Workers who get sick with covid-19 get a bag of groceries delivered to their homes. She now provides reviews and raises every six months.
Yet there have been times she doesn’t have enough people, so she’ll close the lobby, put up a sign that says, ‘we will reopen shortly,’ and focus on drive-through only.
Many restaurants are adding benefits not traditionally offered in the industry. According to a recent survey of 1,200 restaurants by the Independent Restaurant Coalition, nearly 40 percent have added paid sick leave for the first time, and more than 20 percent have added paid vacation during the pandemic.
The Big Quit has spurred companies like Brinker International, which owns Chili’s and Maggiano’s, to execute ‘a full-court press to hire, train and retain our talent,’ said Rick Badgley, an executive vice president for the restaurant group.
This means giving out raises and retention bonuses. But they are also experimenting with a program in one region to offer prepaid child care to employees for a $10-per-day co-pay, while expanding another program to help workers earn high school equivalency degrees and associate degrees, even if they are part-time employees.
Benefits more commonly seen in professional jobs, such as signing bonuses, referral bonuses and retention bonuses for employees who stay are also becoming more common at restaurants. Before the pandemic, only 2 percent of industry jobs were advertised with a signing bonus. Now, it’s 12 percent, said Pollak of ZipRecruiter.
While some incentives are about on-the-job perks, others reward applications. Many quick-service chains are offering $50 to interview, said Jean Chick, restaurant and food service leader for consulting firm Deloitte, and restaurants like Applebee’s incentivize prospective applicants to come in with the promise of free appetizers.
Some restaurants may not survive the renewed mask mandates
Employee dissatisfaction can be seen in fast-food chains as well as white-tablecloth restaurants, said Anne McBride, vice president of programs for the James Beard Foundation. The nonprofit culinary organization surveyed its network of chefs and restaurant owners, discovering that signing bonuses and higher salaries alone won’t fix the problems.
McBride said workers expressed dissatisfaction with the industry because of low wages and lack of benefits and retirement planning. But they also spoke of the industry’s lag in skills training and clear professional progression, as well as grueling work schedules of nights, weekends and holidays, and stressful environments with increasingly testy customers.” Read more at Washington Post
Ramon Alexander.TORI LYNN SCHNEIDER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“The anger had been building inside Democratic Florida Rep. Ramon Alexander for more than a year as he sat alongside his Republican colleagues in the Florida legislature.
Alexander, one of the state's highest-ranking Black legislators, watched as the state GOP responded to Black Lives Matter protests by making it easier to charge some demonstrators with felony charges. He watched Republicans impose new restrictions on voting by mail over the objection of Democrats. And he watched some GOP lawmakers downplay the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which Alexander considers a violent effort to disenfranchise Black voters.
Last week, as a GOP-sponsored bill banning critical race theory in Florida schools and workplaces worked its way through the Florida House, Alexander spoke out, delivering an emotional speech about the toll of debating this legislation as a Black American.
‘I don't want to do this, but I don't think you can handle the truth,’ Alexander said, while asking whether the legislation would curtail how Florida students are taught about slavery.
‘I do not like having conversations like this. It eats me up on the inside because I know there is some admirable, good people over there,’ Alexander continued. ‘I am an American, and my voice matters just as much as your voice. My opinion matters just as much as your opinion. My reality matters just as much as your reality.’
Even as the chair repeatedly tried to cut him off, Alexander continued on for eight minutes, speaking about the impact of this bill on people of color. The measure was ultimately voted out of committee 14 to 7, along party lines. It will be considered by the Florida House in coming weeks.
Since Wednesday, the clip of Alexander’s remarks has been viewed thousands of times on social media, elevating the voice of a Black Floridian in a school curriculum debate often been dominated by the concerns of White, conservative parents.
In an interview Friday, Alexander said he hadn’t planned to speak as the House Judiciary Committee took up the so-called “Stop Woke Act.” He changed his mind, he said, when he heard one of his GOP colleagues attempt to downplay the role that race played in the debate.
"I ran for the Florida legislature to deal with real issues, and to have a seat at the table to address them in a responsible way," said Alexander, who represents Gadsden County and part of Leon County in the Florida panhandle. ‘I think a lot of my frustrations have built up over the years where it's not about addressing those issues and improving quality of life, it's about campaign rhetoric and feeding false narratives a [Republican] base that continues to divide our country.’
Republicans have argued that the measure is necessary to empower parents. ‘We won't allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement. ‘We also have a responsibility to ensure that parents have the means to vindicate their rights when it comes to enforcing state standards. Finally, we must protect Florida workers against the hostile work environment that is created when large corporations force their employees to endure CRT-inspired 'training' and indoctrination.’
But Alexander criticized the Republican party's focus on divisive issues. ‘People are struggling. They are living paycheck to paycheck,’ he said in his speech. ‘Instead of addressing systemic poverty, instead of addressing all these issues that impact people's quality of life, we are using these distraction tools.’
With the Florida Democratic Party hobbled by a string of electoral losses over the past 20 years, Alexander's speech could also represent a breakthrough moment for him in a party seeking its next generation of leaders.
Alexander, 37, was born in Tallahassee and attended Florida A&M University, a historically Black college. He is a fifth generation Floridian who is the descendant of enslaved people.
After college, he worked as a community and external affairs aide to former Democratic Tallahassee mayor John Marks.
In 2012, Alexander worked on voter turnout among African-American and Caribbean residents during President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. He was elected to the Florida House in 2016, where he represents Florida's only majority Black county, Gadsden. Three years later, Democratic leaders appointed Alexander as caucus whip.
In May, amid broad support from both the moderate and liberal wings of the Democratic caucus, Democrats elected him to be the next House minority leader, starting in next year's 2023 session.
Besides shepherding the party's legislative agenda, Alexander will be tasked with trying to elect more Democrats to the Florida House, where Republicans hold a 78 to 42 majority.
To accomplish that, Alexander said he wants more Democrats to do what he just did in the Judiciary Committee - speak passionately about the party’s priorities. ‘We have to push back on these false narratives and help people wake up to see we have more in common than we have that separates us,’ he said.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Nebraska lawmakers kicked off the new year by introducing a bill to ban all abortions if the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision is overturned. The next day, Florida legislators announced their plan to narrow the window for abortion access from 24 weeks of pregnancy to 15. And later that week in Phoenix, state legislators unveiled the Arizona Heartbeat Act, designed to mimic a Texas law passed last year.
With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to decide in the coming months whether to upend its nearly 50-year precedent that established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide, lawmakers in Republican-led states across the country have moved aggressively in recent weeks to lay the groundwork for a new era of abortion restrictions.
While it’s possible that the high court either will overturn Roe or leave the precedent fully intact, many legal scholars and advocates on both sides anticipate the justices will land somewhere in the middle, instantly changing the standard for abortion legislation. Antiabortion lawmakers are trying to predict what the Supreme Court might do as they craft laws designed to take effect soon after a ruling, whatever the justices decide.” Read more at Washington Post
“The White House on Friday confirmed that President Biden is considering a South Carolina federal judge and favorite of House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) as a potential candidate for the Supreme Court.
The statement is the first time the White House has publicly confirmed a name under consideration to replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who announced this week that he would retire after the end of the current court term.
At the same time, the White House indicated that Judge J. Michelle Childs is one of several people under consideration by the president, who has pledged to live up to his campaign promise of nominating the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Childs is a South Carolina judge who in December was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, considered the second-most influential court in the country and often a steppingstone to the Supreme Court.” Read more at Washington Post
“WASHINGTON — The most punishing sanctions that U.S. officials have threatened to impose on Russia could cause severe inflation, a stock market crash and other forms of financial panic that would inflict pain on its people — from billionaires to government officials to middle-class families.
U.S. officials vow to unleash searing economic measures if Russia invades Ukraine, including sanctions on its largest banks and financial institutions, in ways that would inevitably affect daily life in Russia.
But the strategy comes with political and economic risks. No nation has ever tried to enact broad sanctions against such large financial institutions and on an economy the size of Russia’s. And the ‘swift and severe’ response that U.S. officials have promised could roil major economies, particularly those in Europe, and even threaten the stability of the global financial system, analysts say.
Some analysts also warn of a potential escalatory spiral. Russia might retaliate against an economic gut punch by cutting off natural gas shipments to Europe or by mounting cyberattacks against American and European infrastructure.
The pain caused by the sanctions could foment popular anger against Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. But history shows that the country does not capitulate easily, and resilience is an important part of its national identity. U.S. officials are also sensitive to the notion that they could be viewed as punishing the Russian people — a perception that might fuel anti-Americanism and Mr. Putin’s narrative that his country is being persecuted by the West.
From Cuba to North Korea to Iran, U.S. sanctions have a mixed record at best of forcing a change in behavior. And while the Biden administration and its European allies are trying to deter Mr. Putin with tough talk, some experts question whether they would follow through on the most drastic economic measures if Russian troops breached the border and moved toward Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
President Biden has said he will not send American troops to defend Ukraine. Instead, U.S. officials are trying to devise a sanctions response that would land a damaging blow against Russia while limiting the economic shock waves around the world — including in the United States. Officials say that for now, the Biden administration does not plan to target Russia’s enormous oil and gas export industry; doing so could drive up gasoline prices for Americans already grappling with inflation and create a schism with European allies.
But many experts on sanctions believe that the boldest sanctions against Russia’s financial industry, if enacted, could take a meaningful toll.
‘If the Biden administration follows through on its threat to sanction major Russian banks, that will reverberate across the entire Russian economy,’ said Edward Fishman, who served as the top official for Russia and Europe in the State Department’s Office of Economic Sanctions Policy and Implementation during the Obama administration. ‘It will definitely affect everyday Russians.’” Read more at New York Times
“Britain said Saturday it is preparing to send extra land, air and sea forces to Eastern Europe to support NATO allies as Russia masses tens of thousands of troops on its border with Ukraine in a build-up that has raised fears of a full-scale invasion.
The planned British deployment comes as the United States and its allies debate the likelihood and timing of any such strike. Officials in Washington and London have warned an invasion is imminent, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not convinced, calling the military buildup at the border an act of ‘psychological pressure.’
U.S. allies including France, Germany and Norway remain hopeful that some kind of diplomatic compromise can be reached.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday that deploying more British forces to the region, including jets, warships and military specialists, would ‘send a clear message to the Kremlin — we will not tolerate their destabilizing activity, and we will always stand with our NATO allies in the face Russian hostility.’ Johnson is expected to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and will visit the region in coming days.” Read more at Washington Post
“The F.B.I. has arrested an American woman who federal prosecutors said had risen through the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria to become a battalion commander, training women and children to use assault rifles and suicide belts, the Justice Department disclosed on Saturday.
The woman, Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, a former teacher from Kansas, was charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. The circumstances of her capture in Syria were not immediately known, but the F.B.I. flew her to Virginia on Friday to face prosecution.
Prosecutors described Ms. Fluke-Ekren as playing an unusually outsized role in the Islamic State as a woman and an American. Charges against American women involved with the Islamic State have been rare.
Ms. Fluke-Ekren was smuggled into Syria in 2012 from Libya, court documents said. She traveled to the country, according to one witness, because she wanted to wage ‘violent jihad,’ Raj Parekh, a federal prosecutor, wrote in a detention memo that was made public on Saturday.” Read more at New York Times
“WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said late Saturday she is self-isolating after coming into close contact with a person infected with the coronavirus.
The exposure came on a flight from the town of Kerikeri to the largest city of Auckland. New Zealand’s Governor-General Cindy Kiro was also on the Jan. 22 flight and has also gone into isolation.
Both women had been in the Northland region to do some filming ahead of New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day, on Feb. 6.
‘The Prime Minister is asymptomatic and is feeling well,’ her office said in a statement. ‘In line with Ministry of Health advice she will be tested immediately tomorrow and will isolate until Tuesday.’
Health officials listed a dozen flights as exposure events late Saturday, a possible indication that one or more of the flight crew was infected.
Officials said genome sequencing would be completed Sunday and was expected to show the infected person had the omicron variant.” Read more at AP News
Rafael Nadal has 20 Grand Slam titles.James Ross/EPA, via Shutterstock
“Rafael Nadal is vying for this 21st Grand Slam title this morning at the Australian Open, where he is playing Daniil Medvedev in the championship match.
Sunday’s duel is a rematch of the 2019 U.S. Open final, which Nadal won in five grueling sets over nearly five hours after Medvedev rallied from a two-set deficit. Nadal, 35, came back from a foot injury last year and is trying to surpass his longtime rivals, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who have 20 Grand Slam titles a piece.” Read more at New York Times
Virginia Andrews in hospital when a young woman. Photograph: Courtesy of the VC Andrews estate
“When VC Andrews’s debut novel, Flowers in the Attic, was published in 1979, it was not well received by all critics: one described it as ‘possibly the worst book I have ever read.’
However, her gothic horror-romance about four children who are locked in an attic for three years by their beautiful, conniving mother – who seems loving but actually starves and poisons them – went on to sell more than 40 million copies, was on the New York Times bestseller list for 14 weeks and is still in print more than 40 years later.
Now, startling parallels between the lives of the children imprisoned in the attic and Virginia Andrews’s own life as a severely disabled woman are to be laid bare for the first time in a forthcoming biography, The Woman Beyond the Attic.
The book claims that when Andrews – who spent most of her adult life housebound in a wheelchair – was disobedient, her ‘controlling’ mother would imprison her in her bedroom and deprive her of a meal as a punishment.
‘Her mother would lock her in her room and not give her dinner, if she got angry at her,’ said Andrew Neiderman, author of the new biography, which will be published on Thursday. ‘She controlled who Virginia could see, what she could do and punished her for not doing what she wanted.’
Andrews suffered from rheumatoid arthritis but lived a relatively independent life before a surgical treatment in her late teens left her unable to walk and move her neck without pain. By the time Flowers in the Attic was published, Andrews was 56 and had been dependent on her mother, Lillian, for decades.
‘She was trapped,’ said Neiderman. Like the children in Flowers in the Attic, ‘her mother kept her under lock and key. Firstly, because she was ashamed of her for being disabled, and secondly, because she couldn’t handle it [Andrews’s disability].’” Read more at The Guardian
Nebraska Cornhuskers mascot Herbie Husker at a game in 2015.
(CNN) “The University of Nebraska has changed its mascot's hand gesture after more than 47 years, the university said, after the traditional one became associated with racist groups.
The Herbie Husker mascot changed from making what appears to be an ‘OK’ hand gesture with his thumb and forefinger forming an O, to one with his index finger raised in a ‘number one’ gesture.
The ‘OK’ hand symbol is listed on the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) website as having been co-opted as a ‘racist’ hand sign.
‘The concern about the hand gesture was brought to our attention by our apparel provider and others, and we decided to move forward with a revised Herbie Husker logo,’ Nebraska Athletics said in an email to CNN.” Read more at CNN
“Higher and higher
The outdoors is for everyone, and one all-Black climbing group is making sure that includes the highest heights as well. Members of Full Circle have scaled Denali, Mount Kilimanjaro and other legendary peaks. Now, they're preparing to take on Everest, the tallest of them all. Here's a breathtaking fact: of the roughly 4,000 people who have summited Mount Everest, only eight of them have been Black. That means, if the nine-person Full Circle team is successful, that number will automatically double. But there's a lot more at play here than blazing a high-altitude trail. The climbers also want to increase the visibility of mountaineers of color and the local people of Tibet who know the mountain better than anyone. For instance, early Everest climbers were lauded for their feats, but what about the hard-working Sherpas who were the first to reach the top and made those expeditions possible? When they're not practically reaching for the moon, Full Circle members like founder Phil Henderson are teaching outdoor skills, operating their own climbing gyms, or just enjoying the beauty and challenges of nature.” Read more at CNN
Photo credit: Mathias Falcone
A spritely old fellow
Next time you catch yourself thinking, ‘Darn, I'm old,’ just remember that you are still far younger than Jonathan, the oldest tortoise in the world. With 190 years under the shell, Jonathan has witnessed the rise and fall of empires. He's lived through the invention of photography, the lightbulb, the automobile, and, of course, the internet -- all while munching away on cabbage and sparing nary a thought to the rapidly changing world around him. Jonathan lives on St. Helena, a remote island territory in the South Atlantic, and has even been spotted in photographs dating back to the 1880s! He may be getting up in age even for a tortoise, but he still enjoys the finer things in life: sunbathing, fresh produce, and bisexual mating sessions with his tortoise friends, Emma and Fred. Well, well! The golden years, indeed.” Read more at CNN
Photo credit: Duncan Hines
“Eat up, y'all!
Dolly Parton is releasing a new line of cake mixes and frostings with Duncan Hines, and I'm livid about it. Why? Because now I'll be craving banana pudding cake for weeks! The mixes are inspired by Parton's favorite recipes, which include the aforementioned banana cake mix, coconut cake mix (a Southern must-have, of course) and two frostings. ‘I have always loved to cook and, growing up in the South, I especially love that authentic Mom and Pop kind of cooking,’ Parton said in a release. Dolly, you're killing us! The mixes won't hit stores until March, and are already sold out online. Good luck getting your hands on some! But look on the bright side -- I bet she just inspired countless weekend baking sessions, no special mix required.” Read more at CNNA round of applause for...
Photo credit: The Doodle Boy
“Twelve-year-old Joe Whale, also known as ‘The Doodle Boy,’ who signed a deal with Nike for ‘some special projects.’ Joe's unique, lively style has earned him more than 119,000 Instagram followers and a solo show at a gallery in his hometown of Shrewsbury, central England. He also got a shout-out from Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, after he drew an illustration of their royal train tour in December 2020.” Read more at CNN