Boarded and Battered: Hurricane Ian, which is being described as a “once in a century storm,” is approaching the west coast of Florida with winds of up to 155 mph. It’s now a Category 4.

  Parts of Key West have already flooded and the storm surge on the coastal mainland is predicted to be up to 12 feet. Residents have been busy boarding up and sandbagging their homes.

  Governor Ron DeSantis called the hurricane “life threatening” and millions of Floridians were under an evacuation order. They’ve been told that if they stay and end up calling emergency services, no one is going to come. 

The War Zone: Russia announced as expected that the Ukrainian citizens of occupied areas voted enthusiastically for their territories to become part of Russia. Much of the voting was done with armed men accompanying the ballot collectors.

  Russia is expected to formally announce annexation of those areas, and claim that any Ukrainian attempts to take them back will be treated as an attack on Russian soil.

  In another development, several underwater explosions believed to be acts of sabotage have caused leaks in the Nordstream 1 pipeline that carries natural gas from Russia to Europe through the Baltic Sea. Russia is the prime suspect.

  The incident did not affect gas supplies because Russia had already shut the pipeline in retaliation for Europe’s support of Ukraine in the war. Nevertheless, the system operator reported “unprecedented” damage with leaks in three sections. 

  Images from the Danish military show a giant burst of bubbles on the sea’s surface.

  “We do not know the details of what happened yet, but we can clearly see that it is an act of sabotage,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters at the opening open the new Baltic Pipe undersea pipeline that will feed Norwegian natural gas to Poland and neighboring countries. The act “probably marks the next stage in the escalation of this situation in Ukraine,” Morawiecki said.

  Speaking by video link at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government,  Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky urged the West to do everything in its power to curb Russian aggression and, above all, deter the use of nuclear weapons. “Prevention is the basis for lasting peace — a measure to cut short any aggression, a measure to save many more lives than by reacting to something that already happened, and it will ensure a lasting peace,” Zelensky said.

Tough Business: Russian businessman Ivan Pechorin, the top manager for the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, was found mysteriously dead in Vladivostok, adding to the list of prominent and powerful Russian executives who have wound up suddenly dead in recent months. 

  Pechorin’s death is the 9^th of prominent Russian businessmen who have died by suicide or under suspicious circumstances since late January. Six were linked to the state-owned energy giant Gazprom or one of its subsidiaries, and two were with Lukoil, Russia’s largest privately owned oil and gas company.

  Earlier this year, Lukoil took a public stance against Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling for sympathy for the victims, and for the end of the conflict. In September, Lukoil’s chairman Ravil Maganov fell out the window of a hospital in Moscow.

Politics: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday that he supports a bill that would make it harder to overturn the results of an election as his party attempted to do after the 2020 vote.

  The bill would specify that the vice president has only a ceremonial role in counting and endorsing the electoral College vote. He said the “chaos” of the January 6^th insurrection last year “certainly underscored the need for an update.”

  On another matter, President Biden warned yesterday that, if they get the chance, Republicans would do away with Social Security and Medicare, an effort to steer the political conversation away from inflation and possible recession threats to the social safety net. 

  “What do you think they’re going to do?” Biden asked, speaking in the White House Rose garden. He held up a copy of the plan by Senator Rick Scott of Florida, that would allow Social Security and Medicare to “sunset” if Congress does not pass new legislation to extend them.

  The NY Times reports that a spokesman for Scott said the senator is fighting to protect Social Security and Medicare, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Scott’s proposal isn’t going anywhere.

  That doesn’t stop Biden from trying to change the subject of political discussion.

Trump World: Christopher Kise, the lawyer who got $3 million up front to represent Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago secret documents case, has been pushed aside, several news outlets report. The reason has not been publicly given. It’s possible Kise will work on other cases, but Trump has a history of losing lawyers because he won’t listen to their advice.

  Coming up Friday is a deadline for the former president’s lawyers to put up or shut up on Trump’s claim that the FBI planted evidence during the documents raid at Mar-a-Lago. 

Oath Kept: Kyle Young, 38, one of the January 6^th rioters who attacked DC police officer Michael Fanone, was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison. He is the first rioter to be sentenced for the group attack on Fanone, who was beaten and subjected to electric shock until he had a heart attack. Fanone said the incident cost him his career and said to Young yesterday in court, “I hope you suffer.”

The Spin Rack: The House January 6^th committee postponed the hearing scheduled for today because of the hurricane hitting Florida. — A judge has ordered disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti to pay $148,740 in restitution to porn star Stormy Daniels, after being found guilty of stealing nearly $300,000 from his former client. Daniels was paid off to be quiet about an affair with Donald Trump. 

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