Weather Report: Hurricane Ian hit the western end of Cuba today as a Category 3 with winds of 125 mph on its way to Florida, where evacuations have already begun and people are busily filling sandbags. Governor Ron DeSantis has declared an emergency for the entire state.

  In Cuba, tides could be 9 to 14 feet above normal. The surge is predicted to be slightly less in Florida, but parts of Tampa Bay can expect water 5 to 10 feet above normal.  By tomorrow, the storm could be a Category 4 with winds up to 156 mph. 

  Right now, Ian is tracking to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area in the early morning hours of Thursday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have moved football operations to Miami for the week. No word on whether Gisele Bündchen will follow.

The War Zone: Russia is wrapping up the voting today in occupied areas of Ukraine and is expected to make a quick announcement of annexation. The US has vowed not to recognize the results and is withholding official reaction until the results are announced.

  In the wake of a recruitment office shooting by a man angry over the conscription of untrained draftees, the Kremlin admitted that there have been mistakes.

   But spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov blamed local authorities. “There are cases when the decree is violated — in some regions governors are actively working to correct the situation,” he told reporters on a daily phone call. Peskov said, “These cases of noncompliance with the required criteria are being eliminated, and we hope that the rate of elimination will increase, and all errors will be corrected.”

  In mounting protests and violence, one man burned down a recruiting station with Molotov cocktails, and satellite images have captured a 10-mile line of cars waiting to get to the border with Georgia, flooding the border station with young men. 

  The Institute for the Study of War says, “The forces generated by this ‘partial mobilization,’ critically, are very unlikely to add substantially to the Russian military’s net combat power in 2022.” They say, “Putin will have to fix basic flaws in the Russian military personnel and equipment systems if mobilization is to have any significant impact even in the longer term.” 

Text Me: In late-December 2020, President Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows was in direct contact with a man trying to get access to voting machines in Arizona and Georgia with the purpose of overturning the results, CNN reports. 

  Phil Waldron, an early proponent of various election conspiracy theories, texted Meadows referring to Arizona as “our lead domino we were counting on to start the cascade.”

  A judge had just dismissed a lawsuit that demanded to have election officials turn over voting machines and other election equipment to election deniers supporting Trump’s claims of massive fraud. On hearing the news, Meadows responded to Waldron, “pathetic.”

  Waldron, a retired Army colonel, has been claiming for years that election machines are vulnerable to foreign hacking. Waldron helped draft an executive order directing the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to seize voting machines on behalf of the White House, but Trump never signed it.

Hijab Revolution: At least 41 people are reported to have been killed during continuing protests in Iran over the death of a young woman who died in custody after being arrested for not wearing the required head covering. 

  Women have removed and burned their hijabs in the street while crowds chant, “Woman, life, freedom!”.

  It’s not just about the hijab. Iranians are frustrated by a crippled economy, official corruption, as well as repression and social restrictions imposed by elderly clerics. 

Debt Ridden: President Biden’s decision to cancel student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans will cost roughly $400 billion, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO also found that the White House plan to temporarily extend a pause on loan payments would cost roughly $20 billion.

  The estimate feeds the exasperation of Republican legislators who say the loan forgiveness is wasteful. 

The Spin Rack: Former US security contractor Edward Snowden, who admitted leaking secret information to the press, has been granted Russian citizenship. Facing charges of espionage and a possible 30 years in prison, Snowden fled to Russia in 2013. — Cuba has voted to legalize same sex marriage. — The British pound hit an all-time low against the US dollar yesterday following the new government’s sweeping tax cuts to boost growth. The pound was just $1.08 in value. In 1981 it was $2.40. 

Pass Intercepted: Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre is one of several people under investigation for pressuring then Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant to divert millions of dollars in federal welfare funds to a volleyball center at Favre’s daughter’s university where she was a player. In one text released in a court filing, Favre tells Bryant,  “We are not taking No for an answer!” and  “You are a Southern Miss Alumni, and folks need to know you are also a supporter of the University.” 

  Favre suggested in a text that the facility at the University of Southern Mississippi’s main campus in Hattiesburg could be named after Bryant. “We are going to get there,” the Republican Bryant, replied. “But we have to follow the law. I am to(o) old for Federal Prison (smiley face, sunglasses emoji).”

  Bryant has denied having any knowledge  of the plan to divert welfare money. 

On Target: NASA last night successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a test of a planetary defense system. The projectile was equipped with a camera that showed the looming image of the gray pockmarked asteroid as the spacecraft approached. You could hear the rising excitement in mission control and the cheers breaking out as the video went blank, indicating a successful hit.

  The project is testing a way to divert a rogue asteroid that could seriously damage or even destroy Earth. The movie has already been made starring Bruce Willis.

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