The War Zone: Russian forces failed to occupy Ukraine and now trying to make it unlivable. With winter coming and Russia attacking water and power facilities, millions of Ukrainians face difficult months ahead.

  Now using Iranian made explosive drones, Russia has taken the fight deep into the interior of Ukraine even while losing at the front. In just over a week, Russia has knocked out electricity for a third of Ukraine while also busting water facilities.

  The NY Times reports that Iran has sent trainers to a Russian base in Crimea to help their military learn to use the drones more effectively. The Russian use of drones is evidence that international sanctions have crippled their arms industry, but the result seems to be that the war has been ratcheted up with another country’s weapons.

  NATO is expected to give Ukraine anti-drone systems within a few days.

  Meanwhile, the Russians are evacuating the city of Kerson in anticipation of it becoming a battle front. Ukrainian citizens living there are being taken into Russia. 

  The US has given Ukraine $17 billion worth of aid so far for the war effort, but that might end if Republicans take over Congress. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Punchbowl News, “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it.”

Promises, Promises: Campaigning to stop the Republican Party from taking over the House and Senate in the mid-term elections, President Biden is telling voters that if the Democrats hold control, he will make legal abortion the law of the land. 

  “We’re only 22 days away from the most consequential moment in our history in my view, in recent history at least — an election where the choice and the stakes are crystal clear, especially when it comes to the right to choose,” Biden said yesterday at a Democratic event in Washington.

  Democrats would need a 60-member majority in the Senate to overcome the filibuster for an abortion bill, and that’s not going to happen. They would need to abolish the filibuster, which they can do with a one-vote majority. And right now there are two Democrats — Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema — who say they are against ending the filibuster.

  Nate Silver writes for the FiveThirtyEight blog that “the GOP now has a 34 percent chance of recapturing the Senate. That’s up from a low of 29 percent in mid-September.” But, he says, the betting markets have the race nearly even, “with Republicans having a 49 percent chance of Senate control. That’s up from a low of 33 percent in late August.” 

Bracketology: The IRS announced adjustments to tax brackets to account for inflation. The base amount of income that filers make tax free will increase to $13,850 for singles and $27,700 for married couples.

  For the rich, the bracket creep is 7 percent.

  The top tax rate of 37 percent will be levied on individuals with income over $578,125 and married couples filing jointly making more than $693,750. 

Justice Delayed: California Polytechnic student Kristen Smart went missing over Memorial Day weekend in 1996 and her body has never been found. It was an infamous missing persons case.

  But yesterday, 45-year-old Paul Flores, who was a fellow student at the time and the last man seen with Smart, was convicted of her murder.

  Prosecutors presented a case arguing Flores killed the 19-year-old during an attempted rape on May 25^th, 1996, in his dorm room at Cal Poly, where both were first-year students. Flores had been seen walking  Smart home from an off-campus party where she had gotten drunk.

  Flores’s father, now 81, was accused of helping bury Smart behind his home in the nearby town of Arroyo Grande, then later digging up the body and moving it to a location still unknown. He was found not guilty.

Here It Comes: An early winter storm brought 18 inches of snow and waves up to 15 feet in the upper Great Lakes region of the Michigan Peninsula. Winds hit 60 mph.

Hungry Bacteria: Three weeks after Hurricane Ian flooded coastal Florida, 64 people have been infected with flesh-eating bacteria, and 11 have died. Vibrio vulnificus, the flesh-eating bacteria of the Gulf Coast, thrives in warm salty water.

  The bacteria invade an open wound and rapidly kill the surrounding flesh. Surgery is often required, sometimes even amputations.

The Spin Rack: Stocks rose yesterday on news of healthy corporate earnings. The S&P 500 was up 1.1 percent over Monday’s  2.7 percent gain. — Some scientists have found that hair straighteners and chemical relaxers have created an increased risk of cancer, particularly uterine cancer. — Igor Danchenko, a private researcher who was a primary source in 2016 for the so-called “Steele Dossier” of allegations about former president Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, was found not  guilty of lying to the FBI about where he got his information. — Trying to stall the again-rising price of gasoline, President Biden announced he’s releasing another 15 million barrels of oil from the strategic oil reserve. The reserve holds about 400 million barrels. — The man accused of being the Stockton, California serial killer has been charged with three murders. Police have said that as many as six fatal shootings may have been carried out by the same man and other charges could follow. — Inflation in Britain has hit 10.1 percent. — Billionaire philanthropist McKenzie Scott gave the Girl Scouts $85 million.

Below the Fold: The US Mint will begin shipping quarters featuring actress Anna May Wong, the first US currency to feature an Asian American. Wong, who died in 1961, is described as Hollywood’s first Asian star, who broke through during the times of “yellowface” when white actors in makeup played Asian parts.  

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