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Joshua Rhett Miller

March 17, 2022 9:49am 

 Updated https://nypost.com/2022/03/17/cargo-ship-sinks-in-persian-gulf-off-iran/

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A massive cargo ship carrying cars sank in the Persian Gulf Thursday amid treacherous seas, authorities said.

The United Arab Emirates-flagged vessel, the Al Salmy 6, sank off Iran’s southern coast with 30 crew members aboard. Iranian rescue workers saved 16 of the crew and another 11 survivors got onto life rafts, Capt. Nizar Qaddoura of the Dubai-based Salem Al Makrani Cargo company said.

Another person was retrieved from the choppy seas by a nearby tanker, but two crew members were still in the sea, Qaddoura said. Rescue efforts were underway, but were hampered by bad weather.

The cargo ship, which is longer than a soccer field, capsized roughly 30 miles off the coast of Asaluyeh in Iran, according to its Ports & Maritime Organization.

Photos showed the ship, which departed Dubai days earlier, tilted dramatically onto its side at a precarious angle before becoming fully submerged. Its crew consists of nationals from Sudan, India, Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, Qaddoura said.

The US Navy’s 5^th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, did not immediately return a request for comment, the Associated Press reported.

Severe weather descended onto the Persian Gulf Wednesday — with wind gusts exceeding 40 mph and high seas. Iran’s Meteorological Organization issued a “red alert” earlier this week, warning of possible impact to maritime activities through Saturday.

With Post wires

Maria Jimenez Moya

USA TODAY

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/03/17/st-patrick-day-saint/7039195001/

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• St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 because that’s the day historians believed he died.
• The holiday wasn’t always the way we see it today. It was once a solemn time in Ireland where bars remained closed.
• Though credited with spreading Christianity in Ireland, St. Patrick didn’t really drive out the snakes from the island.

Who was Saint Patrick and why do we celebrate him? Saint Patrick is the protecting and guiding saint of Ireland. Ironically, he was not Irish. 

Saint Patrick went from being sold into slavery to being credited to bringing Christianity to Ireland, according to Elizabeth Stack, executive director for the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, New York.

“He had a dream that the Irish were crying for him that they needed him,” Stack said. “He returns to Ireland and brings Christianity with him. He is who made the Celts and the pagans into Christians.”

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17, the day he is assumed to have died. The holiday originally was tied to religious ideals but now is also a symbol of Irish pride. 

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According to Stack, until around 40 years ago, it was a very traditional, religious and solemn time in Ireland. Bars even remained closed. 

But things have changed. Fun symbols such as wearing green, leprechauns and shamrocks have been popularized during this holiday. Yet, what are their actual meanings?

Reviewed:10 festive St. Patrick’s Day items from HSN to help you celebrate in style

Is corned beef really Irish?:Your St. Patrick’s Day meal is more American than you think

Who was St. Patrick?

Saint Patrick was born in Britain in 386.

At 16, he was captured by pirates and brought to Ireland where he was sold as a slave, according to Stack.

“He spent his days and his nights in the fields tending the sheep and praying, a steady routine of prayer and labor which reshaped the rest of his life,” Matthew Paul Grote, a Catholic priest with the Order of Preachers, said in a statement to USA TODAY. “It was after six years of this that he heard the voice of God in a dream, directing him to a boat which would take him home.”

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Patrick escaped to France in 408 A.D, and eventually found his way to his family and to Ireland, according to Stack. 

He was ordained as a bishop in 432 A.D., and sent by Pope Celestine I to Ireland to spread Christianity and support the Christians already living there. To fight the resistance toward Christianity, he incorporated pagan rituals into church practices. 

“Patrick became inflamed with the desire to help alleviate the suffering of the Irish people who were burdened under the yoke of slavery, brutal tribal warfare and pagan idolatry. It was in the midst of this vocational experience that he understood his call to become a Catholic priest,” Grote said in an emailed statement.

According to Grote, Patrick was repeatedly attacked and captured by Irish clans. However, Patrick used non-violent approaches and would willingly surrender. He would then use this opportunity to teach the Catholic faith. 

Saint Patrick died in 461 A.D. presumably on March 17, the date he is now celebrated.

“Patrick is an icon of the Gospel message of love and forgiveness, and all the hard work and social effort that hard work takes in real life,” Grote said.

Why is Saint Patrick important?

St. Patrick is the one who brought Christianity to Ireland. He wrote two books, “Confessio,” a spiritual autobiography, and a “Letter to Coroticus,” where he urged the British to quit the mistreatment of Irish Christians.

There are legends surrounding St. Patrick, such as crediting him with eradicating snakes from Ireland and that he saved the high king of Ireland, Stack said.

“They said he drove the snakes out of Ireland, but actually there weren’t wouldn’t have been snakes in Ireland anyway because the climate is not good for snakes,” said Stack. “The snakes were a symbol for pagans, so he got rid of all the pagans.”

What is St. Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated globally on March 17. The day also falls during the Christian holiday of Lent, a 40-day period filled with prayer and fasting.

Irish Christians attend church in the morning and then celebrate in the afternoon. The Catholic holiday has been celebrated since the 8th century in Ireland.

Surprisingly the earliest record of a St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in St. Augustine, Florida, not Ireland, in 1601. At the time, it was a Spanish Colony. The parade and a St. Patrick’s Day celebration a year earlier were organized by the Irish vicar Ricardo Artur, according to Stack.

How did it come to the United States?

The Irish immigrant population grew in America following the potato famine. The first parade was in New York in 1762, but became a yearly thing in 1851 when Irish Aid societies started to throw annual parades. Being especially big in New York, that parade is now considered the world‘s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the U.S., with over 150,000 participants, according to History.com.

Initially, the Irish faced rejection from the U.S. being categorized as heavy drinkers and uneducated in newspaper cartoons. However, as they grew in numbers, they started to have political power. They used St. Patrick’s Day as a holiday to celebrate their heritage. 

“The parade started with Irish American soldiers trying to demonstrate their loyalty to America,” said Stack. “The parade was a way to show they could be good American citizens.”

That tradition then got sported back to Ireland. The parades are now tools to encourage tourism, export Irish culture, heritage and music, Stack said.

“It is supposed to be a day to feel proud to be Irish, but growing up in Ireland, it was more about a day off school,” Marigold White told USA TODAY.

An Irish national who has lived in the U.S. but currently lives in Australia, White said, “As an adult and especially living overseas from Ireland, it has had cultural significance, though I do get embarrassed sometimes by the excuse for Irish people to use the day just to get drunk. There is so much more about Ireland to celebrate.”

What’s the deal with the shamrock? 

One of the legends surrounding St. Patrick is the way he used the shamrock to teach others about Christianity. Allegedly, he made an analogy to the Holy Trinity with the shamrock.

He explained how the shamrock has three leaves but it is still one flower. This parallels the Holy Trinity, where there is the God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, yet still one entity. The shamrock is now the official flower of Ireland and worn to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day, according to Stack.

OK, but what about the leprechaun?

The leprechaun came from the idea that the Celtics believed in fairies and other magical beings that use their powers to scare away evil. It is presumed that the association came from the popular 1959 Disney movie “Darby O’Gill & the Little People,” which features Irish leprechauns, says Stack.

Stack also attributes Lucky Charms as a way the leprechaun got popularized in the USA. 

ashull@insider.com (Abbie Shull) – 8h agoFollow

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• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-un-said-nuclear-war-is-back-within-the-realm-of-possibility-here-are-the-places-in-the-us-most-likely-to-be-hit-in-a-nuclear-attack/ar-AAVbbgJ?ocid=msedgntp

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• Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said nuclear war is “back within the realm of possibility.”
• Russia has previously said it could vaporize various locations in the US with new missiles. 
• A Russian nuclear attack would likely focus on high-value targets in North Dakota or Montana.

The UN secretary-general said nuclear war is “back within the realm of possibility” following Russia’s warning it was putting its nuclear forces on alert amid its war in Ukraine that threatens to draw NATO into direct combat with Russia. 

In 2017, Russian state media detailed how Moscow would annihilate US cities and areas after a nuclear treaty collapsed and put the Cold War rivals back in targeting mode — a shocking threat even by the Russian regime’s own extreme standards. 

Hyping up a then-new hypersonic nuclear-capable missile, Russian state TV said the Pentagon, Camp David, Jim Creek Naval Radio Station in Washington, Fort Ritchie in Maryland, and McClellan Air Force Base in California, would be targets, according to Reuters.

But the latter two have been closed for over two decades, making them strange choices for targets. 

With most everything from the Russia or its heavily censored media, it’s best to take its claims with a grain of salt. Instead of taking Russia’s word for it when it comes to nuclear targets, Insider got an expert opinion on where Moscow would likely try to strike.

Read more: Russian state media says Putin’s hypersonic missiles would instantly vaporize these 5 US targets

Since the Cold War, the US and Russia have drawn up plans on how to best wage nuclear war against each other; and while large population centers with huge cultural impact may seem like obvious choices, strategists believe a nuclear attack will focus on countering the enemy’s nuclear forces — destroying them before they can counter-attack.

According to Stephen Schwartz, the author of “Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940,” as the Cold War progressed and improvements in nuclear weapons and intelligence-collection technologies enabled greater precision in where those weapons were aimed, the emphasis in targeting shifted from cities to nuclear stockpiles and nuclear war-related infrastructure.

This map shows the essential points Russia would have to attack to wipe out the US’s nuclear forces, according to Schwartz:

© Skye Gould/Business InsiderSkye Gould/Business Insider

This map represents targets for an all-out attack on the US’s fixed nuclear infrastructure, weapons, and command-and-control centers, but even a massive strike like this wouldn’t guarantee anything.

“It’s exceedingly unlikely that such an attack would be fully successful,” Schwartz told Insider. “There’s an enormous amount of variables in pulling off an attack like this flawlessly, and it would have to be flawless. If even a handful of weapons escape, the stuff you missed will be coming back at you.”

Even if every single US intercontinental ballistic missile silo, stockpiled nuclear weapon, and nuclear-capable bomber were flattened, US nuclear submarines could — and would — retaliate.

According to Schwartz, at any given time, the US has four to five nuclear-armed submarines “on hard alert, in their patrol areas, awaiting orders for launch.”

Even high-ranking officials in the US military don’t know where the silent submarines are, and there’s no way Russia could chase them all down before they fired back, which Schwartz said could be done in as little as 5 to 15 minutes.

But a strike on a relatively sparsely populated area could still lead to death and destruction across the US, depending on how the wind blew. That’s because of fallout.

© Brooke Buddemeier/Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryDangerous radioactive fallout zones shrink rapidly after a nuclear explosion. Brooke Buddemeier/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

The US has strategically positioned the bulk of its nuclear forces, which double as nuclear targets, far from population centers. But if you happen to live next to an ICBM silo, fear not.

There’s a “0.0% chance” that Russia could hope to survive an act of nuclear aggression against the US, according to Schwartz. So while we all live under a nuclear “sword of Damocles,” Schwartz added, people in big cities like New York and Los Angeles most likely shouldn’t worry about being struck by a nuclear weapon.

Staff writer Alex Lockie wrote the initial version of this article.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I understand why democratic countries are reluctant to fight, but I worry they don’t understand what will happen next.By Veronika Melkozerova

MARCH 14, 2022SHARE

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/what-if-world-war-iii-has-already-started/627054/

About the author: Veronika Melkozerova is a journalist based in Kyiv. She is the executive editor of the New Voice of Ukraine, an English-language news site.

KYIV, Ukraine—It’s been 19 days since Russia started the unprovoked war in Ukraine. I have changed my location three times, but I am staying in Kyiv to take care of my elderly parents. Every day I see Russians getting closer to my city from the northwest. I have been sleeping on the floor since February 24, when Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade my country. I am lucky. Others have lost their homes, or have no water, food, or heating. Russian troops have already killed several thousands of Ukrainians, including more than 80 children.

Every night I close my eyes thinking I might be next on Putin’s death-toll list. Nowadays you never know where the Russians will drop their bombs—onto a residential building, a kindergarten classroom, a monastery, or a maternity hospital.

Every day Russians commit more and more atrocities in my country. Only after Putin unleashed hell on our lands did the West finally unite in support of Ukraine, providing more weapons. Finally, the collective democratic world squeezed Russia with unprecedented sanctions.

However, this has not stopped Putin from bombing and destroying Ukraine. If anything, his resolve has only strengthened. The Kremlin knows that Russians will feel the full impact of sanctions in a month or so. It also knows that Europe is so dependent on Russian fossil fuels that such harsh sanctions likely won’t last long. I already see more and more tweets sympathizing with Russians, saying those people do not deserve the limitations imposed against their nation for Putin’s war.

Read: America’s hesitation is heartbreaking

This is the same nation where 58 percent of people support Putin’s actions in Ukraine, according to the latest polls. Putin doesn’t kill anyone in Ukraine with his own hands; other Russians are doing that. The Kremlin has been planning to invade and destroy the identity of my country, and to do it quickly, and the Russian people are backing it. Russians are making this calculation because they believe they can afford to. The Kremlin knows that the West, despite its public admiration for Ukrainian courage, has left Ukraine alone on the actual battlefield. Westerners would rather help Ukraine with weapons and money but stand aside.

People in these countries are scared of World War III. I understand the fear—but don’t you understand that World War III may have already arrived? Ukraine has been begging NATO to establish a no-fly zone, to protect us from Russian bombs, or at least give us fighter jets so we can better protect our skies. So far, the answer on both is “no.”

Meanwhile, more than 2,187 people have died because of Russian attacks in Mariupol alone, according to officials there. Russian attacks from the air have almost destroyed Volnovakha, Kharkiv, and many other towns in Ukraine. Ukraine’s authorities, who first pressured world powers to impose preventive sanctions, then pushed them to cut Russia from the SWIFT international-payment system, then pushed them to cut Russia from the rest of the world, have been asking how many more people should die for the skies to be closed over Ukraine.

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What I see from NATO is a version of this message: The war in Ukraine is not our war. We will come forward only if Russia attacks an alliance member or bombs our convoy to Ukraine.

People of Europe and the U.S. have been pressing their governments to take a proactive position. They sent donations. They sent thoughts and prayers. The governments, especially in Europe, are still very cautious when it comes to making any move that might provoke Russia. Leaders such as Emmanuel Macron still seem to believe that dialogue can persuade Putin to stop his atrocities. For many in Europe, Russia’s petroleum and gas are more valuable than Ukrainian lives.

I understand the Western governments’ position.

I also used to say “This is not my war” while watching Russia’s atrocities in Aleppo. I also sent my thoughts and prayers to the people of Syria, also destroyed with the help of Putin. And back in 2008, I was so young that I did not even care to think about Georgians, whose land was also devastated and divided by Putin. And before that Moldova, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Libya, and other African countries.

Those were not my wars. But in 2014 the war came to my country. Back then, the world continued to cooperate with the aggressor Russia, deepening its dependence on Russia’s fossil fuels. Western leaders were willing to turn their back on the war, certain that Putin would never dare to attack the powerful collective West.

Read: Why the West may have to offer Putin a way out

We in Ukraine also did not believe that Putin would dare to launch a full-scale invasion. But he did. Because in Moldova, Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine, Russia got away with its crimes. It did all this after the infamous “reset” of relations with the United States, and the United States allowed it. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on March 3, the West will “get over” its “hysteria” about Ukraine too.

I am afraid he might be right. And I am afraid of what that will mean for the rest of the world. Russia can’t let itself lose in Ukraine and has enough resources to keep its economy alive. Putin has made clear that he doesn’t see Ukraine as a sovereign nation and that he would rather destroy it than let it exist as a free European nation. Many, if not most, Russians share his view. Even many who claim to be liberals have tended to see Ukraine as a “special country,” meaning their country.

So maybe by saying “This is not our war,” the world’s leading democratic countries are simply showing that they are in denial about what will happen next. What if World War III has already started? Perhaps it began in Georgia, Moldova, and Syria. Perhaps in the future, the invasion of February 24 won’t be seen as the start, but as a key turning point.

It is obvious that Russia will not stop its crusade against democratic values and common sense in Ukraine. Russian propagandists have been talking about which country will be invaded next. Ukraine’s Defense Secretary Olexiy Danilov has said it might be Lithuania, a NATO member. Will NATO act only after Lithuania is invaded?

I don’t know. And I don’t call upon the peaceful nations of Europe to join our war either. All I can ask is that you think about your beloved cities and the people who might one day become Putin’s next targets.

Ukraine used to be known as a country of beautiful Soviet modernist architecture, featured in numerous Western music videos. It used to be a country of beautiful landscapes, cool restaurants, and humming rave culture. It is a country that has hosted two Eurovision Song Contests and one European soccer championship. A country that has become a battleground for U.S. politics and led to an impeachment scandal in America.

Kyiv used to amaze people with the beauty of the Dnipro River and impossibly long summer nights; Lviv dazzled people with its restaurants; Mariupol offered a vibrant mix of heavy industry and a lazy seashore-vacation mood. Kherson had awful roads but offered beautiful nature, pink lakes, the Black Sea, and plenty of homegrown food as compensation. Kharkiv, an education center, has hosted hundreds of international students and kept the special pride only a country’s first capital can have. For me, Kharkiv was a city of mathematics and large squares.

The Ukrainian people always welcomed guests from across Europe. We were so proud that the world had finally become interested in what we had to offer after the Maidan Revolution of 2014. Now the whole world is watching Putin destroy our land and murder our people: Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson, and now, the analysts say, Kyiv will be next.

Sanctions work, but they have not stopped Putin’s rockets falling from the skies. Now, after Georgia and Syria, those deathly rains have come to my land. What if they come to your land next?

Veronika Melkozerova is a journalist based in Kyiv. She is the executive editor of the New Voice of Ukraine, an English-language news site.

by: Talya Cunningham

Posted: Mar 15, 2022 / 10:50 PM MDT

Updated: Mar 15, 2022 / 10:50 PM MDT

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https://kdvr.com/news/local/animal-activist-faces-animal-cruelty-charges/

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A self-proclaimed animal activist who served on the state veterinary board is now facing animal cruelty charges.

Ellen Kessler was appointed to the State Veterinary Board by Gov. Jared Polis but resigned earlier this year after writing an offensive Facebook post that called ranchers “nasty” and “lazy.” She’s now in the hot seat again after a shocking discovery at her home.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said that discovery was made last week and included 13 birds living in very poor conditions, mice, and flies throughout her home. The office was tipped off after a friend visited Kessler on March 7 and reported multiple birds in poor condition.

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Animal Control officers then visited Kessler’s home on Blacktail Mountain and found cockatiels, doves and finches living in the basement with food and water but no sunlight. They also discovered cages and the floors covered in seed, dirt and feces and called the pungent smell of urine overwhelming.Officials support new name for Mount Evans

Officers found mice in the basement; some were scurrying around alive while others were dead. They also reported flies buzzing throughout the home. Concerned for the animals, officers told Kessler they needed care and to be checked out at a veterinary hospital. Unfortunately, two birds died at the vet hospital.

“It’s a difficult case,” said Joan Thielen with Foothills Animal Shelter. “It is difficult to see these animals experiencing that kind of stress. They did require urgent veterinary care.”

Thielen said three of the birds were adopted by staff at the vet hospital and eight of the birds were transported to the Foothills Animal Shelter on Tuesday. Thielen said they are happy to take them in at their shelter.

“We received six cockatiels, a finch and then one additional bird,” Thielen said. “The birds are in decent condition here now. They are stable after spending a week at a veterinary hospital, but we still need to evaluate them and determine what the next steps are.”

Thielen said the eight birds are being evaluated and will hopefully be up for adoption soon.Family of teen shot in back asking Denver DA to reconsider murder charges

The sheriff’s office told FOX31 the birds will not be returning to Kessler’s home, and she was given resources to places that could help fund and clean her home. They say she was also given information on what would need to be done for her to have appropriate living conditions for animals.

This incident is turning heads, as Kessler is an animal activist who is now facing 13 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. The sheriff’s office said there’s no indication that any other animals are currently living in the house.

FOX31 reached out to Kessler for comment who stated via email, “I have no comment at this time.”
Kessler has a court hearing scheduled for May 23.