patrick.net

#sadnews There is some sad news and some great news this morning. I picked up the print edition of the New York Times this morning at our doorstep. The front page is a giant banner indicating that we have exceeded 1,000,000 coronavirus deaths in the US. This number is incomprehensible. In World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq some 651,000 U.S. men and women were killed and missing in action and never accounted for. I am so thankful that no one close to Elena, and I has died or got really sick from Covid-19.
We have some good news also. A special congratulations goes to "Our Man In Ukraine" Denys Davydov who hosts the podcast on YouTube "Update From Ukraine." He has exceeded 100,000 subscribers! This is the best news source that I have found about the Ukraine war.
I also sat in on a Zoom meeting with the team from the Economist Magazine including the editor Zanny Minton Beddoes and Arkady Ostrovsky Friday morning. Their conclusion was that in the wild event that Putin "pushed the red button" to launch nuclear weapons, the military officers in charge of such weapons would refuse to obey the order. They saw a very remote possibility of chemical weapons being employed if the Russian army fighting in Ukraine was literally disintegrating.
I also am seeing a lot of "backchannel chatter" from many sources about a coup to remove Putin from power taking shape. The Economist Magazine team does not believe these rumors yet.
Finally, I am blessed to have a special neighbor living a couple of houses down from us. I have been around her for 47 years. I nickname her "Rio Kathy." We both lived in Rio de Janeiro during the 1970s. She told me that she and her husband were going to buy a Rivian electric truck. It was brought out for them to test drive. What an incredible and futuristic vehicle!! It is like something out of a science fiction film.

Please find peace and love today wherever you are in the world.