Need to Know News (12 December 2022) with Carl Herman

Ukraine has been sending only minimally trained recruits to the front lines, where they are being killed in large numbers by the more combat experienced Russian troops--especially via artillery, which is the primary source of casualties during warfare. Nothing surprising there. An experienced Russian officer bemoans the lack of specificity regarding the strategic objective, which (in my opinion) Putin has to keep vague given the vicissitudes of this intervention and (what I take to be) the ultimate objective of taking control of the entirety of Ukraine. The GOP has announced its plan to conduct investigations into the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a massive embarrassment for the United States. The CNN viewership has dropped to around 500,000, which is very weak and reflects the discredit it has brought upon itself by promoting a dozen or more fake news hoaxes as though they had been real. Ron DeSantis has led Florida to success in dealing with crime and made a model out of the Sunshine State for others to emulate. Bill Gates has acknowledge that the "global warming" story is a hoax and also appears to have advised President Trump against investigating vaccine injuries in spite of being urged to do so by Bobby Kennedy Jr., which (of course) would have been the right thing to do. Republicans plan to make Director of the CDC position requiring Senate confirmation, even while the present occupant protests doing that. Elon Musk has fired James Baker from a key role at Twitter, where he had played a key role at the FBI in promoting Russiagate and baselessly smearing Donald Trump. American Girl has put out a book about body image that promotes radical gender theories, which may well lead to its demise. And Brittney Griner turns out to be a man who is succeeding in women's sports. Surprise! Surprise!