"more like light spotting"

(credit to @MuellerSheWrote)

I started my day by teaching about climate finance to the Rwandan embassy. How is that for cool? 

As a result, for the very first time, I see an advantage to carbon credits over carbon taxes. I'd go into this further, but I like you and don't want to bore you to death. 

It is a good thing I took some shots this morning because it was pitch black at the end of the work day. Most of the leaves have fallen but my trees still have theirs. This is Summer Gold in my garden, red, orange, yellow, and green. 

This morning on the way to the park I saw some huge thing up at the top of a tree. Hawk. Then my crows chased the hawk away. Yesssssss.

I don't know if this is an attempt at a trick, but Russia ordered their troops to leave Kherson. If this is not a trick, then this is a huge setback for Russia. This was the first major area seized in the 2022 invasion and it is highly symbolic. Ukraine had cut the supply lines to Russian troops and maybe, with all the publicity their lives mattered? 

Speaking of publicity, the Russian brigade that wrote and SIGNED a letter denouncing their superiors is an elite unit. This may be why they felt safe doing so. Their elite status is why their letter got media visibility quickly. 

Russian elites are growing increasingly worried.  

In addition to what the lack of a red wave means for America, it has disappointed Russia. Putin's friend, nicknamed "Putin's chef" for his background in the restaurant business, Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner mercenary company, admitted to influencing American elections and said he'd continue. Russia was hoping a Republican landslide would lead to a cut in funding for Ukraine. Most Republicans, however, are still interested in helping Ukraine. 

The Pentagon said that Russia has probably lost half its tanks in Ukraine. 

Speaking of life being hard for Russia, because of the sanctions they are having trouble making new weapons. They can't get microchips. Russia is removing them from household appliances such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, and breast milk pumps, and used in tanks and rockets. Now, because of sanctions, they can't get any of those either, so they are importing them from Armenia and Kazakhstan.  In the first half of 2022, Armenia imported three times as many breast milk pumps as in the previous year, even though the birth rate fell by 4.3%. Kazakhstan increased its imports of electric breast milk pumps by 633%  – even though their birth rate fell by 8.4%.