Goodnight, Xerxes, you mighty shumba.
Goodnight, Xerxes, you mighty shumba. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren / Courtesy of Woodland Park Zoo

The party paper for bourgeois economics, The Wall Street Journal, reports that "stocks end higher after new Russian sanctions announced." What the fuck happened? Why wasn't there a dip?

Because the sanctions have no teeth: The capitalist powers of Europe and North America gave Russia's adventurism not sanctions but a lot of hot air. Russia is not banned from a key part of the global banking system, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). They can kill Ukrainians for no good reason and pretty much still do business with the world, still sell oil. Biden: "[Banning SWIFT] is always an option, but right now that's not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take.” The markets cheered this decision because it essentially meant nothing had really changed. The citizens of Ukraine are fast learning that nothing in the West can beat the almighty power of the dollar.

The Guardian:

With casualties mounting, Kuleba [Ukraine’s foreign minister] warned that European and US politicians would have “blood on their hands” if they failed to impose the heaviest toll on Moscow by cutting Russia from the so-called Swift payments system.

“I will not be diplomatic on this,” he tweeted. “Everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned from Swift has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children will be on their hands too. BAN RUSSIA FROM SWIFT.”

Good luck with that:

I'm certain capitalists did not miss this golden opportunity:

Capitalism got to capitalism:

Can someone please tell the mainstream Dems to stop expecting patriotism from the GOP? You are only playing a game that you can only lose. Patriotism is a tool that's only useful when it's held by a hand on the right. It can only be limp when held by a hand on the left. And so it's not all that shocking that a large chunk of the American right supports Putin. There's never been anything rational about patriotism.

Questlove found love right here:

Small businesses only matter when the "Seattle Is Dying" people are trying to blame all of the city's woes on people who have next to no power. This small business is leaving because of too much crime; this business is leaving because police officers are abandoning our BLM-intoxicated city; and so on. But what do you hear when it comes down to actually helping small businesses in the real world? Crickets. Hannah Krieg reports that "Nobody Knows the Number of Seattle Small Businesses at Risk of Eviction Starting Next Week." The mayor doesn't want to know, and nor does Councilmember Sara Nelson, "who has positioned herself as a champion for small business."

Peak Seattle? KING 5: "Realtor puts parking space up for sale in Seattle. Asking price: $50,000." The sad thing is that might actually be a good deal. Those who follow the parking professor Donald Shoup will know I'm not at all talking crazy.

A judge ruled that "investors" must be paid by Boeing for the 737 Max mess they actually caused. The "investors" wanted more money from the Chicago-based company, and the company made more money for them by cutting jobs and demanding tax breaks from Washington. But after planes started falling from the sky, the "investors" came up with a new path to cash: Sue the "company directors for failing to properly oversee safety issues around the 737 Max." It worked! They will get a cool $237.5 million.

If it means anything to the diviners of Russell Wilson's future with the Seattle Seahawks, he and his wife, Ciara, just opened a fashion store, The House of LR&C, at the University Village. Not sure if that's neither here nor there. But this is what Wilson said during the grand opening, according to Geekwire:

'Just to be here with you all is an exciting day for us,' Wilson said. 'To be able to hop out of the car and walk about 50 yards — I know my down and distances — and throw a deep out-route to this amazing facility. To know that we have a store here, it’s such a blessing.'

Goodnight, you mighty shumba at Woodland Park Zoo. If I could talk in lion, I would have told you that Africa is fucking far away, brah. Just forget about it. You and I are now here in the Pacific Northwest. The sun here stays away from the middle of the sky. It's unbelievably low during the winter. So, so sorry about this. I hope they feed you grass-finished meat.

Today, Woodland Park Zoo is "mourning the loss of amazing lion, 14-year-old Xerxes." He was the only male shumba. He was euthanized because of kidney failure. Sleep, shumba, sleep, simba, sleep, mbube.

Speaking of the Pacific Northwest sun, which is very different from the one that flies over Southern Africa:

This incident ended with one dog dead and a jogger fighting for her life in the hospital. A cop killed one of two dogs that allegedly mauled a jogger. Both dogs were a part of a property that's "near 45th Place South in Auburn." MyNorthwest reports that "[a]s of Wednesday afternoon, the woman is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center."

The cold and low sun setting on Seattle and its shumba.
The cold and low sun setting on Seattle and its shumba. Charles Mudede

What a fucking cold day that was, even with a bright sun in a near-cloudless sky. These low February temperatures recalled that heatless encounter between Dinah Washington and Max Richter, between, "This Bitter Earth" and "On The Nature Of Daylight":