☃️ 🇺🇸 Multiple dead across U.S., National Guard called out in N.Y. amid winter storm

❄️ Multiple people have died during a historic winter storm that has knocked out power for more than 1 million homes and businesses and snarled holiday air traffic across the United States.

❄️ In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, in coordination with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Buffalo, N.Y., Mayor Byron Brown, called out the National Guard to assist residents there, "particularly those who have emergency medical appointments and need help traveling."

❄️ "In Buffalo, this storm will likely at least jump near the top of the list of worst blizzards in the city's history, if not even becoming the worst," AccuWeather meteorologist Jake Sojda said.

❄️ "Four to 6 feet of snow will fall by Sunday and coupled with wind gusts approaching hurricane force [74 mph or greater] to create enormous drifts and impossible travel."

❄️ More than 200 million people, or around 60% of the U.S. population, are currently under some form of weather warning or advisory.
The National Weather Service recorded sub-zero temperatures in Denver for more than 41 consecutive hours as the endured its lowest-maximum temperature ever.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/12/23/winter-storm-power-outage-Kentucky-Missouri-Wisconsin-fligth-cancellation/8181671825566/

⚡️ 🇪🇺 Europe’s $1 Trillion Energy Bill Only Marks Start of the Crisis

High prices could last years and aid is becoming unaffordable
Relief on global gas markets isn’t expected until 2026

Europe got hit by roughly $1 trillion from surging energy costs in the fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the deepest crisis in decades is only getting started.

While governments were able to help companies and consumers absorb much of the blow with more than $700 billion in aid, according to the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, a state of emergency could last for years. With interest rates rising and economies likely already in recession, the support that cushioned the blow for millions of households and businesses is looking increasingly unaffordable.

“Once you add everything up — bailouts, subsidies — it is a ridiculously large amount of money,” said Martin Devenish, a director at consultancy S-RM. “It’s going to be a lot harder for governments to manage this crisis next year.”

The challenge is finding the balance between keeping factories running and homes heated in the near term while not choking off the incentives to invest in renewable power — widely seen as the most sustainable way out of the energy squeeze.

“The biggest task out of the crisis is to make the energy transition happen,” said Veronika Grimm, an economic adviser to the German government. “We have to massively expand renewables.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-18/europe-s-1-trillion-energy-bill-only-marks-start-of-the-crisis

https://archive.ph/ck6of

🇷🇺 🇪🇺 Russian state broadcaster RT has a Christmas message for Europeans

📎 Francis Scarr

🇲🇩🤝🇷🇴🇪🇺 Vice PM Oleg Serebrian: "Moldova is preparing a new plan for the reintegration of Transnistria and the role of Romania and the EU in this process will be essential to make it happen".

🐦 The Twitter Files
TWITTER AND "OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES"

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1606701397109796866.html

The German Defense Ministry expects a major Russian offensive in Ukraine in April 2023. This is reported by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung with reference to an internal analysis of the defense department "Deployment and Strategy".

Berlin sees two possible scenarios for the development of events.

The first of them "provides" a large-scale offensive of the Russian Armed Forces in the Donbass, while a large Belarusian contingent is deployed on the Ukrainian border from the north.
As a result, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be fragmented and will not be able to fully fight in the east.

The second, according to German strategists, the least likely scenario involves Vladimir Putin's desire to take control of all of Ukraine in a war on two fronts: Russian troops will attack from the territory of Donbass, Belarusian troops will go to Kyiv.

Russian soldiers will reach the Polish border to prevent the supply of weapons from the West and take Transnistria, the analysis says.

🎅 🇷🇺 Russia releases anti-western propaganda video portraying Putin as Santa Claus who replaces girly items for ones suitable for boys, gets rid of LGBT propaganda books, and replaces a picture of the boys' two dad's with a picture of a mom and dad.

📎 speckzo 🇻🇦 YE24

⚡️ 🇺🇸 US Declares Texas Grid Emergency in Arctic Blast

Small number of power plants cited having difficulties

Order eases air-pollution limits as power demand hits record

“While the vast majority of generating units in the ERCOT region continue to operate without any problem, a small number of units have experienced operating difficulties due to cold weather or gas curtailments,” the Energy Department said in its order.

The order said 11,000 megawatts of coal and gas-fired power, 4,000 megawatts of wind and 1,700 megawatts of solar power were out or derated to weather conditions.

It will require the grid operators to provide detailed reporting to the Energy Department and completion of a post-incident special environmental analysis, a department spokeswoman added in an email.

Demand on the Texas power grid reached an all-time winter peak in excess of 74,000 megawatts on Friday morning, according to the Energy Department. Texas officials have been assuring residents the power grid is up to the challenge and that there’s no danger of a repeat of the February 2021 catastrophe that killed more than 200 people.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-24/texas-power-grid-emergency-declared-in-winter-storm

https://archive.ph/MNYIu

🇺🇸 According to Texan Governor Abbot: On December 22nd, Texas had the highest power demand in any winter. The 23rd was the 2nd highest demand day for winter power.

𝑀𝑒𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓈!

Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness. No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all.

~ Pope Saint Leo the Great