I was running along the river yesterday and the pathway was still flooded under the Žverynas bridge. The Neris River has been running high the past two weeks, which seems a bit odd since we haven't had any rain. Meteorologists say the unusual flooding is due to a severe storm that passed through Belarus a couple weeks ago but that doesn't really explain why the river is still so high. I told Daina about it and she wondered if Lukashenko was releasing a dam somewhere upstream as the Neris emanates from the Northeastern marshlands of Belarus. Sure enough, there is a large reservoir upstream. Could the wily Belarusian president be playing games with us? Six days ago, Belarus' top security officer claimed his vaunted air force shot down Lithuanian drones , which he says Lithuania and Poland are producing for a coordinated attack on their country. He didn't produce any evidence but it was enough just to say it to have Lukashenko foaming at the mouth and vowing reta
No wonder the NYTimes is so upset. For months they had been begging the White House for an exclusive interview and were rebuffed, only for Biden to pitch up on the Howard Stern Show. That must have been a big jolt as Biden went on for over an hour. Granted, Stern talked for much of that time, but Biden was in full control of himself, even cracking a few jokes as he covered a wide range of subjects including his low grades in law school. When he first ran for President in 1988 this had been a big issue , as he was accused of plagiarism and subsequently dropped out of the race. Now he laughs it off, saying he didn't take law school as seriously as he should have. Not that it really mattered in the end, as he had a successful career in Congress just the same. But, Howard didn't dig too deep, much to the chagrin of the NYTimes, who felt Stern should have been ... well more stern. Instead, Howard gave Biden his enthusiastic endorsement, recalling the chaos and uncertainty t