Greets and saluts from the unusually warm and mild NYC metro area. Today has hooky written all over it, but I digress.

Anyhow, folks in Syria can’t enjoy the weather - and in Homs and other places, they’re dealing with snow and cold weather all while the regime has blocked their access to fuel, food, and humanitarian aid. It’s a mess, and while a deputy oil minister apparently defected (the highest ranking official to date), it would take a whole lot more to put pressure on Assad’s regime.

The regime continues torturing detainees - in military hospitals and detention facilities. The victims include children, and all adds to the butcher’s bill that Assad has assembled in order to crush the opposition to remain in power.