March 23, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Madeleine K. Albright, a child of Czech refugees who fled from Nazi invaders and Communist oppressors and then landed in the United States, where she flourished as a diplomat and the first woman to serve as secretary of state, died on Wednesday in Washington. She was 84."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "As the war in Ukraine is poised to enter its second month, the United States and its allies are marshaling a united front against ... Vladimir V. Putin..., pushing for tougher sanctions and moving to deploy more forces to Europe's eastern flank, even as they seek to prevent the war from metastasizing into a wider conflict. President Biden is set to land in Brussels on Wednesday evening and is expected to announce sanctions on Russian lawmakers before meeting with NATO allies and the European Union.... NATO's chief, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Wednesday that the alliance would double the number of battlegroups in its eastern flank by deploying four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, a significant bolstering of NATO's presence in the region. In recent days, Ukrainian forces have retaken ground in the northwestern suburbs of Kyiv, the capital, and around the southern Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, according to military analysts. Their advances have reinforced the sense that Russia is struggling in its efforts to overtake the country."

Alexander Smith & Yuliya Talmazan of NBC News: "An adviser to ... Vladimir Putin has become the first senior Kremlin official to quit since the invasion of Ukraine, Putin's spokesman said Wednesday. Anatoly Chubais left his role as Russia's envoy to international organizations and sustainable development of his own accord, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. The news was first reported by Bloomberg, which cited two people familiar with the situation saying Chubais had left Russia over his opposition to the war. Reuters also cited two anonymous sources saying he had left the country."

Sheera Frenkel & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "As war has raged, the Kremlin's talking points and some right-wing discourse in the United States -- fueled by those on the far right -- have coalesced. On social media, podcasts and television, falsehoods about the invasion of Ukraine have flowed both ways, with Americans amplifying lies from Russians and the Kremlin spreading fabrications that festered in American forums online.... After ... Vladimir V. Putin ... claimed that action against Ukraine was taken in self-defense, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the conservative commentator Candace Owens repeated the assertion. When Mr. Putin insisted he was trying to 'denazify' Ukraine, Joe Oltmann, a far-right podcaster, and Lara Logan, another right-wing commentator, mirrored the idea. The echoing went the other way, too. Some far-right American news sites, like Infowars, stoked a longtime, unfounded Russian claim that the United States funded biological weapons labsin Ukraine. Russian officials seized on the chatter, with the Kremlin contending it had documentation of bioweapons programs that justified its 'special military operation' in Ukraine."

Marie: Here I was, awaiting Lindsey's Kwanzaa question: ~~~

~~~ Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday tried to make a point that Republicans were angry about how Democrats had questioned a previous GOP-backed Supreme Court nominee [-- Amy Barrett --] about her religion -- by questioning Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson at length about her own faith, then trying to reassure her after the fact that interrogations about her religion would not happen.... 'What faith are you, by the way?' [Graham asked.] Though it would be potentially illegal under federal law for an employer to ask a job candidate about their religious beliefs, Jackson started to respond that she was a nondenominational Protestant -- before Graham cut in and asked if she felt she could judge a Catholic person fairly.... Graham interrupted Jackson several ... times, as she tried to state that it was important to set aside one's personal views when considering cases. 'On a scale of 1 to 10, how faithful would you say you are, in terms of religion? You know, I go to church probably three times a year, so that speaks poorly of me. Or do you attend church regularly?'"~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No doubt Lindsey was hoping Jackson would blurt out that she was Muslim or that she was a member of the Santeria cult that reportedly sacrifices chickens in its religious ceremonies.

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "Republicans know they can't stop Ketanji Brown Jackson from being confirmed to the Supreme Court.... What they can do is use her confirmation hearings for other political purposes.... Some Republicans have chosen to do so with bad-faith attacks on Jackson; Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), in an apparent attempt to secure the QAnon vote when he runs for president, tore a few sentences in previous rulings and writings out of context to make the repulsive accusation that she is 'soft' on child porn. But so far, their clearest focus has been on their own victimization. You may be under the hot lights and being cross-examined, they are telling Jackson, but we are the real victims here.... Jackson will have to suffer through a few more sessions of Republicans beating their breasts about the terrible trials they have endured, with the gripping tale of Kavanaugh, that modern-day Job, told again and again."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "In the hours since [Sen. Marsha] Blackburn [asked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson] on Tuesday night [to define 'woman,'] it's become a celebrated example on the political right of how beholden Jackson purportedly is to leftist subjectivism.... It was a cascade of bad faith, from Blackburn's question to the coverage to the response.... This question was one in a battery aimed solely at tripping Jackson up.... [Jackson's] declination to answer is not informative; it is expected. All that was gained was a way to disparage her in exactly the way that Blackburn did.... In fact, Blackburn even appeared to be reading from notes..., suggesting that she was ready for Jackson's response even if Jackson couldn't be." See related story, linked below.

New York Times reporters are live-blogging Wednesday's confirmation hearing for Judge Kentanji Jackson. Snark included, thankfully.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "Moderna said on Wednesday that it would seek emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 6, after interim results from its clinical trial showed that volunteers in that age group had a similar immune response to young adults when given a dose one-fourth as strong. But the firm said the vaccine proved only about 44 percent effective in preventing symptomatic illness among children 6 months to 2 years old, and 37 percent effective in children 2 through 5 years old. The company is studying the effectiveness of a booster shot, and one of its top officials said she expects a booster will be necessary for that age group, just as it is for adults."

Alabama Senate Race. Sad News: Trump Dump = No Mo Mo. Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump retracted his endorsement of Representative Mo Brooks's bid for Senate in Alabama on Wednesday, abandoning one of his staunchest allies after months of simmering frustration and as polls showed Mr. Brooks falling behind in the state's Republican primary. In a sign of Mr. Trump's continued focus on the 2020 election, he cited Mr. Brooks's remarks at a rally last summer urging voters to move on from Mr. Trump's defeat.... In a last-ditch effort to keep Mr. Trump in his corner, Mr. Brooks, who spoke at the rally that preceded the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021, used footage from that speech in a new television ad last week. Looking straight into the camera, Mr. Brooks said in the ad, 'On January 6th, I proudly stood with President Trump in the fight against voter fraud.' But it was not enough. Mr. Trump still accused him on Wednesday of going 'woke.' Mr. Trump is obsessed with the success rate of his endorsement in Republican primaries...." Politico's story is here.

AP: "Former Trump adviser Paul Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it took off for Dubai because he carried a revoked passport, officials said Wednesday. Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta confirmed that Manafort was removed from the Emirates Airline flight without incident Sunday night but directed further questions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That agency did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment."

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Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The Pentagon confirmed it had seen indications of Ukraine's forces going on the offensive in a lopsided battle against a major power, after Kyiv announced it had retaken a town near the capital. A senior U.S. defense official told reporters it will be difficult 'to say that this marks ... some sort of major muscle movement' by the Ukrainian military. Russian forces ramped up an assault on the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, shelling from the sea as new satellite images showed homes ablaze and factories razed. Despite the evacuation of Mariupol residents, about 100,000 people remain trapped -- many without food or water -- in a bitter siege that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as 'inhumane.'... In remarks Washington described as 'dangerous,' the Kremlin's spokesman refused to rule out the possibility that Russia could consider using nuclear weapons in the event of an 'existential threat' which he did not specify."

Chris Megerian & Aamer Madhani of the AP: "With Europe facing its most precarious future since World War II, President Joe Biden will huddle with key allies in Brussels and Warsaw this week as the leaders try to prevent Russia's war on Ukraine from spiraling into an even greater catastrophe.... Humanitarian challenges are growing as well. Millions of refugees have fled the fighting, mostly by crossing the border into Poland, and the war has jeopardized Ukraine's wheat and barley harvests, raising the possibility of rising hunger in impoverished areas around the globe. Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, said the president would coordinate with allies on military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia. He added that Biden is working on long-term efforts to boost defenses in Eastern Europe, where more countries fear Russian aggression. The president is also aiming to reduce the continent's reliance on Russian energy."

Anton Troianovski & Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "In Russia, the slow going and the heavy toll of ... Vladimir V. Putin's war on Ukraine are setting off questions about his military's planning capability, his confidence in his top spies and loyal defense minister, and the quality of the intelligence that reaches him. It also shows the pitfalls of Mr. Putin's top-down governance, in which officials and military officers have little leeway to make their own decisions and adapt to developments in real time. The failures of Mr. Putin's campaign are apparent in the striking number of senior military commanders believed to have been killed in the fighting. Ukraine says it has killed at least six Russian generals, while Russia acknowledges one of their deaths, along with that of the deputy commander of its Black Sea fleet. The lack of progress is so apparent that a blame game has begun among some Russian supporters of the war -- even as Russian propaganda claims that the slog is a consequence of the military's care to avoid harming civilians."

Natasha Bertrand, et al., of CNN: "The US and NATO believe that Belarus could 'soon' join Russia in its war against Ukraine, US and NATO officials tell CNN, and that the country is already taking steps to do so. It is increasingly 'likely' that Belarus will enter the conflict, a NATO military official said on Monday. '(... Vladimir) Putin needs support. Anything would help,' the official explained. A Belarusian opposition source said that Belarusian combat units are ready to go into Ukraine as soon as in the next few days, with thousands of forces prepared to deploy. In this source's view, this would have less of an impact militarily than it will geopolitically, given the implications of another country joining the war."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Maria Varenikova & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Nearly a month into the fighting, one of the biggest surprises of the war in Ukraine is Russia's failure to defeat the Ukrainian Air Force. Military analysts had expected Russian forces to quickly destroy or paralyze Ukraine's air defenses and military aircraft, yet neither have happened. Instead, Top Gun-style aerial dogfights, rare in modern warfare, are now raging above the country.... The success of Ukrainian pilots has helped protect Ukrainian soldiers on the ground and prevented wider bombing in cities, since pilots have intercepted some Russian cruise missiles. Ukrainian officials also say the country's military has shot down 97 fixed-wing Russian aircraft. That number could not be verified but the crumpled remnants of Russian fighter jets have crashed into rivers, fields and houses.... Ukrainian fighter jets ... are vastly outnumbered: Russia is believed to fly some 200 sorties per day while Ukraine flies five to 10." (Also linked yesterday.)

Adela Suliman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Forest fires broke out around the Chernobyl nuclear site, Ukraine's parliament said Monday, raising fears that radiation could spread from the crippled facility. Ukraine's minister of natural resources later told the Associated Press that the fires had been extinguished, easing the immediate alarm. At least seven fires within the plant's exclusion zone had been observed on satellite imagery from the European Space Agency, the parliament said in a statement. The lawmakers blamed Russian forces who captured the site in February for the blazes." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mary Jalonick & Mark Sherman of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is returning to the Senate for a third day of hearings as Republicans try to paint her as soft on crime and Democrats herald the historic nature of her nomination to become the first Black woman on the high court." C-SPAN coverage begins at 9 am ET.

Cancun Ted, et al.: She's Black, Black, Blackety-Black-Black. Jonathan Weisman & Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "After all of the entreaties from top Republicans to show respect at Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings, Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday afternoon chose to grill the first Black woman nominated for the Supreme Court on her views on critical race theory and insinuate that she was soft on child sexual abuse. The message from the Texas Republican seemed clear: A Black woman vying for a lifetime appointment on the highest court in the land would, Mr. Cruz suggested, coddle criminals, go easy on pedophiles and subject white people to the view that they were, by nature, oppressors. The attack, the most dramatic of several launched from inside and outside the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing room, contained barely coded appeals to racism and clear nods to the fringes of the conservative world. Two other Republican senators, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, had already signaled they would go after Judge Jackson by accusing her of having a soft spot for criminals, especially pedophiles, and an allegiance to 'woke' racialized education. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, also pressed the issue on Tuesday night. None of those issues were connected to cases coming before the Supreme Court -- or to cases ever decided by the court."

Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson forcefully defended her approach to sentencing Tuesday amid allegations from some Republicans that she has been too lenient in sex offense cases involving minors, an exchange that provided the most tense and emotional moments of a day-long confirmation hearing.... The suggestion that Jackson had gone easy on sex offenders was leveled most vociferously Tuesday by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).... 'Hawley's embarrassing, QAnon-signaling smear has been fact checked by' several news organizations, White House spokesman Andrew Bates tweeted as Hawley began his questioning Tuesday afternoon.'"

Josh Gerstein & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Republicans unloaded a broad arsenal of attacks on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Tuesday, confronting her on issues ranging from her sentences for child pornography defendants to her representation of Guantanamo Bay inmates to alleged acts of judicial activism. But as the hearing passed the 12-hour mark, Jackson seemed largely unruffled. In a few instances, her irritation with the questioning led to responses delivered 'with all due respect' when it seemed she didn't think much respect was due.... Here's a look at some of the most notable exchanges and themes to emerge on Jackson's first day of grilling[.]"

Myah Ward of Politico: "As the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson went into hour 13, Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked the Supreme Court nominee on Tuesday to define the word 'woman.' 'I can't -- ' Jackson replied. 'You can't?' Blackburn said. 'Not in this context. I'm not a biologist,' Jackson said. 'The meaning of the word woman is so unclear and controversial that you can't give me a definition?' Blackburn asked. The Tennessee Republican's line of questioning hit on nearly every political hot-button issue, from critical race theory to teaching children about gender identity in schools to Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania's women's team. Jackson said her role as a judge would be to address disputes about a definition and to interpret the law. 'The fact that you can't give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is underscores the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about,' Blackburn said...."

New York Times reporters are live-updating the questioning/posturing in the Senate confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said Tuesday that he would be open to the Supreme Court overturning its 1967 ruling that legalized interracial marriage nationwide to allow states to independently decide the issue. Braun -- who made the comments during a conference call in which he discussed the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court -- also said he'd welcome the rescinding of several key decisions made by the court in the past 70 years to pass the power to the states.... In a statement to The Washington Post after the conference call, Braun said he 'misunderstood' the reporter's questions on Loving and stressed that he opposes racism." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So in addressing the nomination of a woman who is in an interracial marriage, Braun said he thought states should decide whether or not interracial couples are allowed to marry. But he's against racism! Braun, IMO, has two possible defenses: (1) he didn't know what Loving v. Virginia was about, and/or (2) bad audio connection! ~~~

     ~~~ BUT. Kaitlin Lange of the Indy Star makes it clear in her report of the exchange between Braun & the reporter that Braun understood and heard the question and responded at length to it. ~~~

     ~~~ AND Dan Cardin of the Times of Northwest Indiana: "Specifically concerning interracial marriage, Braun rejected the reasoning of a unanimous Supreme Court that the freedom to marry is a fundamental constitutional right and states depriving Americans of it on an arbitrary basis, such as race, is unconstitutional. He acknowledged leaving such a question to states is likely to lead to situations where a marriage may be recognized in one state and not in another, but he shrugged it off as 'the beauty of the system.' 'This should be something where the expression of individual states are able to weigh-in on these issues through their own legislation, through their own court systems. Quit trying to put the federal government in charge,' Braun said.... Braun later walked back his comments by claiming he misunderstood the question, despite the question being asked multiple times in different ways to ensure Braun meant and understood what he said concerning interracial marriage."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Fox "News" star Sean Hannity took pains Tuesday night to prove that he is not parroting Russian propaganda; rather, Russian propagandists are parroting him.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "A judge on New York State's highest court could face removal from the bench for failing to comply with the state's Covid vaccination mandate, according to court guidelines and state officials. Jenny Rivera, an associate judge on the state Court of Appeals, has participated remotely in the court's activities since the fall, when the state court system's vaccination mandate took effect and unvaccinated employees were barred from court facilities. She is now one of four state judges who face referral to the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct...."

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday that she had tested positive for Covid-19, and was 'feeling fine' despite some mild symptoms. 'I'm more grateful than ever for the protection vaccines can provide against serious illness. Please get vaccinated and boosted if you haven't already!' Clinton, 74, said in a pair of tweets. She said her husband, former President Bill Clinton, 75, tested negative 'and is feeling fine. He's quarantining until our household is fully in the clear. Movie recommendations appreciated!'"

Kaitlan Connis & Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Tuesday that she has tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time and is experiencing mild symptoms, less than one day before President Joe Biden is scheduled to depart for his trip to Brussels and Warsaw."

Beyond the Beltway

Nevada Senate Race. Nick Corasaniti, et al., of the New York Times: "Nevadans still have 231 days until they head to the polls in November. But Adam Laxalt, the former attorney general of Nevada and a Republican candidate for Senate, is already laying detailed groundwork to fight election fraud in his race -- long before a single vote has been cast or counted. In conversations with voters at an event at his campaign headquarters this month, Laxalt explained how he's vetting outside groups to help him establish election observer teams and map out a litigation strategy. 'I don't talk about that, but we're vetting which group we think is going to do better,' Laxalt told an attendee, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times from a person who attended the event and opposes Laxalt's candidacy."

Oklahoma. Hicham Raache of KFOR TV: "The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a measure Tuesday that would be a near total ban on abortions if signed into law. House Bill 4327 calls for a near total ban on abortions in Oklahoma and allows private citizens to sue any doctors who perform abortions."

Utah. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have barred young transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports, becoming the second Republican governor in two days to reject such legislation. Republican legislators, however, plan to override the veto on Friday, State Senator J. Stuart Adams, a Republican, said in a statement.... Three state legislatures -- in Kansas, Louisiana and North Dakota -- passed similar bills targeting transgender athletes last year that were ultimately vetoed by their governors. And on Monday, Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana, a Republican, vetoed a similar bill, saying it would likely have been challenged in court and would not have solved any pressing issue."

Way Beyond

Russia. Anton Troianovski & Valeriya Safronova of the New York Times: "A Russian court sentenced Aleksei A. Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison on Tuesday, imposing a new punishment on the imprisoned opposition leader at a time when the war in Ukraine has made him even more of a liability for ... Vladimir V. Putin. Prosecutors had claimed that Mr. Navalny, a relentless critic and frequent target of Mr. Putin, and Mr. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation -- which the Russian authorities banned as extremist last year -- had embezzled donations from supporters.... The fraud case was widely seen as a move by the Kremlin to keep him behind bars...." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "Rescuers found one of the flight recorders of the Boeing 737 plane that crashed in southern China with more than 130 people on board, officials said Wednesday, as regulators and the airline faced growing pressure to release more information about the disaster. Search efforts have been underway since the plane plummeted into a rural mountainside on Monday. The device recovered from the China Eastern Airlines plane was believed to be the cockpit voice recorder, officials said during a brief news conference on Wednesday. More fragments of the aircraft and body parts were also recovered, they added. No survivors have been found, and it is increasingly unlikely that anyone on board made it out alive."

CBS News: "A tornado tore through parts of New Orleans and its suburbs Tuesday night, flipping cars, ripping roofs off homes and killing at least one person.... Parts of St. Bernard Parish, which borders New Orleans to the southeast, appeared to take the brunt of the weather's fury, and that's where the fatality occurred.... Other funnels spawned by the same storm system had hit parts of Texas and Oklahoma, killing one person Monday and causing multiple injuries and widespread damage." A New York Times story is here.

March 22, 2022

~~~ Springtime for Climate Change Deniers. Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "Aided by unseasonably warm weather since mid-February, Washington's famed cherry blossoms hit peak bloom on Monday. This year';s peak is 10 days ahead of the recent 30-year average of March 31."

Late Morning Update:

New York Times reporters are live-updating the questioning/posturing in the Senate confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here.

Maria Varenikova & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Nearly a month into the fighting, one of the biggest surprises of the war in Ukraine is Russia's failure to defeat the Ukrainian Air Force. Military analysts had expected Russian forces to quickly destroy or paralyze Ukraine's air defenses and military aircraft, yet neither have happened. Instead, Top Gun-style aerial dogfights, rare in modern warfare, are now raging above the country.... The success of Ukrainian pilots has helped protect Ukrainian soldiers on the ground and prevented wider bombing in cities, since pilots have intercepted some Russian cruise missiles. Ukrainian officials also say the country's military has shot down 97 fixed-wing Russian aircraft. That number could not be verified but the crumpled remnants of Russian fighter jets have crashed into rivers, fields and houses.... Ukrainian fighter jets ... are vastly outnumbered: Russia is believed to fly some 200 sorties per day while Ukraine flies five to 10."

Adela Suliman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Forest fires broke out around the Chernobyl nuclear site, Ukraine's parliament said Monday, raising fears that radiation could spread from the crippled facility. Ukraine's minister of natural resources later told the Associated Press that the fires had been extinguished, easing the immediate alarm. At least seven fires within the plant's exclusion zone had been observed on satellite imagery from the European Space Agency, the parliament said in a statement. The lawmakers blamed Russian forces who captured the site in February for the blazes."

Anton Troianovski & Valeriya Safronova of the New York Times: "A Russian court sentenced Aleksei A. Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison on Tuesday, imposing a new punishment on the imprisoned opposition leader at a time when the war in Ukraine has made him even more of a liability for ... Vladimir V. Putin. Prosecutors had claimed that Mr. Navalny, a relentless critic and frequent target of Mr. Putin, and Mr. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation -- which the Russian authorities banned as extremist last year -- had embezzled donations from supporters.... The fraud case was widely seen as a move by the Kremlin to keep him behind bars...."

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Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia has used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, President Biden confirmed Monday, a move he suggested was in response to Moscow's stalled ground campaign. Russia said last week that it had twice launched the missiles, which travel faster than five times the speed of sound and have not previously been used in combat.... The Pentagon also said it has detected 'increased naval activity' in the northern Black Sea, where the port city of Odessa is bracing for a potential assault.... Western officials have said that the Kremlin, frustrated with its lack of gains on the ground, is now relying on strikes from afar to support its bloody invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in remarks Monday, said Russia has bombarded some of his country's cities beyond recognition and accused Russian military pilots of having 'emptiness instead of heart.' He also said that any political compromises needed to end the Russian assault would require Ukrainian voter approval via referendum." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here: "The Ukrainian military has claimed Russian forces have stockpiles of ammunition and food that will last for 'no more than three days' in its operational report this morning. Officials said the situation is similar with fuel.... Ukraine also claimed its forces have retaken the town of Makariv, just 50km west of Kyiv.... [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy told the Italian parliament that 'For Russian troops, Ukraine is the gates of Europe, where they want to break in.'... Zelenskiy has also tweeted that he has spoken to Pope Francis.... Residential areas in Odesa were reportedly targeted for the first time during the war on Monday.... Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel peace prize-winning editor of Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta has announced he will be putting his Nobel medal up for auction to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.... European Union leaders intend to set up a 'trust fund' for Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion and to help it rebuild after the war, according to a draft document prepared ahead of Thursday's EU summit. Ireland is preparing for up to 200,000 refugees from Ukraine."

Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden will travel to Belgium and Poland this week, seeking to hold together a Western alliance that is beginning to show potential cracks and making a symbolic appearance in a country whose leaders fear it could be a future target of Russian aggression. Biden will land in Brussels on Wednesday night, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-month mark with no sign of letting up.... Divisions are emerging between allies who want to supply offensive weapons such as fighter jets and others who are wary of escalating the confrontation with Moscow."

Andriy Yermak of the Zelensky administration, in a Washington Post op-ed: "While the United States, Poland and many other freedom-loving countries are standing firm with Ukraine, some states in Europe seem willing to accept a Ukraine partially occupied by Russian invaders -- anything so they can keep buying Russian gas and oil and conduct business as usual. But business as usual now means accepting Russians bombing maternity hospitals and theaters full of civilians taking shelter.... Many failed to predict the mass atrocities the Russian troops would commit despite their long history of absolute disregard for life, and lust for blood and destruction. Only the establishment of a no-fly zone to protect humanitarian corridors will stop the carnage.... The Ukrainian people have shown they can lead the struggle for democracy against tyranny. We just need more support."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Strikes on cities across Ukraine left a patchwork of death and destruction on Monday, including one that blasted a once-bustling shopping mall in Kyiv into a smoldering ruin with one of the most powerful explosions to hit the city since Russia's war on Ukraine began."

Jon Henley & Isobel Koshiw of the Guardian: "Ukraine has said it will never bow to ultimatums to surrender its cities, including devastated Mariupol, as authorities in Odesa accused Russian forces of striking residential areas in their first attack on the vital Black Sea port. After his government rejected out of hand a 5am Monday deadline to cease fighting for Mariupol, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the country would no more give up the besieged southern city than it would Kyiv or Kharkiv. 'We have an ultimatum with points in it -- "Follow it, and then we will end the war,"' Zelenskiy said in an interview with a Ukrainian broadcaster. 'Ukraine cannot fulfil that ultimatum.' The country would never accept Russian occupation, he said."

** "The Last Journalists in Mariupol." AP: "Mstyslav Chernov is a video journalist for The Associated Press. This is his account of the siege of Mariupol, as documented with photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and told to correspondent Lori Hinnant.... The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of names, including ours, and they were closing in. We were the only international journalists left in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and we had been documenting its siege by Russian troops for more than two weeks. We were reporting inside the hospital when gunmen began stalking the corridors. Surgeons gave us white scrubs to wear as camouflage. Suddenly at dawn, a dozen soldiers burst in: 'Where are the journalists, for fuck's sake?' I looked at their armbands, blue for Ukraine, and tried to calculate the odds that they were Russians in disguise. I stepped forward to identify myself. 'We're here to get you out,' they said." MB: This you should read.

Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "Water is so scarce [in Mariupol] that people are melting snow. Heating, electricity and gas have disappeared. People are chopping trees for firewood to fuel outdoor cooking stoves shared by neighbors. To walk from one street to another often means passing corpses, or fresh graves dug in parks or grassy medians.... Evacuation buses, including some carrying children, were shelled on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.... More than 300,000 [residents' remain, even as fighting has moved onto the streets of some neighborhoods.... Even as much of Ukraine still has internet access, and cellphone service, Mariupol is without either."

William Broad of the New York Times: "Today, both Russia and the United States have nuclear arms that are much less destructive [than those developed during the Cold War] -- their power just fractions of the Hiroshima bomb's force, their use perhaps less frightening and more thinkable. Concern about these smaller arms has soared as Vladimir V. Putin, in the Ukraine war, has warned of his nuclear might, has put his atomic forces on alert and has had his military carry out risky attacks on nuclear power plants. The fear is that if Mr. Putin feels cornered in the conflict, he might choose to detonate one of his lesser nuclear arms -- breaking the taboo set 76 years ago after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.... Washington expects more atomic moves from Mr. Putin in the days ahead."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden warned on Monday that Russia is exploring the possibility of waging potential cyberattacks against the United States in retaliation for economic penalties imposed on Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. In a statement issued days before he is set to travel to Brussels for a NATO summit, Mr. Biden encouraged private sector companies in the United States to strengthen their cybersecurity against a potential breach by Russia." Politico's story is here.

Christina Wilkie & Dan Mangan of CNBC: "The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan on Monday in Moscow to formally protest President Joe Biden's decision last week to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'war criminal.' Sullivan was told that Biden's accusation had put 'Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture,' according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry translated by NBC News."

You Mean, It's Not the Farmland? Jane Burbank in a New York Times op-ed: "Since the 1990s, plans to reunite Ukraine and other post-Soviet states into a transcontinental superpower have been brewing in Russia. A revitalized theory of Eurasian empire informs Mr. Putin's every move. The end of the Soviet Union disoriented Russia's elites.... Emerging from the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, [Eurasianism] posited Russia as a Eurasian polity formed by a deep history of cultural exchanges among people of Turkic, Slavic, Mongol and other Asian origins.... In 1920, the linguist Nikolai Trubetzkoy ... called on Russian intellectuals to ... build on the 'legacy of Chinggis Khan' to create a great continent-spanning Russian-Eurasian state.... Suppressed for decades in the Soviet Union, Eurasianism ... burst [back] into public awareness during the perestroika period of the late 1980s.... Eurasianism was injected directly into the bloodstream of Russian power in a variant developed by the self-styled philosopher Aleksandr Dugin.... Russia had a new opponent -- no longer just Europe, but the whole of the 'Atlantic' world led by the United States.... Mr. Dugin ... in [a] 1997 text [wrote that] Ukrainian sovereignty presented a 'huge danger to all of Eurasia.'... Mr. Putin has taken that message to heart. In 2013, he declared that Eurasia was a major geopolitical zone where Russia's 'genetic code' and its many peoples would be defended against 'extreme Western-style liberalism.'... The goal, plainly, is empire. And the line will not be drawn at Ukraine." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If this "philosophy" sounds odiously familiar, you may not be thinking of Nazis. You may be haunted instead by the theory of "American exceptionalism," a concept, BTW, embedded in the Republican party's platform. And although Republicans had no platform in 2020, Donald Trump put out a two-page manifesto in which he had only two educational goals and one of them was to "Teach American Exceptionalism."

George Bass in the Washington Post: "In 1986, near the end of the Soviet Union, a Russian satirical novelist tried to imagine the future of his homeland. He envisioned a head of state who had risen through the ranks of the KGB, used a war to cement his power, elevated his former security colleagues into positions of influence, claimed to derive authority from the Russian Orthodox Church and ruled Russia for decades. In other words, he predicted Vladimir Putin. The writer was Vladimir Voinovich, and his novel was 'Moscow 2042,' a dystopic satire about a man who takes a journey into the next century."

Marie: Yesterday I complained about the State Department's long delays in issuing visas, especially to refugees. Contributor Patrick pointed out that the problem wasn't only with State: "The big drag comes from DHS and the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. You can thank your congress for seeking to ensure your safety from all of those refugees, each of whom could be a terrorist, even the grandmas and babies. Boogedy boogedy." Here's an idea of the gauntlet(s) applicants have to run.

Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "A Russian state TV host attacked Arnold Schwarzenegger, days after the actor made a personal appeal to the people of Russia [to oppose Putin's war on Ukraine].... The Daily Beast reported that despite efforts to ensure the video did not go viral, it was viewed millions of times."

Mary Jalonick & Mark Sherman of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will face senators' questions for the first time Tuesday as Democrats push to quickly confirm the only Black female justice in the court's 233-year history." A New York Times story is here. C-SPAN coverage begins at 9 am ET.

Glenn Thrush & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ... vowed to make the words inscribed on [the Supreme Court's] edifice -- 'Equal Justice Under Law' -- 'a reality and not just an ideal' in opening remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.... In remarks that lasted just under 15 minutes, she committed to adopt a 'neutral stance' if confirmed and promised to continue to produce expansive, 'transparent' opinions so that 'each litigant knows that the judge in their case has heard them, whether or not their arguments prevail.' Judge Jackson spoke late on Monday afternoon, after hours of alternating celebrations of her achievements by Democrats and probing attacks from Republican leaders, who have acknowledged they do not have the votes to stop her. One by one, they lobbed a range of criticisms, including her work on behalf of defendants in criminal cases and her seat on the board of a school that 'pushes an anti-racist education program for white families,' according to Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican from Tennessee.... Judge Jackson, who sat impassively as senators made their speeches appeared at ease in a hearing room where she has successfully navigated three prior confirmations.... [Sen. Chuck] Grassley [(R-Iowa), the committee's ranking member,] was one of several Republicans who said on Monday that they were intent on not turning the hearing process into a 'circus' they associate with the politically toxic Senate confirmation hearings of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I liked Ted Cruz's [R-Texas] comment on the Kavanaugh Plaint: "No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits." Right. Where "dating habits" is a euphemism for "attempted rape" and other forms of sexual assault. Still, I hope Ted or Josh will ask Judge Jackson if she likes beer. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Judge Jackson's opening statement, as prepared, via CNN.

Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "Republican lawmakers are misleadingly portraying Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ... as uncommonly lenient on felons who possess images of child sexual abuse.... Here's a fact check." ~~~

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "'We won't try to turn this into a spectacle,' proposed Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the committee's ranking Republican. 'It won't be a circus,' promised Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). Even Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), a regular ringmaster, said 'this will not be a political circus.' Then the clown car rolled in. Republicans used their opening statements to portray [Judge] Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the high court, as not just a pedophile enabler but also a terrorist sympathizer with a 'hidden agenda' to indoctrinate Americans with the 'racist vitriol' of critical race theory.... Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) seemed to be trying to associate the nominee with a host of evils in an inchoate tirade about 'anarchists, rioters and left-wing street militias,' the 'breakdown of society,' and 'Soros prosecutors' who 'destroy our criminal justice system from within." ~~~

     ~~~ Funny part: a number of GOP senators congratulated Republicans in the audience for not raising a ruckus the way a few audience members did at the start of the Kavanaugh hearings. "There was a good reason for that: As the senators surely knew, the Jackson confirmation hearing is entirely closed to the public." ~~~

~~~ But Some Senators Have a Great Excuse! Blake Hounshell & Leah Askarinam of the New York Times: "Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a future president, the old saw goes.... Four Republican senators [-- Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley & Ben Sasse --] on the committee have flashed signs of larger aspirations.... And all approach these hearings knowing they are just as much onstage as [Judge] Jackson is. For the supremely ambitious, a Supreme Court nomination battle is an irresistible opportunity. It's a chance to build email lists, rustle up campaign cash and impress base voters."

Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Myanmar's military carried out actions that amount to genocide against the country's Rohingya Muslims, the Biden administration said on Monday, taking a long-delayed step to highlight what U.S. officials say was a premeditated attempt to wipe out a vulnerable minority.... Monday's declaration comes as the Biden administration attempts to keep paying attention to Asia, especially the countries in China's backyard, even as the war in Ukraine remains a priority. It could help bolster an ongoing genocide case against the Myanmar military at the International Court of Justice."

Benjamin Siegel & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "... Donald Trump's personal assistant in the White House, Nick Luna, appeared virtually on Monday before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, multiple sources tell ABC News. Luna, who served as Trump's body man in the West Wing, was initially subpoenaed by the committee in November. He was granted a short postponement in December but previously engaged with the committee before Monday's virtual appearance. The panel said Luna was with the former president on Jan. 6, and was nearby when Trump called former Vice President Mike Pence that morning and urged Pence not to certify the results of the 2020 election."

This Was Bound to Happen. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, The Daily Beast reported that the D.C. Metropolitan Police are investigating the so-called 'People's Convoy' after an allegation that one of the truckers in the group struck a local pedestrian. 'According to an incident report obtained and reviewed by The Daily Beast on Monday, Dupont Circle resident Kerry Lynn Bedard told D.C. police she was on the west side of the 1600 block of Connecticut Ave NW "when [the convoy member] struck her with his vehicle and drove on top of her right ankle,'" reported Zachary Petrizzo. 'For his part, the convoy member, Donald Bryan Thomas II of Butler, Ohio, who was driving a silver BMW 550i plastered with stickers like "TRUCKERS RULE!!! MSM LIES," claimed to police that he was merely "driving forward slowly when [Bedard] walked into the street and in front of his vehicle while yelling and then laid down in the roadway."'" The Daily Beast story is firewalled. It's here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "People who had covid-19 were at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes within a year than those who managed to avoid the coronavirus, according to a large review of patient records released Monday. The finding is true even for people who had less severe or asymptomatic forms of coronavirus infection, though the chances of developing new-onset diabetes were greater as the severity of covid symptoms increased, according to researchers who reviewed the records of more than 181,000 Department of Veterans Affairs patients diagnosed with coronavirus infections between March 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

David Lim of Politico: "The United States could yet again find itself with too few Covid-19 tests if Congress fails to authorize new funds and cases surge, warn White House officials, diagnostic manufacturers and public health experts.... Covid-19 infections are rebounding in several European countries and Biden officials are monitoring infections in the United Kingdom, where cases have jumped more than 36 percent over the past week. Meanwhile, the number of molecular tests shipped each week by major manufacturers in the United States has fallen by more than 50 percent over the last month." MB: Don't blame "Congress." Blame Republicans.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska. Nathaniel Herz & James Brooks of the Anchorage Daily News: "Alaska politicians, election officials and congressional staffers scrambled Monday to adapt to one of the biggest shifts in the state's political landscape in a half-century: the death of GOP U.S. Rep. Don Young. Young, who was 88, was Alaska's sole member of Congress for 49 years.... Gov. Mike Dunleavy and other officials outlined a preliminary schedule [to include special elections to fill Young's seat] on a Sunday conference call with legislators, according to multiple participants.

Missouri Senate Race. Neil Vigdor & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Sheena Chestnut Greitens, "the former wife of Eric Greitens, a leading Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, has accused him of physically abusing her and one of their sons in a sworn affidavit that could have serious implications in the race for the seat of Senator Roy Blunt, who is retiring. Mr. Greitens, whose campaign denied the allegations on Monday, abruptly resigned as governor in 2018 amid a swirling scandal that involved a sexual relationship with his former hairdresser and allegations that he had taken an explicit photograph of her without her permission. He was also accused by prosecutors of misusing his charity's donor list for political purposes. But until the latest revelation, his attempt at a political comeback had appeared improbably successful, despite efforts by Missouri's Republican establishment to block it.... Mr. Greitens, 47, a former Navy SEAL, had aligned squarely with ... Donald J. Trump..., [MB: whose former wife Ivana Trump accused him to sexual abuse, too, before she retracted the charge]. The AP's story is here.

Way Beyond

Russia. Reuters, via the Guardian: "Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been found guilty of large-scale fraud and contempt by a Russian court. The move on Tuesday means that Navalny..., Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, is likely to face a substantial extension to his jail sentence. He is already serving a two-and-a-half year sentence at a prison camp east of Moscow for parole violations related to charges he says were fabricated to thwart his political ambitions. A further 13 years could now be added due to the latest criminal case against him, which he has also dismissed as politically motivated. A gaunt Navalny stood besides his lawyers in a room filled with prison security officers as the judge read out the accusations against him. The 45-year-old seemed unfazed as he flipped through court documents."

News Lede

New York Times: "Rescue workers searched a remote mountain valley in southern China on Tuesday for any survivors in the crash of a passenger plane carrying 132 people that plunged more than 20,000 feet in just over a minute. No survivors have been found so far, a state broadcaster said on Tuesday, the morning after Monday's crash. China Eastern Airlines, which operated the Boeing 737-800, and the central government are investigating the cause of the crash, which is likely to be the country's biggest aviation disaster in more than a decade." The AP's report is here.

March 21, 2022

Elena Moore of NPR: "Confirmation hearings begin Monday for Ketanji Brown Jackson, the federal judge President Biden has picked to fill Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's seat.... The hearings, led by the Senate Judiciary Committee, is set to last four days, with Jackson appearing in front of lawmakers during the first three.... The hearings begin at 11 a.m. EDT [Monday].

Putin's War Crimes, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukraine rejected Russia's ultimatum that Mariupol surrender after weeks of Russian bombardments and days of street-by-street guerrilla warfare, which have terrorized residents and hampered rescue and evacuation efforts. Russia has threatened the city with more assaults and a 'military tribunal.' Moscow says it is bent on seizing Mariupol, which would be its first strategic victory in a war that appears to be approaching a stalemate in many other parts of the country.... As the human toll of the war continues to climb -- roughly one in four people in Ukraine have been forced to leave their homes, according to the United Nations -- diplomatic efforts towards a resolution have made only minimal advances." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here.

Cara Anna of the AP: "Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city. Even as Russia intensified its attempt to bombard Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict grinding into a war of attrition, with Russia continuing to barrage cities. In the capital Kyiv, Russian shelling devastated a shopping center near the city center, killing at least eight people and leaving a sea of rubble amid scarred high-rises. Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant in northeastern Ukraine, causing an ammonia leak, and hit a military training base in the west with cruise missiles." ~~~

~~~ Bomb Anything, Anybody, Anywhere. Guardian & AFP: "Residents of the northern Ukrainian town of Novoselytsya should seek shelter after shelling caused an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, an official said, as intense fighting with Russian forces in the area continues. According to an update from the Sumy regional military administration, the site of the Sumykhimprom plant, which produces fertilisers, was shelled at 3.55am on Monday morning.... Rescue workers were fixing a damaged pipeline and an employee at the plant was reportedly injured."

Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "Scores of exhausted workers at the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who have worked for more than three weeks without a break while Russian troops have occupied the facility, were able to change shifts and go home Sunday, the plant said. About 300 people -- including technicians, guards and others -- have been effectively trapped at the facility since Feb. 24, when Russian forces took control. The staff has not been able to rotate work shifts as usual, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. But on Sunday, after about 600 hours inside, 64 people were allowed to leave, the plant said in a post on Facebook, where it has been delivering periodic updates on the perilous situation. Fifty shift workers were among those allowed to go, the plant said, and they were replaced by 46 'employee-volunteers.' It is unclear when or whether the remaining workers will be able to rotate out."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Firing rockets and bombs from the land, air and sea, Russian forces continued to bombard the besieged coastal city of Mariupol on Sunday even as they were also forcibly deporting thousands of residents of against their will to Russia, according to city officials and witnesses. With the Russian advance on Ukraine's major cities stalled and satellite imagery showing soldiers digging into defensive positions around Kyiv, the fierce fighting in the coastal city showed no signs of easing. The bombing of a theater where an estimated 1,300 people were seeking refuge on Thursday was followed on Sunday, according to local officials, by a strike on a drama school where 400 people were hiding." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to CNN, some reports have it that the Ukrainians who have been forced into Russia are being sent to concentration camps deep inside Russia.

Putin's War on Truth. Steven Myers & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "In the tense weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian officials denied that it planned anything of the sort, denouncing the United States and its NATO allies for stoking panic and anti-Russian hatred. When it did invade, the officials denied it was at war. Since then, the Kremlin has cycled through a torrent of lies to explain why it had to wage a 'special military operation' against a sovereign neighbor. Drug-addled neo-Nazis. Genocide. American biological weapons factories. Birds and reptiles trained to carry pathogens into Russia. Ukrainian forces bombing their own cities, including theaters sheltering children.... Using a barrage of increasingly outlandish falsehoods..., Vladimir V. Putin has created an alternative reality, one in which Russia is at war not with Ukraine but with a larger, more pernicious enemy in the West. Even since the war began, the lies have gotten more and more bizarre, transforming from claims that 'true sovereignty' for Ukraine was possible only under Russia, made before the attacks, to those about migratory birds carrying bioweapons." ~~~

~~~ Teach Your Children Well. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "In a dingy Russian classroom with worn-out rugs, elementary school students lined up to form the shape of the letter Z: the symbol used on much of Russia's military equipment in Ukraine and an emblem of support at home, showing up on everywhere from bus stops to car stickers to corporate logos. Now it has become part of the classroom lessons as the Kremlin expands its anti-Ukraine propaganda to students as young as kindergarten. It's another front in ... Vladimir Putin's sweeping crackdowns to criminalize dissent and enforce an unquestioning brand of patriotism even as Russia grows increasingly isolated.... Russia's education minister, Sergey Kravtsov, openly described schools as central to Moscow's fight to 'win the information and psychological war' against the West."

Jane Arraf of the New York Times: "... tens of thousands of young, urban, multilingual Russian professionals who are able to work remotely from almost anywhere, many of them in information technology or freelancers in creative industries," are leaving Russia. Many are going to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia to plot out their next moves. "The speed and scale of the exodus are evidence of a seismic shift that the invasion set off inside Russia." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Masha Gessen has an article in the New Yorker on a similar topic. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Marc Fisher, et al., of the Washington Post: "... the reality is setting in for Ukrainian Americans eager to bring their relatives to safety that despite government pledges of solidarity, getting into the United States is a lengthy and cumbersome process that remains largely unchanged from before the war, according to those trying to bring relatives into the country and advocates who are helping them.... Some lawmakers and advocacy groups are urging the Biden administration to expedite the arrival of Ukrainians. But officials say the refugee system is not built for speed, as the U.S. vetting process often takes years." MB: Our State Department bureaucracy has been a quagmire for decades. There's no excuse for it. State left behind thousands of Afghans because of the sometimes four-year process of vetting even our known friends there. Even if you're an American citizen, you may have had to wait months for a new passport or visa (to a friendly country). (Also linked yesterday.)

Israel. Anna Getmansky & Eugene Finkel in a Haaretz op-ed: "Military supplies that Ukraine has received since the outbreak of the war, such as anti-tank Javelins, anti-aircraft Stingers, artillery and light weapons are ... not designed to counter the missile and the artillery threat [to civilian targets]. One Western country has the capacity, both military and civilian, to help Ukraine to protect civilians. This country is Israel. Unfortunately, it prefers not to do so [despite requests from Kyiv].... Israel ... has deep expertise in protecting civilians from missile and artillery threats. This is why the U.S. has tried -- so far unsuccessfully -- to convince Israel to sell Ukraine the Iron Dome air-defense system that Israel developed with American funding.... Iron Dome is just a single component of a multilayer response that Israel has developed to counter ballistic and artillery threats.... Israel [has] sought to remain 'neutral,' i.e. not to do anything that would provoke Moscow's ire.... Israel's concerns are valid, but the country's unique ability to help Ukraine save civilians lives outweighs them. Israel should revise its current stand, and act." ~~~

~~~ Joseph Federman of the AP: "Ukraine's president on Sunday called on Israel to take a stronger stand against Russia, delivering an emotional appeal that compared Russia's invasion of his country to the actions of Nazi Germany. In a speech to Israeli lawmakers over Zoom, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was time for Israel, which has emerged as a key mediator between Ukraine and Russia, to finally take sides. He said Israel should follow its Western allies by imposing sanctions and providing arms to Ukraine. 'One can ask for a long time why we can't accept weapons from you or why Israel didn't impose sanctions against Russia, why you are not putting pressure on Russian business,' he said. 'It is your choice, dear brothers and sisters.'... 'Everyone in Israel knows that your missile defense is the best. Everyone knows that ... you know how to defend your national interests, interests of your people and you can definitely help defend ours,'..."

Marie: Last week, someone wrote in the Comments that Arnold Schwarzenegger was exhibiting delusions of grandeur when he made a video urging Russians to oppose the war. As is too often the case, I didn't know enough about the topic to address it. However, this morning Jake Tapper said on CNN that Schwarzenegger has a huge following in Russia. So it would seem his video might do some good, after all.

Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Five years after Myanmar's military began a killing spree against ethnic Rohingya, driving nearly one million people from their country, the United States has concluded that the widespread campaign of rape, crucifixions, and drownings and burnings of families and children amounted to genocide. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is set to announce the determination -- a legal designation for crimes that American investigators documented in 2018 -- at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Monday. It almost certainly will trigger additional economic sanctions, limits on aid and other penalties against Myanmar's military junta. The Tatmadaw overthrew Myanmar's civilian government and its nascent democratic efforts, led by the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in February 2021. In one of its first acts in office, the Biden administration declared that the military takeover amounted to a coup." An AP story is here.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Republicans are intensifying their attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after weeks of publicly reserving judgment on President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, ahead of historic hearings on the first Black woman to be put forward as a justice. Republican leaders, wary of engaging in a potentially racially charged spectacle that could prompt a political backlash, have promised a more dignified review of the latest Supreme Court candidate, after a series of bitter clashes over the court. But in recent days, with the approach of the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on her nomination that begin on Monday, their tone has shifted." MB: Leading the pack of wolves in that smarmy little insurrectionist Josh Hawley. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yesterday, someone wrote in complaining that I was being too cruel to wolves. I take his point. I work at this damned job 8 hours a day, in the neighborhood of 365 days a year. I do it not to influence people but to provide a helpful guide to anyone who would like a quick guide to what's going on in American politics. In return, I deeply appreciate the thoughtful commentary that many of you write. I also appreciate constructive criticism, and a complaint about being mean to wolves is valid. However, when a person reciprocates 35,000 hours of work with one complaint (which he attaches to a two-day-old page, BTW), well, you know, he can fuck off. So wolves it is, though, to be fair, they deserve a better advocate.

Christine Chung of the New York Times: "Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving member of the U.S. Supreme Court, was hospitalized with an infection on Friday after experiencing flulike symptoms, the court said in a statement on Sunday. Justice Thomas was being treated with intravenous antibiotics at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, the statement said. 'His symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably, and he expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two,' it said." An AP report is here.

Ellie Silverman of the Washington Post: "The 'People's Convoy' of truck drivers and supporters that has been honking its way around D.C.-area roads and highways, backing up traffic in protest of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, has taken aim at government leaders, pharmaceutical and technology companies and the mainstream media. Now, as the convoy encounters roadblocks on its routes, it has a new perceived enemy: D.C. police leadership. This progression reflects the right-wing movement's penchant to search for obstacles to overcome in its fight for vague yet lofty goals like 'freedom,' extremism researchers say.... [At first, convoy organizers said they would not go into the District.] Then last week, they switched tactics and set their aims on the District, seemingly provoked by D.C. police blocking interstate exits into downtown Washington, a move those in the convoy call a violation of their First Amendment rights." Because the D.C. police were instrumental in saving the Capitol from Trump's insurrectionists, many in the convoy already despise the Metropolitan Police. ~~~

~~~ Pedal Power! A lone bicyclist slowed down the fake "Freedom Convoy" Saturday as the truckers attempted to disrupt traffic again in D.C. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. And do see his commentary in yesterday's thread. Funny thing is, the truckers were all pissed off when somebody disrupted their own disruption. Lacking any self-awareness or sense of humor, the truckers began blaring their horns at the biker. Turning up the volume is the bully's Plan B. At one point, a pick-up truck pulled up alongside the leisurely bike-rider (who, sadly, was not wearing a mask!) & the driver asked him what he was doing. "You've got a bunch of trucks behind you!" the pick-up driver shouted. The biker responded, "Say what? I can't hear you. It's too loud!" BTW, this is not the first time a biker has stymied a fake "Freedom Convoy." Six weeks ago in Vancouver, B.C., courier Tyrone Siglos slowed down & stopped a convoy in that city. He rode his bike slowly, completely stopping from time to time in order to split up the line of trucks between lights. He said he stopped for as long as a half-hour at one point. (Also linked yesterday.)

Hunter Walker of Rolling Stone: "Donald Trump's White House Chief of Staff [Mark Meadows] and a national campaign spokesperson [Katrina Pierson] were involved in efforts to encourage the president's supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That's according to a person who says he overheard a key planning conversation between top Trump officials and the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally [-- Kylie Kremer, director of Women For America First --] on the White House Ellipse -- and has since testified to House investigators about the phone call.... Scott Johnston -- who worked on the team that helped plan the Ellipse rally -- ... claims that leading figures in the Trump administration and campaign deliberately planned to have crowds converge on the Capitol, where the 2020 election was being certified -- and 'make it look like they went down there on their own.'" Firewalled. The Raw Story has a summary report here.

More Trumpish Dirty Tricks, with a WhoDunIt Element. Michael Schmidt & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "... new details of Project Veritas's effort to establish that [a personal] diary [they were about to purchase for $40,000] was [written by Joe Biden's daughter Ashley] Biden are elements of a still-emerging story about how Trump supporters and a group known for its undercover sting operations worked to expose personal information about the Biden family at a crucial stage of the 2020 campaign. Drawn from interviews, court filings and other documents, the new information adds further texture to what is known about an episode that has led to a criminal investigation of Project Veritas by federal prosecutors who have suggested they have evidence that the group was complicit in stealing Ms. Biden's property and in transporting stolen goods across state lines. And by showing that Project Veritas employed deception rather than traditional journalistic techniques in the way it approached Ms. Biden ... the new accounts could further complicate the organization's assertions in court filings that it should be treated as a publisher and granted First Amendment protections." An interesting read.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Vatican. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Pope Francis on Saturday issued a new constitution, nearly a decade in the making, to govern the bureaucracy that runs the Roman Catholic Church. The constitution, running 54 pages, newly stipulates that baptized lay Catholics, including women, can lead departments traditionally headed by cardinals and increases institutional efforts to protect minors by incorporating the pope's clergy abuse commission into the church's government. The new text -- titled 'Praedicate Evangelium,' or 'Proclaiming the Gospel' -- concluded a process that has, over the years, introduced in dribs and drabs overhauls regarding Vatican finances and the consolidation of Vatican offices. It reflects Francis' emphasis on a more pastoral and ground-up church, and leaves a concrete mark on the church's workings."