-Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who compared the insurrection to a "normal tourist visit"

One of the pitfalls of holding diplomatic talks across the world’s longest table, it turns out, is that parties risk leaving the meeting with no clear idea of what was actually said. Something for Intimidating State Furniture designers to keep in mind.
 

• French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured him during their five-hour meeting on Monday that Russia would not escalate the Ukraine crisis. The Kremlin quickly took the air out of that balloon, denying that Putin and Macron had reached any agreement to de-escalate. Macron continued on to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.
   
• As Macron expressed optimism that a peaceful resolution could eventually be reached, Russia’s threatening military buildup continued. The Russian Defense Military said Tuesday that it had dispatched six warships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, off the coast of Ukraine. The statement said that the ships would just be there to take part in planned military exercises, a cover story that Russia has used in the past prior to invasions.
   
• But an invasion isn’t a sure thing, and there are some indications that the idea isn’t wildly popular within the Russian military. The head of All-Russian Officers Assembly, a retired Russian general, wrote an open letter to Putin arguing against war in Ukraine and calling for officers to resign. Some Russian officials have also reportedly been grumbling that a full-scale invasion would be more difficult and expensive than Putin and Kremlin leaders realize, according to U.S. intelligence.

European diplomats are increasingly looking towards the Minsk accords as a possible means of resolving the immediate crisis.
 

• The Minsk accords were signed by the leaders of Russia and Ukraine in 2015 after Putin annexed Crimea, as a way to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine. The accords were never fully implemented—in large part because no one could agree on what they meant (let’s get Europe some shorter tables)—and the ceasefires never actually held. Macron, among other European officials, hopes that dusting them off and negotiating an agreeable interpretation might provide an offramp to the current standoff.
   
• Macron said on Tuesday that both Putin and Zelensky had committed to honoring the Minsk accords, but that’s just a starting point. In Russia’s view, the accords would give Russia-backed proxies considerable influence in Ukrainian politics—including the power to reject NATO membership for Ukraine, one of Putin’s main demands. In Ukraine’s interpretation, Russia’s influence would be far more limited; Ukraine’s foreign minister has repeatedly ruled out any agreement that would give Russia veto power over Ukrainian foreign policy decisions. 

The West is ultimately in the dark about whether Putin is pretending to humor diplomatic efforts while he finishes assembling military forces for an invasion, or setting the stage for a more drawn-out conflict. Either way, an enduring, peaceful resolution seems to be off the (extremely long) table.

ALL CAPS NBA is back with a new video! Check out the latest episode where Jason covers the ongoing Ben Simmons saga, discusses veganism and the rise in vegan athletes with the co-founder of Flagrant Magazine Ashton Butuso, and talks about the Utah Jazz with Salt Lake Tribune journalist Andy Larsen. Subscribe to the Takeline YouTube channel to never miss an episode.

The Canadian antivax trucker standoff escalated on Tuesday as trucks blocked off the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing in North America. The bridge handles about 27 percent of trade between the U.S. and Canada, and it’s particularly critical to the car industry: Factories in Detroit and Ontario rely on it for the constant shuttling of parts across the border. Many essential workers, including Canadian nurses working in Detroit-area hospitals, also rely on it to get back and forth. Senior Canadian officials have criticized U.S. Republicans for encouraging the protests and, in the cases of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX), pledging to investigate GoFundMe for freezing donations to the convoy’s organizers. For all the noise the truckers are making, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s COVID measures are overwhelmingly popular: A new Ipsos poll found that 67 percent of Canadians are in favor (sorry, “favour”) of more restrictions on those who are unvaccinated.

• Second gentleman Doug Emhoff was evacuated from a Black History Month event at a Washington, DC, high school due to a bomb threat. Teachers and students were also cleared from the building.
   
• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended the RNC’s use of the term “legitimate political discourse” to describe January 6, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that what occurred was “a violent insurrection,” but mostly objected to the RNC “singling out members of our party.”
   
• House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) pledged to investigate Donald Trump’s illegal hoard of White House records, which would pair nicely with an investigation into the many documents he destroyed.
   
• Top White House science adviser Eric Lander resigned on Monday after an internal investigation found that he had bullied his subordinates. Earlier in the day, the White House had said that Lander would stay in his role with “corrective actions.”
   
• The Justice Department has arrested a couple in connection with the 2016 hack of the cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitfinex, and seized more than $3.6 billion in bitcoin. The couple has not yet been charged for their most heinous crime of all, this cursed rap video.
   
• Top military commanders testified that senior White House and State Department officials failed to grasp the Taliban’s determination to swiftly take over Afghanistan, and resisted efforts to prepare an earlier evacuation of embassy staff and Afghan allies.
   
• California’s indoor mask mandate will end next week, though local governments can keep their own masking requirements in place.
   
• Peter Thiel will step down from the board of Meta to spend more time with his fascist midterm candidates.
   
• Today in Postmaster General Louis DeJoy: Cartoon Villain, the new USPS trucks would be illegal if they weighed one pound less, because of how much they pollute.
   
• An independent American hacker in pajamas knocked out North Korea’s internet to get even after state-sponsored spies targeted him, in the unmade '90s hacker movie we all deserve.
   
• Here are the 2022 Oscar nominees, led by Power of the Dog with 12 nominations.

The Republican Attorneys General Association accepted an illegal $50,000 contribution from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s antivax group, an alarming relationship under any circumstances. As a 501(c)(3) charity, Children’s Health Defense—a leading antivax organization that has a history of targeting minority groups with disinformation—is prohibited from donating to political campaigns or groups that boost political candidates. Children’s Health Defense claims to have been ignorant of that law when it made a contribution in order to gain access to GOP attorneys general and brief them on “health policy issues.” The goals of RAGA and RFK Jr.’s disinformation factory recently converged, with 24 Republican attorneys general aggressively fighting President Biden’s vaccine mandates, and RAGA’s fundraising arm embracing far-right extremism. The Democratic Attorneys General Association has called on RAGA to return the money.

In 2022 mental health is finally a thing, especially as people are not feeling like their normal selves. Let’s support one another and talk openly. Whether or not therapy is your thing, knowing it’s available and affordable is important, for you or perhaps a loved one.  

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You can privately talk to someone if your stress is too much to manage, you’re battling a temper, having relationship issues, anxiety, depression, etc… Whatever you need, there’s no more shame in these normal human struggles. We take care of our bodies, why not our minds, too? Without a healthy mind, being truly happy and at peace is HARD.

BetterHelp is customized online therapy that offers video, phone and even live chat sessions with your therapist, so you don’t have to see anyone on camera if you don’t want to. It’s much more affordable than in-person therapy and you can start communicating with your therapist in under 48 hours.

It’s always a good time to invest in yourself, because you are your greatest asset. See if online therapy is for you by heading to BetterHelp.com/crooked for 10% off your first month.

A spinal implant developed by Swiss scientists allowed a paralyzed man with a completely severed spine to walk again.

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected Republicans’ second set of gerrymandered legislative maps.

Puerto Rico teachers will get a temporary $1,000 monthly salary increase, after 70 percent of teachers joined a protest for higher wages, better pensions, and improved working conditions.

Black business ownership in the U.S. has risen almost 30 percent from pre-pandemic levels, with Black women driving the surge.