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Tuesday, February 15, 2022
BY SARAH LAZARUS & CROOKED MEDIA


** -Mark Zuckerberg's ([link removed]) nautical new company value
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Russia claimed to have begun withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border on Tuesday, which would be a significant de-escalation, but Western leaders have responded with a skeptical, “Huge if true.”

* In a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that some Russian units were returning to their bases ([link removed]) after completing military drills, and that he was open to continuing diplomatic talks. At the same time, Putin didn’t commit to fully withdrawing troops from the border, and military exercises continued. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he saw grounds for “cautious optimism,” but needed some receipts: “So far we have not seen any sign of de-escalation on the ground.”

* President Biden echoed NATO’s uncertainty ([link removed]) about Russian troop movements in an address from the White House a few hours later: “That would be good, but we have not yet verified that.” Biden said that Russian forces “remain very much in a threatening position,” with 150,000 troops positioned on three sides of Ukraine, and noted that while he held out hope for diplomacy, “an invasion remains distinctly possible.”

* Biden warned Russia that it would face painful economic sanctions in the event of an attack on Ukraine, and sought to prepare Americans for the possibility that they might face higher energy prices as a result: “To be clear, if Russia decides to invade that will also have consequences here at home, but the American people understand that defending democracy and liberty is never without cost.”

As world leaders awaited verification of Putin’s comments, a wave of cyberattacks kept Ukraine on edge.

* A series of hacks knocked at least 10 Ukrainian websites offline ([link removed]) on Tuesday, including those of the armed forces, defense ministry, and the county’s two largest state banks. Cybersecurity experts said that the cyberattacks seemed to be part of the campaign of harassment that Russia has encouraged, but that they weren’t particularly sophisticated, and it’s not clear whether Russia was behind them. Should Putin decide to launch a military assault, Russian government hackers likely already have the ability ([link removed]) to disrupt critical Ukrainian military and infrastructure networks, according to newly declassified U.S. intelligence.

* Russia also appears to have made inroads in the right-wing media ecosystem (beyond noted authoritarian-ass-kisser Tucker Carlson, even). U.S. intelligence officials accused the far-right financial-news website Zero Hedge ([link removed]) , which has 1.2 million Twitter followers, of spreading Kremlin propaganda. The website has published a number of articles from a foundation with alleged ties to Russian intelligence. Zero Hedge said that it tries to “publish a wide spectrum of views that cover both sides of a given story,” and denied having any links to Russian spies.



If Putin wasn’t lying through his teeth about a partial troop withdrawal, it’s the biggest indicator yet that he’s open to ending the standoff without starting a war. Without more information, that remains a pretty big if.

This week on Takeline, Jason and Renee recap the Super Bowl with ESPN Daily Host Pablo Torre and NFL reporter with The Athletic Arif Hasan and discuss the housing issues involved with hosting the game in LA. Listen to new episodes of Takeline every Tuesday, wherever you get your podcasts ([link removed]) .
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The families of nine victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have reached a $73 million settlement with Remington Arms ([link removed]) , which made the assault rifle used in the attack. The families filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2015, arguing that Remington violated state consumer law by marketing the weapon to younger, at-risk men—like the Sandy Hook shooter—in ads and violent video games. A central aim of the lawsuit was to expose the gun industry to more scrutiny and prevent future mass shootings: In addition to the financial settlement, Remington agreed to let the families release internal company documents they obtained during the lawsuit, including ones that show how it marketed that gun. The case could provide an important roadmap for other relatives of shooting victims to get around broad federal protections for gun manufacturers, and successfully hold them
accountable.
* Senate Republicans delayed confirmation votes on President Biden’s five Federal Reserve nominees ([link removed]) , in a tantrum over Biden’s decision to nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the top Wall Street regular. Raskin has pledged to focus on how climate change threatens the financial system.

* Election officials have had to reject nearly 38 percent of mail-in ballots in Harris County, TX ([link removed]) , over ID requirements created by the state’s new Republican-authored voter-suppression law.

* The trucker blockade in Coutts, Alberta has ended ([link removed]) , reopening another U.S. border crossing. Fudge yes!

* Louisville activist Quintez Brown has been charged with attempted murder and wanton endangerment ([link removed]) in the attempted shooting of Democratic mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg.

* Prince Andrew has settled a sexual-abuse lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre ([link removed]) , who says she was trafficked to him by Jeffrey Epstein, for an undisclosed sum and a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.

* Fox News has been loudly lying its ass off about Bill Barr-appointed Special Counsel John Durham’s latest court filing ([link removed]) , falsely claiming it showed that the Clinton campaign “infiltrated” Trump’s White House servers to spy on him. Hot nonsense, top to bottom, but a convenient distraction from stories like “Trump Destroys Classified Documents” and “Trump’s Accounting Firm Fires Him Over Gargantuan Fraud Schemes.”

* Tina Peters, the recently-arrested, Trumpy clerk for Mesa County, CO, announced she’s running for secretary of state ([link removed]) .

* San Francisco police have been using DNA from rape kits to arrest sexual-assault victims for crimes ([link removed]) , San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said on Monday—a surefire way to discourage rape survivors from seeking justice.

* UC Berkeley said it may have to slash its incoming fall class by over 3,000 seats ([link removed]) under a recent court order to freeze enrollment. The ruling came after a local NIMBY group sued the school, arguing that its expansion plans would raise housing prices and harm the environment.

* After major companies froze donations to Republicans who objected to certifying the election results, lobbyists for at least 13 of those companies continued to make personal donations ([link removed]) to them.

* Maybe those lawmakers learned their lesson anyway? (Touches earpiece) Ah, ok, it seems Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is selling a January 6 fistpump mug ([link removed]) .

A militia-backed far-right group has won a recall vote in Shasta County, CA ([link removed]) , and aims to use its victory as a model for other extremists seeking to replace less wild-eyed local officials. The “Recall Shasta” effort targeted Leonard Moty, a long-serving GOP supervisor and former police chief. Moty opposed COVID restrictions, just not vehemently enough: Far-right activists were pissed at him and two other supervisors for voting to censure their colleagues for breaking the county’s few existing COVID rules, and for declining to send a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) opposing state vaccine mandates, in addition to voting down mandates for the county. With the vocal support of militia member Carlos Zapata and a hefty investment from a multimillionaire with a personal vendetta, the recall effort appears to have succeeded in ousting Moty in order to elect a
far-right replacement—with the whole saga chronicled in a terrible docuseries, as a template for likeminded groups around the country to study.
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A New York patient ([link removed]) has become the first woman whom scientists have likely cured of HIV using a novel stem-cell transplant method.

Vaccination during pregnancy ([link removed]) helps protect infants from COVID, according to a new CDC study.

The Lincoln, NE, city council ([link removed]) voted to amend its city code to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Patricia Guerrero ([link removed]) will become the first Latina judge to serve on the California Supreme Court, if confirmed.
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