-Charlie Kirk, on living in the new Nazi Germany

After a moment of cautious hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin was looking for an offramp from the Ukraine crisis, the U.S. and NATO have come to the unfortunate conclusion that this guy is not on the level. 
 

• Western officials have accused Putin of lying about a partial withdrawal of forces from the Ukrainian border, and U.S. officials said that Russia had in fact deployed 7,000 more troops and stocked up on blood supplies. President Biden said Thursday that “every indication we have is they’re prepared to go into Ukraine,” and that the U.S. expects Russia to attack “in the next several days.”
   
• Speaking at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Russia could create a false-flag operation as a pretext for invasion, which might include a staged terrorist bombing within Russia, or a “fake, even a real, attack using chemical weapons.” Blinken implicitly acknowledged that the global community has reason to distrust the U.S. by contrasting the warning he issued today from former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s discredited pre-Iraq War address to the Security Council in 2003: “Let me be clear. I am here today not to start a war, but to prevent one.”
   
• Escalating violence in eastern Ukraine on Thursday may have been part of Russia’s apparent plan to justify an attack, U.S. officials warned. Among multiple, coordinated shelling incidents along the frontline, Russian-backed separatists launched an artillery strike that damaged a kindergarten building and wounded three civilian adults. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack “a big provocation,” while pro-Russian authorities in the region accused Kyiv of staging it, and separatists claimed they had come under fire themselves.

Russia has also ratcheted up tensions with the U.S., in spite of Putin’s claims that he’s stoked for more diplomacy.
 

• The Russian government has expelled Bart Gorman, the second highest-ranking official at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, the State Department revealed on Thursday. A department spokesperson said that Gorman’s expulsion from Russia was “unprovoked and we consider this an escalatory step and are considering our response.”
   
• Meanwhile, over in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body, the Senate attempted to pass a non-binding resolution (or, a sternly-worded letter) calling on Biden to “impose significant costs” on Russia if it invades Ukraine, after senators failed to reach an agreement on an actual sanctions package. Even that resolution is probably toast, after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) threatened to block passage of the measure unless it incorporated his unnecessary amendments. 
   

TL;DR: It’s not looking great. Putin could still change course, but Western officials’ hopes for a de-escalation of the standoff have quickly faded, and Russia’s staged pretext to start a new war may already be under construction. 

Catch up on the latest episode of America Dissected! This week, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is joined by author and organizer Heather McGhee to talk about her book The Sum of Us that discusses how racism has destroyed collective efforts, from swimming pools to insurance pools, and what that means for public health and the pandemic. New episodes of America Dissected drop every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts.

A New York judge ruled that disgraced former President Donald Trump and two of his large adult children must testify under oath as part of a civil investigation into the Trump Organization. Lawyers for Trump, Don Jr., and Ivanka tried to get the court to toss out their subpoenas from Attorney General Letitia James’s office, arguing that James was politically biased against Trump and improperly using her civil inquiry to help gather evidence for a parallel criminal investigation. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron shot down that request, ruling that “this argument completely misses the mark.” James has asked to interview the Trumps in the next three weeks, though Trump’s lawyer said he plans to appeal the decision.

• The Senate has passed another short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown on Friday night, after Republicans tried to force votes on culture war issues like vaccine mandates and imaginary federally-funded crack pipes. 
   
• A Washington, DC police lieutenant has been placed on leave amid an investigation into his alleged communications with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.
   
• Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) has signed into law a bill that effectively bans mask mandates in schools, by allowing parents to opt out. The bill also requires schools to stay open for in-person instruction.
   
• Police officers have poured into downtown Ottawa and warned antivax protesters to clear out or face criminal charges. Meanwhile, after MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell and his truckful of pillows were denied entry into Canada, Lindell has devised a plan to airdrop pillows to the truckers “with little parachutes.” 
   
• An Amazon union-avoidance official threatened to slash pay to the minimum wage at New York City’s largest Amazon warehouse if the workers there unionize, an intimidation tactic that was surreptitiously recorded and later leaked. 
   
• Tennessee Republicans have introduced a spectacularly normal bill that would designate people with enhanced handgun-carry permits as law enforcement. Not to worry, there are only 686,348 active enhanced handgun-carry permit holders in Tennessee!
   
• Judge J. Michelle Childs once sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for selling 8.73 ounces of weed, in the latest clue that President Biden can probably do better in his search for a Supreme Court nominee.
   
• The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that Nicholas Kristof, who quit his job as a New York Times columnist to run for governor, can’t run for governor.
   
• Russian skater Kamila Valieva placed fourth in women’s figure skating after multiple falls,
  allowing a medal ceremony to take place amid her ongoing doping investigation.
   
• Melania Trump appears to have placed the winning bid for her own NFT, in order to artificially inflate its value. A beautiful new crypto-racket from America’s First Scam Family. 
   
• Homeward Bound III: Lost in the United States Senate.

The GOP-controlled Florida House has passed a bill to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, in giddy anticipation that the Supreme Court will soon uphold the unconstitutional Mississippi law it’s modeled on. The West Virginia House and Arizona Senate also advanced similar measures this week. Like the Mississippi abortion law, Florida’s proposed ban includes no exceptions for rape or incest. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has signaled support for the bill, and the Florida Senate is expected to send it to his desk shortly. By the time the Supreme Court overturns or hollows out Roe v. Wade this summer (barring some unforeseen Amy-Coney-Barrett-does-mushrooms-and-has-a-radical-reawakening scenario), red states around the country will be ready with draconian new restrictions.

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President Biden announced that $1 billion in infrastructure funding will go towards cleaning up the restoration of the Great Lakes. 

Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle will donate $500,000 to PEN America to help fight book-banning efforts. 

A defunct Massachusetts coal plant will be turned into a facility to manufacture the cables necessary to harness power from offshore wind turbines. 

Utah could soon become the third state (?!) to prohibit police from lying to minors during interrogations.