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Tuesday, February 22, 2022

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White House: Russia “Hours or Days” From Invading Ukraine

From the story: “We believe what the Russians are planning will be extremely violent,” Sullivan said. “It will cost the lives of Ukrainians and Russians, civilians and military personnel alike. We also have intelligence to suggest that there will be an even greater form of brutality because this will not simply be some conventional war between two armies” (NY Post). From James Mason on Putin’s speech yesterday: While on Monday he left his precise intentions toward Ukraine unclear, he expounded the Russian view that Ukraine’s borders were drawn arbitrarily by the Soviet Union’s founder, Vladimir Lenin, and only exist now because of the U.S.S.R.’s hurried breakup in 1991. Mr. Putin said those borders ignored deep civilizational ties between Russia and Ukraine and questioned the legitimacy of an independent Ukrainian state, saying, “Ukraine for us is not just a neighboring country, it is an integral part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space.” Mr. Putin addressed his speech not only to Russia, but also to “our compatriots in Ukraine” (WSJ). Great clip making the rounds of Condoleezza Rice talking about Putin in 2014 (Twitter). From Washington Post White House bureau chief Ashley Parker: On a media call, an SAO declined to say if Putin moving troops into separatist territories in Eastern Ukraine constituted an invasion. But after, another official told me that the admin. defines an “invasion” as Russian troops entering a part of Ukraine NOT occupied since 2014 (Twitter). From Noah Rothman: This is a backtrack from Biden’s 1/20 statement that any violation of Ukraine’s recognized borders constitutes invasion. Worse, it’s a hideous cave to the Russian view that changing the facts on the ground by force is legitimate. Very bad line the WH needs to correct asap (Twitter). From Marco Rubio: Weakness always invites aggression And weakness in response to aggression always invites others to be aggressive as well (Twitter). From a Ted Cruz string: …the United States must impose devastating sanctions against Putin’s interests, including immediate and mandatory sanctions permanently putting an end to his Nord Stream 2 pipeline (Twitter). From Nikki Haley: Putin is expanding his lawless aggression in Ukraine. Dictators don’t stop until they face strong resistance (Twitter). From Joe Biden in February of 2020: Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be President. He doesn’t want me to be our nominee. If you’re wondering why — it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him (Twitter).

Report: Russia Has a Kill List

Much like the Taliban. From the story: The U.S. has sent a letter to the United Nations warning that Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a potential military occupation, according to a report.

Fox News

Canadian Police Force Remove Protestors

From the story: Mounted police officers trampled an elderly woman with a walker during Friday’s “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa, Canada. Some members of law enforcement thought it was hilarious. Leaked chat messages obtained by Rebel News show one Royal Canadian Mounted officer wrote “That’s awesome” in response to the headline: “Police horses trample peaceful protestors.” It was the most egregious use of force against peaceful demonstrators on Friday, but not the only one. In another encounter, police smashed the windows of a vehicle and dragged its occupants out into the street. One officer was also seen dishing out rifle butts to a protestor on the ground (Washington Times). From the Wall Street Journal: Will Canada return to its peaceful, democratic roots, or will this episode transform it into something more sinister and undemocratic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has certainly acted like a tin-pot dictator (WSJ). And it looks like the U.S. version of the convoy will set sail Wednesday (Washington Examiner).

Trudeau Keeps Emergency Powers Even Without Convoy Blocking

He appears to love the power. From Trudeau: “…even though the blockades are lifted across border openings right now, even though things seem to be resolving very well in Ottawa, this state of emergency is not over. There continue to be real concerns about the coming days, but we will continue to evaluate every single day whether or not it is time and we are able to lift this state of emergency” (Daily Wire). From another story: As all eyes were trained on the aggressive police sweep of the Ottawa trucker convoy this week, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s administration was quietly moving to implement a sweeping expansion of surveillance power at the federal level. The Trudeau government’s financial war against the truckers has been covered at length. But one underreported aspect of this broader assault on Canadian civil liberties is the effort to bring crowdfunding and payment service providers — two of the most prominent routes for financial transactions on the Internet — under the permanent control of a centralized government authority (National Review). From Dr. Albert Mohler: … there was no direct threat to the integrity of Canada. There was no direct threat of violence. There were no bombs. There was no violence. No one was killed in any of these protests. We are talking about the essence of protests and a government that simply says it has had enough, and protests against the government of Prime Minister Trudeau was enough for Trudeau to say we are going to act in ways that, again, as we noted last week on The Briefing, the Canadian government insisted did not violate fundamental liberties, but in essence did exactly that (Briefing).

Olympics End in Ratings Disaster for NBC

From the story: Through Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, an average of 12.2 million watched the Olympics in primetime on NBC, cable, or its Peacock streaming service, a 42-percent dip from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Only 10 million watched NBC alone, a 47-percent drop from 2018, and through early last week, it was down 57 percent in the critical 25-54 age demographic from the Seoul games. That was even taking into account the Super Bowl viewership boost NBC got from airing the Olympics directly after the network aired the game on Feb. 13. “These Olympics were a disaster for the network: a buzz-free, hermetically-sealed event in an authoritarian country a half-day’s time zone away, where the enduring images will be the emotional meltdown of Russian teen-agers after a drug-tainted figure skating competition and a bereft Mikaela Shiffrin, sitting on a ski slope wondering what went wrong,” the Associated Press wrote. “Viewers stayed away in alarming numbers, and NBC has to wonder whether it was extraordinarily bad luck or if the brand of a once-unifying event for tens of millions of people is permanently tainted.”

Fox News

UK Prime Minister Announces End to Covid Restrictions

From the story: On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an end to virtually all COVID-19 restrictions in England, sharing during a press conference that “all remaining domestic restrictions will be removed.” This is part of a “living with COVID” plan as the Wuhan coronavirus looks to be endemic (Townhall). From Allie Beth Stuckey: Praise God, but don’t you ever forget what they did to you, your friend, your mother, your grandfather, your child, your husband, or your neighbor. They ruined lives, and they’d do it again in a heartbeat (Twitter).

Used Cars Surge 41 Percent

The story lists the top 10 used cars. That Dodge minivan you had that was worth $15,000 last you checked? It now sells for $25,000.

WSJ

New York Times Uses Dangerous Cancel Culture to Promote Newspaper

With a creepy ad that says “Liana is imagining Harry Potter without its creator.”

Hot Air

Romance Scam Losses Skyrocket

Up 80 percent from the year before.

Fox News

10.

Yellowstone Actor Can’t Attend SAG Awards Because He’s Not Vaccinated

Forrie J. Smith, who plays an old cowboy in the popular series, is truly a cowboy at heart.

Variety