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Thursday, February 24, 2022

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Putin Launches Full-Scale Attack on Ukraine

They shelled the big cities overnight and troops were quickly across the border (ABC News). Guardian reporter Luke Harding is tweeting from a basement in Kyiv, which he says is “filling up with families with small children” (Twitter). From Jeff Blehar: These are grim times. Even if you’re sitting in a house somewhere in Nebraska or whatnot, know that what’s happening tonight is grim on several levels in a way qualitatively different from earlier post-WW2 Euro wars. A world order is eroding, and we must hope not in a landslide (Twitter). From Bill Gertz: I traveled to Ukraine several times as a Washington Times reporter, including when it was a Soviet vassal state. I came away with one overriding impression: Ukrainians have one enemy—the Russians. Putin is miscalculating if thinks his invasion will succeed. Ukrainians will fight (Twitter). According to a New York Times reporter, even Russians don’t want this war (NY Times). Live broadcast from CNN as they hear explosions (Twitter). From Mitt Romney in his statement: The ‘80s called and we didn’t answer (Twitter). A look at how Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons for a promise broken (WSJ).

Putin Lobs Threat Aimed at United States

Putin said “To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside: if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history. All relevant decisions have been taken. I hope you hear me” (Axios). From Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg: Noting that Putin is demanding the “denazification” of a country led by an elected Jewish president (Twitter). The request from Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba: The world must act immediately. Future of Europe & the world is at stake. To do list: 1. Devastating sanctions on Russia NOW, including SWIFT 2. Fully isolate Russia by all means, in all formats 3. Weapons, equipment for Ukraine 4. Financial assistance 5. Humanitarian assistance (Twitter). From Hugh Hewitt: Does Ukraine get off its version of the Doolittle raid? Does the West assist in cyber counter attacks? Putin is a tyrant with nukes. It’s not going to be last time the U.S. has to deal with this sort of naked challenge to international order. Say a prayer for @JoeBiden and team (Twitter). Dr. Albert Mohler digs into the history of Russia (Briefing).

Prior to Full Scale Attack, Biden Decides Not to Target Russian Oil Despite Invasion

From Reuters’ Phil Stewart: The Biden administration is not expected to target Russia’s crude oil and refined fuel sector with sanctions cutting off trade, due to concerns about inflation and the harm it could do to its European allies, global oil markets and U.S. consumers, officials say (Twitter). From Rich Lowry: They’re happy to do anything to keep the supply of oil and gas up, including continuing to buy Russian oil and gas as it invades a sovereign country, so long as it doesn’t involve maximizing production here at home. Perverse (Twitter). Just a few months ago, Biden released 50 million barrels of oil from our reserve, the largest in history, to combat gas prices (NBC News).

Democrats Approve of Trudeau’s Protest Suppression Nearly 4-1

From Ed Morrissey: That’s a nearly 4:1 level of support for Trudeau’s “handling” of the protest, which consisted of arrests, confiscations, seizures of bank accounts, and so on. It’s not easy to determine just how well Democrats grasped the totality of Trudeau’s actions, but it doesn’t appear that they cared much about it. And this was without any of the urban-rioting, “autonomous zone” insurrections, and attacks on government buildings and private businesses that accompanied the uprisings Democrats either backed or excused in 2020.In this case, Democrats are well and truly on their own. Republicans oppose Trudeau’s handling of the protests by an 87.3/8.1 split, with only 4.6% of GOP respondents being unaware of it as opposed to 17.1% of Democrats. Unaffiliated/other voters also opposed Trudeau’s actions by a whopping 74.4/20.8, with a similarly small share of respondents unaware of the controversy (4.8%). That makes roughly eight in ten non-Democrats who oppose Trudeau’s protest suppression while more than six in ten Democrats approve of it.

Hot Air

Harvard Senior Battles Woke Covid Ideology, Lands Spot on Salem Media

Julie Hartman writes of the senseless Covid policies infecting her school. The senior will soon begin a weekly podcast with Dennis Prager called “Dennis and Julie.”

WSJ

Two Prosecutors Leading NY Trump Inquiry Resign

The story explains they “abruptly resigned on Wednesday amid a monthlong pause in their presentation of evidence to a grand jury, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The stunning development comes not long after the high-stakes inquiry appeared to be gaining momentum, and throws its future into serious doubt” (New York Times). From Byron York: This and the state AG case are politically motivated investigations. Does not mean they will not find something prosecutable. But they are politically motivated cases (Twitter).

Olympics Finish with Worse Ratings Ever

The New York Times gives lots of reasons for the failure, but viewers were turned off by Olympics on the soil of the Chinese government (NY Times). From Hugh Hewitt: These Olympics were a disaster for broadcaster NBC and the sponsors. Prime-time viewership plummeted more than 40 percent from four years ago, hitting record lows. Even the few ratings bright spots, such as the Canada-U.S. women’s hockey gold medal game, demonstrated that viewers were picking their spots in ways that made clear they were watching despite the host government (Washington Post).

Feminist: Babies Born into Poverty Should Be Killed

Minnesota law professor Laura Hermer wants them aborted.

Life News

Apple Going with Gender-Neutral Sounding Voice

And Apple didn’t want to be accused of not being fully and absurdly woke, so they say the voice was recorded “by a member of the LGBTQ+ community.”

NY Post

10.

Squad Members to Deliver Response to Biden’s State of the Union

Usually, the only opposition comes from the opposing party, in this case the Republicans. But Democrats are such a mess right now that the far, far left, which has greatly influenced Biden already, is unhappy and wants a shot at moderates.

Townhall