-Donald Trump, on the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, bombarding multiple cities in a devastating, unprovoked attack that could trigger a refugee crisis and upend the European security order. Here’s the latest:
 

• Russian President and Untethered Psychopath Vladimir Putin declared war early on Thursday, vowing to “strive for the demilitarization and de-Nazification” of a country led by a Jewish president whose family members were killed in the Holocaust, and threatening any country that might try to interfere with “consequences you have never seen.” Airstrikes on cities (including Kyiv), military bases, and airports began moments later, and Russian troops invaded by land and sea.
   
• Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said Thursday that at least 57 Ukranians have been killed in the assault, and 169 more have been wounded. (It’s unclear how many were civilians.) Thousands of people have begun fleeing the country or crowding into subway stations that double as bomb shelters. Russian forces have captured the Chernobyl power plant, which you do not love to see, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on civilians to take up arms to help defend the country. 
   
• President Biden announced new sanctions targeting Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors, saying, “Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences.” Biden also said that the Pentagon will deploy another 7,000 troops to Europe to reassure NATO allies. Western leaders have uniformly condemned the invasion, but none have quite matched the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, directly addressing his Russian counterpart as the attack began during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council: “There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, ambassador.”

Once again, it gives us no pleasure to report that the major U.S. political parties are not in lockstep on this one.
 

• Disgraced former president Donald Trump was calling Putin “pretty smart” at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser as the shelling of Ukrainian cities began, before going on Fox News to blame the war on Biden and scold Laura Ingraham for giving away the movements of American forces [sic] attacking Ukraine. House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik released a statement that steered clear of any Putin ass-kissing, but primarily dwelled on blaming Biden for Russian aggression.
   
• Putting Republicans like J.D. Vance to shame, thousands of people joined anti-war protests in cities across Russia, in defiance of threats and at great personal risk. Authorities had arrested at least 1,702 protesters in 53 Russian cities by Thursday evening, according to the rights group OVD-Info, mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In a less admirable but nonetheless interesting wrinkle for Putin, Russian oligarchs appealed to him to consider not driving the economy off a cliff in pursuit of his own deranged priorities. 
   

Putin’s brutal, senseless invasion marks the worst threat to Europe since World War II, a violation of international law apparently aimed at wiping an independent democracy off the map. The awful question remaining is how much more destruction is yet to come.

This week on Pod Save the World, Ben assesses the escalating situation in Ukraine and talks to Max Seddon, bureau chief of The Financial Times in Moscow, about Putin’s state of mind and the current political mood in Russia. Plus, USAID Administrator Samantha Power joins to share her perspective on what’s at stake in Ukraine, as well as a few encouraging updates on the global COVID vaccination effort. New episodes of Pod Save the World drop every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.

Western leaders are still sitting on one of their most powerful sanction options: Kicking Russia out of the SWIFT banking system. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, based in Belgium, delivers secure messages between more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories. It’s what allows banks to make cross-border payments quickly and securely, facilitating international trade. Booting Russia out of the system would cut it off from most international transactions, including profits from oil and natural-gas production—a sledgehammer to the Russian economy. Some Western officials worry that doing so would also harm Europe and the U.S., and potentially strengthen Russian or Chinese SWIFT alternatives. In any case, it’s not a decision that President Biden can make unilaterally; as he told reporters at the White House on Thursday, “It is always an option, but right now it's not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take.”

• The GOP-controlled Florida House has passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would ban classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity that aren’t “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” The bill now heads the Florida Senate, where it’s also expected to pass.
   
• A federal jury has found three former Minneapolis police officers guilty of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane stood by during Floyd’s murder, depriving him of his right to medical care.
   
• Ivanka Trump is reportedly in talks with the January 6 committee to testify, which some committee aides believe—and lord knows how they arrived at this conclusion—may just be a stalling tactic.  
   
• A group of vulnerable House Democrats has worked up a draft agenda that would distance the party from progressive initiatives, which might be a clever way to defang GOP culture war attacks if Republicans cared about basing their smears in reality. 
   
• Supreme Court candidate Judge J. Michelle Childs has a cruel track record of delaying and denying compassionate release motions during the pandemic. Childs does seem to have a merciful streak, reserved for when Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) asks her to intervene for a well-connected friend.
   
• Queen Elizabeth II postponed more virtual engagements on Thursday as she continued to battle mild COVID symptoms. 
   
• Elsevier, one of the world’s largest climate research publishers, is also a top partner of the fossil-fuel industry in its efforts to increase gas and oil drilling.
   
• Behold, the clunkiest commercial break in cable-news history. 
   
• Behold, the worst video ever made? (Content warning: unwatchably bad content.)

A (small-ish) copycat trucker convoy left California on its way to Washington, DC, on Wednesday, as did a Pennsylvania convoy consisting of one (1) truck. The far-right effort to replicate Canadian anti-vax blockades has gotten off to a slow start: The California People’s Convoy claims to have raised $465,000 in donations, compared to the millions of dollars that Americans poured into the Canadian protests. Since American truckers don’t have a vaccine mandate to yell about, their main demand is an end to the national emergency first declared in response to the pandemic in March 2020. The group said its final destination was the DC area, but that it wouldn’t enter DC proper. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revoked the use of emergency powers after police successfully ended the blockades at U.S. border crossings and in downtown Ottawa.

Relationships take work. A lot of us will drop anything to  go help someone we care about. We’ll go out of our way  to treat other people well, but how often do we give ourselves the same treatment? 

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The Biden administration quietly announced a new immigration policy that could be a game-changer for LGBT refugees and asylum-seekers coming to the U.S.

The Supreme Court has rejected a case seeking to overturn a 2020 victory by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that struck down a permit for the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

A group of students at Central York High School in Pennsylvania who helped overturn a book ban are now fighting for a more inclusive curriculum.

Pro-union Starbucks workers managed to overcome union-busting tactics by simply being chill and welcoming to new hires.