-Donald Trump, Jr., cracking the case wide open

We appear, fortunately or unfortunately, to have reached the phase of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine where he lashes out like a cornered and humiliated bear.

• In recent days, a tiny separatist territory called Transnistria, which is sandwiched between Ukraine and Moldova and has long been occupied by Russian forces, has blamed Ukraine for explosions within its territory that look much more like false-flag provocations meant to justify expanding the scope of Putin’s war. That would not only bring hostilities frighteningly close to NATO-member states near western Ukraine, it would commit Russia to war aims it has thus far abjectly failed to realize, including the creation of a land corridor all through the Ukrainian south. 
   
• The spillage of violence to territory outside Ukraine spooked Moldova (which is not a member of the NATO alliance) into convening its security council, which recommended stepped up patrols and inspections near Transnistria, and all throughout the country’s critical infrastructure. 
   
• In the proxy realm, Russia has shut down a major natural gas pipeline to Poland, which has refused Russia’s demand (in violation of its contract) to be reimbursed in rubles. And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused NATO of waging “proxy war” against Russia (that is, Russia should be able to destroy all of its non-NATO neighbors without interference?) and once again raised the specter of Putin’s war going nuclear.

Maybe Putin should have thought of all this stuff before the invasion?

• The British defense ministry believes Russia has lost a staggering 15,000 soldiers since its invasion began along with hundreds of tanks, over a thousand smaller armored vehicles, and 60 helicopters and fighter jets. Ukrainians peg the Russian death toll at an even more staggering 21,900, but their estimates have always run higher than western those of western governments.
   
• Meanwhile Britain has offered to step up its presence in the Baltic Sea, to ease security concerns in Sweden and Finland as the two countries prepare to announce their intention to join NATO, as soon as next month, and Britain, the U.S, and the rest of NATO have discussed ways to guarantee Sweden’s protection in the interim months before it becomes a member itself. 

How do you separate your internet persona from the real you? This week on Stuck with Damon Young, Damon is unpacking this complex question. In “Stuck Online. (No, Seriously. Stuck and Can’t Leave)”, he explores whether our online image and real identities are collapsing into each other with Jemele Hill, Jenee Desmond Harris, and Joel Anderson. Follow Stuck with Damon Young, only on Spotify, to get new episodes every Tuesday.

Who knows what Elon Musk plans to do with his insanely expensive soon-to-be new toy, Twitter, beyond making it a safer space for right-wing harassment. But it’s already hard to see any of it going according to plan. The most notorious right-wing public menace to have been ejected from the platform (that is, Donald Trump) at least claims he won’t rejoin even after Musk’s takeover is complete. Nevertheless, the specter of the most toxic users getting their accounts back with Musk’s blessing has marketers wondering how long they will be able to continue advertising on the site. That’s gonna make running the company really hard. The debt Musk entered to acquire Twitter will require over $1 billion a year just to service, which is more than the service grossed last year, before Musk began turning advertisers off.

• Vice President Kamala Harris has contracted COVID-19, and though the White House insists she’s not considered one of President Biden’s close contacts (haha?) her services were expected to be necessary as a tie-breaking Senate vote for nominees whose confirmations will have to be delayed a week or more with Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) also out with COVID. 
   
• The revelation that multiple Republican members of Congress mused privately about completing Donald Trump’s coup after January 6, and even encouraged Trump to declare martial law, has people wondering why the House January 6 committee gave up on trying to compel those members to testify. 
   
• President Biden is reportedly open to canceling student loans, which makes sense since it was one of his campaign promises. 
   
• House Republicans are already preparing baseless impeachment investigations, despite lacking any articulable basis to impeach anyone. 
   
• Mass lockdowns in China aren’t just contributing to inflation globally, they're reviving concerns within the country about whether the government will ever relinquish the control its reasserted over the Chinese economy.
   
• Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) was caught with a gun in his carry-on baggage at the airport for the second time in a year, and also seemingly in an insider-trading scheme?
   
• The Canadian military apparently has a wee bit of a problem with Nazi infiltrators, and no plan in place to root them out. 
   
• Joe Manchin’s so serious about getting to yes on his party’s climate-change agenda that he’s doing that thing he always does where he pretends he’s going to find 10 Republicans to vote yes before announcing regretfully that he can’t support anything that isn’t bipartisan. 
   
• Joe Kent’s Trump-endorsed primary campaign against Rep. Jamie Hererra-Beutler (R-WA) (no relation) is either lousy with Nazis and election-fraud conspirators, or plagued by the most elaborate scam artist in politics (who also said Nazi shit). 
   
• The new mayor of Hell, MI, is a cat named Jinx. 

When you strip away all the culture-war nonsense and propaganda spewing out of Fox News and Donald Trump’s various lackeys, and simply compare Trump’s actual governing impact on rural America to President Biden’s it turns out there’s no real contest. As Robert Leonard, a midwestern radio-news vet, explains in granular detail, “In under two years in office, President Biden has done more for places like Guthrie County and other parts of rural America than Mr. Trump ever did. The rural economy is stronger, wages are higher and infrastructure projects are popping up all over.” Biden’s record includes looming investments from his infrastructure bill, saving rural hospitals, and replacing boondoggles like the Farmers to Families Food Box program with increased SNAP benefits. Trump’s, by contrast, was marked by damaging trade-war antics and did whatever he could to sabotage Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, exacerbating the rural-hospital crisis in the process.

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President Biden has granted his first pardons since he became president. 

The Biden administration has unveiled a series of initiatives designed to increase uptake of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s extremely effective COVID-19 therapeutic. 

Nevada judges have yeeted two GOP voter-suppression referendums.

Delta Airlines sure seems scared that its flight attendants’ union drive will succeed.