-Murderous Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, on what separates him from Putin

Tuesday marked three months since the start of Russia’s brutal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has nothing to show for it but international isolation, a looming debt default, and potential global food shortages. 
 

• Three months after Putin planned to capture Kyiv in a matter of hours, Russian forces have intensified their assault in the eastern Donbas region, with the aim of surrounding the cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, and Rubizhne. The battle for Severodonetsk has become a focal point of the war, as its capture would put the whole Luhansk region under Russian occupation, but Luhank’s governor said Tuesday that the city remained under Ukrainian control. 
   
• Speaking at the Quad summit with Japan, Australia, and India in Tokyo on Tuesday, President Biden said that the world was “navigating a dark hour in our shared history.” Without naming names, Biden made the case to India, which has yet to sanction or condemn Russia, that the group had a responsibility to take a bigger stand against Putin’s aggression: “This is more than just a European issue. It’s a global issue.”
   
• The Treasury Department said Tuesday that it won’t extend a license that has allowed Russia to continue paying its debt back to international investors through U.S. banks. The license will expire on Wednesday, making a Russian default on its debts just about inevitable. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week that the default wasn’t likely to take a major toll on the global economy: The bond payment exemption was always meant to be temporary, and investors have known a default was coming.

Unfortunately, that’s not to say we’ve seen the last of the war’s ugly global repercussions. 
 

• Without quick action, the worst could still be to come. Western officials are increasingly worried about the threat of a worsening global food crisis stemming from Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports and attacks on its grain warehouses. Some 20 million tons of grain are trapped in Ukraine, and the EU has begun considering options for alternative shipment routes and methods, but those steps could risk a direct confrontation with Russia. 
   
• Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of stealing grain from occupied areas and exporting it to Russia, an effort that satellite images show to be ramping up. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told leaders at the Davos summit that Putin was using the threat of famines as a weapon: “On top of [stealing and bombarding Ukrainian grain supplies], Russia is now hoarding its own food exports as a form of blackmail, holding back supplies to increase global prices, or trading wheat in exchange for political support.”

In the space of three months, Putin’s invasion game plan has gone from “stroll into Kyiv as conquering heroes” to “starve the world as a last resort.” It’s a measure of both the effectiveness of the Ukrainian resistance, and the frightening boundlessness of Putin’s ego-driven cruelty.

Protecting abortion access has never been more urgent.

Across the nation, our right to abortion care is under attack. The Supreme Court has turned its back on Texans by failing to block the state’s extreme abortion ban and now SCOTUS seems poised to overturn Roe v. Wade with a major ruling coming soon – which could jeopardize essential abortion care for much of the country. State politicians are also doubling down on efforts to ban abortion in half the country as they’ve done in Texas. We’ve already seen Florida’s Governor sign an extreme 15-week abortion ban that criminalizes doctor’s for providing abortion care; Oklahoma’s Governor has signed a total abortion ban into law; and, in Kentucky, the legislature has vetoed the Governor’s veto on a series of abortion restrictions, including a 15-week ban, which has been temporarily blocked by the courts.   

The ability to control our own bodies is facing the greatest threat in generations. We need your help more than ever. Sign up today to defend abortion access.

The ACLU has been fighting for abortion access since before Roe v. Wade was decided, and we’ll continue working tireless to ensure everyone has access to the care they need. 

Defend abortion access with the ACLU. Sign up today to stay up to date on all the fights ahead. 

Thanks for taking action, 
The ACLU Team 

At least 18 children and a teacher were killed in a horrific shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, TX on Tuesday morning. The gunman, an 18-year-old who had a handgun and possibly also a rifle, is also dead, according to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX). It’s hard to find language for the devastation of the deadliest elementary school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, but there’s plenty to say about how and why this country let it happen again. Here’s a list of over a dozen laws easing firearm restrictions that Texas Republicans passed and Abbott signed in 2021, here’s Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately asserting that the response should be not gun reform but more guns in schools, and here’s the NRA convention in Houston that Abbott and Cruz are scheduled to attend this Friday, along with Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Donald Trump. (Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has backed out, for Unrelated Personal Reasons.) Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) had the only words left for the U.S. Senate: “What are we doing?”

• The FBI has detained an alleged ISIS operative who had been plotting to assassinate former President George W. Bush in revenge for the Iraq War, according to an FBI search warrant. 
• Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention covered up reports of sexual abuse for over two decades, according to a newly released investigative report. The report also concluded that a former president of the SBC had been credibly accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2010. 
   
• Former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) wrapped up his failing campaign for Georgia governor with a final stirring pledge to improve the lives of all Georgians some racist remarks about presumptive Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams.
   
• Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick, who’s neck and neck with Dr. Oz for the GOP nomination, has filed a lawsuit to require counties to count mail-in ballots with undated envelopes. The RNC and Pennsylvania GOP have intervened to oppose McCormick and, uh, ensure that their own voters’ ballots aren’t counted.
   
• Progressive New York State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi has launched a primary challenge against Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), after Maloney decided to abandon his district (and mission to re-elect incumbent Democrats) to run for a safer one currently represented by Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY). 
   
• The U.S. will release monkeypox vaccine doses from the Strategic National Stockpile for high-risk contacts of people who have been infected. The CDC has confirmed one monkeypox case in the U.S., and is investigating four other suspected cases.
   
• A healthcare policy analysis calculated the Obamacare premium hikes that millions of Americans would face right before the midterms if Democrats fail to extend the subsidies in the American Rescue Plan, and (spoiler) it’s not great!
   
• Jif’s parent company has recalled a whole bunch of peanut butter due to possible salmonella contamination. Check your jars for the lot numbers noted in that FDA link, or enjoy a forbidden PB&J&Danger, we’re not telling you what to do.
   
• Actor Seth Green was working on an animated series based on his NFT collection, but he lost his Bored Apes in a phishing scam and now fears the show can’t legally go forward. A story 100x more entertaining than this show ever possibly could have been. 

You’ll never guess which party was responsible for this week’s huge election fraud scandal: Five out of 10 GOP candidates for Michigan governor, including the two leading contenders, may be eliminated from the primary ballot after the state’s Bureau of Elections found that their campaigns filed thousands of forged signatures. Thirty-six petition circulators submitted at least 68,000 invalid signatures across nomination petitions for 10 candidates, according to the Bureau’s report. With the fakes taken out, five candidates fall short of the 15,000 valid signatures necessary to qualify for the primary ballot. The final decision is up to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers, which will meet on Thursday. If it does disqualify those five candidates, it could clear a path for Tudor Dixon, who has falsely claimed that Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2020 election, and on Monday received the endorsement of the DeVos family.

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The Justice Department has instructed federal agents that they are now required to intervene if they see other officials using excessive force, in the department’s first update to its use-of-force policy in 18 years.

Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) has signed legislation streamlining the legal process for parents of children conceived through assisted reproduction, clearing some major hurdles for same-sex couples.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have shown that a new, low-cost gel film can capture huge amounts of drinking water out of even dry air.

Zander Moricz, the first openly gay class president of his Florida high school, was told his microphone would be cut if he said the word “gay” in his commencement speech, so he found a brilliant workaround.