There’s a lot of talk around the Russia-Ukraine war spiraling out of control.
Continue reading “How To Think About The Risks Of An Escalating Russia-Ukraine War”Greitens’ Ex-Wife Stands By Her Allegations As Greitens Complains That McConnell Wants To Sideline Him
Sheena Greitens, the ex-wife of Missouri Senate GOP candidate Eric Greitens (R), said Tuesday that “I stand by my sworn statements” alleging domestic abuse against her ex-husband as he continues to deny her claims — and to claim the abuse allegations are simply part of a conspiracy to oust him from the race driven by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Continue reading “Greitens’ Ex-Wife Stands By Her Allegations As Greitens Complains That McConnell Wants To Sideline Him”Jan. 6 Insurrectionist Granted Asylum In Belarus, According To State Media
48-year-old Evan Neumann of California, aka the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrectionist who fled to Belarus last year to escape the FBI, has been granted asylum in the eastern European country, according to Belarusian state-owned news agency BELTA.
Continue reading “Jan. 6 Insurrectionist Granted Asylum In Belarus, According To State Media”Some Senate GOPers Demand Greitens Drop Out Of Race Over Domestic Abuse Allegations
Shortly after Missouri Senate GOP candidate Eric Greitens’ (R) ex-wife surfaced domestic abuse allegations against him in court Monday, a handful of Republicans condemned the former Missouri governor, with some demanding he drop out of the GOP Senate race.
Continue reading “Some Senate GOPers Demand Greitens Drop Out Of Race Over Domestic Abuse Allegations”Please Read This Important Post
We’re starting the second week of our drive. It’s really, really critical it be a good one. I’ve spoken to a number of TPM Readers over the last few days who have told me, “Well, I’d been thinking about it and that post pushed me over the edge.” I need to push more of you over the edge. If you’ve been meaning to join but haven’t gotten around to it, please make today the day. If you’ve been on the fence, please lean into it. Come off the fence and join us. You get a lot of great additional stuff we publish. And you support a truly independent operation bringing you the news in a genuinely unique way. Please join us. Just click right here.
Thank you in advance from all of us.
Small COVID Update
This is a quick follow-up on a COVID post I did last week, noting evidence of a new mini- or moderate- surge after the trough of the last month or two. I had said that my impression was that the driver was mainly the relaxation of mitigation measures — both as policy from governments and people individually changing their behavior. That seems less clear than I thought. There seems to be more evidence that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 is a key driver, perhaps the key driver. The evidence still seems muddy because BA.2 appears to have only a moderate advantage in infectiousness. And its share of cases has grown fairly slowly against the original Omicron strain. So there’s a lot about the dynamics of this latest trend that are not clear to me. But just let this stand as a partial correction or update on the earlier post which focused on declining mitigation. Be safe out there.
Cawthorn Spouts Pro-Russia Attack Lines Against Zelensky Yet Again
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Regurgitating Russia’s Imperialist Narratives To Own The Libs
Far-right Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) refused over the weekend to walk back his attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “thug,” the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.
- Instead, Cawthorn once again accused Ukrainian government of being “corrupt” and spreading misinformation on the conflict. (He provided zero evidence of this. Meanwhile, Russia’s disinformation campaign on its attack on Ukraine has been well established).
- The Republican congressman also said he wasn’t ready to call Russian leader Vladimir Putin a war criminal as Russian forces bomb hospitals, schools and residential neighborhoods in Ukrainian cities.
KBJ Takes Questions
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faces her first day of questioning from the Senate Judiciary Committee today, and we’ll be liveblogging it all. Stay tuned!
- One of the things we learned from yesterday’s hearings: Republicans are still very mad about the Kavanaugh confirmation process (you know, the one that ended in them getting everything they wanted). Here are our other main takeaways.
- We did a liveblog yesterday, which you can read here.
Visuals Of Jackson’s Broad Experience
Turning Point founder and eminent right-wing grifter Charlie Kirk called SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson an “affirmative action pick” (and called Vice President Kamala Harris the same) yesterday.
- Yes, Kirk is a racist, water is wet, sky is blue etc. so the only reason I’m bringing this up is to direct y’all to the Washington Post’s infographic laying out Jackson’s sweeping educational and career experience compared to the current Supreme Court justices:
Greitens’ Ex-Wife Accuses Him Of Domestic Abuse
Sheena Greitens, the ex-wife of Senate Missouri candidate Eric Greitens, filed court documents on Monday that laid out in horrendous detail multiple instances of the candidate allegedly abusing her and their young children during and after the sex scandal that led to his resignation as Missouri governor in 2018.
- One instance included Eric Greitens allegedly cuffing their three-year-old son across the face. Greitens also allegedly threatened to commit suicide multiple times.
- The documents are part of a bitter custody battle in wake of the Greitens’ divorce in March 2020.
- The accusations against the Senate candidate emerged four months after another GOP Senate hopeful, Sean Parnell of Pennsylvania, ended his campaign over similar domestic abuse allegations from his estranged wife.
Secret Service Took Pence To Loading Dock On Jan. 6, Official Testifies
During a trial of one of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrectionists on Monday, Secret Service inspector Lanelle Hawa testified that the Secret Service took then-Vice President Mike Pence to a loading dock, a restricted area underneath the plaza on the Senate side of the Capitol, as the pro-Trump mob ransacked the building.
Must-Reads
“20 days in Mariupol: The team that documented city’s agony” – The Associated Press
“Nearly one-third of American workers make less than $15 an hour, study finds” – CNN
Oh God, Palin’s Hinting At Running For Don Young’s Seat
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told Newsmax on Monday that she was considering a bid to succeed the late Rep. Don Young (R-AK), who died on Friday.
Palin said she would say yes “in a heartbeat” if she were “asked” to fill Young’s seat. (Alaska will hold a special election to pick a temporary replacement, so Palin wouldn’t be asked to do anything. Does she know that?)
Ohio GOP Guv Has Beef At Beef Expo
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and his Republican primary challenger, Joe Blystone, nearly got into a scuffle at the Ohio Beef Expo in Columbus on Saturday after Blystone “debate me, coward”-ed the governor, who allegedly told the challenger he’d kick his ass.
Permanent Daylight Savings Bill Faces Cloudy Future
The bill to make daylight savings permanent that the Senate passed unexpectedly (and by accident for some senators) last week might be in trouble in the House: Both Democratic and Republican House lawmakers want to pump the brakes on the legislation and do more research before taking it up in their chamber.
Finland Has Detained 21 Yachts Potentially Belonging To Russian Oligarchs
Finnish customs officials have put a freeze on more than 20 luxury yachts docked or stored in Finland suspected to belong to Russian oligarchs, according to Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest newspaper.
You can follow our “Yacht-Watch” here.
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More on Ukraine and The Reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European
A few of you asked for book recommendations to read more on the subject of my post this morning about Ukraine and the homeland of the speakers of proto-Indo-European, the ancestor language to the languages spoken by just under half the world’s population. There’s a long answer and a short answer. But the short answer is the better one. The book is The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David W. Anthony.
Continue reading “More on Ukraine and The Reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European”Where Things Stand: Even Some Conservative Media Find Hawley’s QAnon-Flavored Attacks On Jackson ‘Disingenuous’
As Kate Riga noted repeatedly during her coverage of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) made a point of injecting some QAnon-adjacent claims about Jackson into the public record Monday.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Even Some Conservative Media Find Hawley’s QAnon-Flavored Attacks On Jackson ‘Disingenuous’”Greitens’ Ex-Wife Reveals New Allegations Of Domestic Violence In Custody Case
Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R), who is a frontrunner in the GOP Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), is pushing back against allegations of domestic violence his ex-wife made in court records filed Monday.
Continue reading “Greitens’ Ex-Wife Reveals New Allegations Of Domestic Violence In Custody Case”