Crooked Media - What A Day: Rope-a-pope

 -Hillary Clinton, on getting sanctioned by Russia for some reason

Three European leaders made a risky visit to Kyiv and the White House announced that President Biden will head to Europe, amid intensifying Russian attacks in and around the Ukrainian capital.
 

• The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia traveled to Kyiv on Tuesday to express the European Union’s  “unequivocal support” for Ukraine. Their visit came hours after Russian forces stepped up their assault on residential buildings in the city, killing at least four people. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has also dared the pope to prove that His Holiness isn’t chicken invited Pope Francis to visit the city, saying in a letter that his presence was “key for saving lives and paving the path to peace.” 
   
• Biden will travel to Brussels next week for a March 24 NATO summit, during which leaders will “discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday. Biden will also join a European Council meeting; it’s not yet clear if he’ll meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky on Tuesday urged Canada’s Parliament to do more to defend Ukraine, a day ahead of his virtual address to Congress. 
   
• More than three-million people have now fled Ukraine, according to the U.N., and about 20,000 civilians managed to escape the city of Mariupol by way of a humanitarian corridor on Tuesday. Russia claimed that its troops had gained control of the whole Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and Britain’s Defense Ministry said that Russia may seek to stage a “referendum” to legitimize the area as a “breakaway republic.” 

In addition to targeting civilian neighborhoods, Russian forces have killed at least three journalists in the third week of the invasion. 
 

• Veteran Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova were killed in the same Monday attack outside Kyiv that left Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall severely injured. On Sunday, American documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed when Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle while he was reporting in a suburb of Kyiv. American photojournalist Juan Arredondo was also injured in that attack. 
   
• Meanwhile, over in Russia’s internal truth-telling crackdown, Russian television editor Marina Ovsyannikova was fined 30,000 rubles (about $280) for an anti-war video she posted online before storming a live news broadcast on Monday. Ovsyannikova told reporters on Tuesday that she was interrogated for more than 14 hours and denied access to a lawyer. She could still face separate charges for her on-air protest, and potentially a much harsher punishment under Russia’s new censorship law. Zelensky thanked her for her actions in a Monday video.

The mayor of Kyiv warned that the city faced a “difficult and dangerous moment,” as another day of peace talks ended without an agreement and Russian President Vladimir Putin undercut hopes of a possible compromise. Zelensky expressed gratitude to NATO leaders for their powerful show of solidarity, but tomorrow will likely ask the U.S. to take a much more active role.

In case you missed it—Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It are going on tour! Starting this month Jon, Jon, Tommy and Dan will be stopping in cities like Washington, DC, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, and more. Tickets are on sale now. Find your city and date on Crooked.com/events.

The White House warned that it’s running out of money for COVID tests, vaccines, and treatments, after Congress declined to approve $22.5 billion in new funding last week. Republicans opposed new spending for the pandemic response in the government-funding bill, a number of House Democrats and governors objected to a plan to reallocate unused funding from existing COVID programs, and Democratic leaders stripped the provision from the bill altogether. As a result, the White House will have to wind down a program that pays to test and treat uninsured Americans, cancel an order for more monoclonal-antibody treatments, stop boosting the supply of at-home rapid tests, and limit both vaccine research and international vaccination efforts. Democrats plan to try to pass a standalone COVID bill, but it likely won’t make it past a GOP filibuster in the Senate. Meanwhile, wastewater-sample sites have indicated that coronavirus cases are once again rising in many parts of the U.S. That may be a minor blip, or it may be an early warning of another wave. Either way, leaving the country in a state of unpreparedness does not seem like the move.

• Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio reportedly possessed a document with a detailed plan to storm and occupy House and Senate office buildings and the Supreme Court on January 6. Federal prosecutors cited the document, titled “1776 Returns,” in Tarrio’s indictment. 
   
• Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday. Vice President Kamala Harris has thus far tested negative, but sure did stand real close to a bunch of very important old guys (including President Biden) on Tuesday afternoon.
   
• Pfizer and BioNTech plan to ask the FDA to authorize a second booster shot for people age 65 and older. 
   
• Sarah Bloom Raskin has withdrawn her nomination to serve as the Federal Reserve’s top bank regulator after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced he would obey his fossil-fuel overlords and join Republicans in voting against her. 
   
• Russia has been deploying missiles with a previously unknown decoy designed to evade air-defense systems, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
   
• Police have arrested 30-year-old Gerald Brevard III in connection with a series of shootings targeting unhoused men in New York and Washington, DC.
   
• Neo-Nazis have been exploiting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a recruitment opportunity, in the hopes of using the instability to turn Ukraine into a fascist ethnostate. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s flawless de-Nazification mission continues to astound and amaze. 
   
• Uber and Lyft announced they’ll add a temporary fuel surcharge to ride fares, which will go directly to drivers. (If only the companies that spent $224 million to exempt themselves from labor laws could somehow afford to cover these costs themselves. Ah, well.)
   
• Retiring Archivist of the United States David Ferriero said he’d like to be replaced by someone who isn’t a white man, and that “I want this administration to be the administration that replaces me.”
   
• New scammer just dropped! We will see your Anna Delvey and raise you a fake Purple Heart recipient with fake Stage IV lung cancer.

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the owner of Britain’s Chelsea football club, profited enormously from corrupt deals with the Russian government, including one that involved the abduction of a Chinese competitor, according to a BBC investigation. Abramovich made billions after buying an oil company from the Russian government in a rigged auction and then selling it back, for which Russian authorities wanted to charge him with fraud. Ahead of another oil company auction in 2002, a representative of a Chinese company that was poised to outbid Abramovich and his partners was kidnapped when he arrived in Moscow. Russia's then-deputy energy minister said that senior political figures, who themselves stood to lose money if the Chinese company won the auction, had already decided that Abramovich would win. A fascinating historical tidbit for China to keep in mind as it considers supplying Russia with military and economic assistance!

Take Action Today: Protect Trans Youth

Lawmakers have introduced and advanced anti-trans bills in state legislatures across the country – putting 2022 on track to be another horrific, record-setting year for attacks on trans rights, especially trans youth rights.

ACLU lawyers and advocates are monitoring and fighting back against these gratuitous attacks – but we need supporters like you to join the fight as well. Sign our petition today to protect trans youth.

Here's where some of the most critical threats are unfolding:

• Texas: Governor Greg Abbott’s recent directive that providing lifesaving care should be considered child abuse and parents should be prosecuted blatantly violates the rights of trans youth and their parents. And despite a Texas judge granting relief for parents seeking medically necessary treatment for their trans kids, the state of Texas is doubling down and has already appealed. 
• South Dakota: South Dakota passed the first anti-trans bill of 2022, SB 46. This bill bans transgender girls from being able to play on sports teams that affirm their gender. 
• Arizona: Multiple anti-trans bills have been pushed in Arizona, including: SB 1165, which excludes trans girls from participating in sports at the grade school, high school, or collegiate level.
• Indiana: Lawmakers in Indiana are trying to push trans students out of school sports in the state with bill HB 1041.
• Alabama: Alabama’s criminal medical ban (SB 184/HB 266) passed the Senate and is awaiting a committee hearing in the House. The state is also considering HB 322, which would bar all trans youth from using public school restrooms that align with the gender they live as. 

These bills represent a nationwide, coordinated campaign to push trans people out of public life. To be clear, these bills will not stop youth from being trans. They only make it harder to access the support, education, and community that all young people need. It's a cruel and needless assault on the health and safety of kids just trying to grow up – and that's why the ACLU is pushing back relentlessly. Will you join us?

With strength,
The ACLU Team

President Biden has signed an executive order aimed at ending the gender pay gap for federal workers and contractors. 

Oregon lawmakers have approved a $15 million Reproductive Health Equity Fund to improve access to abortions in the state. 

Shalanda Young has become the first Black woman to be confirmed as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The Senate has, at long last, approved a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent. And now, a very important message from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).