Brett Stephens posits any interesting possibility.

“Suppose for a moment that Putin never intended to conquer all of Ukraine: that, from the beginning, his real targets were the energy riches of Ukraine’s east, which contain Europe’s second-largest known reserves of natural gas (after Norway’s).

Combine that with Russia’s previous territorial seizures in Crimea (which has huge offshore energy fields) and the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk (which contain part of an enormous shale-gas field), as well as Putin’s bid to control most or all of Ukraine’s coastline, and the shape of Putin’s ambitions become clear. He’s less interested in reuniting the Russian-speaking world than he is in securing Russia’s energy dominance.”

So it isn’t about demilitarizing, de-Nazifying, saving ethnic Russians or any of the other reasons given (and defended by some here); it is about the vast resources under the ground of Eastern Ukraine and the ability to ship the reserves to market

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/600020-judge-rules-trumps-efforts-to-overturn-election-likely-criminal

Not my words, but the word of the judge who ruled Eastman has to turn over most of the documents requested by the January 6th Commission.

“Carter said there was enough evidence to find a likelihood that Trump committed at least two felonies: obstruction of an official proceeding, a serious charge that has been brought against hundreds of Capitol riot defendants, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.”

…”Carter acknowledged that the case before him is not positioned to address who should be assigned responsibility for last year’s attack on the Capitol.”

While no criminal finding is in the order, there apparently is enough information to indicate that John Eastman’s records are not ALL protected by attorney-client privilege because there are possible criminal acts involved.

The potential of a HUGE conflict of interest exists here. A lot of valid questions need to be answered before proclaiming Justice Thomas to be compromised by his wife’s actions and interactions.

https://theweek.com/political-satire/1011611/the-lindsey-graham-missile

Following the completion of his questioning of SCOTUS nominee KBJ, Sen. Graham stormed out of the hearing like a child who had his ball taken away from him. Well, bless his soul, his choice for the seat was not chosen.

His attention grabbing efforts are noted for one thing: It’s lack of maturity. – IMO

https://www.vox.com/recode/22981115/duckduckgo-free-speech-privacy-oops

I believe I have seen at least one member of this forum that uses duckduckgo as a search engine. Understandably so.

But because they have opted to do something WRT disinformation campaigns from Russian sources, they are catching heat from some of their users.

I am sharing this article because I thought it would be of interest to those who use DDG for their searches.

I apologize for the length of the link. I still haven’t figure out the tiny url thing.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/596874-cruz-knocks-grahams-call-to-assassinate-putin-an-exceptionally-bad-idea

Saying that Ted Cruz is the voice of reason is hard to do. But when he’s right, he’s right.

Meanwhile, Lindsay Graham kind of put his foot in his mouth (or thumb up his keyboard?) with saying out loud what, I would not be surprised to find out, many people are thinking. I have had the same thought, but have not shared it with anyone. (Oops.)

The ramifications would be too great for a state sponsored assassination of another country’s leader. It would be easier if Putin were on the battlefield like his Ukrainian counterpart. But still bad to say out loud.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/594977-biden-names-ketanji-brown-jackson-dc-appeals-court-judge-to-supreme

Is she quailified? Yes.

Does this fulfill a campaign promise? Yes.

Is the GOP going to have a major hissy fit, melt down? Probably.

Will this quote from the story help to prevent aforementioned hissy fit? Doubtful, but one could hope.

“Court watchers who previously spoke to The Hill about Jackson emphasized her reputation as a fair, balanced and serious judge who would not be swayed by a case’s political dimensions.”

https://www.pilotonline.com/news/environment/vp-nw-noaa-climate-summary-20220215-u6xpgn3g4nb6xgp63w2sdhr74e-story.html

Scientific evidence shows an increase in sea level, combined with subsidence, rise for the region to be anywhere from 15-24 inches.

“NOAA’s last technical report in 2017 similarly predicted about a foot of sea level rise — but by the end of the century. This week’s document allows more precision and speeds up the timeline, officials said during a virtual press conference.”

5 years ago, end of the century estimates were a foot. Now we are talking mid-Century and a foot-and-a-half to 2 feet.

A good basis to remain in the RGGI to help pay for resiliency projects because, as one oceanographer said, “We aren’t holding back the tides.”

https://www.pilotonline.com/opinion/editorials/vp-ed-editorial-veteran-retirement-taxes-0201-20220131-puijuwn7fjagtgnwmy3cpumowy-story.html

The editorial makes some very valid points concerning the effectiveness, overall, of ending, or lessening, the tax on military retirements. Property taxes have been eliminated for homes and a primary vehicle for 100% disabled vets. It had to be done via Constitutional amendment, so I don’t know if changing retirement taxation can be done through straight legislative action. I hope this is the case.

I wish there had been more coverage of this in Youngkin’s campaign then the culture war garbage that was the at forefront.

If he can get this done, I COULD possibly consider voting for him next time.

Oh, wait. There is no “next time” in Virginia.