Russia has invaded a country on NATO’s borders, its leader has repeatedly invoked the specter of nuclear war, and its military is mercilessly bombing civilian targets. China, meanwhile, is ramping up its defense spending, has overtaken the United States in some important areas of defense technology, and just signed a treaty of “friendship” with Russia. Elsewhere, North Korea is testing missiles that can reach the U.S.
Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET on March 29, 2022.At noon on January 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump spoke to supporters at a rally near the White House. Journalists often quote his incendiary language from the speech: “Fight like hell”; “We will not take it anymore.” But Trump also laid out a precise plan of action for the crowd:
If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All he has to do, all this is, this is from the No.
A federal judge ruled Monday that former President Trump and his lawyer John Eastman “likely” committed multiple felonies in their bid to block certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election, ordering them to turn over hundreds of emails to the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
The January 6 committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol is reportedly deciding whether to interview Ginni Thomas — the Republican activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — about her efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
It is easy to view the ground as stable, as fixed, as immovable, even when deep down we know that it’s not. Sometimes the earth seems to shudder, as with an earthquake, and sometimes it pops, as with a volcanic eruption. Other times the earth slips, bits of dirt, handfuls of pebbles, beads of water combining and shifting until they coalesce into a cascade that blocks roads, shears homes from their foundations, and claims precious lives.
Ukrainian and Russian officials have begun a new round of peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey. Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a humanitarian ceasefire to end the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine 34 days ago.
The congressional stalemate on additional Covid funding threatens to upend the fragile progress that has been made since the early days of the pandemic.
China has continued to pursue a “zero-Covid” strategy.
A Trump-era rule blocks migrants to prevent the threat of Covid-19.
The poll’s findings come as White House officials warn that masks may be necessary if Covid-19 cases increase in the United States.
The nation’s public health agency now says hospitals shouldn’t force patients to remove highly protective masks after POLITICO found many that do so.
White House officials deny any sense of panic over the economy or their midterm chances.
The administration’s difficulties in getting bank cop nominees through a Democratic-controlled Senate underscore the fault lines within the party over how to approach financial regulation.
The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates — but Congress has a chance to bring real relief.
The increase reported by the Labor Department reflected the 12 months ending in February and didn’t include most of the oil and gas price increases that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb.
The Fed is already expected to begin a campaign of interest rate increases next month in a bid to remove its support for economic growth amid a blistering job market and rapidly rising prices.
The Fox News host seems to want Putin to remain in power.
Contempt of Congress charges languish with the Department of Justice as the select committee’s members fume at the attorney general.
Trump’s son-in-law may have useful information even though he reportedly blew off calls for aid amid the riot because he was busy with “Middle East peace.
The Supreme Court justice’s wife sent nearly two dozen texts to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, urging him to overturn the 2020 election.
Ukrainian defenders continued to make incremental gains over the weekend, using small-unit tactics to great effect against overextended Russian troops. Larger-scale operations appear to be successfully forcing Russian retreats in several key locations, including a retaking of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, again pushing Russian artillery positions away from the city.
In a ruling ordering John Eastman, who is alleged to have helped architect the scheme that would have seen Donald Trump’s vice president throw out the certified electors from a handful of Biden-won states so as to overturn the November 2020 presidential elections, to turn over evidence to the House select committee investigating the coup, a federal judge determined that Donald Trump himself likely sought to criminally obstruct Congress on that day.
I’m an avid Academy Awards watcher. I’ve watched for years, and can’t remember missing one. I cheered when Halle Berry won for Best Actress for Monster’s Ball, the year after Denzel Washington won the award for Best Actor for Training Day, and have for years lamented how few Black actors, Latino actors, Asian actors, LGBTQ+ actors, disabled actors, etc. have won awards.
The New York Times has done a deep dive on how Sen. Joe Manchin got rich off of the coal business, and in a nutshell: Holy crap, is Joe Manchin corrupt.
If you pay attention to Manchin, you might know that he gets around $500,000 a year in income from his own personal coal company.
The chairs of the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, & Operations are the latest to call for the closure of the New Mexico immigration detention facility at the center of a recent, blistering watchdog report.
I was on an overnight flight from Los Angeles to New York City during the Academy Awards, so at first I didn’t see the Will Smith–Chris Rock fiasco that sent America into a complete tizzy. But when I was finally able to turn on my cellphone, I had 653 text messages.Six hundred and fifty-three.By now, you’ve probably seen multiple videos and angles of Smith slapping Rock.
The damage control began not long after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face. After the two exchanged a few words, Rock glanced offscreen and appeared momentarily bewildered. Then he awkwardly tried to lighten the mood before pressing on to present the Best Documentary nominees.The altercation was the most shocking moment in Oscars history—at least for people watching at home. But inside the Dolby Theatre, the show proceeded as if nothing of consequence had happened.
“The illegality of the plan was obvious.”Attorneys, as a class, are not typically well regarded for their writing; not for nothing do we call sentences that are incomprehensible, jargon-laden, or obfuscatory “legalese.” Yet what makes an order from federal Judge David Carter today important is less its legal ramifications than the simple clarity of the view it offers of former President Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election.
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Every Friday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
