Putin leaves a door to diplomacy open, as European, U.S. leaders race to defuse Ukraine crisis  —  MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday left the door open to further talks with Western leaders on his efforts to end NATO's open door policy, when his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov …

Judge throws out Palin libel case against New York Times  —  The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff came as a Manhattan jury was deliberating on Palin's suit, which claimed the Times defamed her by unfairly linking her to a 2011 shooting spree in Arizona that killed six people and gravely wounded then-Rep. Gabby Giffords.

Snoop Dogg smokes weed right before star-studded Super Bowl 2022 halftime show  —  Before taking the stage for Sunday's epic Super Bowl 2022 halftime show, Snoop Dogg had something of a pregame warmup.  —  In a video currently making the rounds on social media, Snoop is seen smoking …

Operations at U.S. Embassy Kyiv  —  I have no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans around the world, and that, of course, includes our colleagues serving at our posts overseas.  My team and I constantly review the security situation to determine when prudence dictates a change in posture.

Russian units near Ukraine moved into “attack positions,” official says  —  Russia has moved some long-range artillery and rocket launchers into firing position, threatening Ukraine, according to a U.S. official.  —  Some Russian units have left their assembly areas …

Accounting Firm Cuts Ties With Trump and Retracts Financial Statements  —  The statements are at the center of two investigations into whether the former president and his company exaggerated the value of their assets.  —  Donald J. Trump's longtime accounting firm abruptly cut ties …

Dissatisfaction With U.S. Immigration Level Rises to 58%  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nearly six in 10 Americans, 58%, are dissatisfied with the level of immigration into the U.S. today, while 34% are satisfied.  This marks an eight-percentage-point increase in dissatisfaction since last year and a return to the 2019-2020 range.

Of course they spied on Trump  —  OF COURSE THEY SPIED ON TRUMP.  One of the most contentious claims Donald Trump ever made was his insistence that he had been the target of spying.  He made the charge in several different ways.  For example, in March 2017, Trump, just two months in office, tweeted, “Terrible!

Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez an Insider Now?  —  After three years in the halls of power, she's seen the “shit show” up close—and hasn't given up on her vision for how to change it. … Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat representing parts of Queens and the Bronx (including Rikers Island) …

Hackers Just Leaked the Names of 92,000 ‘Freedom Convoy’ Donors  —  GiveSendGo, the Christian crowdfunding site that helped raise $8.7 million for the anti-vax “freedom convoy” in Canada, was hacked on Sunday night.  —  DG  —  The Christian crowdfunding site that helped raise $8.7 million for the anti-vax …

Ukraine president says he's been told Russia will attack Wednesday  —  Ukraine president warns Russian attack will come Wednesday  —  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that his government has been told that Wednesday, Feb. 16, will be “the day of attack” when Russia invades Ukraine.

Democrats, Speak to Working-Class Discontent  —  It's the one way to mobilize Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, not just white workers.  —  America is at a perilous moment when a Trump-led Republican Party is steaming ahead to knock down every guardrail protecting free elections.

Why Covid-19 vaccines are a freaking miracle  —  Two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, it's easy to lament all that has come to pass.  The devastating losses.  The upending of what we regarded as normal ways of life.  The sheer relentlessness of it all.  —  But let's stop for a moment …

A staunch conservative's urgent warning to the GOP about Trump and 2024  —  Donald Trump is telling us exactly how he intends to rerun his coup attempt, should the conditions align for it in 2024.  He regularly flaunts his view that attempting to overturn his 2020 loss was the correct thing to do …

Trudeau plans to invoke Emergencies Act in response to protests: sources  —  Act grants cabinet ability to take ‘special temporary measures that may not be appropriate in normal times’  —  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told his caucus he will invoke the never-before-used Emergencies Act …

John Eastman claims attorney-client privilege over thousands of pages sought by Jan. 6 investigators  —  Attorney John Eastman, a close ally of Donald Trump amid his effort to subvert the 2020 election, has attempted to shield more than 10,000 pages of emails and counting from congressional investigators …

Art Spiegelman Loses His Glasses  —  As the latest fight over Maus erupts, its artist-creator searches for his spectacles.  —  Okay, so here's the thing," Art Spiegelman says into the phone as he paces his cavernous Soho studio, humming with anxiety. “  I don't know what happened.

Trump's latest political obsession: The baseball team owner not toeing his line  —  Donald Trump has a new fixation: a Major League Baseball scion who hails from one of the country's richest families — and who, unlike most other Republican Senate candidates, isn't bowing to the former president.

The Right's Would-Be Kingmaker  —  Peter Thiel, one of Donald J. Trump's biggest donors in 2016, has re-emerged as a prime financier of the Make America Great Again movement.  —  Ryan Mac, who is based in Los Angeles, covers the intersection of technology and power.