Jeff Zients to Leave as Biden's Covid Czar and Be Replaced by Ashish Jha  —  The choice of Dr. Jha, an outspoken public health expert, is a sign that the White House believes the country is entering a new phase of the pandemic.  — Give this article- - - Read in app

Russia's military is incompetent.  That makes it more dangerous. … Last month, Russia's position on Ukraine's borders looked promising: Moscow had amassed an invasion force with nearly as many troops as Ukraine has in its active-duty military, had spent two decades modernizing its weapons and organization …

Fearing Poisoning, Vladimir Putin Replaces 1,000 of His Personal Staff  —  Kremlin Questioned Protesting Russian TV Producer for 14 Hours After Arrest  —  Russian Speakers Make Cold Calls to Thwart Putin's Ukraine Propaganda  —  Parents of Ex-Marine Jailed in Russia Say Putin Is Using Him as a Political Pawn

Everyone Was Surprised By The Senate Passing Permanent Daylight Saving Time.  Especially The Senators.  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate's unanimous passage of a bill to make daylight saving time permanent stunned many Americans, not least of which the senators themselves.

The NYT Now Admits the Biden Laptop — Falsely Called “Russian Disinformation” — is Authentic  —  The media outlets which spread this lie from ex-CIA officials never retracted their pre-election falsehoods, ones used by Big Tech to censor reporting on the front-runner.

Why Stacey Abrams Isn't Embracing Her Democratic Stardom (So Far)  —  On the campaign trail for Georgia governor, she is talking more about Medicaid expansion than voting rights, betting that a hyperlocal strategy and the state's leftward tilt can lift her to victory.

POLITICO Playbook: Scoop: RNC down to two 2024 convention finalists  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  ZELENSKYY'S APPEAL FALLS SHORT (FOR NOW) — No one was surprised by the request: a no-fly zone — and if not that, then access to those Soviet-style fighter jets in Poland that could help them “close the sky.”

Russian Forces Take Losses on Battlefield, but Civilian Toll Worsens  —  Russia's ground advance slowed, but more missile and other attacks struck civilians.  As cease-fire talks continued with uncertain prospects, the U.N. Security Council was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine.

Biden calls Putin a ‘murderous dictator’ and ‘pure thug’  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden on Thursday called Vladimir Putin a “pure thug” and “murderous dictator,” his latest pointed attack against the Russian President as the war in Ukraine rages on.  —  Speaking at the annual Friends …

Hannity's clownish contortions on Ukraine reveal the rot at Trumpism's core  —  Donald Trump's most slavish propagandists have a problem.  Trump withheld military aid from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an extortion scheme of unfathomable corruption and depravity.

Trump White House aide was secret author of report used to push ‘big lie’  —  Report on Dominion voting machines produced after 2020 election was not the work of volunteer in Trump's post-election legal team  —  Weeks after the 2020 election, at least one Trump White House aide was named …

Koch Industries to stay in Russia, says exiting does ‘more harm than good’  —  Koch Industries, the American manufacturing giant that employs 122,000 people across the world, said Wednesday it would not exit its operations in Russia because doing so would put its “employees there at greater risk and do more harm than good.”

Brittney Griner's detention extended until May, Russian news agency says  —  American basketball star Brittney Griner's detention in Russia has been extended until May, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing the Khimki Court of the Moscow Region.  —  “The court granted the petition …

Escalating fears that Putin might do something crazy  —  A brief note on a very strange day … I think there are two points worth dwelling on.  —  First, there will always be fresh terror from Putin.  A show trial.  Chernobyl.  Chem/bio insinuations.

Negative View of State of the Union  —  Americans describe country as ‘divided,’ ‘mess,’ ‘chaos’  —  West Long Branch, NJ - Divided.  That is the most commonly mentioned description of the country today, according to the Monmouth ("Mon-muth") University Poll.

Republican Senators Block Confirmation of Key Biden Officials, Stymying Ukraine Response  —  A Democratic lawmaker accuses Sen. Rick Scott of “single-handedly undermining” the United States' full response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  —  In recent weeks, the Biden administration …

Marina Ovsyannikova's courage should make U.S. stop our own war against protests  —  It was a stunning, brave act that electrified Americans — even if no one witnessed it in real time.  But the soon-to-be-viral video of a Russian state TV employee named Marina Ovsyannikova crashing …

Is Free Speech In American Law Schools A Lost Cause?  —  Recent controversies at UC Hastings and Yale Law—Yale, shocking, I know—don't provide much reason for hope. … On March 1, at the UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, the law school's chapter of the Federalist Society attempted …

In ‘Lessons From the Edge,’ How an Ambassador to Ukraine Became a Casualty of the Trump Administration  —  Marie Yovanovitch recounts her career in public service and the experience of testifying during President Trump's first impeachment.  —  Buy Book ▾

Where Does American Democracy Go From Here?  —  Early last year, Freedom House, an American organization that since World War II has warned against autocracy and repression on the march around the world, issued a special report on a country that had not usually warranted such attention: its own.

Bolshoi star ballerina quits famed Moscow company: ‘I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia’ … Bolshoi ballerina Olga Smirnova, an international ballet star who recently publicly denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has quit the famed Moscow ballet company and joined the Dutch National Ballet …