Live Updates: At Least 39 Killed in Strike on Train Station, Ukraine Says, as Thousands Flee From East  —  The station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk had been a main point of evacuation as the region braced for a scaling up of Russia's offensive.  The European Union formally approved …

Putin's Trojan horse inside the west  —  If Russia cannot dominate on the battlefield, its next best hope is for dramatic new evidence of western decay  —  This article is an on-site version of our Swamp Notes newsletter.  Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every Monday and Friday

Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls the Police on Jimmy Kimmel  —  Kimmel said of Greene's angry tweets about a joke he made earlier this week: “She's a snowflake and a sociopath — a ‘snowciopath.’” … Marjorie Is the New Karen  —  Jimmy Kimmel struck a nerve with Marjorie Taylor Greene this week …

‘If we do this right ...’: The new Dem organizing strategy catching fire ahead of the midterms  —  A group of Democratic strategists is trying to spread a novel organizing tactic in this year's election.  Technically, it's called “paid relational organizing,” but it boils down to this …

The Veteran Who Launched A Multimillion-Dollar Effort To Build A Border Wall Has Agreed To Plead Guilty To Fraud Charges  —  Brian Kolfage, an Iraq War veteran who launched a multimillion-dollar crowdfunding effort to build a private border wall, has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges …

F.B.I. Preparing to Investigate How Classified Material Went to Trump's Home  —  Federal authorities want to know more about how sensitive national security information came to be in 15 boxes of documents and mementos sent to Mar-a-Lago from the White House.  — Give this article- - - Read in app

Compact Fake Gay History  —  From Mariupol to Missouri, in real wars and culture wars, soldiers like to film themselves in battle.  Twitter is awash with footage of Ukrainian and Russian troops showing off their tactical prowess and grisly exploits.  US culture warriors do likewise.

Capitol attack investigators zero in on far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys  —  Panel appears to believe militias coordinated to physically stop certification of Joe Biden's election victory on 6 January last year  —  The House select committee investigating January 6 appears to believe …

Madison Cawthorn's GOP Colleagues Have a New Reason to Hate Him  —  Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) isn't exactly making friends in Congress these days.  His new stance on raising money for the party isn't going to help.  —  Last year, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) pulled hundreds of thousands …

Do Democrats Really Want Amazon's Workers to Win?  —  Seventy-nine years old and slouching toward a devastating midterm rebuke, President Joe Biden rarely appears to be enjoying his job these days.  But some of the old spark was there Wednesday, when he addressed a gathering of building-trades unionists …

Peter Thiel Pumps Bitcoin, Calls Warren Buffett A ‘Sociopathic Grandpa’  —  Peter Thiel, the lightning-rod venture capitalist, offered up what he called an “enemies list” on Thursday, his attempt to call out anti-crypto investors while speaking at a prominent cryptocurrency conference in Miami, a crypto hot spot.

GOP ‘built on fraud, fear and fascism’?  If the jackboot fits...  There were even more vermin than usual in Washington this week.  A rabid fox at the Capitol bit at least nine people, including Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.).  And Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison attacked Sen. Tom Cotton …

Ex-RNC staffer gets more than 12 years in prison in child porn case  —  A former GOP staffer and Republican National Committee aide who admitted to being part of a ring that traded child pornography involving babies was sentenced Thursday to more than 12-and-a-half years in prison Thursday.

DeSantis tops $100 million for Florida reelection race — and sends signal to 2024 Republican field  —  Ron DeSantis is thinking about running against other GOP candidates 01:53  —  (CNN)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has raised more than $100 million for his reelection effort …

Russia's war dead belie its slogan that no one is left behind … Soon after the invasion began, a hashtag war slogan popped up everywhere in Russia: “We don't leave ours behind.”  But many were.  —  In Irpin, on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, two Russian soldiers killed …

Slovakia sends its air defence system to Ukraine  —  Slovakia has donated its S-300 air defence system to Ukraine, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Friday, a day after the United States said it and 30 other countries were stepping up military aid to Kyiv.

Hmmm: Federal appeals court upholds vaccine mandate on federal workers  —  Better late, politically speaking, than never?  Joe Biden won a round for his workplace mandates, albeit the narrowest of the bunch.  Late yesterday, the normally conservative Fifth Circuit vacated an injunction imposed …

4/8/22 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM. … IN FACT, TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO ORDER IT FROM THEIR LOCAL BOOKSTORES. … “THE EXPERIENCE OF BEGGING FOR SUPPORT WAS WEARING ON HER. ..  PELOSI WAS THE ONLY DEMOCRAT IN THE CHAMBER — THE ONLY DEMOCRAT ALIVE — WHO HAD ALREADY SERVED AS SPEAKER …

Journalism's Twitter Problem Is the Journalists  —  Today, New York Times honcho Dean Baquet ordered a company-wide “reset” in how his staff should think about Twitter.  Mostly, he'd like them to never look at it again.  —  You can see why.  Most of the people who work for him are very bad …

Luxury Yachtmaker to the Oligarchs Checks Up On Who Its Customers Are  —  Germany's luxury yachtmaker to the oligarchs is making sure it knows who its customers are.  —  Luerssen, which built two of the three largest superyachts detained by authorities over their links to sanctioned Russian billionaires …

TX-34 Special Election Gives GOP an Early South Texas Gift  —  Blue Dog Democrat Filemon Vela (TX-34) did his party no favors when he announced he would leave Congress early on March 31 to join the lobbying firm Akin Gump.  Now, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has used his authority to call an “emergency” …

Ukraine war: Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denies war crimes but admits ‘significant’ Russian losses  —  In a wide-ranging interview with Sky News, Dmitry Peskov denied atrocities had taken place, said NATO was confrontational, accused Boris Johnson of not being “constructive” and said Russia is trying to bring the war to an end soon.

Yakuza Boss Arrested at Manhattan Steakhouse for Alleged Rockets-for-Heroin Scheme  —  “The drugs were destined for New York streets, and the weapons shipments were meant for factions in unstable nations.”  —  A Japanese organized crime kingpin conspired to broker massive deals …

Mexico's top court hands López Obrador a win on electricity reform  —  Decision leaves in place a proposal that has drawn the ire of the country's private sector and the US government  —  Mexico's Supreme Court on Thursday denied a bid to invalidate President Andrés Manuel …

January 6th, Roe v. Wade as the Known Unknowns for 2022  —  When asked in early 2002 to provide evidence that Saddam Hussein tried to supply weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld replied, “There are known knowns — there are things we know we know.

Unraveling the tale of Hunter Biden and $3.5 million from Russia  —  “She [Russian billionaire Elena Baturina] gave him [Hunter Biden] $3.5 million so now I would think [Russian president Vladimir] Putin would know the answer to that.  I think he should release it.  I think we should know that answer.”