Ammo Not Uber

 #StandWithUkraine:  On Sunday, mincing no words, Senator Mitt Romney called Vladimir Putin a “small, evil, feral eyed man.”  Going one huge step further, Senator Marco Rubio, vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee, suggested that Putin was deranged, tweeting “I wish I could share more, but for now I can say its pretty obvious to many that something is off with #Putin.  He has always been a killer, but his problem now is different & significant.”  So that’s where we are this morning, as the war between an evil, deranged world leader rattling his nukes while sitting socially distanced in his ice bunker and a much younger heroic and telegenic newcomer out and about in a flak jacket with fewer weapons and no nukes hits the five day mark.  Anyone who tells you that they know for sure how this is going to end is lying but one thing is for certain Ukraine’s Zelensky’s whose countrymen and women are outperforming and whose “I need ammunition not a ride” response to offers of help in evacuating is trending is looking quite remarkable and more impressive every day.  Sometimes a country elects a former TV star/comic/Dancing With the Stars winner to the presidency and gets a man for all seasons and sometimes they get an egotistical mango maniac.  As to the former guy, he and his last Secretary of State Mike Pompeo still believe that Putin is a genius, but they’re now expressing some support for Ukraine, while bashing Biden of course, as are many, though not all members of their party. Among those still in Putin’s camp are Arizona’s FG supporting state senator Wendy Rogers who while not calling for repeated audits of the last election was busy calling Zelensky a “globalist puppet for George Soros and the Clintons," because who doesn’t like to throw a little Clinton bashing in with anti-Semitic tropes? Rogers like Margie Q spoke at neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes’ white nationalists’ America First Political Action PAC held at the Orlando Marriott (#WTF Marriott) this weekend because of course they both did.  In case you think their views are of concern to the rest of their party, consider how few not named Mitt, Liz or Adam condemned their attendance and that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said that he’d rather have a white nationalist in his state senate than a Democrat.  By the way if you are looking for books not to read, former Attorney General William Barr’s book hawking roadshow begins this week. About all you need to know is that Barr, who auditioned for the AG spot by writing a memo endorsing the imperial presidency now says that the FG has shown that he has “neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed” and that the GOP needs to move on from him.  A little late for that call don’t you think?

Court Time:  President Biden formally announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to fill the Supreme Court spot being vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer. That’s not surprising, Jackson who was always the leading candidate clerked for Breyer. Because she’s not his first choice, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham who voted for Jackson when she was confirmed for her current seat on the DC Court of Appeals whined that the “radical left has won again.”  To be clear, Jackson is not a radical but she is eminently qualified for the court, and actually has far more relevant experience than most of the other justices had when they were nominated.  Its too early to know if any Republicans will vote for her, the likely “crossovers” are Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski who, like Graham, voted for her earlier confirmation but Murkowski is in the middle of a primary and Collins still has some pearls that need twisting, so who knows.  Curiously, Mitt Romney said nice things about Jackson this weekend but he didn’t vote for her last time so there’s that.  Switching from the highly competent to the truly bizarre, Kimberly Guilfoyle freaked out  during her “voluntary” virtual meeting with the January 6^th committee and now may get a subpoena compelling her to return or else, not that those subpoenas have accomplished much lately.  

Viral Musings:  We’ve moved into the endemic phase of COVID.  Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what that means, no one does.  The good news is that the 7 day new case count is down to 65K, though that dreadful death number remains high at around 1800.  The CDC says that healthy people living in the 72% if the country with low or lowish COVID levels, low hospitalization levels and lots of hospital capacity don’t need to wear masks indoors unless they want to but keep in mind that the focus on hospital capacity only means that there would be room at the inn if you need it, not that people aren’t still getting sick.  That of course means that the triply vaccinated neurotic among us in the lowest case count areas will still mask up while those in the high case count areas who never wore masks will continue to go without.    

One More Thing:  There are lots of organizations raising money for Ukraine including two of my favorites: Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen (wck.org) and the International Rescue Committee (rescue.org).  Pick one you like and respect and considering helping out.