Day: February 24, 2022

McConnell Backs Tough Sanctions on Russia

Buck Banks

“Ratchet the sanctions all the way up. Don’t hold any back. Every single available tough sanction should be employed and should be employed now.”

— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that President Biden should increase sanctions against Russia “all the way up” after Moscow began a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, The Hill reports.

Don’t Take Tucker Carlson too Seriously — FOX Doesn’t

Buck Banks

“Carlson is dangerous because he has a cultlike following who believe his nightly rants. I would love to see the Murdochs put decency above dollars and remove him from the airwaves. … But it’s important to remember what Carlson is: nothing more than an outrage machine. What he offers is not political commentary. It’s Fox-approved nonsense meant to juice ratings — and it works. …Don’t take my word for it. In 2020, Fox’s own lawyers successfully made the case in court that Carlson shouldn’t be taken seriously. And a Trump-appointed federal judge agreed.”

— Margaret Sullivan

One-Fifth of Americans Believe a ‘Storm’ Is Coming

Buck Banks

22%

“Some 22% of Americans believe that a ‘storm’ is coming, 18% think violence might be necessary to save the country and 16% hold that the government, media and financial worlds are controlled by Satan-worshipping pedophiles.” A new study finds the QAnon conspiracy movement continues to thrive and has even strengthened more than a year after Donald Trump left the White House, The Guardian reports.

Navalny Condemns Russian Aggression

Buck Banks

“The war with Ukraine has been unleashed to cover up the robbery of Russian citizens and divert their attention away from the country’s internal problems, from the degradation of its economy.”

— “Aleksei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition politician, used a court hearing on Thursday to condemn President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.

Russian War in Ukraine Not All on the Battlefield

Buck Banks

“The biggest problem for Ukraine and its allies is that Russia knows this battlespace well — and undoubtedly has been recruiting a network of Ukrainian double agents. These agents can sow havoc for a resistance movement by revealing its leaders, safe houses, communications and plans of attack…. And it gets worse: A trademark of Russian intelligence, for a century, has been its ability to manipulate resistance groups in Ukraine and elsewhere so that they were actually controlled by the Kremlin.”

— David Ignatius