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* Too little progress: “The Kremlin on Tuesday rebuffed the idea that President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had made meaningful progress toward defusing the Ukraine crisis in their high-stakes meeting in Moscow.”
* Madness is not a purely domestic problem: “As Canada’s capital remained paralyzed by nearly two weeks of protests against pandemic measures, a new road blockade effectively cut off Canada’s busiest link to the United States, threatening to undermine a significant sector of the country’s economy.”
* Sounds like a scary situation: “Second gentleman Doug Emhoff was evacuated on Tuesday from an event at a Washington, D.C., high school after a bomb threat. Emhoff, who was visiting Dunbar High School for Black History Month, was interrupted by a U.S. Secret Service agent just a few minutes after the event began and ushered out of the room.”
* An overdue hearing: “Describing herself as an ‘equal-opportunity foe of antisemitism,’ President Joe Biden’s pick to monitor and combat prejudice against Jews around the world finally got her day before the Senate committee that will evaluate her nomination. Biden had nominated Deborah Lipstadt to lead the State Department’s office for combating antisemitism in late July.”
* Matthew Beddingfield: “A Jan. 6 rioter who stormed the Capitol while he was out on bail on an attempted first-degree murder charge was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was first identified by online sleuths.”
* Lander exits: “The top science adviser to the White House, Eric Lander, resigned Monday, telling President Joe Biden in his letter of resignation that he had been ‘demeaning’ to subordinates. Lander, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, is the first member of Biden’s Cabinet to resign.”
* The Justice Department is having to look out for medical professionals facing threats of right-wing violence, too: “A Texas man has pleaded guilty to threatening a Maryland doctor who has been a prominent advocate for COVID-19 vaccines, a federal prosecutor said. Scott Eli Harris, 51, of Aubrey, Texas, pleaded guilty Monday to threats transmitted by interstate communication, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek L. Barron announced in a news release.”
* Quite a settlement: “A federal judge ordered the U.S. Air Force on Monday to pay more than $230 million to the survivors and the families of the victims of a 2017 shooting at a Texas church because the Air Force had failed to report the gunman’s criminal history.”
* This bill has a decent chance of success: “The House on Monday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would overhaul how workplace sexual assault and harassment claims are handled, approving a significant change in employment law that would effectively do away with forced arbitration in such cases, eliminating a central source of protection for the perpetrators.”
See you tomorrow.