Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, says diplomacy over Ukraine is “far from over” and proposes continuing and “intensifying” them even as Russian and Belarussian jets fly near their neighbor’s border, The New York Times reports. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is next on deck for negotiations. He is in Kyiv, Ukraine, today and proceeds to Moscow tomorrow. President Biden made little headway with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an hour-plus call Saturday.
Note: Even as fighter jets and Russian warships are gathering near Ukraine in the Black Sea, the U.S. and NATO nations are relying on the threat of economic sanctions, including the future of the Russian Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to Germany, to staunch Putin’s desire to rebuild his country’s dominance in the region.
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Slow-Walking Attorney
Former Trump lawyer John Eastland, a key player in the attempt to get Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the Electoral College count on January 6, 2021, is claiming attorney-client privilege in attempting to refuse to turn over thousands of emails to the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, Politico reports. Judge David Carter, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has ordered Eastland to review more than 94,000 emails. Some 8,000 have been turned over to the committee. Eastman has about 48,000 more to review and is reportedly taking his time in doing so.
Note: Eastman was pretty much an unknown until he was interviewed by the 1/6 panel in December, when he reportedly pleaded the 5th Amendment 146 times. There are concerns he is slow walking his review of the emails until the mid-term elections in November. The Eastman emails originated on the server of his former employer, Chapman University. Eastman resigned from the university after January 6. As an attorney for Chapman has made clear: the school isn’t interested in trying to help Eastman. Why didn’t the committee subpoena the emails directly from the university?
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Vaxx By State
“Have you gotten the vaccine, or not?” is the question asked in a Morning Consult survey of about 40,000 people in the U.S. and a fairly consistent 20% are unwilling (i.e., on February 7 of this year, 20% said they are unwilling; on March 15 of last year, 21% were unwilling). Where are the opposition rates the highest? The top-five areas of resistance are: Wyoming (35%), Montana (34%), North Dakota (30%), Idaho (29%), and West Virginia, Alabama and Oklahoma tie for fifth at 28%.
On the flip side, the lowest rates of vaccine unwillingness are: District of Columbia (7%) and Massachusetts (10%), while New Jersey, Vermont and Delaware tie for fifth at 16%.
Note: It is interesting to note that the states where people are more willing to get vaccinated happen to be representative of the creation of the country: Look at the list of the first states and they check the boxes (yes, D.C. is an anomaly, but other than that. . . ). And it is notable that while Vermont is the only outlier vis-à-vis the original 13 – it’s the nation’s 14th state.
Seems that the original freedom-lovers are pro-vaccine.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash
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