The Ukraine Threat: Today in a further demonstration of military power, Russia carried out exercises with its nuclear forces. President Vladimir Putin was present.

 US President Joe Biden said he has become convinced that Putin has made his decision to invade Ukraine within days.

  “We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to, intend to, attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days,” Biden said at the White House yesterday. “We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people.”

  Asked whether he thinks Putin is at all wavering, Biden said, “I’m convinced he’s made the decision.” 

  Russia can still choose diplomacy, Biden said. “It is not too late to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table.”

  Leaders of the Russian-backed breakaway movement in the Donbas region of Ukraine claim that it’s the Ukrainian army that’s being the aggressor, shelling rebel areas. They showed video of a jeeplike vehicle that had been blown up. It’s the kind of thing that could be used as an excuse for a Russian invasion.

The Trump Docket:  Adding to his legal troubles, civil lawsuits blaming Donald Trump for the January 6th insurrection can proceed and the former president does not have  absolute immunity from litigation, a federal judge ruled Friday. 

  Trump’s statement to his supporters before the attack on the US Capitol “is the essence of civil conspiracy,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in a 112-page opinion, noting that Trump spoke about himself and rally-goers working “towards a common goal.” 

  “The President’s January 6 Rally Speech can reasonably be viewed as a call for collective action,” Mehta said. He noted Trump saying to the crowd, “We fight, we fight like hell, and if we don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

  The decision is in regard to three lawsuits; two brought by Democratic members of the House members, and a third  filed by Capitol Police officers, all trying to hold Trump responsible for the riot.

  In another Trump development, the National Archives confirmed that some of the 15 boxes of White House documents Trump took to Florida included classified materials. Federal law prohibits the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations. 

Skate for Scandal: International Olympic President Thomas Bach expressed his dismay at the way Russian skater Kamila Valieva was treated by her coaches after her disappointing 4^th place finish.

  The 15-year-old Valieva was sobbing when she left the ice and Bach said, “You could see this chilling atmosphere, this distance” from Valieva’s coaches. “I’m very concerned.”

  Valieva’s tough and controversial coach, Eteri Tutberidze, could be heard on live television asking the dejected skater in Russian: “Why did you stop fighting? Explain it to me, why? You let it go after that axel.”

  Bach said, “When I afterwards saw how she’s received by her closest entourage with such, what appeared to be, tremendous coldness. It was chilling to see this. Rather than giving her comfort.”

  Tutberidze is also likely to be a target in the continuing investigation of Valieva’s failed drug test.

Viral News: Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy announced that he and the rest of his immediate family have tested positive for COVID-19. He has a wife, 5-year-old son, and 4-year-old daughter, all positive for the coronavirus.

  Murthy said their cases are not severe. He said, “So if you’ve done everything you can and gotten COVID-19 anyway, don’t beat yourself up. A lot of us are doing the best we can.” 

  This morning, new cases across the country are down 66 percent over the past two weeks and deaths are down 14 percent. Nearly 935,000 Americans have died of Covid-19.

Orange is the New Blue: Former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, who pulled her gun rather than her Taser and killed 20-year-old motorist Daunte Wright, was sentenced to just 16 months in prison out of a potential 15 years for her manslaughter conviction.

  Wright’s family was outraged, saying Potter got off easy because she’s white.

  Potter had delivered a tearful apology before her sentencing, directly addressing Wright’s mother. “I am so sorry that I brought the death of your son,” she said. “Katie, I understand a mother’s love and I am sorry I broke your heart. My heart is broken for all of you.”

  Daunte Wright was being detained 10 months ago when he pulled away from officers and tried to get back in his car. That’s when Potter, a 26-year police veteran, pulled what she thought was her Taser and fired her gun.

  In explaining the lenient sentence, Judge Regina Chu said, “This is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin down a person for nine and a half minutes as he gasped for air.” She said, “This is a cop who made a tragic mistake. She drew her firearm, thinking it was a Taser, and ended up killing a young man.”

The Spin Rack: The defense has rested in the federal hate crimes trial of three White men convicted of killing Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery. Their only defense was that they were vigilant about crime in the neighborhood although the prosecution had proven with their own words that the men were outright racists. — Police in Ottawa have arrested as many as 100 truckers who have clogged the streets for weeks in protest of Covid-19 safety mandates. Tow truck operators wore ski masks and taped over company IDs on their vehicles.  — CNN executive Allison Gollust, who resigned earlier this week, was forced out after an internal investigation found communications between her and former governor Andrew Cuomo in which they planned how he would be interviewed. It went beyond the bounds of pre-interview discussions. Gollust had also been having an affair with ousted CNN chief Jeff Zucker.

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