The War Zone: Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday signed decrees that officially claim one fifth of Ukraine as Russian territory and delivered a speech posing his war as a struggle against the West he called “the enemy” while condemning US  “satanism.”

  It’s the largest seizure of land by one country from another since World War II.

  Speaking in the Kremlin to a cheering crowd of apparatchiks, and over a giant screen on Red Square, Putin said the population in the occupied areas will be Russian citizens “forever.” 

  “Not only do Western elites deny national sovereignty and international law,” he said in his address. “Their hegemony has a pronounced character of totalitarianism, despotism and apartheid.”

  In an attempt to whip up flagging enthusiasm for his “special military operation” in Ukraine, Putin said, “The West wants to see us as a colony, a crowd of soulless slaves.” 

  The US immediately imposed tighter sanctions “targeting additional Russian government officials and leaders, their family members, Russian and Belarusian military officials, and defense procurement networks” according to several government agencies. 

  Putin is making this move — against international law — even though his troops don’t control all the territory he claims and the Ukrainians are fighting hard to take back the rest of it. The Ukrainians have encircled the vital hub of Lyman in the Donetsk province.

  Putin said  he will defend the occupied territories “with all the forces and means at our disposal,” an ominous declaration because he’s been unable to win the war with regular troops and conventional weapons.

  After speaking about Hurricane recovery and emergency aid, President Joe Biden said yesterday that, “The United States is not going to recognize this, and quite frankly the world is not going to recognize it either.”

  Biden said, “America and its allies are not going to be intimidated, are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats.”

Ian Moves On: At least 42 people are confirmed dead in the wake of Hurricane Ian as Florida authorities get in among the flooded and destroyed homes. Some people drowned and an elderly couple died when they lost power to their oxygen machines. People who rode out the storm were still being ferried by boat to dry land and an uncertain future for where they will live.

  The storm is now a post-tropical cyclone dumping heavy rain on South Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic states. 

  At least 1.3 million Florida electricity customers are still without power this morning. Thousands of people may have nothing left to power up anymore.  

  Ian made landfall a second time yesterday as a Category 1 in Georgetown, South Carolina between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. The governors of Georgia and South Carolina had declared states of emergency in advance.

  The hurricane wiped out a couple of piers and the streets of Myrtle Beach were flooded. Several hundred thousand people were left without power. Ian did some serious damage in South Carolina, but it’s nothing compared to Florida. 

Voted Down: A federal judge ruled late yesterday that Georgia’s exacting election law does not violate voters’ constitutional rights, dealing a blow to the voting rights group Fair Fight Action and the Democratic nominee for governor, Stacey Abrams.

  US District Court Judge Steven Jones ruled that the state’s “exact match” law, which requires that a voter’s name on their voter application be identical to their government identification, right down to hyphens and accent marks, is constitutional.  Jones in his 288-page order said, “that the “burden on voters is relatively low” and that Fair Fight Action did not provide “direct evidence of a voter who was unable to vote, experienced longer wait times, was confused about voter registration status.”

Gavel Down: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson yesterday was formally sworn in at a special sitting of the Supreme Court. It was purely ceremonial because Jackson has been sitting on the court since June.  

  Chief Justice John Roberts wished Jackson a “long and happy career in our common calling.” Jackson is the first Black woman to serve on the court, but that’s not the most significant minority she represents. She is one of only three liberals on the nine-member court, destined to be writing a lot of dissenting opinions as the majority moves ever further to the right. It’s not a “common calling” for all the justices.

The Spin Rack:  A Navy sailor accused of  setting the fire that destroyed the $1.2 billion amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego Bay, was found not guilty on all counts yesterday by a Navy judge. Prosecutors had accused 21-year-old Seaman Ryan Mays of setting the fire because he was embittered over washing out of the Navy SEAL selection “hell week.” His lawyers successfully argued that there was no evidence Mays started the fire, or that it was even arson. — Military officers in Burkina Faso have staged a coup for the second time in eight months for the stated reason of stemming violence by extremist groups. For those who don’t know where it is — and we didn’t — Burkina Faso is a little country in West Africa north of Ghana, above the Gulf of Guinea. — A 60-year-old West Texas jail warden and his twin brother have been arrested for the murder  of a Mexican migrant and wounding of another. Authorities say Mike and Mark Sheppard were driving when they spotted some migrants in the desert brush and fired two shotgun blasts, killing a man and wounding a woman. According to a state affidavit, Mark asked Mike, “Did you get him?” 

Sharknado: One of the myths of hurricanes in past years has been the sight of a shark swimming down the street. People have faked videos after major hurricanes, but the myth became reality during Ian’s time over Florida. A shark was filmed swimming in someone’s flooded back yard. Maybe Gov. Ron DeSantis can fly it to Martha’s Vineyard.

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