PUTIN DEMOCRACY: Thousands of Russians went to the polls yesterday on the final day of voting to create long lines in silent protest to Vladimir Putin’s guaranteed election for a fifth six-year term as president. They were responding to the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny who had called for the “Noon Against Putin” protest before his death in an arctic prison camp last month.

  Long lines formed in major cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Tomsk, and Novosibirsk in a visible yet ultimately futile display of dissent. The voters appeared at noon despite government warnings against “extremist” actions and even the possibility of arrest. Dozens were in fact detained.

  Russians living abroad were allowed to vote at their country’s embassies. Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s exiled widow, stood in a mile-long line in Berlin.

  Vladimir Putin won the election with more than 87 percent of the vote against token opposition. In his speech, Putin vowed to win. The war in Ukraine. “No matter who wants to intimidate us they have never succeeded and they will not succeed, ever.”

ORANGE ALERT: Donald Trump ratcheted up his hate speech and fear mongering in a 90 minute tirade over the weekend outside the Dayton International Airport in Ohio. 

  It’s hard to isolate the most stunning things Trump said, but here’s one, that if he does not win this election, “I don’t think you’re going to have another election, or certainly not an election that’s meaningful.”

  Trump cleverly accuses his opponent Joe Biden of being Trumpier than Trump, and more of a threat to democracy. “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it,” he said. “It’s going to be a blood bath for the country.”

  Trump called the people imprisoned for trying to overthrow the government in the January 6^thinsurrection “hostages” and “unbelievable patriots,” vowing to help them if he’s elected.

  He targeted migrants, claiming without evidence that other countries are emptying their prisons and sending “animals” across the border. “I don’t know if you call them ‘people,’ in some cases,” he said. “They’re not people, in my opinion.”

COUNTERPUNCH: President Biden jabbed at Trump Saturday night in Washington at the annual Gridiron Dinner. “One candidate’s too old and mentally unfit to be president.” Biden said. “The other guy’s me.”

  The event is hosted by The Gridiron Club, one of the oldest journalism associations in Washington. Gesturing to the Irish prime Minister who was present, Biden said, “He took one look at Congress and he asked for another Guinness.”

  “Freedom is under assault,” The President said, taking a more serious turn. “The lies about the 2020 election, the plot to overturn it, to embrace the January 6th insurrection, pose the greatest threat to our democracy since the American Civil War.” 

THE WAR ZONE: The Israeli military has again raided the Al-Shifa Hospital complex, conducting what it calls a “high-precision” operation to clear out Hamas militants who have regrouped within Gaza’s largest medical facility. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said soldiers were in the process of conducting a raid in “limited areas” of the hospital complex in northern Gaza.

  The military is also preparing for entry into the southern city of Rafah, which has become the refuge for as many as a million refugees from the north. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing on despite the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians and increasing international calls for a cease fire.

  Netanyahu reacted over the weekend to a call by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest ranking Jewish person in US politics, for a change in leadership. Netanyahu said, “We’re not a banana republic, the people of Israel will choose when they’ll have elections, who to elect, and it will not be something that is foisted upon us.”

THE OBIT PAGE: David Breashears, who climbed Mt. Everest five times and made the 1998 IMAX documentary “Everest” about climbing the world’s highest mountain, died last week in his Massachusetts home. He was 68 and no cause of death was given.

  His family said in a written statement that, “He combined his passion for climbing and photography to become one of the world’s most admired adventure filmmakers.” 

  IMAX is a kind of immersive film technology in which the movie is shown on an exceptionally wide screen in a theater with steep stadium seating putting viewers closer to the image.

THE SPIN RACK: The Baltimore Banner reports that police on the streets are increasingly seizing pistols that have been converted to fully automatic, a mini-machine gun. They recovered at least 59 of them last year. — Appearing at the Summit for Democracy in Seoul, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that artificial intelligence could be used to dangerously disrupt the global flow of information during a year of elections. He said, “Our competitors and adversaries are using disinformation to exploit fissures within our democracies.” — The Volcano outside Grindavik, Iceland has erupted for the fourth time in three months, once again threatening the coastal town that had been home to 3,800 people. Most residents were evacuated after the first eruption and those who returned had to leave again. But it’s a spectacular event. — Actor Pierce Brosnan pleaded last week to stepping off a trail in a thermal of Yellowstone National Park. He was fined $500 and ordered to make a $1,000 donation by April 1 to Yellowstone Forever, a nonprofit that supports the park. Brosnan issued an apology on Instagram saying he “made an impulsive mistake” and described himself an environmentalist with “the utmost respect for and love of our natural world.”

BELOW THE FOLD: A 20-foot putt tapped yesterday by golfer Austin Eckroat hung on the lip of the cup for a full 40 seconds before dropping in at The Players Championship in Florida. Then he was penalized one stroke because the ball had lingered too long.

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