Pretextual Policing: The Justice Department yesterday released a devastating report on the Louisville Police department finding that its officers engaged in multiple serious abuses including excessive use of force; searches based on so-called no-knock warrants; unwarranted car stops and searches, detentions, and harassment of people during street sweeps; and discrimination against Black people and people with mental illness.
  The report says Louisville cops are lax in dealing with sexual and domestic violence.
  Basically it says the Louisville cops serve and protect, but not if you’re black.
  The study was undertaken in response to the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor who was shot in her bed when cops burst through her apartment door looking for a boyfriend.
  Investigators interviewed residents, hundreds of officers on the 1,000-member force, and looked at hours of bodycam video. Attorney General Merrick Garland said investigators found blatant racism, including a disproportionate number of traffic stops in Black neighborhoods, and even the use of racial epithets like “monkey,” “animal” and “boy.”
  Many of the traffic stops were described as “pretextual,” stopping a car for something minor like a rolling stop then rousting the occupants.

Their Own Words:  Documents released in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News reveal that some of the networks major stars were angry about efforts by other Fox employees to tell the truth about the 2020 election. They were fighting with the supposedly straight “news” side of the network that was attempting to debunk claims of election fraud and that Trump had won. Host Laura Ingraham wrote in an internal communication, “My anger at the news channel is pronounced.”
  Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion claiming the network knowingly and intentionally reported false claims of election fraud to please its viewers.
  Internal messages reveal that Fox News from its executives down through the hosts didn’t believe the claims of fraud, but were not neutral about who won. In his deposition, Rupert Murdoch said, “We were worried that Mr. Trump would lose the election and what Mr. Biden may do.”
  At the same time, he said in one internal email that Trump was going “increasingly mad.” He also admitted under oath that, “The election was not stolen.”
  Referring to claims of election fraud aired by hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, Murdoch said, “Maybe Sean and Laura went too far.”
  After the election, host Maria Bartiromo took it a step further, refusing to refer to Joe Biden as “president-elect.” In text messages to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, she said, “I want to see massive fraud exposed … I told my team we are not allowed to say pres elect at [all]. Not in scripts or in banners on air.” 

The War Room: At least nine people were killed today as Russia launched its biggest missile and drone attack in weeks, hitting targets across Ukraine. The barrage that included hypersonic missiles, the newest in Moscow’s arsenal.
  Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky last night told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that if his military loses the levelled city of Bakhmut it will give the Russians an “open road” to plunge deeper into the country. “That’s why our guys are standing there,” he said.
  The Pentagon is blocking the Biden administration from sharing evidence of Russian war crimes gathered by US intelligence with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Ny Times reports. The theory is that military leaders fear they will open the door for US troops to be investigated and prosecuted. The rest of the administration, including intelligence agencies and the State and Justice Departments, favors giving the evidence to the court, the Times reports according to unnamed officials. 

The Pre-Obit Page: Daniel Ellsberg, the former consultant to the Defense Department, who leaked what became known as the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in June 1971, announced that he has terminal cancer and has only months to live.  He’s 91.
  The documents revealed how civilian and military leaders overconfident of success escalated the war then covered over failure.  

The Obit Page: Ian Falconer, the creator, illustrator, and author of the Olivia children’s book series about a smart little pig, died on Tuesday in Rowayton, Conn. The cause of death was given as “natural causes.” He was 63.
 Originally made as  a Christmas gift in 1996 for Falconer’s then 3-year-old niece Olivia, the first Olivia book was published in 2000. The ensuing series of books has sold more than 10 million copies, even remaining on the New York Times Bestseller List for over a year. 
  Falconer also designed opera and ballet sets and costumes. He drew 30 magazine covers for The New Yorker.

The Spin Rack:  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is in the hospital after tripping and falling at a private party in a hotel. He’s 81. — All 26 Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have declined to sign a Democrat-written statement condemning white supremacy. A spokesman for Oversight Republicans said it is “shameful that Democrats are calling efforts to protect the American people from the worst border crisis in history racist.” — The six-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia is unlikely to be charged, a prosecutor said, but authorities are still considering whether to charge an adult, presumably a parent.  

Below the Fold: The brick townhouse where the notorious Albany, New York  prohibition-era gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond got whacked in 1931 is for sale by novelist William Kennedy, who wrote the Pulitzer-winning novel “Legs.” 
  Kennedy has used the house as  a pied-à-terre and writing studio for 40 years. He believes Diamond was killed by some cops after beating the rap in a criminal trial.
  The house is listed at $499,000 in an historic district. That’s quite a deal for a house these days, except that it’s in Albany.