Spring reminds us: We will endure.

March 21, 2022

[Audio version here]

          Vladimir Putin can feel his grip on the Russian people slipping away. Like Trump, he has resorted to lying about the size of crowds at his rallies. But for Putin, it is even more humiliating. Putin’s security forces rounded up government workers, teachers, and union members, forcing them to attend a rally to hear Putin defend his slaughter of Ukrainians. The stadium seats 81,000 people, but Putin’s police claimed that 200,000 Russians attended the rally—an “alternative fact” dutifully repeated by nearly every major Western news agency to report on the rally.

          Worse, the live television feed of Putin’s speech cut-off mid-sentence as Putin was nearing the end of his remarks. When the live feed returned, Putin could be seen limping off the stage. The apparent act of civil disobedience by someone in Russian state television was dismissed as a technical “glitch.” It is not so easy to dismiss comments from Russian citizens forced to attend the rally. Some claimed they did not know it was a “pro-war” rally. Some said their jobs were threatened if they did not attend. Others simply said they could not express their true feelings about the war for fear of retribution.

          Putin’s act is fooling some Russians—but not all. Hackers took over control of one of Russia’s largest internet companies—VKontakte— and sent millions of users a message that said, in part,

The Russian army has turned many peaceful [Ukrainian] cities into ruins, destroyed more than 3,500 civilian buildings. Tens of thousands of ordinary people were injured, more than 5,000, including 100 children, died. It is impossible to calculate the exact number of corpses. This criminal aggression must be stopped, and the perpetrators must be punished. Hundreds of pieces of [Russian] equipment were destroyed, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were wounded, 560 were captured, and more than 11,000 died in Ukrainian land.

          The hackers’ message also said that the Russian economy was on the verge of collapse and urged Russians to oppose the war. See Ukrayinska Pravda, VKontaktebuil hacked and send the Russians the truth about the war with Ukraine.

            As Putin struggles in vain to contain the truth, his troops have settled into a war of attrition, killing civilians instead of engaging the Ukrainian Army. Putin demanded surrender of Mariupol as a condition to a humanitarian corridor before the city is leveled, and Zelensky has rejected the call for surrender.

          But Russia’s military is also suffering from attrition and is struggling to find reinforcements to replace its mounting casualties. The unexpected difficulties have caused infighting among Putin’s secret service, intelligence, and military commanders. Over the last week, many of Putin’s top advisers have dropped out of his press briefings and some reputable sources are reporting that the head of the FSB (formerly KBG) is under “house arrest.”

          A reader sent an op-ed by Lawrence Scott Sheets in Politico that analyzes subtle changes in Putin’s rhetoric and health as seen on Russian-state-t.v. over the last week. See Opinion | Putin’s Strange New Messaging on Russian TV. Sheets suggests that changes in emphasis in Putin’s messaging indicate that he is setting up some of his advisers to “take the blame” for the failure in Ukraine and to limit his demands at the negotiating table. It is a fascinating article, and I recommend it highly.

          Finally, I cannot leave this topic without noting that Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised Fox News for its coverage of the war in Ukraine. Lavrov made his comments after decrying the fact that RT Television—a Russian-sponsored media outlet in the West—has been banned in most countries. Lavrov recommended Fox News as a place where viewers could go for “alternative points of view” on the war in Ukraine. There you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth: If you can’t watch Russian state-sponsored television, Fox News is an acceptable alternative.

Confirmation hearings on nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

          The Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding confirmation hearings on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The hearings will be difficult to watch because Republicans are searching for ways to smear Judge Jackson. The latest effort—led by coup-plotter and white nationalist supporter Josh Hawley—will reportedly focus on Judge Jackson’s service on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Hawley, who should have been expelled from the Senate for his effort to overturn the 2020 election, will allege that Judge Jackson is “soft on child-porn offenders” because she voted to support unanimous recommendations by the Sentencing Commission for a variety of offenses. Hawley’s comments were fact-checked by the Washington Post and found to be misleading. See WaPo, Josh Hawley’s misleading attack on Judge Jackson’s sentencing of child-porn offenders.

          Hawley will also allege that Judge Jackson is “soft on crime” because she served as a federal public defender. One reader sent a note explaining that federal public defenders play an essential role in ensuring justice is served by providing a vigorous defense to the accused. The reader wrote, in part,

          When I was a prosecutor in the 1970s, I was constantly up against public defenders, and most of them were formidable, zealous opponents. As a prosecutor, I greatly appreciated them for several reasons: (1) I believed in our system of justice; (2) as a practical matter, if I obtained a conviction, it would not be overturned for lack of effective counsel; (3) if an innocent person is convicted the true culprit would still be menacing the public; and (4) I would not want a wrongful conviction on my conscience.

          By every account, Judge Jackson discharged her roles as a federal public defender, private attorney, member of the Sentencing Commission, and appeals court judge with integrity and distinction. The same cannot be said of the performance of her interlocutors in the upcoming hearings.

American Promise: Reforming our broken political system by passing a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United.

          It is easy to feel despair over the corrupting power of money in politics. One of the most significant blows came in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, which held that the First Amendment prohibits Congress from restricting corporations, associations, and labor unions from making independent expenditures in support of or opposition to candidates. Dozens of other court rulings also protect the role of corporate money in politics—rulings that have the inevitable effect of diminishing and diluting the role of voters in the political process.

          Over the weekend, I interviewed representatives of American Promise about their mission to pass a constitutional amendment authorizing Congress to regulate campaign financing. (Podcast link here: American Promise | Today’s Edition Podcast) Passing a constitutional amendment sounds like an impossible task. But American Promise has a plan to pass an amendment by starting at the state and local level. By building support at the local level, American Promise hopes to secure sufficient support for passage of a 28th Amendment on the day it is introduced in Congress. (It would then need to be ratified by 3/4ths of the state legislatures.) So far, 22 states and more than 800 cities and towns have passed resolutions endorsing the passage of a 28th Amendment to repeal Citizens United by allowing Congress to regulate campaign finances.

          You can join this effort by reaching out to friends and peers, tabling at events, collecting pledges, giving presentations, hosting events, building community partnerships, writing letters to the editor, and lobbying elected officials. Use this interactive map to see whether your state has an American Promise chapter or affiliate—or whether you can start the movement in your state.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Spring began today. During a time of unimaginable strife, new life will emerge over half the globe—ready or not. It is part of a cycle that has dominated our planet for billions of years, driven by orbital rhythms beyond our power to subdue. Amidst death and destruction, life invents new ways to abide and endure, finding purchase in pastures and bomb craters alike, reminding us that we are bit players in the vast sweep of time and space. We should be humbled and grateful in equal measure. For all our worry and torment, we are fortunate to mark the passage of another turn around our star—as our planet slowly tilts its axis to the life-giving light of the sun.

We will make it through these difficult times—whether we are ready or not. It has always been so. It will always be so. Spring reminds us of that fact.

          Talk to you tomorrow!