NBC News:
Russian propaganda on Ukraine's non-existent 'biolabs' boosted by U.S. far right
Russian and Chinese officials have also pushed the theory, associated with QAnon, which has reached mainstream conservative media in the U.S..
Disinformation experts said the biolabs theory echoes other Russian propaganda meant to justify its military efforts, which often makes allegations against other countries and populations that reflect similar attacks it plans to make.
Franklin Foer/Atlantic:
Biden Answered the 3 a.m. Call
It’s hard to imagine that any of his rivals from the last election could have matched the president’s performance in this crisis.
Joe Biden hasn’t received the full credit he deserves for his statecraft during this crisis, because he has pursued a policy of self-effacement. Rather than touting his accomplishments in mobilizing a unified global response to the invasion, he has portrayed the stringent sanctions as the triumph of an alliance. By carefully limiting his own public role—and letting France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz take turns as the lead faces of NATO—he has left Vladimir Putin with little opportunity to portray the conflict as a standoff with the United States, a narrative that the Russian leader would clearly prefer. He’s shown how to wield American leadership in the face of deep European ambivalence about its exercise.
Katelyn Polantz/CNN:
The 4 pillars to convicting alleged January 6 US Capitol rioters
Federal prosecutors walked out of court this week with new confidence -- that a Washington, DC, jury would be willing to convict participants in the January 6 US Capitol attack for serious crimes.
In the
first guilty verdict from a jury related to the January 6 Capitol riot, a Texas man was convicted of obstructing the congressional proceeding and other charges. The man, Guy Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters, was hit by chemical irritants on the steps of the Capitol, then waived on others in the crowd, but did not go inside the building.
The case wasn't about Reffitt alone. In addition to cataloging his actions, the prosecutors explained to the jury the destruction of the crowd around him on January 6 that broke into the Senate, and the effect the riot had on US Capitol Police officers who were overwhelmed. And the jury didn't need to take the Justice Department's words alone because the evidence was comprehensive.
Amanda Carpenter/Bulwark:
Russia Doesn’t Need Trolls This Time
Bioweapons conspiracy promoted by likely suspects.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union invested heavily in its global disinformation and propaganda efforts. And back in 2016, the Russians had to go to the trouble of creating a troll farm to push their divisive messages to the American audience. But today, they needn’t go to such lengths: Plenty of prominent right-wing media figures in the United States are pushing out Vladimir Putin’s propaganda for him.
It didn’t happen overnight. Recall how the Russia-sympathizing, Q-adjacent, Trump-loving MAGA media machine first railed against Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling. Russia wasn’t responsible, they said—a computer server in Ukraine ran the operation. Then, in 2020, they accused Ukrainian officials of withholding dirt on Joe Biden’s family. Now they allege that the United States is funding bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine and our government is covering it up
Dharna Noor/Boston Globe:
Climate change could make pothole season worse
Potholes form when water seeps into cracks in the road and then freezes and melts. When water freezes into ice, it expands. When that ice melts, it leaves gaps under the pavement.
Due to harsh winter temperatures, Massachusetts and the rest of New England are particularly vulnerable to cracking pavement. In fact, a February report from QuoteWizard, a site that sells insurance, found that Massachusetts experiences worse potholes than all but five other US states, and that Springfield and Boston are among the 50 cities with the worst potholes in the nation.
[Update for context: Tulsi Gabbard is a frequent guest on Fox news and was invited to CPAC]
Loren Anthes/Cleveland.com:
Ohio’s Medicaid quality problem can be solved with collaboration
Ohio Medicaid has a quality problem.
Quality in health care is about anticipating and honoring the needs of an intended user. In Medicaid – from which one in four Ohioans is receiving services -- the intended users are a combination of providers, payers and people who rely on the program to have their medical needs addressed.
But as you may already know, we have significant room for improvement. Too many children are falling through the cracks and missing key developmental tests, like screening for lead poisoning.
Parents and their babies are missing too many first birthdays.
Too many have lost their lives to opioids and heroin.
So what should we do?