It's Wednesday morning, what do we know?
Pelosi goes to Taiwan & parents confront Alex Jones
What do we know?
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, despite warnings from the White House and threats from the Chinese government. Pelosi is the highest ranking U.S. government official to visit the island nation of 23 million since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich visited in 1997. Pelosi has a long history of calling out China’s communist regime for their human rights violations and anti-democratic behavior, including a congressional delegation trip to Tibet and a visit to Tiananmen Square following the CCP’s deadly crackdown on student activists in 1989
In response to Pelosi’s visit the Chinese government announced they would step up military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including drills beginning Thursday. The drills will leave Taiwan surrounded by Chinese naval vessels, effectively cutting off shipping lanes to and from the island
In a display of solidarity, 26 Republican senators issues a statement in support of the Speaker’s visit
Parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre got their turn to speak on Tuesday in the Alex Jones trial. Jones is being sued by the parents in a $150 million defamation suit claiming Jones made their lives a living hell by spreading lies about the massacre on his show. You can read more about the day’s dramatic testimony here
CNN is reporting that the Pentagon wiped the phones of departing Trump administration appointees at the end of Trump’s term. Texts from acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, former chief of staff Kash Patel, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, all of whom are considered witnesses to the events of January 6th, were irretrievably deleted. News of the deletions came through a FOIA lawsuit filed by American Oversight against the Department of Defense and the Army
The PACT Act passed the Senate, 86-11, on Tuesday night for the second time after a brief stalemate where some Republicans attempted to attach new amendments to the bill. The act provides enhanced healthcare benefits to veterans who were exposed to burn pits while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republican effort to delay or derail the bill, which was met with outrage from veterans and the public, was another in a growing list of tactical political failures by the GOP in recent weeks. The bill will now go to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law
What do we know in Ukraine?
The Razoni, the first cargo ship carrying grain to leave Odessa arrived safely in Istanbul, where it is currently anchored and awaiting inspection by Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN officials (correction, yesterday’s newsletter incorrectly identified Tripoli, Libya as the Razoni’s final destination, the vessel’s final destination is the Port of Tripoli in Lebanon
Russia’s Supreme Court designated the Azov Regiment a terrorist group on Tuesday. The designation allows Russian authorities to further curtail the rights of the captured soldiers and makes way for longer prison sentences. The Azov Regiment, who held out in Mariupol before finally surrendering, have a complicated past. The group formed after the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and many of its original members had ties to far-right extremist groups. Russia has used the groups origins to fuel propaganda about deNazification
The acting governor of Kherson, Dmytro Butriy, said on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops have reclaimed 53 settlements in the region as part of Ukraine’s counter-offensive. The region was one of the first to fall to Russia in the earliest stages of the war