George W. Bush condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine, calls for American unity
Former President George W. Bush condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a historic disaster and called for Americans to stand united in the face of strongman Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine constitutes the gravest security crisis on the European continent since World War II,” Bush said in a statement on Thursday issued from his home in Dallas.
Bush said he backs the international effort to push back against Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.”
He also called for all Americans to stand firm as the West defended Ukraine.
“The American government and people must stand united with the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people as they seek their freedom and right to choose their own future,” Bush said.
Bush took dead aim at Putin, calling him a bully who must be stopped.
—New York Daily News
Renewable energy firms shift focus as reconciliation prospects fade
WASHINGTON — Business leaders focused on clean energy say they are shifting their attention toward smaller bills targeting specific climate issues as the chances for Congress to pass a broader budget reconciliation measure diminish.
Executives across electric utilities and renewable energy companies signaled in earnings calls last week they are moving on from the House-passed $2.2 trillion climate and safety net reconciliation package.
Instead, companies in the energy industry — and across other sectors — are upping the ante on Congress to pass separate legislation on extension of the production and investment tax credits that have supported the build-out of solar and wind energy, as well as funding to support climate-friendly solutions in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
The business case for stand-alone bills is that not only would they help their companies’ bottom line, but it could ward off investors concerned with environmental, social and governance issues that have brought forward shareholder proposals on climate matters.
“I think there’s a chance that the Build Back Better climate provisions would pass as written or they could be slightly scaled back,” said Edward Fenster, co-founder of rooftop solar installer Sunrun Inc.
—CQ-Roll Call
Kyle Rittenhouse wants LeBron James, others to be ‘held accountable’
With his murder trial behind him, Kyle Rittenhouse wants to take LeBron James to court.
According to footage from right-wing media posted by TMZ, the 19-year-old gunman who was acquitted in the fatal shooting of two men at a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, also has his sights set on Whoopi Goldberg and President Joe Biden. He feels those powerful figures used their platforms to defame him.
Asked if he had a “hit list of lawsuits,” a sanguine Rittenhouse claimed “Well Whoopi Goldberg, after I was acquitted by a jury of my peers, called me a murderer.”
That led him to name several other public figures who labeled him as such. Rittenhouse said “these people are going to be held accountable and we’re going to sue them.”
Rittenhouse, who said he used to be a LeBron James fan, said the NBA All-Star who mocked him for crying in court is “getting a letter too.”
Recounting the day he killed two people and injured a third, the teen-gunman broke down sobbing on the witness stand in a Kenosha, Wisconsin, courtroom in November. James accused him of flopping.
“What tears????? I didn’t see one,” James tweeted alongside video of Rittenhouse choking up. “Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court.”
—New York Daily News
Russian invasion puts endgame of Iran nuclear talks in jeopardy
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine risks jeopardizing diplomacy to restore Iran’s nuclear deal at the final hurdle, as world powers at the negotiating table find themselves on opposite sides of Europe’s biggest security crisis since World War II.
Envoys have suggested a successful conclusion to the talks could be just days away after 10 months of stop-start progress in Vienna. But Iran and the U.S. still have to bridge remaining key differences at a time when mediators in Europe and Russia have been plunged into conflict.
Diplomats warned Tehran’s government publicly over the weekend that Iran needed to reach a swift decision on resurrecting the 2015 accord, which gave the Islamic Republic sanctions relief in exchange for reining in its nuclear activities.
“There are moments in time when a deal is possible and sometimes if you allow those moments to pass, the deal starts to drift away, often for reasons outside the control of the negotiators,” Irish Foreign and Defense Minister Simon Coveney told Iran’s top diplomat, Hossein Amirabdollahian, Saturday at a security conference in Munich, Germany.
—Bloomberg News
