Fierce Putin critic Alexei Navalny reported dead
Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny dead, says prison service - BBC News
Aleksei Navalny Is Dead, Russian Authorities Say: Live Updates - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Russian state-owned media immediately reported that he died of a blood clot (which they probably couldn't know in such a short time, so it's almost certainly a lie.) Most likely he was poisoned. Recently he had appeared in a video and didn't seem ill or even in a bad mood, though he had clearly lost a lot of weight.
But at least Tucker Carlson says that Moscow has nice supermarkets.
UPDATE: Mr. Navalny's wife, Yulia, spoke briefly at the Munich Security Conference. Video below...
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Just One Thing: Fani's in some trouble
Yesterday a listener objected when I said that a disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis would represent an enormous legal and political win for Donald Trump. Usually those kinds of reactions are from people whose analysis is corrupted by their biases. The point here is NOT whether or not Trump did something criminal regarding the election results in Georgia. The point is that he was charged with that and if the prosecutor blew up her own case by stupidly hiring her boyfriend, it’s a blunder of the first order that will allow Trump to say all kinds of things about all the cases against him…and lots of people, even people who aren’t big Trump supporters, will think he’s right. As a friend of mine put it, right now the Biden campaign must wish they never heard of Fani Willis.
I think Willis' own testimony was fairly strong but it's going to a challenge to overcome testimony from a former friend and employee of hers who said that she knew that Willis and her former boyfriend, Nathan Wade, whom Willis hired to be a special prosecutor on the Trump election-RICO case despite his having little or no relevant experience in that kind of law, were engaged in a romantic relationship well before the hiring...and well before Willis and Wade have admitted to.
I think it's at least 50/50 (but not 90/10) that Willis gets disqualified. If she does, it's very likely that her whole office will be disqualified. And if that happens then unless another DA's office in Georga wants to pick up the steaming pile of bovine excrement that is this case (or these cases), it'll all just go away.
Really, it's hard to imagine worse judgment than that shown by Fani Willis in hiring her (now ex-) boyfriend.
Fani Willis takes the stand as she fights to stay on Trump criminal case - POLITICO
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Today's Guests
Gabe Evans is a Republican member of the Colorado House of Representatives and a candidate for the 8th Congressional District (trying to unseat an incumbent Democrat who won by less than 1% last time when a candidate whom many people thought of as a "fake Libertarian spoiler" jumped in and got over 3%. This race will be an interesting test of the supposed agreement between the GOP and the Libertarian Party in which the LP will not run a candidate as long as the GOP candidate is sufficiently pro-liberty.
Gabe Evans for Congress (electgabeevans.com)
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Roger Pielke Jr is one of the most interesting and thoughtful folks working at the intersection of public policy and science. I've long introduced him as a professor at the University of Colorado but that time is coming to and end as he's going to work with the excellent American Enterprise Institute as a scholar while spending more time increasing his presence on Substack.
(5) The Honest Broker | Roger Pielke Jr. | Substack
Why I am Leaving Academia - by Roger Pielke Jr. (substack.com)
I also want to ask about this, if we have time: False Equivalence - by Roger Pielke Jr. - The Honest Broker (substack.com)
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Alex Expstein is the founder of the Center for Industrial Progress and one of the strongest voices supporting the use of hydrocarbon aka "fossil" fuels. Indeed, his most recent book is "Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas--Not Less."
About | Center for Industrial Progress
Energy Talking Points - Alex Epstein
House passes bill to undo Biden LNG export pause - Washington Examiner
Energy Talking Points | Biden’s LNG pause: a deadly fraud
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Some person named Randi Cromwell (who sounds suspiciously like Mandy Connell) will do the last 40 minutes of my show today because I need to get on the road to get to the Springs before 1 PM. Enjoy Randi...I hear she's quite good!
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Other Stuff
The Bidens were due for some good legal news and they got some on Thursday, though in more bad luck for them the stories are likely to be overshadowed by the craziness in Atlanta. The first was expected but the second is a small bombshell:
Trump’s first criminal trial set for March in N.Y. on hush money charges (msn.com)
And this remarkable news
Informant Who Alleged Biden Corruption Made Up Claims, Prosecutors Say - WSJ
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I meant to get to this yesterday. It's not really that important but it's fantastic. Should be called "Harvard students skip lunch": More Than 30 Harvard Students Hunger Strike for 12 Hours in Solidarity With Brown Protesters | News | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)
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Caitlin Clark sets NCAA women's basketball scoring record: Bigger than a moment: Caitlin Clark had all eyes on her (again), and she shined brighter than ever (msn.com)
But, "an asterisk", at least for now: Caitlin Clark scoring record asterisk, explained: Why Lynette Woodard holds unofficial claim to scoring record (msn.com)
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You know exactly what I'm going to say, right? A Florida man was imprisoned 37 years for a murder he didn't commit. He's now expected to get $14M - ABC News (go.com)
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This is kinda funny: Waymo issues recall after 2 of its vehicles strike the same pickup truck - ABC News (go.com)
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In all my years trading in financial markets, I don't think I've ever seen a corporate error like this: Typo in earnings report sends Lyft stock soaring by 67% (nypost.com)
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I like the term "cold-stunned": 11 cold-stunned sea turtles returned to Atlantic after rehabilitation in Florida - ABC News (go.com)
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Can Elon Musk disable these and if so will he? Russia Using Thousands of Musk’s Starlink Systems in War, Ukrainian General Says - WSJ
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This is good news for the GOP in that Rosendale was the weaker GOP candidate. Interesting that Trump endorsed the less-MAGA candidate: Matt Rosendale drops out of Montana Senate race after less than a week (msn.com)
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How many breaks do you take? Americans aren't taking as many breaks as they need, new poll says (nypost.com)
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I didn't get to this yesterday...love this story: La Scala concert features violins that inmates made from battered migrant boats | AP News
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Today's Videos
Does your wife child change her mind like this too?
Who knew? The "Throw Cheese on your Crying Baby Challenge"
This is oddly fascinating