Weekend Quotables
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee begins historic confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. Republicans have signaled they will use Jackson’s nomination to try to brand Democrats as soft on crime, an emerging theme in GOP midterm election campaigns. The only question is, how strongly will Biden and the Democrats unite behind her nomination.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went on CNN to stress the importance of peace negotiations as the only way to end the war and prevent a third World War. But his comments were met with a chilly reaction from US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield who downplayed the significance of the ongoing peace talks and former Russian Ambassador Michael McFaul, who can’t bear the thought of a negotiated peace. He still believes there’s a military solution. The Cold War liberals are determined to fight to the last Ukrainian.
China’s top envoy to Washington, Qin Gang, pledged his country “will do everything” to de-escalate the war in Ukraine.
Weekend Quotables
Volodymyr Zelensky
"We have always insisted on negotiations. We have always offered dialogue, offered solutions for peace," he said. "And I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. It's time to meet. Time to talk. It is time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine."
"I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, a possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War.” — CNN
Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang
“There’s disinformation about China providing military assistance to Russia,” China’s ambassador said on Sunday. China isn’t sending “weapons and ammunitions to any party…China's trusted relations with Russia, it's not a liability, actually, it's an asset in the international efforts to solve the crisis in a peaceful way. You know, and the China is part of the solution, it's not part of the problem.” — CBS’s “Face the Nation”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
…said his opening statement will “set the stage for this historic moment.” Part of that means reminding people “when the Supreme Court began its first session, what America looked like. … a nation of hundreds of thousands of slaves … And women of course had no constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.” — Lynn Sweet
MAGA Sen. Josh Hawley, borrowing a page from QAnon
“I’ve noticed an alarming pattern when it comes to Judge Jackson’s treatment of sex offenders, especially those preying on children.” — AP
Laurence H Tribe and Dennis Aftergut
The evidence is clear: it’s time to prosecute Donald Trump. Jurors would have no trouble finding that the evidence satisfies all statutory elements required to convict Trump, including his criminal intent. — Guardian