Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Putin makes matters worse again: “Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the biggest annexation of territory in postwar Europe on Friday, claiming control over swaths of Ukraine in defiance of international law and in spite of his forces facing another significant battlefield setback.”
* In Ukraine: “President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he was submitting his country’s formal application to join NATO, the Western military alliance Putin has framed his war as a struggle against.”
* In related news: “After delivering remarks on recovery efforts in Florida, President Biden sent a direct message to Russian President Vladimir Putin and doubled down on his commitment to protect ‘every inch’ of NATO territory. ‘Mr. Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying,’ Biden said. ‘Every inch.’”
* The latest from South Carolina: “Hurricane Ian came ashore near Georgetown, South Carolina, on Friday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 180,000 customers 20 minutes after landfall. Ian reached land at 2:05 p.m. as a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.”
* SCOTUS news: “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson received her official commission to the Supreme Court on Friday, in a tradition-laden ceremony that welcomed the court’s first African American woman. Jackson, 52, has been on the job since late June. But the investiture ceremony marked the first time she has taken her place on the mahogany bench, in the newest justice’s traditional spot at the far left of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.”









