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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may be on the verge of signing an agreement that would see continued American aid for the embattled democracy in exchange for some kind of preferential access to the country’s mineral resources. While few of the deal’s details have been reported, any continuation of American support for Ukraine would be a good thing. But reports of the agreement give the impression that it is not designed to help Ukraine win—which, if true, would amount to a win for Russia. Having served in Europe for almost a third of my military career and having interacted with former Soviet bloc nations that were striving for democratic reform to counter and deter Russian aggression, I’m concerned that the proposed deal might contribute to yet another “frozen conflict,” which would be a victory for Russia and a threat to other allies and partners.

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ON TUESDAY, JD VANCE rebuked Americans of Ukrainian ancestry who oppose his betrayal of Ukraine. The rebuke is instructive. It shows us how Vance, Donald Trump, and many of their followers think about immigration and foreign policy. They’re hostile not just to illegal immigration but also to legal immigration from certain countries. And they’re willing to target ethnic minorities in the United States by raising insinuations of dual loyalty.

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IS AMERICA OPEN FOR CORRUPTION NOW? Unabashedly? Nakedly? Are we tossing aside not just our hard-won victories over infectious diseases but also the more than hundred-year battle against fraud, bribery, and graft?

Honest, clean government doesn’t follow automatically from democracy. Though we’ve always had elections, for much of our early history local, state, and federal governments were awash in corruption. Party leaders rewarded their dedicated followers by doling out patronage jobs, often with little regard for qualification. The wealthy or well-connected were able to line their pockets by bribing public officials. The Crédit Mobilier scandal, which featured bribes to a dozen congressmen paid in the 1860s by railroad executives, was just one example of a widespread plague. George Washington Plunkitt, a Tammany Hall ward boss, explained in an amusing memoir that he had gotten re-elected by helping Irish immigrants and waxed rich by engaging in what he called “honest graft,” that is, profiting from insider information.

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SAD NEWS BROKE EARLY THURSDAY MORNING that the Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman had been found dead at the age of 95 with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, in their New Mexico home alongside one of their dogs. Hackman, who famously and seemingly happily retired after 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport, is, simply, one of the all-time greats, a definite contender for the Mount Rushmore of American actors alongside Brando, De Niro, Denzel, and other recognized-by-one-name luminaries.

There’s only one Hackman, and now he’s gone.

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Happy Thursday! False spring is coming to an end, winter is not over, but Cincinnati Chili Week continues. Eggs may be $11, but at least for a limited time I can get 50% more cheese on my chili for free.

The People… Carrying Out Musk’s Plans at DOGE (NYT🎁 )

Judge finds mass firings of federal probationary workers… to likely be unlawful (AP)

St. Louis sheriff sued… by former deputy over dice roll (KTVI)

U.S. Foreign-Aid Halt… Is Making Scrutiny of China Even Harder (WSJ)

AT&T Hacker Tried to Sell Stolen Data… to Foreign Government (404)

‘Buy Canada, Bye America’:… Trump’s Taunts Spur Fury in the North (Bloomberg)

“We need to make a trigon, three sides instead of five sides in the Pentagon.” Coach Tommy Tuberville does not seem to remember “triangles.”

Washington Post staffers… are in open rebellion against Jeff Bezos (CNN)

Why everyone should care… about the Constitution’s separation of powers (Deseret)

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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.