politicsnation. ten nights lead, the showdowns to come. culture or politics have consumed the republican party as we approach an election year. threatening the legislative agenda in congress in the house speaker kevin mccarthy s concessions to the hard right flank of his caucus have led to the passage of a military spending bill. bogged down with amendments targeting diversity programs and lgbtq protections. in the meantime, alabama senator tommy tuberville is holding up dozens of military appointments over the pentagon s abortion policies. some colleagues are warning the blockade could endanger national security. against that backdrop, a potential government shutdown. the showdown looms and the first presidential caucus of 2024 is just six months away. delaware congresswoman lisa rochester joins me shortly to talk about all of it. plus, the phony war on critical race theory is still raging in state houses. and on school boards across the country one of the intellectual archi
stamp. in terms of ending the war, nbc news is reporting on secret talks between former u.s. officials and prominent russians to lay the groundwork for potential negotiations. while the post reports ukrainian officials say they are confident in their aim to retake substantial territory by the fall, and forced russia to negotiate. meanwhile, the white house the uk is a signatory to a convention, which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use. we will continue to do our part to support ukraine. all right, there was rishi sunak there, the prime minister of great britain, jumping into the conversation. but to that point, while the white house is defending us and then cluster shells to ukraine, with president biden saying ukrainian forces are running out of ammunition. it is still turning out to be an unpopular decision at home and abroad, as biden plans to travel to europe to tomorrow, and millions of americans remain under potentially
widespread doubt and uncertainty, the united states government seems to have assumed a role similar to an orwellian ministry of truth. white house from press secretary karine jean-pierre responded on wednesday. we certainly disagree with this decision. we re going to continue to promote responsible actions to protect public health, safety and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic. our view remains that social media platforms have a critical responsibility to take action or to take account of the effects of their platforms are having to the american people. paul: let s bring in our panel, wall street journal columnists dan henninger, kim strassel and iowaly shah finley. alicia, tell us who sued the government and what they re alleging. louisiana and missouri joined by scientists and conservative activists sued the government for infringing on their free speech rights. they claim that they put pressure and coerced the platforms such as youtubing
moscow says the plane was carrying ukrainian prisoners of war involved in a prison exchange. it has accused ukraine of deliberately ta rgetting the plane. ukraine says kyiv had not been advised, on this occasion, to ensure the safety of airspace where it happened. according to moscow, the military plane crashed about 44 miles north east of the russian city of belgorod. there are said to have been 7a people on board, including 65 ukrainian pows. our russia editor steve rosenberg has the latest from moscow. caught on mobile phone, the moment a russian military transport plane fell from the sky. woman speaks russian. good god, she cries, as the consequence of what has happened becomes clear. the wreckage was strewn across the fields of belgorod region. not only did russia accuse ukraine of shooting the plane down, it claimed that on board were dozens of ukrainian prisoners of war who were about to be exchanged. translation: on board the plane there were six crew members, - 65
he s a leader of the wagner group, which are soldiers for hire, violent mercenaries with reputation for ruthless violence. they have fought for russia in ukraine and in conflicts across central africa in the middle east. saturday, prigozhin stage in our midst mutiny leading his mercenaries on a march that threatened to reach moscow coming within about 120 miles of the capitol. the crisis ended when prigozhin agreed to pull back his forces in a deal it allowed him to leave russia and avoid arrest. well rebellion appear to be aimed at ousting russia s military leaders, they dealt a massive brew blow to putin strongman image. we ve seen more cracks emerge in the russian facade. it is too soon to tell exactly where they go and when they get there but certainly we have also have new questions that putin is going to be addressing in the weeks and months ahead. this is a challenge coming from within to putin and that s where his focus has been. it s going to unfold over weeks and