Good morning. To all our Ukrainian friends and journalists on the ground, please stay safe.🙏 

• Let's get to the news.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.34 minutes to read.

In an effort to introduce transparency into our reporting, we place corrections front and center to communicate exactly what – and where – we messed up.

1. The Daily Sprinkle was not included in the newsletter yesterday.🤦‍♀️ So to make up for it, today’s section has two quotes.
2. Not a correction... but a quick format note: Given the gravity and importance of the situation, we’re focusing on Russia-Ukraine in lieu of a normal Dose of Discussion. We’ll still be providing curated Op/Eds at the bottom of the second Speed Round.

"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time."

–Zig Ziglar (1926-2012)

“People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.”

–Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

🇺🇦 Russian troops pushed into Ukraine as airstrikes hit the country’s capital and dozens of other cities early yesterday morning, marking the largest ground war in Europe since WWII. Russia's military offensive was aimed at toppling the Ukrainian government, according to President Vladimir Putin.

• Ukrainian officials said opposing troops are entering the country through Belarus to the north, Russia to the east and Crimea to the south. There have been reports of dozens of civilian deaths as well as military casualties on both sides.
• Russian forces have advanced to the outskirts of Ukraine's capital city, and hit Kyiv with a series of airstrikes earlier this morning.
• Yesterday, President Biden announced a coordinated campaign of Russian sanctions alongside the G7 – aka countries that together make up 50% of the world’s GDP.
• Officials said the actions target 80% of all banking assets in Russia and limit its access to the global financial system. Other measures include restrictions on exports of tech like semiconductors and sensors, and sanctions on more Russian elites and their families.
• In Russia, police arrested more than 1,700 people participating in public demonstrations against the invasion of Ukraine in several cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
• US intelligence earlier this month warned a large-scale invasion could leave up to 50,000 Ukrainian civilians killed or wounded and create up to 5 million refugees.

+The latest news: From the Left | From the Right

📊 The Economy: Outside of the commodities industry, most Western companies don’t have operations in Russia or Ukraine and were fairly unaffected by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. But some large multinationals, like Chase, Citi and Stellantis, do have operations in either country and are likely to be impacted by further sanctions.

🍞 Food: Russia (#1) and Ukraine (#5) were two of the top five largest exporters of wheat before the pandemic. "A prolonged conflict would create bread shortages [and increase consumer prices] this fall," Alan Holland, CEO of sourcing technology company Keelvar, told CNBC.

⛽️ Oil & Gas: Russia is one of the world’s most influential oil-market players, as well as its largest exporter of natural gas. Natural-gas prices in Europe, which depends on Russia for energy supplies, jumped 41% following the attack.

• Oil prices briefly topped $100/barrel yesterday for the first time in almost eight years, but pared their gains following assurances from President Biden that the sanctions package is “specifically designed to allow energy payments to continue.”

⚽️🏎 Sports: UEFA, European football's governing body, will move its Champions League final set to be held in May from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Paris. As for Formula 1, September's Russian Grand Prix is still on the calendar (for now), though four-time world champion driver Sebastian Vettel said he wouldn't participate.

📉 📈 Markets: The Moscow Exchange dropped 33% yesterday, the German DAX closed down 4% and US markets had a wild day, starting in a sharp decline before erasing the drop. The ruble also dropped to a record-low against the dollar, leading Russia’s central bank to say it would intervene.

🕵️ The SEC has been investigating whether Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his brother violated insider trading rules, according to the WSJ. At the center of the issue? A Twitter poll from Elon last November asking if he should sell Tesla shares.

• Kimbal Musk sold Tesla shares worth $108 million, one day ahead of Elon’s poll. 58% of poll respondents said Elon should sell, which caused the share price to fall sharply. Elon sold off billions of dollars worth of stock in the following days.
• The key question for regulators is whether Kimbal learned about his brother’s upcoming tweet or the timing of his sales – either from Elon himself or other sources – ahead of Kimbal’s own $108 million sell-off, which was his largest ever in terms of value (2nd place: $25 million).
• By law, employees and directors of public companies are generally banned from buying or selling shares when they’re aware of nonpublic material information, but can avoid insider trading charges when they buy or sell using a preset trading plan.
• Kimbal serves on Tesla’s board of directors and had not previously indicated any plans to sell shares in this case.

🇺🇸 Zoom out: There’s a growing movement in the US to crack down on influential individuals trading stocks with insider knowledge. The Federal Reserve issued new guidelines last week banning its top officials from buying and holding a wide range of investment products starting May 1.

And earlier this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she’d support a bill to ban lawmakers – and potentially other government leaders – from trading stocks. The legislation is expected to be put up for a vote this year.

😐 Sometimes, we get in over our heads. We bite off more than we can chew, and find ourselves in a tough spot as a result.

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📽 An offer you can’t refuse: Starting today, Paramount is re-releasing The Godfather at select AMC locations in honor of its 50th anniversary; the film is a new restoration created after ~4,000 hours spent repairing stains, tears and other flaws in the original negative.

🍿 Hope you studied for the final: The Season 2 finale of Euphoria debuts on HBO Max Sunday night; the drug-addled high school drama has already been picked up for Season 3 after viewership increased nearly 100% from S1 to S2.

🏀 March Madness is just around the corner: Saturday’s action-packed slate of college basketball games includes three top-6 teams playing a top-20 opponent on the road – No. 3 Auburn, No. 5 Kansas and No. 6 Kentucky.

🍩 What we’re looking forward to…

• Peter: Re-binge-watching (is that a word?) Disenchantment, locking my phone in a drawer, and trying and failing to send some indoor V6s. It’s the effort that counts, right??🧗‍♂️
• Kailyn: Finally having a day off and laying on the beach! We’re heading to Nassau in the Bahamas on Sunday, and I’m ready to soak up the sun with some friends.☀️
• Kyle: Catching up on The Righteous Gemstones, hanging out with a few friends and giving my dogs some much-deserved love… oh, and this hair won’t cut itself.✂️
• Lauren: Traveling up to Denton, TX, to laugh IN PERSON with my friend Hannah from high school (nostalgia included). But I’ll need to make it back to Austin in time for my adult soccer league game because you’re never too old to kick it!!⚽️

P.S. Looking forward to something this weekend? Hit reply and let us know!!

• ☝️ More than 118 million Americans from Texas to New England are currently under a winter storm warning or weather advisory (as of late Thursday).

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🌿 A jobs report from Leafly shows the cannabis industry added 107,059 jobs last year, a 33% increase from 2020.
• 🏥 The Justice Department is suing to stop UnitedHealth Group’s $13 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare.
• 📉 New US jobless claims fell to 232,000 this week; the total number of Americans collecting unemployment is at its lowest level in 52 years (1.48 million).

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 📺 The series finale of Arthur aired this week after 25 years of production.
• 👟 The New York City Marathon returns to full capacity this year; an estimated 50,000 runners will take part in the race.
• 💻 Tumblr announced an ad-free version of its platform for $4.99 per month.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🐞 A group of ticks survived for 27 years in a researcher's laboratory, including eight without food – a new record for the species.
• 🛰️ NASA and its Russian counterpart said operations onboard the International Space Station, which currently houses four Americans and two Russians, would continue as normal despite the ongoing invasion.

BEST OF THE REST

• 🚫😷 The CDC will significantly loosen federal mask guidelines today, per the AP.
• ⚖️ A federal jury found three former Minneapolis police officers guilty of violating George Floyd’s civil rights; all three face the possibility of decades in prison. (From the Left | From the Right)
• ⚡ The former head of Texas’ power grid testified Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott lied about his involvement in ordering wholesale power prices to stay at their maximum for days during last year’s winter storm-caused rolling blackouts. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… “There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, Ambassador.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN had some choice words for his Russian counterpart during a Security Council meeting late Wednesday.

🔢 Stat of the day: ~54% of all US abortions in 2020 were done with pills instead of surgery, up from 44% in 2019.

🤯 Did you know?… In 2014, Taylor Swift accidentally released 8 seconds of white noise for $1.29 on iTunes. The ‘song’ ended up topping the Canadian charts.

📖 Worth a read… Looking for love? AI may be able to help → (The Hustle)

DONUT HQ is located in the city of Austin, which has a motto: “Keep Austin Weird.” In celebration of that sentiment, we bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week…

1. Deaf dog saved from euthanasia drives around Daytona Speedway → (FOX29)
2. Jonny Greenwood on early Radiohead rehearsals: “The first thing I did was make sure my keyboard was turned off. I must have done months of rehearsals, and they didn’t know that I’d already turned it off” → (Music Radar)
3. Dad takes down town's internet by mistake to get his kids offline → (Bleeping Computer)
4. Company offers more than $6,000 to smell dog poop for two months → (UPI)
5. Police are begging the public to stop calling with thoughts on "Hank the Tank", the 500 lb burglar bear → (WKRC)

☝️ You're looking at the first-ever Olympic kitten bobsled team (unofficially😉).

Amber Blankenship has a passion for fostering animals, often thinking of creative ways to find forever homes for her fur babies.

•  In honor of the Winter Olympics, she turned her foster litter into a bobsled team with a sled, uniforms and helmets – all made by hand. 

🥇 Going for gold... "[I'm] always thinking of fun new ideas to bring awareness to shelter animals," she shared in a Facebook post. "I hope this will spread some kitten joy and lots of smiles!" 

🔢 Numb3rs Galore: Obtain the desired result by adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing the numbers provided below. Each number can be used only once, and you don’t necessarily have to use each one.

Numbers: 7, 9, 10, 15, 20, 50

Result: 363

🤔 Daily Trivia: What’s the shortest grammatically correct sentence in the English language? (Hint: It’s only two letters)

keep scrolling for the answers

Check out our referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to this newsletter. 👇

Here’s your unique link to copy & send to anyone you think would like the DONUT:

Numbers: 7 x 9 = 63; 20 x 15 = 300; 300 + 63 = 363; there are other solutions, too, this is just the simplest one we came up with

Trivia: “Go.”