• It’s almost as if Zelenskyy wants Republicans in Washington to block further aid to Ukraine:

• Meanwhile, the invasion of the Italian isle of Lampedusa continues:

But remember that Camp of the Saints is a racist book!

Chaser:

But remember, Camp of the Saints is a racist book.

At least there’s one country trying seriously to stop this nonsense:

• Update to our item yesterday on the apparent collapse of Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University: the Boston Globe reports:

Boston University announced Wednesday it would conduct an “inquiry” into Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research after complaints emerged about the center’s culture and financial management.

The assessment comes the week after Kendi, a celebrity author, scholar of race, and antiracism advocate laid offmore than half the center’s staff.

The complaints, a BU spokesperson said, “focused on the center’s culture and its grant management practices.” The inquiry announced Wednesday represents a broadening of a previous “examination” of the center’s grant management practices, according to the spokesperson, Rachel Lapal Cavallario. . .

“I don’t know where the money is,” said Saida Grundy, a BU professor who worked at the center from fall 2020 to spring 2021.

I have an idea where the money is (or went).

• There may be something fitting about the George H. W Bush statute in Budapest being behind a fence because of damage and the need for “accident prevention.” (Happy to report that the nearby statue of Ronald Reagan is just fine.)

• I have found my patron saint of pondering (hopefully not ponderous) writers, Gyula Krúdy, the writer of “Sinbad.” (And no, I am not styling my best John Fetterman wear: I was out for a morning jog when I happened across Mr. Krúdy in bronze.)