That's from Julia Ioffe's excellent analysis of the crisis in Ukraine. Head over to The New Republic to read it. Spoiler alert: She is not optimistic that this will end well.

Neither America nor NATO can stop this. They've shown they won't in Georgia, because nobody wants to start a war with nuclear-armed Russia, and rightly so. So while Washington and Brussels huff and puff about lines and sovereignty and diplomacy, Russia will do what it needs to do and there's not a thing we can do about it.

Russia's next target is eastern Ukraine. Because pessimism conquers all, don't bet that Putin is going to stop once he wrests Crimea from Kiev's orbit. Eastern, Russian-speaking Ukraine — and all its heavy industry — is looking pretty good right now. [The New Republic]

Give the whole thing a read. Ben Frumin

On Tuesday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed a rule that would restrict the scientific research used by the agency to make regulatory decisions.

Under the rule, only studies where the data is publicly available could be used, something conservatives have long wanted. "The science that we use is going to be transparent," Pruitt said. "It's going to be reproducible." Scientists and public health experts are concerned because long-standing studies on pollution and pesticides often rely on confidential personal and medical data, and they'll likely struggle to find participants if they know their information will be made public.

"The best studies follow individuals under time, so that you can control all the factors except for the ones you're measuring," former EPA head Gina McCarthy told The Washington Post. "But it means following people's personal history, their medical history. And nobody would want somebody to expose all of their private information." There will be a 30-day comment period, and if the rule goes through, it's expected to be challenged in court. Catherine Garcia

Video may have killed the radio star, but Spotify and Apple Music are poised to resurrect him.

Streaming services are bringing in more revenue than CD sales and digital downloads for the first time in recording industry history, Reuters reported Tuesday.

A trade group released an annual music industry report that showed revenues up to $17.3 billion in 2017, an 8.1 percent jump from the year before. Paid music streaming services, like Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal, have specifically helped move music lovers away from illegal downloads, which robbed the industry of sorely needed revenue.

Reuters reports that music sales dropped by 40 percent between 1999 and 2014, when download sales from programs like iTunes didn't compensate for the sudden drop in CD purchases and rise in music piracy. Now, the industry reports that 176 million users were paying for streaming subscriptions in 2017 — funneling that cash back to the industry. Read more at Reuters. Summer Meza

MSNBC host Joy Reid is under fire for shockingly bigoted posts that appeared on her now-defunct blog under her byline. Reid has claimed that hackers conspired to make her appear homophobic, telling Mediaite on Monday that a trove of anti-LGBT posts on her old blog were "fabricated" by nefarious actors who want to "taint her character."

Reid apologized last December for a series of homophobic posts that were unearthed by Twitter user @Jamie_Maz from her website The Reid Report, explaining that her views on LGBT issues had changed over the years. The offending posts were written between 2007 and 2009. But last week, Maz reported finding several more anti-gay posts using the Wayback Machine, which pulls archives of old internet content even if it's been deleted. While Reid has taken her old blog off of the internet, Maz was able to find posts that included references to finding gay sex "gross," suggestions that gay men are prone to pedophilia, and lists of people in politics and media who Reid joked or suggested were gay.

Reid denied writing the posts, telling Mediaite that "an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material" from her old blog "to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology." Reid said she notified law enforcement officials of the activity.

But the Wayback Machine did not find any evidence of hacking, the site explained in a blog post Tuesday, after conducting a review at the request of Reid's lawyers in December. Read more at Mediaite. Summer Meza

If the U.S. pulls out of the Iran nuclear deal, there's no reason for Iran to stay in it either, the country's foreign minister told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Earlier that same day, President Trump gave every indication that the U.S. is out.

French President Emmanuel Macron lobbied Trump to preserve the deal during Macron's White House visit Tuesday, per BBC. Trump proceeded to call the deal "insane," reflecting his months-long intention to rescind the U.S.'s involvement in the 2015 deal signed by former President Barack Obama to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

But if the U.S. is out, "there won't be any deal for Iran to stay in," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told AP. It'll also show that the U.S. doesn't keep its promises and could hurt talks with North Korea, he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit the White House on Friday to hopefully convince Trump to reverse his position on the deal. British Prime Minister Theresa May could stop by too, and even Russia backs the deal, per CNN.

Trump has until May 12 to decide if the U.S. will stay in the deal or reimpose sanctions on Iran instead. Kathryn Krawczyk

There are about 700 types of bacteria that live in the human mouth. It might seem alarming, but these microorganisms are typically harmless, and some of them even safeguard your mouth against infection. But bad news for heavy drinkers: If you're in the habit of having more than one drink per day, you might be throwing off the balance of these tiny creatures.

A study published Tuesday in the journal Microbiome revealed that over time, alcohol can permanently alter the ecosystem inside your mouth, suppressing the effects of protective bacteria while providing a convenient breeding ground for disease-causing ones, Time reported. People who consume large quantities of alcohol are additionally more likely to risk everything from gingivitis to even certain types of cancer, compared to those who don't drink.

The study observed 1,044 American adults, 270 of whom didn't drink at all, 614 of whom drank moderately, and 160 of whom drank heavily (defined as more than two drinks a day for men, and more than one drink a day for women). Drinkers had higher levels of three strains of bacteria that cause diseases "including cancers of the head, neck, esophagus, and pancreas," Time explained.

Of course, the case isn't completely solved, said study author Jiyoung Ahn, an epidemiologist at the NYU School of Medicine. Further investigation will be required, including more studies on the specific effects that beer, wine, and hard liquor have on the mouth.

But for now, it's "pretty much safe to say that alcohol influences the oral microbiome," Ahn explained. So you might want to consider taking an extra shift as designated driver soon. Read more about this study at Time. Shivani Ishwar

President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, White House physician Ronny Jackson, is deciding whether to drop out of consideration, Trump told reporters Tuesday.

The Senate on Monday postponed Jackson's confirmation hearing following allegations that he drank excessively on the job, improperly dispensed medications, and created a hostile work environment, The Washington Post reports. Lawmakers were reportedly also concerned that Jackson is unqualified for the position because he lacks large-scale management skills.

Trump said that Jackson is "making a decision" on whether to remain in the mix, noting that "if I were him, I wouldn't do it." Trump said that he hadn't heard of the "particular allegations," but that he'd still support Jackson if he decided not to withdraw his nomination. "I don't think personally he should do it," Trump said of Jackson, characterizing a possible Senate investigation as an "ugly" and "disgusting" process. "What does he need it for? To be abused by a bunch of politicians?"

Jackson has told reporters that he wants to go through with a confirmation hearing. If Trump doesn't ask him to drop out, his hearing will be delayed until May at the earliest, CNN's Manu Raju notes, after senators complete an investigation into his qualifications and alleged misconduct. Summer Meza

Jazz musician turned Schoolhouse Rock! composer Bob Dorough died Monday at 94, WNEP reported.

And he was more than just a Bill … er, Bob.

Dorough kicked off his career in 1956 with an album titled Devil May Care. Miles Davis rerecorded the title track and turned it into a jazz standard, per NPR.

Despite that success, Dorough still had a day job at an advertising agency with a boss whose kids couldn't remember multiplication tables. Dorough's boss asked Dorough to set the math to music, and Schoolhouse Rock! was born.

After penning Three is a Magic Number and other multiplication hits, Schoolhouse Rock! was sold to ABC and Dorough stayed on to continue writing educational jams. He didn't love creating grammar songs, per NPR, but Conjunction Junction still became one of his most well-known tunes.

Celebrate Dorough's legacy with this live performance of Conjunction Junction in 2014. Kathryn Krawczyk