The War Room: President Biden yesterday proposed a $33 billion package of military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, an enormous leap in help for that embattled country. It would have to be approved by Congress.

  Speaking at The White House, Biden said, “The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen.”

  Just hours after he spoke, at least five Russian missiles hit the capital city of Kyiv once again. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres was in town at the time, demonstrating that the Russians don’t care who they might kill.

  Biden’s aid package would include $20.5 billion for the Ukraine military, $20 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, $8.5 billion in economic assistance and $3 billion in humanitarian aid, as well as other designations for money.

  The president said he is also sending Congress legislation to make it easier to seize and sell the yachts, airplanes, and other assets of Russia’s corrupt oligarchs. The proceeds would be used to help Ukraine fight Russia.

  On the matter of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons, Biden said, “No one should be making idle comments about the use of nuclear weapons or the possibility of the need to use them.” 

  Russians and Ukrainians are fighting along a 500-mile front in eastern Ukraine. “There’s a lot of still back and forth in the Donbas in terms of territory gained and or lost by frankly both sides,” a US official said on a background call with reporters.

  The official said Russia now has 92 battalion tactical groups in Ukraine, up from 85 last week.

   The official said that Russia has launched more than 1,900 missiles against Ukraine since the beginning of the February invasion. 

  Russian forces are reported to be having “morale and cohesion problems,” according to the US defense official. Russians have a lot of draftees in their army, and those guys aren’t happy.  The US official said, “We have some early indications that while the conscripts start out with high morale because they’ve been feasting on Russian propaganda, it doesn’t take very long before that morale is sapped once they get put into combat and face Ukrainian resistance.”

KIA: Word broke this morning that Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, a former US Marine hired to fight in Ukraine, has been killed. He leaves a wife and 7—month-old baby.

  The Ukrainians said Cancel was killed in heated action and they have not been able to recover his body.

  Cancel was a New York native. His mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN “He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it.” 

Econ 101: The US economy reduced by an annualized rate of 1.4 percent in the first quarter of the year, raising fears of a recession. 

  Last year the U.S. economy grew by 5.7 percent, the fastest rate since 1984.

  Economists blame a trade imbalance. The US imports more than it exports. Also, American companies stocked up last year while the pandemic was still on, and now they have leftover goods, according to economists. Inflation is also a factor, discouraging people from spending money.

  On the upside, the economy has added 400,000 jobs in the last 11 months and unemployment is at its lowest in decades.

The Jury is Out: The Manhattan grand jury investigating the business practices of Donald Trump looks unlikely to issue an indictment of the former president any time soon, if ever, The NY Times reports.

  The paper reports that key witnesses have stopped hearing from the Manhattan DA’s office and the primary prosecutor is working on other matters. DA Alvin  Bragg told the Times, “It’s a work in progress.” He said, “We’ve got seasoned prosecutors working every day. It’s not going to be on a timeline.”

The Spin Rack: The Oklahoma legislature yesterday passed a law modeled after the Texas bill that would ban abortions in that state after six weeks. — Following passage of the new Florida law dissolving Disney World’s special governmental status, the Disney company says the state would have to pay off the special district’s nearly $1 billion in bond debt. — The Food and Drug Administration is proposing a ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes to reduce disease and death from tobacco by making it less attractive to young people. — Beginning this fall, The University of California system will waive tuition and fees Native American students who are state residents and members of federally recognized tribes.

No Joke: British comedian James Corden announced that he’s leaving his 12:30 am nightly CBS show next year. The man known for his segment “Carpool Karaoke” has been host of  “The Late Late Show” since 2015. 

Political Jingle Bells: Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is in a field of 50 people running for an empty congressional seat from Alaska. She might have a tough go of it because one of the candidates has more name recognition than can ever hope to have. 

  Palin is running against Santa Claus – that’s his legal name — a two term councilman and currently Mayor Pro Tempore of the city of North Pole, Alaska. He describes himself as a democratic socialist although he should be careful about giving conservatives the notion that despite all the gifts he gives, Santa is a socialist.

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