The War Room:  A Russian attack yesterday destroyed a maternity and children’s hospital complex in the southern Ukrainian city of  Mariupol. By the look of the crater in the open area between three buildings, it appears that the Russians used at least a 1,000 pound warhead on what was clearly a civilian target.

  At least three people were killed, including a child, and 17 wounded. Pregnant women were seen being evacuated and victims were suspected to be under the rubble. 

  The attack demonstrates that the Russians are knowingly targeting civilian facilities and residential areas in order terrorize the population and make life unlivable. It’s a war crime. Despite what is so clear, Russia continues to lie to the world and its own population claiming that they are only going after military targets.

  In Mariupol alone, where there’s no longer water and power, Russian bombs and missiles have destroyed homes, a supermarket, and adjacent shopping center. Some of the civilian dead in that city are being buried in a mass grave.

  The director general of the World Health Organization said yesterday that the organization has verified 18 attacks against health facilities, health workers, and ambulances resulting in 10 deaths and 16 injuries. The Mariupol attack is likely to increase those casualty numbers.

  The Kremlin said it will inquire about the strike on a maternity hospital “We will definitely ask our military because, of course, we don’t have clear information on what happened there,” the Kremlin’s spokesman is reported to have said.

  The Ukrainians are putting up a ferocious fight. Thus morning, CNN is showing aerial video of Russian tanks getting blown up. 

  Representatives of Russia and Ukraine talked again today, but no evident progress was made. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky is possible. “I hope that this will become necessary at some point,” he said. “But preparatory work needs to take place for this.”  Zelensky has said that the war can be ended only through a meeting with Putin.

  The Russians are maintaining their incredible fictions about what they’re doing. Lavrov told a Turkish reporter that “We are not planning to attack other countries. We didn’t attack Ukraine, either.” 

Economic War: With economic sanctions biting into Russia, the Kremlin’s spokesman yesterday accused the United States of declaring “an economic war” against his country.

  House lawmakers have drawn up a bill that would send $13.6 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine, a figure that’s more than twice what was requested by the Biden administration. The aid bill started at $6.4 billion and the inflated figure indicates that Democrats and Republicans at long last are able to agree on something.

  In Britain, the government has frozen the assets of Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich and six others. Abramovich, a friend of Vladimir Putin, is the owner of the popular Chelsea Football Club. This blocks Abramovich from following through on his previously announced plan to sell the club for $2.5 billion and dedicate the proceeds of the sale “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine.” 

The Information War: Little noticed in the past week is that major news outlets from CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and the BBC have stopped reporting from Russia because of that country’s new law punishing honest reporting about the war in Ukraine.

  The law makes it punishable by up to 15 years for reporting “fake news” about the war in Ukraine and the government is the sole determiner of what’s fake. Reporters are not allowed to call the war a war.

  A spokesman for Bloomberg News said the law “seems designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association” and “makes it impossible to continue any semblance of normal journalism inside the country.”

You Don’t Say: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is preparing to sign a bill that would limit instruction and discussion about LGBTQ issues in public schools, in particular kindergarten through third grade. The bill’s creators and supporters say it’s a measure for parents to control what their young kids are taught about these matters, but opponents have dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

  The law will prohibit public school districts from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade, or “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” Critics say the language is vague enough that it could extend the ban to higher grades. 

The Spin Rack: Major League Baseball has pushed opening day back to April 14^th as talks with the players’ union continue. Opening day was supposed to be March 31. — As the Ukraine crisis affects the world economy, the national average gasoline price today is $4.31. In California it’s $5.69. The national average for Diesel is $5.05. — The Trump organization has refinanced the loan on Trump Tower in New York for $100 million. The Trump organization is under indictment accused of financial fraud but Trump son Eric bragged to CNN that, “Trump Tower is one of the most iconic properties in the world and sits on arguably the most prestigious corner in all of New York. We have incredibly low debt, have a tremendous amount of cash and have an extremely profitable company. We had no problem refinancing.”

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