The War Room: Tank battles have erupted in the city of Mariupol as the Russians push for total occupation and the Ukrainians put up a stiff defense.

  Russia’s defense ministry said it was “tightening the noose” around the city and the  national government said it had “temporarily” lost contact with officials in Mariupol.

  In that city, rescuers are still digging for possible survivors under the rubble of a bombed out theater that was used as a shelter for more than 1,000 people.

  And in the southern city of Mykolaiv, a Russian rocket that hit a Ukrainian military barracks killed more than 40 soldiers. 

The Diplomatic Front: President Joe Biden in a nearly two-hour phone call with Xi Jinping urged the Chinese president to stay out of the conflict in Ukraine and  work for a diplomatic solution.

  Biden was “direct,” “substantive” and “detailed,” a senior administration official said in a call with reporters afterwards. 

  The official said the conversation was mostly about implications of the war on US-China relations and the “international order.”  He said Biden “made clear” the consequences if China helps Russia. 

  Moments after the call began, China was publicizing its own version of the conversation, describing Xi’s message to Biden as “We must not only lead the development of China-US relations down the correct path, but also shoulder our international responsibilities and make efforts for world peace and tranquility.” 

  But China has not denounced Putin’s war or said it will not help.

The Big Lie: In a speech to a packed soccer stadium yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed his claim that his “special military operation” in Ukraine was launched to save Russian-speaking Ukrainians from genocide.

  The rally was held to celebrate the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, formerly belonging to Ukraine.

  The Kremlin claimed 200,000 people attended in and around the stadium that holds just 81,000. Several reports say offices and businesses were emptied on government orders for people to see Putin speak. One man told the BBC he does not support the war but was forced to attend. 

  The stadium was bedecked with the letter “Z” which has been painted on military vehicles as an identifying mark put has since become a symbol of patriotism for the invasion. Praising Russia’s soldiers, thousands of whom have been killed, Putin praised soldiers dying in Ukraine by paraphrasing the Bible saying, “There is no greater love than giving up one’s soul for one’s friends.” 

Viral News: The entire Chinese province of Jilin, population 24 million, is under lockdown as Covid-19 cases surge across the country. The cities of Langfang, in Beijing’s northern Hebei province, as well as Shenzhen and Dongguan in the south also are under lockdown to control the return of the pandemic

  China has its highest level of Covid infections ever, with more than 10,000 cases across 27 provinces and and cities since the start of this month.

  The country’s so-called “Zero Covid” policy of tracing, testing, and isolating all infections established at the start of the pandemic is being overwhelmed. 

  China has had 977,000 new cases in just the last 28 days, and close to 5,000 deaths, doubling the number of dead for the entire pandemic. Of course, this is nothing compared to the US, which has had just shy of  80 million cases and close to a million deaths.

  One of China’s problems is that it has relied on its own vaccination technology, which is not as up to speed as the west. Older Chinese seem to be suspicious of vaccines in general, particularly when they are endorsed by the government that lies to them about everything.

Election Fraud: A big item on the Republican legislative agenda since the 2020 election has been election fraud, even though it hardly ever occurs. Except, just maybe, in the case of Mark Meadows, who was President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

  The North Carolina Department of Justice has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look in whether Meadows broke the law when he registered to vote, and then voted from, a remote mobile home where he didn’t live.

  Meadows in 2020 and 2021 was a spear carrier for Trump’s claim that he lost the election to voter fraud.

  The New Yorker magazine dug into this and found voter registration records showing that Meadows and his wife, Debra, registered to vote at the mobile home in Scaly Mountain, NC, just six weeks before the 2020 election. He then voted by absentee ballot from that address.

  The former owner of the mobile home told The New Yorker that she didn’t believe Meadows had ever been there. And a neighbor told the magazine that Debra Meadows had stayed there only one or two nights. 

In the Pool: The world of women’s competitive swimming is in a spin as transgender swimmer Lia Thomas from the University of Pennsylvania competes at the Division I National Championships. 

  Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday night to become the first known transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship in any sport. The crowd went silent as she ascended to the podium to receive her medal.

  She swims in the 100-yard freestyle today.

  Thomas, a 5^th year senior, originally competed as a man but switched to the women’s team this year. Although she’s receiving transitional hormone treatments, she reached her physical maturity with male hormones and she’s leaving the natural-born women behind. Thomas won four events at the Ivy League Championships. 

  Concerned Women for America filed a Title IX complaint against the University of Pennsylvania, contending that Penn violates the rules by allowing Thomas to compete as a woman.

 “We’re not going to stand by and let women be displaced,” said Annabelle Rutledge, the national director for Young Women for America. “We must fight for their rights.”

Getting Warmer: Parts of Antarctica this week have been up to 70 degrees warmer than normal. Of course, “warm” down there is still below freezing.

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