The War Room: US intelligence officials say that President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military’s poor performance because they are afraid to tell him the truth. The intelligence finding says there’s persistent tension between Putin and his senior military officials.

  The finding also says Putin is being misled about “how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because again, his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said yesterday. 

  Russian forces in northern Ukraine that have taken heavy losses are being forced to return to Russia and friendly Belarus “to reorganize and resupply,” according to the British defense ministry. 

  The Pentagon says they’ve seen some repositioning, but most of the Russian troops arrayed around Kyiv are still there. The Russians have dug in and the city is still being bombed.

  Some theories say Russia may be turning its focus to fully controlling the Donbas region on the Russian border in southeast Ukraine and establishing what’s described as a “land bridge” to the Black Sea and vital ports. That’s why they have fought so hard to take the port city of Mariupol.

  The Donbas is about 9 percent of Ukraine and the residents have sometimes conflicting connections to both countries. Ukraine has been fighting pro-Russian rebels in that area for eight years.

  Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky has said he will not give up any territory in a peace agreement, particularly an area that has coal and natural gas in the ground. If Russia takes the land bridge, fighting could go on nearly perpetually.

  In one hopeful sign in Kyiv, the city government is urging private companies that rent electric scooters and bicycles to get back in business. For now, it’s the best transportation for short distances. The city has created a Google map of businesses that are still open including coffee shops, bakeries, dental offices, and repair businesses for everything from plumbing to windows and doors.

Economic War: Germany is preparing to ration natural gas as the Russians threaten to cut off deliveries unless they are paid in rubles. The German government is taking the first steps to impose rationing if it becomes necessary.

  About 60 of Russian exports are paid for in euros, the rest in dollars. Getting paid in rubles would assist Russia in breaking economic sanctions that make it hard to trade foreign currencies for rubles. It might also pump of the value of the ruble, which tanked when the war broke out. Paying in de-valued rubles would actually be cheaper for the European countries, but it would break the sanctions.

  In a sign that Russia might be turning to a black market for its energy products, tankers carrying crude oil and petroleum products are increasingly disappearing from tracking systems. They are turning off the transponders that let everyone else known where they are. International regulations require vessels like oil tankers keep their transponders on.

Heavy Weather: Violent storms bringing tornadoes swept across the deep South yesterday, ripping apart homes and buildings while leaving a path of debris. The National Weather Service has 183 reports of damaging winds and 25 tornadoes. Over 180,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Tornado warnings were still in effect this morning.

The Slap: The Motion Picture Academy says it has begun disciplinary proceedings against actor Will Smith for getting up on stage at the Oscars and slapping presenter Chris Rock for insulting his wife with a joke about being bald. The Academy says they asked Smith to leave that night but he refused. They said in a statement, “We also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.”

Wayward Son: The FBI and IRS are reported to be deepening their investigation into the business dealings of President Biden’s son, Hunter. They  are inquiring whether the younger Biden violated tax laws, engaged in money laundering, and violated foreign lobbying laws.

  Documents regarding Hunter Biden’s business have been spreading around after he left a laptop computer in a repair shop and now the contents have even been entered in the Congressional Record.

  The evidence shows that Hunter Biden over the course of 14 months did business with a Chinese energy conglomerate connected to the communist government. The Washington Post reports that the Chinese paid $4.8 million “to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and his uncle, according to government records, court documents and newly disclosed bank statements, as well as emails contained on a copy of a laptop hard drive that purportedly once belonged to Hunter Biden.”

The Spin Rack:  Maine Sen. Susan Collins became the first and so far only Republican senator to say she will vote to affirm Katanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Collins said the role of the senate is not “to assess whether a nominee reflects the individual ideology of a senator or would vote exactly as an individual senator would want.” — A Connecticut judge has threatened to fine conspiracy monger Alex Jones $25,000 to $50,000 a day until he appears for a deposition in a lawsuit brought by relatives of victims the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They claim they were defamed when Jones said the massacre of 20 children and six teachers never happened. — Actor Bruce Willis, the star of the “Die Hard” series of action movies, is “stepping away” from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects the ability to speak and understand language. He’s 67. Willis broke out as a wisecracking detective in the 1980s television series “Moonlighting” opposite Cybill Shepherd. — President Biden yesterday got his second Covid booster shot. He’s over 50 and said it didn’t hurt.

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