THE WAR ROOM: Russia launched another wave of attacks on port and grain facilities on the Black Sea, using cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones. Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 18 targets.

  Ukraine says Russia has used 70 missiles and 90 drones over the past four days.

  American officials say they have information indicating that the Russians might also start to attack shipping at sea.

  Grain prices have spiked 13 percent since Russia on Monday pulled out of the deal that allowed Ukraine to continue exporting grain through the Black Sea.

  It’s possible Russia is bluffing about attacking shipping. The NY Times cites “analysts” telling them that “Russia, while seeking to damage Ukraine’s economy and free itself from Western sanctions, does not want to widen a war in which it is already stumbling.” 

NO MERCY: A woman who gave birth to a baby who lived just four hours broke down then vomited testifying in a Texas courtroom against the state’s strict limits on abortion. Samantha Casiano knew her child would not live but was prohibited by state law from getting an abortion. 

  The case is on behalf of 13 patients and two doctors who say that the medical exceptions to Texas laws are unclear and unworkable for doctors in ways that harm patients. Casiano was one of three women who gave testimony about their difficult pregnancies. The case is believed to be the first time the experiences of women have been aired in open court since the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion.

  Two other women cried on the stand as they described intimate details of their health and pregnancies. People in the courtroom wept as Casiano spoke, including an attorney for the state of Texas. Casiano described what it was like to give birth to the daughter she and her husband named Halo. “She was gasping for air,” Casiano said. “I just kept telling myself and my baby that I’m so sorry that this has happened to you. I felt so bad. She had no mercy. There was no mercy there for her.”

SMALL TOWN MAN: Country music star Jason Aldean is taking a beating over his new music video “Try That in a Small Town,” which was shot at the site of an infamous race riot and lynching in Columbia, South Carolina.

  The video is a montage of news clips showing protests, riots, and police confrontations in cities, some of them involving Black Lives Matter demonstrations sparked by police killings. Other clips show robberies and crimes in progress.

  A sample of the lyrics:

   “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face/ Stomp on the flag and light it up/ Yeah, ya think you’re tough,” he sings, and at another point:

  “Try that in a small town/ Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right/ If you’re looking for a fight.”

  The song promotes the myth that drug and beer addled small town America is the seat of national virtue. Aldean says the lyrics never mention race, but they don’t have to.

  Among critics of the song are NAACP officials, Democratic legislators, thousands of people on social media, and even some country music stars. Country Music television pulled the video. Sheryl Crow tweeted, “There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence.”

THE OBIT PAGE: Dick Biondi, the fast-talking Top 40 DJ known as “The Screamer” who was syndicated across the country from WLS-AM in Chicago, died late last month at age 90. Biondi went on the air in 1960 and his popularity surged along with rock music. 

  He dominated the airwaves of AM rock radio. Biondi was the first disc jockey to play the Beatles on American radio, debuting “Please Please Me” in February 1963. He referred to himself as “the Wild I-tralian.”That’s the correct spelling and we found no reference to what it means.

THE SPIN RACK: The National Football League has fined Daniel Snyder, the former owner of Washington Commanders … used to be the Redskins — a stunning $60 million for sexual harassment of a female employee. The Washington Post reports that abuse of female employees of the team was rampant. The league forced Snyder to sell the team for his personal behavior, but also for hiding revenue that was supposed to be shared with the NFL’s 32 teams. — Damage from a tornado that ripped through a Pfizer drug manufacturing site in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on Wednesday threatens critical supplies for hospitals across the country. The drugs made there have included pain blockers, sedatives, and infection fighters. — A Florida jury awarded $800,000 in damages to a 7-year-old girl for the suffering and mental anguish caused when a Chicken McNugget fell on her thigh, causing a second-degree burn.  The incident happened when she was 4.

BELOW THE FOLD: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging the state’s pension fund manager to sue the parent company of Bud Light beer claiming the company “breached legal duties owed to its shareholders” when it associated with “radical social ideologies” by entering a marketing deal with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

 Conservatives have been boycotting Bud Light and sales have taken a nosedive. This all begs the question, if Bud Light drinkers are so manly, what are they doing drinking Bud Light?

-30-