Today is Monday, March 14, 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues with destructive force, as Russian troops bombed a Ukrainian base yesterday that served as an important hub for Western aid – and where U.S. National Guard members were stationed as recently as last month.

This new offensive is covered in a Daily News article today written by Shant Shahrigian called “Deadly Russian attack on Ukraine base near Poland.” The article points out that the Russians are apparently frustrated by their lack of ability to take some of the major cities, which has been met by strong resistance by the local populace. This assessment of how Russian forces must feel was given by U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan who offered his perspective on NBC’s Meet the Press.

The missile strike resulted in 35 deaths and more than 100 injuries, according to the local governor. Sullivan said the United States will continue to send supplies to Ukrainian fighters struggling to stave off the invasion that’s been going on in their country since February 24.

Russia’s defense ministry claimed that the strike destroyed a large number of weapons and promised to attack foreign fighters joining the Ukrainian side, according to the BBC. This attack prompted strong words from Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, who said, “The United States will work with our allies to defend every inch of NATO territory, and that means every inch.” Sullivan added, “And if there is a military attack on NATO territory, it would cause the invocation of Article 5, and we would bring the full force of the NATO alliance to bear in responding to it.”

Under Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, members are required to come to the defense of another member if it is attacked. Is this more of a stronger sign that a major conflict awaits both the United States and Russia? This would be more than catastrophic for not just both countries but for the world if this were ever to escalate to that point! Let’s hope cooler heads will prevail in this context. God forbid if the Orange menace were president now if Putin actually invaded Ukraine (which Dumpf couldn’t locate on a map anyway) during his second term.

At least 596 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, with at least 1,067 others injured, according to the United Nations’ Human Rights office. What’s responsible for the high death toll is heavy Russian shelling and “the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area,” as indicated by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In the meantime, the situation in Mariupol has almost reached a “worst-case scenario,” as residents are running out of food and water. This situation was reported by the Red Cross, the international aid agency. Peter Maurer, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said, “People in Mariupol have endured a weeks-long life-and-death nightmare.” Maurer implored, “This needs to stop now. Their safety and their access to food, water and shelter must be guaranteed.”

As of now, the residents of the southeastern coastal city have reportedly been consuming snow and foraging for food as Russian forces have brutally bombarded the city.

As the world watches helplessly the swath of destruction being inflicted on the innocent victims in Ukraine, this country must drop its collective jaw over the “useful idiot” in the form of my favorite Fox News host, “Fucker” Carlson, who is proving his usefulness to Vladimir Putin every time he opens his big red mouth!!! Why is this fucking fool for Russian propaganda still on the air? Other commentators have been fired for saying or doing far less! Today a commentator for The View actually stated the obvious that for all his praise of the Russian despot, Carlson should now move to Moscow. He will definitely not be missed here! This brave commentator was Joy Behar who went right for Carson’s jugular in today’s broadcast. This developing story on “Fucker” Carlson was covered in an online article for The Wrap by Andi Ortiz called ‘The View’ Host Joy Behar Suggests Tucker Carlson Should Just ‘Move to Moscow.'”

Behar was responding to all of the pro-Putin comments that Carlson is bizarrely allowed to spew on his odious show. In early March, the Putin apologist accused the Biden administration of actively goading the Russian despot to invade Ukraine. He has repeatedly criticized the Biden’s administration in this conflict. In light of Carlson’s outrageous comments, guest host Alyssa Farah Griffin called his commentary “bizarre” and “un-American.” This prompted another host, Ana Navarro, who said that she thinks the Fox News board of directors should intervene, “if they call themselves patriots.” Of course, representatives for this repulsive “news” outlet did not immediately respond to comments.

Another host, Sunny Hostin, went further to suggest Carlson’s motivation in boosting Putin’s image was probably money. She wondered what could be in it for him and then asked, “Is it money? Who’s paying him that money? I’m not making any allegations, but it’s just, it doesn’t make sense that he would do this kind of thing.” This is when Behar put in her two cent’s worth. She then suggested he should fully move to Russia. She said, “I hope he’s planning to move to Moscow, because he’s not gonna be welcome here for much longer.” I really wish that outraged Americans would “invade” Fox News with calls for Carlson’s ouster.

On the COVID front, an online article in Business Insider by Aria Bendix reports on the advice provided by Moderna’s president on the efficacy of getting a fourth shot of the vaccine. He is on record as saying that a fourth shot would probably only be necessary for older and immunocompromised individuals.

The drug maker president, Stephen Hoge, said today that older adults or immunocompromised people probably need a fourth COVID-19 shot, but young healthy people may opt out, depending on what outcome they’re trying to prevent. In the meantime, Moderna is developing a booster shot that targets more than one coronavirus strain.

Even the nation’s most famous – or infamous, depending on what political party you belong to – public medical expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, also said that the need for a fourth dose might depend on age or underlying health conditions.

Moderna’s president himself said that he intends to get an annual booster to protect against the long-term side effects of COVID-19. Those lingering symptoms could include fatigue, difficulty in breathing, sleep problems, headaches, muscle pain, or changes in taste or smell, which can last several months or more. Hoge said, “I personally will get a booster every year because I don’t want to ever lose my sense of smell.” I wholeheartedly agree with the good president. He further adds, “Long COVID sounds nasty.”

Also, Hoge believes that the virus will be both endemic and seasonal from now on. He expects cases to decline in the spring (which is very near us, folks), then rise again in the fall when children go back to school. The wild card in all of this, Hoge contends, could be another variant like Omicron that could pose an even greater challenge to our current vaccines. The Moderna leader said he expects to see more variants of concern – strains that make the virus more transmissible, more capable of causing severe disease, or more resistant to vaccines and treatments – in the future. But he’s hopeful that those variants won’t be more dangerous than the ones we have now. As the expression goes, “From his lips to God’s ears!” Let’s hope this does indeed happen with our current form of coronavirus.

So for those of you who are of such an advanced age – like us old farts – and possibly immunocompromised, you know what to do. You healthier and younger members of various population subsets, you just have to decide if getting a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot is in your best interests.

On a personal level, Elliot and I had a free day since our contractor failed to come to us because of some paint snafu. Since I didn’t know this when I set the alarm for 7:45 a.m., I still got up early assuming “Cameron” would walk through our door at 9. He didn’t! But he did call at around 9 to tell me that he was having “some problems.” So I went out to my usual haunt at about 9:30 or so and had breakfast by myself. Eventually, my circle of women breakfasters shuffled in around 10:30 at around the time I was finishing up. They went to their own table and I cozied over to say hello to them.

Later we drove to Lake Success to go to a Bed, Bath & Beyond store to pick up a towel dispenser that attaches to the wall and to have lunch at a deli that wasn’t there. The deli that Elliot assumed was there had closed some years back, so we had a bite at Bagel Boss instead.

We then walked over to the Barnes & Noble at the far end of the mall and spent some time browsing. The store was so empty that one of the associates came over to me and pointed out some of the books on sale and even mentioned their plot lines. I just assumed the guy was quite bored to even do this. I was attracted to a nonfiction book on forty years of New York history called New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess, and Transformation by Thomas Dyja, but I resisted the temptation to get yet another book that would just sit on my bookshelf. The book does seem fascinating, though, to anyone interested in New York lore.

After our sojourn at the bookstore, we walked over to Bed, Bath & Beyond and looked for a towel dispenser. I found where they were hiding and we picked one up. I then walked over to the coffee maker section to look at another machine. You see, the current one I have does not keep the coffee warm. It has no warm plate or button that leaves the beverage in the mug hot. So when I remove the mug to drink, the coffee can be tepid already.

When we got home, Elliot decided to rest while I called an Arizona friend,”Caitlyn,” who is flying to New York at the end of April and is interested in seeing us then. This was one of those times when we FaceTimed one another; I saw her outside in her garden and she saw me in my cluttered living room. She did see Jocelyn at one point.

Eventually, Cameron did ring the front door at around 5:45 to fill us in on the problems he was having with the kitchen. We now presented him with his belated birthday gift, two cupcakes that I bought at Martha’s Country Bakery, on Austin Street, earlier this morning.

I went out one more time to get dinner for Elliot at Gloria Pizzeria. He wanted a meatball hero. I called for the dish before entering the eatery and was told to come by in 20 minutes. So I sat down outside the Italian bakery and called “Mark” to see how he was doing. I filled him in on our exciting day and he did the same.

Even though I am still not fully adjusted to the change in time, I do welcome the longer moments of sunlight without hesitation.

Tomorrow promises to be another nice day. Go out and enjoy it if you can.

Stay safe and be well.