KYIV, Ukraine — President Biden swept unannounced into Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a defiant display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he called “a brutal and unjust war” days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

“One year later, Kyiv stands,” Biden declared after meeting Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace. Jabbing his finger for emphasis on his podium, against a backdrop of three flags from each country, he continued: “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”

Biden spent more than five hours in the Ukrainian capital, consulting with Zelenskyy on next steps, honoring the country’s fallen soldiers and seeing U.S. embassy staff in the besieged country. Altogether he was on Ukrainian territory for about 23 hours, traveling by train from and back to Poland.

The visit came at a crucial moment: Biden is trying to keep allies unified in their support for Ukraine as the war is expected to intensify with spring offensives. Zelenskyy is pressing allies to speed up delivery of promised weapon systems and calling on the West to provide fighter jets — something that Biden has declined to do.

The U.S. president got a taste of the terror that Ukrainians have lived with for close to a year when air raids sirens howled just as he and Zelenskyy wrapped up a visit to the gold-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral.

Looking solemn, they continued unperturbed as they laid two wreaths and held a moment of silence at the Wall of Remembrance honoring Ukrainian soldiers killed since 2014, the year Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine.

The White House would not go into specifics, but national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that it notified Moscow of Biden’s visit to Kyiv shortly before his departure from Washington “for deconfliction purposes” in an effort to avoid any miscalculation that could bring the two nuclear-armed nations into direct conflict.

In Kyiv, Biden announced an additional half-billion dollars in U.S. assistance — on top of the more than $50 billion already provided — for shells for howitzers, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radars and other aid but no new advanced weaponry.

The bloodiest fighting is, for the moment, concentrated in the country’s east, particularly around the city of Bakhmut, where Russian offensives are underway.

“The cost that Ukraine has had to bear has been extraordinarily high,” Biden said. “And the sacrifices have been far too great.” But “Putin’s war of conquest is failing.”

Biden quietly departed from Joint Base Andrews near Washington at 4:15 a.m. on Sunday, stopping at Ramstein Air Base in Germany before making his way into Ukraine on an overnight train from Poland. He arrived in Kyiv at 8 a.m. on Monday. He departed after 1 p.m. by train back to Poland.

Old Ironsides gave a 21-gun salute on Presidents’ Day that popped everyone’s ears.

President George Washington named the USS Constitution after the document that defines our nation.

USS Constitution was undefeated in battle and destroyed or captured 33 opponents. The ship earned the nickname of Old Ironsides during the War of 1812 when British cannonballs
were seen bouncing off the ship’s wooden hull.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Every year in Sacramento legislators submit hundreds to thousands of bills for consideration. One such bill currently submitted is AB315. In California our legislators could spend their time addressing any number of so many clearly evident problems – homelessness, crime and public safety, wildfires, energy issues, skyrocketing costs of living, etc. – so many issues that are driving residents from this state. Instead, though, they have chosen to manufacture a problem that doesn’t exist. They have chosen to target, discriminate, misrepresent, and patently assert factually incorrect information about certain community clinics licensed by the California Department of Public Health. Clinics that the data shows actually do a better job than the ones being favored by these same Sacramento politicians.

However, facts and rigorous, analytical studies do not matter to them – not if it goes against their narrative. If it contradicts their cult-like obsession to target these certain clinics whose only aim is to offer hope, help, and compassion for those who come through their doors as they navigate what might be difficult, stressful, or uncertain time. This help comes in the form of free services such as pregnancy tests, limited ultrasounds, peer mentorship, classes, and even material goods such diapers, baby hygiene items and clothes, along with connections to a wide array of other community resources. What isn’t offered by these clinics are abortion services, and because they do not perform or refer for terminations, they are vilified by politicians who believe a clinic must do so to garner their support.

In a state with as many problems as California, wouldn’t it seem as though politicians have better bills to write and more important things for the California State Legislature to concern itself than authorizing “the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city attorney to file for injunctive relief or seek a civil penalty” or to “authorize a private right of action seeking injunctive relief, a monetary penalty of at least $1,000” against these clinics?

Apparently, these politicians must think that prosecutorial backlog has been eliminated, crime eradicated, and public safety ensured. Or perhaps because they’re without excuse for the real failures plaguing the state that they think congesting court calendars with ludicrous lawsuits will serve to misdirect the people’s attention away from the real issues on which they should be concerned.

In short, what these legislators are doing is really a near inconceivable irony. The “Sacramento elite” reject giving women a choice to obtain important information to consider before making an irreversible decision and to ascertain possible alternatives to abortion just because it challenges the preconceived notions of these politicians.

Legislators use women as their bargaining chip in claims they make, all while ignoring the fact that twice as many women as men experience depression the largest abortion mental health study of over 877,000 women conducted by the British Journal of Psychiatry has shown that, “Women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81% increased risk of mental health problems, and nearly 10% of the incidence of mental health problems was shown to be attributable to abortion.” Not to mention that this is taking place all while there are record high cases of anxiety, depression, and despair with 75% of Generation Z saying that they need more emotional support.

In this world of great need, this is nearly the equivalent of supporting the suing of soup kitchens because they don’t offer the flavor of soup that someone wants. Meanwhile, state-run programs, such as the EDD, have resulted in billions of dollars in fraud, yet instead of fixing what’s fouled up in government, they attack clinics offering hope and help. Crazy!