Four years ago today, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” involving dozens of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities before dawn.
I am a Ukrainian American. You can say thank you to Ukraine by donating to the official fundraising platform of the Ukrainian government UNITED24. All money that you donate goes to supporting Ukraine.
This is especially important now, as Russia intensifies its attacks to weaponize winter by hitting civilian infrastructure on a daily basis. The Ukrainian people are living through the coldest winter in decades, with only a few hours of electric power a day. Urban heating infrastructure has been destroyed, as have water pumping stations and treatment plants. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. By cutting funding to pre-war levels Trump is complicit.
The idea for UNITED24 is simple: To unite the world around supporting Ukraine; to protect, save, and rebuild.
You can direct your donation to 5 options: Defense, Humanitarian Demining, Medical Aid, Rebuilding Ukraine, or Education and Science.
There's other sites that focus directly on re-building defense systems Russia keeps trying to blow up (most Americans don't realize just how much drone warfare has evolved over this time, and how much of a home-grown industry this has turned into in Ukraine).
You can contribute to a "Sniffing Brigade" of equipment to ferret out Russian Iskander drones and missile attacks before they do damage -- or to support the brave women (for the most part) driving convoys of food, medical supplies and drone equipment to the front lines:
On the UNITED24 website, you can support specific drone brigades or choose from various humanitarian efforts. By visiting the official government site, you can see that all the money is going to the specified purpose and to the most immediate needs, like generators and restoring water treatment plants, which will have the biggest impact on the most people. Distribution to alleviate suffering from the weaponization of winter attacks against the civilian population is a daily, massive effort to get repair crews and equipment to where they are needed most critically, which is coordinated through the government.
If you are going to donate to an “independent” organization, check it out first, because there are many scammers and Russian hackers. The Russian hackers are desperate to get US dollars. Here are two sites where you can get efficiency ratings and red flags.
They are an excellent organization that does much of the cooking in communal kitchens and warming centers in big cities. It is really hard for people who live in apartment towers. There are only a few hours of electricity a day, so the elevators are not working. Most apartment towers have no heat because they use hot water or steam from centralized plants that have been destroyed. There is no potable water. Tent cities are being put up outside the buildings. Many are being internally displaced to the suburbs, where there are houses with individual heating in abandoned villages. But many have to stay where they are because of work. Children are going to school in basements and underground metro stations. The elderly in the towers are at heightened risk of being abandoned on the upper floors.
The increase in the drone and missile bombardments started in October, so this has been going on relentlessly for months. What is truly disgusting is that US-manufactured dual-use components are being used in the Russian drones and missiles that are causing the devastation. Many are being pipelined through China.
How does Ukraine ever rebuild so extensively? (Rhetorical question). If Trump doesn’t steal every US dollar from our treasury before he’s gone (however that happens), I hope we can afford, and are willing, to do a “Marshall plan” to get them back on their feet.
I had not heard of the US manufactured dual use components for the Russian drones. Then again, with my time being given to my disabled wife who has 2 neurological disabilities, it's difficult for me to keep up. On this point of dual use components, this again, is another nail for impeachment, as Trump's OK to use these components are being used in war crimes against defenseless Ukrainian civilians. Both, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), transference of weapons or technological parts used for the wanton injuries or deaths of civilians constitutes a war crime. It is most likely that Trump is fully aware of the illegal use of these weapons, and therefore, is complicit in the murders taking place in Ukraine. Additionally, inviting Putin, who is himself a wanted criminal by the ICCC, and entertaining a known wanted criminal, may very well be additional grounds for impeachment. That republicans are so much in the dark makes them, frankly, all complicit on a wide range of crimes from Ukraine to the Epstein Files. Impeachment cannot come soon enough!
Interesting note: Stephen Colbert, whose show has been cancelled by Trump's recently acquired CBS network, is selling off show memorabilia through Ebay to benefit World Central Kitchen.
Rather than whining, as Donald would, about being "treated unfairly," Colbert is using his turn of fortune to benefit others.
As a result of our recent blizzard, we on Cape Cod have been snowed in, many people have been without power for several days, and we expect not to have power restored for several more days. World Central Kitchen has started supplying meals to Cape Codders, many of whom are elderly. I've supported them for years, but I never expected to see them reaching out to my neighbors here. What a wonderful, life-saving organization!
Of course people need to use Charity Navigator and other research to find out if a site is valid, accredited and doing what it promises to do. The site I listed is not a Russian ghost site -- I do my homework, I don't contribute to Russian hackers, and resent your unspoken implications that I'm too stupid or uninformed to figure out the difference. United24 is a wonderful resource -- so are some others.
You can see this particular organization's NGO status formally filed in both Ukraine and Estonia, a list of its media mentions, a list of formal reports filed for previous fiscal periods, he backgrounds of its chief officers below, and its major initiatives -- you can, too, Georgia.
Take a deep breath and count to ten. I didn’t read Georgia’s comment as directed at you personally but as a general warning to all. And she’s right to remind all to check where their contributions are going, especially when the proclivities of Russia to steal money and personal data are so well documented. The fog of war can make that discernment even more challenging.
I dreamt last night that I had somehow become President of the U.S. and my first official act overseas was to purchase hospital grade generators from the EU and send them to Ukraine along with several teams of engineers to help set them up and work to restore the damaged power grid.
UNITED24 is the official state initiative focused on fundraising for defense, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction, with a strong emphasis on transparency and reporting
Razom is a non-profit organization with a broader mission to support Ukraine's development, which has significantly ramped up humanitarian aid efforts since the invasion, alongside its pre-existing projects
...
Both organizations are considered among the best for supporting Ukraine
The "best" choice between them may depend on whether you prefer to donate through an official government platform or a dedicated non-profit organization with a long-standing presence and diverse initiatives.
I will address you as 1/4 Ukrainian, ha. The recent history is nuanced on account of the breakup of the Soviets. Was the west supposed to move east with NATO? Who knows. Did America. Greatly influence the Maiden revolution? Hum. Aggressive. Did we threaten Russia with our influence? Probably. I often thought we should have responded with the no nato demands that Putin made. But that is all water over the damn. Now the west must win this war and kick out the Russians. We have a traitor in our government so the Europeans must send arms s d soldiers to save an Ukraine. Let us not forget that Biden refused to allow Ukraine to fire missiles deep into Russia fearing it would increase the war but that was absolutely stupid of Biden and one of his many stupid things he did while in office. I personally despise him and always have. When Russia invaded, our secretary of defense said. “Good now the Russians will drain their military down.” In Essence, he felt the Ukrainians were expendable to wear down the Russians. Shameful.
On June 26, 1963 President Kennedy said, "Ich bin ein Berliner." This was in the midst of the Cold War where Russia was basically, isolated from the west.
Most of us would be surprised that we have Ukrainian and Russian ancestors. I know I was when I was doing my genealogy. Most of us even share common great-grandparents if we go back enough generations.
In 1921, there was a fire in Washington DC which destroyed most of the 1890 census which was being housed in the basement of a warehouse. The basement was flooded and instead of trying to save the records they left them to mildew and deteriorate.
When the 1890 census was destroyed it became impossible for millions of Americans to trace some of their ancestors prior to 1900 when the next census occurred.
But whether or not I have Ukrainian ancestry - "I am a Ukrainian."
Thank you for that beautiful statement of solidarity. Much appreciated. Most of my family came in the early 1900’s, some just before the Great Famine in 1932. Others after the fall of the USSR in the early 1990’s. Distant cousins are still there.
My family came to the US between 1865 and 1905 from Denmark, Norway and Sweden mostly. As I've traced my ancestry back to the 800's I usually hit a brick wall around 1600 IF there is no royalty in the chain or records have been lost in a fire, etc. I'm not sure how much of my family tree of 17000+ members are real and which are myth, but according to Ancestry.com my tree is over 99% accurate.
I would bet that you and most of the people commenting here are related to Gunhilde Sigrid or Swietoslava "The Haughty" Queen of Sweden Denmark and Norway "Meiczyslavdatter" Poland as most Northern Europeans are. Of the lines that I have been able to trace back to the 900's she comes up multiple times with multiple husbands for both my wife and myself.
She was born around 963 in Poznan, Lubelskie, Poland and died in Uppsala, Stockholm Sweden around 1014. She was a pagan as am I. One of her husbands tried to convert her to Christianity as the tale goes and she had him put to death for trying. If only women could do that today. :)
My grandfather came from Lutzk Poland, which then became Soviet Union, that's now Ukraine, and in this country, he was a builder. I have several of his wood saws and planes (all skillfully sharpened), which I have used in the renovations of the house that is my home. I was able to find his naturalization papers in NYC at the Mormon Center, where a volunteer searched in ways I wouldn't have known how to do.
My grandfather emigrated from Denmark in 1905 and was a cabinet maker. I too inherited his tools, including the wooden planes but I didn't use them like you did. I'm impressed Joan.
No, a black&white cookie. But with or without the definite article the sentiment was clear. This is the sentiment that might have changed Biden’s cautious and slow approach. The point is that US policy was always about us, and not about the rule of law being broken or casualties inflicted. It still is, but now the us is T and his family and friends.
In her interview with Applebaum in Il Foglio, Paola Peduzzi noted that “[t]he Ukrainians have suffered the most from America’s distortion, because we measure the transatlantic divorce in money and they in black bags: since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Ukrainian civilian deaths have increased by 31 percent compared to 2024, and by 70 percent compared to 2023.”
Billion, this where you are right. The deaths are on Biden as well as Trump. It is Biden who delayed every weapon he finally did give Ukraine and to the end refused them the advanced arms they needed.
Phil, I take slightly more benign view—Biden was not alone in that fiasco. I watched those hearings and cringed. Howell Heflin, Orrin Hatch—all of them looked like they had rods up their backside while Hill was a model of grace and civility. I believe Prez HW recognized a political price of not confirming Thomas—and so did the committee. I bet the same thing would happen today, even with all we nave experienced with the #MeToo movement.
Instead of taking a stand against harassment, all in their usual way were cowards afraid of being called racists. Cowards, kind of like they are today but for different reasons.
And now we are stuck with the dour, grifting, chip-on-his-shoulder (boulder, really), stone-faced Thomas, who has contributed nothing positive to jurisprudence. Ps Did you know Ginny Thomas actually CALLED Anita Hill to find out why she “lied” about Thomas?
Misogyny is institutionalized. It is embedded in the DNA of too many. Kavanaugh? Same, same? Or worse?
I find the retroactive attacks on Biden a pathetic waste of time. True, he made big mistakes. The crime bill was one. Running for re-election was the biggest one. But stack him up against all our modern presidents? Top of the heap - no contest.
If this society really saw women as equal to men, the entire Congress would be impeaching Bondi AND Trump over the mismanagement of the Trump...I mean Epstein...Files.
ML, I watched the hearings too and the entire committee made up of white men were a disgrace although like you, I suspected that politics were the real reason behind their support of Thomas. I think they also enjoyed the discomfort of Anita Hill as she testified.
All those white guys wanted to do is save their white political asses. It was a brilliant line give. To Thomas. He didn’t think it himself. He isn’t that smart.
Ginny Thomas attended Westside High School in Omaha and graduated 1975. Unsurprisingly her picture is in my 1973 yearbook as being part of the young Republicans.
An odd coincidence is that her neighbor across the street in Omaha was Kurt Anderson, the founder of Spy Magazine and author of many books including the best seller Fantasyland.
My favorite from yours here, Bill: "Did we threaten Russian with our influence?"
Hard to answer this, or imagine its larger ramifications, since the U.S. has grown its own intolerant, anti-diversity, fascist, white-only-tribalism.
Donald in all his criminal majesty loves the ways authoritarians can dictate, label, imprison, torture, eff the law, and rape the women (and barely pubescent girls).
In the hands of him and his allied thugs "our influence" simply bids distant memories of times when American schools centered humanities and the human.
Phil you are wrong. What DEI does it chops us up into social, racial gender and any other segments we can think of — then turns us against each other. I am avowed against DEI. I don’t care of Trump is as well. I was against it before Trump came into office. I’m all in favor of equality not the bullshit DEI. I will go to my grave with this resistance. I have fought for equality all my life. I have fought for women’s rights not boygirls in girls showers. We have laws that prevent discrimination. No, it’s not perfect. But if we keep creeping back to some far-fetched concept we will continue being divided and conquered. And that’s my Truth, Ruth.
It’s not diversity or equality or inclusion that turns us against each other, but from the start any programs (good or bad) that had such goals were lumped together and used by the right to suggest that white people were being put down. If whiteness is not being recognized as superior, then there is threat being felt by some and then used to scare people who didn’t feel threatened by Black leaders or Black history being told (at last).
Likewise, the scary idea of powerful men beating out or assaulting “women and girls” is used now to pass laws that prevent little kids with trans identities from participating in elementary school sports or adults with trans identities from playing in community tennis leagues. Why? To make sure that the idea of female vulnerability and male superiority is affirmed everywhere.
Myra, this using of laws and institutions to somehow say white people have been discriminated against makes me very angry. Right now the death star dept of ed is investigating the Portland (OR) school district because they have a program and a building dedicated to helping black students in particular although the district says it is open to anyone. White whining.
I recognize the wrongs of the past and even the present. I get it. But we are being hounded to death over it today. In recent years, I’ve been singled out and told to my face that I am privileged. Fuck all. I’m pissed. I should be in the MAGA camp. White male kids coming out of schools are singled out on job applications. Ever wonder why they suddenly voted MAGA? I had to apply for a false democratic central party application and it kept asking me if I was, 1. Wo on owned, 2. Minority owned, 3, gay or fricken lesbian, pro union. And the funny thing is they only wanted my data so they could give it out forever to candidates pitching me to donate. They just wanted my data. So I’m rightfully angry. Do not forget we have pushed normally democratic-thinking individuals into the hellhole that is MAGA. If we don’t live on and seek more accommodation with everyone, we will stay mired in the muck we have put ourselves in and frankly, I think most of us are too hardwired to break loose of what we have been instilled with. And we are manipulated by the think specialists. Don’t make this a do or die. We need to win and win big.
Am oblivious about educational systems. I simply have no info. But people are confused they will vote for anyone and as I have said, when voting for president, often many revenge vote which is the worse motivation. As much as I disliked Biden, I voted for them because it simply was not anything to argue about. One is a demon and the other ceased understanding how to sell ideas.
For one brief moment, Russia was heading toward western style democracy. I wish Chairman Gorbachev had become the first president of Russia. But Yeltsin took over who was corrupt and a drunk and who groomed a young Putin and slowly, Russia lost.
To give you an idea of the situation in Ukraine for the civilian population, the pre-war population was 41 million. 6.9 million people are refugees outside of the country, according to the UN and 3.7 million are displaced internally, or about 1/4 of the population.
Humanitarian organizations launched the 2026 Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) to provide life-saving support, including food, health care, shelter, protection, cash assistance and other assistance to 4.1 million of the most vulnerable people in 2026. Overall, an estimated 10.8 million people across Ukraine will require humanitarian assistance this year, including internally displaced and war-affected non-displaced people. So of the 34 million people still in the country, 1 in 3 will need humanitarian assistance. It is an enormous humanitarian crisis, but sadly 3rd in terms of people in need of humanitarian assistance after Sudan, with 30.4 million, and 16.5 million in Syria. For comparison, 8 million people are in need in Nigeria, and Gaza's entire population is 2 million.
Thank you for this information. I am glad to help.
I thank Ukraine, and humbly apologize on behalf of the United States. We will forever carry the shame this fascist president has inflicted upon us and Ukraine.
We will be paying an economic price for decades as we are excluded from trade compacts, mutual defense alliances, and economic development partnerships. I doubt any of those big investment deals Trump extorted with his tariffs will survive.
If you have not done it before, your credit card company will likely send you a message along the lines of 'did you authorize this'? In the early days, even if you said yes, some card companies wouldn't process the charge. Nowadays, they just check -- it's an international transaction. Keep at it, it does work -- and it's a legitimate site.
We need to have a national campaign for Ukraine - possibly to coincide with the next NO KINGS day, possibly with help from Colbert and Kimmel and others who have been brave. A day to donate to UNITED24. Our country LOVES Ukraine and it is saving us along with Europe. Trump needs to see this - strongly. And Melania should get props for getting Putin to return a few of the Ukrainian children he has kidnapped and refuses to return...
Done. I chose Defense. In the past I've donated to Medical and Rebuilding. Since our government reneged on their promises to Ukraine, I am helping to fill the funding gap. If Russia wins, Europe is next.
Georgia, I am a strong supporter of United24, unfortunately it is not recognized as a US 501(c)3 entity. I have supported Ukraine TrustChain (ukrainetrustchain.org) since 2023 when they became rated as a 501(c)3 organization. For those of us required to take Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) from our traditional IRAs and 401(k)s the IRS has a provision designated as Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD). This allows a taxpayer to donate to a qualified organization directly from their investment firm removing any tax consequences for the donation. In essence, the donation is a wash on your tax return (treated as a credit rather than a write off on Schedule A). The maximum for 2025 is $108,000. Dignitas Ukraine (dignitas.fund) also qualifies and allows the QCD to be directed to several different programs, much like United24.
Yes, Thanks to the brave people of the Ukraine. Trump and Vance ambushed Zelensky in the Oval Office, but they set him up to be asked by Brian Glenn, a White House correspondent for the conservative network Real America’s Voice, why he does not wear a suit and tie. That is about as Anti-Anerican as can be. Clothes are a means of national expression. Freedom of expression, especially political expression, is the single most important freedom when in the USA. Last November Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was here. Gee, why was he not told he needs to buy a suit and tie? For more on how the Roberts 6 are attacking our rights and what we must do about it, please read and share UntedWeAmend.org
Yes the brave citizens of Ukraine and President Zelensky truly deserve our thanks and support.
When Russia invaded Ukraine 4 years ago, most U.S. officials and international experts expected them to be overrun within a matter of days.
They thought Kyiv would fall within 3 days and now Ukraine has fought on and defended itself for 4 years!
While it's fighting for its sovereignty, independence, and territory, Ukraine is also leading the fight for freedom, liberty, democracy and an inspiration to the world and especially the U.S. right now.
Donald John Trump is, without a doubt, a Putin asset. That fact is one of the principal reasons that I voted for Harris. Putin most likely has photos of Trump with underage Russian girls in Moscow hotel rooms in the 1990's. Also, the mysterious "accidental" deaths of some of Putin's close associates in the fall of 2022 - who knows why? I can guarantee you that American Intelligence knows because that information was contained in the Top Secret documents that Trump turned over to Putin. There are photos of Trump taking bankers boxes of documents with him on a trip to Europe in 2022. To 1-6-2021, throw in the classified documents case that Judge Aileen Cannon threw out. John Dean, "There is a cancer growing on the presidency." There is a word for this: Traitor.
Slava Ukraini! We need a President like Zelensky, Harris, or AOC. Trump is Putin's puppet. A fascist traitor is destroying our democracy. Let's keep singing the no kings anthem together at protests every week until we the people prevail: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-kings-anthem
Indeed. Trump is so infatuated with Putin, it’s sickening (“we’ve been through sooo much together…”). I bet he masturbates while thinking of a bare-breasted Putin riding a grizzly bear….
We listened to the recording in your link and found the chorus of the song to be a catchy tune, enthusiastic but unintelligible. If we're to have an anthem that we can all sing together, it's going to need to be a lot clearer and simpler. No crown. No throne. Slava Ukraini!
I fail to comprehend Dr. Richardson's purpose in directing our focus on the war in Ukraine when the apocalyptic malignancy of which it is but one deadly symptom is so glaringly evident in all of its infinitely terrifying ecogenocidal magnitude in the Leni-Riefenstahl-caliber performance of Führer Trump's State-of-the-Unified-Reich speech.
Accompanied at emotionally pivotal moments by the Zieg-Heil equivalent of the USA Chant, Trump's speech was more than anything else the brazen agitation of a national lynch mob in support of his resurrection of Hitler's Holocaust and its vast expansion to target all empathetic voters; all humanitarian political dissidents whether organized or not; all women who oppose misogynistic re-enslavement; all non-Aryan racial and ethnic minorities; all spiritual, theological and sexual minorities -- literally all of us who are not either white male supremacist ChristoNazi fanatics or the predatory capitalists who perpetuate the ChristoNazi theocracy: the gloating, gleefully supportive, infinitely wealthy, technologically omnipotent Trumpstein plutocracy.
My 86th birthday is slightly more than a month distant, and in near-lifelong service as a journalist I have covered -- or as an editor shaped the coverage -- of I-cannot-count how many USian political speeches. But until tonight I have never witnessed such effectively focused hatefulness outside of Reifenstahl's films and Josef-Goebbels-directed spectaculars. Indeed it is as if the Regime's scientists – perhaps completing some beyond-top-secret project begun by scientists amongst the legions of Nazi war criminals this always-criminal nation embraced as advisors and comrades-at-arms after World War II – used the genes of Goebbels (1897-1945) and Reifenstahl (1902-2003) to produce the modern-day clones to brew the ChristoNazis’ propaganda.
One point of which I am most assuredly not proud is that Trump’s State-of-Unified-Reich performance would seem to confirm my analysis that his madness is entirely feigned – a self-protective charade not just to provide a foundation for an insanity defense but to minimize his apparent danger to the forces of Liberation and in support of who knows what other evil schemes. Therefore to ignore the defiantly ecogenocidal threat implicit in this SOUR event maximizes the risk to our own survival. The only remaining question is the extent to which tonight’s spectacle will influence the irremediably hateful Moronic (white) Majority to resume its lynch-mob-minded support of Trump’s new, radically expanded version of Hitler’s Holocaust, and I await its answer by the relevant polls with naught but dread.
It's because you're a one-note Johnny, and can't give up repeating "Christonazi" for the 137th time every night, as though none of us have been following what's been happening for ourselves.
Not only did Heather devote an entire podcast to the true 'State of the Union' yesterday, but Miles Taylor, Move On, Pete Buttigieg, the Lincoln Project and others devoted their entire coverage to that North Korean shindig inside the Capitol, with hundreds of participants. There was no shortage of analysis about Trump yesterday.
I, for one, am extraordinarily grateful that Heather acknowledged this terrible anniversary of Russia's invasion, going into the deep background behind it I'm betting not many people -- even here -- know the details of.
Trump stopped just short of asking the audience to get your pitchforks and tar and feather Joe Biden and the Democrats. One of the pundits called it a “new level of divisiveness.” Quite a euphemism.
Trump took to the podium, spoke for about one minute before I turned the TV off and went to bed (east coast -Florida.) We all knew what he was going to do, even some of the details. I knew that I would get an excellent recap tonight or tomorrow morning from HCR. Without Trump on my mind, I slept the sleep of the 1,000 Innocents.
Richard, I didn't bother to watch even a minute. I knew, as did everyone else, that Donald was just going to stand there and replay his "greatest hits." In the unlikely event that he uttered something new or interesting, it wouldn't change the world overnight. There are plenty of resources that will provide the lowlights and context today.
Trump was medicated very well with whatever they give him when he needs to seem strong and able to read the teleprompter. His base loved it, no doubt, especially when he attacked Somali culture as a poison in our midst. It was a sustained hate-a- long when it wasn’t in praise of himself.
I watched for the reaction of the audience of Supreme Court and Chiefs of Staff. The military were stone-faced as they are trained to be. The Justices, Robert’s and Coney Barret, who knows what they felt.
Agree, Pete. HCR tries to tell us over and over that she is a historian, not a journalist. Also, she mostly does not give knee-jerk reactions to current news but prefers to let the dust settle before weighing in on the narrative.
Loren, I totally appreciate your writing style in this post! Your weaving of words is wonderful! (Also agree with your take on Trump et al) I think it’s actually brilliant of Heather to not write about SOTU…I’ve thought for a good while that we all might be more effective by drastically minimizing the energy we give to Trump. It sadly reminds me of the Alanonic partner to an alcoholic who endlessly focuses on and talks about the atrocities of behavior from the alchoholic and neglects improving his or her own life. We are crazed and sickened by our “drunk” president and his drinking buddies. Our lives are becoming unmanageable. We do have to keep an eye on them as they do have the car keys, but we also make ourselves sick and them more empowered by our constant drumming. Trump IS the news cycle. OUR collective lives and resistance should be the news cycle. And we can’t lose sight of all the other huge ticket issues we are facing and that need our attention. The way I see this is that you gave me the report on SOTU last night(I’m sorry you had to endure watching it for me!! I could not watch)I figured it would be a gruesome event, someone would describe it and you confirmed. Today I get right to work in upcoming elections local and beyond and on planning for No Kings 3. I will shrink trumps speech into a tiny little piece of dirt and flush it down my toilet. He gets none of my precious energy on this lovely day.
Amy, I'm with you, I'm exhausted with the tRvmp focus every single day. It seems lik he's been in the news for the last 10 years. Whatever we have share about his latest outrageous behavior will do nothing to stop it. He seems to live rent-free in our minds. We need to focus on action to keep our voting rights and make sure we win the midterms. Ukraine is important and all we can do is donate at this time.
I am with you and Amy, Vivian. We know what the traitorous insurrectionist is going to say. One of our tasks presently is to find a way to wrest power from the MAGA forces while (if) we still can. There is no longer any benefit in understanding their why. Most are impervious to facts, history and reason. We now know that they want an authoritarian white Christian theocracy to replace out democratic republic system. They're still a minority in the voting pool. There is some evil in some of their hearts, but mostly I think that ignorance and stupidity account for their unquestioning loyalty to Trump.
Absolutely, Amy! Billions of words have been written attempting to analyze how we got Donald in the White House the first time, then the second time.
I can explain it without a billion words: Corporate media prostitutes gave him all the coverage he demanded in exchange for the advertising revenues guaranteed by audience share, making his surname a household word.
Most irritating to me is that even now that he's more hated than loved, ALL media, including corporate, social and independent are STILL giving him all the coverage he demands.
Do not waste your amazing brilliance (I did read and appreciate each word and your excellent sharing of historical facts!) on such a loser such as Trump.
What concerns me most is the "brainwashing" of the American public. When Trump was chosen as a candidate for President...I changed political parties!!!! I was shocked that one of my children and many of my Christian friends voted for him.
In my opinion, who would choose such a looser? Who would choose a man who has shown such cruelty to his former wives? As soon as Melania birthed their son, he was out and about. His morals have no boundaries! I see him as someone who reads very little unless it is a positive article about himself. YET! This creature is President of the United States of America!???
I left the Republican Party when Reagan was president, piling national debt onto the backs of younger generations while giving trillions in tax breaks to the already-wealthy. Then I discovered Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and the person responsible for our having Social Security here in the U.S. Her theory of government: "The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to facilitate the means by which all the people under its jurisdiction can access the best possible life." This theory builds upon another one with which most of us are familiar: Matthew 25: 34-46, the "even as you do it unto the least of these" guideline laid down by Jesus. (Note: I am a confirmed atheist, but I find these to be the best formula for social organization that I've ever encountered."
I too was at first surprised and even a little dismayed at this post’s pivot from the Nazi-like Trump/GOP destructive assaults on the environment, on basic human decency, and on democracy. But then I realized that to virtually every reader of this post, those crimes are thoroughly understood and relatively fresh. Many essays by those who possess enlightened and decent values are today rehashing the domestic horrors caused by MAGA, as highlighted by Trump in last evening’s diatribe. By this pivot, HRC wisely reminds us that we live in the world, and that Trump’s treasonous acts have detrimentally poisoned the world, not just soiled our own government.
As a journalist, you might appreciate (In case you haven't already), many of the independent journalists, former and current public servants of lawyers, and activists of all sorts who did an alternative state of the union last night called, State of the Swamp. After a big storm, I'm out of electricity and rationing, but you can learn about the event here: https://www.defiance.org/sotu. Fiery attitudes predominated among people who spoke (most for as few as 3 minutes). What I saw of it impressed me as being well curated. Applying metaphor that we're in a relay, you might enjoy seeing those who are carrying batons now.
The US betrayal of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people will give Americans something to be ashamed of for the next generation. Makes me want to howl at the moon. And cry.
And it's all about Trump's greed and vanity, and whatever secret deals he, Witkoff (and Paul Manafort earlier) did with Putin to carve up Ukraine like a turkey, extract its mineral wealth and abandon it to the whims of a murderer.
I hope when he dies, we can put him in a deep pit with an outhouse on top of it. Charge people to use it, with money going to all the people and nations that man has damaged or harmed.
Point taken, Emily, we really must stop polluting the oceans and waters, the Earth itself. The sooner that Donold is gone from this planet will be a good start. His remains will probably have to be put in a hazardous waste disposal facility ☣️ or some toxic superfund site to somehow neutralize the poison and radioactivity that is Donold’s body and ‘brain’.
Horhai, to Emily's point, that much bile could pollute the ocean for quite a while.
I think incinerating the carcass in the boiler room at some anonymous NYC apartment building would be the most fitting disposal. Granted, there would be a few minutes' air pollution, but we could mitigate that by having the new president take one less helicopter flight to Camp David.
Horhai, when I was a young boy, my grandfather was the building superintendent of one of the old high-rise apartment buildings in Manhattan. Each of the apartments was heated by steam-heated radiators in every room.
One time, my "pop pop" took me into the boiler room where there was an enormous cylindrical tank made of thick sheets of steel riveted together. The tank was cradled on a massive brick furnace that had been converted from coal to natural gas. Along the side of the furnace were about 10 cast-iron doors that had earlier been used to shovel coal inside. Pop pop opened a couple doors so I could see the inferno inside the furnace. In my youthful naïveté, I thought, "So this is what Hell looks like."
One could have thrown a big, fat, orange carcass in there and it would have been vaporized in a matter of minutes.
Encourage Congress to switch back to our traditional allies. Our support should not be towards Russia.
Be LOUD. These are unprecedented times and we deserve WAY better 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
In the early days of the war, a story surfaced that encapsulates Ukraine's struggle and the astonishment Putin and his idiots must have felt when Kyiv did not fall as planned, when its President -- whom Putin dismissed as a simple 'comedian' -- said "I am here, the head of the Presidential Administration is here, the Prime Minister is here, we are all here."
When tanks first rolled toward Kyiv and huge sections of the country were first occupied by forces some of which didn't even know they had even crossed the border (they were told it was a 'war game' and thought they were still in Belarus), tens of thousands of people simply emptied the towns and villages in their way, abandoning their animals -- cows, pigs, horses, goats, chickens, cats and dogs. Many elderly women stayed behind rather than flee, taking it upon themselves to do what they could for people's pets who had been literally abandoned in an instant.
One of them driving around in her car came across an emaciated-looking husky in the woods. She wasted no time -- got out of the car and just grabbed the frightened animal and put him in her back seat. Somehow she found her way to a vet's office, who took the beast in while the woman waited. He came back and told her there was nothing wrong at all with the creature -- but in her haste, she'd managed to pick up a wolf instead of a husky!
Memes spread like wildfire all over Ukraine -- and many got turned into PsyOps video clips put out in Russian by Ukrainian defense forces to demoralize and terrify the enemy. "Don't fuck with us" was the obvious message: "our old women wrangle wolves in the forest with their bare hands -- just think what they'll do to you once they get their hands on you, never mind us." 🇺🇦
Oh yes, I remember that one too, especially the stupefied look on the Russian soldier's face who couldn't understand why he wasn't being greeted as a "liberator."
Putin is a monster who kills his own people and will stop at nothing for power. Trump is a monster who kills his own people and will stop at nothing for power but who also rapes women and children. Slava Ukraini! Thank you for defending democracy for us all!
Not only has Trump switched sides, he no longer funds weapon shipments to Ukraine. Instead, he sells weapon systems to NATO countries for possible use in Ukraine at their expense, to the profit of the American arms industry. America is a NATO member only for its material advantages, not for the defense of democracy and our erstwhile allies. Oh the disgrace and shame of it!
It is time for Europe to close American bases and to follow De Gaulle’s advice to build a military of its own manufacture. The United States is no longer an ally but an arm supplier.
I think in many ways, it’s good that Europe, Canada, and our other former allies are working to make themselves less dependent on the US. Sadly, we are not a reliable ally because a criminal pedophile sits in the Oval Office. There are so many ways to make the world a better place, but this lawless regime chooses to go in the opposite direction, making war on people in this country and trying to dominate everyone else. I don’t know how it will come to pass, but eventually Putin and his orange puppet will be gone.
Heather, you will provide perceptive insights into Trump’s SOTU. I wrote three pages of notes that I thought highlighted that Trump was profoundly off base regarding
1) the actual state of America domestically; and
2) how his America First has resulted in our country, which had been considered indispensable in much of the world, now is being viewed as insufferable.
Permit me to focus on a single point on the 4th anniversary of Putin’s ‘Greater Russia’ invasion of Ukraine. As a former Foreign Service Officer, I greatly respect Zelensky for standing firm and President Biden for spearheading a broad coalition to support the sovereignty and security of the Ukrainian people.
Trump, in his presidential campaign, boasted that he could resolve the Ukrainian situation ‘in a single day.’ In his first meeting with President Zelensky he accused him of starting the war. Huh?
Trump has never stood firmly against his buddy Putin in opposing blatant aggression and steadfastly defending Ukrainian sovereignty.
Having two realtors going back and forth seeking a ‘real estate deal’ sticks in my craw.
If an American president will not steadfastly support the sovereignty of Ukraine, this sends a distressing message to other threatened countries, including Taiwan, regarding core American principles.
On the 4 year anniversary of the Putin Russian invasion of Ukraine, Donold Trump barely even mentioned it at all. Why would the Trump regime even pick this particular day for the SOTU anyway? Probably because it's always about Donold and also his relationship to Putin as well as a way to bury the importance of this date to Ukraine.
Trump's SOTU speech was the longest in history at 1 hour and 47 minutes, the brief references to Ukraine occurred nearly 90 minutes into the address.
Trump mentioned "killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine" and stated that 25,000 soldiers are dying every month, claiming his administration is "working hard" to end the conflict. He didn't mention Zelensky in his speech at all or say anything about aid to Ukraine.
Trump only tolerates and ephemerally praises those he finds immediately useful to is own self centered agenda. Even those who set upon his head a kingly crown are now catching puerile flack for objecting to his only too obvious contempt for the Constitution.
“The U.S. economy was in solid shape before President Trump returned to the White House for his second term. In fact, in October 2024, The Economisthad labeled the U.S. economy "the envy of the world," because it had bounced back from the pandemic recession in stronger shape than most of its peers.”
I appreciate Heather's fitting commemoration of today's anniversary of the assault on Ukraine.
But today is also State of the Union address -- and predictably criminal Donald kept silence as to his own victims.
Silence.
Donald’s greatest message is silence – no nod to any of the underage girl and young woman victims of his and his fellow rapists.
This silence exponentially ups the human pain of having been used sexually by the world’s elites, and then dismissed, as if nobody felt anything. Not Donald, nor anyone in his administration has ever cited any of this human plight in any way – except for continuing to cover up for the predators.
Books, films, and songs contain, radiate, unfold the human, including many dimensions of rape by our elites. But how have we normalized it so ghouls and monsters in power can enforce cold silence over what they did?
One perspective on this comes from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s recent held talks on higher education, where main speaker was Michael Sandel, 2020 author of “The Tyranny of Merit.” And joining him David J. Deming, dean of Harvard College, Randall L. Kennedy, a professor in the Harvard Law School, and moderator Tomiko Brown-Nagin.
They spoke for an hour and thirty minutes and during all this time – on higher education, meritocracy, and democracy – not one of the speakers ever referred to any book, film, song, or any other art.
Those higher ed elites of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute command superb facts, stats, survey, in inverse proportion to how much Donald lies about his. But there’s no difference between our best elites on one hand, and Donald’s on the other as to how they have all normalized our dehumanization.
Ukraine is fighting to prevent the rape of their country by Russia. Meanwhile, silence and the error of belief that Trump represents good are raping us and destroying the United States.
Worse, Putin intends his murderous and vastly destructive campaign there in the most vile form of degrading people as rape itself turns on.
He hates democracy, hates all our notions that people can flower better for respect shown to individual diversities. He wants no human community, but some scripted machine-like imposition beneath which all must pretzel themselves.
Fortunately, our democratic allies (or belatedly so) across Europe and elsewhere have well risen to the menace, rather as did the people of Minnesota to Donald's thug, murder, and terror armies.
But -- and I say this with all respect -- there is indeed such a thing as the rape of our Mother Earth, and the plan Trump revealed in his State of the Unified Reich speech tonight to require the high-tech Trumpstein Plutocracy to build their own AI-powering electrical generation plants plays directly into his full-scale restoration of coal mining. His SOUR declaration means not just the resumption of the destruction of our planetary motherland by strip mining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_mining . It includes the toxic re-pollution of the atmosphere by the cancer-causing fumes generated by burning coal and the ever-growing risk from heaps of toxic ash that caused the deadly flood of 2008, the worst-ever USian industrial spill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spill . And because coal-fired generation is the cheapest way to produce electricity -- https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/power-and-energy/coal-burning-power-plants-overview -- there is no question the profit-crazed sociopaths of the Silicon-Valley Trumpstein class will ignore coal's thoroughly documented ecogenocidal devastation and choose it over all other fuels. Such is capitalism in action.
Or in any case capitalism unmoderated by rules to protect the common good. Observance of sch rules are even more fundamental than the style of economic system.
Thanks for your response to "rape". It is an unwanted attack to "whomever or whatever". It is against the will or against the health or care or concern for the living object ie plant, animal or person including our land or waters. It is a selfish act with only the desire for personal immediate gain or conquest.
It's also an exercise of rage (horribly misdirected). An exercise of misogynism. And also one of self-destruction -- however under the guise, allure, false promises of control.
Amazingly, Mr. Balla, you can't even respond to something Heather actually wrote, but insist on whatever agenda you have.
I can't imagine anything disrespecting her scholarship, commitment and focus more than simply ignoring it in favor of your sidebars that invariably include some dropped name to show us all how truly educated you are....
Heather's topic today only seems separate to one like you who imagines that all life fit the neatly arranged silos which dictators like Putin, rapists like Donald, and all the don't-touch, don't-question elites of the Epstein class have normalized.
If you accessed humanities (which you never do, cannot do -- as testing conceits have made this crippling normal for you) you could see how some things actually connect.
In reality many, many things -- all things connect. In little children the juices of cooked potatoes, cooked vegetables, and meat cannot connect. In the MAGA world, and all the cowardice accompanying it, all square off in the highly volatile but highly profitable little compartments by which social media billionaires package all.
You fall for these silos, these compartments, these algorithm-set divisions. All America has similarly fallen. Similarly accepted testing's status quo and all its related corporate conceits. So sad, when we could all benefit from more open, more interconnected literacy.
Thank you, Phil. Actually we should also thank ICTT -- a pseudo-progressive coward who hides behind a pseudonym to spew venom at genuine would-be Liberators -- for exemplifying the fact not all our enemies wear red Trumpstein caps. Some are far more sophisticated than Randy the Regurgitator. And we should remember that fact whenever ICTT and comparable ilk show their true colors. The basic ruling- class methodology remains unchanged; as Lev Bronstein noted in 1905, "in every gathering of three revolutionaries, there is at least one agent of the Okhrana."
He, or she, Loren, apparently came of age in the 1970s.
This was when the far-right foundations ensuant to the Powell memo were spending small fortunes for right-wing intellectuals to place pieces everywhere in mainstream media castigating lefties still citing humanities.
It worked. Those orchestrated deprecations -- in combination with ALEC's all-50-state successful defund-academe lobbying -- brought a new covetousness for specialization silos only across all higher ed. Citing any humanities anymore became a mark of being only an amateur, dilettantism, not being a serious, neutered specialist.
How America got dominated by a bully and rapist protecting other elite rapists is an etiology to which more than anything Heather dedicates all her letters here.
This sickness befallen America also dovetails with all Heather wrote in her books on how the former enslaving classes never really went away.
Phil- I often find comments by both you and ICTT to be interesting and insightful, but when the two of you are squabbling with each other, it’s just tedious.
At least, Riversong, he (or she) reacts to my bringing up role of humanities.
Otherwise most just go along with the normalization of never citing any. And this new set of habits is new in our history -- a change to schools and to public "discourse" which the far-right foundations pursuant to the Powell memo brought about in the 1970s.
You are not going to like this commentary, but I strongly suggest that you read it with an open mind because it contains the formula for defeating Trump and MAGA...
Actually, Mr. Corthell, I think your chosen commentary is rather apt; indeed it verbalizes a hitherto-unspoken concern of my own that dates from the long-ago time I began to realize we too-often cover politics as if it were just another sport, this an awareness no doubt fostered by the fact my earliest years in newspaper journalism were as a sportswriter and sports editor.
That is the reason why Putin has spent hundreds of millions to get Trump elected and reelected.
Changing subjects….
I am a life long Democrat. I believe in equality for all. I believe in separation of church and state. And I am vehemently anti-fascist.
I detest, and am disgusted by, liars, frauds, cons, grifters, and racists. The forgoing adjectives perfectly describe our liar, fraud, con, racist president, Donald best-friend-of-pedophile-Epstein Trump.
Trump is America’s Disgrace.
All that said, I am very disappointed, frankly disgusted, with Democrat Senators and Representatives who did not walk out of the Chamber during Trump’s lie-laden SOTU rant. The passivity they displayed was PATHETIC. I cannot, will not, donate money to Democrats who are spineless, for they do not have the spines necessary to save our nation from fascists like Trump.
Perhaps Democrats who believe in what I believe in should form a new party, a party filled with defiant patriots (Democrats, Republicans and Independents) willing to sacrifice everything for the good of our nation.
The strategy of remaining calm announced by Democrats worked against them. They were sitting ducks for Trump’s tactics. Better if they had not been present.
<please note an intended and humorous sarcasm font>*
Officer House from the grammar police here. Please note that the word "Democrat" is a noun, and that the word "Democratic" is an adjective. Also note that the word "Republican" is both a noun AND an adjective. Use of "Democrat" as an adjective slipped into common usage when Rush Limbaugh started using it as a pejorative. Do not give that arrogant windbag the power to change English usage.
<end humor and sarcasm>
We definitely need to do something different within the Democratic Party. The "good ol' days" of bipartisanship are long gone, and we must abandon that sunken ship. I heartily endorse your last paragraph as a road map. In my ideal world, we'd have five parties: Radical, Left, Center, Right, and Reactionary.
And the Ukrainians don't even ask us to say thank you, but I will. Thank you, Ukraine! Thank you!
I am a Ukrainian American. You can say thank you to Ukraine by donating to the official fundraising platform of the Ukrainian government UNITED24. All money that you donate goes to supporting Ukraine.
https://u24.gov.ua/
.
This is especially important now, as Russia intensifies its attacks to weaponize winter by hitting civilian infrastructure on a daily basis. The Ukrainian people are living through the coldest winter in decades, with only a few hours of electric power a day. Urban heating infrastructure has been destroyed, as have water pumping stations and treatment plants. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. By cutting funding to pre-war levels Trump is complicit.
The idea for UNITED24 is simple: To unite the world around supporting Ukraine; to protect, save, and rebuild.
You can direct your donation to 5 options: Defense, Humanitarian Demining, Medical Aid, Rebuilding Ukraine, or Education and Science.
There's other sites that focus directly on re-building defense systems Russia keeps trying to blow up (most Americans don't realize just how much drone warfare has evolved over this time, and how much of a home-grown industry this has turned into in Ukraine).
You can contribute to a "Sniffing Brigade" of equipment to ferret out Russian Iskander drones and missile attacks before they do damage -- or to support the brave women (for the most part) driving convoys of food, medical supplies and drone equipment to the front lines:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/43kRnjnMJuI
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/43kRnjnMJuI
On the UNITED24 website, you can support specific drone brigades or choose from various humanitarian efforts. By visiting the official government site, you can see that all the money is going to the specified purpose and to the most immediate needs, like generators and restoring water treatment plants, which will have the biggest impact on the most people. Distribution to alleviate suffering from the weaponization of winter attacks against the civilian population is a daily, massive effort to get repair crews and equipment to where they are needed most critically, which is coordinated through the government.
If you are going to donate to an “independent” organization, check it out first, because there are many scammers and Russian hackers. The Russian hackers are desperate to get US dollars. Here are two sites where you can get efficiency ratings and red flags.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/discover-charities/where-to-give/ukranian-crisis/
https://blog.charitywatch.org/top-rated-charities-providing-aid-in-ukraine/
Also, I think Timothy Snyder is a trusted source for Ukraine. World Central Kitchen has a Ukraine "Chapter" as well.
They are an excellent organization that does much of the cooking in communal kitchens and warming centers in big cities. It is really hard for people who live in apartment towers. There are only a few hours of electricity a day, so the elevators are not working. Most apartment towers have no heat because they use hot water or steam from centralized plants that have been destroyed. There is no potable water. Tent cities are being put up outside the buildings. Many are being internally displaced to the suburbs, where there are houses with individual heating in abandoned villages. But many have to stay where they are because of work. Children are going to school in basements and underground metro stations. The elderly in the towers are at heightened risk of being abandoned on the upper floors.
The increase in the drone and missile bombardments started in October, so this has been going on relentlessly for months. What is truly disgusting is that US-manufactured dual-use components are being used in the Russian drones and missiles that are causing the devastation. Many are being pipelined through China.
Georgia Fisanick,
...and each one who has shared addresses by which aid may be sent to Ukraine....THANK YOU!!! I am in!
There are no greater people whom we can support at this moment than Ukraine and her people.
It is a ridiculous war and a horrible waste of human life and property! Children have been taken!!!!
Russia can hardly take care of itself as a country and its own population have needs.
Putin is occupied with mining the riches he can steal from Africa as well as anywhere he can find a foothold.
Anyone who stands in his way may die in a plane accident, or freeze in a prison.
....and this is someone Trump admires!?
How does Ukraine ever rebuild so extensively? (Rhetorical question). If Trump doesn’t steal every US dollar from our treasury before he’s gone (however that happens), I hope we can afford, and are willing, to do a “Marshall plan” to get them back on their feet.
I had not heard of the US manufactured dual use components for the Russian drones. Then again, with my time being given to my disabled wife who has 2 neurological disabilities, it's difficult for me to keep up. On this point of dual use components, this again, is another nail for impeachment, as Trump's OK to use these components are being used in war crimes against defenseless Ukrainian civilians. Both, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), transference of weapons or technological parts used for the wanton injuries or deaths of civilians constitutes a war crime. It is most likely that Trump is fully aware of the illegal use of these weapons, and therefore, is complicit in the murders taking place in Ukraine. Additionally, inviting Putin, who is himself a wanted criminal by the ICCC, and entertaining a known wanted criminal, may very well be additional grounds for impeachment. That republicans are so much in the dark makes them, frankly, all complicit on a wide range of crimes from Ukraine to the Epstein Files. Impeachment cannot come soon enough!
Interesting note: Stephen Colbert, whose show has been cancelled by Trump's recently acquired CBS network, is selling off show memorabilia through Ebay to benefit World Central Kitchen.
Rather than whining, as Donald would, about being "treated unfairly," Colbert is using his turn of fortune to benefit others.
https://www.ebay.com/str/thelateshowwithstephencolbert
As a result of our recent blizzard, we on Cape Cod have been snowed in, many people have been without power for several days, and we expect not to have power restored for several more days. World Central Kitchen has started supplying meals to Cape Codders, many of whom are elderly. I've supported them for years, but I never expected to see them reaching out to my neighbors here. What a wonderful, life-saving organization!
WCC is on my monthly donation list, recently to Gaza.
Of course people need to use Charity Navigator and other research to find out if a site is valid, accredited and doing what it promises to do. The site I listed is not a Russian ghost site -- I do my homework, I don't contribute to Russian hackers, and resent your unspoken implications that I'm too stupid or uninformed to figure out the difference. United24 is a wonderful resource -- so are some others.
You can see this particular organization's NGO status formally filed in both Ukraine and Estonia, a list of its media mentions, a list of formal reports filed for previous fiscal periods, he backgrounds of its chief officers below, and its major initiatives -- you can, too, Georgia.
https://www.help99.co/about-us
Take a deep breath and count to ten. I didn’t read Georgia’s comment as directed at you personally but as a general warning to all. And she’s right to remind all to check where their contributions are going, especially when the proclivities of Russia to steal money and personal data are so well documented. The fog of war can make that discernment even more challenging.
I dreamt last night that I had somehow become President of the U.S. and my first official act overseas was to purchase hospital grade generators from the EU and send them to Ukraine along with several teams of engineers to help set them up and work to restore the damaged power grid.
I’d vote for you! And this comment is not a dream 🌞
Yes to all of that. Their website has it all.
Thank you for this information, is there an address I can send a donation to? I could not find one, I do not have a credit card, thank you.
This is the best I could find to send an e-mail to ask.
help@u24.gov.ua
I emailed and asked and will post here if I find out anything.
Please click on link for more info. about Razom and to make a donation:
https://www.razomforukraine.org/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 🌻 🕊
From Kagi.com:
UNITED24 is the official state initiative focused on fundraising for defense, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction, with a strong emphasis on transparency and reporting
Razom is a non-profit organization with a broader mission to support Ukraine's development, which has significantly ramped up humanitarian aid efforts since the invasion, alongside its pre-existing projects
...
Both organizations are considered among the best for supporting Ukraine
The "best" choice between them may depend on whether you prefer to donate through an official government platform or a dedicated non-profit organization with a long-standing presence and diverse initiatives.
I will address you as 1/4 Ukrainian, ha. The recent history is nuanced on account of the breakup of the Soviets. Was the west supposed to move east with NATO? Who knows. Did America. Greatly influence the Maiden revolution? Hum. Aggressive. Did we threaten Russia with our influence? Probably. I often thought we should have responded with the no nato demands that Putin made. But that is all water over the damn. Now the west must win this war and kick out the Russians. We have a traitor in our government so the Europeans must send arms s d soldiers to save an Ukraine. Let us not forget that Biden refused to allow Ukraine to fire missiles deep into Russia fearing it would increase the war but that was absolutely stupid of Biden and one of his many stupid things he did while in office. I personally despise him and always have. When Russia invaded, our secretary of defense said. “Good now the Russians will drain their military down.” In Essence, he felt the Ukrainians were expendable to wear down the Russians. Shameful.
3/4 Ukrainian 1/4 Belgian heritage
On June 26, 1963 President Kennedy said, "Ich bin ein Berliner." This was in the midst of the Cold War where Russia was basically, isolated from the west.
Most of us would be surprised that we have Ukrainian and Russian ancestors. I know I was when I was doing my genealogy. Most of us even share common great-grandparents if we go back enough generations.
In 1921, there was a fire in Washington DC which destroyed most of the 1890 census which was being housed in the basement of a warehouse. The basement was flooded and instead of trying to save the records they left them to mildew and deteriorate.
When the 1890 census was destroyed it became impossible for millions of Americans to trace some of their ancestors prior to 1900 when the next census occurred.
But whether or not I have Ukrainian ancestry - "I am a Ukrainian."
Thank you for that beautiful statement of solidarity. Much appreciated. Most of my family came in the early 1900’s, some just before the Great Famine in 1932. Others after the fall of the USSR in the early 1990’s. Distant cousins are still there.
My family came to the US between 1865 and 1905 from Denmark, Norway and Sweden mostly. As I've traced my ancestry back to the 800's I usually hit a brick wall around 1600 IF there is no royalty in the chain or records have been lost in a fire, etc. I'm not sure how much of my family tree of 17000+ members are real and which are myth, but according to Ancestry.com my tree is over 99% accurate.
I would bet that you and most of the people commenting here are related to Gunhilde Sigrid or Swietoslava "The Haughty" Queen of Sweden Denmark and Norway "Meiczyslavdatter" Poland as most Northern Europeans are. Of the lines that I have been able to trace back to the 900's she comes up multiple times with multiple husbands for both my wife and myself.
She was born around 963 in Poznan, Lubelskie, Poland and died in Uppsala, Stockholm Sweden around 1014. She was a pagan as am I. One of her husbands tried to convert her to Christianity as the tale goes and she had him put to death for trying. If only women could do that today. :)
My grandfather came from Lutzk Poland, which then became Soviet Union, that's now Ukraine, and in this country, he was a builder. I have several of his wood saws and planes (all skillfully sharpened), which I have used in the renovations of the house that is my home. I was able to find his naturalization papers in NYC at the Mormon Center, where a volunteer searched in ways I wouldn't have known how to do.
My grandfather emigrated from Denmark in 1905 and was a cabinet maker. I too inherited his tools, including the wooden planes but I didn't use them like you did. I'm impressed Joan.
Doesn’t it mean, “I am a bagel?”
No, a black&white cookie. But with or without the definite article the sentiment was clear. This is the sentiment that might have changed Biden’s cautious and slow approach. The point is that US policy was always about us, and not about the rule of law being broken or casualties inflicted. It still is, but now the us is T and his family and friends.
In her interview with Applebaum in Il Foglio, Paola Peduzzi noted that “[t]he Ukrainians have suffered the most from America’s distortion, because we measure the transatlantic divorce in money and they in black bags: since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Ukrainian civilian deaths have increased by 31 percent compared to 2024, and by 70 percent compared to 2023.”
Billion, this where you are right. The deaths are on Biden as well as Trump. It is Biden who delayed every weapon he finally did give Ukraine and to the end refused them the advanced arms they needed.
Mine against Biden: his dissing of Anita Hill & letting Long Dong Clarence on the court.
Phil, I take slightly more benign view—Biden was not alone in that fiasco. I watched those hearings and cringed. Howell Heflin, Orrin Hatch—all of them looked like they had rods up their backside while Hill was a model of grace and civility. I believe Prez HW recognized a political price of not confirming Thomas—and so did the committee. I bet the same thing would happen today, even with all we nave experienced with the #MeToo movement.
Instead of taking a stand against harassment, all in their usual way were cowards afraid of being called racists. Cowards, kind of like they are today but for different reasons.
And now we are stuck with the dour, grifting, chip-on-his-shoulder (boulder, really), stone-faced Thomas, who has contributed nothing positive to jurisprudence. Ps Did you know Ginny Thomas actually CALLED Anita Hill to find out why she “lied” about Thomas?
Misogyny is institutionalized. It is embedded in the DNA of too many. Kavanaugh? Same, same? Or worse?
I find the retroactive attacks on Biden a pathetic waste of time. True, he made big mistakes. The crime bill was one. Running for re-election was the biggest one. But stack him up against all our modern presidents? Top of the heap - no contest.
If this society really saw women as equal to men, the entire Congress would be impeaching Bondi AND Trump over the mismanagement of the Trump...I mean Epstein...Files.
Bill, and they do not, despite all the BS, care about children either.
ML, I watched the hearings too and the entire committee made up of white men were a disgrace although like you, I suspected that politics were the real reason behind their support of Thomas. I think they also enjoyed the discomfort of Anita Hill as she testified.
All those white guys wanted to do is save their white political asses. It was a brilliant line give. To Thomas. He didn’t think it himself. He isn’t that smart.
That is exactly right he did not think up the line about a high-tech lynching himself, but I can’t remember right now who did.
And what did we learn from the Thomas debacle? Nothing. We got Brett Kavanaugh.
Ginny Thomas attended Westside High School in Omaha and graduated 1975. Unsurprisingly her picture is in my 1973 yearbook as being part of the young Republicans.
An odd coincidence is that her neighbor across the street in Omaha was Kurt Anderson, the founder of Spy Magazine and author of many books including the best seller Fantasyland.
So did you know her? Was she an uptight ideologue then too? Interesting juxtaposition of Kurt Anderson across the street from Ginny Thomas.
My favorite from yours here, Bill: "Did we threaten Russian with our influence?"
Hard to answer this, or imagine its larger ramifications, since the U.S. has grown its own intolerant, anti-diversity, fascist, white-only-tribalism.
Donald in all his criminal majesty loves the ways authoritarians can dictate, label, imprison, torture, eff the law, and rape the women (and barely pubescent girls).
In the hands of him and his allied thugs "our influence" simply bids distant memories of times when American schools centered humanities and the human.
Phil you are wrong. What DEI does it chops us up into social, racial gender and any other segments we can think of — then turns us against each other. I am avowed against DEI. I don’t care of Trump is as well. I was against it before Trump came into office. I’m all in favor of equality not the bullshit DEI. I will go to my grave with this resistance. I have fought for equality all my life. I have fought for women’s rights not boygirls in girls showers. We have laws that prevent discrimination. No, it’s not perfect. But if we keep creeping back to some far-fetched concept we will continue being divided and conquered. And that’s my Truth, Ruth.
It’s not diversity or equality or inclusion that turns us against each other, but from the start any programs (good or bad) that had such goals were lumped together and used by the right to suggest that white people were being put down. If whiteness is not being recognized as superior, then there is threat being felt by some and then used to scare people who didn’t feel threatened by Black leaders or Black history being told (at last).
Likewise, the scary idea of powerful men beating out or assaulting “women and girls” is used now to pass laws that prevent little kids with trans identities from participating in elementary school sports or adults with trans identities from playing in community tennis leagues. Why? To make sure that the idea of female vulnerability and male superiority is affirmed everywhere.
Myra, this using of laws and institutions to somehow say white people have been discriminated against makes me very angry. Right now the death star dept of ed is investigating the Portland (OR) school district because they have a program and a building dedicated to helping black students in particular although the district says it is open to anyone. White whining.
I recognize the wrongs of the past and even the present. I get it. But we are being hounded to death over it today. In recent years, I’ve been singled out and told to my face that I am privileged. Fuck all. I’m pissed. I should be in the MAGA camp. White male kids coming out of schools are singled out on job applications. Ever wonder why they suddenly voted MAGA? I had to apply for a false democratic central party application and it kept asking me if I was, 1. Wo on owned, 2. Minority owned, 3, gay or fricken lesbian, pro union. And the funny thing is they only wanted my data so they could give it out forever to candidates pitching me to donate. They just wanted my data. So I’m rightfully angry. Do not forget we have pushed normally democratic-thinking individuals into the hellhole that is MAGA. If we don’t live on and seek more accommodation with everyone, we will stay mired in the muck we have put ourselves in and frankly, I think most of us are too hardwired to break loose of what we have been instilled with. And we are manipulated by the think specialists. Don’t make this a do or die. We need to win and win big.
The “chopping’ has happened for centuries under white supremacy. DEI just recognizes it.
There are laws today that prevent it. Wake up and smell the roses.
Maybe, Bill, DEI "chops us up into . . . segments."
I think that happens otherwise, when the setting of all into silos comes from:
1) schools lacking humanities' connectivities;
2) schools besieged by testing; and
3) social media algorithms profiting billionaires by highlighting hatreds and sensationalism.
Am oblivious about educational systems. I simply have no info. But people are confused they will vote for anyone and as I have said, when voting for president, often many revenge vote which is the worse motivation. As much as I disliked Biden, I voted for them because it simply was not anything to argue about. One is a demon and the other ceased understanding how to sell ideas.
For one brief moment, Russia was heading toward western style democracy. I wish Chairman Gorbachev had become the first president of Russia. But Yeltsin took over who was corrupt and a drunk and who groomed a young Putin and slowly, Russia lost.
Thx for the donation address!
To give you an idea of the situation in Ukraine for the civilian population, the pre-war population was 41 million. 6.9 million people are refugees outside of the country, according to the UN and 3.7 million are displaced internally, or about 1/4 of the population.
Humanitarian organizations launched the 2026 Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) to provide life-saving support, including food, health care, shelter, protection, cash assistance and other assistance to 4.1 million of the most vulnerable people in 2026. Overall, an estimated 10.8 million people across Ukraine will require humanitarian assistance this year, including internally displaced and war-affected non-displaced people. So of the 34 million people still in the country, 1 in 3 will need humanitarian assistance. It is an enormous humanitarian crisis, but sadly 3rd in terms of people in need of humanitarian assistance after Sudan, with 30.4 million, and 16.5 million in Syria. For comparison, 8 million people are in need in Nigeria, and Gaza's entire population is 2 million.
https://ukraine.un.org/en/310559-after-four-years-relentless-attacks-ukrainian-people-remain-determined-build-better-future
https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-emergency-unhcr-delivery-updates-10-february-2026
Thank you for this information. I am glad to help.
I thank Ukraine, and humbly apologize on behalf of the United States. We will forever carry the shame this fascist president has inflicted upon us and Ukraine.
We will be paying an economic price for decades as we are excluded from trade compacts, mutual defense alliances, and economic development partnerships. I doubt any of those big investment deals Trump extorted with his tariffs will survive.
Thanked Ukraine - Yes!
Donated to United24 - Yes!
I tried a few times to donate to u24 with ApplePay and then VISA cc, and encountered “difficulties, try later”
I’ll keep trying.
Thanks for the link..
If you have not done it before, your credit card company will likely send you a message along the lines of 'did you authorize this'? In the early days, even if you said yes, some card companies wouldn't process the charge. Nowadays, they just check -- it's an international transaction. Keep at it, it does work -- and it's a legitimate site.
I downloaded the u24 app and succeeded in making my donation through that with ApplePay.
Go to Timothy Snyder’s Substack to donate to U24
I downloaded the u24 app and donated successfully.
Thanks
Success! I downloaded the u24 app, and through that was able to make my donation through ApplePay.
Maybe a lot of people are donating because of the anniversary.
We need to have a national campaign for Ukraine - possibly to coincide with the next NO KINGS day, possibly with help from Colbert and Kimmel and others who have been brave. A day to donate to UNITED24. Our country LOVES Ukraine and it is saving us along with Europe. Trump needs to see this - strongly. And Melania should get props for getting Putin to return a few of the Ukrainian children he has kidnapped and refuses to return...
Thank you for this info to help.
Done. I chose Defense. In the past I've donated to Medical and Rebuilding. Since our government reneged on their promises to Ukraine, I am helping to fill the funding gap. If Russia wins, Europe is next.
Georgia, I am a strong supporter of United24, unfortunately it is not recognized as a US 501(c)3 entity. I have supported Ukraine TrustChain (ukrainetrustchain.org) since 2023 when they became rated as a 501(c)3 organization. For those of us required to take Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) from our traditional IRAs and 401(k)s the IRS has a provision designated as Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD). This allows a taxpayer to donate to a qualified organization directly from their investment firm removing any tax consequences for the donation. In essence, the donation is a wash on your tax return (treated as a credit rather than a write off on Schedule A). The maximum for 2025 is $108,000. Dignitas Ukraine (dignitas.fund) also qualifies and allows the QCD to be directed to several different programs, much like United24.
Thank you for that useful tax planning information.
Thank you!!
Thank you so much for this information!
Thank you for this, Georgia
I'd rather donate and let Ukraine decide where it is most needed.
Slava Ukraini! President Zelensky is an inspiration, far superior to the Putin puppet in the oval office. I wrote a poem in honor of his bravery and the courage of the Ukrainian people: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/slava-ukraini-zelensky
Yes, Thanks to the brave people of the Ukraine. Trump and Vance ambushed Zelensky in the Oval Office, but they set him up to be asked by Brian Glenn, a White House correspondent for the conservative network Real America’s Voice, why he does not wear a suit and tie. That is about as Anti-Anerican as can be. Clothes are a means of national expression. Freedom of expression, especially political expression, is the single most important freedom when in the USA. Last November Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was here. Gee, why was he not told he needs to buy a suit and tie? For more on how the Roberts 6 are attacking our rights and what we must do about it, please read and share UntedWeAmend.org
Yes the brave citizens of Ukraine and President Zelensky truly deserve our thanks and support.
When Russia invaded Ukraine 4 years ago, most U.S. officials and international experts expected them to be overrun within a matter of days.
They thought Kyiv would fall within 3 days and now Ukraine has fought on and defended itself for 4 years!
While it's fighting for its sovereignty, independence, and territory, Ukraine is also leading the fight for freedom, liberty, democracy and an inspiration to the world and especially the U.S. right now.
Thank you Ukraine...
Slava Ukraini!
Donald John Trump is, without a doubt, a Putin asset. That fact is one of the principal reasons that I voted for Harris. Putin most likely has photos of Trump with underage Russian girls in Moscow hotel rooms in the 1990's. Also, the mysterious "accidental" deaths of some of Putin's close associates in the fall of 2022 - who knows why? I can guarantee you that American Intelligence knows because that information was contained in the Top Secret documents that Trump turned over to Putin. There are photos of Trump taking bankers boxes of documents with him on a trip to Europe in 2022. To 1-6-2021, throw in the classified documents case that Judge Aileen Cannon threw out. John Dean, "There is a cancer growing on the presidency." There is a word for this: Traitor.
"Special Elections" continue to tally Blue victories at the state level as well.
Per Newsweek, two (2) state Democrats won Special Elections in Pennsylvania last night
2/24/26. That would be Pennsylvanians Ana Tiburcio & Jennifer Mazzocco:
* Tiburcio won by 67.3 to about 2/3rds of the vote.
* Mazzocco was ahead at 64% with 81.7 of the vote counted.
Keep your eye on Special Elections & the Midterm Prize.
********************************************************
Joined...
https://u24.gov.ua/
Yes! This is all so heartbreaking...
Slava Ukraini! We need a President like Zelensky, Harris, or AOC. Trump is Putin's puppet. A fascist traitor is destroying our democracy. Let's keep singing the no kings anthem together at protests every week until we the people prevail: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-kings-anthem
Indeed. Trump is so infatuated with Putin, it’s sickening (“we’ve been through sooo much together…”). I bet he masturbates while thinking of a bare-breasted Putin riding a grizzly bear….
Dutch Mike. Thats quite a visual. However, I don’t think Trump can masturbate over that big belly of his and of course small hands small p___s 😝😂🤣😜
🤣🤣🤮🤣🤣
Eeeeewwwwww
Brown, LOL.
When I read Mike's comment, my mind immediately went to the same place. Orange bub rubbin' the nub.
Yikes, Linda :o
Heroyam Slava!
We listened to the recording in your link and found the chorus of the song to be a catchy tune, enthusiastic but unintelligible. If we're to have an anthem that we can all sing together, it's going to need to be a lot clearer and simpler. No crown. No throne. Slava Ukraini!
None Dare Call This Treason! But that is what this. Trump and his MAGGOT Supporters are Traitors
I fail to comprehend Dr. Richardson's purpose in directing our focus on the war in Ukraine when the apocalyptic malignancy of which it is but one deadly symptom is so glaringly evident in all of its infinitely terrifying ecogenocidal magnitude in the Leni-Riefenstahl-caliber performance of Führer Trump's State-of-the-Unified-Reich speech.
Accompanied at emotionally pivotal moments by the Zieg-Heil equivalent of the USA Chant, Trump's speech was more than anything else the brazen agitation of a national lynch mob in support of his resurrection of Hitler's Holocaust and its vast expansion to target all empathetic voters; all humanitarian political dissidents whether organized or not; all women who oppose misogynistic re-enslavement; all non-Aryan racial and ethnic minorities; all spiritual, theological and sexual minorities -- literally all of us who are not either white male supremacist ChristoNazi fanatics or the predatory capitalists who perpetuate the ChristoNazi theocracy: the gloating, gleefully supportive, infinitely wealthy, technologically omnipotent Trumpstein plutocracy.
My 86th birthday is slightly more than a month distant, and in near-lifelong service as a journalist I have covered -- or as an editor shaped the coverage -- of I-cannot-count how many USian political speeches. But until tonight I have never witnessed such effectively focused hatefulness outside of Reifenstahl's films and Josef-Goebbels-directed spectaculars. Indeed it is as if the Regime's scientists – perhaps completing some beyond-top-secret project begun by scientists amongst the legions of Nazi war criminals this always-criminal nation embraced as advisors and comrades-at-arms after World War II – used the genes of Goebbels (1897-1945) and Reifenstahl (1902-2003) to produce the modern-day clones to brew the ChristoNazis’ propaganda.
One point of which I am most assuredly not proud is that Trump’s State-of-Unified-Reich performance would seem to confirm my analysis that his madness is entirely feigned – a self-protective charade not just to provide a foundation for an insanity defense but to minimize his apparent danger to the forces of Liberation and in support of who knows what other evil schemes. Therefore to ignore the defiantly ecogenocidal threat implicit in this SOUR event maximizes the risk to our own survival. The only remaining question is the extent to which tonight’s spectacle will influence the irremediably hateful Moronic (white) Majority to resume its lynch-mob-minded support of Trump’s new, radically expanded version of Hitler’s Holocaust, and I await its answer by the relevant polls with naught but dread.
It's because you're a one-note Johnny, and can't give up repeating "Christonazi" for the 137th time every night, as though none of us have been following what's been happening for ourselves.
Not only did Heather devote an entire podcast to the true 'State of the Union' yesterday, but Miles Taylor, Move On, Pete Buttigieg, the Lincoln Project and others devoted their entire coverage to that North Korean shindig inside the Capitol, with hundreds of participants. There was no shortage of analysis about Trump yesterday.
I, for one, am extraordinarily grateful that Heather acknowledged this terrible anniversary of Russia's invasion, going into the deep background behind it I'm betting not many people -- even here -- know the details of.
HCRs sotu was brilliant! I urge everyone to watch it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_PnMMXlKXY
ha! Plus State of the Swamp at the press club that I just wrote about before seeing your comment. Energy is rising, and spring hasn't even arrived..
Oh Joan, it surely has not, especially down in Scituate!
You’re up from me in Falmouth.
I commend you “It’s Come to This”… you call ‘em as you see ‘em.
💛🩵
Professor Richardson gave her own State of the Union, a veritable tour de force!
https://youtu.be/8D-u3ejskCc?si=aCiEb5I1aiLOPxTF
Amazing summary of the year with suspense down to the very last word!
No spoilers.
Trump stopped just short of asking the audience to get your pitchforks and tar and feather Joe Biden and the Democrats. One of the pundits called it a “new level of divisiveness.” Quite a euphemism.
I didn’t watch and my blood pressure will thank me later. Just the thought of Trump destroys my sanity.
My response to him is, bring it on because we have pitchforks too!
Trump took to the podium, spoke for about one minute before I turned the TV off and went to bed (east coast -Florida.) We all knew what he was going to do, even some of the details. I knew that I would get an excellent recap tonight or tomorrow morning from HCR. Without Trump on my mind, I slept the sleep of the 1,000 Innocents.
Richard, I didn't bother to watch even a minute. I knew, as did everyone else, that Donald was just going to stand there and replay his "greatest hits." In the unlikely event that he uttered something new or interesting, it wouldn't change the world overnight. There are plenty of resources that will provide the lowlights and context today.
Trump was medicated very well with whatever they give him when he needs to seem strong and able to read the teleprompter. His base loved it, no doubt, especially when he attacked Somali culture as a poison in our midst. It was a sustained hate-a- long when it wasn’t in praise of himself.
I watched for the reaction of the audience of Supreme Court and Chiefs of Staff. The military were stone-faced as they are trained to be. The Justices, Robert’s and Coney Barret, who knows what they felt.
I thought tRump started out with energy but faded in the second hour. Drugs wearing off, I suppose.
be watching for HCR tomorrow - I would be surprised if she does not comment on SOTU over the years...
Agree, Pete. HCR tries to tell us over and over that she is a historian, not a journalist. Also, she mostly does not give knee-jerk reactions to current news but prefers to let the dust settle before weighing in on the narrative.
Thanks, Lynell. Frankly, I don't know how she does it all.
Loren, I totally appreciate your writing style in this post! Your weaving of words is wonderful! (Also agree with your take on Trump et al) I think it’s actually brilliant of Heather to not write about SOTU…I’ve thought for a good while that we all might be more effective by drastically minimizing the energy we give to Trump. It sadly reminds me of the Alanonic partner to an alcoholic who endlessly focuses on and talks about the atrocities of behavior from the alchoholic and neglects improving his or her own life. We are crazed and sickened by our “drunk” president and his drinking buddies. Our lives are becoming unmanageable. We do have to keep an eye on them as they do have the car keys, but we also make ourselves sick and them more empowered by our constant drumming. Trump IS the news cycle. OUR collective lives and resistance should be the news cycle. And we can’t lose sight of all the other huge ticket issues we are facing and that need our attention. The way I see this is that you gave me the report on SOTU last night(I’m sorry you had to endure watching it for me!! I could not watch)I figured it would be a gruesome event, someone would describe it and you confirmed. Today I get right to work in upcoming elections local and beyond and on planning for No Kings 3. I will shrink trumps speech into a tiny little piece of dirt and flush it down my toilet. He gets none of my precious energy on this lovely day.
Amy, I'm with you, I'm exhausted with the tRvmp focus every single day. It seems lik he's been in the news for the last 10 years. Whatever we have share about his latest outrageous behavior will do nothing to stop it. He seems to live rent-free in our minds. We need to focus on action to keep our voting rights and make sure we win the midterms. Ukraine is important and all we can do is donate at this time.
I am with you and Amy, Vivian. We know what the traitorous insurrectionist is going to say. One of our tasks presently is to find a way to wrest power from the MAGA forces while (if) we still can. There is no longer any benefit in understanding their why. Most are impervious to facts, history and reason. We now know that they want an authoritarian white Christian theocracy to replace out democratic republic system. They're still a minority in the voting pool. There is some evil in some of their hearts, but mostly I think that ignorance and stupidity account for their unquestioning loyalty to Trump.
Absolutely, Amy! Billions of words have been written attempting to analyze how we got Donald in the White House the first time, then the second time.
I can explain it without a billion words: Corporate media prostitutes gave him all the coverage he demanded in exchange for the advertising revenues guaranteed by audience share, making his surname a household word.
Most irritating to me is that even now that he's more hated than loved, ALL media, including corporate, social and independent are STILL giving him all the coverage he demands.
He became well known due to that TV show.
Yes. And that puts evangelical producer Mark Burnett on my list of people who most deserve to burn in Hell (if there were one).
Right !
Loren Bliss,
Do not waste your amazing brilliance (I did read and appreciate each word and your excellent sharing of historical facts!) on such a loser such as Trump.
What concerns me most is the "brainwashing" of the American public. When Trump was chosen as a candidate for President...I changed political parties!!!! I was shocked that one of my children and many of my Christian friends voted for him.
In my opinion, who would choose such a looser? Who would choose a man who has shown such cruelty to his former wives? As soon as Melania birthed their son, he was out and about. His morals have no boundaries! I see him as someone who reads very little unless it is a positive article about himself. YET! This creature is President of the United States of America!???
I left the Republican Party when Reagan was president, piling national debt onto the backs of younger generations while giving trillions in tax breaks to the already-wealthy. Then I discovered Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and the person responsible for our having Social Security here in the U.S. Her theory of government: "The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to facilitate the means by which all the people under its jurisdiction can access the best possible life." This theory builds upon another one with which most of us are familiar: Matthew 25: 34-46, the "even as you do it unto the least of these" guideline laid down by Jesus. (Note: I am a confirmed atheist, but I find these to be the best formula for social organization that I've ever encountered."
I too was at first surprised and even a little dismayed at this post’s pivot from the Nazi-like Trump/GOP destructive assaults on the environment, on basic human decency, and on democracy. But then I realized that to virtually every reader of this post, those crimes are thoroughly understood and relatively fresh. Many essays by those who possess enlightened and decent values are today rehashing the domestic horrors caused by MAGA, as highlighted by Trump in last evening’s diatribe. By this pivot, HRC wisely reminds us that we live in the world, and that Trump’s treasonous acts have detrimentally poisoned the world, not just soiled our own government.
Heather wrote on Ukraine because it’s the fourth anniversary.
I too question if his seeming insane tangents are real or performance. No one has convinced me he is cognitively in decline.
As a journalist, you might appreciate (In case you haven't already), many of the independent journalists, former and current public servants of lawyers, and activists of all sorts who did an alternative state of the union last night called, State of the Swamp. After a big storm, I'm out of electricity and rationing, but you can learn about the event here: https://www.defiance.org/sotu. Fiery attitudes predominated among people who spoke (most for as few as 3 minutes). What I saw of it impressed me as being well curated. Applying metaphor that we're in a relay, you might enjoy seeing those who are carrying batons now.
100%.
The US betrayal of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people will give Americans something to be ashamed of for the next generation. Makes me want to howl at the moon. And cry.
And it's all about Trump's greed and vanity, and whatever secret deals he, Witkoff (and Paul Manafort earlier) did with Putin to carve up Ukraine like a turkey, extract its mineral wealth and abandon it to the whims of a murderer.
https://sylvestercat.substack.com/p/live-from-munich-alaska
I hope when he dies, we can put him in a deep pit with an outhouse on top of it. Charge people to use it, with money going to all the people and nations that man has damaged or harmed.
Donold deserves the same kind of undisclosed and undignified burials at sea that Osama bin Laden received.
horhai,
Must we further pollute our oceans???
Point taken, Emily, we really must stop polluting the oceans and waters, the Earth itself. The sooner that Donold is gone from this planet will be a good start. His remains will probably have to be put in a hazardous waste disposal facility ☣️ or some toxic superfund site to somehow neutralize the poison and radioactivity that is Donold’s body and ‘brain’.
Have musk take tRvmp's ashes to Mars, oh wait, he's not going there now, so the moon it shall be.
Horhai, to Emily's point, that much bile could pollute the ocean for quite a while.
I think incinerating the carcass in the boiler room at some anonymous NYC apartment building would be the most fitting disposal. Granted, there would be a few minutes' air pollution, but we could mitigate that by having the new president take one less helicopter flight to Camp David.
Do it at the YMCA!
🤭 I see what you did there! 🤣
Yes you’re right Dale. Something like purification by fire will be necessary to remove the toxicity of Donold and his radioactive remains.
Horhai, when I was a young boy, my grandfather was the building superintendent of one of the old high-rise apartment buildings in Manhattan. Each of the apartments was heated by steam-heated radiators in every room.
One time, my "pop pop" took me into the boiler room where there was an enormous cylindrical tank made of thick sheets of steel riveted together. The tank was cradled on a massive brick furnace that had been converted from coal to natural gas. Along the side of the furnace were about 10 cast-iron doors that had earlier been used to shovel coal inside. Pop pop opened a couple doors so I could see the inferno inside the furnace. In my youthful naïveté, I thought, "So this is what Hell looks like."
One could have thrown a big, fat, orange carcass in there and it would have been vaporized in a matter of minutes.
Now there’s an image in my mind that makes me laugh!
Encourage Congress to switch back to our traditional allies. Our support should not be towards Russia.
Be LOUD. These are unprecedented times and we deserve WAY better 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Great opening paragraph, Megan! I can’t believe it needed to be said.
Absolutely wild the switch this administration has made!
Thank You, Megan.
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦
In the early days of the war, a story surfaced that encapsulates Ukraine's struggle and the astonishment Putin and his idiots must have felt when Kyiv did not fall as planned, when its President -- whom Putin dismissed as a simple 'comedian' -- said "I am here, the head of the Presidential Administration is here, the Prime Minister is here, we are all here."
When tanks first rolled toward Kyiv and huge sections of the country were first occupied by forces some of which didn't even know they had even crossed the border (they were told it was a 'war game' and thought they were still in Belarus), tens of thousands of people simply emptied the towns and villages in their way, abandoning their animals -- cows, pigs, horses, goats, chickens, cats and dogs. Many elderly women stayed behind rather than flee, taking it upon themselves to do what they could for people's pets who had been literally abandoned in an instant.
One of them driving around in her car came across an emaciated-looking husky in the woods. She wasted no time -- got out of the car and just grabbed the frightened animal and put him in her back seat. Somehow she found her way to a vet's office, who took the beast in while the woman waited. He came back and told her there was nothing wrong at all with the creature -- but in her haste, she'd managed to pick up a wolf instead of a husky!
Memes spread like wildfire all over Ukraine -- and many got turned into PsyOps video clips put out in Russian by Ukrainian defense forces to demoralize and terrify the enemy. "Don't fuck with us" was the obvious message: "our old women wrangle wolves in the forest with their bare hands -- just think what they'll do to you once they get their hands on you, never mind us." 🇺🇦
Wow, great story, ICTT!
And this, I remember well: "Brave Ukrainian woman tells Russian soldier: ‘Put sunflower seeds in your pocket so they grow when you die’"
Oh yes, I remember that one too, especially the stupefied look on the Russian soldier's face who couldn't understand why he wasn't being greeted as a "liberator."
Morning, Lynell. I love this story!
I hadn’t heard this story! ❤️
I remember that story, loved it at the time, and still love it. Thanks for the retell
Heroyam Slava!
Putin is a monster who kills his own people and will stop at nothing for power. Trump is a monster who kills his own people and will stop at nothing for power but who also rapes women and children. Slava Ukraini! Thank you for defending democracy for us all!
Donald Trump is still Putin's creature. It may not always show. But it never changes. Thank goodness for Europe.
"I want to be a good boy." And we see who is telling him to be a good boy.
That Ellie ⬆️
That creepy sentence gave me a very bad taste in my mouth.
BINGO!!!!
Birds of a feather.
Slava Ukraine!
Not only has Trump switched sides, he no longer funds weapon shipments to Ukraine. Instead, he sells weapon systems to NATO countries for possible use in Ukraine at their expense, to the profit of the American arms industry. America is a NATO member only for its material advantages, not for the defense of democracy and our erstwhile allies. Oh the disgrace and shame of it!
It is time for Europe to close American bases and to follow De Gaulle’s advice to build a military of its own manufacture. The United States is no longer an ally but an arm supplier.
And an unreliable arms supplier, that slow-walks delivery f the weapons the Europeans have paid for that will be sent to Ukraine.
Slava Ukraini🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦.
I think in many ways, it’s good that Europe, Canada, and our other former allies are working to make themselves less dependent on the US. Sadly, we are not a reliable ally because a criminal pedophile sits in the Oval Office. There are so many ways to make the world a better place, but this lawless regime chooses to go in the opposite direction, making war on people in this country and trying to dominate everyone else. I don’t know how it will come to pass, but eventually Putin and his orange puppet will be gone.
Heroyam Slava!!
SOTU: Turkey Trump laid a golden turd
Heather, you will provide perceptive insights into Trump’s SOTU. I wrote three pages of notes that I thought highlighted that Trump was profoundly off base regarding
1) the actual state of America domestically; and
2) how his America First has resulted in our country, which had been considered indispensable in much of the world, now is being viewed as insufferable.
Permit me to focus on a single point on the 4th anniversary of Putin’s ‘Greater Russia’ invasion of Ukraine. As a former Foreign Service Officer, I greatly respect Zelensky for standing firm and President Biden for spearheading a broad coalition to support the sovereignty and security of the Ukrainian people.
Trump, in his presidential campaign, boasted that he could resolve the Ukrainian situation ‘in a single day.’ In his first meeting with President Zelensky he accused him of starting the war. Huh?
Trump has never stood firmly against his buddy Putin in opposing blatant aggression and steadfastly defending Ukrainian sovereignty.
Having two realtors going back and forth seeking a ‘real estate deal’ sticks in my craw.
If an American president will not steadfastly support the sovereignty of Ukraine, this sends a distressing message to other threatened countries, including Taiwan, regarding core American principles.
In case you missed it, Heather gave her own State of the Union. Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/8D-u3ejskCc?si=aCiEb5I1aiLOPxTF
Ellie Thanks. At 92 I went to bed at 1:00 am. Clearly Heather was more resilient.
On the 4 year anniversary of the Putin Russian invasion of Ukraine, Donold Trump barely even mentioned it at all. Why would the Trump regime even pick this particular day for the SOTU anyway? Probably because it's always about Donold and also his relationship to Putin as well as a way to bury the importance of this date to Ukraine.
Trump's SOTU speech was the longest in history at 1 hour and 47 minutes, the brief references to Ukraine occurred nearly 90 minutes into the address.
Trump mentioned "killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine" and stated that 25,000 soldiers are dying every month, claiming his administration is "working hard" to end the conflict. He didn't mention Zelensky in his speech at all or say anything about aid to Ukraine.
Trump only tolerates and ephemerally praises those he finds immediately useful to is own self centered agenda. Even those who set upon his head a kingly crown are now catching puerile flack for objecting to his only too obvious contempt for the Constitution.
NPR fact checked Trump’s State of the Union and here is a link to the Feb 24 2026 article, including audio:
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5716277/trump-state-union-fact-check
“The U.S. economy was in solid shape before President Trump returned to the White House for his second term. In fact, in October 2024, The Economisthad labeled the U.S. economy "the envy of the world," because it had bounced back from the pandemic recession in stronger shape than most of its peers.”
I appreciate Heather's fitting commemoration of today's anniversary of the assault on Ukraine.
But today is also State of the Union address -- and predictably criminal Donald kept silence as to his own victims.
Silence.
Donald’s greatest message is silence – no nod to any of the underage girl and young woman victims of his and his fellow rapists.
This silence exponentially ups the human pain of having been used sexually by the world’s elites, and then dismissed, as if nobody felt anything. Not Donald, nor anyone in his administration has ever cited any of this human plight in any way – except for continuing to cover up for the predators.
Books, films, and songs contain, radiate, unfold the human, including many dimensions of rape by our elites. But how have we normalized it so ghouls and monsters in power can enforce cold silence over what they did?
One perspective on this comes from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s recent held talks on higher education, where main speaker was Michael Sandel, 2020 author of “The Tyranny of Merit.” And joining him David J. Deming, dean of Harvard College, Randall L. Kennedy, a professor in the Harvard Law School, and moderator Tomiko Brown-Nagin.
They spoke for an hour and thirty minutes and during all this time – on higher education, meritocracy, and democracy – not one of the speakers ever referred to any book, film, song, or any other art.
Those higher ed elites of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute command superb facts, stats, survey, in inverse proportion to how much Donald lies about his. But there’s no difference between our best elites on one hand, and Donald’s on the other as to how they have all normalized our dehumanization.
Ukraine is fighting to prevent the rape of their country by Russia. Meanwhile, silence and the error of belief that Trump represents good are raping us and destroying the United States.
Exactly correct, Frank.
Worse, Putin intends his murderous and vastly destructive campaign there in the most vile form of degrading people as rape itself turns on.
He hates democracy, hates all our notions that people can flower better for respect shown to individual diversities. He wants no human community, but some scripted machine-like imposition beneath which all must pretzel themselves.
Fortunately, our democratic allies (or belatedly so) across Europe and elsewhere have well risen to the menace, rather as did the people of Minnesota to Donald's thug, murder, and terror armies.
There is no such thing as rape of a country. Rape is something physical and violent (mostly) men do to (mostly)women and girls.
But -- and I say this with all respect -- there is indeed such a thing as the rape of our Mother Earth, and the plan Trump revealed in his State of the Unified Reich speech tonight to require the high-tech Trumpstein Plutocracy to build their own AI-powering electrical generation plants plays directly into his full-scale restoration of coal mining. His SOUR declaration means not just the resumption of the destruction of our planetary motherland by strip mining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_mining . It includes the toxic re-pollution of the atmosphere by the cancer-causing fumes generated by burning coal and the ever-growing risk from heaps of toxic ash that caused the deadly flood of 2008, the worst-ever USian industrial spill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spill . And because coal-fired generation is the cheapest way to produce electricity -- https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/power-and-energy/coal-burning-power-plants-overview -- there is no question the profit-crazed sociopaths of the Silicon-Valley Trumpstein class will ignore coal's thoroughly documented ecogenocidal devastation and choose it over all other fuels. Such is capitalism in action.
Or in any case capitalism unmoderated by rules to protect the common good. Observance of sch rules are even more fundamental than the style of economic system.
Loren Bliss,
Thanks for your response to "rape". It is an unwanted attack to "whomever or whatever". It is against the will or against the health or care or concern for the living object ie plant, animal or person including our land or waters. It is a selfish act with only the desire for personal immediate gain or conquest.
It also has a broader meaning.
Maybe the use of the metaphor?
Also, rape is not an "exercise" of sex but, rather an "exercise" of control.
Other things, too, Lynell.
It's also an exercise of rage (horribly misdirected). An exercise of misogynism. And also one of self-destruction -- however under the guise, allure, false promises of control.
Amazingly, Mr. Balla, you can't even respond to something Heather actually wrote, but insist on whatever agenda you have.
I can't imagine anything disrespecting her scholarship, commitment and focus more than simply ignoring it in favor of your sidebars that invariably include some dropped name to show us all how truly educated you are....
You exhibit the dangers of silo culture, ICTT.
Heather's topic today only seems separate to one like you who imagines that all life fit the neatly arranged silos which dictators like Putin, rapists like Donald, and all the don't-touch, don't-question elites of the Epstein class have normalized.
If you accessed humanities (which you never do, cannot do -- as testing conceits have made this crippling normal for you) you could see how some things actually connect.
In reality many, many things -- all things connect. In little children the juices of cooked potatoes, cooked vegetables, and meat cannot connect. In the MAGA world, and all the cowardice accompanying it, all square off in the highly volatile but highly profitable little compartments by which social media billionaires package all.
You fall for these silos, these compartments, these algorithm-set divisions. All America has similarly fallen. Similarly accepted testing's status quo and all its related corporate conceits. So sad, when we could all benefit from more open, more interconnected literacy.
Thank you, Phil. Actually we should also thank ICTT -- a pseudo-progressive coward who hides behind a pseudonym to spew venom at genuine would-be Liberators -- for exemplifying the fact not all our enemies wear red Trumpstein caps. Some are far more sophisticated than Randy the Regurgitator. And we should remember that fact whenever ICTT and comparable ilk show their true colors. The basic ruling- class methodology remains unchanged; as Lev Bronstein noted in 1905, "in every gathering of three revolutionaries, there is at least one agent of the Okhrana."
He, or she, Loren, apparently came of age in the 1970s.
This was when the far-right foundations ensuant to the Powell memo were spending small fortunes for right-wing intellectuals to place pieces everywhere in mainstream media castigating lefties still citing humanities.
It worked. Those orchestrated deprecations -- in combination with ALEC's all-50-state successful defund-academe lobbying -- brought a new covetousness for specialization silos only across all higher ed. Citing any humanities anymore became a mark of being only an amateur, dilettantism, not being a serious, neutered specialist.
I stand corrected on the matter of gender and am editing my comment accordingly. Thank you.
Can you two take your squabble out back? It has nothing to do with the rest of us. Thanks
No, Riversong.
How America got dominated by a bully and rapist protecting other elite rapists is an etiology to which more than anything Heather dedicates all her letters here.
This sickness befallen America also dovetails with all Heather wrote in her books on how the former enslaving classes never really went away.
Phil- I often find comments by both you and ICTT to be interesting and insightful, but when the two of you are squabbling with each other, it’s just tedious.
At least, Riversong, he (or she) reacts to my bringing up role of humanities.
Otherwise most just go along with the normalization of never citing any. And this new set of habits is new in our history -- a change to schools and to public "discourse" which the far-right foundations pursuant to the Powell memo brought about in the 1970s.
You are not going to like this commentary, but I strongly suggest that you read it with an open mind because it contains the formula for defeating Trump and MAGA...
Donald Trump’s Greatest Triumph:
He Made Us Hate Him, and It Worked
https://essayx.substack.com/p/donald-trumps-greatest-triumph
Actually, Mr. Corthell, I think your chosen commentary is rather apt; indeed it verbalizes a hitherto-unspoken concern of my own that dates from the long-ago time I began to realize we too-often cover politics as if it were just another sport, this an awareness no doubt fostered by the fact my earliest years in newspaper journalism were as a sportswriter and sports editor.
Glory to Ukraine, shame on those who have betrayed them.
Trump is Putin’s puppet.
That is the reason why Putin has spent hundreds of millions to get Trump elected and reelected.
Changing subjects….
I am a life long Democrat. I believe in equality for all. I believe in separation of church and state. And I am vehemently anti-fascist.
I detest, and am disgusted by, liars, frauds, cons, grifters, and racists. The forgoing adjectives perfectly describe our liar, fraud, con, racist president, Donald best-friend-of-pedophile-Epstein Trump.
Trump is America’s Disgrace.
All that said, I am very disappointed, frankly disgusted, with Democrat Senators and Representatives who did not walk out of the Chamber during Trump’s lie-laden SOTU rant. The passivity they displayed was PATHETIC. I cannot, will not, donate money to Democrats who are spineless, for they do not have the spines necessary to save our nation from fascists like Trump.
Perhaps Democrats who believe in what I believe in should form a new party, a party filled with defiant patriots (Democrats, Republicans and Independents) willing to sacrifice everything for the good of our nation.
The strategy of remaining calm announced by Democrats worked against them. They were sitting ducks for Trump’s tactics. Better if they had not been present.
<please note an intended and humorous sarcasm font>*
Officer House from the grammar police here. Please note that the word "Democrat" is a noun, and that the word "Democratic" is an adjective. Also note that the word "Republican" is both a noun AND an adjective. Use of "Democrat" as an adjective slipped into common usage when Rush Limbaugh started using it as a pejorative. Do not give that arrogant windbag the power to change English usage.
<end humor and sarcasm>
We definitely need to do something different within the Democratic Party. The "good ol' days" of bipartisanship are long gone, and we must abandon that sunken ship. I heartily endorse your last paragraph as a road map. In my ideal world, we'd have five parties: Radical, Left, Center, Right, and Reactionary.
Thank you for the help with adjectives and nouns!
From Timothy Snyder
Ukraine
United24 (https://substack.com/redirect/fd1e3536-16d6-411d-b98e-bc000c332c38?j=eyJ1IjoiZHZzeHoifQ.aQbBTjWfCxG-koJm66E4igBLex79hvV8APKK--ffolU)
Come Back Alive (https://substack.com/redirect/44573e7a-a0dc-4556-b0fc-ac34d419dbb4?j=eyJ1IjoiZHZzeHoifQ.aQbBTjWfCxG-koJm66E4igBLex79hvV8APKK--ffolU)
Help99 (https://substack.com/redirect/d5626deb-df35-454b-a3ee-bac37f6dc514?j=eyJ1IjoiZHZzeHoifQ.aQbBTjWfCxG-koJm66E4igBLex79hvV8APKK--ffolU)
Canada-Ukraine Foundation (https://substack.com/redirect/12be9027-b76c-476a-95a7-90d1d2095928?j=eyJ1IjoiZHZzeHoifQ.aQbBTjWfCxG-koJm66E4igBLex79hvV8APKK--ffolU)
Razom (https://substack.com/redirect/6f125e15-e812-4e68-94f5-ef8279a8da3d?j=eyJ1IjoiZHZzeHoifQ.aQbBTjWfCxG-koJm66E4igBLex79hvV8APKK--ffolU)