There are three different things to cover, so I’ll keep them all short.
Join the Fight!
We have 4 zoom sessions coming up this week as an introduction to Join the Fight effort to fight against voter suppression, election subversion, and disinformation in the media and social media.
We decided on zooms for now because we figure that even with the war in Ukraine folks can likely focus on something else for an hour in an interactive setting. Please don’t prove us wrong! :-)
⭐️ MONDAY 3/7 @ 8 pm Eastern
⭐️ TUESDAy 3/8 @ 10 pm Eastern
⭐️ WEDNESDAY 3/9 @ 1 pm Eastern
⭐️ SATURDAY 3/12 @ 11 am Eastern
I’ll be sending zoom links out for each zoom in the morning so I can catch all the new people who sign up.
Click here to sign up to participate in the Join the Fight initiative.
War in Ukraine – Lexicon of Acronyms & Military Terms
Thanks to everyone who participated in the post on Saturday, either by listing terms you didn’t know or helping to explain the ones you did!
I put up a first draft. A very rough draft, basically a compilation of all the answers in the Saturday thread, so lots of repetition for now if several people explained what something was.
You’ll see it changing over the course of the week as repetition is removed and things that aren’t clear are clarified.
The list is located under WAR IN UKRAINE. You probably know where that is by now, but in case you don’t, it’s in the blue category up top, unless you are on mobile in which case it’s the top item in the mobile menu.
Balloon Juice for Ukraine
We currently have 4 donation options set up for Balloon Juice through ActBlue:
International Fund for Animal Welfare: IFAW has partnered with the Poznań Zoo in Poland to provide temporary shelter and care for wildlife rescued from the conflict in Ukraine. And they are rushing emergency aid to animal shelters in Ukraine.
World Central Kitchen: Feeding people in Ukraine and refugees at the border
Americares Foundation: Americares has an emergency response team on the way to Poland to support health services for families affected by the escalating humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. The team, which is headed to Krakow, has expertise in coordinating large-scale shipments of medicine and relief supplies and mobilizing emergency medical teams in crisis situations
International Rescue Committee: The IRC is working with partners in Poland and Ukraine that are quickly mobilizing resources to provide critical support to civilians forced to flee their homes.
Sincere thanks to everyone who has donated so far!
If you know of other great organizations that take donations through ActBlue, we can them to our Balloon Juice for Ukraine donation “thermometer”. Please add their official name in the comments and if you have a link to their site on ActBlue, please include that, too. It will save us time making sure we have the right organization.
.
Joy in FL
Thanks for this. I’m not sure if the Tuesday or Saturday time will be better, so I checked both. If I can make the Tuesday time, I probably won’t try for the Saturday time.
WaterGirl
@Joy in FL: Perfect!
debbie
Are the IRC and the Red Cross connected?
WaterGirl
@debbie: Not from what I could find yesterday. thank god! I would not raise a nickel for the Red Cross
edit: Though I understand that the Canadian Red Cross is entirely different from the Red Cross we have.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Thanks. It was one of the options at my work’s matching program, but I saw the email at the last minute and didn’t have time to research.
CCL
Does Doctors without Borders take donations through ActBlue ? I checked their website, but I am not sure what to look for?
Thanks, WaterGirl!
dr. luba
Since the Ukrainian thread is done…..
Many people have been surprised by the fighting spirit of Ukrainians. That’s because they don’t know our history, or our people. We are not Russians. We are anti-Russians. We’ve been fighting Russian since the misbegotten Treaty of Pereiaslav. The Russian empire has tried to kill our language, has killed off our leadership and intelligentsia many times, and perpetrated and genocide (the Holodomor). But we persist.
Anyways, some 20 years ago, I was at a summer camp for orphans/kids in government care in the Carpathians, Our theme that year was the dissidents of the 60s. The camp leadership wanted to demonstrate to these post-Soviet kids what the times had been like. So they arranged for one of the teachers to be “arrested” and then the kids would protest. At which point some staffers, dressed as militia, came in to break up the protest and arrest the kids. To teach them about repression.
The kids didn’t take it. They began pummeling the “militia” with sign, fists, etc. The guys had to run off for their own safety.
That is the generation defending Ukraine now.
Sure Lurkalot
Alexander Vindman is raising money through @VetVoiceFound for medical supplies using Act Blue platform:
https://twitter.com/AVindman/status/1500196061083836419
debbie
@dr. luba:
As we used to say, years before that camp: Well, the kids are alright.
Gin & Tonic
@dr. luba: Timothy Snyder has referred to the generation without a hammer and sickle on their birth certificate. All they have known is freedom.
WaterGirl
@CCL: A quick google makes me think the answer is no.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: Yeah, we almost included that one but the funds go to the general VetVoice Fund and not a fund that specifically goes to Ukraine.
If you or someone else wants to investigate further and get a firm commitment that funds will only go to Ukraine, then we could add it.
Miss Bianca
@dr. luba:
OMG. I feel like I shouldn’t be laughing at this scenario quite as hard as I am right now. But, here I am. Thank you for that image!
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: Are you planing to make any of the 4 zooms this week?
Fair Economist
I love the organization you bring to this place, Watergirl!
Sure Lurkalot
@WaterGirl: This is what is on the ActBlue page for the Vet Voice/Vindman fundraiser:
MOAS is a humanitarian service provider and aid delivery organization. MOAS specializes in providing rapid response relief programs to communities in crisis around the world.
Established as the Mediterranean’s first Search and Rescue NGO in the Mediterranean in 2014, MOAS has since expanded to provide global crisis relief and has reached over 150,000 people with its international programming.
Like Doctors Without Borders, they do work in many places. The ActBlue page is the only info I could find as to where the money raised by Vindman et. al. will be going.
Sure Lurkalot
@WaterGirl: Yes! I’ll look over the times. Just taking a break from a crappy spring cleaning chore that is aching my back (and I’m not finished, damn!)
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Will there be opportunity for further contributions to the Lexicon?
WaterGirl
@Fair Economist: That’s a nice thing to say.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: If you mean the Ukraine Lexicon, absolutely! Do you have some things in mind or are you just asking generally?
edit: If you have suggestions right now you can add them to this thread, and then I’ll add them as placeholders to fill in details later.
raven
We gave to the World Central Kitchen since an Athens Chef is with them in Romania.
Magrat Garlick
@debbie: I worked for International Rescue Committee in the 80s — they’re a refugee agency, not connected with red cross
WaterGirl
@raven: Nice! What a great thing for him to be doing.
debbie
@Magrat Garlick:
Thanks.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I had in mind the “OODA Loop” I half-jokingly referred to yesterday. I figured that others would jump to explain it, but nobody bit.
OODA stands for “Observe Orient Decide Act.” American Army officers are encouraged to have a tight OODA loop, and to keep opponents off balance by getting “inside” of their OODA loop.
I think the emphasis on maintaining a tight OODA loop comes with encouraging intitiative among officers, especially at the battalion and brigade level. I wonder how the question of the OODA loop is handled by the Russian Army. I have the impression that they may have another “C”, for Consultation (with superiors). That could turn the OODA Loop into a kind of Moebius Strip.
debbie
Good trouble anywhere is still good trouble:
NotMax
FYI.
Netflix Suspends Service in Russia Amid Invasion of Ukraine
PayPal pauses service in Russia, citing ‘violent military aggression’
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: These things are not hitting the Putin supporters. They don’t use Netflix or PayPal anyway. It’s hitting precisely the Putin opponents, educated city dwellers.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: They are surely doing it for reputation because they don’t want to look bad with their US subscribers. I doubt that the potential impact matters to Netflix.
Another Scott
Also this week – Science.org:
VVP is breaking all kinds of important things with his horrible war.
Grr…,
Scott.
Geminid
@Geminid:
@WaterGirl: When I think more about it, the “OODA Loop” might be an unneccessary addition to the Lexicon. Unlike the other acronyms, I have not seen it mentioned here or in commentary on the war in other places.
The Ukrainian Army’s OODA loop does seem to be tighter than that of the Russians, and that seems to be one of Ukraine’s advantages.
CCL
@WaterGirl: I was afraid of that…our first round will be going to WTC and Doctors without Borders.
Thank you for all you are doing!
Geminid
@Geminid: I would add that Watergirl’s OODA loop is exemplary.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Well, they’re not helping themselves with me.
If Islamophobia was bad, why is Russophobia good?
persistentillusion
WaterGirl, thank you for your enormously helpful work in aggregating, vetting and suggesting information. We are all better informed because of your efforts.
karen marie
Thank you for making it so easy to donate!