Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

People are complicated. Love is not.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Let’s finish the job.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

You are here: Home / War in Ukraine / Open Thread & Special Opportunity to Help Ukraine

Open Thread & Special Opportunity to Help Ukraine

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There has been a lot going on, so I don’t know if everyone has had a chance to read about the dam disaster in Kherson.  As if things weren’t already bad enough with the genocidal Putin committing war crimes and murdering civilians, with the collapse of the dam things are now far worse than they were.

The Nova Kakhova Dam disaster in Kherson has affected tens of thousands of people.  They are  in danger, stranded, without water, without shelter.  Not content to blow up the dam, we read reports that Russian occupiers are shooting at volunteers trying to reach stranded residents of the left bank of the Dnipro and preventing Ukrainians from fleeing the flooded regions.

President Zelenskiyy stated that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians will be without water; the canals that water southern Ukraine, turn it into an agricultural paradise, are drying up, emptying into the Dnipro; experts predict southern Ukraine will turn into a desert (it was pretty dry pretty regularly before the dams were built).

It’s the largest disaster to hit Ukraine since Chernobyl 35 years ago, and its horrifying.  You can read more details in Adam’s post from last night.

We always have the link to the Ukraine thermometer in the sidebar, but today we have a very generous offer from one of our BJ peeps – he will match up to $5,000 in donations through our BJ Ukraine thermometer.  You can select to donate to just one or the other, but if you click to donate and you do nothing, your donation will be split between World Central Kitchen and Razom for Ukraine.

As I write this, the total sits at $73,561 – as soon as the thermometer hits $78,561, our anonymous donor will add his $5,000, for a total of $83,761 for Ukraine since the war began.

Ukraine needs the help of the world, and I’m guessing that we’ll be able to meet this match.

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

62Comments

  2. 2.

    M31

    in for another $50

    fuck Putin and his fascist accomplices and enablers and apologists

    and thanks, Juicer angel

  4. 4.

    Alison Rose

    Funds are really tight right now, but I’m in for $10.

    I hate putin and every person in this country who is metaphorically (and they wish literally) sucking his dick.

    Слава Україні!

  7. 7.

    Alison Rose

    (Also…am I losing it or did this post get pushed back? I went to click on “next post” and it’s David’s from this morning, and then I saw the time-stamp on this one.)

  8. 8.

    sab

    So because they mis-planned their war, now they want to starve the eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa just out of spite. And it will take decades to fix this. Their idea of winning is that everyone else anywhere affected must lose. What a way to run things.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    @Alison Rose: We’re not messing with you just to mess with you; it was complicated! :-)

    Cole put his up 7 minutes after this post, so I pulled my post and texted John to say that I would put mine back up after his post and after Adam’s post, which is likely coming along soon.

    So I pulled mine.  Then Cole texted to say that I should keep mine up and move his back an hour.  So I moved his and then put mine back up.

  13. 13.

    smith

    I’d sent some money to WCK just before you posted, but put some extra in here for Razom.

  17. 17.

    Ksmiami

    Donated 50 to razom directly. Russia needs to be kicked off every world governing board and their assets confiscated.

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    Once again I thank this community for its support of Ukraine, with special thanks to the angel who pledged $5k. Your generosity is beyond words.

    But, trying to nip hyperbole in the bud – yes, the dam breach is an ecological and agricultural disaster, but it will not turn southern Ukraine into a desert. The affected areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts will most likely revert to steppe (dry grasslands) as they were historically. Think Kansas, not Sahara.

  22. 22.

    pat

    I was already thinking to donate to WCK but hadn’t looked up how to do it.

    Just got a nice bit of $$ coming in so I sent $500 to be divided between the lunches and the doggies.

  27. 27.

    Andrya

    @WaterGirl- do you have a link for the russians shooting at rescue workers?  I don’t doubt you, but it would be helpful in educating some people I know who are kind of pacifists (“a cease fire would save lives”- Grrrr!)

  28. 28.

    NotoriousJRT

    Chipped in. My thanks to the BJ Citizen who offered a generous match for a desperately good cause.  Thanks also to WG for executing the plan.

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    In for $250.

    As I write this, the total sits at $73,561 – as soon as the thermometer hits $78,561, our anonymous donor will add his $5,000, for a total of $83,751 for Ukraine since the war began.

    Are those quoted numbers right? The thermometer blew past those numbers with only 33 comments??! All hail the silent benfactors!

    Slava Ukraini!! Peace and comfort to those suffering through this terrible disaster.

    Thanks WaterGirl.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    JoyceH

    Open thread stuff. I ziplined today, first time. It’s harder than I thought! I never worried that I would, y’know, die, but I was really ungraceful and kept turning sideways. The last zip ( there were seven) was just perfect until i got to the platform and couldn’t stick the landing, slid back about a third of the way and hung there over a lovely field of hay bales until I was towed in like an old barge on the Erie Canal.

  43. 43.

    Jackie

    This broke my heart:

    “Hundreds of animals died in their cages at a zoo in Russian-occupied Ukraine when explosions ripped through the nearby Nova Kakhovka dam on Tuesday, flooding the surrounding area.

    According to UAnimals, an animal rights NGO that has helped shelter and rescue animals during the Russian invasion, nearly all of the 260 animals in the zoo — dubbed “Fairytale Díbrova” — died.

    “People were trying to save these animals for months. And then, just in one day because of the actions of Russians, 260 animals died,” Olga Chevganiuk, COO of the organization, told POLITICO, calling the incident “a real catastrophe.”

    https://www.politico.eu/article/hundreds-of-zoo-animals-dead-as-environmental-cost-of-ukraine-dam-blast-grows/amp/

    I donated $10 – June is an expensive month for me.

  45. 45.

    Quiltingfool

    It’s been awhile since I have had any Ukraine donation quilts; I do have a lap size quilt in blues and yellows, and I’ve got another ready to be quilted (it has cats!).  I also have a reverse appliqué “sleepy cat in flowers” wall hanging, but it is more orange than yellow…I want to do a true yellow and blue wall hanging, but thought you might like to see this.

    I’m not done with doing quilted items for Ukraine.  These folks need our support as they are giving more than we can imagine to defend their country and themselves.

    I do have a dog quilt pattern I will do in blues and yellows…we have many, many dog lovers here, too.

    Let me show you what I have…I’ll coordinate with WaterGirl on the details for a raffle or something.

    Stars Over Ukraine: https://pin.it/2vWkwbZ

    Crazy Cats: https://pin.it/2dH5TDD

    Sleepy Kitty in Flowers: https://pin.it/3Y0XGfk

  47. 47.

    Quiltingfool

    @Jackie: Thank you!  I love the sleepy kitty wall hanging, too.  I have it on my hanging rack (really just a clothes hanger with clips, lol) so I can look at it…makes me happy.  But, it can go to a new home and make someone else happy!

  52. 52.

    am

    How much does this change the calculus in other potential conflicts by legitimizing a strike on Three Gorges as a military target? I assume it does not, and there is no logic to the question, just a very basic consequence asserted by PRC to be plugged into calculating a Nash equilbrium.

  53. 53.

    JAFD

    Wildfires sending smke my way.  My eyes been oozzing mucus all day today, and about 1:30 this afternoon, sky and air and entire landscape seemed to be glowing orange.  Weird.  Blame Canada.

    Kicked in $50

  56. 56.

    evodevo

    @Andrya: Don’t I remember this being SOP in Sarajevo?  IIRC Ratko Mladic was behind the sniper fire on civilians and aid workers…same mentality…

  57. 57.

    Torrey

    Thank you for this, WaterGirl. Among the many things I appreciate about this blog is this kind of information and links for effective contributions. And the reminders to contribute.

  60. 60.

    Miss Bianca

    Late to the party, but tossed in $25 anyway. Thanks be to our blessed angel, and damn, damn, damn the Ruzzians.

  62. 62.

    RaflW

    I have barely had time to process the recent horrors in Ukraine. So in goes $50.

Comments are closed.