I have not posted anything in way too many days. A couple of days ago, I was given a short questionnaire for the California Advance Health Care Act in Pulmonary Rehab, and it made me proud to be a Californian. It is simple and straightforward and I wanted to write about it, and how different California is from the red states, but I was tongue-tied.

I collected a couple of Tweets from California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, Governor Ron DeSantis, and Governor Greg Abbott to show the difference, and all they did was make me sad before they scared me, that is.

Ilhan Omar got kicked off of the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. It was still a shock even though everybody knew it was coming. And it is also a shame Ilhan is an excellent organizer, legislator, and one of the few people, if not the only person, in Congress that has any idea of what our foreign policy looks like from the other side. She was kicked off because, according to Speaker McCarthy, she is an antisemite, which would be laughable – she is backed by every progressive Jewish organization I know – if it weren’t so serious.

Don’t take my word for it, in an editorial in The New York Times, entitled When Ilhan Omar Asks Questions, Her Colleagues Should Listen by Peter Beinart. Beinart says:

Across the world, many people encounter American foreign policy when they see a drone flying overhead, a hospital that U.S. sanctions have deprived of medicine or a dictator’s troops carrying American-made guns. Ms. Omar asks the kinds of questions that these non-Americans — whether they reside in Pakistan, Cuba or Cameroon — might ask were they seated across from the officials who direct America’s awesome power. She translates between Washington and the outside world. More often than not, she does so alone.

I’m going to finish and get this posted before another day goes by with a Tweet Thread that moved me. It is by Maria Drutska, whom I’ve been following on Twitter, among several others, to get a hint of what it must feel like to be in Ukraine. Drutska identifies herself as working in Ukraine’s defense sector.

You know, I was thinking about the beginning of war, and the invasion of Kyiv, & I thought about how much went right for us that Ukraine is standing today and fighting. Remember, Ukraine was supposed to have fallen in one week, two at the maximum. Most of the population didn’t believe russia would try to take Kyiv. But, try they did. I remember clearly on Feb 23rd, knowing that something would happen, but confident that there was no way they would come for my Kyiv – I mean, how could they? It’s Kyiv for fucks sake!

On Feb 24th, we woke up to the sound of russian bombs & disinformation Their media told us that they had disabled the Ukrainian airforce within a couple of hours, that were marching forward as a well oiled machine, that our soldiers refused to fight, that our government fled. That first day, we were so close to panic. We didn’t know what was going on there. There were lines of cars miles long trying to leave Kyiv. Then, we heard (again from russian propaganda) that they had already taken Hostomel, and they were coming for Kyiv. They told us no one would help us, and they were coming to liberate us. They told us they wanted to protect us from the nazis, and only they could save us. They even started spreading lies that they had already takenChernihiv, Sumy, & others in the East & the South.

Moreover, our pleas for weapons to defend ourselves mostly fell on deaf ears. There was talk about a Ukrainian insurgency in the future, as if Ukraine had already fallen; some gave us Javelins, NLAWs and a few other basic things, but, Ukraine was seemingly alone & unarmed. The world spoke about a Ukrainian government in exile; that our victory was impossible. Then we heard & saw the Wagner / Kadyrovite death squads were already in Kyiv, hunting down government officials, and anyone who would resist. And we heard about their kill lists.

I will not lie! The 24th was a dark, dark, dark day! There were so many collaborators – from military & intelligence leaders, to ordinary people! Those bastard traitors! They would signal where the russian bombs would fall! May Hell be the best place they ever see!

Lies, all lies! Our leaders, despite what we may might have thought of them, had not abandoned us. They were with us! Our soldiers did not lay down their arms! Despite the overwhelming superiority the russians had in weapons, soldiers, equipment, our warriors FOUGHT! Hostomel oh Hostomel! We learned that it had not fallen! Our superhuman soldiers gave everything to stop the russian VDV and spetznats – that they were destroying them! Eternal glory to our warriors! Everything in the world is not enough to thank them for what they did!

Report after report came that first day that russia had not met any of their aims – they had been slowed down, and though the enemy was huge, Ukraine was putting up a fight. The images. I think it was on the first day, or maybe the second, but we heard the recording of our warriors on Snake Island, in the face of imminent death shouting the immortal “russian warship, Go FUCK YOURSELF” (fortunately those soldiers are alive, though we feared the worst) of destroyed russian tanks flooded Telegram – we knew then that we would not make it easy.

Zelensky’s battle cry “I need ammo, not a ride” was heard by every Ukrainian. Ukraine had finally arrived. The heart of a lion, the strength of an ox, and the ferociousness of a pack of hungry wolves. Ukrainians, whether in Kherson, or in Kharkiv, or in Kyiv, lined up in their tens of thousands to sign up to defend Ukraine from the russian terrorists. So many signed up, that Ukraine didn’t actually have the guns to give them! Videos of this were everywhere!

Meanwhile, total curfew was setup in Kyiv. Systematically, the saboteurs & collaborators were destroyed, or captured. To be perfectly honest, it’s a good thing so many Kyivians left during the first 2 or 3 days of war. Kyiv is a peacetime city of 3 million, but it was down to 1 million very quickly after the start of the war. Though our economy was hit, it meant fewer civilians to feed, house, and protect. And fewer places for collaborators and saboteurs to hide. We stocked up on food, and water, not knowing what would happen. Honestly, if we’d known then what russians would do to civilians in Irpin, Bucha, Mariupol, Iziyum, and so many other places, perhaps we really would have panicked. But, we didn’t know, & we didn’t panic. Every Ukrainian played a role.

Blood for our soldiers was donated, civilians prepared Molotov Cocktails to fight off russian tanks(!) children raised money for soldiers, the city was covered in hedgehogs, bridges were destroyed to stop a potential russian attack. Kyiv was mostly cleared of the saboteurs, but there was a huge military column, with some reports saying it was 60KM long with thousands of tanks and soldiers, coming for Kyiv. We could hear the gunfire in the streets, and went to sleep to the sound of bombs at night.

Kyiv was ready for a seige, expecting russian tanks from every direction. But tried as they could, our soldiers held them back at Hostomel, denying russia the base it needed! Slava Ukraini! The column of russians had stalled – armed with Javelins, NLAWs and Snipers, small teams of our elite soldiers were picking them off one by one. The attacks from Sumy (by civilians!) and Chernihiv were not moving, and russians dug trenches in radioactive soil in Chernobyl. I’ll never forget that video of the woman giving russian soldiers sunflower seeds, telling them to put them in their pockets so that sunflowers would grow after their deaths. Others showed unarmed civilians stopping russian tanks Heroyam Slava!

The Ukrainian air force was not only not destroyed, but led by the Ghost of Kyiv, was defending our skies, and protecting us each day and night. Those days, I remember the sound of gunfire all day, & fell asleep to the sound of russian artillery and bombs Slava Natsie!

After the shock of the first day, it became clear really quickly that Ukraine would not only fight, but Ukraine would do everything to win, because we understood very clearly that if we lost, we would not just lose a war, we’d lose Ukraine Smert Voroham! Those first few days are a complete blur for me, everything happened so fast. But I do think about how much went right for us – leadership, military, people, unity, russian incompetence… Doesn’t matter. What matters is that everything will be Ukraine.