It is an investment in peace

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to Washington yesterday, his first time out of his country since the Russian invasion began. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos covered Zelenskyy’s arrival and meeting with Biden. The trip to America came just a day after Zelenskyy visited Bakhmut, a city directly on the front lines, which Russia has been trying to take for months and Ukraine pushed them out again. The soldiers gave their leader a flag they all signed for him to give to Congress. Those that reported on that incident didn’t realize they meant for him to give to Congress tomorrow. Kos of Kos liveblogged the meeting with Biden, the press conference afterward, and Zelenskyy’s speech before Congress, including the gift of the signed flag. The purpose of the visit is simple, to thank America for their help and leadership over the last 10 months and to urge to keep the help flowing. Zelenskyy reminded Congress the American aid isn’t charity, it is an investment in peace. If Russia isn’t defeated they won’t stop at Ukraine. At one point in the press conference Zelenskyy was asked what a fair outcome of the war would be. Kos wrote:

Zelenskyy: “I don’t know what a just peace is .. for me, as the president, is no compromises as the sovereignty, freedom, and integrity of my country. The payback for all the damages inflicted by Russian aggression.” He adds, what is a “just peace” for those who have lost fathers and mothers. No money can compensate them. “The longer the war lasts, the longer this aggression lasts, the more parents who live for the sake of vengeance or revenge.”

Sumner discussed another aspect of the visit.

But even as Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi were raising that Ukrainian battle flag at the front of the chamber, there were in the same room representatives of the same threat Ukraine is fighting. Their actions and words were not just a despicable shadow across a historic evening, but a sign of how close that enterprise stands to failure. ... That Zelenskyy came to the United States does us honor. That the joint session of Congress was opened by the enthusiastic greetings of representatives and senators who have supported Ukraine in its fight was genuinely heartwarming. Those who escorted Zelenskyy into the chamber and those who grew tearful applauding the man in a green shirt as he stepped to the podium have this in common with those fighting in the trenches at Bakhmut and Soledar: They knew they were making history.

Those representatives of the threat included Rep. Thomas Massie, who refused to attend. Massie has voted against every Ukraine aid bill. Representatives of the threat include Reps. Boebert and Gaetz who attended, but sat and did not clap in the thunderous applause when Zelenskyy took the podium. They also chatted and checked their phones. They weren’t the only ones. Sumner added:

Every single Republican who went on Fox seemed obsessed with the idea that America is defined by “the border.” And maybe that’s the basic flaw with everything on the right, because America isn’t a block of land prescribed by borders. America is an idea. Thankfully, not everyone has forgotten that. During his campaign for the White House, President Joe Biden used that phrase as he address the “battle for the soul of this nation.” What happened in the joint session, outside the joint session, and on the media that followed showed that this is a battle that still continues, and it’s as real and vital as anything happening in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Both battles must be won, or both battles will be lost. We rise and fall together, all of us engaged in the enterprise of democracy. And all of those opposed.

Today at noon Sumner posted another update of the war. There are two major points to the post: Bakhmut, that city on the front lines that gave the flag to Zelenskyy, remains in Ukrainian hands after another round of Russian attacks. And the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense estimates more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in this illegal invasion. To mark that “100K” was projected onto a tall building in Kyiv. In s post from last Saturday Sumner wrote that he and Kos in general do not try to frame the news out of Ukraine as impartial. They are not impartial – they believe Ukraine will win, that Putin made a mistake in invading, and his acts have been cruel. In the war between democracy and authoritarianism, we have picked a side. And we feel no need to engage in the least bit of

apologia for the murderous thugs on the other side in this conflict. Hopefully, that never affects the accuracy of what appears here, but it absolutely affects the tenor. We’ve also, hopefully, dropped the decades of viewing Russia as a Great Power whose every action must be treated with deference.

That is a way of introducing an article by the New York Times, written by several authors, that has also shed impartiality. It is a detailed, in-depth article about the mistakes Russia has made – that the war would be quick, that the West was weak and would turn its back, that the Russian military was gutted by corruption and with inept leadership, and that they were horrible at logistics. Because of that the cost to Russia has been enormous.

It also makes it clear that this is Putin’s fault. It’s his fault, not just in the sense that he was the one who made the decision to begin this invasion, and not just because he daily makes the decision to keep it going, but because he has intentionally deprived anyone else of the power to make decisions that might rectify some of those mistakes at the strategic level. Because Putin doesn’t want anyone else to be a hero. He’s so terrified of giving anyone power that might be used against him, that no one has the power to correct Russia’s ongoing mistakes.

Elon Musk put up a Twitter poll asking if he should step down as CEO. 57% of the millions of respondents said he should. He tried to blame the response on bots, then said only certain people – the ones willing to give him $8 a month – should have been allowed to vote. Hunter of Kos reported Musk finally came around to, “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.” Given the state the company is in now – a cesspool of trolls who don’t have the money to pay off the enormous debt load – taking the CEO job would indeed be foolish. There is also the problem that whoever takes the job, Musk would still be that person’s boss. Then there’s the claim Musk would stay in charge of the software and hardware – which is what he’s doing now because Twitter isn’t much more than the software and hardware. So why did Musk make that announcement? Because Tesla shareholders and leadership say Musk isn’t paying enough attention to the issues in that company. His handling of Twitter is damaging the Tesla brand. Laura Clawson of Kos reported that the government budget bill has some good things in it. The Senate passed it today. The House has to vote on it tomorrow and Biden needs to sign it before midnight to avoid a government shutdown. The main thing the bill does is fund the government until the end of September. Some things in the budget and in the bill: * $858 billion for the military. That’s more than they asked for but it keeps Republicans happy. * $772 billion in non-defense spending, which includes $119 billion in veterans’ care. * $44.9 billion in aid for Ukraine. * $40.6 billion in disaster relief for hurricanes that hit Florida and Puerto Rico. * The Electoral Count Act. Yeah, it isn’t money, but needed. It says, among other things, the role of the Vice President in the Electoral College count is purely ceremonial and they cannot refuse to certify an election. * Funding for affordable housing and clean energy. * The first increase in funding for the National Labor Relations Board in a decade. Of course, McCarthy urged fellow House Republicans to oppose it, delaying it into the new Congress, where Republicans have the majority in the House. I’ve seen the news that several holiday movies center LGBTQ characters, though in this case it is mostly gay men. One that I’ve heard about is The House Sitter – the gay uncle taking care of a niece and nephew who is helped out by the gay guy next door. They kiss (and in Hallmark movies the leads do nothing more than kiss). I haven’t seen it and don’t want to subscribe to Hallmark. Clawson discussed several of these movies. She came to the conclusion: When LGBTQ people are at the center of a Hallmark movie you get ... a Hallmark movie. Yes, it is good to see we’re accepted into society so well Hallmark makes movies about us.

Ultimately, to the extent that these movies have a kind of larger claim, it’s that LGBTQ stories and characters can be fit about 99.9% of the way into the formula, with the remaining 0.1% being a conversation about how the characters were shaped by what they saw the society and culture saying about LGBTQ people while they were growing up.

It’s also good to see the acknowledgment that LGBTQ people are 99.9% similar to the rest of the people in the country.

If you want your LGBTQ content a little more differentiated from a formula developed to be absolutely straight in every possible sense of the word, these may not be for you.