“We will be free!”

March 9, 2022

[Audio version here]

          On Tuesday, President Zelenskyy remotely addressed both houses of the British Parliament. Zelenskyy affirmed his belief that Ukraine would prevail against Russia, borrowing a line from Shakespeare:

          ‘To be or not to be?’—You know this Shakespearean question well. Thirteen days ago, this question could have been asked about Ukraine. But now, absolutely not! [The answer] is definitely, “Yes—to be”. It is obvious, we will be free!

          Zelenskyy also invoked Churchill, saying, “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. . . . we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.” President Zelenskyy’s heroism and leadership is giving Ukraine a fighting chance against Russia, to the surprise of nearly everyone, most especially Vladimir Putin. Leaders around the world should note what courage looks like in action.

          As President Zelenskyy was addressing Parliament, President Biden announced that the US would block imports of Russian oil. In truth, Biden’s hand was forced because of a bipartisan consensus in Congress to act immediately. While the decision is right, the timing was problematic, forcing Biden to take a unilateral action that our NATO allies have not yet agreed to undertake. Let’s hope that NATO allies follow suit soon. But even before Biden made his announcement, the media was running breathless stories about increases in the price of gasoline.

          Poland made a surprise announcement that it would transfer twenty-eight MiG-29 fighters to NATO for Ukraine. The US said the plan was “untenable”—a prudent announcement on many levels. The only way to transport the jets into Ukraine would be to fly them from a NATO airbase (likely in Germany). That act seems perilously close to direct engagement in the conflict—a line that NATO cannot cross.

          Putin’s domestic support continues to crumble. Another Russian oligarch—one who resides in Moscow—sent a letter to his senior staff and board of directors of the largest steel manufacturer in Russia. The letter said, “The death of people in Ukraine is a tragedy that is hard to justify or explain.” See Reuters, Russian steel billionaire calls lost lives in Ukraine a tragedy.

          Video circulating online shows angry citizens of a Siberian province berating their governor for deploying local riot police to Ukraine, saying that the police were sent “as cannon fodder.” See Radio Free Europe, ‘Sent As Cannon Fodder’: Locals Confront Russian Governor Over ‘Deceived’ Soldiers In Ukraine.

          As Ukrainians and Russians alike protest Putin’s war crimes, Tucker Carlson has begun spinning new lies to justify Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Carlson’s latest conspiracy theories are being re-tweeted and promoted by Russia’s representative to the UN. What is Tucker Carlson saying? Like all conspiracy theories, it is a bit difficult to follow Carlson’s logic, but it goes something like this (this is my attempt to paraphrase):

          Trump’s effort to withhold military aid from Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden was really Trump’s effort to stop “permanent Washington’s” decade‑long fixation on starting a proxy war on Russia in Ukraine.

          Tucker Carlson’s actual gibberish is quoted by Charlie Sykes in Morning Shots, Tucker and Barr, and Florida. Oh My!

          There is much more, but I want to return to my call for calm and perspective in a dangerous situation. What is happening in Ukraine is inhumane and immoral. But the answer cannot be to start a nuclear war. Some readers continue to argue that Putin is bluffing and that we should engage in direct military confrontation in Ukraine to stop Putin. That cannot happen and (thankfully) will not happen on Joe Biden’s watch. Putin has threatened nuclear deterrence in response to direct military intervention. Anger and outrage are not substitutes for sober assessments by the US intelligence community. Though we should do all we can for Ukraine short of direct military intervention, we must stay our current course—for the sake of humanity and the world.

A special note of thanks to paying subscribers.

          I began publishing this newsletter in February 2017 as a nightly email to my family. My purpose was to interpret the news through a lens of hope for my wife and daughters. The nightly email to my family was circulated among friends and grew into Today’s Edition Newsletter. For the next four years, I “self-published” the newsletter from my Gmail account and then from Constant Contact. Both platforms presented difficulties for readers. Last April, I moved Today’s Edition Newsletter to Substack, and many of you followed me to this platform.

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Federal prosecutors secure first conviction after trial of January 6th insurrectionist.

          In a significant victory for federal prosecutors, a jury returned guilty verdicts on five counts against a defendant who participated in the assault on the Capitol. See NYTimes, Guy Wesley Reffitt Is Convicted in First Jan. 6 Trial. Per the Times, the guilty verdicts included

obstructing Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election by helping to lead a pro-Trump mob in an advance against the police that resulted in the first violent breach of the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

          The guilty verdict may motivate other defendants awaiting trial to plead guilty. On the day that prosecutors obtained the verdict against Reffitt, they obtained an indictment against the leader of the Proud Boys for planning the assault with several of his “lieutenants.” Both developments should have a deterrent effect on future insurrectionists who attempt to interfere with the official proceedings related to the election of the president. Good.

The attack on LGBTQ people in Florida and Texas.

          I write a lot about the state-sponsored attacks on LGBTQ people that are sweeping the nation. Most readers agree with my positions, but I receive the occasional complaint that I should relent and “move on” to other issues. I disagree. The renewed boldness of the right-wing in targeting LGBTQ people is not a “wedge issue” or part of the “culture war.” LGBTQ people are “people.” They are not “other” or “different” or “less than.” They are Americans, citizens, and human beings. The dark chapters of genocide in the last century began with stigmatizing gay men and disabled children. See generally, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Gene: An Intimate History.

          Florida’s “Don’t say gay” bill went into effect on Tuesday. At root, the bill stigmatizes LGBTQ people by prohibiting discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. The bill has sparked widespread walkouts by students. See CNN, Florida students participate in massive walkout to protest the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. And in case you missed it, the “Republican platform” for 2022 released by Senator Rick Scott declares that “there are only two genders.” [That is a falsehood on many levels, as can be demonstrated by modest research. I will leave that topic to another day.]

          Stigmatizing any group for their innate human characteristics serves as a launching pad for blaming those groups for external events over which they have no control and did not cause. Over the weekend, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church suggested that “gay pride parades” in Ukraine justified Russia’s invasion. See Newsweek, Russian Orthodox Church Leader Blames Invasion on Ukraine’s ‘Gay Pride’. Per Newsweek, the Patriarch said that “military operation” in Ukraine is a conflict over “which side of God humanity will be on” and ‘[t] hat’s why in order to join [NATO], you have to have a gay pride parade.”

          Some readers also tell me that Democrats must stop focusing on “culture wars” and talk to voters about “meat and potato” issues. To be clear, it is the GOP that has declared war on LGBTQ people and women. Coming to the defense of those being stigmatized is a moral duty, not a culture war. Remember this: On the day that Florida declared discussion of LGBTQ people to be off-limits, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch claimed that the invasion of Ukraine was justified by gay pride parades.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Rebecca Solnit has published a reflection in The Guardian about Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. Solnit’s thesis is that we overestimate our ability to foresee what is coming—and therefore should not assume disaster. See Rebecca Solnit, “The world is unpredictable and strange. Still, there is hope in the madness.” The article is a gem and worth reading in its entirety. But one passage is particularly apt during this unsettled time in American politics:

          Despair is a delusion of confidence that asserts it knows what’s coming, perhaps a tool of those who like to feel in control, even if just of the facts, when in reality, we can frame approximate parameters, but the surprises keep coming. Anyone who makes a definitive declaration about what the future will bring is not dealing in facts. The world we live in today was utterly unforeseen and unimaginable on many counts, the world that is coming is something we can work toward but not something we can foresee.

          Six months ago, pundits told us that Democrats would lose a dozen seats in the redistricting process. Today, it appears that Democrats will pick up three seats. Those same pundits are predicting today that Democrats will lose the House and Senate in 2022. They are suffering from a “delusion of confidence” about knowing what is coming. Three weeks ago, many believed Russia would not invade Ukraine. Today, the world is changed forever because of the scale and brutality of Russia’s invasion.

          The future is something that we can shape, but not something we can foresee. Let’s not waste energy worrying about the future. Instead, let’s put that energy into shaping it.

          Talk to you tomorrow!