Rain rain rain rain

Today is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance which is rough. Our Gender Sexual Minority Employee Resource Group (what a name) had a “listening session” today. I finally came up with my silver lining and told people this isn’t like 50 years ago, this isn’t like 25 years ago, we’ve done the work, we have allies now. 

This seemed to be a hopeful and realistic message. 

It also made us all appreciate not only our allies, but the people who fought so we could have the rights we have. 

And I am appreciating NewExperiments and her wife Deb. 

Several people were terrified about keeping their kids if they weren’t the partner who birthed them. One of the people then attended a webinar for LGBT regarding what to do legally right now and the folks managing it did not think existing marriages would be undone. 

I went to see a friend tonight and oh dear the rain on the way back. It really was not safe to drive, but I was in it before I knew that. 

According to Russian investigative outlet iStories, but reported in Newsweek so it has credibility, an entire regiment of Russian soldiers deserted. 1,000 soldiers of the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division in Volgograd left. 

Desertion has a maximum punishment in Russia of 15 years in prison. As of March last year the courts have seen a spike in cases. 

There is an article in Newsweek about Ukraine and renewable energy. RE makes it much easier and faster to recover from a Russian attack on electricity infrastructure. Coal plants are lovely centralized easy-to-attack systems. “When Russian strikes hit two DTEK solar farms in the spring, it took only seven days to restore power by replacing damaged panels and transformers. In contrast, rebuilding a similarly affected coal-fired plant required three to four months.” Russia has taken 50% of Ukraine’s power generation capability offline but the RE and nuclear are continuing to operate. 

Of the 8 ATACMs Ukraine shot into Russia, Russia was only able to intercept 2.

”The United States will send Ukraine at least $275 million in new weapons, according to a Tuesday report by The Associated Press (AP)…. The latest U.S. aid package for Ukraine reportedly includes a bolstered array of air defense systems, such as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), along with 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, Javelin anti-armor missiles and a range of additional equipment and spare parts, according to U.S. officials.”

The US will send antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine. This is a second major policy shift, the first being allowing Ukraine to use US weapons to hit inside Russia. The mines are “non-persistent” which means they become inactive after a predetermined period of time. This addresses of course the cruelest evil of land mines - they can go off long after the conclusion of a war and hurt civilians including children. Non-persistent. Russia and the US are two countries that do not ban land mine use. Russia has used more than a dozen different types of them in Ukraine, possibly laying 2 million land mines in Ukraine as part of this invasion, and how to clear them after the end of the war is a major problem. However, Trump has said he will stop military aid. The Pentagon thinks mines could be one of the most effective ways to slow Russia. 

Ukraine hit a Russian command post in the town of Gubkin, 105 miles from the border.