Rubber duckies

got together with some folks

One of them is about my age and has had a dreadful time job hunting for years. 

One of them works for FEMA, our disaster relief agency, and Trump wants to get rid of FEMA. 

One of them is a probationary employee with the Dept of Transportation who is rehired, effective tomorrow, thanks to the Attorney Generals of Democratic states getting together to sue over the mass firings. 

These are some rubber ducks in the window of the FEMA/Dept of Transportation couple’s vehicle. 

The woman my age is British and talked about how everyone in Europe is stunned at what is happening in the US. Just today I read that we threatened Greenland that we would take them whether they like it or not and told Canada we would destroy them and then take them. We are locking up people trying to come to the US for tourism. (I don’t recommend coming to the US for the next two years.) The sense of disbelief is probably protective. 

Fortunately I had some things to do later in the day that cheered me back up. 

Before the war, women weren’t allowed to work underground in Ukraine. Thanks to the war and the mobilization of soldiers women can work in coal mines now. 

Lithuanian is willing to be part of a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. 

The Wall Street Journal has an article about Natalya Barchuk rescuing her civilian husband from Russian clutches. He worked for the pension office. Russia invaded. He took the pension office computers to hide them from the Russians. The Russians captured and imprisoned him. His wife went into Russia and found him and carried on extended little bribes and conversations with guards and wardens to get care packages to him and other prisoners. Eventually there were charges against him and the good news is that the computers he hid weren’t on the list of the computers stolen. She found a Russian attorney who was pro-Russian but agreed to take his case. He lost. The lawyer paid a bribe of $5,000 for five prisoners because she was shocked that the Russian justice system had not worked. He was freed and the families paid back the lawyer. He is now home, with his wife, and the area of Ukraine has been retaken by Ukraine. Incredible bravery and persistence on her part. He weighed 126 lbs when he was freed.