Action

There are 72 posts filed in Action (this is page 1 of 8).

How you can help Ukraine

I am harvesting these links from multiple issues of Tim Snyder’s “Thinking About…” Substack newsletter. Ironically, although these are available online, and I received them as part of a free subscription, the online version cannot be viewed without a paid subscription – sad.

March 1, 2025

If you are thinking today about how to help Ukrainians, here are some possibilities: Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO that supports soldiers on the battlefield and veterans; United 24, the Ukrainian state platform for donations, with many excellent projects); RAZOM, an American NGO, tax-deductible for US citizens, which cooperates with Ukrainian NGOS to support civilians; and BlueCheck Ukraine, which aims for efficient cooperation with Ukrainian groups and is also tax-deductible.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/help-stop-a-genocide

So rather than indulge my own preferences, I asked where I could be most immediately helpful.  The answer from the Ukrainians I asked was a system to defend against the Iranian drones.  And so that is what, as an ambassador of the president’s United24 platform, I have pledged to do: to raise $1.25 million for such a system, a Shahed Hunter. 

https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-challenge-of-6

1.  Safe Skies.  This is passive drone-detection system that allows Ukrainians to detect drones and cruise missiles in time to shoot them down.  President Zelens’kyi just posted some photos of that end of the operation.  Thanks to thousands of people, including many of you here, I was able (with support from some great historian colleagues) to raise enough money to protect eight Ukrainian regions with five thousand sensors (map here).  Ukraine needs 12,000 total sensors to protect the entire country, so 7,000 more.  The technology is inexpensive and effective.  I have seen it at work.  It saves lives.  This is a very direct way that you can help Ukrainians protect themselves.  Just go to this page and hit the button “Protect Ukrainian Skies.” 

2.  Razom for Ukraine.  This is an American 501(c)3 that carries out important policy advocacy work in Washington DC and around the country.  Aside from their terrific advocate team, they have a large group of volunteers who work tirelessly with Ukrainian NGOs to deliver aid and supplies to Ukraine.  I have worked together with their great team on events for years and am always filled with admiration of their energy, efficacy, and devotion.  A donation to them is a very safe bet.  Please visit their page and donate.

3.  Come Back Alive Foundation.  More and more I hear from people who wish to help the Ukrainian army directly.  A Ukrainian NGO that supplies soldiers on the front with what they need is Come Back Alive.  They have been doing this job since the first Russian invasion and are very well reputed and highly reliable.  You can see their fundraisers here.

4.  1 Team 1 Fight Foundation.  This is a group with some very active European volunteers who have shown their mettle and devotion in getting supplies to the front in Ukraine.  They are also an American 501(c)3.  You can find their campaigns here.

5.  Liberty Ukraine Foundation.  Here we have a small group of (mostly) Texans who have done a great job in delivering humanitarian and military aid to Ukrainians.  You can find their current projects here.  They are a US 501(c)3.

6.  Documenting Ukraine.  As many of you will know, I helped establish this project to support Ukrainian scholars, journalists, writers, artists, photographers, librarians, archivists, and others who are documenting the war, each according to their own talents and following their own projects.  We have given grants to 360 Ukrainians at this point, and are aiming for 500 by the end of the year.  (One of those 360 was Mstyslav Chernov, the director of 20 Days in Mariupol, which just won an Oscar).  I am proud of this effort to give Ukrainians a voice and to create a record of the war in real time and across multiple media.  You can donate here.  This is also a US 501(c)3.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-to-help-ukrainians-during-the (flood)

1.  Ukraïner have a small group on the scene who have been evacuating people right from the beginning.  Your donation would mean a lot to them.  You can support them on Paypal from abroad via tymoshenkoyulia99@gmail.com or follow this link.

2.  Rescue Now UA is a Ukrainian evacuation organization founded when this invasion began now active in Kherson.  They are constituted as a US 501(c)3 so donations by Americans are tax-deductible.  You can send money by PayPal here or consult the donation link here.

3.  The Ukrainian Firefighters Foundation is raising money to buy pumps for the Kherson Emergency Services.  You can help via Paypal via bimbirayte@gmail.com or by going to this page and hitting the Paypal button.

4.  Vostok SOS is a Ukrainian evacuation organization working in the flooded Kherson region now to move people with limited mobility, children, and animals.  You can support them through Paypal on nfo@vostok-sos.org or use this donation link

5.  The Prytula Foundation is an established Ukrainian NGO specializing in matching equipment to local needs.  They are already delivering boats and other gear.  You can support them via Paypal on serhiy.prytula.kyiv@gmail.com (specify goal) or follow this donation link.

6.  UAnimals has been evacuating and caring for animals throughout the war and is raising funds to do so now in Kherson region.  As you might have noticed Ukraine is a country that cares for its land and its animals.  Donation link is here.

7.  Razom is an American NGO that cooperates with local Ukrainian NGOs.  If you donate to Razom, they will make sure your support is appropriately directed.  It is a US 501(c)3.  You can donate here.

8.  World Central Kitchen is an international NGO that has done extraordinary work in Ukraine during this war.  They are providing excellent nutritious food in Kherson region right now.  You can support them here.

9.  United24 is President Volodymyr Zelens’kyi’s official fundraising platform (I am an ambassador).  Their “Lifeboat Ukraine” project is raising money for gear for rescue operations.  Follow this link and look for the Help button.

10.  ComeBackAlive is a trusted NGO that supports Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers are now evacuating disabled people and the elderly. They are also using their drones to deliver water to people stranded on rooftops.  Beyond that: rescue operations are hindered by Russian artillery and snipers.  Only Ukrainian soldiers can get them out of range.  Here’s a link.

Yeah!

What is the plan for Democrats?

So, here we are. Mike Johnson was elected speaker of the House 218-215 (in a 90 minute vote with phone calls to the holdouts by Donald Trump). What was the next opportunity to test the Republicans? The rules package. What was the vote? 215-209, with 10 not voting and one Democrat voting for the package.

WHAT!

If all Democrats voted against (including that one outcast), it would have lost 214-215. Why didn’t the Democratic conference flex their muscle there? Ugh.

Next, the electoral count. I was not expecting any challenges, and there were none, which is as it should be. Today, the House passed the Laken Riley Act. The Hill reports that “The legislation cleared the chamber in a 264-159 vote, with 48 Democrats joining all Republicans in support. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation this week…..Democratic leadership did not whip for or against the Laken Riley Act, allowing members of the caucus to vote their conscience.”. Well, I guess the Democrats are “keeping their powder dry”….

Now Trump is boasting about buying Greenland and taking back the Panama Canal, among other stupid ideas. Representative Jim McGovern has the right idea:

This would be a good start – don’t let the people forget about what Trump “promised” he would do when he became President. Democrats, let’s get out there and keep the pressure up! And, let’s try not to feed the troll…

How to volunteer to help process election data

Now that the 2024 US election results have been certified by the states, those results have been made available to the public through the state election offices, usually part of the Secretary of State for each state.   A non-profit, Open Elections, has been working for over a decade to collect and make US election data publicly available for academic and political analysis. 

I am helping again with my home state of Oregon. For many counties throughout the US, the county election office releases a PDF file of results for each precinct. Open Elections depends on volunteers to process these files and create files in Comma Separated Value (CSV) format. The files are reviewed and then committed to a GitHub repository organized by state. Some counties also make results available directly in CSV format, but not many. Fortunately, there are several tools that can be used to capture data from PDFs in a table format (Tabula, a Java application, and Microsoft Excel). I have been using Excel this time, and it is working well for me (Tabula would not run on my Windows 11 laptop).

For more information on how to help, check out their documentation site (a little dated, still refers to 2020 election, but there is work going on for 2024 results). I feel like I am doing something positive as opposed to just feeling bad about the 2024 presidential election results. Take a look!

Follow-up on “How to get the Democratic message out there”

Recently, I wrote a post about an idea of trying to get the @kamalahq social media feeds going again. I took the following actions:

  1. Reached out to the communications contact for my county Democratic committee, sent them a pointer to my post, and asked if there was anything the county committee could do to help. The person wrote me back, said they agreed with my post, and added a link to the post in that week’s newsletter. I waited a few days, but did not get any response. I touched base with the county committee person again, the response was “there are some connected people on the mailing list. I have not written back.
  2. I signed up for a trial of LinkedIn Premium to be able to send directly email to Lauren Kopp (head person of @kamalahq feeds), asking if the feeds might be restarting. No response yet (need to remember to cancel my trial….)
  3. Sent email to the digital director for the Oregon Democratic Party, with the same info I sent to the county party committee. No response yet.

What to do next? I will follow up to the state party office (probably should write the top person) and the county committee (maybe the comms person has some other ideas). I am not surprised by the level of response, but perhaps a second try will get a little farther.

What a difference 161 votes makes

There is a saying that ” your vote makes a difference” or “every vote is important”. In a Oregon House race that just concluded, every vote was, indeed, important.

This happened to be Oregon House District 22, in which I reside. The incumbent, Republican Tracy Cramer, was being challenged by Democrat Lesly Munoz. On November 5th, initial results showed Cramer leading by over 500 votes. However, as votes continued to be processed, Cramer’s lead narrowed. On November 14th, Munoz took the lead by a single vote.

Oregon is a vote-by-mail state, and in addition, Oregon counts votes mailed that are postmarked by Election Day and received within 8 days after Election Day. As a result, my county (Marion County, Oregon) was still receiving valid votes through November 12, and then was continuing to process ballots after that point. so vote totals kept changing.

After all valid ballots had been counted, there were still over 800 ballots for this House district that needed to be “cured” to be considered valid ballots. In general, this meant that there was a signature verification issue, and the ballots were set aside. Marion County then sent letters to all of those registered voters informing them of the problem and told them they had to go to the county elections office to “cure” their vote by 5pm on November 26th. The campaigns and parties also received lists of these voters, and worked to get these voters to cure their ballots. As of November 25th, there were still over 500 ballots not cured, and the last report from Marion County showed Munoz ahead by 149 votes. The final unofficial tally was released by Marion County around 6:00pm on November 26, with Munoz leading Cramer by 161 votes. Yes, in this race, every vote did make a difference.