Flower Friday

Did you know the US had a government office to prevent human trafficking? We used to. 


Once Congress rescinds the funding for USAID, is ending it no longer illegal? I don’t know. 

Ukraine said it destroyed a Russian command center using a fighter jet, American guided bombs, and a low approach. Footage was published on Telegram. Tom Lehrer had a song that included that WWIII would be on TV. The jet flew at an “ultra-low altitude” to evade air defense and radar. I’m sure the footage is very exciting for people who play pilot in computer war games because he flies low for a long time and then thrusts up quickly and does a roll to get out of there. All the cool computer games that came out after I lost interest in playing computer games. The smart bomb used GPS to navigate. 

I won’t tell you how I know but it is apparently not smart to occupy an area, like Crimea, and then make the people in that area send your soldiers bottled water. There is currently no proof of sabotage. 

Ukraine can use drones to annoy civilians without actually hurting them because Russia is responding by shutting down internet. Dozens of areas in Russia have regular outages and people can’t use their credit cards. Taxi and ride-sharing apps don’t work. People need paper maps. Pharmacies can’t log prescriptions. Operation Spiderweb just freaked out Russia worse. 

Yesterday Ukraine hacked Gazprom. They destroyed some databases and installed some software. Gazprom is a Russian state—owned energy company. 

Sometimes it is so hard to find positive news on Ukraine and sometimes there is so much.

At least four drones hit a Russian chemical plant causing a leak that ignited. There was other damage. Employees were evacuated. Production was halted. The plant made chemicals for explosives, solid rocket fuel, and other military purposes.