California continues to deliver relief to the people of Ukraine. Since March, the state has shipped five, 50-bed field medical stations along with thousands of pieces of protective gear to Ukraine.
“California has stood firm in our support for Ukraine since day one of Russia’s unprovoked invasion,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement this week.. “Our support will save lives and help the people of Ukraine as they experience unspeakable atrocities, and we will continue to support Ukraine’s brave fight against tyranny and oppression.”
For nearly three decades, as part of the California National Guard’s State Partnership Program, members of the Guard have trained members of the Ukrainian military.
Together, both the state National Guard and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) collaborated with state, local and federal agencies to deliver medical equipment and tactical gear supplies to Ukraine. The field medical stations are donated by the State of California’s Emergency Medical Services Authority at the California Health and Human Services Agency.
The National Guard has facilitated the shipment of protective gear which includes 4,320 ballistic vests and 1,580 helmets, with additional shipments planned in the coming weeks.
Emergency Services has facilitated the transfer of PPE and five field medical stations to cities in Ukraine, and is in the process of sending two more to Ukraine in partnership with Direct Relief of Santa Barbara, for a total of seven field medical stations (350 beds).
“California is incredibly proud to stand with the Ukrainian people as they have shown phenomenal resilience under extraordinarily difficult circumstances,” said OES Director Mark Ghilarducci. “We will continue to deliver additional aid in the coming weeks which will be used to help save lives and treat those devastated by the ravages of war.”
“California’s National Guard has formed an unbreakable bond with our Ukrainian counterparts and when the call was made to provide support and aid in a time of need, we responded with overwhelming support,” said Major General David S. Baldwin, Adjutant General of the California National Guard, in a statement this week. “The guard requested donations of tactical gear from State National Guards throughout the nation and they responded with enthusiasm. Thanks to donations from California and from other National Guard members throughout the country, we are able to supply those fighting in Ukraine with thousands of ballistic vests and other protective supplies.”
The shipment is the latest show of support for Ukraine after Newsom’s meeting with Consul General of Ukraine in San Francisco Dmytro Kushneruk in March. In that meeting, the governor expressed California’s solidarity with the Ukrainian community and discussed the state’s efforts to support the people and government of Ukraine.
Newsom also signed an executive order directing state agencies and departments to ensure their contracts comply with economic sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s attacks and to direct their contractors to do the same, and called for state pension funds to halt the flow of money from the state to Russia and to ban the purchase of Russian debt.
California and Ukraine share close ties and the state is home to one of the largest Ukrainian populations in the country. The California Department of Social Services Refugee Programs Bureau has more information available online for Ukrainian families and service providers.
With the enthusiasm shown by Newsom and the California National Guard in helping those in need, my advice to the 160,000 plus houseless Californians and the more than 10 million Californians living in poverty to learn Ukranian as quickly as possible. I think it might be the only way to get some real attention and action form these duplicitous and posturing politicians and military leaders. .
Our troubled marxist is unhappy?
Maybe tell those people to take some self-initiative? versus wanting for the fruit of someone else’s labor.
“God helps those who help themselves.”
Ben Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac (1757)
Algernon Sydney, Discourses Concerning Government (1698)
..and to maybe learn some form of the Spanish language and move to Venezuela or Cuba?
Expecting help from God, I guess, is about as productive as waiting for help from the neoliberal mercenaries otherwise known as elected and appointed government leadership. Or, for that matter, as promising as waiting for Godot (https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/waiting-for-godot). It’s six of one or a half-dozen of the other. Demanding a bigger and better social safety net, on the other hand, is the working poor demanding more of the social output that they themselves have already produced and not received.
In the meantime, I suggest the following slogans for those agitating against war and for more assistance to California’s working poor:
a) Немає війни, але класова війна (No War But Class War)
b) Перемагайте олігархів тут, там і всюди (Defeat the Oligarchs Here, There, Everywhere)
c) Гроші на житло, а не на війну (Money for Housing, Not War)
I’m sure a certain self-described short-legged Ukrainian will appreciate these sentiments as expressed in the mother tongue.
Well, that went right over his head –
but no one ever said that marxism is an ideology of the intelligent,
based on the outcomes – who would vote for a marxist autocracy, like Cuba or Venezuela, just to go on a strict diet of food, basic rights, prosperity and self-sufficiency.
I was really expecting a several paragraph reply by one of his “alter egos” with ‘wikipedia’ opinions and progressive alt-left pontification.
When all the troubled marxist needed to do was refer to his favorite ‘wiki’ source and read the first entry.
“The phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is a motto that emphasizes the importance of SELF-INITIATIVE and AGENCY.
The expression is known around the world and is used to inspire people for self-help.
The phrase originated in ancient Greece as “the gods help those who help themselves” and may originally have been proverbial. It is illustrated by two of Aesop’s Fables and a similar sentiment is found in ancient Greek drama. Although it has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the modern English wording appears earlier in Algernon Sidney’s work.
The phrase is often mistaken as a scriptural quote, though it is not stated verbatim in the Bible.”
It is not about God, it is about being a Productive Member of a Functioning Society.
Now if the ‘troubled one’ had any real ambition or entrepreneurial skills he could really help these so-called “working?(really?) poor” by producing something of value with his ‘brainy’ labor.
If he only possessed a small, tiny fraction of the skill, imagination, risk taking, and intelligence of say an Elon Musk – even to a less than 1% level – he could have $2.5 Billion dollars of his own efforts & labor to redistribute to the folks that rather live according to their lowest common denominator, feeding at the hands of Govt elites.
or,
He could at least try to work the Govt grift game and profit off his constituents, paid union patronage, extorted corporations and of course some ‘insider trading’ in stock markets –
like Nancy Pelosi & Family, who turned a 30 year career of so-called ‘public service’ into
a $200 – $320 Million dollar real estate & stock market fortune,
on roughly $174,000 – $193,000 Govt salary –
adept at ‘timing’ the stock market with annual stock investments that beat Warren Buffett and all the top stock fund managers.
If only he had action behind his boring sloganeering…
If only he had less envy and more personal responsibility…