Please do not betray Ukraine!

The munitions were sitting on Ukraine’s border with Poland, about to enter Ukraine, when the President ordered a pause on our military support for Ukraine.

My friend in Lviv, Rocky Durham, who runs DurhamHumanitarian.org, wrote me, “The munitions are in Poland. They were ready to cross the border when Trump stopped them. Blood is on his hands! He is Putin’s lapdog.”

Please call your Representatives and Senators. This is the message: “We demand the immediate resumption of military aid to Ukraine. The US must continue standing with the Ukrainian people.”

And our Congressman Thompson, a steadfast supporter of Ukraine, was already on it the very day the announcement was made. From his Washington staffer, “Representative Thompson joined a letter today with Vindman and others demanding the Administration resume the munitions shipment.”

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly stated that the decision was made to prioritize America’s interests.

It is too early to know how Europe will respond, but there are a few things we do know:

Russia is delighted. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated, “The fewer the number of weapons that are delivered to Ukraine, the closer the end of the Special Military Operation.”

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said, “Any delay in supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace.”

Ukrainian Olena Halushka warned, “If Ukraine is left without sufficient air defenses, Russia will wipe out entire cities with ballistic missiles. Tens of millions will flee to Europe by winter,”

President Zelenskyy did everything Trump asked him to. He signed away mineral rights, agreed to an unconditional ceasefire, and the US still cut off weapon supplies, which were already funded by the previous administration.

What we also know: Ukraine was the biggest recipient of USAID funds since the invasion in February 2022. They received $2.6 billion in humanitarian aid, $5 5billion in development assistance, and paid $30 billion directly into Ukraine’s budget. This aid has all but stopped. By March of this year, only $1.27 of the ASAID awards were still active.

North Korea is sending an additional 30,000 troops to support Russia’s genocidal incursion.

As Europe took on more of the burden in NATO, as requested by Trump, they severely limited their humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

And at this moment, are we cutting off military support?

At a town hall on February 20 of this year, Representative Thompson warned an overflow crowd: “There are three pillars that support democracy: the Congress, which is dysfunctional, the courts, which take too long, and the American people. So, the defense of our democracy is in YOUR hands.”

Right now, the best thing we can do is call our Representatives and Senators, telling them what we want from the administration:

“We demand the immediate resumption of military aid to Ukraine. The US must continue supporting the Ukrainian People.”

— Nancy Fischer, Yolo County

On California’s judicial designation

Dear friends, California ranks as one of the worst places in the country for small businesses, landing at the No. 5 spot in the latest Judicial Hellholes report released by the American Tort Reform Foundation. Trial lawyers continue to push litigation in our already overregulated business landscape and California small businesses are bearing the brunt of this legal abuse.

As a small business owner myself, the most apparent threat that I see to small businesses here in California is the trial lawyer exploitation of ADA laws. Mega-trial firms have been treating our small business communities as personal ATMs for years, finding minor breaches in compliance and demanding outsized settlements in return for dropping these lawsuits.

The numbers paint a grim picture. Over 1,500 ADA lawsuits were filed in California in just the first half of 2024 alone—the highest number of ADA cases in the nation. Small businesses are disproportionately targeted because they often lack the financial resources to mount a legal defense and are more likely to settle, making them easy prey for greedy trial attorneys and serial plaintiffs. Attorneys will locate business that are in violation of often minor breaches of ADA code—a mirror that is an inch too high or a sidewalk or parking lot that is angled one degree too much.

As a result, these lawsuits contribute to rising costs, job losses, and an increasingly inhospitable business climate. The issue extends far beyond just the small business community, with every Californian paying upwards of $2,400 in an annual “tort tax” and the loss of 820,000 jobs attributed to the cost of excessive litigation.

A more recent and even more troubling trend has emerged: ADA website accessibility lawsuits. Serial plaintiffs are able to scour thousands of websites from the comforts of their homes, hunting for any website accessibility violations. Once they pinpoint these technicalities, trial lawyers pounce, pressuring businesses into costly settlements. This practice results in a calculated shakedown scheme, not a genuine pursuit of justice for disabled individuals within our state.

California’s lawmakers have seemingly made little effort to champion our small businesses, choosing instead to be complicit in allowing trial attorneys to profit from an outdated and easily manipulated legal framework. Legitimate concerns about accessibility should be addressed with practical solutions, not legal extortion. If state leaders truly care about economic growth and fairness, they must enact common-sense legal reform measures.

— Stephen J. Chaudhry, Woodland