BREAKING: Putin Went There

The world at war.

Four words none of us ever want to hear. Yet when a power-hungry madman goes off the rails and amasses 100,000 of his soldiers on the borders of a neighboring country, there's nothing we can do.

Reports are coming in this morning in the early morning hours of Ukraine. Bombings in Kyiv. Bombings in Odessa. Bombings in Kharkiv. Bombings in Maripul.

For those of us of a certain generation, this is the first large-scale war in our lifetimes. The first Gulf War was distant. We were blissfully unaware of what happened with the Rwandan genocide. We were too young to understand the scope of Kosovo. We were still non-radicalized college students when Bush The Younger invaded Iraq. So, here we stand today on February 23, 2022 witnessing what will be Europe's biggest invasion since 1945. 

There will certainly be political fallout from all of this. The Republican Party has sided with a brutal, murderous dictator. Fox News has become the American version of Russia Today. Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, and other members of the Party of Law and Order will continue offering words of praise to the Russian dictator. Meanwhile, it is up to Joe Biden and NATO to do whatever they can, using all elements of an arsenal of democracy to try and mitigate as much of the needless suffering and death for the Ukrainian people can they can.

But tonight as the bombs rain down on a defenseless country of 40 million people, offer up a moment. A moment of quiet reflection. A moment dedicated to whatever spiritual guide brings you love, peace, and hope. Tonight all of us need to offer our positive vibes to the good people of Ukraine. They are unquestionably victims of Putin's war. Yet, now they are the ones who will suffer. While it is too late to avoid this conflict entirely, we can only hope that somehow, someway damages and the loss of human life are kept to a minimum. At this point, all we have is hope for Ukraine. 

This is your world at war open thread.