Why Carrie and Aidan’s Reunion on And Just Like That Makes No Sense

This story contains spoilers for season 2, episode 8 of And Just Like That…

Though it lasted for only two seasons, one of the most contentious storylines in Sex and the City was the battle between suave financier John James Preston (a.k.a. Mr. Big) and hunky woodworker Aidan Shaw for Carrie Bradshaw’s heart. Fans were divided between Team Big and Team Aidan. The former suitor (played by Chris Noth) was emotionally unavailable but had an undeniable connection with Carrie. The latter (John Corbett) was the quintessential “nice guy” who kept finishing last. Ultimately, throughout six seasons of the original TV series and two follow-up films, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) always chose Big. Aidan may have been the biggest threat to the show’s primary relationship, but even he faded into memory, an old chapter in the long love story between Carrie and John.

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But now—with John having met his demise and Carrie feeling her way out of the darkness and back into the dating pool on And Just Like That…—Aidan is suddenly, triumphantly, back. Fans of the original series had major feelings about Carrie’s ex’s reappearance in Season 2’s episode 7, which dropped July 27 (and not only because he was dressed in an absurd belted and waxed jacket). Episode 8, out today, only escalates the situation, with Carrie and Aidan playing house in Che’s apartment (since Carrie’s place still triggers him), imagining what their lives might have looked like if they had stayed together in the past while starting to consider their future.

Read More: And Just Like That Is Finally (Maybe) Fixing Its Miranda Problem

It’s no secret that much of the new series’ momentum draws from nostalgia. Viewers tune in week after week to be reunited with beloved characters they’ve spent decades watching and re-watching, and cameos from characters who were part of the original show only ramp up the anticipation. The return of Aidan, now flush with cash after selling his furniture business to West Elm and retiring to a farm in Virginia, may be the zenith of this phenomenon, but it’s also the most nonsensical turn the show could have taken—even for a series with a notoriously tenuous relationship with reality.

Aidan was always a foil to Big. While Big was distant and cold, Aidan was affectionate and open. While Big was an ultra-wealthy finance guy with a vacation home in the Hamptons and an affinity for smoking in bed, Aidan was a hippie-esque woodworker with a rustic cabin upstate who once broke up with Carrie because of her cigarette habit. Throughout Aidan’s multiple attempts to make it work with her, the specter of Big always loomed large. Carrie was so attached to Big that she even brought him to Aidan’s upstate house for a cursed weekend after they had an affair. Though Big and Aidan were often referred to as the two great loves of Carrie’s life, it was always abundantly clear who her main love interest was—and the fact that Aidan wasn’t right for her hasn’t changed just because Big is gone.

For many, Aidan was the epitome of boyfriend material: a handsome artist who was also secure, attentive, unafraid of vulnerability, and ready for commitment. He was what many viewers dreamed of, but he was never a good match for Carrie. Their relationship was not defined by tender moments but instead by cringe bits: her repeated professions of being his “booth b-tch” at a furniture show, the way she cruelly took out her frustrations on him at an Apple store after her computer crashed, the time he ate so much fried chicken in bed he asked her to rub his belly instead of taking her up on sex. And Carrie’s moral compass was far more aligned with Big’s. She cheated on Aidan for weeks with a still-married John, lied to him about the affair and her smoking habit, and allowed Aidan to buy her apartment for her after violating his trust, then asked Charlotte to hock her ring to pay for it after she broke off their engagement. In short, Carrie was always a selfish jerk, just like Big—which is why they worked. They deserved each other, and they found a way to make each other better.

Read More: How And Just Like That Season 2 Pays Homage to the SATC Movie

All this makes Carrie’s response to Aidan’s return is a little mind boggling. They may have matured and changed over the years, but they are fundamentally the same people they were when they couldn’t make it work. Aidan’s lifestyle is still at odds with Carrie’s—she still grimaces at the memory of his upstate “shack,” but meanwhile he’s upped the ante by moving full time to a farm. She’s putting her friendships on the back burner in order to spend time with her new boyfriend—a rookie mistake she learned not to make in the original series—which causes Seema to question whether they should go through with their summer in the Hamptons. Carrie is even considering splitting her time between her beloved Manhattan and Aidan’s home in Norfolk, Va., which is unthinkable for a woman who’s defined by New York City.

It’s jarring to watch Carrie seriously ask Miranda whether or not her nearly 20-year relationship with Big was a “big mistake” in light of her burgeoning romance with Aidan. It’s even more dismaying to see her double down on the sentiment when she tells Che that the reason why she and Aidan didn’t work out before was because of a “mistake.” Big might not have been everyone’s definition of a perfect partner, but he was Carrie’s. Like his much-maligned fashion, Aidan’s return is ill-fitting and out of character.

source https://time.com/6301380/carrie-aidan-relationship-and-just-like-that/

‘Always Be Ready to Run’: For Some Capitol Workers, It’s Still Jan. 6

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“Trump facing some form of accountability was supposed to feel better than this,” the chief of staff to a Democrat in Congress told me in the midst of yet another lockdown. This was Wednesday afternoon, the day after Special Counsel Jack Smith had released his four-count indictment against former President Donald Trump, a move that was both cheered by many Hill denizens while also sending some of them back to one of the worst days of their lives, that harrowing moment when they barricaded themselves in offices as hundreds of Trump loyalists roamed the complex looking for lawmakers to intimidate—or worse.

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And then came the 911 call suggesting there was an active shooter in the Hart Senate Office Building and what has become an all-too-familiar routine kicked in.

“I had to silence my cell phone, blockade my office door, and keep the staffers here calm,” the chief of staff said. The echo of Jan. 6, 2021, was almost too precise.

Even before that midday adrenaline spike, many Capitol staffers have been mentally bracing for Thursday, when Trump is due to make his first appearance in federal court to answer felony charges related to his behavior related to the mob attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. Wednesday’s lockdown was like a metaphor for the sense of security that Capitol workers had lost since that day.

“I hate it here,” one junior staffer messaged his friends as the threat was ongoing.

“This s— doesn’t get any easier,” a Republican chief of staff messaged me back on a secure app.

“K Street looks better by the day,” a second Democratic chief of staff replied when I did a quick check-in.

One of the most under-appreciated background stories since Jan. 6, 2021, has been the slow-boiling mental health crisis plaguing Capitol Hill staffers—and not the ones you’d think. Mid-career staffers and younger aides have never not known active-shooter drills in their schools. Learning to hide in classrooms was simply part of the curriculum, and now simply the way they go about their lives. “Always be ready to run,” a House intern texted me, along with a picture of the sneakers she keeps under her desk.

Yet for staffers over a certain age—particularly those in their 40s, those of us who were leaving high school around the Columbine shooting in the spring of 1999—this is all new. This cohort is the one now leading staff in senior roles, and many of them are especially having trouble adapting to this new dynamic. 

Quantifying the impact is tricky, for sure. But there are some metrics that are at the ready. In the year that followed the Jan. 6 riots, 135 officers had left the 2,000-person Capitol Police force; a year earlier, that number stood at 80. In 2017, there were fewer than 4,000 threats made against Congress. In 2021, that number skyrocketed to 9,600. 

In the 30,000-person city within a city that is the Capitol complex, the turnover numbers are only part of the story. One former Democratic member of Congress who was at the Capitol that day but has since retired has nicknamed their former place of employment Doom City: “Every day was like attending a wake. The joy was gone, the celebration of service was killed.” 

Chiefs of staff had already noticed the growing sense of unease, especially for their employees who were at the Capitol for the attack, and now seem to be just waiting for it to happen all over again. “Don’t ask Are you OK? unless you want a real answer,” a Senate senior aide warned me earlier this week, even before the Capitol crashed into lockdown.

Talk to any receptionist in a member’s office—especially Democratic ones, but not exclusively—and they now always have the right forms at the ready to report threats that come to the switchboard. Some offices have just started sending everything to voicemail so they have evidence of the belligerence. Republicans deemed insufficiently MAGA are spared none of the wrath, and those still willing to downplay Jan. 6 keep a wide berth in public lest they be latched to perceived traitors.

In the months that followed the riot, Capitol Hill transformed from one of the most accessible places in the federal government into a fortress on par with the White House. At one point, more armed troops patrolled Capitol Hill than Afghanistan. Security fences went up, and down, and up again. Heck, metal detectors were even installed just off the House floor to screen lawmakers for guns. That’s how toxic and anxiety-demanding working on the Hill had become.

And all of that unresolved trauma came rushing back on Wednesday, 24 hours before Trump was set to return to another fortified building just down the street and presumably plead not guilty over his role in a tragic day that he continues to misrepresent. By the time the all-clear message went across the Capitol complex, the nerves had frayed. Capitol Police said it was likely a “bogus” call, but nonetheless went door to door through all of the Senate office buildings just to be sure. Police then escorted staffers from the building, again just to be sure. There was no indication of shots fired, injuries, or an ongoing threat, but that is little consolation to the professionals on the Hill who had to relive their Jan. 6 experiences during a week when many are already struggling to put the trauma behind them.

This, right here, is why so many of the best and brightest don’t want to log a few years on Capitol Hill. The drag on mental health isn’t remotely worth it.

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source https://time.com/6301285/january-6-capitol-trauma-trump-arraignment/

And Just Like That Is Finally (Maybe) Fixing Its Miranda Problem

“The law firm seems like 100 years ago,” Carrie muses to Miranda in the most recent episode of And Just Like That. It might just be the truest thing Carrie Bradshaw has ever said, Sex and the City canon included. Throughout the six seasons and two major motion pictures that constituted the franchise’s original run, Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda Hobbes was defined by her career as a powerful corporate lawyer. But Miranda the AJLT character has barely resembled the fire-haired ambition monster SATC fans knew and, for the most part, loved. Until, hopefully, now. 

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For the first time in nearly two seasons, Miranda is back in the workplace. As she giddily announces to Carrie, she has an internship with Human Rights Watch. Yes, she’s starting at the bottom. This is, after all, her first job since stepping down as partner in that dimly remembered law firm—because, she explains in the AJLT premiere, “I couldn’t be a part of the problem anymore.” But by the end of this week’s episode, the hypercompetent Miranda has already been tapped to cover her extremely pregnant supervisor’s maternity leave. Which would be excellent news if she wasn’t painfully aware that her much-younger fellow interns are already texting each other behind her back about her privilege and the opportunities she’s snatching out from under them. It’s a perfect latter-day Miranda story line, and one that arrives not a moment too soon.

As much as it pains me to admit it, AJLT has been a much better show in its second season than it was in its first, back when everyone was still pretending it was going to be a limited series. Following the tragicomic Peloton death of her husband John James “Mr. Big” Preston (and multiple sexual assault accusations against the actor who played him, Chris Noth, who has denied the allegations), the once-vivacious Carrie spent Season 1 in a fog of grief that overwhelmed what had always been a lighthearted franchise. Meanwhile, prissy Charlotte had aged into a full-on scold, bragging about her delayed perimenopause, nagging her friends about their life choices, and all but smothering her teenage children. And between Big’s abrupt exit, Kim Cattrall’s refusal to reprise the key role of Samantha Jones, and the death, midway through production, of Willie Garson, who played Carrie’s dear friend Stanford Blatch, the season felt more defined by its glaring absences than by what was actually happening on screen.

But Season 2 has brought a welcome return to SATC’s funnier, frothier form. It’s been a relief to see Carrie diving into the dating pool again, even if her all-consuming new relationship with Aidan—not to mention this week’s ahistorical dithering over whether Big was a mistake—feels a bit hasty. Showrunner Michael Patrick King and Kristin Davis, who plays Charlotte, have started leaning into the character’s ridiculousness. Now she makes for great comic relief, stressing out over the placement of a belt for her first day back on the job at an art gallery and dressing up as a hilariously weak facsimile of Keri Russell in The Americans for a costume party. The diverse new friends who were so transparently cast to address critiques of the franchise’s whiteness, like Sarita Choudhury’s Seema and Nicole Ari Parker’s Lisa, are finally more than just sidekicks.

That leaves poor, old Miranda as the weakest link. As others have noted, AJLT ruined the show’s only down-to-earth character by sending her on a nonsensical romantic odyssey that entailed callously dumping her husband of two decades, Steve, in order to discover new facets of her sexuality with Carrie’s nonbinary, comedian boss, Che Diaz. Much—including many memes—has been made of Che’s self-evident ridiculousness; Brock Colyar of The Cut memorably described the character as “a social-justice-warrior scold with a podcast and a cannabis habit” who is “there to teach the well-maintained, well-meaning, nearly 60-year-old ladies about ‘compulsory heterosexuality,’ pronounspeak, and using dialogue as a verb.” We even had to sit through a dire meta plot a few episodes back in which Che Diaz’s TV pilot got shelved after Che Diaz’s portrayal of a protagonist based on Che Diaz irritated a focus group.

More bewildering than Che’s existence was the sudden, 180-degree personality shift Miranda underwent when the pair started dating. Her studies at Columbia, toward a master’s in human rights law, faded into the background, along with Steve and their college-bound son Brady. She became Che’s 24/7 cheering section, obsessing over their sexual prowess and, at the end of season 1, moving across the country to L.A. to support their career. Her highlights in early episodes of the current season included fumbling with a strap-on and her inability to enjoy an impromptu threesome with the male ex to whom Che is still technically married. (King sure does seem to like humiliating poor Miranda.) In the broadest possible sense, the events of the show echoed the real life of Nixon, who divorced her then-husband late in SATC’s run and began dating her now-wife, Christine Marinoni. But she also ran for governor of New York in 2018, and that might have made a bit more sense as an AJLT pivot for a woman of Miranda’s caliber.

Now, at long last, Miranda and Che, a couple that never seemed especially compatible outside of the bedroom, have broken up (although a scene from this week’s episode, in which Carrie preaches to Che about second chances, has me worried they’re going to reunite in the finale). Which leaves Miranda free, for the time being, to reestablish her ruthless independence. The first few internship scenes offered a glorious glimpse of the old, sharp-tongued, Type A Miranda, whose pioneering heteropessimism once balanced out the giddy romantic misadventures of her three best girlfriends. “I guess you’re just perfect, Miranda,” a fellow intern sarcastically coos when she dares to alert the younger, less experienced woman to an error she’s made. “Actually,” Miranda snaps, “I’m a sexually confused alcoholic who’s in the midst of a divorce.” 

It’s easily her best AJLT line to date. Now this is the woman who once responded to a bended-knee marriage proposal by exclaiming: “What are you, f-ckin’ crazy?” And Just Like That could easily send her back down the Che Diaz rabbit hole, or worse, next week. But that’s all the more reason to celebrate the return of Miranda Hobbes, Esq. Long may she reign!  

source https://time.com/6301264/and-just-like-that-miranda-season-2/

What to Know About the Fatal Stabbing of O’Shae Sibley

On Saturday night at a gas station in Brooklyn, N.Y., a group of friends were dancing to a Beyoncé song when another group of men, who witnesses say used homophobic slurs, told them to stop. Surveillance footage shows one of the friends, O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old gay man who was a professional dancer, confronting the men. An argument began. Within minutes, police say, one of the men stabbed Sibley.

New York Police are investigating the fatal stabbing as a potential hate crime; Mayor Eric Adams referred to the incident as one on Monday.

Otis Pena, a close friend of Sibley’s, says he tried to stop the bleeding by pressing on the wound but Sibley was pronounced dead after being taken to Maimonides Medical Center. “They murdered him because he was gay, because he stood up for his friends,” Pena said in a video posted to Facebook hours after the stabbing.

LGBTQ advocates highlighted that the fatal stabbing comes amid a string of violent incidents. “O’Shae Sibley’s shocking murder follows a disturbing rise in violence and harassment against LGBTQ people across the U.S. This cannot continue. No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves,” said GLAAD director of local news Darian Aaron. “O’Shae Sibley had the audacity to live without the restraints of patriarchy and toxic masculinity, embracing freedom and joy. He should still be alive to celebrate all that made him great and inspired others to live their truth.”

Here’s what to know about the case. 

What happened to O’Shae Sibley?

Sibley stopped at a Mobil gas station in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn with his friends on Saturday around 11 p.m. E.T.

He was vogueing—a form of dance that is rooted in Harlem’s queer ballroom scene in the 1980s—to Beyoncé​​’s Renaissance before the heated argument began. The album, which critics have described as “a love letter to the Black queer roots of dance music,” has taken on a special meaning for the queer community.

Police received a call around 11:15 p.m. about a stabbing. Upon arriving, they found Sibley with a “stab wound to the torso,” according to a statement that police emailed to TIME. “There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing,” the police said in the statement.

Video obtained by the ABC 7 Eyewitness News showed some members of the victim’s group walking up to the other men before a tense conversation; after a few minutes, only the victim and suspect are seen speaking to each other. The victim walks away but the two groups then start arguing again, before the stabbing takes place.

NBC News has reported that law enforcement sources have identified the suspect as a 17-year-old who remains at large.

Summy Ullah, an employee of the store next to the gas station, told Gothamist that Sibley and his friends were approached by a group of men who said the dancing offended their Muslim faith. “These people were like ‘we’re Muslim, I don’t want you dancing,’” Ullah told Gothamist, adding that Sibley and his friends were “not trying to fight.”

“We have our own life. We can do whatever we want, you know. We’re dancing, that’s our life,” Ullah said the victim’s group told the men harassing them, according to the Daily News.

Read more: Pete Buttigieg on LGBTQ Rights: ‘I Don’t Think Anything Is Safe’

A hate-crime investigation

The NYPD confirmed to TIME that the stabbing is being investigated as a “possible biased incident.” Local leaders have publicly condemned the tragedy, speaking out against the homophobia that has cut people’s lives short. “We have an incident like we saw over the weekend where this young man was experiencing a hate crime. We will find this person. It shakes our confidence,” said New York City Mayor Adams during a Monday press conference.

O’Shae Sibley's life and beautiful spirit were cut short by homophobia. Bigotry can never take root in our city. Being a New Yorker means knowing and loving people of all backgrounds.

We'll bring justice for O'Shae's family and loved ones. His dancing joy will live on.…

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) August 1, 2023

Sibley’s passing comes at a time of heightened fear for many within the LGBTQ community. A March 2023 report by the Marshall Project found that group-targeting incidents aimed at LGBTQ people were the category of hate crime that saw the second-greatest increase from 2020 to 2021, while gay men were the third most-targeted group overall. Meanwhile, the ACLU has tracked nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced throughout the 2023 legislative session. This trend has garnered federal attention, prompting President Joe Biden to announce a LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership on June 8 to better protect queer individuals in response to increased violence and hate against “individuals and community spaces.”

Sibley’s passing marks the fifth time a queer individual has been killed in the past few weeks, GLAAD reports. Other victims include 18-year-old transgender Jacob Williamson, who was killed in South Carolina after meeting with a stranger he met online on June 30, and 24-year-old Akira Ross, who was shot at a gas station in front of her partner after the gunman yelled homophobic slurs, according to a police affidavit.

Read more: Column—Queer People Must Use History as a Guide to Fight Hate

Reactions to the tragedy

GLAAD highlighted that Sibley’s killing follows a “disturbing rise in violence and harassment against LGBTQ people across the U.S.” in a statement. “This cannot continue. No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves.”

Sibley’s aunt Tondra told the New York Times that “all he wanted to do was dance.” As a young child, he loved “jerking” to Missy Elliot before going on to learn professional ballet. He moved from Philadelphia to pursue more opportunities, she said.

Neighbor Beckenbaur Hamilton told NBC News that he had warned Sibley to be careful. “There’s no progress…we live here in a community where we have to pretend to be somebody else,” Hamilton said.

The dance studio where Sibley was a student posted a statement mourning his death on social media. The Ailey Extension described him as a “cherished and devoted” student with “incredible energy.” 

“We are shocked and heartbroken that O’Shae’s life has been taken by senseless violence and extend our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones,” the statement read.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a state senator in New York who is gay, tweeted that “gay joy is not a crime. Hate-fueled attacks are.”

Beyoncé offered her condolences, too—posting on her website, “rest in power O’Shae Sibley.”

source https://time.com/6300545/oshae-sibley-stabbing-gas-station/

Why Ukraine’s Civilian Volunteers Are the Unsung Heroes of the War

We traveled east from Kyiv in a three-vehicle convoy. Two were bound for delivery to Ukrainian forces just behind the fiercely contested frontline in Donetsk, the third was our ride home. A faded-yellow delivery van led the way, followed by a vaguely tactical-green Nissan pickup truck, and then us in a surplus Latvian police car in the rear. As a U.S. Army veteran, these vehicles seemed more fit for a junkyard than a battlefield. But thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a supply chain ill-prepared to handle the destruction of Europe’s bloodiest combat since World War II, these vehicles are soon to be war horses. And the cavalry delivering them aren’t combat trained soldiers, they’re three of many Ukrainian civilians doing whatever it takes to help defend their home.

Ukraine has defied expectations against an adversary with far greater resources and manpower. Political leaders and analysts frequently tout advanced Western-supplied weapons as the key to Ukraine’s success in defending against Russian aggression. Military aid packages are undoubtedly vital—just ask any Kyiv resident depending on Patriot air defense systems to survive nightly air strikes. But a visit near the frontline in Bakhmut reveals a harsh reality: soldiers rely on civilian volunteers to meet their most urgent survival needs.

Read More: The Spirit of Ukraine and TIME’s 2022 Person of the Year

It’s a point that many Ukrainians emphasize, not least of them Maryan Zablotsky, a lawmaker who later told me that military commanders estimate that 60% of their material support early in the war came from volunteers.

“Volunteers provide and fundraise for stuff that governments can’t provide: [commercial] drones, used cars, heating, most tactical medication and related training,” Zablotsky said. The lawmaker emphasized that “initially nearly all personal [body]armor was provided by volunteers,” and that nearly all non-armored vehicles and drones continue to come from volunteers.

Some 500 days into the war, the Russian war-machine remains relentless, despite massive losses. Ukraine has lost a great deal of equipment early into its “slow” and “bloody” counteroffensive, which has recently escalated. Ukraine’s survival hinges not only on state security assistance, but on civil society’s capacity to fill critical logistical gaps.

During my trip east, I rode with members of Free Spirit, a charity group of lawyers and marketers that communicates with soldiers at the frontline, identifies units’ immediate needs, and delivers whatever they can procure. They’ve provided over 400 vehicles, 75 communications devices like Starlink receivers and satellite phones, 13 tons of batteries and generators, 60 portable power stations, a handful of reconnaissance drones, and over 100 tons of basic necessities like food, cots, mattresses, and clothing.

But there are countless organizations that share this mission, based everywhere from Kyiv to the U.S. They supply lifesaving, nonlethal aid with a speed that government aid cannot match. Oleksandr, an officer in the 97th Separate Battalion who asked that his full name not be printed because of safety concerns, told me that an “absence of bureaucracy” is what makes civilian volunteers so nimble. “When the state buys [equipment], it will take months. Volunteers can deliver it in a week. Such mobility helps to save many lives of our fighters,” he said.

Oleskandr described a recent battle in Bakhmut. A squad of Ukrainians, facing likely death under overwhelming Russian fire, flew a commercial drone sourced from civilian volunteers out of desperation. The enemy fled, falsely thinking the drone was armed, allowing all 12 Ukrainians to retreat to safety.

Without civilian support, Alex Cherniavskyi, the Free Spirit co-founder who led our convoy, thinks many units would lose twice as many lives. Zablotsky, the lawmaker, said that may be an underestimate. “I think without the support of volunteers, both civilian and military deaths would have been at least three times higher.”

Few of our frontline aid recipients are career soldiers. Among them were a coal miner, a proud new grandparent, the spouse of an MP, a cobbler who recounted Russian soldiers raiding his family home, and a pregnant deputy commander. Mykyta Lepeshov, a combat medic who worked as a copywriter and engineer before the war, bluntly told me they’d be “doomed” without civilian volunteers. He said that 50% of wounded soldiers today are saved by medics using equipment donated by civilian volunteers.

While many forms of aid are needed, the unseemly vehicles we used to travel east are a priority. Within earshot of artillery fire are countless sedans, pickups, and SUVs with hastily spraypainted green-camouflaged exteriors, driven by soldiers. Over 60,000 vehicles have been imported into Ukraine to meet military and humanitarian needs, many sourced by organizations like Free Spirit. Most donated vehicles are unarmored, and highly vulnerable to enemy fire.

During our trip to the frontline, one of the soldiers we assisted briefly took the wheel of that old Latvian police car. At first, I found his driving reckless, but I later realized it’s muscle memory. He was driving aggressively at 90 miles per hour on roads designed for speeds less than half that, swerving when needed to avoid craters. Racing to avoid artillery shelling in these rust-and-bullet-ridden vehicles is how he survives.

Most Americans support continued military aid to Ukraine. By delivering vehicles and other equipment directly to the frontline, local NGOs play a vital role in plugging the holes in the slow and often unwieldy fulfillment process of government aid packages. These organizations rely on grassroots funding; supporting them can have an immediate, lifesaving impact.

On the return trip to Kyiv, we punctured a tire. A spare would’ve taken up valuable space for aid, so we were stuck. Within mere minutes, two good samaritans pulled over and replaced our tire with their spare. Understanding what we were doing on the frontline, they refused payment. We shared breakfast together instead. This vehicle was soon delivered to a firefighting brigade, those passersby just two more members of the volunteer-led supply chain, whose impact must not be overlooked.

source https://time.com/6300653/why-ukraine-civilian-volunteers-matter/

NATO Nations Beef Up Security After Wagner Fighters Arrive in Belarus

WARSAW, Poland — NATO allies located along the alliance’s eastern front are growing increasingly worried about the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus, where some have been deployed since a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June.

Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia—members of NATO and the European Union which border Belarus—had already been on alert since large numbers of migrants and refugees began arriving at their borders from Belarus two years ago. They have accused Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia, of opening the migration route in an act of “hybrid warfare” aimed at creating instability in the West.

Now concerns have grown further since the Wagner troops began arriving in Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.

Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on the weekend that some 100 Wagner fighters in Belarus had approached the border with Poland, specifically a strategically sensitive area known as the Suwalki Gap.

“Now the situation becomes even more dangerous,” Morawiecki told reporters. “This is certainly a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.”

Read More: COLUMN: What Led to Wagner’s Mutiny in Russia

An incident Tuesday added further to the concerns, with two Belarusian helicopters entering Polish air space at low altitude while carrying out exercises.

Poland’s Ministry of Defense reported that incident to NATO, which said Wednesday that it is monitoring the situation.

“NATO is closely tracking the situation along its eastern borders, including yesterday’s incident where two Belarussian military helicopters briefly crossed into Polish airspace at low altitude,” a NATO official said on customary condition of anonymity. “We are in close contact with the Polish authorities on this matter, and we will continue to do what is necessary to ensure all Alliance territory remains secure.”

Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia say they have been deploying more troops and equipment to their borders.

Guntis Pujats, head of Latvia’s State Border Guard, told Latvian media Wednesday that security risks in the immediate vicinity of the Belarus border have been high since Minsk started using migrants as a tool of “hybrid warfare” but have grown with the arrival of the Wagner group. He said border guards have started training a special task force in response.

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda said this week that it would be tempting for the Wagner group to use its presence near the Lithuanian border “for various provocations.”

“So I think the threat is serious,” Nauseda said during a visit Monday to a site on the border with Belarus where seven Lithuanian officers were murdered by Soviet paratroopers 32 years ago.

Others have suggested that one shouldn’t overestimate the capabilities of the armed group.

Laurynas Kasciunas, chairman of the Seimas National Security and Defense Committee, told reporters that Wagner mercenaries in Belarus with their current combat power do not pose a conventional military threat. Whether they pose a great threat in the future, he said, “will depend on further scenarios, how they are armed and their orders.”

In Poland, some critics of the government believe that it is overstating the threat in order to present itself as tough on security ahead of parliamentary elections this fall. Opposition leader Donald Tusk accused the ruling party of using Wagner to stoke fear ahead of the elections, something the party has denied.

Some Poles also faulted the authorities for refusing to initially acknowledge that the Belarusian helicopters had entered Poland’s airspace on Tuesday. At first, the military insisted that the Belarusian aircraft had not entered Poland. But after local residents posted photos on social media of aircraft with Belarusian insignia several kilometers from the border inside Poland, the Defense Ministry put out a statement saying it was true.

Read More: Russia’s Notorious Wagner Group Is Being Disbanded. Here’s What That Means for Ukraine

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said earlier this week the United States views the Wagner group—whose forces have fought in Ukraine and also operated in Africa—as a threat.

“We have seen their malign efforts on the continent of Africa. So we certainly worry that this group, at the behest of the Russian government—because they do not work independently of the Russian government—is a threat to all of us,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Monday. “And we have to ensure that the message is clear that any attacks by the Wagner Group will be seen as an attack by the Russian government.”

—Lorne Cook in Brussels, Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland, and Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed reporting.

source https://time.com/6300678/nato-security-belarus-wagner/

What to Know About Jonathan Majors’ Domestic Violence Trial

The trial for Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence case is set to begin on Aug. 3, with the 33-year-old actor facing up to a year in jail if he is convicted on misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment.

Majors was initially arrested in March and charged with misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, harassment, and strangulation following an alleged domestic dispute with his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. The strangulation charge was later dropped, and Majors has pleaded not guilty to the other four charges.

Majors’ star was on the rise ahead of his arrest, with breakout turns in the HBO series Lovecraft Country, Marvel’s Loki TV show and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania movie, and the Michael B. Jordan-directed blockbuster Creed III swiftly turning him into a household name.

In the wake of the charges, Majors’ management company, Entertainment 360, and PR firm, The Lede Company, both dropped the actor as a client, according to Deadline. In April, Variety reported that additional people had come forward alleging abuse by Majors and were cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

“Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone,” said his attorney Priya Chaudhry in a statement released in April. “We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false. We are confident that he will be fully exonerated.”

In June, Rolling Stone published a lengthy story citing over two dozen sources who claimed that Majors has a history of abusive behavior in both his personal and professional life, dating back a decade to his time at Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama. “It was pervasively known that he was [a good actor], and that he also would terrorize the people that he had dated,” one unnamed source told the magazine.

Dustin Pusch, another of Majors’ attorneys, “vehemently” denied all allegations put forward in Rolling Stone‘s report in a statement to the publication, specifically denouncing claims that Majors had abused two women he dated—one physically, and both emotionally.

“These allegations are based entirely on hearsay because neither of the romantic partners referenced were willing to engage with Rolling Stone for the article—demonstrating their outright falsity,” Pusch said.

Here’s what to know about Jonathan Majors’ forthcoming trial.

What is Jonathan Majors on trial for?

Majors was arrested on March 25 in New York City when police responded to a 911 call in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. At the time, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson said in a statement that a 30-year-old woman, the then-unnamed Jabbari, had “sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition.”

In May, prosecutors filed an updated account of the incident in which Jabbari alleged that Majors violently grabbed her finger, twisted her arm behind her back, and struck her on the face with an open hand, cutting her ear. She also claimed that Majors pushed her into a car, causing her to fall backward. Jabbari was granted a full temporary order of protection against Majors in April that remains in place.

How has Majors’ legal team responded?

Majors’ attorneys have gone on the offensive in response to the charges, claiming that Jabbari’s accusations are false and that it was she who assaulted Majors during the altercation rather than the other way around.

On June 21, Majors filed his own domestic violence complaint in which he alleged that a “drunk and hysterical” Jabbari scratched, slapped, and grabbed at his face, causing pain and bleeding, according to Insider. Majors’ team has also suggested that “racial bias” has played a role in the district attorney’s investigation and that Majors is the victim of a “witch hunt.”

In late June, the NYPD reportedly issued and then canceled an “incident card,” or “I-card”—an electronic document that notifies officers that a particular person is “wanted” by police, at least for questioning—for Jabbari. A lawyer for Jabbari told the New York Times that she had done nothing to warrant arrest and that “Out of respect for the criminal process and the prosecuting attorneys who will make decisions based on the evidence, we do not intend to respond to rumors.” A police spokesman told the newspaper only that the investigation into the incident was continuing and that no additional arrests had been made.

Majors appeared briefly in person in New York criminal court on June 20 for a hearing where Judge Rachel S. Pauley set his trial date for Aug. 3.

source https://time.com/6299719/jonathan-majors-trial-assault-harassment/