Russia Ukraine War soldiers army
Ukrainian soldiers drive on an armored military vehicle in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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Come Back Alive, a charitable organization headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine since 2014, recently had one of its largest sources of funding cut off. Providing body armor, medical kits, helmets, mobile surveillance systems, televisions, and other defensive-focused equipment and distribution logistics to Ukrainian soldiers (professional and civilian alike), Come Back Alive has been shut down by Patreon, a funding platform that allows individuals to monetarily support various individuals and causes.

From this article on CNBC:

Patreon told CNBC that using the site to support the purchase of military equipment was banned.

“Patreon does not allow any campaigns involved in violence or purchasing of military equipment, regardless of their cause,” a company spokesperson told CNBC in an email.

Hard to argue this isn’t military equipment when it’s being donated to a military — even if much of it is citizens taking up arms — but it’s a bit of a stretch to call medical kits, helmets, cameras, and body armor “involved in violence.”

Though I admit this is directly connected to the story TTAG published just hours ago on the Ukrainian sniper team called Smile Platoon, Come Back Alive appears to have funded some of their armor and other gear. And it’s hard to say they aren’t visiting violence — justified as it may be — upon the invading Russian forces.

Over $300,000 was donated to Come Back Alive via Patreon in just the first few days after the Russian invasion. Patreon stated that it will be refunding all of the money to the folks who donated it.

Again from the CNBC article:

“We have people dying because they don’t have body armor,” said [Come Back Alive Director] Chmut, who said he previously had served in the country’s armed forces. The country is not rich, and the nonprofit has helped soldiers receive the equipment they need, he said.

Come Back Alive has other, internet-based means of accepting donations, but none are quite as convenient as Patreon would have been.

 

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44 COMMENTS

  1. *sad trombone noses*

    Don’t you hate to see some leftoid corporations being hoisted on the petard of their own making?

  2. Curious to see if a company can be bullied into supporting the cause du jour when so many companies have been successfully bullied for not explicitly supporting the cause du jour or not taking a stance against the pariah du jour.

    I still think it’s way too early to be picking a hero. In the span of two weeks the mainstream media went from “Putin’s a nazi” to “there are no nazis” to “yes, there are nazis in Ukraine but….” to “everyone involved is a nazi.” The next step in the cycle is goto 010 and double down on Putin’s a nazi before repeating the whole cycle.

    • I said at the beginning both sides were the bad guys. Ukraine did not trust its people with firearms during peace time and really the Russians don’t either. Neither country is a democracy and neither can say its people are free.

      Both sides lean towards fascism.

      • “Neither country is a democracy and neither can say its people are free.”

        True, but for the time being, Putin is (as Iran used to say about the US) “The Great Satan”, the greater of the two evils.

        Behind the scenes, China is watching this conflict very closely, and they are noticing that the vaunted mythical “Ten-foot tall Russian soldier” is shockingly inept in basic combat maneuvers.

        This is serious good news for Taiwan, as it should cool the ardor of the Chinese to consider invading Taiwan. The (mostly) unified world response has kind of surprised me. Overnight, the airworthiness certificates (required to land at international airports) of Boeing and Airbus aircraft have been revoked for Russian owned/operated aircraft. The leasing companies that own the majority of the new aircraft are now in the process of repossessing those that they can find. Both Boeing and Airbus will not sell repair parts for aircraft with no airworthiness certificates.

        In one fell swoop, modern aviation has ground to a halt in Russia.

        China runs on modern aviation, so watching Russia squirm is very good news for the folks in Taiwan…

        • Russia and China have fought border wars before. China might be tempted to bite off the disputed territory.

          It would be lest costly in terms of world condemnation and response than taking Taiwan by force.

        • Biden is the weakest president America will have. I expect Republicans to retake the House and Senate this year, so if China wants to take Taiwan while US leadership is weak, they should move now. I can imagine China propping up Russia now, starting a limited war in Europe, and then trying to move on Taiwan. But who knows, maybe our voters will get even dumber and elect an even bigger idiot in the future.

        • The Russian military is showing some degree of incompetence but their slow rate does not surprise me. Few people understand how difficult it is to mobilize and maneuver the kind of numbers Russia is dealing with. The vast majority of people take it for granted.

        • Serbia has ties to Russia and is increasing flight from there to Russia due to the increased demand. Serbia if you will recall is like a miniature Russia. Russia supported Serbia during the Balkan genocidal nastiness.

      • Maybe after the armed Ukrainians beat the Russians, they can beat their own government.

    • It’s a fight between Goons and Thugs. I don’t care who wins or loses.
      The Ukrainians eagerly collaborated in the murder of over 1,000,000 Jewish Ukrainians during WW2, In some cases they started murdering Jews before the Nazi’s even arrived.
      THEY ARE NOT NICE PEOPLE. Google Babyn Yar or Babi Yar to educate yourself, if you are ignorant or clueless.

      They are not very smart either, they let Slick Willie Clinton fleece them out of their 2,000 nuclear warheads.

      • How many of them are alive today? Or do we blame their 70 year old children for the crimes of their parents?

        • When USA criticized Japan for mass killings in Manchuria they pointed out that USA completed its genocide of Indians just 20 years prior.
          Crickets.
          There are no good nations, especially if you go back a bit. But there are many good people.

    • Biden’s just glad that everyone’s so distracted by looking at Ukraine, they aren’t thinking about how terrible his polices have been. Now instead of “because Covid” he can also say “because Russia.”

      • You’re certainly right, but I’m also confident that his “Russia! Russia! Russia!” BS will wear thin pretty quick. When gas hits $6/gal, holy hell is going to break loose.

      • Yep, and Hellery’s potential criminal scandal sure dried up and disappeared in the smoke and dust of the War?

        • Not only did her crimes dry up – Her & Bill have a reason to rekindle the good old Foundation scam. U.S. News 5 days ago -” The Clinton Foundation is planning another Clinton Global Initiative”

      • Right on, Dude. You are absolutely correct. In fact, I am concerned that Ole Two-Shot will actually commit U.S. troops if things continue to deteriorate in this country due to the ridiculous spending the dems are embarked on. Grocery and gas prices are up every time I go to the grocery store or the gas station. Salads that were 3/$10,00 on Monday of this week were 3/$12.00 yesterday. That’s a 20% increase in price according to my third grade math, not a 7% increase that the news is talking about.

  3. I’ve never contributed through GoForkMe or Patmedown and never will. When I want to kick in, I find a way to do it directly. The fewer hands the contribution goes through, the more likely that it will actually get to the people I want to benefit rather than being siphoned off.

    • Me either Ralph. Heck we tried to chip in $ to Operation Blessing and got a lot of “static”(Roosian hackers?). While there are no good guys there’s a multitude of innocent children in this war…

  4. Another fucking left wing communist bullshit organization. No more Patreon usage from my side.

    • They can only be but so Communist since Military Arms Channel, Forgotten Weapons, TFB, and dozens of other gun channels are Patreon creators.

      • “…since Military Arms Channel, Forgotten Weapons, TFB, and dozens of other gun channels are Patreon creators.”

        Well, I’ve seen Ian demonstrate the Nazi buzz-gun, so Ian is obviously a Nazi.

        (That’s *sarcasm* for those too stupid to see it…)

    • Same here

      Left fanatic organization can’t get past their dogma. Guns bad. Just don’t resist and maybe they will use lubricant.
      Sickening.

  5. Good, stay out of this fight…it’s not out business and our Southern Border is WIDE open.

    Fix our own house before getting invloved in another Foreign War.

    • Yes sir, and especially, let the euro-trash geniuses fight their own f*%king war for once instead of hiding behind nato’s skirt.

  6. Gotta keep them commie dollars rolling in to the top corporate guys n gals. Lets go Brandon!

    • Put in started it all when he said he would not tolerate Nate Oh in the U craine. So what’s our administration do?
      Now gasoline is going beyond an acceptable level and theBiden is using the war as an excuse, hows that work? 3% of ruskin oil imports skyrocketed gasoline prices. Guess your forgetting theBiden’s little quip that when gasoline hits $15 a gallon Americans will be happy to buy electric cars. And you might like to know the farm tractor I operated ran 12-13 hours on 150 gallons of diesel if my memory is correct, fertilizer companies use massive amounts of petroleum, hows a $6 loaf of bread sound to you? Because farmers cant plant for free. No theBiden will blame Put in’s war and our wheat sanctions against ruskin on that too.
      Okay now fast forward, all electric, running on a grid that at this time cant handle the strain of Americans using air conditioners in the summer, now powered by windmills and solar panels because his green energy stopped nuke plants and coal. Batteries, lots of batteries, and where does 89% of the batteries come from? Well chinah of course, and who has most of the natural resources to make those batteries? Well chinah, of course. And who just made a deal recently with chinah on cobalt? Hunter Biden, nah, he’s just an artist.
      Ruskin collusion Orange Man Bad my ass.

      • I might throw this out there too, swine flu, bird flu , covid19 all brought to you by, ,, why chinah of course.
        LET’S GO BRANDON ! ! !

  7. Good, we should be encouraging Ukraine to negotiate a deal that addresses Russia’s security concerns. Egging Ukraine to keep fighting is going to get that country wrecked.

  8. Patreon is completely out of synch, out of touch with the problem in front of us. Russia has a wanna’be Tsar seeking to restore an empire. This is an existential threat to world peace and stability that cares not at all about the delicate political sensibilities of Patreon’s corporate leadership. Supporting the people of Ukraine in defending their liberty and democracy is to reject violence and military conquest.

    A most worthy cause!

  9. “but it’s a bit of a stretch to call medical kits, helmets, cameras, and body armor “involved in violence.”

    Not really. Is the armor on a tank not involved in violence? Soldiers with body armor attack more effectively and stay alive longer. If it were just medical kits I bet it would have flown under the radar.

    I am on the side of the country being invaded here, however, I can certainly see why a crowd-funding platform would not want to be financing a war on any side.

  10. Patreon has been abandoning conservative/patriotic causes for years, after presenting themselves as FOR that type of thought.

    So them doing this is not surprising. The screwed some folks online out of ALL their online sales and fundraising by dumping them unceremoniousnesly years ago, making some essentially bankrupt. Those folks had been tossed off YouTube and other places first, and went to Patreon to “Protect” themselves, only to be dumped and all the money in their accounts “refunded” (Often to people who didn’t want it back.) to who sent it to them.

    They haven’t changed, and continue to this day. The minute they get enough “pushback” about someone on their platform, them dump them. Emptying out their accounts back to who paid them too.

    Stay away from Patreon, they get complaints they consider “too much” they will dump you and defund you.

  11. Just forget about Patreon & GoFundMe, they are just political SJW corporations for the left. If you want a true politically neutral crowdfunding site, use GiveSendGo.

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