Happy 2026, everyone! The “happy” part, of course, is finally seeing an end to what has been a truly horrific twelve months for the world.

As I have spent the last few days reviewing my posts throughout 2025, my already entrenched belief that “if it ain’t bad, it ain’t news” was sadly reinforced. If I tried to touch on every newsworthy item today, this retrospective would be too long for anyone to bother reading — especially for those who may have gone a little overboard on the New Year’s Eve celebrating last night.

So, here are just some of the highlights (or lowlights) — not necessarily in chronological order, since many of them just kept going, and going, and going . . .

Russia’s War in Ukraine. Throughout its fourth year, Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” — or more accurately, his war of attrition — against neighboring Ukraine has intensified despite punishing sanctions and diplomatic efforts at a settlement by dozens of the world’s leaders. The longest European conflict since World War II, it seems destined never to end . . . or, at least, not until one side or the other is completely demolished.

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The War in Gaza. What began as Israel’s rightful retaliation for the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians has devolved into an ongoing, vengeful assault by Benjamin Netanyahu on the citizens of Gaza. Even the staunchest allies of Israel continue to be sickened by the maelstrom of death and destruction being written off in the name of retribution. Whatever happened to a proportional response?

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The Emergence of DOGE. A whole new government entity — the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — was quickly created at the beginning of the second Trump term, to be administered by a billionaire with a chainsaw and operated by a slew of prepubescent neophytes with a mandate to cut costs by destroying every iota of system and order essential to the functioning of the very government that was paying their salaries. So now, nothing works as it should.

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The Gilding of the Lily. In Donald Trump’s vision of a new “Golden Age” for America, everything must (a) bear his name, and (b) be slathered in gold, gold leaf, or gold paint. And so we now have the Trump Institute of Peace, the Trump-Kennedy Center, a Trump coin, and plans for a completely useless Trump-class battleship. On the glitter side, there are all the shiny chatchki in the Oval Office and the rest of the White House (what’s left of it), and drawings of a blindingly-gilded, $400 million ballroom. The concept of “less is more” seems to have been lost somewhere between Mar-a-Lago and New York’s Trump Tower.

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ICE on the Streets. No, not a winter weather event. What started as a raging, psychotic assault on America’s immigrant population, heavily armed and often masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began appearing in cities and towns across the country, grabbing and detaining people at will, without due process, based on nothing more than their physical appearance. When innocent citizens protested, Trump sent in reinforcements from the National Guard to cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and even the nation’s capital, to “protect” the ICE agents. Martial law descended on our democracy, despite court orders declaring the administration’s actions blatantly illegal.

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The Epstein Papers. There is no need to explain this one; we’ve all read the reports ad nauseam. Yechhh!

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Natural Disasters. Floods, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, droughts, melting glaciers, disappearing coral reefs, wildfires . . . all of biblical proportions. And in Washington, an official denial of the existence of climate change. Genius.

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Man-made Disasters. Starvation due to cuts in aid; the return of measles and other plagues because of ludicrous untruths about vaccinations; power shortages because someone doesn’t like wind farms . . . to name just a few.

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And then there are the . . .

People We’ve Lost. In light of all of the foregoing, perhaps these are the lucky ones to have left this “mortal coil.” But we are the poorer for their absence:

Pope Francis
Actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa
Boxer George Foreman
Wrestler Hulk Hogan
Epstein/Maxwell victim Virginia Giuffre
Musician Brian Wilson
Musician and TV star Ozzy Osbourne
Journalist Bill Moyers
Astronaut Jim Lovell
Actor Robert Redford
Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Filmmaker David Lynch
Actress Dame Joan Plowright
Fashion designer Giorgio Armani
Conservationist Jane Goodall
Actress Diane Keaton
Actor Val Kilmer
Actress Claudia Cardinale
Former Vice President Dick Cheney
Playwright Tom Stoppard
Architect Frank Gehry
Actress Brigitte Bardot
Actor Graham Greene
Actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner

To them, and to any others I may unintentionally have overlooked . . .

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It’s been quite a year, to say the least — and all the more remarkable for the dearth of happy events to offset the bad stuff. I, for one, am glad to see the back of it.

But on the up-side, through all of the difficulties, we’re still able to say:

“WE MADE IT!”

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/1/26