Last week brought us another bombardment of news that ranged from merely bad, to really terrible, to mind-blowingly disgusting. It has left me too mentally exhausted to reexamine any of the stories in depth, so I thought I’d start this week with a brief roundup of the past weekend’s biggest news stories.

The Olympics. Let’s begin with something uplifting. Did you see the Free Dance performance of Evan Bates and Madison Chock? Not since 1984, when Britain’s Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean brought down the house to Ravel’s Bolero, have I witnessed such technical perfection, synchronization, and personal magnetism in a skating couple. In fact, though I never would have thought it possible, Chock and Bates’ fiercely passionate dance has set an entirely new standard of excellence and beauty.

Sadly, American skier Lindsey Vonn, recently out of surgery for repair of a torn ACL of her left knee, crashed on her first downhill run. She was airlifted to a hospital, where she underwent surgery for a leg fracture, said to be a possible career-ender for the 41-year-old. Best wishes to Lindsey for a speedy recovery.

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The “Dmitriev Package.” So named by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after Russian envoy and money-man Kirill Dmitriev, it refers to a $12 trillion economic proposal that Zelensky says has been presented by Russia to the U.S. as part of the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. This comes to light as the Trump administration increases the pressure on Ukraine to bring an end to the war by June, while Moscow increases its bombardments and continues to insist that Ukraine cede approximately 20% of its sovereign territory to Russia. [The Associated Press, February 7, 2026.]

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The Middle East. It’s all about Iran right now; and honestly, it’s too complex to wrap my head around on a Monday. Maybe later.

There is still the Gaza issue, of course; but we’ll no doubt be hearing more from Trump’s “Board of Peace” on that score when they meet in Washington on February 19th.

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The Caucasus Region. Simply put — although there is nothing simple about the history or politics of that corner of the former Soviet Union — Armenia and Azerbaijan are in, and Georgia is out. At least, that’s what Donald Trump is indicating. Stay tuned.

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The White House. It’s still standing . . . well, two-thirds of it, anyway, minus the East Wing. Rumor briefly had it that Lincoln’s ghost was back, pacing the floor in his former bedroom and carrying some sort of torch. But it turned out to be the glow from Trump’s phone as he furiously spewed his nightly ration of venom into cyberspace, and then hastened to delete some of it (you know the part I’m talking about). Has anyone ever explained to him that you can’t un-ring a bell?

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And finally . . .

The Epstein Files. They’re like cockroaches, in so many ways. It’s not only that they’re vile and disgusting, which of course they are; but it’s also the speed with which they multiply! And now a whole new nest has been discovered, containing material deposited by friends of Epstein from various parts of the world, including the UK and Russia. If this were a TV or movie script, it would probably be dismissed as too grotesque to appeal even to the most whacked-out audience. But it’s not fiction. It’s real, it’s tragic, and it makes me want to vomit.

And it shows no sign of ending any time soon.

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So . . . Happy Monday, folks. I think it’s going to be a double-Haagen-Dazs day.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/9/26