Yesterday was the 73rd anniversary of the death of one of the most evil men who ever lived: Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili — better known to the world as Joseph Stalin.

Although the world has changed in countless ways since Stalin’s time, the nature of dictators has not. And nothing could be more illustrative of that fact than one brief sentence attributed to him, allegedly spoken as he shrugged off the millions of deaths caused by his purges, political arrests, government-created famines, and foreign invasions:

“One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.”

These days, there are those in power who do not even accord that minimal respect to an individual’s death, instead blaming the victim regardless of the circumstances. (Remember Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti?)

As for Stalin’s statistical millions, today we have only to look as far as Ukraine, Gaza, and now Iran.

When will we call a halt to it?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
3/6/26