Today is Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday.

He began his celebrations last night by killing 18 people, including four children (three of them just a year old), in an attack on Pryluky in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine . . .

. . . and ending the lives of at least two others in Kyiv . . .

. . . racking up a total of 20 to 24 civilian deaths and countless injuries in an overnight series of barrages across Ukraine.

Still, in the spirit of international comradeship, I feel I would be remiss if I failed to send my birthday greetings to this man who has given so much to others. I have no missiles or drones to offer, and he already has more material wealth than most of us could ever dream of; but I do have these wishes for his future:

> I do not wish death or injury on anyone. But we are all destined to shuffle off this mortal coil at some point; and in Vlad’s case, I hope that his final moments, whenever they may arrive, bring him an epiphany: a sudden, total realization of the ignominious nature of the life he has led and the misery he has caused, along with an overwhelming, unbearable feeling of empathy for each and every one of his victims.

> I wish him a sense of loss for the life he might have lived with the opportunities he has been given.

> And, in whatever time he has left on this Earth, I wish him abject failure in every aspect of his life: a rapid, crushing defeat in his war against Ukraine; a coup that removes him from office and deprives him of every bit of his wealth and power; and banishment to the farthest reaches of Siberia, with only his “brain,” Aleksandr Dugin, for company.

Finally, when he is gone, I wish his name to be erased from the annals of history. I believe that the worst punishment one can inflict on a tyrant — worse than becoming an object of scorn and hate — is to be treated as though he never existed at all.

Happy birthday, Volodya.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/7/26