Yes, that’s a term I made up: an apparent oxymoron, but more readily understood once you’ve read today’s quotes.

Omar El Akkad is an award-winning, Egyptian-Canadian-American author and journalist currently living in the United States. He has covered the war in Afghanistan, military trials at Guantanamo Bay, the Arab Spring in Egypt, Black Lives Matter, and other devastating, world-altering events. His novels are influenced by his experiences, and his 2025 non-fiction “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” is about the war in Gaza.

On October 25, 2023, after three weeks of covering Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, El Akkad tweeted this message, which has now been viewed more than ten million times:

“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.”

Posthumous foresight.

And then he wrote his non-fiction book about that experience, which included these passages:

“There is an impulse in moments like this to appeal to self-interest. To say ‘these horrors you are allowing to happen, they will come to your doorstep one day.’ to repeat the famous phrase about ‘who they came for first’ and ‘who they’ll come for next.’ But this appeal cannot, in matter of fact, work. If the people well served by a system that condones such butchery ever truly believed the same butchery could one day be inflicted upon them, they would tear the system down tomorrow. and anyway, by the time such a thing happens, the rest of us will already be dead.

“No, there is no terrible thing happening coming for you in some distant future. But know that a terrible thing is happening to you now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience. Who cares if diplomatic expediency prefers you shrug away the sight of dismembered children? Who cares if great distance from the bloodstained middle allows obliviousness? Forget pity. Forget even the dead, if you must. But at least fight against the theft of your soul.”

– Omar El Akkad, “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”

And that applies, not only to Gaza, but to the rest of the world as well.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/23/26

The list of Donald Trump’s failed business enterprises, including six bankruptcies, is long and tedious. Here are just a few, not including the numerous hotel and casino fiascos:

> Trump Airlines (1989-92) (defaulted on loans)
> Trump Mortgage (2006-07)
> Trump Vodka (2006-11)
> Trump Steaks (2007)
> GoTrump.com (2006-07) (travel search engine)
> Trump University (2005-10) (settled $25 million in fraud law suits)
> The Trump Network (2009-12) (selling supplements and urine tests)
> Trump Magazine (1997-2009)
> Trump: The Game (1989 & 2004) (a Monopoly wannabe)
> Trump Ice (2000s) – Bottled water
> Tour de Trump (1989-90) (an imitation Tour de France)
> New Jersey Generals (1980s)

In other words, the man who claimed to be the world’s preeminent businessman; who published the supposedly authoritative “The Art of the Deal” as though he knew what he was talking about; and who still claims to be smarter than Vladimir Putin . . . that man has destroyed practically everything he touched.

And now he is inviting world leaders to join his so-called “Board of Peace.” Originally touted as a limited group with a mandate to oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, its stated purpose has quickly expanded to include settlement of conflicts throughout the world, presumably based on his alleged success in ending eight “wars” thus far. Oddly, the draft of its charter, as sent with the invitations to the various countries’ leaders, is said to make no reference to Gaza at all.

It is, bluntly, Donald Trump’s attempt at achieving immortality.

His presidential term is finite, with just three years to go and no third term possible. What will happen to him then? Will he retire gracefully, like Harry Truman? Take up good works, like Jimmy Carter? Be sought out for his statesmanlike wisdom, like his nemesis Barack Obama?

Or will he end up, finally, in prison when he is no longer immune from prosecution of all of those pesky felony convictions?

None of those roles would suit the man who must always be the center of the Universe. But if he were to have his own organization, potentially eclipsing the United Nations . . . well, that might suffice.

And so he has formed the nucleus of a Board comprised of Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Mark Carney, Tony Blair, Marc Rowan, Ajay Banga and Robert Gabriel, with himself as Chairman. Hoping to sign on at least 35 countries at this week’s World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, he attracted fewer than 20.

Thus far, those who have formally declined include Denmark, France, Norway, Slovenia (his wife’s native country), Sweden and Belgium. Some 28 diverse countries that have received invitations — including Russia, China, Canada, Switzerland, Ukraine, Belarus, the United Kingdom, and the Vatican (yes, the Vatican!) — have not yet responded.

But at least 20 others have joined. Not surprisingly, the list reads like a Who’s Who of autocracies: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan. [Source: Meg Hilling, News Nation, January 22, 2026.]

It is not yet known how many, if any, have agreed to pay the $1 billion optional contribution for a permanent membership. Perhaps countries like Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia can afford to gamble that kind of money on a risky (to say the least) Trump venture; but I hope the others are smart enough to go for the free three-year introductory offer.

*. *. *

Is this Trump’s last stand: his mad desire to rule the world? Or is it just another manifestation of his envy of Vladimir Putin, whose BRICS — founded in 2009 as a counterpoint to western economic dominance — now boasts of a membership representing a quarter of the global economy and nearly half of the world’s population?

Perhaps he envisions the two groups working in tandem, one in the economic sphere and the other politically oriented. Or maybe he hasn’t thought that far ahead.

At this point, nothing would surprise me. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t worry me.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/23/26

Most of us know about the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution that overthrew the centuries of Tsarist rule in Russia and ushered in 74 years of communist control and the creation of the Soviet Union.

But how many have heard of an earlier revolt that became known as the Blood Sunday Massacre?

On January 22, 1905 — with Russia in the midst of a losing war against Japan, and general unrest among the populace due to poor living conditions, government corruption and authoritarian rule — a group of workers led by a radical priest, Georgy Apollonovich Gapon, marched to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg with a list of demands. Instead of the negotiation they were seeking, they were met with gunfire from the Imperial forces.

Hundreds were killed and wounded. In response, strikes and riots broke out throughout the country, forcing Tsar Nicholas II to promise the creation of a series of representative assemblies known as Dumas, to work toward reform. [“This Day in History, History.com, January 22, 2026.]

But the promised changes failed to materialize. And during the next decade, revolutionary groups began to form, including Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks, until — on October 25, 1917 (old calendar) — that first blank shot was fired from the AURORA in St. Petersburg, signaling the start of the revolution that changed the world forever.

“Bloody Sunday” was a sort of rehearsal for the real thing, and while it didn’t seem at the time to have accomplished anything, it was the first step in the Russian people’s march toward what they hoped would be a better life. But there are two, antithetical lessons to be learned from that day:

• First, you gain nothing if you don’t try; and even though the desired result may not be immediate, any effort is better than doing nothing; and
• Second, be careful what you wish for. As it turned out for the Russians, the next 74 years were just a different kind of hell.
  

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying. We just need to be sure, before destroying what we have, that there is something better waiting to take its place.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/22/26

The short answer is: It didn’t. It hasn’t. And it probably won’t . . . unless ICE marauders begin inciting trouble and breaking the law as they have everywhere else they’ve shown up.

In fact, Maine is considered the fourth safest states in the nation, with a crime rate that has fallen steadily over the last four years.

Some 56,000 to 66,000 of the state’s residents — fewer than 5% of the total population — are foreign-born, with the largest share of those being from Canada. It is one of the loveliest corners of the world, and a wonderful place to raise a family and live in peace (if you like snow and lobster . . . and even if you don’t).

But it’s a “blue” — meaning primarily Democratic — state, which makes it a target of Trump’s goon squad. And now he has launched “Operation Catch of the Day” — apparently a snide reference to the local fishing/lobstering industry — turning his federal agents loose on the innocent population in their search for the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.” [Morgan Womack, Portland Press Herald, January 21, 2026.]

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement, saying:

“Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than protect law-abiding American citizens.” [Id.]

What Governor Mills actually did was encourage the people of Maine to know their rights, and — if they planned to exercise their constitutional right to protest — to do so peacefully.

And incidentally, Maine is not considered a “sanctuary” state, according to the Justice Department’s own list of sanctuary jurisdictions. [Justice.gov, as of August 5, 2025.] So, it’s just more bullshit from Kristi Noem’s DHS to cover their own backsides and justify their brutal, illegal rampages.

Since the first day of “Operation Catch of the Day,” people in places such as Portland and Lewiston have reported seeing masked agents, unmarked cars, and immigration detentions. Attendance at Portland schools is down; business owners are preparing for possible invasions by immigration officers; and neighbors are alerting one another if they see any ICE activity.

According to McLaughlin’s statement, ICE agents have arrested four people in Maine, accused of committing such heinous crimes as aggravated assault and driving under the influence of alcohol — not federal offenses to begin with, and clearly not the “worst of the worst.”

But, whether it’s Portland, Oregon to the west, or Portland, Maine on the east coast, if it’s not in one of Trump’s “red” Republican states, then it’s fair game . . . unlike Texas, for example, which is crawling with immigrants and criminals (not necessarily one and the same).

Welcome to Amerika, folks.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/22/26

This is the Kamchatka Peninsula in Far Eastern Russia this week. Not just feet, but meters/yards of snow.

And as bad as this is, just imagine what will happen when the spring thaw arrives!

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m grateful to be where I am, which is anywhere but there.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka

1/22/26

I’ve been around for quite a few decades, and I remember with longing a kinder, gentler America: one based on principles such as this one, expounded by the nation’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams:

“America . . . goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.”

As we approach our 250th anniversary, we have a great many accomplishments to be proud of . . . and, especially lately, much to be ashamed of.

Wouldn’t this be a good time to honor our past as a means to preserving our future?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/22/26

Now that he’s cut off oil and other imports from Venezuela, thus sending Cuba’s economy into further free-fall, Donald Trump is ready to step in and take over.

Under the guise of wanting to help the island nation rid itself of its disastrous communist rule, he sees another piece of property to add to the empire of his dreams . . . this one just 90 miles from the Florida coast. On January 11th, he posted on social media:

“I strongly suggest they [Cuba] make a deal. BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. . . . NO MORE OIL OR MONEY.” [Jose de Cordoba, Vera Bergengruen and Deborah Acosta, Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2026.]

And an unnamed White House official has said:

“Cuba’s rulers are incompetent Marxists who have destroyed their country, and they have had a major setback with the Maduro regime that they are responsible for propping up.” [Id.[

The U.S. State Department has also chimed in with a statement that it is in America’s national security interests for Cuba “to be competently run by a democratic government and to refuse to host our adversaries’ military and intelligence services.” [Id.]

But what, you may ask, would Trump want with 42,000 square miles of ruin that would cost untold amounts of money to rebuild?

Well, first there is its strategic location. Having control of Cuba would prevent another missile crisis like the one in 1962, when Nikita Khrushchev nearly started World War III. A U.S. military presence there would be a legitimate defensive advantage, as well as a deterrent to those drug runners Trump is so hell-bent on wiping out of existence.

There is also potential for the revitalization of Cuba’s agricultural and industrial production, including petroleum, nickel, cobalt, tobacco and sugar. And its tropical climate makes it an ideal tourist attraction, as it was prior to the revolution of 1959.

Just imagine what a brand new Trump Resort and Golf Club would do for the economy!

So there is much to be said for the idea of “encouraging” regime change in Cuba. But there is also a major political problem: Russia remains Cuba’s leading creditor, and the two countries maintain close economic and political ties. There is still a Russian military presence on the island. Russia has an embassy in Havana and a consulate-general in Santiago de Cuba; Cuba has an embassy in Moscow and an honorary consulate in St. Petersburg. Following Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, Cuba recognized it as part of Russia. Cuba has also blamed the United States for the current crisis in Ukraine, and supports Russia’s right to “self-defense” against NATO expansion, stopping just short of actually endorsing the 2022 invasion.

Furthermore, around 55,000 people of Russian descent presently live in Cuba. And, like the (coincidentally) 55,000 people who comprise the total population of Greenland, they may take exception to the idea of becoming citizens of the United States, though for a different reason.

So, if Trump decides to attempt an overthrow of the Cuban regime, he will be running head-first into Vladimir Putin. And he might do well to find someone with an actual knowledge of history to educate him on that little dust-up in 1961 known as the “Bay of Pigs” fiasco.

It was not America’s finest hour.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/22/26

Well, well, well . . . it appears that both sides blinked. It’s just hard to tell who blinked first.

Speaking to a packed house of billionaires and world leaders for over an hour — during which he referred to Greenland as “Iceland,” not once, but four times * — Donald Trump had very little to say about housing affordability (which was supposed to have been his principal focus), but a lot about his expansionist ambitions for the United States (which is what he had intended all along). He regaled his audience with grandiose, sometimes threatening, and often confusing comments such as:

“We probably won’t get anything [referring to Greenland] unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that. Now everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, good.’ That’s probably the biggest statement I made, because people thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.” [Alexandra Hutzler, Hannah Demissie and Isabella Murray, ABC News, January 21, 2026.]

Question: Then why have you been threatening an invasion, causing havoc throughout Europe and the entire world? Answer: To scare them into submission, which is what bullies always do.

* Always good for a laugh, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later denied — despite everyone in the room having heard it — that Trump had confused Greenland with Iceland, saying, “No, he didn’t,” but claiming that he had simply referred to Greenland as “a piece of ice.” 

Leavitt truly gives new meaning to the term “dumb blonde.”

And Trump continued:

“I have tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark, tremendous respect. But every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory, and the fact is, no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States. We’re a great power.” [Id.]

Following Trump’s speech, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that, while retracting the threat of military force was a “positive” step, it still “does not make the problem go away. What was quite clear after his speech is that the president’s ambition is intact.” [Id.]

And Trump had already confirmed that point when he said:

“We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else . . . So, they have a choice. You can say yes and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no and we will remember.” [Id.]

*. *. *

Then he sat down with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, whose job of keeping peace with the Trump administration has not been an easy one. And following that meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social that it had been a “very productive meeting,” and that they “have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland.” [BBC, January 21, 2026.]

He added: “This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all Nato [sic] Nations.

“Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland.

“Further information will be made available as discussions progress. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations — They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” [Id.]

*. *. *

Along the way, Trump also claimed that he only wants Greenland for reasons of security, and not for its wealth of minerals. Of course, he also said his attack on Venezuela was about drugs, not oil . . .

But we don’t yet know what the “framework of a future deal” included, or what will come of the ongoing discussions. Meanwhile, Greenlanders continue to await word of their fate.

And Donald Trump will crow about his great victory at Davos, and how he has made the world more secure and saved millions more lives by not invading a nation of 55,000 people.

And brought another $18 trillion dollars in investments into the U.S. Treasury.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/21/26

Many (if not most) of us have been thinking recently, more than we ever expected to, about the nature of tyranny, authoritarianism, and imperialism. And it seems to me that, in the simplest of terms, they most often derive from a combination of greed, narcissism driven by a deep-seated insecurity, and a resultant need to prove oneself superior.

And it is that insecurity that will get them in the end. As British author J.K. Rowling wrote:

“Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!”

– J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

And that realization, in turn, impels them to continue along the path to what they see as their only means of self-preservation, but is in reality the seed of their ultimate destruction.

All that is needed now is that one — or the many — with the courage to rise up and strike back.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/21/26

In 1965, Tony Bennett recorded an album that included a song titled “If I Ruled the World,” the second verse of which went like this:

“If I ruled the world,
Every man would be as free as a bird,
Every voice would be a voice to be heard,
Take my word we would treasure each day that occurred.”

The ‘60s were a decade of youthful exuberance and hope for the future . . . a time when authors, lyricists, poets and singers wrote and sang of freedom, peace, love and brotherhood . . . a time when John F. Kennedy spoke of Camelot and a “New Frontier”, and Lyndon Johnson carried forward JFK’s ideals with his “Great Society,” focused on economic equality, civil rights, improved education, and healthcare for everyone.

Perhaps we were a little naive, a bit unrealistic in our idealism. Camelot wasn’t real; but democracy was, and respect was, and love of country was. We weren’t perfect; but we were united in a fight against totalitarianism, against the evils of autocracy, against those who would destroy the greatest form of government yet devised by mankind.

And we were joined with our allies in protecting freedom throughout the world by means of an organization known as the United Nations. In 1965, it was just 20 years old; today, it has served to keep the world a safer place for 80 years. But now, there is one who would destroy it.

Not satisfied with his horrific invasion of Venezuela, or his mania to “own” Greenland and absorb Canada, Donald Trump has now formed a “Board of Peace,” whose charter would seek to “solidify peace in the Middle East,” and also to “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict.” [Julian Borger, The Guardian, January 19, 2026.]

Initially comprised primarily of American government officials and private industry leaders, with Trump himself serving as the inaugural chairman and having authority over membership decisions, invitations have also gone out to the heads of a number of governments around the globe — many of them being authoritarian regimes that have no more interest in peace than Trump himself does. Indeed, several are already members of, or applicants for membership in, Vladimir Putin’s brainchild, BRICS.

On Monday, in a personal exchange with a friend after reading about this so-called “Board of Peace,” I mused: “Is he [Trump] trying to form an alternative UN? Or is he just living in an alternate universe?” And my friend wrote back: “Both?”

Invitations have, of course, also gone out to America’s traditional allies. And now European sources have said that the mandate of the Board is expanding, and — echoing the concerns expressed between my friend and me — that “Trump appears to see it as a vehicle to resolve other conflicts and shape international events, according to several European officials.” [Ania Nussbaum, Josh Wingrove and Samy Adghirni, Bloomberg, January 20, 2026.]

A United Nations of Autocrats.

No one can yet predict whether this latest vainglorious notion of Trump’s will actually materialize. Despite his assertions that he has made the U.S. the “most respected” nation in the world, the opposite is true. I can’t imagine our traditional allies being taken in by anything he proposes at this point . . . and least of all if Russia, China, Belarus, or any of the other authoritarian regimes decide to accept their invitations.

But what is becoming apparent is that, in his drive to undermine — and possibly destroy — NATO and the UN itself, Trump is seeking to offer the world an alternative “peace-keeping” body, with himself at the helm. He knows his current term as president is finite. But why settle for being “king” of just one country for a few years, when he could conceivably rule the world for the rest of his life?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/21/26