There are several possibilities here:

> Bobby Kennedy, Jr.’s brain worm has migrated to what’s left of Donald Trump’s brain;

> Trump’s immigration obsession has grown to include all species of “aliens”;

> A White House aide got hold of Trump’s phone again;

> Melania is systematically trying to drive him over the edge;

> There really are extraterrestrials running loose in the West Wing; or, most likely,

> It’s another excuse for Trump to pick on Barack Obama.

Last week, Trump posted on Truth Social that he will be directing U.S. government agencies, including the Defense Department, to “begin the process of identifying and releasing” government files on aliens and extraterrestrial life. [Grace Eliza Goodwin, BBC, February 20, 2026.]

This was a follow-up to his earlier statement aboard Air Force One, when he said that Obama had revealed classified information by stating during a podcast that “aliens are real.” According to Trump:

“He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake.” [Id.]

Then, when asked by reporters whether he believes aliens exist, he replied: “Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not.” [Id.]

So, which is it? If Obama’s comments were indeed revelatory of classified information, then there must be some substance to the widespread belief that such beings exist, and that the government has been covering up the proof for decades.

On the other hand, if there has been a cover-up, why would he order the files released?

But on the other hand — yes, I know I’m starting to sound like Tevye again — those files could have been scrubbed, a la Epstein, as part of the cover-up . . .

What Obama actually told podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen was this:

“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in Area 51. There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.” [Id.]

When his comments drew public reaction, Obama then clarified in a post on Instagram that he thinks it is statistically likely that, given the vastness of the universe, life exists somewhere other than on Earth. But he added:

“I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!” [Id.]

Meanwhile, there has been no indication that Obama revealed any sort of classified information on the subject of aliens. But Trump — never one to pass up an opportunity to harass someone he can’t stand — just had to waste more government resources, and taxpayer dollars, on another meaningless exercise.

But if it makes the little guy happy . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/22/26

On Thursday, February 19th, word was received of the final release by Belarusian authorities of oppositionist and one-time presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, following a stroke suffered while in prison.

Originally part of the release of 52 political prisoners on September 11, 2025, Statkevich was to have been deported to Lithuania. However, he refused to leave his homeland, and positioned himself in a no-man’s land on the Belarus-Lithuania border, where he was eventually re-arrested and returned to prison.

On January 21, 2026, while back in prison, he suffered a stroke, but was not released until last week. After spending 12 of the past 20 years as a political prisoner of the Lukashenko regime, he has at last been reunited with his family in Minsk. His wife, Marina Adamovich, posted on Facebook following his release:

“Dear friends! Mikalay is home! He had a stroke. He is now recovering. For now, he is having problems with speech. Otherwise, everything is fine. Everything will be OK.” [RFE/RL, February 19, 2026.]

In 2016, after nearly five years in prison, Statkevich told reporters:

“I am ready to sacrifice my freedom to bring my country closer to freedom. I am fighting for Belarus. I will continue this work as long as I am alive.” [Id.]

Whether he will follow through on that pledge when he has regained his health remains to be seen. But in the meantime, welcome home, and all best wishes for a speedy recovery, to Mikalay Statkevich.

*. *. *

And yet another weekly salute to those still being held hostage:

Victims of Greed:

The President, First Lady, and citizens of Venezuela

Europeans Under Threat:

The Nation and the People of Greenland
The people of NATO and EU member states

Prisoners of War:

The 19,500 Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Endangered Exiles:

Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Afghanistan:

Dennis Coyle (American)

In Azerbaijan:

The “Azerbaijan 7”:
— Farid Mehralizada
— Ulvi Hasanli
— Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqiai)
— Mahammad Kekalov
— Hafiz Babali
— Nargiz Absalamova
— Elnara Gasimova

In Belarus:

Andrei Chapiuk
Uladzimir Labkovich
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In Russia:

The “Crimea 8”:
— Oleg Antipov
— Artyom Azatyan
— Georgy Azatyan
— Aleksandr Bylin
— Roman Solomko
— Artur Terchanyan
— Dmitry Tyazhelykh
— Vladimir Zloba

James Scott Rhys Anderson (British)
David Barnes (American)
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman (American)
Stephen James Hubbard (American)
Sergey Karelin
Timur Kishukov
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Michael Travis Leake (American)
Aleksei Liptser
Grigory Melkonyants
Nika Novak
Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea)
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Sofiane Sehili (French)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Grigory Skvortsov
Eugene Spector (American)
Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

You have not been, and will not be, forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/22/26

She’s always good for a smile, a chuckle, or a guffaw. And her ability to find humor in the most mundane and even frustrating aspects of everyday life, marriage and motherhood are inspirational.

I found one of her writings today that I hadn’t seen before, or had overlooked. Under the heading, “If I had my life to live over . . .” she said she would have spent less time doing chores and more time appreciating her children, her friends, or a beautiful spring day — things that many of us have thought from time to time.

But she really struck a chord for me when she added this one:

“I would have eaten less cottage cheese and more ice cream.”

– Erma Bombeck, “Thoughts On Life From Erma Bombeck”

As my regular readers know, I surrendered to my ice cream addiction long ago. But today, thanks to Erma, I also bought a box of Twinkies. I think she would have approved.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/21/26

He began by picking off small boats in the Caribbean he allegedly suspected of carrying illegal drugs from Venezuela to the United States.

Then he deployed an armada to the region — including the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS GERALD R. FORD — purportedly to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States.” [Konstantin Toropin, AP, October 24, 2025.]

But it had really been about regime change, and not just drugs, all along. Because on January 3rd — in an operation worthy of a Jason Bourne sequel — he sent in U.S. special ops Delta Force commandos to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and bring them to the United States, where they currently await trial in New York on charges of drug trafficking and narcoterrorism. And he declared that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until a new administration had been installed to his satisfaction, which hasn’t officially happened yet.

Of course, I’m talking about Donald Trump, who — fresh off of his Venezuelan “success” — now has his sights, and a sizable number of U.S. military forces, aimed at Iran. The issue there is bigger than the Latin American drug trade; it involves ongoing talks concerning nuclear containment, which have dragged on with little or no progress for longer than he anticipated.

At the first meeting of his ironically-named “Board of Peace” in Washington this week, Trump gave the Iranian regime another ten days to knuckle under to his demands, saying:

“We have to make a meaningful deal otherwise bad things happen.” [Bernd Debusmann, Jr., BBC, February 20, 2026.]

Trump did not explain what he meant by “bad things.” But I doubt that what then actually happened on Thursday was what he had in mind. That was the day that Iran and Russia began joint military drills in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, with the purported goal of “upgrading operational coordination as well as exchange of military experiences.” [Ryan Mancini, The Hill, February 19, 2026.]

Apparently, Trump does not understand the difference in consequences between stepping on an anthill and poking a hornets’ nest. Furthermore, in his own ignorance concerning the history, the culture and the mindset of the Middle East nation — and his failure to anticipate Russia’s willingness to step into the fray — he placed responsibility for the negotiations in the hands of two equally unqualified individuals: realtor Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s own wunderkind son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Yes, the same pair who have thus far failed to bring Ukraine a millimeter closer to peace have simultaneously been tasked with convincing Iran’s leaders to bow down before the Temple of Trump.

Well, good luck with that, boys. The countdown has begun.

10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/21/26

Yesterday, when addressing the inaugural meeting of his “Board of Peace” in Washington, Donald Trump made a Freudian slip. In speaking of the future of the Board, he said, “Someday I won’t be here . . .”

Much has been written lately about Trump’s apparently declining health, and maybe he has secretly been contemplating his inevitable demise, as we all do at some point. After all, he is not a young man.

So perhaps he should consider the words of Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, who wrote:

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.”

– Marcus Aurelius, “The Emperor’s Handbook”

Though sadly, there are some whose souls are so dark that even the sun would have difficulty reaching them.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/20/26

One dictionary definition of “mafia,” with a lower-case “m,” is:

“ . . . a popular attitude of hostility to legal restraint and to the law, often manifesting itself in criminal acts.”

I’d say that’s close enough for government work.

In this case, the governments to which I refer are the 47 (mostly autocratic) nations that sent representatives to the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s brand-new “Board of Peace” in Washington yesterday. While Israel was represented, no Palestinian was in attendance. Also notably absent were many European and other Western allies who have expressed concern about the purpose and scope of the Board’s initiative.

Trump told the meeting that nations had already contributed $7 billion to a Gaza reconstruction fund for work to begin once Hamas has been disarmed. Contributors included Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Uzbekistan. He also said that the U.S. would give $10 billion to the Board, though it was not clear where the money would come from or what it would be earmarked for. [Christina Anagnostopoulos, et al., Reuters, February 19, 2026.]

He added that the United Nations will contribute $2 billion for humanitarian assistance, and —rather incongruously — that FIFA has said it would raise $75 million for soccer-related projects in Gaza. [Id.]

Oh, goody! The people of Gaza are desperate for food, water, medical care, shelter — the basic necessities of existence — but let’s give them soccer to take their minds off of their misery.

In his remarks, Trump characteristically painted a glowing picture for the future of his newest undertaking, telling the assembly:

“This is the mot prestigious board ever put together. You know, I’ve seen some great corporate boards. I’ve seen some great boards, period. It’s peanuts compared to this board.” [Michele Kelemen and Aya Batrawy, NPR, February 19, 2026.]

Then he continued:

“Someday I won’t be here, the United Nations will be, I think, is going to be much stronger. The Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.” [Id.]

Perhaps in response to recent expressions of concern that he might be attempting to supplant the role of the United Nations, he added that the Board would be working “very closely” with the U.N. — though it sounds more as though he expects the U.N. to be working closely with him.

*. *. *

It’s early days for Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, and it remains to be seen what direction they will take from here. In the meantime, the billions of dollars already contributed will be . . . doing what? Sitting in a bank in Qatar? In whose name? Or perhaps it will be used as start-up funding for son-in-law Jared Kushner’s “New Gaza” development plan, as presented last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

You know . . . the one the people of Gaza won’t be able to afford to live in.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/20/26

He appeared in Geneva on Tuesday — seemingly out of nowhere — to take the lead for the Russian side in the Ukraine peace talks.

His name was Vladimir Medinsky, and I wondered who he was and what he was doing there, heading a delegation that still included two former lead negotiators: Kirill Dmitriev, and Admiral Igor Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU), who had led the earlier talks in Abu Dhabi . . . as well as a Deputy Foreign Minister and a Deputy Defense Minister.

His earlier involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict dated back to talks held in Istanbul in the early days of the invasion, in March-April of 2022, and included some of last year’s talks as well. But his name has not been at the forefront of the media reports. So I did a little digging.

His Wikipedia biography identifies him as an historian with an education in English and journalism at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO); a former posting as Minister of Culture; a stint in the State Duma in the early 2000s; a present place as a member of Putin’s “ideological clan”; and a politically “statist” and “ultraconservative” philosophy, with a strong emphasis on a return to Russian “traditional values.” From that, I could only wonder anew at his relevance to peace negotiations.

The second day of talks brought no further clarity, when his only post-meeting comment was that they had been “difficult but businesslike,” and that further meetings would follow. [RFE/RL, February 18, 2026.]

My first clue came with this morning’s news reports, one of which quoted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — normally a model of realistic but diplomatic composure — as calling the Geneva talks “historical shit.” [Mike Eckel, RFE/RL, February 19, 2026.]

Well, that snapped my eyelids open and sent my mind into overdrive. So I grabbed my reading glasses and read on.

Aside from the dry biographical information, it seems Mr. Medinsky has been known — at least in Russia — as the author of a series of supposedly best-selling non-fiction history books . . . although their historical value has been questioned by experts. As reported:

“Among his more eyebrow-raising statements: The 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which divided up Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, ‘deserves a monument’; anti-Semitism in Tsarist Russia was ‘greatly exaggeraged’; and the Soviet Union never occupied the Baltic states, it just ‘incorporated’ them. [Id.]

He has been accused by Russian academics of plagiarism; he has overseen the revisionist rewriting of history textbooks used in the Russian schools; and he attempted, in the final volume of his book series, to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine by writing:

“The West became fixated with destabilizing the situation inside Russia. The aim was not even hidden: to dismember Russia and to get control over its resources.” [Id.]

While suggesting in a news interview that video-streaming service Netflix was a U.S. government tool for mind control, he conversely claimed rap and hip-hop music as being uniquely Russian art forms.

And it is believed he was central to the drafting in July 2021 of an essay released by the Kremlin under Putin’s name, titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians” [http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181] — a revisionist theory of history that Putin has consistently used to justify his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. [Id.]

Still, what was he doing at Geneva? Earlier this year, when trilateral talks were again held, that time led on the Russian side by the head of the GRU (military intelligence), the Ukrainian officials were delighted. Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said at the time, “These are different people, and there were no more pseudo-historical lectures” — obviously referring to Medinsky’s tendency to propagandize and sermonize.

So when Medinsky’s return to the table was announced just days prior to the February 17th meeting, experts agreed that it was not a good sign. And it appears they were right.

“Earlier, Sky News analyst Michael Clarke called Medinsky a ‘nasty piece of work’ with a deranged view of Russian history, who likes to lecture everyone. He ‘swears at people, he annoys them, he angers them.’ His goal, according to Clarke, is to make others walk away and later say the negotiations failed because they themselves abandoned them.” [Olena Mukhina, Euromaidan, February 18, 2026.]

It has now been reported that Medinsky spent considerable time in Geneva doing exactly that — while Moscow’s key demand of the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire Donetsk Oblast remains unchanged.

And there is your answer: Vladimir Medinsky, an “aide” to Putin with no official governmental position, was a diversionary tactic — what the Russians call an “otvlekayushchiy manevr,” or “red herring” — sent, not merely to reinforce Putin’s alleged historical claims to Ukrainian territory, but also to sabotage any serious attempts at genuine peace negotiations.

Unfortunately, he appears to have succeeded.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/19/26

When I need a chuckle, I can usually find it in one of several places: a British sitcom; whatever Karoline Leavitt said in the day’s White House press briefing; or the writings of Ogden Nash, Erma Bombeck, or British author and journalist Ambrose Bierce.

Bierce won the coin toss today, for his combination of irony, literacy, and totally irreverent humor. For your amusement (I hope), I give you his definition of “Man”:

“MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada.”

– Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary

Clearly, Bierce is on my list of people from the past I would hope some day to meet in Heaven.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/19/26

The first-ever American Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, has announced that the Vatican will not be represented at Donald Trump’s inaugural meeting of his “Board of Peace” in Washington later today, expressing concern about some points of the Board’s plan, and stating that there are critical issues to be resolved. [Christopher Lamb, CNN, February 18, 2026.]

The Vatican has joined Britain, France, Norway, Greece, New Zealand, and others in declining Trump’s invitation. (Italy and the European Union have said they plan to attend as observers only — an excellent idea, so that the rest of us will know what really took place.)

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, told reporters that one of the Vatican’s concerns “is that at the international level it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.” He added that the Vatican would not “participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States.” [Id.]

Speaking for the White House, Karoline Leavitt said:

“I don’t think that peace should be partisan or political or controversial. And of course, the administration wants all those who were invited to join the board of peace to join. This is a legitimate organization where there are tens of member countries from around the world, and we think that’s an unfortunate decision.” [Id.]

Well, what did they — Trump and his White House minions — expect? They started out trumpeting (pun intended) their “legitimate organization” as a coalition to deal with the situation in Gaza. Suddenly, it was being reinvented as a much larger peacemaking group tasked with settling conflicts throughout the world — ignoring the existence of something called the United Nations. Its chairman would be Donald Trump, who would have veto power and the mandate to choose his own eventual successor. And the price of permanent membership would be a billion dollars (or more, from those seeking favor), to be deposited into a fund managed by . . .

Come, now . . . do you really have to ask?

Not surprisingly, most of the first countries to sign up were autocracies, because they recognized that this “Board of Peace” had nothing whatsoever to do with peace, and everything to do with power and control.

And the Pope also recognizes it for what it is: another desperate grab at immortality by a malignant narcissist who cannot face the fact that his time — politically, if not physically — is rapidly dwindling.

It will be interesting to see what happens at today’s meeting. But in the meantime, a huge thank you to Pope Leo XIV — a good and wise man who does not allow his nationality to interfere with his rationality.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/19/26

With the future of an entire nation at stake, the second day of talks ending after just two hours is not a good sign.

Russia’s chief negotiator for this round of talks in Geneva — former Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky — acknowledged that the brief meeting had been “difficult but businesslike,” and that further meetings would follow. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “too early” to assess the results of the talks. And there was no immediate comment at all from the U.S. side.

But in an online chat with journalists, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was more forthcoming, saying that “all three sides were constructive on the military track [of the talks]. The military basically understands how to monitor a cease-fire and the end of the war, if there is political will. They have basically agreed on pretty much everything there. Monitoring will definitely involve the American side. On the political track there was dialogue — they agreed to move forward and to continue. I did not hear the same level of progress there as on the military side. But . . . my group said they cannot report everything to me over the phone.” [RFE/RL, February 18, 2026.]

Following yesterday’s six-hour session, White House envoy Steve Witkoff said in a post on X that there had been “ . . . meaningful progress. Both parties agreed to update their respective leaders and continue working towards a deal.” [Id.]

In other words, it’s been two days of the same old same old.

The problem? Vladimir Putin’s continued intransigence on the two most vital issues in terms of Ukraine’s sovereignty and future security: territorial claims and security guarantees.

Putin’s strategy is simple: As long as he has the military means, he will continue to bombard the Ukrainian civilian population and infrastructure until there is nothing left: no further support from the West, no way to continue on their own, and no will to go on.

It is up to the West — Europe and the United States — to stop him. As long as we stand behind the Ukrainian people, they will continue to fight . . . not only for their own country, but because they also understand that if they fall, the rest of Europe will not be far behind. And we cannot let that happen.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
2/18/26