Having a wonderful time reminiscing about all my past travel (and other) adventures. Hope you’ll share them with me in my blog, “All Roads Led to Russia.”
At long last, there is something to celebrate. Before heading out for their summer break, the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court did their job and upheld the Constitution by preserving American birthright citizenship. Well done!
Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court
They also refused to hear Donald Trump’s appeal seeking to reverse the lower court’s judgment in favor of E. Jean Carroll in her suit for defamation and sexual abuse, thus requiring him to fork over $5 million — a mere pittance to a man who made $1 billion in cryptocurrency deals last year alone, but infuriating to one who can’t stand to lose at anything.
Could it be that the Court is at last growing a conscience? We can only hope.
In a world where the daily news has been so shitty that I have almost taken an interest in Taylor Swift’s forthcoming nuptials just for a change of pace, I’m grateful for whatever good news may come my way. So, I thank SCOTUS for these two wins.
And may your summer respite provide you with the opportunity to think about your Constitutional mandate, your obligations to the American people, and the fact that — unlike the presidency — your appointments are for life. That means that, barring retirement or unforeseen circumstances, you will still be on the bench long after Trump has left office.
So each of you might consider which is more important to you: one-sided loyalty to an individual who clearly does not deserve it . . . or your sacred duty to your country, and your ultimate legacy in a post-Trump world?
As I begin my last week in Georgia and make my final preparations to return to Virginia, I find myself — unexpectedly, at this advanced age — once again facing an uncertain future.
Oh, I know where I’m going, of course. But what experiences await me there, in a new location, is a blank page. All I know for sure is that the more urban setting will hold opportunities for adventure that the quiet country life of the past six years has not.
So it is with great optimism that I echo the words of the late American author Ursula K. Le Guin, known for her fantasy and science fiction works, but who was clearly facing reality when she wrote:
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.”
– Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Left Hand of Darkness”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 – 2018)
It was always that sense of not knowing what might be around the next corner that led to the best times of my life in the past. Here’s hoping the same holds true for the future.
On Friday, June 26th, I read about a Russian blogger and war veteran who had previously served in Ukraine, and who on June 25th had posted a video on Instagram describing alleged widespread torture of Russian soldiers in the war zone by their own officers. He further demanded a live, on-air meeting with Vladimir Putin, warning that if Putin did not respond promptly, “the army will turn its weapons against the Kremlin.” [Steve Gutterman, RFE/RL, June 26, 2026.]
Aleksandr Lunin
That man identified himself as Aleksandr Lunin, and said he was simply relaying a message from unidentified military and security officials with whom he had allegedly met a day earlier. And I immediately thought:
He’s a dead man.
The very next day, Lunin recanted in a second video, in whichhe claimed that his earlier statements had been twisted. As described by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, “every other word [in the second video] is a crude expletive and in which at one point he spits to punctuate his derisive remarks.” [Id.]
And again I thought:
Too little, too late. He’s still a dead man.
In Russia today, one does not badmouth Vladimir Putin; and most importantly, one does not criticize the Russian military in general, or the “special military operation” in Ukraine in particular. This man had to be either supremely egotistical to think he could get away with it, or batshit crazy, or both . . . and especially considering the fate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries until he decided to stage a march on the Kremlin in 2023 to call attention to problems in the military.
Yevgeny Prigozhin (1961 – 2023)
Well, the jury is still out on the question of Lunin’s sanity. But it took the authorities no time at all — only until Saturday, June 27th, according to Russian independent news agency Verstka — to arrest him and bring him before a court for a hearing. And, while court officials refused to provide a copy of their decision, saying that “cases like this are not made public,” posts on Lunin’s Telegram channel said that he had been sentenced to 11 days in detention, with no reason given. [Anastasia Protz, Ukrainska Pravda, June 29, 2026.]
According to The Moscow Times, he had been found guilty of “displaying extremist or Nazi symbols” — an infraction that carries a sentence of up to 15 days in detention. [The Moscow Times, June 29, 2026.]
But in his video, Lunin had said that:
“ . . . dozens, hundreds, thousands of our soldiers are rotting in [pits], thrown there by their own commanders. Just sitting, rotting, being tortured and abused by what their own ranks call the Gestapo. Why? For refusing to follow idiotic, suicidal orders. For refusing to hand over their own money. And in the end they are zeroed out, listed as missing in action.” [Ukrainska Pravda, op.cit.]
That language is far more serious than simply “displaying extremist or Nazi symbols.” And thus I am sorry to say that I don’t hold out much hope for Aleksandr Lunin’s future. Based on the way such matters are usually handled, the most likely scenario would involve further charges being entered while he is in detention — charges that would require his remaining in custody, ultimately being brought to trial (most likely behind closed doors), and inevitably being convicted of some higher crime and sentenced to years in prison, or perhaps a mental institution.
We’ll see if I’m right, or even close . . . that is, if there is any follow-up information forthcoming from Russian authorities. After all, as the first court official said,
I’ve been talking a good bit lately about the progress of my “move from hell” — as though anyone has ever experienced a move that wasn’t absolute hell.
With just eight days left before D-Day (Departure Day), and with some things working out surprisingly smoothly and others . . . well . . . not so much, I found these words from Winston Churchill to be particularly apropos:
“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
Easy for him to say — he was only dealing with a little world war, not a full-blown interstate relocation. But I will take inspiration and hope from his wisdom, and keep on keeping on.
In a fiery speech before a gathering of right-wing Republicans at the Faith and Freedom Coalition on Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson painted a nightmare scenario more revealing of his own — and his party’s — twisted mentality than of any sort of reality.
But who needs truth when one’s purpose is to stir up anger, fear and hatred in order to influence the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections?
What he said was this:
“If we were to lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats, impeachment is not even the big concern. They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body and they’ll go after the president’s family, the cabinet, his donors and friends. Half of you in this room will be targeted. I run the protection program. I’ll take care of you.” [Facebook post by Occupy Democrats, June 26, 2026.]
What he did, in five short sentences, was 1) attempt to ascribe to Democrats the very attributes of corruption, vengeance, and disregard for the law that are the hallmarks of the Trump administration; and 2) offer his own Republican party carte blanche to break whatever laws they may choose, under cover of his (and, by extension, Trump’s) personal protection.
In so doing, he not only broke a few more laws himself; he also gave away the Republican playbook for the elections.
But he was not entirely wrong; when the Democrats regain control of the House, and possibly also the Senate, there will indeed be a slew of investigations. I would hope that they will be conducted properly and not vengefully, to ensure full accountability within the letter and the spirit of the laws and the Constitution of the United States.
Unfortunately, the writer of the Occupy Democrats article took a wrong turn and ended on a sour note. While first properly encouraging Americans to “get out there and vote out every single Trump-enabling Republican and put an end to his rampant crime spree,” they blew it by veering into a diatribe that was not far from the rabid spirit of Johnson’s speech, suggesting that:
“Congress absolutely needs to turn every committee into a subpoena factory the second we retake the gavels. . . . America needs to know the truth, and we need JUSTICE. Go after Trump. Go after his family, his cabinet, his donors, his friends, and everyone who has ever lifted a finger to protect him. We’re done going high. Now they’re going DOWN.”[Id.] [Bold emphasis is mine.]
No! No! No!
This country is better than its current administration. Yes, we absolutely need to see that justice is done. But nothing would be gained by stooping to the Republicans’ level and fomenting an eye-for-an-eye bloodbath, whereas we have everything to gain by reclaiming and reinstating the moral and legal standards that made us the world’s greatest nation in the first place.
Mike Johnson and the other Trump sycophants can rabble-rouse ‘til the cows come home. We Americans — the vast majority of Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans and independents who truly love this country and what it has always stood for — are not buying what they’re selling. We need to show that, even while taking the lawbreakers to task, we are still the occupiers and defenders of the high ground.
Apropos of my regular Sunday post on the status of Vladimir Putin’s political prisoner-hostages, I just came across a two-day-old Facebook posting by Vladimir Kara-Murza — himself a former hostage — in turn quoting a declaration made at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France:
“We express our solidarity with members of the Yabloko Party and with all Russian citizens who are speaking out against the war in Ukraine despite the ongoing repression . . . All political prisoners must be released, politically motivated prosecutions must end, and conditions must be created for the Russian people to freely express their will.”
– PACE Written Declaration No. 840, “Persecution of anti-war voices ahead of so-called elections in the Russian Federation.”
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
It is indeed encouraging to know that the fight continues on behalf of those already wrongfully imprisoned, as well as those in danger of prosecution for the simple act of speaking up for freedom and truth.
Thanks to Mr. Kara-Murza for bringing this to the world’s (and my) attention.
Other than the 21.5 million people living in the greater metropolitan area of Moscow who are now suffering the direct effects of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine — and who might thus be considered “hostages” of his regime — this has been another week without actual hostage news . . . which, as my readers know, I always consider to be good news.
Putin’s War Comes Home to Moscow
But of course we continue to remember those who remain confined in prisons and penal colonies as human collateral. Once again, the ones whose names are known to us are:
Prisoners of War:
The 20,000+ 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:
Pavel “Pasha” Talankin Mikita Losik Yulia Navalnaya Oleg Orlov Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents
Political Prisoners:
In Afghanistan:
Mahmoud Habibi (Afghan-American) Paul Overby (American, missing since 2018)
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) Aleksandr Andreyev David Barnes (American) Yevgenia Berkovich Gordon Black (American) Hayden Davies (British) Yury Dmitriyev Anastasia Dyudyaeva 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 Mikhail Loshchinin Grigory Melkonyants Nika NovakSvetlana Petriichuk Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea) Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler) Lev Schlossberg Sofiane Sehili (French) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Grigory Skvortsov Eugene Spector (American) Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)Karina Tsurkan Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland (American)
You have not been, and will not be, forgotten. Stay strong.
I’m not leaving yet, but most of my belongings are. The movers are due here shortly, and once they’re gone with a few pieces of furniture and a sh**load of boxes, I’ll have another nine days to finish sending things off to be donated, clearing out the excess, and packing my last-minute things to go with me in the car.
And accompanying me on the road trip will be my sister Merna.
Yes, I know she died nearly nine years ago. But, as she had directed, she was cremated, and left it up to me to choose the final destination of her ashes. But I don’t think I’ve ever written about what I ultimately decided.
Merna was an avid Washington Redskins fan and for many years a season-ticket holder, and had once thought it would be fun to spend eternity at RFK Stadium. But after the team moved from their original site in D.C. to a new arena in suburban Maryland, she changed her mind; the sentimental attachment was no longer there.
“Hail to the Redskins” — Political Correctness Notwithstanding
So I thought about connections to other places she loved. As she was a Civil War history buff, I checked into historic sites around D.C., but nothing really jumped out at me as the perfect spot.
Then I thought of Cape Cod, where we often vacationed together. They have strict environmental regulations, but there are boats that take you the legal distance away from shore for a burial or scattering ceremony at sea. That sounded lovely; but it meant that none of her friends would have been able to attend. So I scrubbed that idea as well.
I’d probably have fallen in anyway.
And then it hit me. We had taken a few cruises together over the years — the eastern Canadian coast, Alaska, and a fantastic Baltic excursion — and were planning another one when she became ill and never recovered. So, since I also want to be cremated when the time comes, I decided that I would keep her with me (in her beautiful Himalayan pink salt urn) until our remains could be combined and scattered in the Potomac River, whence they would drift out to sea for one final cruise together.
One Last Time
You can stop laughing now . . . I’m serious. It’s just whacky enough that Merna would have loved it.
So she will be making the drive with me back to Virginia, where my daughter eventually (not too soon, I hope) will be able to wish us both bon voyage, along with those of our old friends and relatives who may still be around.
*. *. *
So there you have it: just one of the many details of this move from hell that I’ve been agonizing over for the past several weeks.
And now, to get ready for the arrival of the movers. Wish me luck.
The news media are filled with reports of Ukraine’s drone and missile strikes on Crimea — the Ukrainian peninsula forcefully and illegally occupied and governed by Russia since its 2014 invasion — and the resultant fuel shortages, power blackouts, and cancellations of normal activities being suffered by the residents and summer vacationers in the Black Sea paradise.
Attack on Sevastopol, Crimea
Just this week, Ukraine’s drone forces attacked the main power substation in Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city, seven times. Electricity restrictions are continuing because repair work to the power grid has been delayed by the frequent air raid alerts.
Yet, as I reported on June 18th, Canadian natives Arend and Anneesa Feenstra left their farm in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, to spend a week in that very war zone . . . with no explanation other than a mention of being accompanied by some unnamed “friends” on unspecified farming matters. Uncharacteristically, their return to the farm brought no further information about the trip — just an apology for the delay due to some technical difficulties with the videos.
In Crimea
And what have we seen from the Feenstras on YouTube since then? Just this:
> A video of the family in Moscow, receiving yet another award for their family values and their service in helping to build bridges with their adopted country. How nice.
“Arend Feenstra [Canada]” “Family of the Year”
> That was followed a few days later by another, very brief, video — recorded by Arend while driving — concerning the frustrations of trying to do business in a strange country whose language you have not yet mastered, and where things don’t always work as they should . . . but with assurances that everything will be fine because it is all part of God’s plan for their family.
Looking tired and frustrated
> And on Thursday, there was a demonstration of their new feed grinder, and a discussion of why well-ground grain is more nutritionally beneficial to cows, pigs and chickens.
But nothing — not another word — about the trip to Crimea.
It’s well known that Vladimir Putin is feeling enormous pressure from his own people in the wake of Ukraine’s recent military successes, with drone and missile attacks even reaching strategic locations in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And the issue of Crimea — whether it rightfully belongs to Russia or Ukraine — is of particular importance to him and his revisionist version of history.
But what, if anything, do the Feenstras have to do with all of this? Why did they suddenly leave the safety of their farm for a trip to a region under attack? Why haven’t we seen the usual videos of the family touring yet another new part of the world?
And why do they keep receiving special awards?
Once again, I am left with a lot of unanswered questions, and a growing concern for the futures of those eight beautiful children. Because what we are seeing and hearing — and more significantly, what we are not seeing and hearing — is telling me that they have become propaganda tools of the Putin regime, and that their future security and success depend upon their continued compliance.
And I do not believe for one moment that that is what they originally signed up for.
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 