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.”
I remember the days before meteorological forecasting became the nearly-precise science that it is today. Though we still haven’t been able to predict Mother Nature’s often capricious behavior, for the most part we now have the benefit of forewarning of everything from light rain to a heavy snow to a full-blown hurricane . . . giving us time to make preparations and take shelter. It would be impossible to calculate the number of lives that are saved each year by these warnings.
Last Friday’s devastating flash floods in Texas have taken 81 lives with 41 more missing, according to a Sunday night report — and nearly a dozen children from a girls’ campground are still unaccounted for. [Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, July 6, 2025.] The horror of the human loss is unimaginable.
There will naturally be questions now as to whether the deluge of rain that caused the flooding could have been predicted in time for campers and others to be moved out of the danger area if the National Weather Service, which is part of NOAA, had not been short-staffed due to funding cuts. And in all likelihood, we will never know the truth. The “official” government reports will deny any blame, and others will sneer at their denials. Politics as usual.
But the loss of all of those lives, and the millions of dollars in property destroyed or damaged, is not political. It is a human tragedy that could reasonably be expected to occur again and again if we are unable efficiently to track the forces of nature. And hurricane season is just beginning . . .
Meanwhile, Washington continues to cut the budgets for departments in charge of vital, life-saving environmental and recovery work . . . because someone doesn’t believe it’s necessary.
At least until the next tornado blows Mar-a-Lago to Oz.
And that same someone has said he would fly to Texas “probably on Friday,” adding that he had wanted to go on Sunday but felt he would have been “in their way.” [Id.]
Elon Musk, in an interview with Joe Rogan earlier this year, said that he believed “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,” and that liberals and progressives are “exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.”
Elon Musk
It is a common theme among ultra-conservatives who demonize all charitable works and programs designed to improve humanity’s standard of living as “socialism,” “communism,” or “Marxism.” But that’s just conservative double-speak designed to justify their own White Christian Nationalist (WCN) philosophy.
To begin with, let’s look at some brief, accurate definitions of those terms:
“Socialism, social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members.” [Richard Dagger and Terence Ball, Britannica.com, updated May 11, 2025.]
“Communism, political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society. Communism is thus a form of socialism — a higher and more advanced form, according to its advocates. Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists’ adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx.” [Richard Dagger and Terence Ball, Britannica.com, updated May 26, 2025.]
Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin
“Marxism, a body of doctrine developed by Karl Marx and, to a lesser extent, by Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century. It originally consisted of three related ideas: a philosophical anthropology, a theory of history, and an economic and political program. There is also Marxism as it has been understood and practiced by the various socialist movements, particularly before 1914. Then there is Soviet Marxism as worked out by Vladimir Ilich Lenin and modified by Joseph Stalin, which under the name of Marxism-Leninism became the doctrine of the communist parties set up after the Russian Revolution (1917). . . .” [David T. McLellan and Henri Chambre, Britannica.com, updated June 29, 2025.]
Marx is perhaps most popularly known for his slogan: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” — an over-simplified mantra that is often used to try to define socialism and rationalize one’s opposition to welfare programs such as Medicaid, free school lunches, and homeless shelters.
Karl Marx
But social welfare programs do not advocate common ownership of property. They are designed to assist people in times of need — when life throws us curve balls we are unable to deflect on our own — until we are once more able to work and care for ourselves . . . or, in the case of the elderly and chronically ill, until we die of natural causes, in reasonable comfort and with dignity.
*. *. *
Many of those same anti-empaths will argue that charitable programs simply promote laziness and abuse of the system. And to some extent, they are correct.
Yes, there will always be those who will find a way to “work” the system to their own selfish advantage. That, unfortunately, is one of the lower instincts of human nature. But should those in legitimate need — the ill or injured, the permanently disabled, the elderly, the orphaned children — be punished for the crimes of a few despicable individuals? Or shouldn’t the people who administer the social programs be held responsible for their proper management in order to detect and prevent such abuse?
It’s not a new story — the “haves” dismissing the “have-nots” as disposable. Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly, embittered recluse, spoke of letting the poor die in order to “decrease the surplus population.” Today’s Scrooges — the likes of Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and their autocratic billionaire cronies — are simply reaffirming the philosophy of old Ebenezer, while trying to pass it off as pragmatic anti-socialism.
But empathy, altruism, and simple kindness have nothing to do with political philosophy. They are what make us human. If we truly wish to decrease the “surplus population,” I say we start by putting the greedy, inhumane, destructive oligarchs out of work, and denying them welfare benefits.
In the words of Senator Mitch McConnell: “They’ll get over it.“
For a year and a half, I have posted a weekly reminder and update on the circumstances of the individuals — both Russian and foreign — being held in Vladimir Putin’s chain of penal colonies for purely political reasons: because they have dared, by word or peaceful action, to oppose his tyrannical regime.
Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko
And we have seen that same method of persecution spread, most notably to Putin’s puppet state of Belarus, where the presumptive president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is holding more than 1,000 people hostage on similarly specious grounds.
But while we abhor such practices wherever they occur throughout the world, we are not surprised when they are revealed in autocratically-ruled nations such as Russia and Belarus. We oppose them, we issue sanctions against them, we even — through human rights and enforcement agencies such as the International Criminal Court — charge them with crimes against humanity and issue warrants for their arrest.
And we Americans say a silent prayer of gratitude that we live in a nation where such things just can’t happen. Because we live in a democracy, with a Constitution that protects our individual rights, and holds our government to a system of accountability — checks and balances — that has protected us from tyranny for nearly 250 years.
Constitution of the United States
Or we did . . . until something started to go suddenly, horribly, unimaginably wrong.
Overnight, we Americans found our freedoms and our most treasured institutions — universities, public schools, the media, law enforcement, our courts and governmental agencies themselves — under attack by a cabal of fascistic oligarchs who make no secret of their mad lust for absolute power.
So I have begun to question my right to criticize the Putins and Lukashenkos of this world, when the disease of their evil has metastasized to my own country . . . and most especially because this circumstance was not forced upon us by an invasion or military coup.
No, we did it to ourselves. We held a free and fair election in 2024. The fault lies with the people — a plurality, rather than an actual majority — who were swayed by the rhetoric of one who promised nirvana but whose history of a lifetime of lies, failures and proven criminal activity was allowed to be buried or brushed aside.
It is often said that “the government you elect is the government you deserve” — or words to that effect. But I don’t agree with that . . . not when the election was based on a campaign of falsehoods and emotional appeals to the least educated and most vulnerable. But we are stuck with it for the time being . . . stuck with the shame, with the fear, and with the knowledge that it will take years of struggle to overcome and reverse the damage that is being done.
But that does not mean I have to discontinue my verbal fight against tyranny in other nations; it simply means that I must — with the heaviest of hearts — add my own country to my list of hostages awaiting a day of reckoning and a renewal of freedom.
David Barnes Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus) Gordon Black Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus) Antonina Favorskaya Konstantin Gabov Robert Gilman Stephen James Hubbard Sergey Karelin Vadim Kobzev Darya Kozyreva Artyom Kriger Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus) Michael Travis Leake Aleksei Liptser Ihar Losik (in Belarus) Mikita Losik (in Belarus) Daniel Martindale Nika Novak Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus) Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Eugene Spector Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus) Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)
For a year and a half, I have posted a weekly reminder and update on the circumstances of the individuals — both Russian and foreign — being held in Vladimir Putin’s chain of penal colonies for purely political reasons: because they have dared, by word or peaceful action, to oppose his tyrannical regime.
Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko
And we have seen that same method of persecution spread, most notably to Putin’s puppet state of Belarus, where the presumptive president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is holding more than 1,000 people hostage on similarly specious grounds.
But while we abhor such practices wherever they occur throughout the world, we are not surprised when they are revealed in autocratically-ruled nations such as Russia and Belarus. We oppose them, we issue sanctions against them, we even — through human rights and enforcement agencies such as the International Criminal Court — charge them with crimes against humanity and issue warrants for their arrest.
And we Americans say a silent prayer of gratitude that we live in a nation where such things just can’t happen. Because we live in a democracy, with a Constitution that protects our individual rights, and holds our government to a system of accountability — checks and balances — that has protected us from tyranny for nearly 250 years.
Constitution of the United States
Or we did . . . until something started to go suddenly, horribly, unimaginably wrong.
Overnight, we Americans found our freedoms and our most treasured institutions — universities, public schools, the media, law enforcement, our courts and governmental agencies themselves — under attack by a cabal of fascistic oligarchs who make no secret of their mad lust for absolute power.
So I have begun to question my right to criticize the Putins and Lukashenkos of this world, when the disease of their evil has metastasized to my own country . . . and most especially because this circumstance was not forced upon us by an invasion or military coup.
No, we did it to ourselves. We held a free and fair election in 2024. The fault lies with the people — a plurality, rather than an actual majority — who were swayed by the rhetoric of one who promised nirvana but whose history of a lifetime of lies, failures and proven criminal activity was allowed to be buried or brushed aside.
It is often said that “the government you elect is the government you deserve” — or words to that effect. But I don’t agree with that . . . not when the election was based on a campaign of falsehoods and emotional appeals to the least educated and most vulnerable. But we are stuck with it for the time being . . . stuck with the shame, with the fear, and with the knowledge that it will take years of struggle to overcome and reverse the damage that is being done.
But that does not mean I have to discontinue my verbal fight against tyranny in other nations; it simply means that I must — with the heaviest of hearts — add my own country to my list of hostages awaiting a day of reckoning and a renewal of freedom.
David Barnes Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus) Gordon Black Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus) Antonina Favorskaya Konstantin Gabov Robert Gilman Stephen James Hubbard Sergey Karelin Vadim Kobzev Darya Kozyreva Artyom Kriger Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus) Michael Travis Leake Aleksei Liptser Ihar Losik (in Belarus) Mikita Losik (in Belarus) Daniel Martindale Nika Novak Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus) Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Eugene Spector Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus) Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)
I greeted this day, shortly after midnight, by confessing that I was feeling uninspired and out of words, and would therefore be going to bed without having written my usual late-night diatribe . . . though not without first indulging in my favorite guilty pleasure: a generous portion of Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream.
No, no, no! I said “Haagen-Dazs”!
Anyway . . . it is now 14 hours later, and I did manage to rack up about 10 hours of sleep. But — though I felt physically refreshed — I found upon waking that I was still missing that hoped-for spark of inspiration.
So I did what I often do: I went searching through my favorite quotations for the words of someone brighter and more eloquent (though sadly long-dead) to open my mind. And the first bit of wisdom that caught my eye was a brief observation by the Roman poet Virgil, written in the first century B.C., and still so apt today:
“So many wars, so many shapes of crime … Unholy Mars bends all to his mad will; The world is like a chariot run wild.”
– Virgil, The Georgics, Book I
Virgil (70 B.C. – 19 B.C.)
Well, that was depressing . . . because in more than two millennia, it is obvious that we humans have actually regressed.
So I continued my search in one of my favorite columns, the History Channel’s “This Day In History.” And I was momentarily cheered by the reminders that today is the anniversary of the days on which Elvis Presley recorded “That’s All Right” (1954); Arthur Ashe became the first Black man to win Wimbledon (1975); and Dolly the sheep became the first successfully cloned mammal (1996).
But the history-lover in me was inexorably drawn to an item concerning runaway slave Frederick Douglass’ “What to the slave is the Fourth of July” speech, delivered during an Independence Day celebration in Rochester, New York, in 1852.
Frederick Douglass
And there I found what I believe to be the cause of my current melancholy: further proof that, despite decades of enlightenment and advancement in human rights and civil rights legislation, we are again being pulled backward into the morass of widespread hatred and fear that invariably opens the door to fascism and war.
Douglass was, of course, speaking exclusively of Black slavery in the United States a decade before the Civil War and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. But his words — when applied to all non-White, non-Christian, non-nationalists in today’s America — are as frighteningly true now as they were for those first African-Americans 173 years ago. And so they are worth quoting here:
“What to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham … your national greatness, swelling vanity … your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.” [“This Day In History,” History.com, July 5, 2025.]
“ . . . bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages” . . . a perfect description of what we are seeing today in the mass deportation of honest, hard-working immigrants; the persecution of journalists, educators, and political leaders who dare espouse the freedoms granted us by our Constitution; and the massive transfer of wealth to the already wealthy, at the expense of the well-being and the very lives of the general populace.
Is it any wonder, then, that I sometimes find myself unable — or simply unwilling — to face up to another day of more of the same? But Frederick Douglass’ words have reenergized me, and my righteous indignation is back.
So I close with one further well-known quote, as a reminder to us all:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
My mind is a blank. It’s midnight — usually the most productive time of my day — and I’ve got nothing.
It happens from time to time. Some call it writer’s block; I think of it as a temporary absence of inspiration. Or maybe my brain is just tired.
So I’m going to grab some Haagen-Dazs, find an old rerun on TV, and put the iPad away for the night. I’ll be back when the fog lifts, hopefully later today.
In the meantime, happy Saturday to all (or Sunday, to those in the other hemisphere).
They spoke again yesterday — at least their sixth conversation since Trump’s inauguration on January 20th.
And Vladimir Putin continues to play him like a Stradivarius.
Donald Trump told reporters after the hour-long call that he and Putin had discussed both Iran and Ukraine, but had made no progress. Kremlin aide and former Ambassador to the U.S. Yuri Ushakov, however, said that Putin had told Trump that “Russia will achieve its goals [in Ukraine and] will not abandon them.” [RFE/RL, July 3, 2025.]
Ushakov also claimed that the issue of U.S. aid to Ukraine had not been raised during the call, and added that Putin had reiterated to Trump that Russia was still interested in a “negotiated solution” to the war. [Id.]
So which report is accurate? Toss a coin.
Yuri Ushakov
It has long been clear to nearly everyone — with the notable exception of Trump himself — that Putin has no intention of ending the war as long as he believes he is winning it . . . and as long as Trump continues to placate him by holding back on U.S. support of Ukraine and hesitating to increase or enforce the sanctions against Russia.
Mikhail Alexseev, a political science professor at San Diego State University, has said that yesterday’s call confirmed Putin’s refusal to compromise:
“Moscow’s position just remains entrenched, and in some ways, indeed tougher. In their thinking, they see Trump abandoning Ukraine. And if he does, they don’t have any incentive to stop the fighting, and they can become just more insistent on achieving their initial objectives.
“The only way to actually bring Russia seriously to [the] negotiating table is to provide Ukraine with more support so that Russia doesn’t see a way to win this conflict militarily.” [Id.]
And until Trump acknowledges the truth — that Putin will not surrender his territorial demands unless forced to do so, and that his professed willingness to negotiate is no more than a red herring — the war will continue.
And if it is allowed to continue much longer, Putin will win.
Then he will be free to move on to the next country.
Although President Abraham Lincoln did not deliver his immortal address at Gettysburg until four months later, it was 162 years ago yesterday — July 3, 1863 — and fourscore and seven (87) years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 — that the most decisive battle of the U.S. Civil War officially came to an end. [“This Day In History,” History.com, July 3, 2025.]
Declaration of Independence – July 4, 1776
Today being the 4th of July, when we once again celebrate the anniversary of our country’s founding, I thought it appropriate to take a break from the food and fireworks in order to remember some of the words that Lincoln spoke on that memorable day at Gettysburg, as he honored the fallen heroes who had fought so valiantly to keep the United States . . . well . . . united:
“ . . . It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The Battle of Gettysburg – July 1863
Since that time, our country has fought in two world wars and other bloody conflicts on foreign soil . . . all in the defense of freedom and democracy. But there are those in power today who would have us forget what this country is about, and what all of those honored dead gave their lives to preserve.
So it is doubly appropriate, I think, to take a moment today to recall history, lest we forget it . . . and to resurrect Lincoln’s words:
“ . . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
With all that has been happening in the world lately, I’m afraid I have neglected to keep current with the Feenstra family, formerly of Saskatchewan, Canada, and now living on their very own farm (more or less theirs) in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia.
A day of relaxation
If you’ve been following them, or just my reports on them, you know that Arend and Anneesa Feenstra moved, with eight of their nine children (the eldest son stayed behind with other family members), about a year and a half ago to seek prosperity and freedom from “wokeness” in Vladimir Putin’s promised land.
And they seem to be doing quite well . . . with considerable help from the regional authorities, who found their large, personable family to be perfect purveyors of Putin’s pronatalist propaganda. In addition to the back-breaking labor of creating a working farm from scratch, they are constantly producing videos and documentaries of life in Russia, attending meetings, and occasionally traveling to events in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, to Moscow, and once even to Tbilisi, Georgia.
In the time they have lived on their new farm, they have built a large home and are working tirelessly on a number of other structures: a barn for their livestock, a large workshop, a schoolroom for the home-schooled children, a root cellar . . . and even a guest house.
Construction delayed on account of rain … and hail!
They have vegetable gardens, and incubators for their egg business . . . because, make no mistake, this farm is also a going business concern, as was their former property in Canada. This is how they make their living, and they know what they’re doing.
No shortage of vegetables
Lately, though, it seems they’ve had a couple of setbacks. First, wife Anneesa was experiencing severe leg pain, requiring a trip to the city for tests and treatment. According to Arend, they called on a Saturday for an appointment, and were seen on that Monday. Once again, he raved about the excellent medical care — an ultrasound showed tendinitis and some sort of “spurs” — and compared it to Canada, where he said you could wait 8-10 months for treatment. He suggested, quite seriously, that if you want good medical care, you should “come to Russia.”
I’m glad they’re happy . . . but I think I’ll pass on that offer.
*. *. *
Anneesa’s leg, according to the doctors, will be fine. But the next problem didn’t have such a happy ending. They had set chicken coops outdoors, and one or more foxes went on a rampage overnight, killing 40-50 of their birds. They once had a similar issue in Canada, but Arend said that he used to solve that problem by shooting the offending fox — something that is obviously not going to happen in Russia, where guns are verboten.
The survivors are safe indoors
And the final piece of bad news was that the government grant for which he had applied in order to start building his herd of cows didn’t come through. Still, Arend’s faith is strong, and he thanked God and the government for allowing him to participate in the grant program, which only had 16 awards available for “lots” of applicants.
It’s always wise to stay on the good side of the people in charge.
*. *. *
But there was also good news. In the process of helping a lady who works for them (they have an employee!) move into her new home, they were introduced to a friend of hers who had two female calves for sale. They were able to agree on a fair price, and the calves — named Alyona and Marta — are now safely settled in their brand-new barn, next door to the litter of young pigs that Arend kept petting while referring to them as “bacon.”
Alyona and Marta
“Bacon”
*. *. *
So things are bustling on the Feenstra homestead, as always. Arend teaches the boys the fine points of construction, the girls help Anneesa with the household chores, and everyone participates in tending the animals and the gardens. Between all of the hard labor that goes into running a successful farm, and their daily movie-making, not a minute is wasted . . . to which I have just one thing to say:
This leak has nothing to do with whistleblowers, spies, or high-ranking officials who use unsecured telecom connections to discuss top-secret military plans. Today’s news is about a literal leak . . . a leak of water . . . into Donald Trump’s big beautiful Alligator Alcatraz.
Inside “Alligator Alcatraz”
It is a well-known fact that it rains a lot in Florida, especially in the summertime when the heat and humidity are already in the danger zone and the afternoon thunderclouds come rolling in like clockwork every day. And yesterday — opening day at the new ICE detention center in the swampland known as the Everglades — was no exception.
By all accounts, it wasn’t a big rain . . . maybe 1/4 inch in total. But reports are that it came down hard for a while, and the tents that are supposed to be constructed to withstand a Category 2 hurricane failed their first test miserably. According to local news reporter Jason Delgado of Spectrum News 13, the water seeped into the tent, onto electrical cables, and around flagpoles. In his video, the rain could be heard clearly hitting the ceiling of the tent, which appeared to rattle as it was struck by the raindrops. [Josh Fiallo, Daily Beast, July 2, 2025.]
The Florida Division of Emergency Management reported that it has taken steps to fix the problem. Spokeswoman Stephanie Hartman said, “Overnight, the vendors went back and tightened any seams at the base of the structure that allowed water intrusion during the heavy storm, which was minimal.” [Id.]
Fine. But that was just a typical summer rain, not a major tropical storm. Hurricane season, which runs through November, is predicted to be an active one this year, and Category 2 resistance is not all that comforting when so many of the storms that hit Florida are Category 3 or more.
Not to mention those wet electrical cables in close proximity to the metal cages . . . excuse me . . . sleeping areas.
Aftermath of Cat. 2 Hurricane Earl — Florida, 2022
From the sound of things as they stand now, this facility wouldn’t pass inspection as an animal shelter, much less a habitat for humans; though in Trump’s estimation, it’s perfect for all of those sub-human “most vicious people on the planet” who will be housed there pending forced deportation to some third-world country.
And anyway, to borrow the words of that other great humanitarian, Senator Mitch McConnell, when asked about the thousands of people in Kentucky who are about to lose their Medicaid coverage . . .
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 