I have these friends — friends of my late sister, actually — lovely people with whom I keep in touch through the wonders of Facebook. They’re a close-knit family who love life — the widowed mother (about my age), a son and daughter-in-law, a daughter and son-in-law, and teenage grandchildren — and who never miss an opportunity to celebrate together and with their large circle of friends.

There’s always a reason to party: a birthday, anniversary, graduation, or some sort of holiday. There is a consistency to their festivities: they invariably involve good food, and plenty of it, in the time-honored tradition of breaking bread and sharing it.

And decorations. These folks know how to decorate, and definitely subscribe to the philosophy that says you can’t overdo a good thing. They festoon their respective homes, inside and out, with the joy of every season and every holiday, and — like their food — they share their happiness with the world.

Needless to say, Christmas is the big event. There is so much Christmas to be displayed, they have to start decorating early, way before Thanksgiving. I honestly don’t know where they store everything throughout the year, but they are obviously the most well-organized group of people you’re ever likely to run across.

But today they — or rather, the son — outdid himself by posting on FB a reminder that Christmas is exactly six months from today, and included a picture of an amazing (and amazingly large) new decoration that he had finally found after searching for it for ages.

In June. In 115-degree weather. And he’s out there “doing” Christmas.

And I’m in here, in the air-conditioned comfort of my undecorated home, thinking:

“Enough, already!”

No, I am not the Grinch. I love the spirit of Christmas, and all of the kitsch that goes with it. But I love it in December, when it’s cold (or at least cool) outdoors. Some of my fondest memories are of heading out on the day after Thanksgiving to begin the rounds of the newly-decorated stores, making lists (and checking them twice), baking cookies, decorating, partying, addressing cards, wrapping, hiding the gifts from prying eyes . . . all of it crammed into one spirited, fun-filled, exhausting month.

And I remember being sad when it was over for another year, but having something to look forward to for the next eleven months.

But then some fool came up with the idea of “Christmas in July,” and ruined the whole thing.

I want cookouts in July and August . . . not Christmas. I love a fall festival and trick-or-treat in September and October . . . not Christmas. And November should be about Thanksgiving . . . not some afterthought in the midst of Christmas preparations. I don’t want to be sick of Christmas before it even arrives.

But the merchandisers say otherwise. They’re not stupid . . . just greedy. They know that we’ll see the wisdom of getting a jump on our shopping and spreading the cash outflow over a period of several months. They also know that, by holding back the very best of their goods until November, we’ll buy even more. It’s diabolical!

But Santa and his elves need a break, for heaven’s sake! They need time to make all the toys and other goodies. And we recipients of their gifts need time throughout the year to celebrate other things, and to regain the wonder of that feeling of anticipation as summer eases into autumn, the nights grow chilly, and the holiday season begins in earnest.

So I say, screw Christmas in July. Grab some hot dogs and burgers, an ice cold lemonade (or a brewski, if you prefer), and head outdoors to enjoy a band concert or the fireworks on a sultry 4th of July evening. Stop wishing your life away, and celebrate the moment, the now.

Christmas will be here soon enough.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/25/25

On Monday, I reported on the release of political prisoners by the government of Belarus. In my excitement over the good news, I accidentally included the name of one hostage — Ihar Losik — who had not actually been released. For that, I offer my sincerest apologies.

I always strive for accuracy in my writing. But, like all humans, I am imperfect. My biggest regret in this instance is that this retraction has to bring such sad news.

Ihar Losik, a reporter for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, remains in prison . . . now in the fifth year of a 15-year sentence for allegedly “organizing mass riots, taking part in mass disorder, inciting social hatred,” and several other charges that remain unclear. [RFE/RL, June 25, 2025.] He was tried and sentenced in December 2021 along with two men who were released this week: Siarhei Tsikhanouski and Ihar Karnei.

RFE/RL reports that Losik has not been heard from in about two years, except for a scripted appearance before a camera on a Belarusian state TV propaganda program. [Id.]

So the vigil continues, for Ihar Losik and the hundreds (if not thousands) of political prisoners remaining in Russian and Belarusian prisons and penal colonies.

If only the vigil weren’t necessary . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/25/25

If the CREC has its way, we should begin saying our farewells to Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, and every other “ism” you can think of. Because the members of the CREC (Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches) are determined that this will be a Christian world, opposed to religious pluralism or political points of view other than their own. [Samuel Perry, Baylor University, The Conversation, June 20, 2025.]

*. *. *

And Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is an active member of one of the CREC’s churches. Even before his confirmation hearings in January of this year, his membership became an issue because of prominent members of the CREC churches who identify as Christian nationalists, and because of its positions on issues such as gender, sexuality, and the separation of church and state.

More recently, there was substantial media coverage of Hegseth and his pastor, Brooks Potteiger, leading a Pentagon prayer service in which they praised Donald Trump as having been divinely appointed. [Id.]

The CREC’s co-founder, Doug Wilson, began building his network of churches, schools, and media outlets in his home town of Moscow, Idaho; his stated desire was to”to make Moscow a Christian town.” The CREC now claims to have more than 130 member churches throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. On its website, the CREC says it is “committed to maintaining its Reformed faith, avoiding the pitfalls of cultural relevance and political compromise that destroys our doctrinal integrity.” [Id.]

CREC churches also adhere to a strictly patriarchal and conservative interpretation of Scripture. Wilson has said, for example, that in a sexual relationship, “A woman receives, surrenders, accepts.” [Id.]

Why am I hearing echoes of the Sabine Women?

While obviously finding that personally disgusting, I am even more concerned with their contention that the government, and everyone serving in it, should be Christian . . . as they define it. Researcher Matthew Taylor stated in an interview with the Nashville Tennessean:

“They believe the church is supposed to be militant in the world, is supposed to be reforming the world, and in some ways conquering the world.” [Id.]

The CREC’s Logos Schools, through its own Logos Press, has created — both for their own use and for sale to private schools and home-school families — a curriculum designed to develop their “biblical worldview,” and to help parents “raise faithful, dangerous Christian kids who impact the world for Christ and leave craters in the world of secularism.” [Id.]

Logos press asserts that “education is warfare.” [Id.]

Wilson has also founded Canon Press, which produces books, podcasts, and a YouTube channel, as well as assorted merchandise including apparel and weapons, such as a flamethrower. Their YouTube channel has over 100,000 followers. Their published books include children’s picture books, books on warfare, and manuals on masculinity, in addition to a number of books on Christian nationalism.

In 1996, Wilson published a book that offered a positive depiction of slavery, and claimed that slavery cultivated “affection among the races.” [Id.]

Yeah, right . . . like the affection those six million Jews felt for the Nazi regime as they were marched to the crematoria.

*. *. *

There’s more information available on the CREC website, but I find I haven’t the stomach to delve deeper into it at this moment. From what I have read, though, this much is obvious:

Like any extremist group — left or right, religion-based or otherwise — they are dangerous. This particular organization has all the earmarks of a latent 21st century religious-political Crusade. They fancy themselves to be warriors. And the U.S. Secretary of Defense — by his actions with regard to gender identity, banning trans people from military service, and holding group prayer sessions in the Pentagon and the White House — obviously adheres to at least some of their beliefs.

I think I’ve said enough.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/25/25

He never does what you expect him to do. In the middle of an action, he delights in pulling a 180, just to keep people on their toes. And sometimes it seems he’s genuinely confused, not sure why he said or did something in the first place, and simply denies it ever happened.

That can be totally frustrating for his immediate circle of friends and family. But when it carries over into the running of a country, or the balance of power of the entire world, it’s more than upsetting . . . it’s potentially cataclysmic.

But that is Donald Trump’s modus operandi. Somewhere in the years of his youth, he must have heard the lyrics to the old popular song, “I’ve Got the World On a String” (Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, 1932), and taken it literally.

We’ve seen it in his treatment of Vladimir Putin: threatening one day, best friends the next.

He virtually excoriates Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in front of the entire world, threatens to cut off aid to Ukraine . . . and then reconsiders.

When Israel and Iran begin lobbing missiles at one another, he jumps in to help Israel, then screams at Netanyahu not to escalate by retaliating when Iran violates the ceasefire he, Trump, has just brokered.

He threatens to pull the U.S. out of NATO, calls it useless, then takes over the summit as though he owns it.

And those are just a few of the highlights of the past five months. It’s the way he operated his businesses and his TV “reality” show . . . and it’s the way he operates on the world stage.

Needless to say, he runs the U.S. government the same way. During his first administration, the White House was said to have a revolving door. He seems to delight in hiring people for their professed loyalty rather than their qualifications for the job, only to fire them for the slightest infraction, real or imagined. He signs executive orders, then retracts them. He has his pseudo-governmental agency, DOGE, cut the staffing and funding of vital departments to the bone, only to have to reverse course when — to his great surprise — things stop working properly.

And he very publicly breaks up with his BFF over a difference of opinion, then reconsiders . . . sort of.

*. *. *

To say his methodology is inefficient would be the most extreme of understatements. It is tearing the country apart, and destabilizing virtually every nation in the world. It’s also making us a laughing stock.

So why does he do it . . . in fact, why has he always done it? Is he diabolically evil? A little sadistic? Clinically schizophrenic? Perhaps, as it often seems, he simply lashes out in anger when things aren’t going his way, or when he needs to divert the public’s attention from other matters.

Any of those scenarios could prove disastrous for the leader of the free world. Imagine his being so uncontrollably angry one day that he blurts out, on live TV, that Israel and Iran “don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”

Oh, wait . . . you don’t have to imagine it. He did that, today, again for the whole world to see and hear on live TV.

That is a sign of an individual on the brink of losing control . . . if he hasn’t already lost it.

And that individual is the man pulling the strings.

Which is keeping me — and a lot of other people — awake at night.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/24/25

The entire world knows that Vladimir Putin’s word means nothing.

He pays lip service to human rights, then imprisons, tortures and kills journalists and dissidents who criticize his regime. He calls for meetings to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine, then reiterates and increases his impossible demands. He claims his troops only target military facilities, then destroys apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, and historic landmarks.

And he swears (though not on a bible) that it is not, never has been, and never will be his intention to invade another country after Ukraine.

But on June 20th, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he declared that the “whole of Ukraine” — not just the 20 percent presently occupied by his forces — belongs to Russia. In his words:

“Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours.” [Zachary Schermele and Savannah Kuchar, USA Today, June 21, 2025.]

Which is why most of the NATO and EU countries bordering or close to Russian territory have been tightening their borders and increasing their defenses. Because they know that the feet of Russian soldiers are not far away.

And to reinforce his capabilities — in case anyone should still have doubts — yesterday he fired dozens of drones and missiles into Ukraine . . . demolishing a housing bloc, killing 10 civilians, and burying others beneath the rubble in Kyiv alone. [Stanislav Doshchitsyn and Ania Tsoukanova, AFP, June 23, 2025.]

The Russian army claimed it had used precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles to strike Ukrainian military facilities, saying that “All the designated targets were destroyed.” [Id.]

They lied.

And Donald Trump still believes he can negotiate with this man, or wear him down with threats of more sanctions. But Vladimir Putin is the embodiment of Shakespeare’s Richard III:

“And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol’n forth of Holy Writ;
And seem a saint when most I play the devil.”

Everyone knows you can’t negotiate with the devil.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/24/25

Amongst the endless tales of war, spying, corruption, and countless other examples of man’s inhumanity to man, it would be impossible for me to pass up a rare opportunity to bring a bit of happy news to my readers. And I couldn’t wait to share this story, rather than save it for my next regular Sunday update on the Russian/Belarusian hostage situation.

Hours after filing yesterday’s post, I was thrilled to read that Belarus’ presumptive president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, had agreed to release 14 political prisoners, including three whose names have lingered on my hostage list for far too long: Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Ihar Karnei (or Karney), and Ihar Losik. And separately, one more from our list — Vladyslav Yesypenko — was also released. It will give me great joy to scratch through all of their names next Sunday.

The others who were freed, whom I have not yet seen identified, include individuals from Belarus, Poland, Latvia, Japan, and Sweden. They were all sent to Lithuania, where they are said to be receiving care and shelter. [Anastasiia Kruope, Human Rights Watch, June 23, 2025.]

Thanks to the government of Lithuania for their invaluable diplomatic and humane assistance!

*. *. *

Siarhei Tsikhanouski was detained in May 2020 after announcing his intention to run for president against Lukashenko. His wife, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, ran in her husband’s place following his arrest, but was forced to flee the country under threat of reprisals.

*. *. *

Ukrainian journalist Yesypenko spent more than four years of a five-year sentence in prison in Russian-occupied Crimea. He was charged with espionage and possession of explosives, which he denied. While imprisoned, he was tortured, including with electric shocks, to force a confession. [Sonya Bandouil, Kyiv Independent, June 22, 2025.]

*. *. *

Belarusian journalist Ihar Karnei was arrested in 2023 and sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “extremism” — an all-purpose appellation widely used in Russia and Belarus as an excuse to arrest individuals who dare to criticize government officials or policies.

*. *. *

Ihar Losik is a journalist for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service. He was arrested in June of 2020 and tried on charges including “organization of mass riots” and “incitement to hatred.” Following a five-month closed-door trial, he was convicted on December 14, 2021, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Following denial of his appeal, he was transferred to the Navapolatsk hard labor colony, and added to Belarus’ terrorist watch list in 2022.

*. *. *

According to Belarusian human rights activists, the Lukashenko regime — which is considered illegitimate by the EU, U.S., Canada and other countries — continues to hold an estimated 1,100 political prisoners of various nationalities. So there remains much work to be done.

But the release of these 15 hostages brings great joy in the knowledge that the U.S. and other governments have not forgotten these victims of repression, and a ray of hope for the future release of each and every one of those still imprisoned.

A huge thank-you to all involved!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/23/25

With elections scheduled for next spring, and his right-wing Fidesz party slipping in the polls, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is desperately seeking ways to discredit his principal opponent in order to boost his own chances of reelection. And in his desperation, he’s just making stuff up as he goes along.

(Hmm . . . that sounds strangely like someone else I could name. But that’s a whole different nightmare.)

Orban has long been vocally pro-Putin, refusing to supply weapons to Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion, or even to allow them to transit from other countries through Hungary’s territory. Instead, he continues to demand that sanctions issued against Russia be lifted, and vehemently opposes EU membership for Ukraine.

But now he’s truly gone off the deep end, accusing his leading political opponent — Peter Magyar — of “entering into a treasonous pact with Kyiv to overthrow his government and install a pro-Western, pro-Ukraine administration.” [Justin Spike, AP, June 20, 2025.]

In comments on state radio earlier this month, Orban said:

“Let’s be under no illusions: Brussels and Ukraine are jointly building up a puppet government [in Hungary]. They want to change Hungary’s policy toward Ukraine after the next elections, or even sooner.” [Id.]

Bizarrely, he claims that Ukraine’s becoming a member of the EU would flood Hungary with crime, cheap labor, and low-quality agricultural products, thus threatening national sovereignty and economic stability.

But wait . . . it gets better. He also says that Brussels and Kyiv plan to force Hungarians to fight Russia on the front lines on Ukraine’s behalf. He has even posted a video to his social media page depicting AI-generated animated scenes of wounded, machine-gun-toting Hungarian soldiers engaged in battle, with rows of caskets beneath Hungarian flags.

“We don’t want our children, in the form of the Hungarian army, to be deployed to the Ukrainian front lines or to Ukrainian territory and to come back in coffins,” he says in the video. [Id.]

Orban’s delusional smear campaign is an obvious attempt to discredit an opponent who is gaining in popular support. Peter Kreko, director of the Budapest-based Political Capital think tank, says:

“There is an ongoing campaign against any critical voices in Hungary saying that they are agents of Ukraine, and this can be used also against [Peter Magyar’s] Tisza party. If you can’t win back public opinion anymore, then you can try to use a more authoritarian toolkit.” [Id.]

Unfortunately, this doesn’t end with verbal accusations. In May, Ukraine’s main security agency arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Hungary by trying to gather intelligence on Ukraine’s military defenses in the western part of the country. Diplomats were expelled on both sides, and Orban accused Magyar and the Tisza party of orchestrating the affair in order to undermine him.

Orban then further accused Magyar and a prominent Tisza member — without evidence — of having “deep ties with Ukrainian intelligence.” [Id.]

*. *. *

It’s hardly news that politics is a dirty business. But when a political campaign is based — not only on lies and false promises — but on paranoid, conspiracy-driven fantasies, it’s time to take stock of the people running, or hoping to run, the country.

Any country.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/23/25

It’s a little early, I know. But Donald Trump has just given his two main adversaries the biggest, bestest Christmas gift that U.S. taxpayer dollars could buy, in the form of 14 GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs dropped on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The propaganda value alone is incalculable. Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul summed up the effect Trump’s action would likely have on the Russian and Chinese leadership:

“I think we’ve really got to understand our other interests in the world that might be affected by this attack today. This is a preemptive war. The world does not support preemptive wars. We learned that in 2003” (referring to the U.S. invasion of Iraq).

McFaul continued: “Putin will be celebrating this because he did his own preemptive war in Ukraine and now it’s like, well, this is just what great powers do. Maybe Xi Jinping is going to think the same. He’s going to say, ‘Well, if they can do it here, we can do it in Taiwan.’” [Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, June 22, 2025.]

And from a purely practical point of view, what has Trump actually accomplished? Even assuming, as he apparently does, that the sites were totally destroyed, does that necessarily put the Iran nuclear program out of business?

Not according to Dmitry Medvedev, the ultra-hawkish Deputy Chairman of Putin’s Security Council, who said on Sunday:

“What have the Americans accomplished with their nighttime strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran? The enrichment of nuclear material — and, now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons — will continue. A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads.” [Adam Schrader, UPI, June 22, 2025.]

Medvedev added that Israel’s pursuit of a regime change in Iran has not succeeded, and in fact may have “come out even stronger.” [Id.]

Russia’s Foreign Ministry similarly condemned the strikes as a violation of international law and the United Nations charter, and “a substantial blow to the global non-proliferation regime built around the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. They have significantly undermined both the credibility of the NPT and the integrity of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) monitoring and verification mechanisms that underpin it.” [Id.]

It’s impossible to overlook the irony of those words being spoken by officials of a country in the fourth year of its own illegal war of attrition against the sovereign nation of Ukraine. But it does make a point.

And then there’s the reaction from China’s Foreign Ministry, which also issued a statement charging that the U.S. had violated the U.N. charter and international law, and added:

“China stands ready to work with the international community to pool efforts together and uphold justice, and work for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East.” [Id.]

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, bringing peace to the world. Surely I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.

*. *. *

In short, if Donald Trump had actually been trying to push Iran into the waiting arms of Putin and Xi, while simultaneously turning the United States into an international pariah, he couldn’t have done a better job of it.

I can hardly wait to see what he does for an encore.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/23/25

In 1939, Russia and Germany signed a non-aggression agreement — the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact — pledging that neither would ever invade the other’s territory.

Two years later, on this date (June 22) in 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa: three parallel offensives into Russia staged by more than three million German troops . . . 19 panzer divisions, 3,000 tanks, 2,500 aircraft, and 7,000 artillery pieces across a 1,000-mile front. [“This Day In History, History.com, June 22, 2025.]

Hitler’s word meant nothing. But he paid dearly for his betrayal: by opening a second front, he became the instrument of his own ultimate destruction.

*. *. *

Vladimir Putin, seeking to reinforce his image as Russia’s strongman, periodically stages a revolt or a “terror attack” by his scapegoat du jour — perhaps Chechnya, one of the Central Asian nations, his own friend Yevgeny Prigozhin, or more recently, Ukraine — and then brutally retaliates, claiming a victory in “protecting” his people from perceived harm.

I call it “heroism by proxy.” It is, of course, nothing more than an excuse for a lie.

*. *. *

Yesterday, Donald Trump . . . after pledging a two-week pause allowing Iran’s leaders time to consider their position as to a nuclear weapons agreement . . . and without bothering with the requisite Congressional approval . . . bombed three of Iran’s principal nuclear sites in a sneak attack that shocked the world. Or everyone but Israel, at any rate, in whose defense Trump claims to have acted.

In so doing, he thinks he has established himself as America’s tough guy, a force not to be messed with. In reality, he has proven himself, once again, to be nothing more than a world-class liar.

He lied to his supporters when he campaigned as the peace candidate who would never lead America into war.

He obviously lied when he told Iran he would hold off for two weeks.

And he may be lying when he says that these attacks were a one-off, that there would be no further action, and that negotiations could now resume. Because he has also said, while claiming this action as a great success, that there are still “many targets” left to destroy.

He lies daily, then denies that he ever said what millions of people around the world have heard him say.

He is no more wedded to the truth than Adolph Hitler or Vladimir Putin. In fact, he wouldn’t know the truth if it walked up and smacked him across the face.

Which it may be just about to do. Meanwhile, we wait for whatever comes next.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/22/25

When Donald Trump berated NATO’s European member countries for what he said was their failure to contribute their fair shares to the alliance, and threatened to pull the U.S. out completely, he may inadvertently have done them a huge favor. Because what he did was jump-start a review of their respective defense capabilities vis-a-vis any possible threat from nearby Russia.

What the leaders of those European nations understand, but Trump refuses to acknowledge, is that such a threat is very real. Vladimir Putin has no intention of ending his expansionist plans with Ukraine. And while the world is occupied with conflicts in the Middle East, Putin is not sitting idly by.

According to a report published by the German news magazine Spiegel, citing a new strategy paper from the Bundeswehr, the German military considers Russia an “existential risk,” not only to Germany, but to the whole of Europe. The confidential document warns that “the Kremlin is aligning both its industrial and leadership structures ‘specifically to meet the requirements for a large-scale conflict against NATO by the end of this decade.’” [Reuters, June 20, 2025.]

The report further cites the strategy paper as saying that Russia is preparing for such a conflict by strengthening its forces in western Russia “at the borders with NATO,” and that they could have around 1.5 million soldiers on active duty as early as next year. [Id.]

Unlike the United States, Europe remembers all too clearly the years of living under Soviet occupation following World War II, and the way any revolt was met with brutal military force (most notably in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968). And those nations that were once republics of the Soviet Union itself — Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, and ten others — have known independence for little more than three decades . . . and most do not intend to surrender to Putin’s vision of a new union.

When Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently agreed with Donald Trump to increase Germany’s NATO defense spending target to five percent of GDP, he wasn’t submitting to Trump’s demands. He was being smart, and listening to what his military intelligence was telling him.

And we need to do the same. Pulling out of NATO at this point in time is probably the worst thing we could do, both for our European allies and for ourselves. In the modern world, isolationism simply cannot work to protect us.

We need our allies as much as they need us.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/22/25