That was in the 1920s through 1945, when Adolf Hitler established an organization for the indoctrination of German children into his Nazi party.

In Lenin’s and Stalin’s Soviet Union, it was known as the Komsomol, or Communist Youth League.

Today, in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, it’s called “patriotic profiling” . . . but by any name, what it really is, is mind control.

In addition to the new school year’s curriculum designed to instill in children a more chauvinistic attitude toward their government, “neuroprofiling” tests are being conducted by the state-run Russian Patriot Center (RPC) on some 10,000 children and teens across the country, in order to boost patriotism and direct them into appropriate adult roles according to the test results.

Independent educators are critical of the program, calling it “pseudoscience”and “manipulation,” and saying that it echoes both communism and fascism. One such educator, Dima Zicer, said:

“It is yet another attempt by the authorities to control people and influence their decisions.” [Andrei Soshnikov, Svetlana Osipova, Valery Panyushkin, and Systema, RFE/RL, July 30, 2025.]

From the program, which runs into August and includes 12-to-18-year-olds, 50 participants “with a pronounced positive profile” are to be selected to participate in a five-day seminar in Sevastopol, in Russian-occupied Crimea (Ukraine).

The website for the program says that it is intended to identify “leaders and/or anti-leaders (participants prone to destructive behavior)” . . . and that those who “defame the ideas of patriotism” will be immediately removed from the event. [Id.]

On its Telegram channel, RPC described the aim of the program as the “transformation of approaches to education, career guidance, and the patriotic upbringing of young people.” [Id.]

No mention was made of what was ahead for the children — either the “leaders” or the “anti-leaders” — at the conclusion of the program. But there is no question in my mind that those deemed to “defame the ideas of patriotism” can, at the very least, look forward to spending the rest of their lives on a Kremlin watch-list.

One company that sells “neuroprofiling” tests is called Persona. In a presentation, the company stated that its conclusions about the participants are based on “various subconscious cognitive perceptions of visual symbols.” And the head of Persona, Vladimir Kozlov, posted on RPC’s Telegram channel:

“We are convinced that patriotism begins with understanding one’s role in the future of the country. Our company’s neuroprofiling technologies help teenagers find this role — accurately, consciously, and with motivation.” [Id.]

Simply stated, it is mind control.

And it is alive and thriving in Russia today.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/30/25

The silence has been deafening, from both sides.

Yesterday morning (GMT), while still in Scotland, Donald Trump issued what, for him, was a stern warning to Vladimir Putin that Moscow had only “about 10 or 12 days from today” to enter into serious ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine, or suffer the consequences.

But Trump didn’t specify what those consequences would be, other than additional “very severe tariffs.” And he has yet to follow through with a more detailed ultimatum, other than a confirmation of August 8th as the new deadline date. [Rachel Hagan and Jaroslav Lukiv, BBC, July 29, 2025.]

Maybe he’s just jet-lagged, or still exhausted from riding around his new Scottish golf course in Golf Cart One.

Trump’s comments followed his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, and represented a major turn-around from his earlier offer to Putin of 50 days to respond. After hearing such an announcement, one would naturally have expected a quick reaction from the Kremlin, perhaps accusing Trump of going back on his word.

But all we’ve heard from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov thus far was that they had “taken note” of Trump’s comments, and that:

“Putin is waiting. To know what to say next, he needs to understand exactly how Trump plans to behave.” [Ray Furlong and Current Time, RFE/RL, July 29, 2025.]

Smart.

These two — Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin — have been racing headlong at one another for years. But since Trump’s return to the White House in January, they’ve been playing chicken like a couple of teenage hot-rodders from a 1950s movie.

But even in real life, when two idiots drive head-first into each other, the worst that can happen is that two lives and two vehicles will be destroyed.

When the idiots are Trump and Putin, and neither of them is willing to be the first to swerve, the results could be cataclysmic.

Putin is correct in waiting for particulars from Trump; as things stand now (midnight EDT), he has nothing concrete to respond to. But once he has that information, he needs to quit playing games and begin acting like the world leader he claims to be.

This is not a game, and it’s not a Hollywood movie. But these two are treating Ukraine as though it were the grand prize for the winner of a teenagers’ jalopy race . . . and it has to stop.

Someone needs to swerve. Unfortunately, the odds are that once again it will be the wrong one.

But let’s see what the rest of the day brings.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/30/25

Forget the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate; this is one of those inexplicable, seemingly miraculous moments in history when all of the planets are aligned, the gods on Mount Olympus are in unanimous agreement, and everyone is in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.

Think about it: CBS desperately needs a hit show to fill its late-night time slot. (We all know why, don’t we?)

And, with the Kremlin threatening to do to YouTube what Paramount just did to Stephen Colbert, Vladimir Putin may need to find a new spot for his favorite Canadian purveyor of propaganda, Arend Feenstra.

Well, I have the obvious solution for everyone’s problems. How’s this for an opening worthy of Saturday Night Live:

“And now, from historic Nizhny Novgorod, it’s . . . Farming Those Faraway Fecund Fields With the Feenstra Family.”

All right, the lead-in may need a bit of work, but you get the idea. We’ll still be losing Colbert’s incomparable, dry humor; but in place of political satire, we’ll be gaining Arend Feenstra’s ability to talk forever about the most fascinating aspects of building a successful working farm from a barren field in the middle of Nowhere, Russia, with your own two hands (and those of your wife, eight children, and a slew of Russian neighbors and experts who occasionally appear out of nowhere).

In the past year and a half, I have already learned so much from Arend about plowing, planting, harvesting, construction, fencing, post-hole digging, waterproofing, machine repair, crop rotation, milking, egg incubation, sheep breeding, protecting poultry from marauding foxes when you’re not allowed to own firearms (sadly, learned the hard way), bartering in a foreign language, and how to tell the difference between a milk cow and a future hunk of pot roast . . . not to mention the administrative nightmare of doing business in rural Russia.

I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, even though we may not understand that reason for a very long time, if ever. And I now comprehend why the fates arranged for me to stumble across the Feenstras and follow the story of their abandonment of life in free and happy Canada in order to take their chances in the historically autocratic land of Tsarism, Communism, and Putinism.

And that reason is to give Arend Feenstra, and all the little Feenstras, the big break they deserve: worldwide fame and fortune. They’re naturals on camera; they’ve worked hard; and they’ve earned recognition. So in May, when Stephen Colbert says his last good night from the glitzy studios of CBS-TV, his replacements will be ready to step in with the premier of “Farming With the Feenstras.”

As their agent, I’ll only charge the standard 15 percent . . . in U.S. Dollars or Euros, not Rubles, please.

So that’s what we have to look forward to in the spring. Insomniacs of the world . . . rejoice!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/29/25

It’s still Monday evening, and I’ve just sat down to write this, the first of my literary masterpieces for tomorrow’s blog posts. Since I’m operating on a total of 2-1/2 hours of sleep since yesterday noon — that’s 33 hours ago and counting — I’m not entirely conscious of what I’m doing or saying.

Sunday night was one of those nights — restless legs, aching back, nagging bladder. I had gone to bed around 2:30 a.m., and after six hours of staring into the dark, I decided I couldn’t stand counting another revolution of the ceiling fan. So I got up around 8:30, came into the den, and began writing. Somewhere in the early afternoon, I did doze off for a couple of hours, but that’s about it.

How I managed to string together more than three coherent words is a total mystery. In fact, I only realized a couple of hours ago that I’ve actually issued five posts on a variety of subjects since midnight (some 21 hours ago) — a new record for me. And I have no idea where all that productivity came from. Maybe I should pull more all-nighters.

Unfortunately, though, that left me with nothing of great interest upon which to expound for Tuesday . . . until I saw Rex Huppke’s Facebook page with a link to his USA Today article detailing some of Donald Trump’s verbal garbage from his four-day Scottish boondoggle. And reading that, I was thrilled and relieved to have confirmation that I make more sense on 2-1/2 hours of sleep than Trump does on an average day.

I would never presume to try to enlarge upon Mr. Huppke’s writing; he is a master of wit, wisdom, and hyperbole. But he included direct quotes from Trump’s little rosebud lips that are too good not to repeat . . . so good, in fact, that they need no commentary from me.

So, without further ado, I give you bits and pieces of The Gospel According to Saint Trump (compliments of Rex Huppke, USA Today, July 28, 2025):

Upon arriving in Scotland, July 25th: “This immigration is killing Europe. And the other thing, stop the windmills killing the beauty of your countries.”

Monologue delivered to EC President Ursula von der Leyen, July 27th: “And the other thing I say to Europe, we will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States, they’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful plains. And I’m not talking about airplanes, I’m talking about beautiful plains, beautiful areas of the United States, and you look up and you see windmills all over the place, it’s a horrible thing. It’s the most expensive form of energy; it’s no good. They’re made in China, almost all of them. When they start to rust and rot in eight years, you can’t really turn them off, you can’t bury them, they won’t let you. But the propellers, the props, because they’re a certain type of fiber that doesn’t go well with the land, that’s what they say. The environmentalists say you can’t bury them because the fiber doesn’t go well with the land; in other words, if you bury it, it will harm our soil. The whole thing is a con job.”

Same day, different diatribe, also to Ursula von der Leyen: “That whole place is a mess. The Gaza Strip, you know, was given many years ago, said that they could have peace. That didn’t work out too well. When Israel gave that up, whoever was the prime minister at the time, who I know, who it was, but it was not exactly a very clever thing to do. Because that was given so that they finally have peace, but it’s actually made the situation worse. But we’ll see what happens. I think Iran is acting up. We have a lot of people acting, we have Venezuela acting up in a different way. They continue to send people that we rebuff to our border. They continue to send drugs into our country, Venezuela. They’ve been very nasty.”

*. *. *

Honestly, you can’t make this s**t up. And as I read it, one thought came to my mind . . . which, of course, Mr. Huppke said first, and better. So I’ll just quote his closing sentence, and hope he doesn’t mind . . . because, once again, he nails it:

“Had Joe Biden said something like that when he was president, Republicans would have either impeached him or ordered him locked in a room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.” [Id.]

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/29/25

Or so says the candidate for next year’s Senate midterm election from the great state of “Georiga,” Republican Mike Collins, as he rolls out his MAGA agenda:

But it’s understandable: he’s just following in Trump’s footsteps. You may recall that he once created a whole new African country: “Nambia.”

We already have MAGA and MAHA; I propose we add MAIA:

MAKE AMERICA ILLITERATE AGAIN!

We’re already halfway there.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/28/25

It’s too bad Donald Trump isn’t the least bit interested in history . . . or in anything factual, for that matter. Because even he might appreciate the irony of two items that popped up in today’s column of “This Day In History” at History.com.

July 28, 1868. 14th Amendment adopted. Yes, folks . . . on this date, 157 years ago, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was officially adopted following its ratification by the required three-quarters of U.S. States. And in case you’ve been out of school long enough to have forgotten the details, this is what is enshrined in Section 1 of that Amendment:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” [Constitution of the United States, constitution.congress.gov.] [Bold emphasis is mine.]

And lest anyone try to convince you that the restrictions refer only to the individual State governments, and not to the Federal government, you might remind them that the first sentence applies to everyone — even the President — and that it cannot be circumvented without passage of another amendment by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress.

Now, about those unconstitutional ICE raids and deportations . . .

*. *. *

And how about this one:

July 28, 2016. Hillary Clinton accepts Democratic nomination for president. It’s been nine years, and Trump is still blaming then-President Barack Obama for trying to fix that election in Clinton’s favor — even now accusing him, with the gleeful assistance of head cheerleader and renowned mean girl Tulsi Gabbard, of “treasonous conspiracy.” [Emily Brooks and Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, July 28, 2025.]

But Trump conveniently ignores at least two facts:

First, even his Republican cohorts in Congress realize that the current phase of his ongoing, jealousy-driven witch hunt against Obama will never stand up in a court of law, since it is no more than an attempted distraction from Trump’s own problems with the Jeffrey Epstein debacle; and

Second, Trump himself, backed by a Supreme Court ruling in 2024, has covered his own substantial a** by seeing to it that former presidents retain immunity from criminal prosecution even after leaving office for actions within the scope of their executive power. Or is he now going to claim that that only applies to Republican presidents?

And finally, one more reminder and a word of advice to the hypocrite-in-chief:

You won that 2016 election. Let it go.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/28/25

Taking time out from his real passion (golf), Donald Trump appears finally to have taken action to light a fire under Vladimir Putin.

Trump met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer today at Turnberry, Scotland, where they discussed — most likely among other topics — Russia’s continuing bombardment of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s refusal to participate in meaningful ceasefire negotiations.

Following their meeting, Trump spoke to journalists and repeated earlier comments that he is “very disappointed” with Putin. Today, however, he added that he “doesn’t need to wait” for the conclusion of the original 50-day deadline he had given earlier this month, and said instead:

“I’m going to make a new deadline for about 10 or 12 days from today. When you deal with someone long enough, you know what they’re going to do — or not do. I gave him [Putin] a chance. He’s not taking it.” [RFE/RL, July 28, 2025.]

Unfortunately, he didn’t stop there. Without specifying what actions he had in mind at the end of the 10-to-12-day period, he gave himself some wiggle room by adding:

“ . . . maybe we’ll still make a deal with Russia but it’s very late in the process.” [Id.]

And further weakening the impact of his latest threat was last Friday’s comment by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the effect that Trump is “losing patience” with Moscow and “losing the desire to continue waiting.” [Id.]

Well . . . is he “losing patience,” or has he actually lost it? And will we have to wait 10 or 12 days to find out?

Putting a positive spin on this new development, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, wrote on Telegram:

“We thank President of the United States Donald Trump for his firm position and a clear signal — peace through strength. President Trump stated that he is shortening the deadline he gave Putin to end the war because he believes the answer is obvious. Putin understands only strength, and that message has now been delivered clearly and loudly. This is a principle fully shared by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.” [Id.]

Whether Kyiv is being overly optimistic will depend in large part on the rest of Trump’s message to Putin, i.e., exactly what measures the U.S. is ready to take if the Russian leader continues to stonewall . . . and, of course, what long-term strategy Putin has in mind.

Because one thing is for certain: Vladimir Putin does nothing without a well-thought-out plan.

Stay tuned, folks.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/28/25

Arresting dissidents and demonstrators wasn’t enough. Shutting down independent news outlets and rights groups wasn’t enough. Monitoring social media content wasn’t even enough. Broadening the definition of “extremist” activity didn’t quite do the trick either. In spite of all of the Kremlin’s onerous restrictions, people in Russia are still finding ways to search out the truth.

So on Friday, the upper house of Russia’s Parliament approved a bill providing for punishment of individuals “deliberately searching for and accessing extremist materials.” [Associated Press, July 25, 2025.] The bill is set to be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin . . . who no doubt “suggested” it to the legislature in the first place.

Russian officials say that ordinary internet users won’t be affected by the law, and that it is intended to root out those who “methodically seek outlawed content” . . . though there was no explanation as to how the distinction would be made. [Id.]

Despite their assurances, there is nothing to stop the government censors from monitoring the online searches of any individual. Even accidentally stumbling across an “undesirable” website while doing research for a class project or in the course of one’s employment would be enough of an excuse for an arrest.

Thus far, the penalty under the new law is only a fine of up to the equivalent of $64. But there are hundreds of political prisoners already serving extended sentences on more serious charges that mysteriously materialized after their initial detainment for minor misdeeds.

George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” referred to Big Brother’s enforcers as the “Thought Police.” And in today’s cyber-driven environment, keeping one’s innermost thoughts to oneself is nearly impossible. Make no mistake: Big Brother is alive and well in the Kremlin, and his Thought Police are out there.

*. *. *

Of course, this is not a surprising development in light of Putin’s history of totalitarian rule. But that’s Russia. It couldn’t happen here in the United States.

Oh . . . really? If you don’t see it happening already, then you must have had your head buried in the sand for the past six months.

Surely you’ve heard of ICE’s brutal immigration raids; U.S. Marines being called in to break up peaceful demonstrations; elimination of DEI programs; the blackmailing of media outlets, universities, and law firms; firing of people who dare to criticize the administration; decimation of government agencies responsible for the health, welfare and safety of the public; elimination of social safety nets for the most vulnerable of our citizens; the disgraceful subservience of the Congress and the Supreme Court to a single authoritarian with a God complex; and the contravention of the U.S. Constitution itself.

And you still don’t believe it can happen here?

Are you willing to bet your life on that?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/28/25

No, not yet . . . though with the blistering heatwaves blanketing the northern hemisphere this summer, a lot of us are probably wishing it were.

There now … don’t you feel better?

But take heart: it’s less than five months away. And a week after that, another year will have whizzed by while we were preoccupied with Jeffrey Epstein’s list, the illicit couple caught on camera at the Coldplay concert, Donald Trump’s latest lawsuit, and whatever else the world has in store for us in the meantime.

This month also marked the birthdays of both my son and daughter (two years apart), which — using Jack Benny’s somewhat skewed method of calculation — makes me about 20 years younger than my own kids.

And yesterday, while ruminating on the fleeting nature of Father Time, I made a huge mistake: I looked in the mirror. I mean . . . I really looked at the reflection in front of me, and finally had to admit that — while I had always thought I would age like this:

. . . or, at the very least, this:

. . . what had actually happened, while I was busy following the news of the day, was this:

So now I’m going to do this:

. . . after which, I’m going back to bed, where I will do this:

. . . hopefully until it’s time for this:

I realize I won’t be any younger then; but at least it should be cooler outdoors . . . and I won’t have to look at that damned mirror again.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/28/25

On July 27, 1794, Maximilien Robespierre — the architect of France’s Reign of Terror who had ordered or “encouraged” the execution of more than 17,000 opponents of the French Revolution — was himself guillotined, along with 21 of his followers, “before a cheering mob in the Place de la Revolution in Paris.” [“This Day in History, History.com, July 27, 2025.]

*. *. *

In somewhat more civilized times — exactly 180 years later, on July 27, 1974 — the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee recommended that the 37th President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, be impeached and removed from office.

In less than two weeks, on August 8th, Nixon announced his resignation, thus becoming the first U.S. President to leave the office voluntarily. [Id.]

As we all know, his fall from grace was the result, not of a reign of terror, but of the lies and corruption surrounding the Watergate scandal, which first came to light in 1972 upon the discovery of the break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate apartment-hotel-office complex in Washington, D.C.

*. *. *

Happily, we have come a long way from the days when tyrants and corrupt leaders were ousted by celebratory beheading. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t still be done . . . as it was in Nixon’s case . . . by gentler, bloodless, legal means.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/27/25