The following was re-posted yesterday by Russian journalist Aleksei Venediktov:
A real-life horror story
It is the true story of an incident involving an 87-year-old man on a bus in the center of Moscow. I have chosen to attach the article in its entirety in order to present the full story in all of its horror. The English translation is not the best, but it is clear enough to be understood. Please take a few moments to read it in its entirety.
And this is the victim of the story: Dmitry Pavlovich Grinchia — a kindly, peaceable old gentleman, minding his own business, who happened to express an opinion in a public place about Vladimir Putin’s bloodthirsty mercenaries, the Wagner Group, and had the misfortune to be overheard by the wrong people. He survived, but given the extent of his injuries and his age, he will never be the same.
What makes a comic book — no, not even a whole comic book, but just the cover art — worth $7.5 million dollars? That’s right — $7,500,000 U.S. dollars. And specifically this:
First appearance of Marvel hero Deadpool
At least, that’s what Heritage Auctions is estimating it could bring at its upcoming auction.
Now, I am not a comic book aficionado. I haven’t read one since I was about nine years old. They were pretty simplistic back then — Superman, Wonder Woman, Archie — and we loved them. We couldn’t wait for the next issue of each one; we’d read them a few times, and then they went into the stack for the paper drive. That was during World War II, and we collected everything for the war drives. After the war, we simply threw them away.
Really . . . who had space to save everything? And why would you? It was just paper. And later, when I had children of my own, who would have thought to save the Barbies, the GI Joes, the Hot Wheels, those hideous Cabbage Patch dolls, or the even uglier Trolls that belonged under a bridge? And save the boxes? How could you do that? You bought them for your kids to play with, not to stash on a shelf in case they might someday be worth something. That would have been ridiculous.
Troll Dolls: So ugly, they’re almost cute
But some people did, and still do. They collect everything. And when it becomes overwhelming, those people are called hoarders. They’ve even become the subject of a really depressing TV series. But somewhere in some of those hoards there could be an item or two worth some real money. I mean . . . millions!
But how do you know? And where do you draw the line on collecting? I’ve never been that lucky. I collect books, because I love them. And music CDs, because I love music. They’ll never be worth more than the original price. I did collect the U.S. State coin series, and they’re estimated at a bit more than face value; but they’ll never make me rich. I have a few items — a signed, numbered lithograph by a now-dead artist, for example — that could net me a few thousand dollars. But $7.5 million?
Ha!!!
“Lotsa luck!”
So, okay. So I’m not that lucky . . . or, apparently, that smart. But I go back to my original question: Why? Why is something like a comic book cover worth that kind of money to a collector? Who decides those things? And are they really a good long-term investment, or could they one day become just more junk? I watch Antiques Roadshow, you know; I’ve seen how some items can depreciate.
So with my luck, or lack of it, I’ll stick to proven winners, like gold. That is, if I can ever afford to buy it.
At 71, the Russian human rights activist found himself in prison in February of this year, sentenced to 2-1/2 years for writing an article opposing the war in Ukraine — something that would never have happened in the pre-Putin days.
Like most Russians, Orlov had high hopes for his country following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the passage of democratic reforms. But the euphoria of that decade was not to last far into the new millennium. With the accession to the presidency of Vladimir Putin in 2000, it all began a rapid downhill slide back to the days of suffocating repression, onerous new laws against dissent, and totalitarian enforcement. And Orlov’s words were used against him.
Arrested . . . Tried . . . Sentenced
He didn’t know, of course, that he was being warehoused as another pawn in a highly secretive political operation that was to culminate in an historic prisoner exchange between Russia and seven Western countries in the near future.
But less than six months later, he was unexpectedly moved from his jail cell in central Russia. He expected the worst: a transfer to a penal colony. But that didn’t happen. First he was told to write a clemency request addressed to Putin, which he flatly refused to do. Then he was driven in a van to an airport in Samara and flown to Moscow with a number of other people.
In Moscow, he was placed in the notorious Lefortovo Prison, where he was kept in isolation for three days — not even allowed access to his lawyer. Orlov feared that the authorities were simply building another, more serious case against him. Although he knew he had committed no crime, he said, “They would find [one] without a problem. The repressive machine . . . has been put in motion and it runs on its own. The machine works to sustain itself and can only intensify the repressions, make them harsher.” [Dasha Litvinova, Associated Press, August 9, 2024.]
Finally, however, he was given a document saying that he had been “pardoned,” and put onto another plane, this time with other dissidents who had likewise been freed. Miraculously, they were flown to Germany, where they were greeted by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, welcoming newly freed Russian political prisoners
A happy ending? Well, yes and no. The unjustly imprisoned dissidents were free; but they were also homeless. They had not been allowed to remain in their homeland, but had been shipped off to Germany without their consent. What the future holds for each of them is as yet unknown.
Orlov — co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning rights group Memorial — has vowed to continue his work with the group. He says there are things that can be done, even from outside of Russia, such as maintaining the database of political prisoners and coordinating assistance to them. And as long as there are still political prisoners — estimated by Memorial at more than 760, and as many as 1,300 according to another rights group, OVD-Info — the work must continue.
Because, as Orlov says, the horrors will only be stopped when Putin’s “repressive, terrorist regime” ceases to exist. [AP, id.]
Have you ever gotten up in the morning, looked in the mirror, and realized that this is how you felt?
Or this . . .?
I know exactly what you mean. One of the first things I do each morning is check the headlines of the day’s news. And you know it’s mostly bad news. Frequently about this guy:
Or this one . . .
Or him:
And that makes you feel kind of like this . . .
Or this . . .
Or simply this . . .
But sometimes a story will make you feel as though the whole world is out to get you, and you begin having wild, paranoid delusions, as though this . . .
Or this . . .
Or, God forbid, this . . .
. . . is watching you.
Well, if that happens, you naturally want to find a solution to the problem.
Perhaps there’s a potion:
Or you might just hide under the covers, like this smart fellow . . .
But you don’t, because you know . . .
So you think about standing up and fighting, like Tiananmen Square “Tank Man”:
Yeah . . . right. Like you’re gonna stop a tank.
Well, then, how about giving this to the world . . .
Oops — wrong fingers, Betty. But you’ve got the right idea.
And they can just kiss your . . .
But actually, what you probably need is simply this:
No, no, not that! This:
A little TLC, and a lot more sleep. That’s my prescription . . . and maybe then it won’t feel like such a bad world after all.
As expected, the downstream effect continues. I never really focused before on how close that twisted river is, or the little creek that flows from it toward our neighborhood. We’re fine, but some of the folks nearer the river haven’t been as lucky.
On the other hand, all of this water has brought the snakes up for air, including some venomous ones. Eeww!
“Them old cottonmouths back home“
But that’s life in the swamp: colorful, picturesque, and very much alive.
I read a comment on Facebook yesterday in response to an adorable baby picture, wherein the commenter said she just wanted to “give his face a little pinch.” And while I wholeheartedly agreed with her — the baby is positively precious — I had to wonder:
How do babies feel when you do that?
(Not the baby in the FB post, but just as cute)
Maybe some of them are okay with it, until the umpteenth person comes along to grab their face, and then it’s more like . . .
“That’s enough, already!”
Seriously, why do we think babies and small children don’t have feelings? How would you like it if some stranger were constantly touching, stroking, pinching, poking . . . Well, maybe I should rephrase that. Or withdraw it completely. I really don’t know your individual proclivities.
But as a baby, you don’t know who all these big people are, or what they want. It must be scary when they come charging at you, going “Itchy kitchy coo,” or whatever mumbo-jumbo they’re uttering, and start tickling your belly or — oh, for God’s sake! — kissing your naked, freshly-powdered bottom and telling you how sweet you smell. I mean, it’s not like when Mommy and Daddy do it. At least you know them! Maybe a well-timed poop would teach those strangers a lesson.
And you’d think it would stop when you got a little bit bigger, like two or three, and those people know they’d be locked up if they tried to get at your naked bottom. So they switch gears and aim for your head: tweaking your nose, or your ears, or playing with your hair.
“Oh, no, not again!”
Now, dogs are another matter. They love being touched, stroked, rubbed, scratched . . . anything to connect them with a human being. They can’t get enough of that stuff. So perhaps, if you have an unquenchable desire to touch someone, go get yourself a sweet little puppy and cuddle the hell out of it. It will be your loving companion for life.
“Itchy kitchy coo!”
In fact, it won’t leave you alone, until finally one day you’ll understand how those poor babies must have felt.
His name is Adam Britton. He looks like a nice, normal fellow . . . the sort you might enjoy knowing as a neighbor or co-worker. He’s also renowned as a zoologist and crocodile expert who has worked on BBC and National Geographic productions.
And he has now pled guilty to 56 — fifty-six! — charges of . . .
Adam Britton
No, I can’t say it, or even type the words, without wanting to retch.
Try again.
Because he has pled guilty in Australia to 56 charges relating to bestiality and animal cruelty. He has been sentenced by the Northern Territory Supreme Court to ten years and five months in prison “after admitting to sexually abusing dozens of dogs . . .” [Tiffanie Turnbull, BBC News, August 8, 2024.]
Holy Mother of God . . . what is this world coming to??!!!
And, just incidentally, he has also admitted to four counts of accessing child abuse material.
The BBC report continues: “Much of the detail of Britton’s crimes are too graphic to publish, and so ‘grotesque’ Chief Justice Michael Grant warned the courtroom they could cause ‘nervous shock.’”
”As the facts of the case were read aloud, some members of the public rushed outside. Others watching from the gallery cried and mouthed insults at Britton . . . Justice Grant said the ‘unalloyed pleasure’ Britton took in torturing the animals was ‘sickeningly evident.’” [BBC News, id.]
Mercifully, the good people at BBC News had the sound judgment and sense of decency to omit the most gruesome details, and I shall follow suit here. But the news report does shed light on Britton’s past, including the fact that his unnatural, sadistic tendencies toward animals date back to his childhood. And yet it all went undetected until 2022, when he uploaded a sickening video clip containing an identifiable City of Darwin dog leash in the background. Within weeks, he was arrested, and he’s been in custody ever since.
Adam Britton (left); similar City of Darwin dog leash (right)
*. *. *
My sole purpose in commenting on this disturbing story is to point out the similarities to the many cases involving mass killers who are found, only after the fact, to have exhibited signs of sadism or other mental anomalies dating back many years, often to childhood. And each time it happens, family, friends, teachers, and neighbors all seem suddenly to recall an incident or two that were out of character for an otherwise “normal” individual. Or someone will come forward to say they suspected all along that something was not right, but didn’t feel comfortable reporting it to authorities.
And thus, a future mass murderer goes unchecked . . . until it is too late. The fact that the victims in Adam Britton’s case were four-legged animals rather than humans does not make his crimes any less horrific; in fact, to my mind they are worse. The animals are helpless, defenseless, unable even to speak for themselves. All they ever wanted in life was to be loved. And they trusted this man, who had been trained to care for them, and instead, he . . .
Little Bundles of Pure Love
Clearly, some mental disorder — perhaps even some specific traumatic event — caused Adam Britton to become the twisted man he is today. Why didn’t someone recognize it sooner? How do we get society to address these issues before, once again, it’s too late?
This is Ksenia Karelina — dual U.S.-Russian citizen — at home in Los Angeles last year:
Before . . .
And this is Ksenia now, after spending eight months in a Russian prison.
. . . and After
Arrested sometime between her arrival in Russia to visit family in January of this year and the announcement on February 8th that she had been detained, she was charged with “high treason” and has been in custody ever since. Her trial, scheduled for today, August 8th, is being held in Yekaterinburg, in the same court — and before the same judge — that recently held journalist Evan Gershkovich and saw him sentenced to 16 years for espionage.
The prosecutor in Karelina’s case is seeking a sentence of 15 years, based on her “confession” of “guilt.” What, in fact, she was accused of — and has admitted doing because it is absolutely true — is having contributed $51.80 in the United States to a charity (“Razom”) providing non-military aid to war-torn Ukraine.
And that, in Russia, is considered “high treason” . . . when you are a Russian citizen, which Ms. Karelina still is. And that is an offense now punishable by a sentence of up to life in prison.
One of Razom’s Beneficiaries
There has been no explanation of how — or even why — the Russian authorities knew of her contribution to the charity, though in this electronic age, it is not difficult to imagine. And there would be no purpose in trying to deny it; in fact, doing so would only work against her. So she undoubtedly admitted to having made the contribution, which was then automatically interpreted as an admission of “guilt.”
So today we await word on the outcome of the trial in Yekaterinburg, which may be quick, or may take more than one day. And once she is found guilty — a foregone conclusion in these cases — and sentenced, she will be eligible, under Russian procedures, to be considered in a future trade negotiation. Had she been tried ten days ago, she might have been home by now.
And that, dear reader, is justice in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where the laws are flexible and people are disposable.
For one thing, we know they’ve recently elected a new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and that her inauguration is scheduled for October 1st of this year. What was recently disclosed was that included on their invitation list is none other than Vladimir Putin.
President-Elect of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum
Well, I only know of one Vladimir Putin. And yes, the Mexican Embassy in Moscow has confirmed that “Russia’s invitation to take part in the inauguration of President Sheinbaum was sent to President Putin.”
In and of itself, such an invitation wouldn’t seem strange; after all, the Mexican government (as stated by its Foreign Ministry) has sent them to “all nations with which it [has] relations, as well as international organizations of which it is a member.” [Reuters, August 6, 2024.] Perfectly normal, and in accordance with international protocol.
But . . .
But the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which Mexico is a member, issued a warrant against Putin in 2023, charging him with war crimes in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Which means that Mexico would be obligated to place Putin under arrest if he were to set foot on Mexican soil. Awkward.
“Gotcha!”
However . . .
It seems that Mexico has not severed ties with Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine, as many other countries have. In fact, when Putin congratulated President-Elect Sheinbaum on her election victory, he said that Mexico is Russia’s “historically friendly partner in Latin America.” [Reuters, id.]
Of course, it’s up to Putin to accept or decline the invitation as he sees fit; he could very well send an emissary, such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. And if he’s smart, that is exactly what he will do.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
So the invitation by itself isn’t a big deal. What is concerning is that our next-door neighbor to the south continues to maintain friendly relations with the Putin regime . . . even having included a Russian military unit in Mexico’s independence day parade in September of 2023, despite engendering severe criticism from other nations.
We share a border with Mexico, which means we share many mutual concerns with them: trade, immigration, drug enforcement, to name just three. The idea of Vladimir Putin oozing his way further into Mexico’s good graces is simply — to use a favorite word of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov — unacceptable.
Let us hope that Mexico’s new president will see it that way.
She’s moving out now, headed generally north/northeast — a much weakened old girl, but still dumping an overabundance of water as she makes her exit. Even here, it’s still raining on and off, but more gently.
We’re also still under intermittent flood watches and warnings, with lots of roads washed out in places. One dam was braced in time to prevent its failure; but I heard there was a second one in bad shape, and quite a few people were evacuated.
So, as life slowly returns to normal, we give thanks for having survived . . . and wonder when the next one will hit. I like to make up my own names for them.
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 