Just checking in, because it’s so hard for me to go cold turkey on the writing.
The first of the boxes are being filled, sorting the books between “keepers” and “donations.”
And that’s just a fraction of them!
Little Kokopelli may be perched up there by the TV, doing his dance of joy. But I’m not feeling it . . . and I’ve only just begun.
Oy!
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/12/26
This will be brief, because as I’ve already told the world, I’m cutting back on the writing for a few weeks to concentrate on my upcoming interstate move. But I can’t resist three quick comments on this week’s news:
That’s it. Back to work now.
Just sayin’ (because I can’t seem to stop) . . .
Brendochka
6/12/26
It’s not what you could call a vacation, R&R, or even work-related. The big news is that I am in transition — preparing to move from the great State of Georgia, where I have lived for the past six years, back to the equally great Commonwealth of Virginia, whence I came.
As I wrote on my blog’s Pages a few days ago, it’s time for this city girl to leave the peace and quiet of country living and head back to more urban surroundings, to reconnect with people I left behind and miss greatly, and to reacquaint myself with winter.
This will all take place over the next four weeks, and since I don’t move very quickly or steadily these days, it’s taking me longer than I would like to get through the sorting and packing and donating and recycling and trashing that such a move invariably entails. Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave much time for writing about the daily news, or sharing the random thoughts that I’ve been tossing out into the universe for the past few years.
So I will be taking a semi-break from my daily writing routine . . . though I do intend to keep my regular Sunday vigil on behalf of Putin’s political hostages. And I’m sure I’ll be popping back in from time to time when there’s a bit of world news too juicy to ignore, or perhaps simply to let you know how the packing is coming along. It just won’t be every day. So please do keep an eye open for me.
Meanwhile, be well, be good to each other, and remember these words of wisdom (source unknown):
“Illegitimi non carborundum.”
Don’t let the bastards wear you down.
See you soon. ‘Til then, I’m still . . .
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/11/26
Tomorrow, a new milestone in the modern-day history of war will be reached. But it is an occasion to be mourned, not celebrated.
World War I — optimistically dubbed by British author H. G. Wells as “the war to end all wars” — lasted 1,568 days, between 1914 and 1918.
And today marks the 1,568th day of Russia’s war of attrition against Ukraine, beginning with the full-scale invasion of February 24, 2022. And its instigator, Vladimir Putin, continues to evade any serious hope of ending it.
As of tomorrow, Putin will have outdone Kaiser Wilhelm II. We can only hope that he is stopped long before he is able to break Adolf Hitler’s six-year record (1939 – 1945).
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/10/26
There are probably as many definitions of freedom as there are philosophers, writers, and other “experts” combined.
But on the subject of the preservation of freedom, perhaps one of America’s founding fathers said it best:
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
– Benjamin Franklin, “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin”
To all of those members of Congress up for re-election, and the hopefuls running in this year’s mid-terms . . .
Are you listening?
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/10/26
What person over the age of about 40 doesn’t remember this terrifying news photo of a five-year-old Cuban boy being removed from his relatives’ home in Miami, Florida, to be sent back to his father in Cuba?
His mother had tried to escape the Castro regime with Elian in November 1999, planning to join family members already living in the U.S. Those were the days when boatloads of desperate Cuban citizens risked everything to make the treacherous water crossing to Florida. Elian’s boat capsized, his mother and others drowned; but a few survived, including Elian, who was rescued by two fishermen.
He was taken in by his paternal granduncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, who wanted to keep him in the U.S. But Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez Quintana, fought to have him returned home to Cuba. After a protracted legal battle between the two men, which involved both U.S. and Cuban officials, Elian was forcefully taken from his granduncle’s home by Immigration officials and returned to his father, stepmother and baby half-brother in Cuba.
Elian’s story was followed in the news for some time, showing him growing and thriving in a loving household, and being treated as something of a folk hero by the Castro regime. Eventually, of course, his story became old news, and the world (and I) lost track of Elian.
Until yesterday, that is, when his name cropped up in, of all places, a crossword puzzle. Remembering the heart-rending story of the adorable little boy, I did some checking to see what Elian has been up to over the past 26 years, and found that — as was predicted at the time of his return — he became a product of the Cuban communist regime, saying in a 2005 interview on 60 Minutes that Fidel Castro was considered “not only as a friend but as a father.” It is also reported that the following year, when Castro was unable to attend Elian’s 13th birthday party, he sent his brother Raul instead. [Wikipedia biography, as of June 9, 2026.]
Elian, now 32, joined the Young Communist Union of Cuba in June 2008, and began military school at age 15. In 2013, he described his time in the United States as “very sad times for me, which marked me for my whole life,” and blamed the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act for denying him his rights, including “the right to be together with my father, the right to keep my nationality and to remain in my cultural context.” [Id.]
Spoken like a good little communist.
Elian holds a degree in industrial engineering from the University of Matanzas, and is now an elected member of the National Assembly of People’s Power — Cuba’s supreme (and only) governmental authority.
So while the rest of the world may have forgotten about Elian Gonzalez over the years, the Cuban government did not. He received a good education, and is apparently on his way to a successful political career.
But how do you suppose Elian feels about the U.S. government today? Does he ever think that, if he had been allowed to remain with his granduncle and become an American citizen, he might now be a member of the U.S. Congress? Or, conversely, he could as easily be one of the people targeted by the Trump administration for de-naturalization?
How must he feel when he hears Donald Trump boasting about taking over his “shithole” country (Trump’s word, not mine)? What would his reaction be if he — and his fellow countrymen — were to wake up one morning and find that their homeland had just become a territory of the United States?
Granted, Cuba is a nation with enormous political, economic and social problems. But it is their country, and as far as I know, it has not been offered for sale. Threatening to take it by force is no different than what Russia has been doing to Ukraine. What Cuba needs is assistance, not forced assimilation into a different culture.
*. *. *
Seeing Elian’s name in print yesterday and being reminded of his life story has made Trump’s threats feel much more personal than merely geopolitical. And, while Trump doesn’t concern himself with such trivia as the effect of his actions on ordinary people, in reality it is all about the people.
Are the citizens of Cuba living their best life? In most cases, probably not. But would they be better off living under a Trump-led regime?
Maybe we should ask Elian Gonzalez.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/10/26
I wonder how many of my readers are old enough to remember — or have at least learned about — the infamous McCarthy Hearings of the early 1950s. I was just a kid, but I vividly recall sitting in front of our black-and-white TV, fascinated by the spectacle and simultaneously terrified at the idea that our country might be massively infiltrated by . . . GASP! . . . communists.
Senator Joseph McCarthy’s paranoia-driven crusade did incalculable damage to the lives of countless innocent people. As the Republican Senator from Wisconsin, his party, which led the Senate, allowed him to continue the closed-door hearings of his “Red Scare” campaign because they reflected badly on the Democratic Truman administration.
But finally, on June 9, 1954, with Republican Dwight Eisenhower in the White House, the Senate — and Americans as a whole — had had quite enough of Joe McCarthy. And he sealed his own fate when he decided to take on the U.S. Army, declaring it to be “soft” on communism and opening hearings into the matter.
The attorney representing the Army was one Joseph N. Welch, who brilliantly attacked and debunked every one of McCarthy’s charges, sending the already unbalanced Senator into rage after rage. Finally, when in a moment of desperation McCarthy accused a member of Welch’s firm of being involved with an organization considered to be a “legal arm of the Communist Party,” Welch had had enough.
Staring McCarthy in the eye, he said:
“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
– Source: “This Day In History,” History.com, June 9, 2026.
Joseph McCarthy’s career ended in disgrace. Following official condemnation by the Senate for contempt against his colleagues, he managed to retain his office, but descended into alcoholism and died in 1957.
*. *. *
The United States, and the world as a whole, was a different place in 1954. There was an innate sense of decency that we had grown up with, and that had been firmly embedded in us during the recently hard-won Second World War. All it took then to bring down a hateful, destructive, egomaniacal tyrant were ten words that have become famous in the annals of our country’s illustrious history:
“Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
. . . words that we would do well to remember today.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/9/26
If you saw yesterday’s post, you know that I was on my way to the podiatrist’s office to deal with a sore toe that has had me hobbling around in pain for several weeks. What I didn’t mention was that I had convinced myselfz the only cure would be amputation, and that I was doomed to spend my remaining years as a nine-toed circus attraction.
But sometimes life’s little surprises turn out to be pleasant ones.
First, yesterday had been predicted to be rainy and thunder-stormy — the most appropriate weather for a funeral or a dreaded visit to the doctor. But, while it was mostly cloudy, the rain held off and the sun occasionally peeked through . . . a truly auspicious start.
Then the friend who had referred me to this new doctor and offered to accompany me there said that she and her husband wanted to take me out to dinner after my appointment, if I was feeling up to it. Pleasant surprise #2.
Now, about the offending phalange (that’s podiatrist-speak for “toe”). It turned out that it wasn’t being devoured by a flesh-eating bacterium, or otherwise in need of being divorced from its nine siblings. Without going into boring detail, it was a simple matter of a little novocaine, a little scraping and digging (totally painless, thanks to the novocaine), and a padded bandaid to be worn for a couple of days.
Oh . . . and some really nice people, including the entire office staff and the doctor himself. Lovely surprise #3.
Then a good seafood dinner with friends, and back home with all of my lower digits intact, and absolutely pain-free even after the novocaine wore off.
Finally, for the icing on the cake, I got to spend an entire afternoon away from the news of the day. No Trump, no Russia, no China, no Iran or Cuba or Venezuela or Israel or Greenland or . . . well, no negativity at all. Just good company, and a happy toe.
It doesn’t get much better than that, so I wanted to be sure to share it with all of my friends out there.
And now it’s onward into today.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/9/26
The world will just have to continue spinning without my supervision (or interference) for the rest of the day, whilst I attend to a couple of personal matters, including a doctor’s appointment.
This one is a long-awaited visit to the podiatrist to find out about that tiny bump on my right pinky toe, that is barely visible but hurts like a son-of-a-b*tch when anything touches it. I’ve been roaming around the house barefoot or in socks for weeks, and will be wearing slippers to the doctor’s office because shoes are out of the question. It’s a good thing it’s not winter.
Way, way, waaaaay back in the 1950s, there was a Frank Loesser musical called “The Most Happy Fella,” probably best remembered for one song: “Standin’ On the Corner Watchin’ All the Girls Go By.” One of the other tunes — not so commercially marketable but very clever — was sung by a waitress at the end of her long workday. It was titled “Ooh! My Feet!” . . . and over the decades it has become my mantra.
Some years ago, my former podiatrist (until he had the nerve to retire) told me that I had the second-worst feet he’d ever seen. The worst pair belonged to a friend of mine, whom I had referred to him, and who suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis. That gives you an idea of what I’ve been living with for the last 30 years or so.
I blame my multiple pedal problems on those beautiful-but-deadly shoes of my youth. You know — the ones with four-inch stiletto heels and pointed toes that cost a fortune, hurt like hell, but made your legs look longer and slimmer.
Vanity, they name is woman! *
* FYI — and just because I can’t resist a good Shakespearean reference — that is a paraphrase of a famous line from Hamlet (Act I, Scene 2), which is often misquoted and is actually written: “Frailty, thy name is woman.” And it had absolutely nothing to do with Hamlet’s shoes, but somehow seemed applicable here. My mind is a maze.
So I’m off for now, but I’ll catch up with you tomorrow . . . hopefully hobbling a little less noticeably.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/8/26
There is more than one way to exercise the nuclear option: for example, you can throw the “N” word around in a threatening manner; you can go all the way and launch an actual nuclear weapon; or you can attack an existing nuclear facility. And this week — not for the first time — the Kremlin has chosen the third option.
Yesterday, at about 2:00 a.m. local time, a Russian Shahed drone struck the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility in Ukraine’s already fragile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, causing a fire. Luckily, the fire was quickly extinguished, and Ukrainian authorities report that there were no casualties. Most importantly, radiation levels remain within normal limits, according to both Energoatom — Ukraine’s state nuclear power operator — and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA also said that it was preparing to visit the site to assess the situation. [Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, June 7, 2026.]
Still, it was much too close for comfort . . . and it was no accident.
In a statement following the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said:
“As of now, there is no heightening of radiation safety limits. But there is clearly a heightening of Russia’s already sky-high arrogance. It was [a] critical infrastructure facility. And an extremely vile Russian attack.” [Id.]
And Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, posted on X:
“This is not the first time Russian forces are putting Ukrainian nuclear facilities at risk. Russia’s nuclear blackmail and threats to nuclear safety are systemic, deliberate, and unacceptable.” [Id.]
The attack followed a strike by Ukraine on a naval base and an oil terminal in St. Petersburg, Russia, earlier in the week . . . which in turn was a response to a massive, multi-city assault on Ukraine by Russian forces underscoring Vladimir Putin’s flat rejection of Zelensky’s most recent offer of a ceasefire and peace talks between the two leaders.
While these tit-for-tat drone and missile strikes have become the new “normal” as Ukraine’s military technology has advanced, the targeting of nuclear-connected facilities is an escalation that threatens, not only the two combatant nations, but the rest of Europe as well.
And this guy knows it all too well . . .
One might almost believe that he actually wants Armageddon.
Just sayin’ . . .
Brendochka
6/8/26
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 