Today’s quote comes from English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic Eric Arthur Blair — better known to the world as George Orwell.

Best remembered for his dystopian novel “1984,” Orwell was born into a respectable family, attended Eton on scholarship, and foreswore the comforts of the life for which he seemed destined, to live instead for his writing. As research into the lives of the lower economic classes, he sometimes lived in squalor, sometimes with family members or friends, and almost always in penury.

His voluntary service in the Spanish Civil War solidified his hatred of totalitarianism in all of its forms, and greatly influenced his later writings: most famously, “Animal Farm” and the immortal “1984.”

It is from that latter work — his final one, as it turned out — that this brief quote is taken . . . as relevant in today’s turbulent political environment as it was in 1949:

“In a time of universal deceit,
telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/8/25

Remember this incident in October 2017, when Donald Trump — then in his first term as occupant of the Oval Office — finally visited Puerto Rico after it had been hit by hurricanes Irma and Maria?

Because of the extent of the damage, there had been some delay in delivery of recovery aid. To show what a caring individual he is, he showed up at a relief center where food and supplies were at last becoming available, and began tossing paper towels to the local citizens gathered there . . . as though that would help them blot up the water in what was left of their flooded homes.

Speaking to Mike Huckabee during an interview afterward, he said:

“They had these beautiful, soft towels. Very good towels. And I came in and there was a crowd of a lot of people. And they were screaming and they were loving everything. I was having fun, they were having fun. They said, ‘Throw ‘em to me! Throw ‘em to me Mr. President!” [Daniella Silva, NBC News, October 8, 2017.]

They had no homes; no food or drinking water; no utilities; no businesses; and nearly 3,000 people dead. But they were “having fun” watching Marie Antoinette tossing the beautiful, soft paper towels at them.

What class! What heart! What a guy!

*. *. *

Now it’s 2025, and we’re in the tenth month of his second, non-consecutive term. Has he managed to grow a heart in the interim? Well, let’s see . . .

He is currently . . .

> overseeing the brutal arrest, imprisonment and deportation of masses of immigrants without due process;

> the firing by DOGE of hundreds of thousands of government employees without cause;

> the furloughing of nearly a million more, and requiring hundreds of thousands to work without pay, due to a Republican-created government shutdown because they’re determined to rob the American people of affordable health care;

> the cancelling of food assistance to low-income families because of a falsely-claimed lack of government funds, while he builds a gaudy ballroom at the White House and parties like Gatsby at Mar-a-Lago;

> the blowing up of suspected drug runners in small boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific without prior proof of guilt . . .

> and all while lecturing other countries on their poor human rights records.

Oh, yeah . . . he’s all heart, all right.

*. *. *

And then, on a more personal level, there was this on Thursday:

During a press conference attended by Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and several others, one of the attendees suddenly went limp and began to fall to the floor. Dr. Oz was able to grab the man and ease him to the floor as he passed out.

As the above photo shows, several people rushed to the man’s aid, while Trump stood staring helplessly at what was happening. At the same time, videos of the incident show Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and another woman rushing the press out of the room — though they kept photographing as they left, producing this follow-up picture of Trump, now turned completely away from the patient and in the direction of the retreating press corps.

Look at his expression, and tell me what you see. What I see is a spoiled child, upset — not out of concern for the man lying ill on the floor of his office not six feet away — but pissed off at the interruption of his big, beautiful press conference.

I did hear a report that he remembered — or was reminded — to call the man’s wife later to check on his condition. (He is apparently all right.) But that was after the fact; it is the initial reaction that is most telling of the priorities of an individual who always, without fail, thinks first and exclusively of himself.

And that, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with this administration.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/8/25

The Greek philosopher Diogenes, also known as Diogenes the Cynic, was born in Sinope, Turkiye, between 413 and 403 B.C. Exiled from his native country (the date is unclear), apparently as the result of some sort of family financial scandal, he spent the remainder of his 90 or so years in Greece, where he became known for his “ascetic lifestyle, biting wit, and radical critiques of social conventions.” [Wikipedia biography.]

Ever the eccentric, he was seen walking through town one bright day carrying a lighted lantern. When asked what he was doing, he reportedly replied: “I am looking for an honest man.”

I’m sure I would have liked Diogenes the Cynic, both for his irreverent sense of humor and his total disdain for pretentious and dishonest people. Many of the sayings attributed to him are as meaningful in today’s world as they were more than two millennia ago. And in that context, today’s selected quote speaks volumes in just seven words:

“The mob is the mother of tyrants.”

*. *. *

Which brings to mind this nightmarish mob event of nearly five years ago:

It seems that mankind hasn’t learned a thing since Diogenes’ day . . . which is perhaps our greatest tragedy of all.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/7/25

If an individual were to kidnap their own child and demand an obscene amount of money in exchange for allowing the child to live, that person would be universally declared, not merely a criminal, but the lowest form of human being.

Yet that is exactly what this man is doing. No, not to one of his 14 (or more) biological children, but to his corporate “baby” — Tesla, Inc.

When Elon Musk took on the task of decimating the U.S. government as head of Donald Trump’s newly-created, ironically-named Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he began neglecting his duties as CEO of Tesla . . . much to the dismay of its directors and shareholders, who were left to deal with plummeting profits and share prices.

When he exited DOGE in May of this year, it was believed that he would be returning full-time to Tesla. But some investors have said that his other business and political interests are still interfering with his obligations to the company. So, in true oligarch fashion, he struck a deal . . .

. . . for the bargain price of $1,000,000,000,000.

Yes, that’s One Trillion Dollars, folks . . . with 12 zeros and four commas. And before you say it, please allow me:

No one — not a single person on this Earth — is worth that much money!!!

Not even Elon Musk. And, let’s face it . . . no one needs that much money, or could spend it in a lifetime, unless they gave most of it away. Or founded their own country. Perhaps on Mars?

But back to Planet Earth. The good news is that Tesla — 75% of whose shareholders approved this scam . . . er . . . deal — does not have to raise a trillion dollars in cash. And Musk does have to earn it over a ten-year period by meeting various targets and raising the firm’s market value from its present $1.4 trillion to an astonishing $8.5 trillion. He would also have to get a million self-driving Robotaxi vehicles into commercial operation. [Lily Jamali, BBC, November 6, 2025.]

When the announcement was made, Musk was in Austin, Texas, where he took to the stage and danced as his audience chanted his name. When he stopped moving, he had this to say:

“What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book. Other shareholder meetings are snoozefests but ours are bangers. Look at this. This is sick.” [Id.]

Well, yes . . . it is sick, but in an entirely different sense of the word. Look at it this way: If you somehow managed to put a trillion dollars into an account or fund that paid a mere one percent simple interest per year, your annual earnings would still be $10 billion.

Now, obviously that’s not what one does with that kind of money. And his payout would consist, not of cash, but hundreds of millions of new Tesla shares. But still, I repeat . . .

NO ONE NEEDS THAT MUCH MONEY!!!!!!!!

There are entire countries whose GDPs don’t even come close to it.

And there’s still the question of whether he will fulfill the requirements of the deal. His remarks earlier on Thursday focused on his Optimus robot, rather than the company’s electric vehicle business or the Robotaxis.

As expressed by analyst Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management:

“His vision of the ‘new book’ starts with Optimus. No mention of cars, FDS [full-self driving] and robotaxi yet.” [Id.]

So, Elon probably shouldn’t start counting those shares too soon. Ten years is a long time . . . and he doesn’t have the greatest attention span.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/7/25

One of the joys of reading as much as I do is that I learn something new every day.

Today’s lesson was that Eleanor Roosevelt — a brilliant, admirable woman whom I will no doubt be quoting frequently — also had a subtly wicked sense of humor.

I particularly love this example, because it reveals an unsuspected aspect of her personality — the all-important ability to laugh at herself:

“I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.”

I can’t help wondering what FDR had to say about that!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/6/25

This is how it’s done:

A semi-submersible vessel was recently seized at sea by Portuguese police and naval authorities, who surrounded the boat, boarded her, arrested the four crew members, and seized 1.7 tons of Class A cocaine.

The narco-sub, which was bound for the Iberian peninsula, was operated by two Ecuadorians, a Venezuelan and a Colombian, who were remanded in pretrial custody following a court appearance in the Azores on Tuesday.

And that — for the benefit of U.S. officials — is how it should be done. Yes, they were in international waters, some 1,000 nautical miles off the coast of Lisbon, Portugal. But it was accomplished on the basis of reliable information received by the Lisbon-based Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre, with the backing of the UK’s National Crime Agency and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. [James Gregory, BBC, November 4, 2025.]

It was not a small boat “suspected” of carrying drugs; it was not blown out of the water by a missile launched from afar; and no one was killed or injured.

The suspects have received a preliminary hearing, and will be given due process of law . . . though 1.7 tons of coke should be sufficient to guarantee a conviction.

Following seizure of the vessel, it was found that it was incapable of being towed back to shore due to poor weather conditions and the “fragile construction” of the sub, and it sank at sea. Vitor Ananias, head of Portugal’s police anti-drug-trafficking unit, told reporters:

“ . . . between the heat, the vessel’s fumes and high waves, with difficult weather conditions, even one day is tricky [for the four men on board]. By the end of 15 or 20 days all you want is to get out.” [Id.]

It sounds as though being arrested may actually have saved the lives of the four accused criminals — certainly a better option than being blown to bits.

*. *. *

Few people would argue against the dangers of illegal drug-running, or the need to put the multi-national drug cartels out of business. But the existence of the problem is not an excuse for cold-blooded murder.

Nor is the use of remotely-launched weaponry justifiable by saying it was done that way to ensure the safety of the U.S. military involved in the attack.

No Portuguese police or naval officers were injured in the seizure of the much larger vessel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Surely, U.S. military personnel are equally competent. It hardly seems necessary to deploy the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS GERALD R. FORD, to troll the waters of the Caribbean in search of more victims. Yet that is what Donald Trump has done.

Thus far, some 66 people have been wiped out in the course of 16 such strikes, with no evidence or substantial details being offered by the administration to justify the actions. But Trump has rationalized the deaths by saying the United States is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

And Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, while on a recent trip to Asia, posted:

“We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens.” [The Associated Press, November 5, 2025.]

That is what he said: “find and terminate” . . . as though he were talking about a fantasy movie, with himself in the role of Hellboy.

But those 66 people — criminals or not — were human beings, not characters in a film. And they were not given a chance to defend themselves in a court of law.

So would someone please tell me: What ever happened to “truth, justice, and the American way”?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/6/25

We’re back to the Russian writers today: my personal favorite, Fyodor Dostoevsky (“Crime and Punishment,” “Brothers Karamazov,” etc.).

No . . . Dostoevsky was not suggesting that we should go around insulting people for the fun of it. A level of empathy and simple good manners — or what we now call “political correctness” — is just a matter of decency and common sense.

But he understood the dangers inherent in being robbed of our political opinions, and our right to express them, in order to avoid offending the imbeciles in high offices: in his time and place, those were the Russian Tsar and his minyons.

And while times change, human nature unfortunately does not.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/5/25

Between 1901 and 1910, approximately 1.6 million people — including all four of my grandparents, one great-grandmother, and three of my future aunts and uncles — emigrated to the United States from greater Russia. Most were ethnic Jews, Poles and Lithuanians, who left to escape the pogroms against the people of their so-called “races.”

In more recent decades, aside from a surge in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the numbers have decreased and their demographics have changed: the majority of recent Russian arrivals have been better educated, leaving their homeland for political, professional and economic reasons.

But lately, a converse trend has been seen, with Americans, Canadians, Australians, and others — largely politically-conservative farming and working-class families with children — seeking an escape, not from poverty or political persecution, but from what they describe as the evils of a woke society.

Some 1,500 “ideological immigrants,” including 127 Americans, have applied for temporary residence (a necessary prerequisite to eventual citizenship) in Russia in the last year. [Caroline Radnofsky and Griffin Eckstein, NBC News, November 2, 2025.]

I have followed the adventures of one such Canadian family — the Feenstras from Saskatchewan — who have built a thriving farm from scratch in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia over nearly two years. And they recently added a guest house on their property in order to welcome the Pulley family from Australia, who work the farm with them. With the eight Feenstra kids and the three Pulley children, they have had their hands full expanding, not only the farm, but a number of side businesses . . . including their social media broadcasts.

*. *. *

And last July, I reported on an American family — the Huffmans: Derek, a welder and builder, and DeAnna, a teacher and floral designer, who introduced themselves on social media as follows:

“We’re the Huffman family — Americans who moved to Russia 2 months ago! Derek (46) has a background in welding & construction, DeAnna (42) is a former teacher & floral designer, and we’re raising our 3 daughters (12, 11 & 10) while embracing a whole new life, language, and culture.” [Josh Fiallo, Daily Beast, July 18, 2025.]

Now there has been an update on the Huffmans, and sad to say — though not surprisingly — their experience has not been as positive as that of the Feenstras.

Derek, DeAnna and their three daughters were the first family to move to a community planned for English-speakers some 30 miles west of Moscow, which they had read about online. It is operated by a long-term American expatriate and former host on Kremlin-sponsored RT network, Tim Kirby. [Radnofsky and Eckstein, NBC News, op.cit.]

In March, Derek said in a well-scripted video on his family’s YouTube channel:

“President Putin is an amazing leader and he’s done great things for Russia. It’s nothing like you see on the news. [Social media platform X] is the only place where you get real information [about America’s problems].” [Id.]

It appears that the Huffmans were not as financially well-prepared as the Feenstras for the long settling-in period in Russia. They had made the move with the encouragement of, and donations from, some of their YouTube subscribers. But Derek had a hard time finding work in construction or welding, and instead joined the Russian army, both for the money and to expedite the family’s applications for citizenship. On May 26th, he added on YouTube:

“Above and beyond the citizenship, the money, a big part of it for me is about the respect and earning our place here in Russia.” [Id.]

Yeah . . . right. Clearly, the Huffmans failed to do their due diligence before adopting Russia as their new home. Because those promises from Vladimir Putin’s government have notoriously gone unfulfilled, even to native Russians . . . let alone recent immigrants.

Instead of being placed in a unit that would utilize his specific skills as promised, he was sent to the front lines, where even the limited amount of training was useless to him, as it was all conducted in Russian, which he did not speak or understand.

During his six months’ deployment, he was erroneously reported as having been killed in action, but later resurfaced in videos on the family’s YouTube channel in October. In one such film, he said:

“I’m happy that I’m still alive and doing what I can to survive, and be of service to Russia. I’m so thankful to all the Russian people who have reached out and helped my family while I’ve been gone.” [Id.]

It was not clear whether he would be redeployed, or what the future might hold for the family. But they’re alive . . . and possibly wondering whether they should have given more thought to their decision before accepting Putin’s invitation to escape the “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” of America. [Id.]

*. *. *

NBC News has also spoken with another Texas family: Leo and Chantelle Hare — a middle-aged couple with three sons, ages 17, 15 and 12 — who followed their ultra-conservative dream to what sounds more like a nightmare. Leo explained their reason for the move in a video call:

“It was the promise of a country that would not promote the LGBT agenda. We liked the fact that LGBT is basically outlawed here in official ways.” [Id.]

Well, that’s putting it mildly. Russian law strictly prohibits the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relationships,” and the public display of LGBTQ identity, including wearing or posting the rainbow flag on social media.

The Hares said that they relied on far-right commentators and conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Mike Adams for their news in the U.S., and were disillusioned with American politics after the 2020 election . . . likely meaning that they bought into Donald Trump’s claims that he had actually won. Yet they don’t believe that even his return to power will change the country enough for them to want to return. [Id.]

But their introduction to life in Russia was fraught with problems. As they were en route to Moscow, their initial plan to rent an apartment there fell through, and they were forced to spend the winter on a farm 70 miles outside the city, caring for the animals in exchange for free room and board.

Then their landlord’s son offered them a generous (a big red flag right there!) interest rate if they would invest their $50,000 bankroll in what he described as a car import business. But they received just one interest payment, and then . . . nothing. When the man refused to return their money, they went to the police and filed complaints with the local court, but received no help from regional officials.

To make matters worse, their sons are unhappy with life in Russia, and the two older boys have said they want to return home. They are prohibited from attending school until they are able to pass a language test and are presently being home-schooled, further increasing their sense of isolation.

On the up-side, both parents are now working as English tutors. They have found an apartment in Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, and say they “are living really comfortably now.” And Leo has admitted it probably “would have been a dealbreaker” if they had known in advance about the school restrictions. [Id.]

One more example of uninformed, inexperienced people failing to do their homework and instead placing their trust in the promises of strangers.

Luckily, Leo says that at least he never considered joining the army in Russia because of his age and safety concerns; and hearing Derek Huffman’s story, he says that Huffman may have “assumed a little too much” about life in the Russian military.

“We assumed a lot, too,” he said. “But we do have a faith in Christ and He is leading us, even though we’ve made mistakes.” [Id.]

Maybe so. But I wonder whether the Christ in whom he so fervently believes would have advised him to move halfway around the world simply to escape people with differing views of sexuality.

Just a thought . . .

*. *. *

The experiences of the Huffmans, the Hares, and even the Feenstras — who, though certainly doing better than the others, have had their share of difficulties — should provide a cautionary tale for anyone thinking about following in their footsteps. Russia is a dictatorship, led by a vicious, murderous autocrat and his team of corrupt oligarchs. It is a place where the rules change at the whim of one man, and people disappear into the penal system (or the quagmire in Ukraine) for no apparent reason, and often without a trace.

In all honesty, there are also a lot of things going on in the U.S. these days that give me similar cause for concern (for the record, “wokeness” is not one of them); and if I were younger, I might have considered relocating. But rest assured that, if I were to give it serious thought, my list of potential destinations would not include Russia.

But maybe that’s because I have done my research.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/5/25

Not all memorable quotes can be attributed to the great classical writers, or to the world’s leading statesmen . . . or, for that matter, to men.

If I could resurrect just one woman from history, it would be Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. What she lacked in traditional physical beauty, she more than made up for with her intelligence, wisdom (not the same thing), and empathy.

Today, I choose just one of the multitude of pithy comments drawn from her lifetime of study and public service:

“Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.”

Sad to say, Mrs. Roosevelt, that the self-described “Christians” in charge of our government today are either ignorant of history, or choose to emulate rather than learn from it.

But we the people have not given up the cause for which you and your husband fought so valiantly for so long: the preservation of our democracy.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/4/25

I had spent the first nine years of my life in Rhode Island, surrounded by my parents, sister, maternal grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and a plethora of neighbors who felt free to drop by at any time and never bothered to knock because the back door was always open.

It was a warm, secure, loving, if someone noisy environment. Until one day, when my sister Merna and I were told that we would be moving to New Hampshire in the summer, to be closer to my father’s even larger family. In truth, the job opportunities were better there; but we children didn’t need to know that.

At age nine, it seemed like a grand adventure. And indeed, it worked out well. Merna was in high school by then, and had hated her school in Rhode Island; she found her niche in Manchester, making friends and ultimately graduating with honors.

I was entering the sixth grade, still two years younger than my classmates and a bit small for my age. When my mother brought me to school to register, the principal immediately said there was no way a tiny nine-year-old could be expected to fit in with eleven- and twelve-year-olds. But my mother — never one to accept criticism of her precious children — showed her my fifth-grade report card (all A’s, of course, as nothing less was acceptable in our family) and a document certifying my passage to sixth grade, and it was agreed that they would “give it a try.”

In brief, the next four years were the best of my school years. I had lots of friends and continued to ace all of my subjects. I couldn’t have been happier . . . except for the times when my father would disappear for weeks on end.

It wasn’t another woman, as far as my mother knew. It was even more stupid than that: in his 40s — considered middle-aged in those days — he had decided to become a jazz groupie. He had always loved jazz music, but had no musical talent of his own; so he latched on to a friend’s band and occasionally traveled around the country with them, finding temporary jobs in the various cities and sometimes sending money home to the family who had taken second place in his life.

My mother rolled up her sleeves and went back to work, as did Merna, who had to drop out of college. And when he next came home, my mother told him that if he ever left again, he would return to an empty house. He didn’t believe her.

But that’s exactly what happened. He took off, she took the money she had been secretly squirreling away, put the furniture into storage, and moved us to Washington, D.C., where she had a brother who helped us get settled.

When dear old dad returned to New Hampshire, he found an empty house, with only a bed, a dresser, a chair, and a snarky farewell note.

Surprise!

So, at the age of 13, my future character was once again molded by an event over which I had had no control. We stayed with my aunt and uncle for a month, my mother and Merna found good jobs, and we moved into an apartment where I suddenly found myself on my own all day, five days a week.

Until school started in September, I explored the neighborhood, made friends with the neighbors and several local shopkeepers, taught myself to cook and do the family laundry . . . and decided I liked being self-sufficient.

I also had a lot of time to read. On one of my strolls to the nearby shopping center, my eye was caught by a small book entitled “Over Sexteen” — a compendium of suggestive cartoons and jokes that would be considered ridiculously mild by today’s standards, but were a little racy for those times. I bought it and was curled up on the sofa, reading and laughing out loud, when my mother returned home from work that evening and asked me what I was reading that was so funny.

I didn’t try to hide it . . . instead, I just nonchalantly held the book out to her and watched her eyes double in size as she began leafing through the pages. I know I heard her snicker a couple of times, though she made a valiant effort not to. Finally she asked if I understood the jokes; and when I said of course I did, she handed it back to me, shrugged, sighed, and said, “Well, then, I guess you’re old enough to read it.”

And that was pretty much the extent of my advanced sex education, other than having earlier been handed a book designed for pre-teens on the subject of menstruation, which I found instructive but totally icky.

As it happened, Mother actually did enjoy a good joke; but serious talk of S-E-X was too much for her to handle.

Fortunately, my generation outgrew that.

*. *. *

Well, that takes us through the second phase of my personality development, and on to the final three years of high school in suburban Prince George’s County, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, D.C.), where I began to make serious life decisions on my own.

Please note that I didn’t say they were all good decisions — just serious ones. So stay tuned.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/4/25