Reading a Shakespearean play is, to me, much the same as listening to a complete opera: his soliloquies, like an operatic aria, are magnificent and memorable; but I sometimes lose my way in the maze of all the in-between language. Methinks the Bard doth discourse too much.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Still, many of my favorite quotes come from the works of old Will, such as this immortal advice from “Hamlet”:
“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
In the dark days in which we are now living, it seems especially important for each of us to take heed of Shakespeare’s words of wisdom — which were offered by the character Polonius to his son Laertes as the young man was leaving to study at university — and to avoid being swayed by those who would lead us down the wrong path.
Advice that is as important — if not more so — for the 21st century as it was for the 17th.
For nearly 250 years — since long before these words were written — their significance has formed the foundation of this new, young country:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . .”
America was built by generations of honest, decent, hard-working people from every corner of the world who dreamt of making a new life for themselves and their children in America, free of the poverty and oppression of their less fortunate native lands.
But now that dream has been killed. Instead of the annual limit of 125,000 refugees as established by former President Joe Biden, Donald Trump has decreed that no more than 7,500 will be admitted over the next year . . . slashed by 94%, with priority being given to White South Africans.
The same White South Africans whose parents and grandparents were responsible for the horrors of apartheid practiced against their Black neighbors. The same White South Africans, known as Afrikaners, who are descended mostly from the early Dutch and French settlers who, while modernizing and growing the industry, agriculture and economy of their new home, at the same time took control of its government and relegated its native population to a life of poverty and servitude.
Nelson Mandela: The Man Who Ended Apartheid
And now these White South Africans are claiming to be victims of illegal or unjust discrimination because of the imposition of a new law allowing seizure of portions of the country’s agricultural land by the government without compensation. As it happens, Whites — who comprise just 7.2 percent of the country’s population — own an estimated 72-73 percent of the agricultural land.
The post-apartheid South African government says that its purpose is to return some of the previously confiscated land to its rightful Black owners; the present White owners, of course, say they are being robbed. It is a complex, contentious issue, rightly to be decided by the people of South Africa.
But Donald Trump — in line with his ongoing campaign to turn the United States into his ideal of a White, male, Christian oligarchy — has taken up the cause of the White South African farmers who, whether rightly or wrongly, feel the need to flee. And he is offering them an open door and a fast path to citizenship, while simultaneously barring entry to people of color, and deporting masses of those already here.
Immigration Raid in Los Angeles, California
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All I can think of is this other man’s one-time dream of an “Aryan” nation, populated by a “master race” of people of Northern and Western European descent . . . excluding Jews and Romany people, of course:
We all remember or have learned about what horrors that led to. And I’d like to know what, if any, difference there is between his dream and Trump’s.
Today we turn to another, very different Russian for not just one, but a pair of quotes applicable to today’s world.
These are not from a literary giant or noted philosopher, but from the infamous Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov — better known as Vladimir Lenin — who saw the opportunity for his moment in history and grabbed it by the b . . . well, grabbed it for all it was worth. From that day forward, the world was irrevocably changed . . . and not for the better.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (a.k.a. “Lenin”)
And here are two examples of the secrets of Lenin’s success in becoming one of history’s most ruthless dictators:
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
– and –
“The whole question is: who controls whom.”
I wonder: Is it just me, or does that remind you of anyone in a position of power today?
Leonid Pshenychnov is an internationally-renowned Ukrainian Marine Biologist who has worked for decades on the conservation of biological resources of the Southern Ocean, including Antarctic krill and fish biodiversity. Since 1996, he has represented Ukraine at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and was scheduled to do so again last month at Hobart, Australia.
Leonid Pshenychnov
Before traveling to Hobart, Dr. Pshenychnov was visiting family in Russian-occupied Crimea in September, when he “was forced to take up a Russian passport . . . and has been arbitrarily charged with ‘threatening the security of the Russian Federation,’” according to Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia. [Jano Gibson, abc.net.au, October 20, 2025.]
A translated version of a document issued by Russian authorities to Dr. Pshenychnov’s attorneys following his arrest describes him as a “Russian citizen . . . [who] defected to the enemy” by participating in CCAMLR’s meetings in recent years, and accuses him of using his research to undermine Russia’s krill fishing operations near the Antarctic Peninsula by encouraging tighter catch limits — despite the fact that the movement to enforce the new limits was unsuccessful. [Id.]
2023 Ukrainian Delegation to CCAMLR: Dr. Pshenychnov Standing Center, Ambassador Myroshnychenko Seated Right
And if that isn’t a setup, I’ve never seen one. Forcing a Russian passport upon a Ukrainian citizen, and then declaring him a “defector” to the “enemy” is the height of chutzpah . . . not to mention being blatantly illegal.
Yet Dr. Pshenychnov, age 70, has been imprisoned, despite protests from both the Ukrainian and Australian governments. In the words of Ambassador Myroshnychenko:
“Dr. Pshenichnov’s [sic] arrest and imprisonment without any evidence is a blatant human rights abuse.” [Id.]
Thus, our list of Russia’s hostages grows once more, as we await the outcome of his case.
*. *. *
So, with a deep sigh of regret, here we go again this week:
Immigrant Detainees in Russia:
Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
Prisoners of War:
The 19,500 Kidnapped Ukrainian Children The People of Ukraine
Endangered Exiles:
Mikita Losik Yulia Navalnaya Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents
Ales Bialiatski Andrei Chapiuk Marya Kalesnikava Uladzimir Labkovich Andrzej Poczobut Marfa Rabkova Valiantsin Stafanovic Yuras Zyankovich
In Georgia:
Mzia Amaglobeli
In China:
Chenyue Mao (American)
In Russia:
David Barnes (American) Gordon Black (American) Antonina Favorskaya Konstantin Gabov Robert Gilman (American) Stephen James Hubbard (American) Sergey Karelin Timur Kishukov Vadim Kobzev Darya Kozyreva Artyom Kriger Michael Travis Leake (American) Aleksei Liptser Grigory Melkonyants Nika Novak Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea) Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler) Sofiane Sehili (French) Igor Sergunin Dmitry Shatresov Robert Shonov Grigory Skvortsov Eugene Spector (American) Laurent Vinatier Robert Romanov Woodland (American)
Let me say from the outset that I am not one of those people who think they remember their own birth. I may have a few delusions of my own, but luckily, the belief that I remember fighting my way out of the womb and through the birth canal is not one of them.
I do, however, recall my mother’s story of that fateful day when I — all eight pounds and nine ounces of me — made my debut appearance . . . and in rather dramatic fashion.
Apparently, I was born with an extra impatience gene, if there is such a thing. Because my mother — a petite woman who never weighed more than 99 pounds soaking wet, except when pregnant — barely made it to the hospital in time. No labor pains, no time for prep; just a lot of amniotic fluid, a slight backache, five minutes in the delivery room, and there I was: screaming mad, arms and legs flailing, and probably wondering when they were going to bring my dinner.
I have some old family pictures in which I appear, around age two or three, as a rather cute, blonde, serious-looking toddler being posed for photo ops on special occasions. Other than that, any history from those earliest years is strictly anecdotal, passed down by various relatives and undoubtedly edited along the way. But my own memory kicks in around age three, when my older sister Merna decided it was time for me to begin my education.
Specifically, she taught me to read, write, and do simple arithmetic, so that I became my mother’s favorite parlor trick. Whenever we had guests, she would drag out the daily newspaper or a magazine, have someone choose a random article, and make me read it to them. Luckily, Barnum & Bailey never brought their circus to our small town, or I’m sure she would have tried to sign me up as one of their sideshow “freak” acts.
Circus Folk (a long time ago)
I remember skipping a couple of grades in school because of the head start my sister had given me, so that I was all of six years old when I started third grade. By that time, Merna was in junior high school, and no longer available to walk with me to and from my elementary school. So of course, my mother was ready to assume the task — but I was having none of it. I knew the way from the previous school year; I was a big third-grader; and I was quite capable of looking after myself, thank you very much.
So at the ripe old age of six, I took off that first morning in September: up Rathbun Street past St. Louis Catholic Church and School, across both streets at the intersection of Rathbun and Privilege Streets, along Privilege to Social Street, then left another half block to Pothier Elementary School, Woonsocket, Rhode Island . . . a substantial distance for a wee lass such as myself. And in the afternoon, when I reversed course, I could see my mother — who had doubtless been frantic for the entire day — waiting outside our house, watching for me to pop into sight.
(Full disclosure: We had no cell phones or GPS trackers in those days; but the principal of my school was one of my mother’s best friends, and I’m quite sure there was at least one phone call to let her know I had arrived safely in the morning.)
Today, allowing a six-year-old to do that on her own would be cause for Social Services to launch an investigation. But those really were kinder, gentler times. And it wasn’t New York City or Detroit; it was small-town New England in the 1940s. I was — in my own mind, at least — independent, smart, and quite certain that I was invulnerable. I’m convinced now that it was that experience, all those decades ago, that prepared me for my world travels in later years.
*. *. *
Most often it’s the major events that we think of as life-altering: our choices of study and career, marriage (or not), being in the right place at the right time . . . like Forrest Gump discovering that he was one hell of a ping-pong player.
But in reality, it’s frequently the smaller things that shape our character and influence the decisions we make later in life . . . little things like striking out on my own at six years of age, and learning to read at three so that I skipped a couple of grades and graduated early.
And I will get into more of those little things later, as soon as I dredge them up from memory.
My regular readers know how fond I am of quoting the collective wisdom of my many literary and intellectual superiors; in fact, searching out quotes that are relevant to today’s world events is a large part of the fun of writing this blog.
Recently, with all of the lunacy and horror raining down on the world daily — much like Donald Trump’s utterly tasteless, AI-created, dive-bomber-shit-storm cartoon — I’ve challenged myself to see how many gems I can find to share with you that continue to speak to us today.
And since much of the world’s grief seems to emanate from Russia, I thought it only fitting to start with a few words from one of that country’s greatest 19th-century writers: Leo Tolstoy — perhaps best known for “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina.”
This, though, is from one of his lesser-known works: a short autobiographical tale of his own struggle with a mid-life existential crisis. As he searches for answers to his own questions about the meaning of life, he comes to many conclusions, including this one . . .
. . . which I hereby dedicate to the entire Executive branch of the U.S. government, both houses of the U.S. Congress, the six lily-livered Republican-appointed members of the U.S. Supreme Court, and every single owner of a red MAGA baseball cap:
“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”
The “N” word in question is “Nuclear.” And the “He” would, of course, be . . .
No, not Vladimir Putin. And not Kim Jong Un or Xi Jinping, or even Benjamin Netanyahu.
The “He” is none other than that self-styled “Peace President,” Donald J. Trump.
While he didn’t definitively threaten to use America’s vast arsenal of nuclear weapons against anyone in particular, he did announce on October 29th that he had instructed the Pentagon to “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing, after a hiatus of some 33 years.
(The moratorium of nuclear detonations was instituted by then President George H.W. Bush, and the U.S. signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since 1998, only North Korea has detonated any nuclear weapons.)
To make matters even more . . . well . . . explosive, Trump told the world about his decision just prior to a scheduled face-to-face meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
The Meeting in South Korea
On his Truth Social platform, he warned that China’s nuclear weapons building was on track to place their nuclear arsenal on an equal footing with the United States and Russia “within 5 years,” and added:
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.” [David Winkie and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, October 30, 2025.]
And since his meeting with Xi — which he called a “great success” and rated as a 12 on a scale of 1-10 — he has claimed to have come to an agreement with Beijing on trade, tariff and rare-earth mineral issues, though the Chinese government has been considerably less enthusiastic.
On his way home from Asia on October 30th, when asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One whether he thought the world was becoming more dangerous with regard to nuclear issues, he said he didn’t think so:
“I think we have it pretty well locked up. But I see them testing. I say, well, they’re going to test, I guess we have to test.”[Id.]
Aboard Air Force One
This tactic seems very similar to his attempted manipulation of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky with regard to the war in Ukraine, when he unexpectedly spoke with Putin the day before his scheduled White House meeting with Zelensky. He promises progress, threatens serious action if the other side fails to deliver, hopes to get what he wants, and prematurely claims victory . . . only to eat his words later, always blaming anyone but himself when his alleged “deal” falls through yet again.
Only this time he’s playing with his finger on the nuclear button. And that is one hell of an escalation from tariffs and sanctions.
*. *. *
So what actually prompted this sudden leap toward Armageddon? Was it indeed a preemptive move designed to give him an edge in his negotiations with China? Or might it conceivably have been a reaction to this headline:
“Putin Says Russia Tests New, Nuclear-Capable Remote Torpedo Dubbed ‘Doomsday Machine.’” [Mike Eckel, RFE/RL, October 29, 2025.]
And here it is: Called Poseidon, or Status-6, it was introduced to the world on October 29th after a reportedly successful testing a day earlier. During a visit with soldiers wounded in Ukraine, Putin announced:
“For the first time, we succeeded in not only launching it with an engine from a carrier submarine, but also to start the nuclear power unit on it. There is nothing like this. This is a huge success.” [Id.]
Poseidon, a.k.a. Status-6
While there has been no independent confirmation of the test, there has been talk of such a weapon — what Russia described as “an intercontinental nuclear-powered nuclear-armed autonomous torpedo” — being developed as long ago as 2015. Western analysts have said that, if such a torpedo exists and were to be detonated off the U.S. east coast, it would shower radioactivity on major cities and render huge swaths of territory uninhabitable. [Id.]
And not to be overlooked is the continued testing of Russia’s Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile (dubbed “Skyfall” by NATO) on the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya, as reported this past summer. [Mike Eckel, RFE/RL, August 28, 2025.]
Burevestnik, a.k.a. Skyfall
And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, we are transported back in time to the years of the U.S.-Soviet arms race . . . only with bigger, “smarter,” and even deadlier weapons.
Does anyone know who asked for this? Because if we can identify them, I suggest we take them up to Novaya Zemlya, strap them to the nearest Burevestnik, and shoot them into space.
(This is a re-post of an earlier article, as a reminder that things have only gotten worse)
Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Putin: Three of a Kind
On February 2, 1933, three days after becoming chancellor of Germany, Adolph Hitler told the members of the Reichsrat — a federal body of state representatives charged with monitoring the relationship between the German Reich and the state governments — that the states were the “historic building blocks of the German nation,” and that he would not intrude on the sovereignty of the states, but would assert Reich control only “where absolutely necessary.” [Timothy W. Ryback, The Atlantic, June 10, 2025.]
Three weeks later, on February 27th, the Reichstag building was burned, allegedly by a sole arsonist caught in the act as an attempt to start a Bolshevik revolution. That was all Hitler needed as an excuse to suspend civil liberties and suppress the voting rights of the German Communist Party, and for his supporters in the Reichstag to pass legislation granting him full authoritarian power.
Citing an “eternal battle” between the German states and the central government, he pledged to solve it by dismantling the federated system and creating a “unified will” for the nation. He told the press that imposition of a central authority was not the “raping” of state sovereignty, but an “alignment” of state policies with those of the central government. [Id.]
Hitler convinced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue an emergency decree known as “Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State,” which, among other things, suspended civil liberties. Hitler was thus able to suppress any and all political opposition ahead of the elections scheduled for March 5th. [Id.]
The decree also stated: “If any state fails to take the necessary measures to restore public safety and order, the Reich government may temporarily take over the powers of the highest state authority.” [Id.]
The Reichstag Fire – February 27, 1933
Beginning to sound familiar?
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Joseph Stalin — in a frenzy of paranoia — began his Great Purge (also known as the Great Terror) with the assassination in 1934 of Sergei Kirov, head of the Bolshevik party in Leningrad and once a personal friend of Stalin, who had become too popular and was thus deemed a threat to Stalin’s autocratic rule. That murder was then used as Stalin’s excuse to begin a series of show trials to rid himself of all suspected dissenters from the Bolshevik and Communist parties.
Between 1937 and 1938, he carried out a purge of his own military, ordering the arrest and execution of a large number of high-ranking officers . . . thus seriously weakening his country’s forces.
And then, in an anti-Semitic rage, he went after the nation’s doctors — a substantial number of whom had the misfortune of being Jewish — by fabricating a “doctors’ plot,” for which they were rounded up and shot.
Finally, from 1936 to 1938, under NKVD head Nikolai Yezhov, hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens were accused of espionage, sabotage, wrecking, anti-Soviet agitation, conspiracies to start uprisings and coups, and the like. While the entire population of Russia was affected, certain ethnic minorities were specifically targeted, including those of Polish or German origin.
Stalin Show Trial– c. 1930s
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I hardly need to remind the reader what Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin, has proven himself capable of. Over the years, he has targeted ethnic groups, such as the people of Chechnya and the Central Asian regions; political adversaries, including Aleksei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and countless others; and the entire nation of Ukraine . . . creating conditions to be used as excuses to eliminate them.
There were the four 1999 apartment building bombings in three cities, triggering the second Chechen war; the Dubrovka Theater hostage situation in Moscow in 2002; the Crocus City Hall terror attack in 2024; the Beslan school terror attack of 2004 . . . all fomented as excuses for Putin’s consolidation of power.
And of course, his most recent accusations of the alleged mistreatment of Ukraine’s Russian-speakers by the country’s “nazi” government, leading him to launch his “special military operation” in February of 2022 . . . the excuse he himself created in order to seize control of a sovereign nation that he considers the rightful possession of Russia.
Putin’s “Special Military Operation” – Kharkiv, Ukraine – June 2025
*. *. *
We all know what happened to nazi Germany, to the Soviet Union, and to 21st century Russia. In each case, there were warning signs: sudden crises, used as excuses to consolidate power in the hands of a single dictator and deprive the citizenry of its rights. And each time, the warning signs were overlooked, or ignored until it was too late.
How many times will we allow it to happen before we cry out . . .
“For right and wrong change places; everywhere So many wars, so many shapes of crime confront us . . . Unholy Mars bends all to his mad will; The world is like a chariot run wild.”
– Virgil, “The Georgics”
The Roman Poet Virgil (70 B.C. – 19 B.C.)
Two millennia later, and nothing has changed. What a sorry lot we are!
It’s that time of year again — costumes, trick-or-treating, and kids wired on all the sugary treats; outlandish parties for the grown-ups; and the first pumpkin pies of the season. Happy Hallowe’en, everyone!
But it’s also the start of the fastest-moving two months of the year. We no sooner get the skeletons and fake jack-o-lanterns put away, than we’re working on our guest lists and menus for Thanksgiving dinner, and wondering what on earth we can buy to top last year’s holiday gifts for the kids who already have everything, and for the older folks who claim they don’t need or want anything.
This used to be my favorite time of the year, as it is for many people. But I’m finding it hard to work up the usual enthusiasm this year — not so much because I’m one of those seniors who really doesn’t need any more stuff (which I am); but because of the overall depressing state of the world.
Still, it’s times like these that we need to work a little harder to find the joy in life. So tonight I’m going to light a spice-scented candle; pull out the catalogs that have been piling up in the corner to start the search for inspiration; tune in to some Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music; and add a jug of apple cider and some cinnamon sticks to my grocery list.
Because I’m not letting the Grinch ruin what should be “the most wonderful time of the year.”
The Blog About Everything … and Sometimes Nothing 