No, I am not suggesting that the world’s wealthiest person should be punished for his earthly sins by relegating him to driving a trash truck. I prefer to think his ultimate fate will be spending eternity in Dante’s Fourth Circle of Hell (“Greed”).

But my mind works in circuitous ways that are often a mystery even to me, so please stay with me here as I explain.

It all started with trash bags — those small, four-gallon ones that are produced in rolls, which I, like many people, use to line the waste baskets in my bathroom and den. For years, I have been buying the Glad brand because they are less expensive than Hefty. I mean, they’re just for trash, so why pay extra . . . right?

Well, last week the store was out of the Glad variety, so I went ahead and grabbed the Hefty ones — the per-box price was about the same, but there were fewer bags in the box. Still, it wasn’t enough of a difference to break the budget, so no big deal.

But it turned out that there was a good reason for the additional cost: the Hefty bags are simply better. (Sorry, Glad.) They’re way more substantial, better designed and constructed . . . and you don’t have to tear each bag off of a continuous roll like the Glad bags, which sometimes rip in the process. Also, Hefty’s . . . you know . . . heft would make them less likely to leak or to be punctured by a corner of a discarded container as the cheaper ones often do.

Well, I was delighted with my find of a better product. But yesterday morning, as I was emptying the trash and putting new Hefty bags into the waste baskets, it occurred to me that my marvelous discovery — precisely because of their more substantial quality — might be gunking up our planet even more than it already is gunked up.

And that led me to thoughts of plastic in general, and how much of it we discard on a daily basis.

There is no question that the invention of the first fully synthetic plastic in 1907 was one of the most significant events of the modern industrial age. In one form or another, it is used in everything from toothpaste tubes to spaceship components. I’m sure the crew of Artemis II would agree that their trip around the moon would not have been possible without plastic.

But for daily use, so much of the plastic we use is disposable. Think about those toothpaste tubes — not to mention food containers, shower caps, soda bottles, bags from the grocery store, and the plastic utensils you’ll be buying for your 4th of July picnic. And it all has to end up somewhere. Most of it is not biodegradable, and while a good portion of it may be recyclable, how many of us — be honest now — how many of us are as diligent about that as we should be?

And this is where Elon Musk comes in. It was at that point in my musings that Artemis II popped back into my mind, which took me directly to the whole human obsession with space and . . . drumroll, please . . .

Elon Musk’s ambition to colonize Mars.

Now, I have made fun of this idea in the past, painting it as some sort of little kid’s Flash-Gordon/Star-Wars fantasy. And I still think it will be many generations — if ever — before humans actually residing on another planet might become a realistic concept.

But what if Musk really wanted to do something good for our own planet? And what if he could get us close enough to our nearest planetary neighbor to make a drop? Once we had the technology to reach and orbit Mars, we could just load up a fleet of his ships with trash, hover over the Red Planet, open the hatches, and bombs away! And Elon Musk — or by then, one of his many descendants — could take all the credit for cleaning up Earth instead of destroying it and having to start over elsewhere.

And he could earn another few billion dollars in the process.

Yes, it would be expensive; but so is declaring war on Iran. Where would you rather see our tax dollars go? We wouldn’t be hurting anyone, as there are no “anyones” there to hurt. And we would be saving our own atmosphere for our future generations.

It may sound crazy now. But the North Koreans are already pelting South Korea with trash-filled balloons. Why not take it to the next level?

By the way, if you think my waking ideas are outlandish, you should hear some of my nighttime dreams.

Or maybe not.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/14/26

Yesterday, a long-time autocratic leader was defeated by a landslide in Hungary’s election. And while Viktor Orban is not quite in the same league as Josef Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Vladimir Putin . . . or even Donald Trump . . . his long-overdue political downfall reminded me of others of his ilk throughout history, and gave me a glimmer of hope for the ultimate departure from power of others still living.

But how, I wondered (for about the millionth time), do such aberrations of humankind manage to come to power in the first place? We look at the historical facts, of course, such as being in the right place at the right time under the right circumstances — as Hitler was when Germany was suffering from the aftermath of World War I and the crippling effects of the Versailles Treaty, and the German people desperately needed a “savior” to resurrect their nation.

But there is also a psychological factor — a sort of mass hysteria or hypnosis, if you will — that comes into play at that specific moment in time. And the late U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright understood it completely when she wrote the following:

“My students remarked that the Fascist chiefs we remember best were charismatic. Through one method or another, each established an emotional link to the crowd and, like the central figure in a cult, brought deep and often ugly feelings to the surface. This is how the tentacles of Fascism spread inside a democracy. Unlike a monarchy or a military dictatorship imposed on society from above, Fascism draws energy from men and women who are upset because of a lost war, a lost job, a memory of humiliation, or a sense that their country is in steep decline. The more painful the grounds for resentment, the easier it is for a Fascist leader to gain followers by dangling the prospect of renewal or by vowing to take back what has been stolen.”

– Madeleine K. Albright, “Fascism: A Warning”

Understanding it is, of course, only half the battle. The other half requires us to do something about it.

That “something” is what just happened in Hungary.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/13/26

It’s almost as though Vlad is whispering into Donnie’s ear: “This is how it’s done.”

The major similarities are obvious: the obsession with war-mongering and expansionism, the greed and corruption, the paranoia and narcissism, the flagrant disregard for international laws and human rights.

But there are the smaller, creeping signs as well.

Yesterday I posted about the arrest in Russia of a freelance journalist, Aleksandr Andreyev, who has been charged with treason because of his anti-war views, making him — in Putin’s world — a “foreign agent” under onerous new laws passed since the start of the “special military operation” against Ukraine.

Bemoaning Russia’s return under Putin to a dictatorial state, I wrote:

“Since . . . independent news media have been designated as ‘foreign agents’ under newly-augmented Russian law, it has become a convenient excuse for the prosecution of journalists and broadcasters who speak out against the Putin regime, and especially against the war in Ukraine.

“If convicted of treason, Andreyev would face a maximum sentence of life in prison.”

And later that evening I read that Donald Trump — the man who claims to be making America great again — had ranted against “Fox News Sunday” TV host Shannon Bream for failing to push back on Democratic Representative Jake Auchincloss who had, in Trump’s words, spread “Democrat propaganda and lies” on her show. [Kimberley Richards, Huffpost, April 12, 2026.]

Next he took on a second female, Fox’s token Democrat Jessica Tarlov, a visiting host on Fox’s “The Five.” Writing on his ironically-named Truth Social site, he said:

“For Fox executives only, take Jessica Tarlov off the air. She is, from her voice, to her lies, and everything else about her, one of the worst ‘personalities’ on television, a real loser!” [Id.]

(Ed. Note: One might be forgiven for wondering whether Trump is more frightened of Tarlov’s self-confidence and refusal to give in to his attempts at intimidation, or her store of knowledge and her credentials, which include degrees from Bryn Mawr College and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Just a thought.)

Yes, he was telling an independent network to remove a panelist who had committed, in his mind, the unspeakable offense of reporting and commenting on accurate polling results showing that his numbers are in the dumpster.

Now, for those who may be thinking that this is small potatoes compared to the wars in Iran and Ukraine, the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, or the price of gas, you may have a point. But it is one more building block on a growing tower of crimes and Constitutional violations being committed daily by this administration. And eventually, a block will be added to the tower that will cause its inevitable fall.

What will that final block be? Who’s to say it won’t be the enactment of a U.S. law duplicative of Putin’s “foreign agent” act, mandating lengthy prison sentences for individuals convicted of speaking or writing against “national security interests”?

We already have an administration that unilaterally dictates the standards for everything from the definition of citizenship, to what constitutes good taste in art and architecture, to what God thinks about war.

Interfering with the First Amendment rights of citizens — and specifically of the press — is no small matter. Don’t let it get buried with the Epstein Files in the trash heap of America’s history.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/13/26

With just a fraction of the vote counted, Viktor Orban has conceded defeat to Peter Magyar. [BBC News, April 12, 2026.]

The record turnout, following weeks of pro-European demonstrations, was obviously headed to a landslide victory for Magyar and his Tesza party. And in a stunning move, Orban — rather than wait for every last vote to be counted over the next several days — acknowledged that his 16-year reign as the autocratic Prime Minister of Hungary has come to an end. Speaking to supporters in Budapest, Orban said:

“The election results [sic] is not final yet, but it is understandable and clear. The election result is painful for us, but clear. The responsibility and possibility of governing was not given to us. I have congratulated the winner.” [Anita Komuves, Reuters, April 12, 2026.]

Following the announcement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X:

“Europe’s heart is beating stronger in Hungary tonight. Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. Together, we are stronger. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger.” [Reuters, April 12, 2026.]

Score one for democracy in Europe; strike one for Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

O HAPPY DAY!

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/12/26

Let’s say you break into someone’s house in the middle of the night. The homeowner wakes up, hears you, comes downstairs, tackles you, ties you up with a bungee cord that just happens to be lying around, and calls the police to come and arrest you.

But you have a gun hidden in your pants pocket, which you manage to wriggle free. You then shoot and kill the homeowner, and when the police arrive shortly thereafter, you claim self-defense on the theory that you had a right to defend yourself against physical assault.

Do you seriously believe a jury is going to buy that?

Hardly. You were, after all, caught burglalrizing that dead man’s home. Or had you forgotten that?

It’s nonsense, of course. But it is — on a much larger scale — what the Kremlin is alleging in connection with two of its sanctioned oil tankers and a Russian navy frigate that were tracked by British authorities passing through the English Channel.

Between Wednesday and Thursday, April 8th and 9th, the Russian-flagged UNIVERSAL and the Cameroon-flagged ENIGMA — each carrying some 40,000 tons of Russian diesel fuel — illegally crossed through UK waters, according to ship tracking data. Although British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that he has authorized the military to board and detain Russian ships in British waters to prevent their exporting oil in violation of Western sanctions, no such action has been taken so far.

Nevertheless, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claims that Russia has the right to take action in order to ensure the safety of its own property, saying:

“Over the past few months, we have witnessed repeated incidents of piracy in international waters. These incidents of piracy have, among other things, harmed the economic interests of the Russian Federation.

“The Russian Federation considers itself entitled to, and will certainly take, measures to protect its interests.” [Dmitry Antonov, et al., Reuters, April 9, 2026.]

Really, Dima? Are you forgetting where this so-called “piracy” took place? Yes? Then let me remind you: You were in someone else’s house, sweetheart . . . uninvited.

The naval vessel, ADMIRAL GRIGOROVICH, had been tracked by British, Belgian, French and Dutch aircraft and ships as it accompanied the two tankers — part of Russia’s shadow fleet that illegally transports oil for export in violation of existing sanctions — through British waters.

And British Defense Minister John Healey reported in a press conference that a separate British operation involving the UK and Western allies was already underway to make Russia’s illegal actions more difficult. Confirming that his government was prepared to take further steps if necessary, Healey said:

“We have the military options, and we’re ready to take action. Not just in support of, but action with, allies to interdict shadow fleet vessels.” [Id.]

Lest any point be overlooked, let me also remind you, Dima, that those sanctions would not have been necessary in the first place if it weren’t for your government’s war — not a “special military operation,” as you euphemistically refer to it, but an all-out WAR now in its fifth year — against Ukraine.

*. *. *

Vladimir Putin and his mouthpiece Peskov very conveniently ignore those little details, as well as the pesky legal issues, as they self-righteously protest that they are the victims of Western aggression. But isn’t that what they always do when caught with their proverbial pants down?

It is. And frankly, it’s getting really old.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/12/26

On Thursday, April 9th, Russia’s FSB, successor to the KGB, announced that it had arrested a freelance reporter in the Zabaikalsky Region of Siberia on suspicion of treason. Identified by authorities only as a 65-year-old resident of the regional capital of Chita, he is accused of providing intelligence on critical Russian infrastructure to Ukrainian special services. [The Moscow Times, April 9, 2026.]

Through news outlet Chita.ru, and Telegram channel Siberian Express, the man has since been identified as Aleksandr Andreyev, who had worked as a freelancer for RFE/RL’s Russian Service between 2010 and 2014. He had also worked for a news outlet founded by exiled Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. [RFE/RL’s Russian Service, April 9, 2026.]

The report from Chita.ru also stated that two other people were detained around the same time, but offered no details.

The FSB specifically accused Andreyev of “transmitting information to the enemy regarding the information resources of a local print publication specializing in covering the progress of the special military operation” [id.] . . . Russia’s name for its war against Ukraine.

Since RFE/RL and numerous other independent news media have been designated as “foreign agents” under newly-augmented Russian law, it has become a convenient excuse for the prosecution of journalists and broadcasters who speak out against the Putin regime, and especially against the war in Ukraine.

If convicted of treason, Andreyev would face a maximum sentence of life in prison. [The Moscow Times, op.cit.]

Today, tragically, he is added to our list of hostages being held by Putin on political grounds.

*. *. *

And of course we continue our watch over the many other political prisoners still incarcerated in Russia and elsewhere. Here again is the list of those known, which sadly is only a fraction of the total:

Prisoners of War:

The 20,000+ Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Endangered Exiles:

Pavel “Pasha” Talankin
Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Afghanistan:

Dennis Coyle (American)

In Azerbaijan:

The “Azerbaijan 7”:
— Farid Mehralizada
— Ulvi Hasanli
— Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqiai)
— Mahammad Kekalov
— Hafiz Babali
— Nargiz Absalamova
— Elnara Gasimova

In Belarus:

Andrei Chapiuk
Uladzimir Labkovich
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In Russia:

The “Crimea 8”:
— Oleg Antipov
— Artyom Azatyan
— Georgy Azatyan
— Aleksandr Bylin
— Roman Solomko
— Artur Terchanyan
— Dmitry Tyazhelykh
— Vladimir Zloba

James Scott Rhys Anderson (British)
Aleksandr Andreyev
David Barnes (American)
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
Anastasia Dyudyaeva
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)
Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

You have not been, and will not be, forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/12/26

With most of the world focused on the political climate in the United States, it would be easy to overlook a vital election taking place tomorrow in Hungary.

This is my 50th post since September 1, 2023, warning about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his far-right Fidesz Party’s increasing servility to Vladimir Putin. And now, after 16 consecutive years in office, there is hope that he will at last be defeated by the moderate Tisza Party led by pro-European Peter Magyar.

Thus far, the polls show Magyar leading by an ever-widening margin. Assuming the election will be a fair and honest one, he should win easily; but in light of the ongoing blatant interference by the Russian government, and even U.S. Vice President JD Vance showing up to lend Donald Trump’s support to Orban, we can’t assume anything.

Still, here’s hoping tomorrow’s events will bring Europe one country closer to democratic unanimity . . . and Viktor Orban a one-way ticket to obsolescence.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/11/26

Typing this is really painful — not emotionally, but literally, physically agonizing.

For the past 24 hours or so, I have been experiencing a flare-up of arthritis, or possibly gout (which is a form of arthritis, actually) in my right thumb and forefinger. And of course I’m right-handed, so it’s been an awkward day as well, trying to make my left hand do things it’s not accustomed to doing.

Since I don’t take anything stronger than Tylenol for pain — which, at least in my experience, is only marginally more helpful than a sugar pill — there’s not much to be done for the hand. I can rest it, apply some lidocaine cream from time to time, wear a hand brace, and wait for it to ease up by itself . . . which it will do, but in its own good time.

Did I mention “resting it”? Unfortunately, that includes not typing away on my iPad keyboard. Therefore, no political diatribe tonight, even though I had a selection of topics ready to attack. Hopefully later today.

In the meantime, I’ve started reading a new book — a non-fiction that happens to have been written by an old friend, which makes it doubly interesting. And I think I can still turn pages with my right hand.

So TTFN, dear readers. Try not to miss me; I don’t expect to be gone for long.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/11/26

Today is the fourth anniversary of the passing of my beloved granddaughter, Emily, who would have been 30 now.

We each handle grief in our own way. No one can tell you how to feel, how to behave, how to deal with the loss. And no one can imagine the pain of that loss until they themselves have experienced it.

But each time I light a candle in memory of a departed family member, I recall the words of British-American poet W. H. Auden, who clearly spoke from his own experience.

If these lines sound familiar, you may have heard them, as I did for the first time, in the wonderful movie, “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” They were so perfect, I’ve never forgotten them.

Rest in peace, my angel.

Love,
Nana

4/10/26

They’ll put up with a lot . . . historically, they’ve always had to. They’ve been accustomed to doing without things that most of the world considers basic necessities; they’ve stood in line for food, shoes, and toilet paper; and for 70 years they swallowed communist propaganda about their “workers’ paradise” and the “evils” of the West, because there was no one to tell them differently.

But this is the 21st century — the information age — and when you start messing with their smart phones, you may have crossed a big red line.

It’s not just the interference with Telegram, WhatsApp, and the Internet, or the “suggested” switch to the new, state-controlled Max service provider, of course. It’s also about the detention of journalists and dissidents who dare to speak out against your policies. And it’s about the new school curriculum, and the promotion of the “Young Patriots,” that are more than a little reminiscent of the old Stalinist programs to capture and control the minds of the country’s most vulnerable citizens: its children.

Perhaps most of all, it’s about that little “special military operation,” now in its fifth year, that was supposed to have been a quick snatch-and-grab job back in 2022, but has resulted in the death or wounding of well over a million Russian troops. And now it’s about the increasingly successful counter-attacks by Ukraine on Russian territory itself, and the fear of not knowing when or where the next drone will strike.

In short, it’s about the lies, Vlad, and what happens when — inevitably — the truth reveals itself.

You see, what happens when the deceptions become transparent is that your reputation — the aura of omnipotence that you so carefully created around yourself — begins to tarnish. And that decay is starting to manifest itself in the polls, even in the Kremlin-friendly ones. Your approval ratings — while nowhere as close to the crapper as Donald Trump’s — are dropping, Vlad.

One such Russian pollster — FOM, whose main customer is your own Presidential Administration — has recently recorded the lowest level of public trust in you since September of 2022. And while this isn’t being construed as a sign of an imminent revolution, the trend has to be disturbing to a leader whose absolute authority has remained solid for more than a quarter of a century.

According to Konstantin Gaaze, a sociologist and former Russian government adviser now based in Tel Aviv:

“We don’t yet have enough data to link specific social processes in specific social groups to this downward trend. Who exactly is tired, disappointed, or angry? We have seen major interventions in everyday life — Internet blackouts and restrictions — but we are also seeing a more prolonged tendency. The War penetrating deeper and deeper into the heartland of European Russia. Drones, strikes on oil refineries, and so on. These things accumulate over time.” [Mike Eckel, RFE/RL, April 8, 2026.]

That has to be making you . . . well . . . a bit uncomfortable, at the very least. The long line of Russian Tsars, and after them the Soviet leaders, relied for their legitimacy on the adulation of the masses. It was what kept the people in line, allowing a single leader to maintain absolute control over a nation once covering 8.6 million — now 6.6 million — square miles.

And let’s be honest, Vlad. It’s more than just a logistical issue; it’s personal as well. Autocrats are, by definition, uncommonly egocentric — often even clinically narcissistic. So this has to hurt.

But if you’re expecting sympathy, or some words of consolation, I can’t help you there. Because it’s no better than you deserve — you and all of your fellow wannabe Caesars, your followers and your sycophants.

As for those falling poll numbers . . . well, the fact is, they make me happy. Not that you care what I think; you don’t even know I exist. But I couldn’t resist the opportunity to rub it in.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/10/26