I’ve finally found a use for the Twitter app after all these years. I put my soothsaying up there, with predictions totalling less than or equal to 280 characters. Not hard to affix what will happen within that constraint.

But here’s the thing I want to talk about. I tweeted that Putin must think he’s the reincarnation of Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili a.k.a. Josef Stalin. There are some ironies there, but we’ll talk about that in a minute – nah, never mind about his family’s suffering in the Siege of Leningrad. Putin’s likely dismal education precluded him knowing the reality that the west nearly lost World War II in June of 1941. Why? Because Stalin effectively had a nervous breakdown and retreated to his dacha after the Germans attacked Russia in Operation Barbarossa. When his underlings came looking for him, he thought he’d be arrested. Instead, they begged him to return to Moscow and help fight the Germans. Not a very good role model, at least in the beginning, eh?

Other, broader analyses would suggest that maybe he’d like to be the descendant of the Romanovs. Some segments of Russian society have this notion of a Euroasian empire, built on the Russian Orthodox Church and money from oil. How’s that for a pipe dream? So that would suggest there are elements of Nicholas II personality, mixed with Stalin’s. But that doesn’t really work, does it?

Putin has been analyzed as a ‘dominant introvert’. Stalin was a psychopath. Nicholas was a neurotic. So maybe if you mix those together those two sets of traits, you get a dominant introvert? That kinda makes sense. But as such, Putin lacks the total ruthlessness of Stalin, currently necessary to win in Ukraine and against NATO, which is really the ultimate goal here. Further, two years of COVID was hard, particularly on introverts. Putin had plenty of time to think about his enemies in the west when he was holed up in his palace. It’s pretty clear that’s where this idea of invading Ukraine as a prelude to taking over the adjacent countries, NATO and otherwise, came from. And just like with Tsar Nicholas, nobody could even hint that he might be wrong in this.

Now he’s stuck: can’t withdraw and can’t win. What will be the inevitable result? Only one of two possibilities. He will be stopped by a bullet from one of his inner circle. Or he will employ the use of tactical nuclear weapons in a last, desperate bid to take out little Volodymyr Zelensky and Kyiv. Neither option is a good one. But maybe there’s a third option.

I’ve been telepathically working on having him die a ‘natural’ death instead. I visualize Putin with a big zipper between his belly button and his sternum. I unzip him, opening up both sides, revealing his intestines. I take a very sharp razor blade, and slice very carefully through that section of intestine that runs horizontally across the space. Its toxic contents start to dribble out, filling the cavity around his stomach. I poke a tiny hole in his stomach – just enough so that shortly the mixture will become lethal. Then I zip him back up. The question is: how long will it take for it to bump him off? We can only hope it does before he can issue the order to press that big red button to launch the nuke(s). Time will tell.

So I’m on time for work this morning – in fact 15 minutes early – and the front door is locked. After pounding on it quite aggressively, a stocker was nice enough to let “management” know I needed in. Seven minutes later, she – aka “management” – does the 50 yard mosey to let me in. The ultimate in the wrong thing to say came from this “manager”. She said, “You have to be patient. Only SOME people are allowed to have the key.”

So I’m hangin’ out by myself in a parking lot where a robbery & attempted murder occurred in November 2016. Said attempt was made on two people waiting for the store to open. Did they need to be patient? So much for caring about the safety of HD employees and customers.

Erik was thoughtful enough to wait until the moseying manager came to open the door. But suppose I’d driven myself to work this morning, it being 5:30 AM? And what if something had happened to me – conked on the head and dragged off to a waiting white van, to meet a gruesome fate? Nobody at the store would have seen or heard anything. They’d have just assumed I was late, and a computerized message would have popped up on my phone. That would be the phone in my purse in the speeding white van, with me about to meet my gruesome fate. But the thing is, Erik woulda had a hell of a lawsuit against HD for wrongful death, particularly in light of the previous incident. You know, some good things come from all adversity, eh? When I told M the Elder about it, he shrugged and effectively said, “Happens all the time. Get over it.” Nope.

Then this afternoon, another of those computerized messages popped up on my phone, this time telling me the time I’d requested off to go to Tallahassee in April to see Kirsten had been ‘declined’. Yes, declined. I cannot leave the plantation to go visit my kid up the road. Must be harvest time for the cotton.

If that last statement offended anyone, I apologize. But my point is this: I’m a part time employee of a mega corporation that apparently thinks it totally owns my nether parts. Wow. I know – compared to being blown up in Mariupol, this is trivial. Yes. It is. I acknowledge that. Nonetheless, I will find some creative way to ensure no elderly women meet any dismal fates waiting for the magic person entrusted with the holy key to come open the door. At 5:30 AM.

Back to this morning. At around 6:15 AM – after the store was already open – moseying manager calls us together for a meeting at the checkout area. About ten people show up, and looking at the body language of the designated ten was fascinating to watch. While financial and safety statistics were being shared with the group, I instantly had a mental flash of the assemblage of workers from that movie Office Space at Lumberg’s birthday party. You remember that one – when Milton doesn’t get a piece of cake, adding to his disgruntlement? There were ten Miltons around me – and I was one of them too – already! For goodness sake, I’ve only worked there for six weeks, and already the gild is off the lily. But then I remind myself why I took this job, recognizing that without these sordid anecdotes, my exposé about the inner workings of HD would be boring indeed. So I will soldier on, the goals being to avoid speeding white vans and moseying managers. Sound fair?

Yesterday, M with the sparkly eyes told me to watch out for putting a particular brand of paint in the shakers, ’cause they were exploding. Why? The metal in the cans was too thin to absorb the force of the paint vibrations. Now that seems like a real problem to me that should be reported to the manufacturer. But since I’ve yet to meet a rep for that brand, who to tell?

Telling the bosses anything appears to be kind of a waste of time. My boss interestingly enough called ‘M’, told me he was radically changing my schedule. Why? Because another boss put me down for the majority of shifts starting at 5 AM. Since the store doesn’t even open ’til 6 AM, and nothing much happens before like 9:30 AM, that’s a waste of my time. More importantly, I am not available at crunch time. When is crunch time? If yesterday is any indication, it’s from like 9:45 AM ’til about 2:30 PM. That’s when all the contractors come in for five gallon buckets of paint. That’s a much slower production that mixing an isolated gallon here or there. The five gallon buckets are heavy, weighing between 50 and 60 pounds. So we have to get a platform with a grabber, move them individually between the shelf and the mixer, add the tint, close the bucket and put in in the shaker. If it’s a dark tint, that’s a longer shake. I estimate all this about doubles the time for the task.

It also wears us out faster. Most of us aren’t young whippersnappers. Another M – I’ll call him M the Elder – who opened at 5 AM yesterday, left early because he was worn out. Being worn out in the paint department is risky. We all have to preserve our strength so we don’t make any mistakes that could get us – or one of our peers – injured.

So why am I telling you all this? Because after Sunday, I never heard from ‘M’ again. As such, that puts me in the wrong time slot for most of the rest of the month, as I have 7 more shifts that put me in at 5 AM and then out by either 9 or 11 AM. That means I miss the crunch times. Now I have no problem with that, but really, people! As we are decidedly short handed anyway, does that really make any sense? So I’d say my schedule needs some shaking. But will anybody do it? We shall see. I will report further developments. In the meantime, I will definitely try to avoid that particular brand of paint that is exploding in the shakers. Who needs that?

Remember the character Howard Beale from the movie Network? Sure you do..”I’m as Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore”. Ah ha! Now you remember.

Howard was losing his job as a newscaster and had a little – well, not so little – drinking problem. So those two facts combined to turn him into a raving maniac who became an instant icon with angry people. That description start to sound familiar? Yeah. We’ve seen this character before.

But here’s the thing: Howard wasn’t the head of a country, and he didn’t declare war and start blowing up things that didn’t belong to him. And that’s what I woke up at 3:16 am this morning confused about. How is it that the world is standing by while one man – yes, one man! One man is allowed to send other men and war machines to systematically blow up buildings and people in a country totally separate from his? Is Russia Putin’s country? Apparently it is.

I was sickened to watch Sergei Lavrov on the news, forced to say bald faced lies that he knew were lies and the Ukrainians he was talking to knew were lies – all at the behest of this one man. Sergei has no credibility now after that. Erik the Elder said it best: Putin pushed all his chips into the middle of the table. He’s going for broke.

And in the process, two countries at minimum will be broke and broken. How is it the rest of the world stands aside and lets this happen? Congress voting to give money to buy arms for the Ukrainians is a day late and several dollars short. It appears that, even if Ukraine survives, it is as destroyed as Aleppo, Syria. Seen pictures of that hell hole lately?

While all this is going on, columnists write, politicians and former generals talk and still the people of Ukraine die. Why is this OK? Why can’t it be stopped? Why do innocent people have to be thrown into mass graves – right there on television – and it’s just okay? Because the rest of the world is saying, “Well, as long as it doesn’t come to MY neighborhood, it’s ok. I’m just one person. There’s nothing I can do to stop it, so I’ll just change the channel and watch something else. I don’t want to watch those “disturbing images” the news anchor always warns us about before the dead children are shown at a discrete distance. Oh, by all means, let’s keep a discrete distance. Don’t want to see the face of an 8 year old killed by Vladimir Putin.

So I’m as Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore. But then I stop and think back to an earlier time. I think back to watching tanks crossing a desert, virtually unstopped when a much larger country attacked a much smaller country. The attack was justified on the basis of a lie – something about the ruler of that much smaller country having something called WMDs? I think back to an earlier time when that same bigger country used precision bombing to attack a much smaller country because that much smaller country was guilty of ethnic cleansing within its borders. Neither of these actions justify what Putin is doing. But it does provide me some insight into a couple of facts. First: how you feel about these acts depends on which side you’re on. And the other is: the world will always stand by and let these things happen. Why? A cynic would say because money can be made from it. A psychologist would talk about men possessed by grievance issues: Hitler and Putin come to mind. But to that dead eight year old, does any of that matter? She’s still not going to have a life. I have an eight year old granddaughter. If that happened to her, I’d see this the same way the Ukrainians now do.

This has to stop before any more eight year olds are killed. NATO has to intervene and push back on this bully. Yes, violence to stop violence. We can’t stand behind eight year olds and wait until the Russians run out of ammo. Do it now. Otherwise, eight year olds in Ukraine will be joined by eight year olds in Russia, suffering because of sanctions and the destruction of the country’s currency. This is wrong. We’re adults. We’re supposed to protect children.

Nelson Mandela said, There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. That says it all. It’s time, gentlemen. Start your engines.

That’s what we call paint that is made in error, so it’s deeply discounted and goes on a trolley at the end of the aisle. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. This is a different oops..

I went in to fix my other ‘oops’ – forgetting to punch out yesterday. I talked with a guy called R, who was kind enough to ‘fix the glitch’. When I told him I’d applied for another job within the system, and needed to inform my manager, he said that S would be in at 11 and I could talk with her.

I called S to tell her. First of all, she had no idea who I was. Second: she let me know that I could not apply for any new jobs until I’d been employed for at least six months. Well, someone needs to tell the HD computer that, because it accepted my application and gave me an ID number to correlate with that application. As I said, I’m sure I won’t even get an interview, but I found it interesting that the left hand/right hand talkin’ to each other thing – or not – is alive and well here. No great surprise, huh? But I did fulfill my duty to inform – just in case. That’s it.

Well, I’ve made my first boo-boo since becoming a paint mixing maven five weeks ago: I forgot to clock out yesterday. I little pop-up message on my iPad alerted me to this oversight. Thinking back, I realized it was true. I didn’t clock out from work yesterday.

Now in my defense (ahem …) yesterday was a sorta tough day for me. I had a customer who wanted eight different paint samples at the same time I had a very aggressive customer who wanted to know everything there was to know about painting his garage floor – or was it his driveway? Sigh. Anyway, with help from my associates, it got done properly without any oops, but the stress took its toll. When I left work yesterday, I wasn’t entirely sure I was going back.

But in this morning’s light, and after a nice dinner at McCarthy’s last night (liver & onions), I am ready to take it on again. I think I have to fill out a form to fix yesterday’s boo-boo, so I’ll try to do that today. It’s a day off, but I don’t want it lingering. Apparently if you forget twice, you get ‘points’. You know – ‘points’? Dings to your permanent record. Just like what they warned you about in high school. Double sigh.

We went to McCarthy’s for dinner last night because Brother John was passing through from work in Deerfield to home in Orlando. He likes their chicken pot pie and he was paying, so to McCarthy’s Pub in Tequesta we went. The meal was lovely, but I felt bad for the three servers trying to cover the whole dining room. Before Covid, during the season there were at least five servers, so these gals and a guy were really pressed. The place was quite loud as well, as they had an Irishman at the keyboard singing about the Unicorn and humpty back camels on top of the din of voices. Can’t fault the food though – perfect. So when we got back home, John helped me connect our new modem/router sent by Xfinity because according to them I needed a new one. You can predict the rest. Yes, it said to connect to the Xfinity app, even though’ we had no internet because we had a new modem that hadn’t connected to their system yet. How is it that Xfinity can make the simplest things so complicated? So, of course we had to call India, and it got straightened out. But really, people – it should be so much easier.

Back to the HD front. Last night I applied for a different job online – Kitchen Designer. I think I have to tell my manager that I did so, according to the instructions on the internal website. That would be great if I knew who that was. I think it’s L, but since I’ve seen him for a total of about 30 seconds in five weeks, I’m not entirely sure. When I go in today, I’ll ask about that too. I seriously doubt I’ll even get an interview, but hey! You know my refrain: it gives me something to write about. The further adventures of the Paint Lady in HD land.

Book club last night was fun with such a diverse set of opinions about the Alice Hoffman book we read. It wasn’t my favorite, but that’s because I expect someone with Alice’s experience to try harder to make the book extraordinary. It wasn’t. Others were less critical, but everyone agreed I think that they’d read other books on the same theme that were better. Oh well. Next month is Cloud Cuckoo Land. Controversial. On hold for me at the Jupiter library. Will start on it tomorrow.

So can we talk about something other than what’s happening in Ukraine? Yes, I think I’d like that. How about progress decorating the cottage? Gonna need pix for that, and it’s not ready, so maybe tomorrow. The crown molding needs painting, and maybe Colter will have time for that tomorrow. We are supposed to be putting up a 42″ tv somewhere for our transients to entertain themselves with. Another decorating project. All a work in progress. All I have so far is a minimally comfortable and functional room. It needs to be better. Paint was applied, and crown molding, but it needs pictures on the wall and the tv hung. So more work. Additional caulk is needed for the molding, as you can clearly see the cuts between the pieces. Tomorrow. But I had to get that ‘c’ word in somewhere. No, not that one! Caulk!

Saw the president of Finland on the News Hour. He looked jet lagged since he flew over 4k miles to visit with Biden, likely for an hour or so. It’s clear, in spite of his poor English and vague references to his Parliament, that Putin has really scared the Finns. They’re talking about joining NATO. So just as I mentioned before, VTI ‘s actions have resulted in his alleged worst fears coming to pass. By the time this is over, everyone in the free world is going to join NATO. So then it won’t be the North American Treaty Organization. It’ll be the Democracies of the World Treaty Organization DOWTO. Doesn’t exactly fall trippingly off the tongue, does it? But Japan is worried for Taiwan and Korea, so they’ll join, and they’re clearly in the east. Same with South Korea. Maybe there’s a possibility we’re learning from history? But I’ll tell you what, if those damn Russkies keep tryin’ to blow up nuclear power plants, we’re all gonna get fried or develop leukemia together – some sooner than others. What a bunch of dumb bastards. Sure looks like nobody’s in charge of this stampeding bunch of oafs. Their performance to date has been, shall we say less than stellar?

OK, enough on that. Isn’t there something fun to talk about? I don’t go back to work until Sunday, so nothing to report there. HD is slowing increasing my hours so the last week in March I’ll work 29 1/2 hours – you know, the line between part time and full time. I think I made it quite clear that part time was all I desired. But they are so short of help, particularly in stocking at night, that an attempt at more hours was inevitable. My goal for last week, as previously stated, was to be kind and hand out compliments to my co-workers. My goal for next week is to learn the labyrinthine system of where paint base tints are stored. The system makes very little sense, and there are exceptions galore – you know, just like chemistry! So I will peruse the shelves again and hope to be faster at locating base paint. Really ambitious, huh? Hey, when I ain’t fast enough, we lose sales from the pros. Can’t have that. Time is money to them.

That’s all for now – writing group got cancelled for tomorrow so I can go to the grocery store in the morning as the larder is quite bare.

Alright, that metaphor’s a bit of a stretch, but I’m trying to stick with the theme, here. What I’m really asking is: how’s this thing with Ukraine gonna turn out?

According to some egghead professor in Chicago, there’s five possibilities:

1. VTI gets his ass kicked, and withdraws. Hmm … sounds like a fairy tale to me.
2. VTI attacks Kyiv, throws Zelensky out (or kills him) and installs a puppet regime that he controls. Hmm … maybe.
3. VTI takes all of Ukraine, which is no longer Ukraine, but instead is southwest Russia. Hmm … That’s a big jump. Not sure about this one.
4. VTI takes all of Ukraine, and Moldova and Georgia and every piece of land that isn’t under the NATO umbrella. Hmm … that’s a REALLY big jump. Definitely not sure about that one.
5. VTI takes Ukraine, the little countries and then goes over the line and tries to get Poland, Lithuania, and the other NATO affiliates. Hmm … ironically, I think this might happen.

Uh, say what? OK, let’s say I’m writing this as a piece of historical fiction. I set the plot in eastern Europe, and invent characters like Trump, Zelensky and VTI. They proceed according to that which has already occurred. We’re at this point in the story. How would I write the next portion? Then, how would I write the ending? Because none of the five options listed above is the ending. Because if you look at them carefully, they’re just steps on a spectrum, from retreat to full scale war. That didn’t require a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago to figure out. That’s just common sense. So maybe all of them occur.

Uh, say what again? Yes. A strategic retreat with a half-assed promise to behave. That lasts about a month. VTI learns from his mistake – you know, like the scene in The Hunt for Red October when the rogue captain Ramius says the sub hunting him made a mistake, but he’ll learn from it. VTI will approach taking Ukraine differently next time. Oh, but wait! Nope. Start over – throw that page away. Why? Because the financial sanctions imposed by the world won’t allow him time for that option.

OK, moving on. Zelensky must definitely go. So would I kill him off? I don’t think so. He’s become so cute and popular, that his death would make him a martyr. No, he’s gotta just go into exile, say to West Germany. No! He gets taken as a “prisoner of war” back to Russia. You’ll see why in a minute. A puppet regime is installed, and everybody comes back from Poland or Romania or wherever and things settle down. For a while. That could happen. But the sanctions…what happens with them? Clearly they are a problem. OK – got it. VTI says to the world, release the sanctions or the kid gets it. That’s gangster talk for killing Zelensky – and his family – like the Tsar and his kids. Yep – that would work. Moving on,

Now the bad guys are the western world. Are you gonna let Zelensky the adoreable die? What about those cute kids? Oh, no! Can’t do that. But VTI can’t be trusted. What to do, what to do! OK, how about this: we try a “snatch and save” operation with SFs, but it fails and the SFs are killed. Now the west looks like Jimmy Carter after the botched attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages. Some negotiations take place, and sanctions are removed. Zelensky flies to West Germany with his family, and things calm down again. For a while.

Now VTI is a hero in Russia. He stood up against those western imperialists! Everyone goes back to doing business with Russia. The oligarchs are happy; The ruble recovers. If we’re looking at history as a guide, we’re at the point where Stalin and Hitler have made a pact. Putin has Belarus, but that’s like having France or Norway for Hitler. No, VTI needs something more vicious. He needs to make a pact with … wait for it … Poland. Now there’s an irony. Poland throws in their lot with VTI, so he won’t attack them and because he’s shown he’s the bad boy of the block. They are superficial enough to go for that.

So now in the game of Risk, Putin has a straight shot to Germany. Again, history goes in reverse. He takes a straight line across Belarus, Ukraine and Poland to go after West Germany. OK, stop. Nope. Another thrown away page. Note to self: there are 30 countries – yes, I said it: 30 countries that make up NATO. You attack one, you attack them all. There’s no way just having a pact with Poland gets him where he wants to be. So then what?

Somewhere in the process of Poland dropping out of NATO, a new group is formed with Russia, China, North Korea, the countries formerly known as Ukraine and Belarus, Iran, and surprise! Mexico and Cuba. It’s the plot of my story, Save the Children! A new cold war filled with failed attempts at nuclear strikes, cyberwarfare and ultimately the breakup of the world’s democracies. And so it begins. And ends. Wow, that is a very depressing scenario. We can only hope that thinking it and talking about it will make it NOT happen. We’ll see.

The Russian military claims it now controls the skies over the entire country of Ukraine. US media was unable to confirm or deny the claim, simply noting that the Russian military has been known to lie in the past. Imagine! Not that the US military hasn’t also lied in the past. But I disgress.

Here’s my point. There is so much mis- and disinformation about what’s going on in Russia’s unprovoked attack on the sovereign country of Ukraine, that at times it drifts into the theater of the absurd. Other examples: Belarus is going to take back their nuclear arms? Putin is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, based on how he swings his arms (appendages, not weapons)? US Special Ops veterans are joining the war, based on Zelensky’s invitation to foreigners to come and help out? Social media and actual war make for strange comrades.

I’ve taken to Twitter after a many year hiatus to follow Zelensky’s posts. That way I know that he’s still alive, ostensibly, and that Kyiv hasn’t been taken by the Russians yet. The whole paint department at my HD is tracking him during our shift, rooting for his longevity. I suspect there are many other social and work places doing the same. The entire world is watching; he’s clearly managed the PR end of this war thing a whole lot better than his nemesis, VTI. That’s because his last gig before president was TV actor. You know, like Ronald Reagan? But is his success sustainable? That depends on so many different variables, that anything can and will happen. Duh! Talk about stating the obvious. Come on!

Speaking of the paint department, things are getting just a trifle easier. I’m making it through my shifts without a great deal of physical difficulty. I seem to understand the system better now, making fewer mistakes and having to ask for help less. Still very much in learning mode, but now it’s fringe instead of mainstream stuff. Most important, I’m getting ideas for making things better. Isn’t that the ultimate in successful job onboarding?

I’ve been reading The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln, by Larry Tagg. The book does a great job of detailing the period of time between Abe winning the election and his inauguration. Most history books just gloss over that period, preferring to jump into the war itself. That’s too bad, because a lot happened between November 1860 and March 1861 that is most instructive and applicable to today. Compare the southern aristocracy and VTI. All that which they feared came about as a direct result of their own actions. In the case of the American south, they feared the loss of their human capital wealth from Lincoln freeing the slaves during his administration. They lost the war and Congress created the 12th and 13th Amendments to the Constitution outlawing slavery. VTI allegedly fears Ukraine joining the EU and NATO. Putin invades Ukraine, and immediately Zelensky asks to join the EU. Can a NATO membership be far behind? Could there have been negotiations to stop either of these from happening? Larry suggests no for the south’s secession. Positions on both sides were hardened well before Lincoln’s election. I’m fairly certain the same could be said about Putin. He’d made up his mind and counted to three, well before the actual invasion on February 24th.

Things will end badly for Putin, just as they did for the South. But instead of Sherman’s scorched earth throughout the landscape, it’ll be scorched Rubles and Russian stocks. And where are the oligarchs in all this, the equivalent aristocracy, those who collectively have the most to lose? They will end up much worse off for this adventure. As previously mentioned, they might want to start looking around now for a new guy to head their enterprise. Putin’s time is fast coming to an end, either because he’s going to try to play the nuke card, or because of his poorly swinging arm, indicating a disease that leads to hallucinations. Neither option is good for billionaires in Mother Russia. Boys?

They told me it would happen – eventually – and it did: yesterday. I was helping a guy who barely spoke English with a gallon of paint. I showed him how to open the top with a particular tool. He took it upon himself to show me how to open the larger part of the top with the pry bar. Then he spilled a pint of it on the floor. He was telling S, my co-worker, that I did it. She laughed, said they’d fire me, and proceeded to tell me to call Ext. 101 for cleanup. I called. It got cleaned up, mostly with J’s help.

Speaking of J, he’s leaving because he got a CNA license and is going to work collecting urine specimens from prisoners. It pays more, so I can see why he’s doing it. But after three years as an HD associate, I can also see why he needs a change. Last week, they had him scheduled to work nine days in a row. He says it’s because it’s done by computer, who has no empathy for humans. That doesn’t bode well.

Speaking of boding well, he’s gone ahead and done it – VTI that is. Massive attack on Ukraine. It never made sense to me that he was just going to attack little Donetsk and the area to the north of the disputed part of that region. But now he’s in the thick of it. Last I looked, the ruble was pegged at 89 to the dollar, up from about 72 a couple of weeks ago. But since he has reserves in dollars, he doesn’t care. It’ll only affect the good citizens of Moscow when everything costs 12% more since yesterday. Folly: pure folly.

How will all this end? Since he’s threatening the use of nukes if anyone interferes, that is the best indication to me that he’s losing his marbles, right along with Trump. It’s time for the world to move on to the younger generation, and for the Russian military to do something to stop VTI before he does something really stupid – like fire a nuke at New York City. I think it’s going to get very hairy before things calm down. As I said to Kirsten, at this point, anything can happen. Sanctions are the least of the things that must be done to stop this insanity. He needs to be taken out with a coup, with another government waiting in the wings. The odds of that happening all depend on the oligarchs that keep him up there on his perch. If they get nervous that their world is about to be majorly threatened, they may be able to pull the plug on VTI’s regime. But they gotta have something to put in his place. Otherwise, chaos reigns. That we certainly don’t need.

And all this because he didn’t like Zelensky’s laugh. Bizarro, eh?