On the subject of the so-called protests in Russia.

We all know I hate Putin with the intensity of a hundred vicious suns.

But I’d much rather he stayed as president if the alternative is Navalny. Putin is horrible. He’s debauched, he’s corrupt, he’s disgusting. He’s a globalist.

Navalny is a clean-living family guy. But he’s a neo-Nazi. I know the word had been overused and emptied of all content. But I’m not using it in an American way. I’m using it in a normal way. Once you’ve thrown a few sieg heils, you shouldn’t be an interesting topic of conversation in polite society.

I’m tired of seeing people on Twitter gush over how brave he is. I’m sure that Luftwaffe guys were plenty brave. Let’s pee ourselves with delight over them, too? Francisco Franco was known for his extraordinary bravery. But he was still a vicious dictator and Hitler’s toadie. Bravery in itself isn’t a virtue.

Real life is more complicated than cowboys vs robbers. Sometimes, the guy who opposes an evildoer is evil himself.

What happened to reader GSW? Where did he go? I have crowds of readers here clamoring for him to come back.

I’ve had quite a few readers tell me over the years that they aren’t here for me but for specific commenters. Every regular commenter has his or her own fans.

I take it as a huge compliment because attracting and retaining great readers is a lot harder than writing good content. There are tons of blogs or social media channels where the writing is good but the comment section is a cesspool of boring toadies with nothing to say for themselves. And on my blog, the discussion is often a lot more interesting than the post that gives rise to it.