#1,036: Unquiet Thoughts

May 13, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

When I started writing this blog back in early February, 2005, I believed it would serve several purposes. First and foremost, it would force me to discipline myself to research, contemplate, and most importantly, write about contemporary events on a weekly basis, thus creating a chronicle-in-brief of the early 21st century. Little did I know then, that a hefty percentage of these posts would highlight a man and a movement I truly execrate . . . so much so that I have done my level best to skirt even having to write his name.

But alas, another week, another post dealing with the treacherous buffoonery of POTUS and his cowardly enablers. But what aspect of this past week’s category of sins and outrages should I write about? That’s the problem I face every weekend: so many villainies and outrages to consider, so little time and space. I mean, in just the past 168 hours (i.e. one week), IT has:

Given refugee status to white South Africans, giving the reason that they are victims of “genocide,” a claim not supported by police data. At the same time, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem formally announced that the regime is ending Temporary Protected Status for Afghans in the United States. Sec. Noem justified the policy change by saying that Afghanistan “. . . has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them [the refugees] from returning to their home country.”
Publicly said that he would be “stupid” not to accept a luxury 747 that the Qatari royal family planned to donate as a temporary Air Force One . . . and then be handed over to his presidential library after his term was over. Estimated cost of this gift? $400 million before retrofitting. Seems to me to be a case of “One man’s gift is another man’s bribe.”
Unless there will be an act of G-d - or an act of Congress - IT will get his $92 million parade on his 79th birthday (June 14) which also happens to be “Flag Day,” and supposedly, the 250th anniversary of the United States Army. This is what autocrats, not small-d democrats do. He has been lusting after a parade in his honor ever since, during his first term, e proposed having a parade after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees in July 2017. After witnessing it, he began saying he wanted an even grander one on Pennsylvania Avenue. Here’s an idea: get his billionaire friends who are making out like bandits purchasing his STRUMP meme coins to cough up the $92 million AND guarantee to cover the costs of repairing and repaving all the streets that will be mangled by the tanks and transports moving through the streets of the Nation’s Capital.
Fired Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress . . . the first woman and first African American to hold the post. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, “There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children.” (It should be noted that the Library of Congress does not lend books to adults or children.) As her temporary replacement, POTUS named Todd Blanche, the No. 2 official at the DOJ, who, who defended IT at his criminal trial last year.
IT withdrew the nomination of interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Ed Martin, a former conservative podcaster after he came into the cross-hairs of Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who said he would refuse to vote for him, citing “friction over how Martin viewed those involved in the January 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol.” POTUS quickly replaced Martin with Fox News host and former New York prosecutor Jeanine Pirro. Pirro is perhaps best known for making repeated false statements about the 2020 election . . . which led to her employers being sued and settling with a voting machine company for more than $787 million. And, by no means last, an act which is likely to have repercussions for both IT, his allies in Congress, and ultimately, the future of America:
Just a few days ago, Felon47 fired several members of the board that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The fired members included Doug Emhoff, the husband of former VP Kamala Harris; Ronald Klain, former President Joseph Biden’s first chief of staff; Tom Perez, the former Secretary of Labor; Susan Rice, the national security advisor to former POTUS Obama and Mr. Biden’s top domestic policy adviser who led a major strategic effort to combat antisemitism; Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden, and David Cicilline the former 6-term representative from Rhode Island who is both Jewish and gay. What they all have in common, obviously, is that they were appointed by President Joe Biden.

New York Times writers Katie Glueck and Tyler Pager noted: “While it is not surprising that Mr. Trump would look for any chance to remove senior Democrats from positions of influence, the moves underscore the extraordinary power he is exerting over traditionally apolitical institutions as he carries out a campaign of retribution.” Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, urged a full explanation and “even a reconsideration” of the decision, stressing that the museum must remain nonpartisan. One of former President Biden’s museum board appointments, Kevin Abel circulated a scathing letter to his colleagues, invoking the Holocaust as he denounced the museum’s silence on ITs firings of board members. In the letter, Abel, a highly successful businessman from Georgia and former Congressional candidate, wrote that ITs “campaign of retribution” had been met with troubling “public silence” by both the museum and members of Congress:

"At this juncture of rising threats and a swirling atmosphere of hatred, it is ever more imperative that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the one institution that can most credibly call out the administration’s attack of its Council for what it is, not choose to remain silent.”

On the ensuing email chain, board member Daniel Huff - who was one of ITs board appointees from his first term - objected to Mr. Abel’s invocation of Dietrich Bonhoffeur (picture above), a German pastor and theologian who was one of the earliest and most vehement critics of the Nazi regime - and paid the ultimate price: he was hanged (along with his brother Klaus and his brothers-in-law) at the Flossenbürg concentration camp in Bavaria. He was just 39. The Bonhoeffer quote (his best known) that so riled board member Huff simply stated “Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” In his letter, Mr. Huff also alluded to another prominent Lutheran pastor of the Nazi era, Martin Niemöller, whose most famous quote is on the wall of the Museum’s permanent exhibition.

It seems to me the trenchant words of Pastors Bonhoeffer and Niemöller, as well as the exiled German novelist (and 1929 Nobel laureate) Thomas Mann should adorn the walls of every office on Capitol Hill . . . as well as the Oval Office. Mann (1875-1955), best known for the novels Buddenbrooks (1900), Death in Venice (1912), The Magic Mountain (1924) and Joseph and His Brothers (published as a tetralogy between 1933 and 1943), was exiled from Germany in the early days of the 3rd Reich. In 1943, then living in California, Mann delivered anti-Nazi addresses on the BBC as part of the Allied propaganda effort, which were then broadcast in Germany. These addresses were collectively called “Listen, Germany!” and were aimed at demoralizing the German population and encouraging them to reject the Nazi regime. In one of the broadcasts . . . each of which ranged from 5 to 8 minutes in length . . . Mann told his former landsleute (countrymen) “Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” Nobody ever said it better.

At a time when our politics seem more like a boulder careening lethally down a hellish escarpment than a balloon gently wafting its way into the heavenly skies, we do well to remember - and put into practice - the wisdom of Herren Bonhoeffer, Niemöller and Mann. To wit, that sitting on our hands and keeping our eyes, ears and mouths tightly shut provides the fuel that energizes evil; that the so-called “leaders” who, like the three monkeys “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil” (unless it is against what they claim is necrotic liberalism) are, by their very silence and cowardly reticence, part of that lethal boulder. When leaders employ fear to buy silence, they are then able to incrementally isolate, demonize and then remove those who are standing in their way. This, at last, is the lesson of Bonhoeffer, Niemöller and Mann.

We do not have to wait until November 2026 to express our disgust and revulsion with the regime. On the same day (June 14, 2025) that IT will likely be sitting upon his throne, watching the tanks and troops pass by, there will be another series of parades and gatherings across the United States . . . and Canada and Mexico and only G-d knows where else. It is called “NO KINGS!” On that day literally hundreds of thousands of people will be gathering in all 50 states to declare that the United States is US . . . . a representative democracy, and neither an autocracy or a monarchy. Just follow this link to find out what’s going to be happening in your community.

This is not the time for unquiet thoughts . . . We need LOUD DEEDS.

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#1,035: Another Day, Another Decree

May 04, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Was it really only a couple of months ago that you could get up in the morning and look at the headlines without cringing or feeling nauseous? Remember when the POTUS wasn’t the top (and second and third) story covered on the evening news? When was the last time that “flooding the zone” (wherein receivers flood one side of the field at different levels) was a term known mostly to football aficionados? Today, it is the province of snarky, weirdly-wired political strategists, and connotes overwhelming the opposition (whether political or media) through a determined bombardment of off-the-wall initiatives . . . day in and day out.

One day it’s Felon47 ousting the entire Kennedy Center board, replacing them with his loyalists and then being voted in as Chairman; another day, his press office creates a new media policy, taking credentials away from any reporter/journalist/wire service he feels has treated him poorly. Then there’s HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s announcement that his fiefdom . . . uh, department will soon begin to amass the private medical records of millions of Americans in his new effort to study autism, as well as announcing that “new” vaccines will undergo placebo-controlled trials . . . both of which fly in the face of scientific reason and medical ethics. (n.b. I will be devoting a future piece on placebo-controlled studies in the next several weeks. I’m still trying to figure out how to take on RFK’s utterly troglodytic daydreams without using 4-letter words . . .)

And just when you thought IT and his merry pranksters couldn’t get any further away from reality, it would seem that the White House is planning a massive military parade to celebrate their vaunted leader’s 79th birthday on June 14. If it actually happens, it will include armored vehicles and several thousand troops parading past a reviewing stand on Constitution Avenue near the White House. According to a report published in U.S.A. Today, “Parade units will mark critical mileposts in the Army’s history from soldiers in Revolutionary War attire to Army Rangers and Stryker armored vehicles to commemorate the Global War on Terror.” Plans call for 6,686 soldiers, 50 aircraft, seven bands and 152 vehicles, including 92 categorized as “heavy.” Those include M-1 Abrams tanks and vintage World War II Sherman tanks. Yesterday, in a posting on his TRUTH SOCIAL media platform, he announced that he planned to change the name of Veterans Day on November 11 to “Victory Day for World War I” as well as declaring May 8, the date that Nazi Germany surrendered in 1945, “Victory Day for World War II” instead of VE Day, as it is commonly known in the United States. If this were to take effect, it of course would mean that the vast majority of living veterans would be left out in the cold (there are, to the best of my knowledge no surviving veterans of the “Great War” [the original name for WWI] and less than 1% of the 16.4 million Americans who served during WWII still with us today.)

Those who follow the news closely (and there seem to be far fewer these days) know that many, if not most, of IT’s executive orders are being challenged in the courts. Moreover, many of these federal courts have issued stays or injunctions on his proposed actions. In one recent case, SCOTUS unanimously ruled that the regime “try to release” a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a mega-jail in El Salvador. In their unanimous decision, the justices declined to block a lower court’s order to “facilitate” bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Moreover, the lower court judge, Paula Xinis, directed the White House to provide her with daily updates on what steps they are taking to bring Senor Garcia back to the U.S. As of today, the White House has failed to budge . . . despite freely admitting that he was deported due to an “administrative error.” This has all the makings of a constitutional crisis; it brings to mind President Andrew Jackson’s comment on the court’s 1832 decision in Worcester v. Georgia: “ “Justice John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!” (It should be noted that this quote first appeared twenty years after Jackson’s death in newspaper publisher Horace Greely’s 1865 two-volume history of the Civil War. Nonetheless, the sentiment has come down through the ages.)

IT’s flagrant ignoring of judicial fiats is not only leading the United States to a potential Constitutional crisis; it is also having a chilling effect across onthe courts as more and more judges and their families are becoming targets of a new MAGA war. As noted in a report published by Reuters just yesterday, The families of at least 11 of the jurists [who have ruled against the Trump administration] have been targeted with threats and harassment.”

Another day, another decree. Just yesterday, IT signed an executive order that makes me madder than a mosquito in a mannequin factory. Say what? If IT gets his way, he is going to end federal funding for both National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) - two of this nation’s greatest public treasures. Felon47’s stated reason for wielding the executioner’s axe (and it may be anywhere between terribly difficult and unconstitutional for him to do this) is that the two (NPR & PBS) produce biased coverage and what he calls “left-wing” propaganda. in his order, IT instructed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds public broadcasters in the United States, to end federal funding for NPR & PBS, to the extent allowed by law. Truth be known, the outlets receive only a small portion of their funding from Congress, with the lion’s share coming from donors and sponsors. (Annie and I have long been major contributors to both our local NPR and PBS outlets. I mean, what would an early a.m. be without Morning Edition, a lunchbreak without Fresh Air, a late afternoon-early evening without All Things Considered or a Saturday night without our favorite British comedies (Are You Being Served?, Keeping up appearances, Mr. Bean, Still Open All Hours, and As Time Goes By?)

And lest we forget, most PBS stations air both Sesame Street and the ever-popular (though long gone) Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. NPR is especially important in the rural parts of America; frequently it is the only source of information during weather emergencies.

FYI: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a taxpayer-backed private entity created by an act of Congress, is funded two years in advance to protect it from political maneuvering. It was created in 1967 to “promote and help support public broadcasting. It’s mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, high-quality content and telecommunications services.” In issuing his executive order calling for the CPB board to “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS,” IT claimed that the two entities were ideologically biased: “Neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens," the order says. "The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding." It should be noted that it is not clear that POTUS has the authority to make such orders to CPB under the law.

CPB is already suing the Trump administration over his executive order seeking to fire three of its five board members; on Friday, it dismissed the validity of the president's new order. "CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President's authority," the corporation wrote in a statement issued this past Friday. "Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government."

The CPB noted that the statute Congress passed to create it "expressly forbade 'any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors."

On his social media platform, IT recently blasted the two national public broadcasting networks, posting in all caps: "REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT 'MONSTERS' THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!"

Will these national treasures - NPR and PBS - survive? I believe they shall. Members of Congress should start hearing from their constituents - especially those who live in places where information is scarce - and let them know just how important these two entities are to both their sanity and their safety. Please, if you haven’t made a contribution to your local PBS or NPR station, consider doing so. It is one of the easiest and best investments you can make; the return on your dollars is incalculable. Every civilized democracy in the world has its version of the CPB. . . whether it be the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, Radio France and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG-SSR) which broadcasts in more than 30 languages . . . to name just a few.

People on both sides of the aisle often mourn and and moan about the debasement of the press . . . often asking “why can’t there be people like Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) “the most trusted man in America” reporting the news anymore?”

If Walter were still alive (he passed in 2009 at age 92) and still presenting the news, he would, no doubt, end his nightly broadcast with the familiar words “And that’s the way it is,” and hopefully one of his most important thoughts . . . one that is right up there with Thomas Jefferson:

Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy . . . it IS democracy.

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#1,034: Pope Francis: Requiescat in Pace

April 29, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

In the 2005 conclave that elected German-born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger Pope, the second-place finisher was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the cardinal priest of San Roberto Bellarmino, and former Archbishop of Buenos Aires. After Ratzinger’s election (he took the Papal name Benedict XVI), Cardinal Bergoglio left Rome, intent upon returning to Argentina where he assumed he would live out the rest of his life (he was nearly 75 at the time) engaging in study, prayer and good deeds. There was little reason for him - or indeed, anyone in the Vatican hierarchy - to believe that he would have another chance at the papacy. And, as one of his biographers noted: There was little evidence that he even wanted the job.

But as is said in the Jewish rabbinic tradition: All things are foreseen, but free will is given . . . basically meaning that the various twists and turns of life and history are known only to The Almighty. As things turned out, on February 11, 2013, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict would resign the papacy on February 28 as a result of advanced age (he was nearly 86 years old and the fourth-oldest person to hold that office). Benedict’s papacy was of the old school; conservative, highly Latinized, European and oligarchic. It was also beset with turmoil, intrigue about top secret lobbies and financial chicanery.

The conclave that gathered after Benedict’s resignation (the first in nearly six centuries) sought a reformer with a strong administrative hand. No one thought that Cardinal Bergoglio would be voted in; given his age (75 at the time) he wasn’t even on the shortlist. But when the white puff of smoke wafted its way upward from the Sistine Chapel, the Catholic Church - and indeed the world at large - immediately saw how different a path they had chosen. For the future Pope Francis set many firsts:

· The first Jesuit to serve as Pope. (Jesuits have often been called "The Rabbis of the Catholic Church,” due to their deeply scholastic bent);

· The first Pope to come from Latin America;

· The first pope to take as his papal name "Francis,” after Saint Francis of Assisi, the austere friar who dedicated his life to piety and the poor and who, according to tradition, received instruction from God to rebuild his church.

Pope Francis’ journey from the Flores barrio of Buenos Aires to the Vatican was a long eventful one. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on Dec. 17, 1936 to Italian immigrants. Young Jorge, the first of 5 children born to Mario and Regina (Sivori) Bergoglio, was deeply influenced by his grandmother Rosa Bergoglio, who in Italy had joined Catholic Action, the 1920s movement that defended the church against the encroachment of Benito Mussolini’s Fascist state. The rise of Fascism had helped push the family to leave. When his mother Regina was bedridden after the difficult birth of one of his sisters, Jorge, then 12, was placed in a school run by Salesian priests. The Salesians helped imbue him with a sense of duty toward the poor, as well as a realization of his own responsibility for improving the state of the world. The teenage Bergoglio enjoyed sports and dancing the tango at local clubs. After graduating high school in 1954, he announced to his family that he was going to attend a Jesuit seminary . . . not precisely what his parents thought would be his path.

In 1972, the then 36-year father Bergoglio took charge of the Argentine Jesuits. Argentina was in the throes of a “dirty war,” with a brutal military government killing and torturing thousands of opponents. And the Latin American church was sundered, as many senior prelates remained close to the ruling classes while many Jesuits embraced liberation theology, which called on the church to press for social change on behalf of the poor. Conservative church leaders denounced that theology as Marxist.

During the country’s 2001-02 economic crisis, he organized food kitchens, tripled the number of priests assigned to the slums and built schools and drug rehabilitation centers as state services retrenched. He converted his official residence into a hostel for priests and lived in a modest room in the diocesan building in central Buenos Aires. Before every Easter, he visited prison inmates, AIDS patients or older people, a practice he continued during his papacy.

Cardinal Bergoglio also had chilly relations with the Vatican. It represented “the heart of everything that he believed the church should not be: luxury, ostentation, hypocrisy, bureaucracy.” By this time in his career he had already adopted as his motto miserando atque eligendo, translated roughly as “ . . . by having mercy and by choosing." True to form, when the Cardinal came back to Rome in late February 2013 to be part of the papal conclave, he paid his own bill at the Vatican hotel where he stayed, rode about town in a modest Ford Focus, lived in a Vatican guesthouse rather than the ornate papal apartments and, in a Holy Week ritual performed at a youth prison, washed the feet of a young Muslim woman.

His first public pronouncement upon being elected Pope showed just how different the man and his papacy would be. “Buona sera,” good evening, Francis announced to the faithful from the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, breaking the ice with unaffected style. He joked about being from Argentina, noting that in fulfilling their duty to produce a pope, “it seems that my brother cardinals have gone almost to the ends of the Earth to get him.”

His humility could be disarming. When asked about a priest who was said to be gay, he responded, “Who am I to judge?” Over the next dozen years, he tried to move the church away from divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality, and shifted its emphasis to global problems like climate change, poverty and migration. He tirelessly traveled the world, often visiting places that had but a handful of practicing Catholics . . . like China. His vision, expressed in major documents like the encyclical “Laudato Si,” (“Praise Be to You”), linked Catholic theology to protecting the environment and championing those on the margins, while denouncing the excesses of global capitalism in exploiting the poor. He repeatedly denounced violence and, after an initial reluctance to take sides in the war in Ukraine, spoke out in support of Ukraine.

Pope Francis could be scathing toward the prelates in the Vatican. He once compared the hierarchy to a “ponderous, bureaucratic customs house.” He accused some church officials of deluding themselves as being “indispensable” and afflicted by the “terrorism of gossip.” In his Christmas speeches he railed against “peacock priests” and “airport bishops,” who drop in when convenient, see themselves as superior to their flock and have become out of touch. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Francis suggested that Donald J. Trump was “not Christian” because of his preference for building walls rather than bridges. IT responded: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian.” The battle lines were drawn. (Perhaps that is why IT, unlike the rest of the world leaders who gathered for Pope Francis’ funeral, wore a blue suit and blue tie instead of the traditional black and black.)

On some issues, the Pope could make it difficult to understand where he stood. He rejected same-sex marriage yet called on priests to be welcoming to people in nontraditional relationships, such as gay men and lesbians, single parents and unmarried couples who live together. He supported civil unions for gay couples but approved a Vatican decision to bar priests from blessing them — a decision he later said he regretted, and then reversed.

His most enduring legacy may well be the transformation of the clerical ranks and the reshaping of the College of Cardinals, once dominated by conservatives appointed by Benedict and John Paul II. Indeed, the vast majority of the Cardinals who will be gathering for the next Conclave are his appointees; men of every color from all over the world.

When asked if he would accept the Papacy back in 2013, the future Pope answered: "I am a sinner . . . but I shall accept.” This is not to paint the man as a saint, for he had his enemies - both within the church hierarchy and among many of the planet’s worst autocrats. As an administrator (one of the Pope’s most important behind-the-scenes jobs) he could be a tyrant; to many liberals within the Church he was a disappointment, not going far enough on cultural issues. And yet, for whatever faults he may have had, he was one of the most humble, compassionate and forward-thinking Popes of the past century.

Francis did not stifle views he disagreed with and believed in a patient process — he called it discernment — in which ideas and proposals could be weighed before going forward. “Bosses cannot always do what they want,” he told Reuters in 2018. “They have to convince.”

Less piety, more compassion. Less pontification, more engagement. Less judgment, more acceptance.

May we all learn from this great man’s legacy.

Requiescat in Pace, Papa

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#1,033: There But For the Grace of G-d . . .

April 22, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

I swear by everything holy that the next time I hear a לאַנדסמאַן (lahtzmahn - Yiddish for, roughly “a fellow Jew”) proclaim that IT is “the best friend the Jewish people ever had,” I’m going to ברעכן (brechen - e.g. “vomit”) all ever the White House lawn. “Why?” you may well ask. Simply stated, he is the bipolar opposite of a friend or supporter. Whenever I ask what proof the person has for making such a statement, I regularly hear one or more of the following: “He moved the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem”; “He has provided more defense materiel to Israel than any other POTUS,” “How can he be anti-Semitic when his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are practicing Jews?”, and most recently, “No POTUS has ever focused more on punishing elite universities for being tolerant of anti-Semitic activities.”

Oy! We aren’t going to take the time or space to explain ITs motives behind most of these actions save, of course his daughter and her family, who, in accordance with the old dictum חזקת לאדם כשר (chezkat l’adam kashayr - Hebrew for “the presumption of being Jewish”) we will give a nod of acknowledgement. Otherwise what I’m hearing from this pro-MAGA folks is, what in Yiddish is called די זעלבע מיד אַלטע געשיכטע (di zelbe mid alte geshikhte - '“the same old tired story”).

The one area of ITs presidency I will touch upon is anti-Semitism. Although he certainly did not create the hatred which transcends most of human history, he has not outside of rhetorically - done a hell of a lot to confront of quell it. Much to the contrary, he has actually weaponized it. At this time of the year, when the Jewish calendar is book-ended by Purim and Passover when real antisemitism — and redemption from it — are top of mind for Jews, we would be wise to see Trump’s rhetoric and policies on antisemitism for what they really are: gaslighting that will further endanger American Jews.

By publicly linking federal funding for research to combating antisemitism — and cynically appropriating the Hebrew word “shalom” to announce ICE’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil — Trump has actually fed nasty tropes about Jews wielding financial leverage and pulling the strings of government to protect perceived “Jewish” interests. Meanwhile, the Departments of Justice and Education (or what’s left of it) have launched antisemitism investigations into dozens of universities nationwide, singling out Jews as worthy of federal protection while simultaneously dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that support countless vulnerable and underprivileged Americans. In other words, for IT, the concern about the horrific rise in anti-Semitic acts isn’t a project; it’s a pretext.

Sometime in the early hours of Sunday, April 13 - the first day of Passover - the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion was set on fire by an arsonist while Governor Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside. Ironically, the greatest damage occurred in the very room (see photo above) in which the governor, his wife Lori, their 4 children and other family members had partaken in the traditional Passover seder. There but for the grace of G-d they escaped harm. When arrested on charges of terrorism, attempted murder aggravated arson and aggravated assault, the alleged arsonist, 38-year old Cody Allen Balmer told police that he used two Molotov cocktails to set the residence on fire. According to authorities, Balmer told them that he had also brought a small sledgehammer with him for the purpose of killing Governor Shapiro had he encountered him. Balmer, who actually had turned himself in to state authorities, said he attacked the mansion because of Governor Shapiro’s stance on the war in Gaza and that “needs to know that he will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.”

Exactly how the murder of a Jewish Governor and his family (the alleged perpetrator’s stated intent) could save Palestinian lives half a world away is anyone’s guess. Fortunately, many Republicans, including V.P. Vance, A.G. Pam Bondi and Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry issued statements deploring the arson attack, calling it, variously, “inexcusable,” “deeply disturbing” and “horrifying.” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said, “Political violence of any kind is never acceptable, and it is especially unconscionable to attack a Jewish family during the first night of Passover.”

Not all responses were so mixed with angst over, concern about and condemnation of the attack. Republican Rep. Dan Meuser (Penn.), a potential challenger to Josh Shapiro in the 2026 gubernatorial race, suggested that .Shapiro was “asking for it” when an attacker burned down part of his house after his Passover celebration and that he needs to “tone it down” with actions against President Donald Trump. “This guy is a psycho of course,” Meuser said of the attacker during an appearance on a local radio show on Tuesday, April 15. “And our hearts go out to the Shapiro family on this. But you know, they’ve got to tone it down, too. I mean, every action Josh Shapiro has taken so far against the president has either been a lawsuit or a falsehood.”

When asked for his response to the crime, IT, who, during his last campaign referred to Shapiro as a “highly overrated Jewish Governor [who] has done nothing for Israel and never will” said that he “wasn’t aware of a motive for the man accused of setting the fire,” and sloughed it off as nothing more than being the act of someone who was “probably just a whack job.” As of today, IT has yet to issue a public statement or contact Governor Shapiro about the arson attack. When Jonathan Martin, senior political columnist at Politico criticized IT for staying silent (except for his “whack job” comment) after the Passover blaze, he was faced with quite a bit of backlash from conservatives online, many stating that when IT was the target of an assassination attempt at a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally on July 13, 2024, Shapiro did not contact their standard bearer. (n.b. in truth, before thatday was out, Shapiro’s office issued a heartfelt statement wishing the then-former President a speedy recovery while condemning the attack and mourning the death of former firefighter Corey Comperatore, a native Pennsylvanian).

Eerily, Its “whack job” response came during a quicky presser held in the Oval Office with the president of El Salvador, one of this hemisphere’s most brutal dictators. (n.b.: It never ceases to amaze me that IT, who is forever yakking about taking over the Panama Canal, making Canada the 51st State and turning Greenland into the newest American territory [à la American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam] claims he doesn’t have the power to get Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to send back the more than 200 men illegally kidnapped and currently residing in this hemisphere’s most notorious mega-prison, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo [CECOT]).

We conclude with two thoughts: one for the POTUS, the other for/about the Shapiro family.

First for POTUS: From time to time, I am angrily attacked by readers wanting to know why I never say anything nice about the man they consider to be the best president in the history of the United States. I’ve given this a bit of thought, and have concluded that there is one very nice thing I can write about him:

Donald Trump is mortal!

And second, a thought for the Shapiro family: In the Jewish world, when someone - or a group, like a family - survive a traumatic, potentially life-threatening episode, it is customary. to recite a blessing known as Birkat Hagomel, which goes:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה הׇ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַגּוֹמֵל לְחַיָּבִים טוֹבוֹת שֶׁגְּמָלַנִי כָּל טוֹב

namely,

“Blessed are You, O G-d. ruling spirit of the universe, Who rewards the undeserving with goodness, and rewarded me (us) with goodness.”

To which we, who have heard them say this prayer. respond

אָמֵן מִי שֶׁגְמָלְךָ כָּל טוֹב הוּא יִגְמָלְךָ כָּל טוֹב סֶלָה

namely:

”Amen. May the One who rewarded you with all goodness, continue to reward you with only goodness, Selah!”

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categories / anti-Semitism, The Coming Autocracy

#1,032: This Land Is Mine - Part 2

April 15, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Last week’s essay, also entitled This Land Is Mine, was posted on my Tales From Hollywood & Vine blog. In it, I wrote about - and reviewed - a 1943 RKO film by that name, starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Hara, and George Sanders. Taking place “somewhere in Europe,” it told the story of a small town under Nazi control and how a timid, “mamma’s boy” school teacher (Albert Lory, brilliantly played by Charles Laughton), discovers the inner strength he never knew he possessed, and uses that new-found backbone to publicly call out the Nazis for what they are - tyrannical beasts - and even denounce the local mayor (Thurston Hall) for being a craven capitulator hiding behind the mask of a patriot. At the end of the essay, I even included a live link to the film, urging readers to watch it in preparation for the following week’s post. As of this week, I really have no idea how many of you took the time to indulge in this truly meaningful cinematic experience. In matter of plain fact, the essay didn’t receive a single comment. Ah well, sometimes you score, and others, you’re rained out.

Even if you didn’t watch the film, you likely figured out what the tie-in would be for this week’s post: the necessity of identifying and growing a spine in a time of peril. Make no mistake about it: we are in just such a time . . . regardless of whether or no Felon47 will declare martial law on Easter Sunday after invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807. This dusty law has gone without updates for more than 200 years. The original text states: “That in all cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws… the president of the United States [can] call forth the militia [or armed forces] for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection.” (Technically, it is now not just one law but a series of statutes in Title 10 of the U.S. code.)

One thing we have learned about IT during his years in office - or in front of a network camera - is this: he is very predictably unpredictable. We’ve just seen this during last week’s tariff debacle which set markets reeling around the globe and made U.S. Treasury Bonds (which until just a few days ago were the safest investment on the planet) a financial instrument being increasingly dumped in favor of other investments. Even if he doesn’t declare martial law, we are still in a time of grave peril, characterized by the strong-arming of Ivy League colleges or universities (in the name of eliminating DEI and anti-Semitism) as well as major white-shoe law firms; the unfathomable risks to medical research and public health (think measles, mumps and Alzheimer’s Disease); the firing of thousands upon thousands of veteran federal workers (all in the name of saving “trillions upon trillions of dollars” which is one of the most obvious lies in human history); the deportation of hundreds of immigrants (whether legal or not) based on charges of being violent terrorists and being shipped off to El Salvador without formal charges or access to due process; and the eroding of public trust in just about anything and everything. And if this were not enough, IT is even publicly musing about running for a 3rd term . . . despite the existence of the 22nd Amendment, which was ratified 74 years ago.

Egad! If this were to happen (it won’t, it can’t . . . amending the Constitution is next to impossible) IT would be taking his next oath of office at age 82, and goodness knows he has been showing what appears to be significant cognitive deficits for the past several years . . .

So, what is to be done?

Part of the answer, I believe, comes from the fictional Albert Lory, as played so magnificently by Charles Laughton. If he were a real - as opposed to a reel - human being, I could imagine him standing up straight and telling the Republican members of the Congress: You’ve got to grow a spine and see that your external actions are consonant with your innermost feelings about this King of Chaos and his loyal stooges. You simply cannot continue to blindly follow him as he goose-steps over the Constitution. Now is the time to act like true patriots and recapture the powers guaranteed you by that 200+ year old document to which each and every one of you have taken an oath of allegiance. Anything short of this is an act of treason . . .

It is obvious that for many, many Republicans, even the fleeting contemplation of standing up to a man and a regime they really do not and cannot trust, is a task that sends shivers up their non-existent spines. Some shy away from criticizing his policies over fears for their physical safety and that of their families. Others know full well that speaking out against his growing authoritarianism will result in their getting “primaried” in 2026 and possibly finding themselves being voted out of office by someone even further to the right than they are. According to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) “I have a lot of friends who are Republicans. They are terrified of being the tallest poppy in the field, and it’s not as simple as being afraid of being primaried and losing their job. They know that that can happen. It’s much, much more personal. It’s their personal safety that they’re afraid of, and they have spouses and family members saying, ‘Do not do this, it’s not worth it, it will change our lives forever.”
A large percentage of these Republican members of the House and Senate – many of whom said the nastiest (and most truthful) things about IT in years past, should remember that the man they now outwardly support with such brazen gusto warned them all long ago that his one overriding philosophy of life was the necessity of getting revenge on anyone he believes has wronged him. As he told Charlie Rose way back in 1992, “I love getting even with people.”

About the only thing the world does not yet know about this hellhound of retributive justice (and his unscrupulous myrmidons) is how far he will go in his quest to enact his will . . . regardless of how crazy or destructive it may be. It doesn’t seem to bother him one iota that his most recent net approval rating stands at -6, or that more and more federal judges are putting a halt to the most dreadful of his deportation dreams. Just yesterday, federal judge Indira Talwani blocked IT and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from canceling a program introduced President Biden, that grants parole and the right to work to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. For now, Judge Talwani’s ruling signals a major victory for these paroled immigrants who had sued the regime in the hope of remaining in the U.S. for a two-year period. There has yet not been a response from either the White House or Homeland Security, but you had better believe that the A.G. Pam Bondi will order someone on her staff to start an appeal ASAP.

This decision - among many others - is a positive sign that there are still heroes in our midst. Additionally, 7 Republican senators, including the Senate’s president pro tempore, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, and former Senate Republican leader, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell have signed on to a bipartisan bill (The Trade Review Act of 2025) that would require Congress to approve ITs steep tariffs on trading partners. (Others in the group include Sens. Jerry Moran (Ky), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Todd Young (IN) and Susan Collins (ME). The bill does what, in any other time or happenstance, would be the legislative equivalent of “See Spot run” medicine; the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate foreign commerce, impose tariffs, and collect revenue. Period. Should it pass the Senate (which I believe it will), it would then go over to the House, where the Speaker Mike Johnson, will likely throw it into the nearest waste basket . . . lest he earn the scorn and contempt of his Füh. . . uh president. I bet if Speaker Johnson polled voters in Louisiana’s 4th district, they would favor him bringing the bill to the floor . . .as well as keeping his hands off Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Of late, the Regime has been taking after America’s most elite universities, demanding that they make a series of policy changes (mostly cutting out all that “dangerous DEI folderal”). In one such case, the White House sent the leaders of Harvard a 5-page letter demanding that the college make “meaningful governance reform and restructuring to make possible major changes.” If not, they will lose more than $2 billion in grants. Rather than back down (as did Columbia University), Harvard’s lawyers responded in writing on behalf of Dr. Alan Garber (Harvard’s President), and Penny Pritzker (Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation) that the demands were illegal and that they would not comply. In their 2-page response, the Harvard legal team wrote that “Harvard remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community. But Harvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration.”

My money’s on Harvard.

So, we can see what I pray is the emergence of some opposition to the MUMP Regime’s path to perdition. We, the people, like the fictional Albert Lory, must stand tall and forcefully, heroically communicate with our representatives, senators, governors and judges and get them to recognize that we, not the felon residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we are your bosses. Please, we beg you, who hold the highest offices in the land: relocate your backbone and stand up to those who are destroying Democracy. So what if you aren’t reelected because IT has chosen and endorsed a more fiercely loyal Republican than you - just because you did your job? If recent history is any indication, those IT-endorsed, Musk-funded candidates, stand a good chance of losing . . . thus putting government back in the hands of people who know and understand the Constitution. You can probably make more money in the private sector anyway . . . and perhaps get a better night’s sleep as well.

Power rests with the people.

This land is mine . . . and ours.

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categories / All Politics All the Time, The Coming Autocracy

(1,031): The One Thing Money CAN - and CANNOT - Buy

April 01, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

OK, everybody let’s take out our pencils or I-Pads, and make a tally of the things money definitely cannot buy. Without question, people of a certain age are likely to be influenced by the title of one of the earliest smash hits from the Lennon-McCartney songbook as their #1: Can’t Buy Me Love . . . although I have to believe that POTUS and FLOTUS as well as anyone named Kardashian would likely disagree.

Here’s the beginning of my list of things that money definitely cannot buy:

· Common Sense

· Emotional Mastery

· Empathy

· Good Manners

· Gratitude

· Happiness

· Honesty

· Inner Peace

· Loyalty

· Mechanical Aptitude

· Morality and Ethics, and

· Wisdom

If you have some doubts about any of the 13 characteristics -or qualities - which money cannot buy, consider some of the אנגעשטאפטע מענטשן (ongeshtafte mentshn - Yiddish for, roughly “hyper wealthy people”) who are members of Felon 47’s Cabinet and coterie of closest advisors and factota. They are, without question איבערגעשטאפט (literally “stuffed”) but most seem to lack - or demand - such qualities as good manners, honesty, empathy or common sense in either themselves or their spooky brigade. Most come across as Übermenschen (“supermen”); philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s superior people who think they are able to be their own determiners of value; people who sculpt their own characteristics and circumstances regardless of what anyone - save others like them -- think. Despite ITs having convinced tens of millions of American voters that he was a populist who would always stand foursquarely on the side of the working stiff, he turned out to be what he always has been; a cunning neurotic born with a silver spoon in his tiny hand and a necrotic foot in his godless mouth. Indeed, no sooner did he take his second Oath of Office than he reverted to type; an oligarch whose only passion is for enriching himself and his band of billionaires.

In the regime’s first 71 days, we’ve been witness to what an unelected, unvetted centibillionaire holding aloft a chainsaw in his hand and a brain boosted by Ketamine can do. As the titular head of DOGE, he and his band of twenty-something trolls have made deep cuts in various federal agencies. Seemingly, he and his co-president (IT) have been most obsessed with making their gravest, most lethal cuts (and worst appointments) in one major area: anything dealing with medicine, medical research and healthcare delivery (i.e. HHS, FDA, CDC, NIH, CMS and HRSA). In addition to slashing their budgets (which is the constitutionally-mandated purview of Congress, not the White House), the MUMP Regime has seen fit replace the outgoing heads of these agencies with people who - despite possessing degrees from elite universities) hold some of the most toxic opinions of what roles their agencies should not be playing in the names of health and wellbeing:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (26th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services): the scion of one of America’s most famous political families, RFK, Jr. was originally known for being one of the most influential environmental lawyers in the country. Over the past many years, he has become known for being among the country’s most prominent vaccine skeptics and a world-class conspiracy theorist. As head of HHS he recently named David Geier (who is not an M.D.), a prominent 2nd generation anti-vaxxer, who has long supported the almost universally debunked "medical fact” that certain vaccines cause autism to conduct a study looking for such a link. Kennedy’s announcement was met with incredulity and dropping jaws by most of the medical community. Just the other day, Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official, resigned under pressure. In announcing his resignation, Dr. Marks warned that under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

Marty Makary, M.D., PhD (27th FDA Commissioner): a pancreatic cancer surgeon and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Markary first came to the attention of ITs team when he was a Fox News personality and commentator on COVID back in 2021. At the time, he incorrectly predicted that the nation was “racing toward an extremely low level of infection.” Although not an anti-vaxxer, at his recent Senate confirmation hearing he expressed support for vaccines, even as he suggested that the F.D.A. needed to review the role of vaccine experts whom the agency turns to for advice.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., PhD (18th NIH Director): An Indian-born physician-scientist and health economist, he has spent the majority of his career in the latter field. In his Senate confirmation hearing he said that one of his main goals as NIH Director would be to prevent research grants being made to universities that fail to support academic freedom. He has also made it clear that he wants to take on campus culture at elite universities, wielding the power of tens of billions of dollars in scientific grants.
Tom Engels, B.A. (Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration: A career politician who started his public life as then-Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson’s Deputy Press Secretary, he worked his way up through the ranks as an administrator in both state and federal health-related positions. This is his second stint as HRSA administrator, having served in this position during the first IT administration. He oversees nearly 2,000 employees and an annual budget of $15.9 billion.

It goes without saying that major health agencies at both the federal and state level, as well as those who partake in the world of clinical trials (myself included) are in a growing blue funk. With so many people being “furloughed” (a politically correct way of saying “canned”, which leaves agencies grossly understaffed and deprived of both expertise and institutional memory, and so many billions upon billions of dollars being stripped from research into new drugs, medical devices and surgical procedures, things are looking pretty grim. It makes me wonder about these overstuffed oligarchs; don’t they realize that without robust medical research - especially at a time of lessening Medicare and Medicaid coverage - it isn’t only the poor who will suffer. No amount of personal wealth can buy a cure for what ails you if the research isn’t ongoing. Money can provide the fabulously wealthy with plane tickets and great accommodations in a foreign country where non-FDA approved medicines or surgical procedures can be gotten. But all the cuts in medical research being instituted by the MUMP Regime cannot purchase miracles.

Do the oligarchs and overstuffed wannabes really, truly think their extreme wealth can save them or their loved ones from a rare, catastrophic or orphan disease? Haven’t they thought it through? Or are they suffering from the Marie Antoinette syndrome (Qu’ls mangent de la brioche!”. . . Let them eat cake?) Peut-être . . . perhaps.

In the nearly 30 years I have been vetting and editing what are called “Informed Consent” documents (which must be made understandable by anyone who is going to participate in a clinical trial), I have seen tremendous progress in human healing. Among the most fascinating and promising are:

CAR T Cell (Chimeric antigen receptors) Therapy, which involves genetically engineering a patient’s own T cells (red) to attack cancer cells. Basically your T cells (which can be easily trained) are taught to treat a tumor as a mortal enemy, rather than a friend.
Monoclonal Antibodies (all those medicines end with the suffice “mab” such as Rituxumab [breast cancer], Aducanumab [Alzheimer’s disease] and Vedolizumab [Entyvio . . . for Crohn’s Disease]). mAbs are laboratory-produced proteins that mimic the body’s natural antibodies.
Biologics: medications that come from living organisms, like proteins and genes; one day they may treat previously untreatable conditions including cancers, genetic disorders and autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus and Crohn’s Disease.

At its best, medicine and medical research are a fascinating admixture of art and science. To bring a new drug, medical device, or surgical procedure to market takes a lot of time, talent and patience . . . not to mention teamwork and money. Money can buy both healing and hope for the sick, the hurting and afflicted. That’s the good news. The bad news - for those seeking to slash research funding and medical care to the bone - is that no amount of hyper wealth can buy a potential cure that is no longer in the pipeline . . .

BTW: For all those who are anxious, nauseated and feeling helpless, might I suggest joining the National Day of Action this coming Saturday, April 5. On that day millions of people from every state in the union, marching under banners dealing with a multitude of issues and concerns, will gather and send a message to the Regime . . . In order to find out where the gathering will be in your community (and even in Canada), please go

Hands Off!

Keep up the good trouble.

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#1,030: From Melting Pot to Salad Bowl

March 24, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Although now largely forgotten, in his day, the Anglo-Jewish writer Israel Zangwill (1864-1926) was considered “the Dickens of the Ghetto.” A prodigious author of novels, plays, and essays, the vast majority of Zangwill’s oeuvre of nearly 190 works, is, unbelievably, still in print nearly a century after his death. In addition to penning one of the earliest “locked room mysteries,” 1892’s The Big Bow Mystery (filmed thrice, the most famous being the 1946 picture The Verdict starring that most unique of all cinematic pairings, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre), he also wrote a series of ghetto novels and short-stories with titles such as Children of the Ghetto, King of the Schnorrers, Dreamers of the Ghetto, Ghetto Comedies and Ghetto Tragedies. Zangwill’s literary brilliance lay in his ability to take a time, a place and a people - Jewish immigrants living and surviving in the ghettoes of Victorian England - and make them universally understandable to a largely non-Jewish reading public.

Zangwill also penned several plays that eventually made their way to both Broadway and Hollywood. Among the best-known were Merely Mary Ann, Children of the Ghetto, and most notably of all, The Melting Pot, which opened at Broadway’s Comedy Theatre on September 6, 1909 and ran for 136 performances (quite respectable in the early 20th century). As a sign of just how popular and successful a writer he was, on October 5, 1908, the night The Melting Pot opened at the Columbia Theatre in Washington, D.C., he was accompanied by no less a personage than President Theodore Roosevelt, who was heard above the applause at play’s end shouting “THAT’S A GREAT PLAY, MR. ZANGWILL.!”

Those who are widely read, know that Zangwill’s The Melting Pot is, in its own way, an update of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This time, instead of the feuding families coming from a medieval Italian city, the lovers (David and Vera) are from Russian Jewish and Russian Cossack families. David emigrates to America in the wake of the 1903 Kishinev Massacre (pogrom) in which his entire family is killed. He composes a great symphony called “The Crucible” expressing hope for a world in which all ethnicity has melted away, and falls in love with a beautiful Russian Christian named Vera. The dramatic peak of the play is the moment when David meets Vera's father, who turns out to be the Russian officer responsible for the annihilation of David's family. Vera's father admits his guilt, the symphony is performed to accolades, David and Vera agree to wed, and kiss as the curtain falls.

Towards the end of Act I (the play has 4), Zangwill proclaims through David, the immigrant composer, America is God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all races of Europe are melting and re-forming! . . . . A fig for your feuds and vendettas! Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians . . . into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American.

Zangwill’s political, philosophical and emotional attachment to the melting-pot view of America is best expressed in a brief colloquy between David and Vera in Act IV:

David: [exalted by the spectacle of thousands of immigrants arriving in New York Harbor] There she lies, the great Melting Pot . . . listen! Can’t you hear the roaring and the bubbling? There gapes her mouth [He points east] . . . the harbor where a thousand mammoth feeders come from the ends of the world to pour in their human freight. Ah, what a stirring and a seething! Celt and Latin, Slav and Teuton, Greek and Syrian, black and yellow . . .

Vera: [Softly nestling to David] Jew and Gentile.

David: Yes, East and West, and North and South, the palm and the pine, the pole and the equator, the crescent and the cross--how the great Alchemist melts and fuses them with his purging flame! Here shall they all unite to build the Republic of Man and the Kingdom of God. Ah, Vera, what is the glory of Rome and Jerusalem where all nations and races come to worship and look back, compared with the glory of America, where all races and nations come to labour and look forward! Peace, peace, to all ye unborn millions, fated to fill this giant continent--the God of our children give you Peace.

For years, this concept - e.g. the Melting Pot - was, for the most part, at the center of the American ethos; when people reached the “new world,” their history, ethnicity and language entered the melting (or “smelting” as Ralph Waldo Emerson called it) pot and fused into a new creation: the American. But increasingly, this concept has fallen by the wayside in favor of either the “salad-bowl” or the “pizza pie.” Why? In order to answer this, one must first understand what the smelting (or melting) process entails: applying tremendous heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of “extractive metallurgy” that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zinc. It is impossible to locate any of the original constituent ingredients within a melting or smelting pot; it is an altogether new metal.

A salad bowl (or pizza pie) is a totally different construct: a singular entity in which virtually all the main ingredients are still easily identifiable. In a salad, the tomatoes, radishes, olives, cheese crumbles etc. are all distinguishable, just as the mushrooms, onions and pineapple chunks (ugh!) visibly sit atop the cheese(s) and tomato sauce in a pizza pie. Salads and pizza pies are the essence of diversity . . . a sort of gastronomic E pluribus Unum (“Out of many comes one”) or comestible DEI (Diversity equity and inclusion) . . . although over past year or so, I’ve come to the conclusion that it really stands for “Donald’s Embarrassing Idiocy”).

Inside the lower pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, there is a bronze plaque containing a sonnet (“The New Colossus”) composed by the poet and activist Emma Lazarus. Lazarus (1849-1887) was a member of one of the oldest Jewish families in the United States, her earliest ancestors arriving on these shores in 1654 aboard the St. Catrina, known to history as "The Jewish Mayflower.” Her Petrachan sonnet, written in 1883, expresses the “melting pot” concept that Israel Zangwill would popularize a quarter century later. The most oft-quoted of Lazarus’ 14-line poem are its last 5:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

For as long as there has been an America, there has been an underpinning of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and various exclusionary practices. Although not springing from the soil of the nation, it has existed, its targets being - depending on the time and place - natives, Catholics, the Irish, Chinese, Jews, Italians, women and today, Muslims and people of many different colors. This is not a repudiation of the melting or smelting pot; rather it is the rejection of the salad bowl. In 2024, a minority of the voting public elected a president who pledged to “Make America Great Again” by deporting millions upon millions of people whom he claimed were “murderers,” “drug-dealers,” “terrorists” and “rapists” . . . the “dregs of humanity.” Or to put it another way, he promised that from hereon in the American salad would “once again” consist of nothing but lettuce . . . read “White Christians.” In the eyes of many, this has long been the American Dream. In the eyes of – hopefully – many more, this has never been the dream. For everlasting dreams cannot and must not be based on illegal actions . . . such as deporting people without benefit of a hearing or a trial.

Just this past week, Jerce Reyes Barrios, a former professional soccer player from Venezuela, was spirited away by members of ICE in California, where he was awaiting his asylum hearing and flown - along with 200 other, mostly Venezuelan refugees - to the notorious CECOT, El Salvador’s mega-prison for gang members. On what basis did the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) determine that Senor Barrios, who came to the U.S.-Mexico border legally through the CBP One app in September 2024 determine that he was a Tren de Argua (TdA) member? By a tattoo of a crown sitting atop a soccer ball with a rosary and the word “Dios” (God), which DHS decided was ink associated with the notorious Venezuelan gang. According to Senor Barrios’ attorney, "In reality, he chose the tattoo because it is similar to the logo for his favorite soccer team, “Real Madrid.” The attorney, Linette Tobin rejected the idea her client was a gang member and said he had fled Venezuela in early 2024 after being detained at an anti-government demonstration by security forces and "taken to a clandestine building where he was tortured.” He has neither been seen nor heard from in the past week. All this without benefit of due process . . . another “carrot” . . . or "cucumber” or "mushroom” wrenched from the "salad.”

(When it comes to tattoos which should get you deported [or at least tossed out of your current position] how about DOD secretary Pete Hegseth’s “Jerusalem Cross” ink, which has a long, long history in Christianity going back to the Crusades, but has lately been co-opted by some far-right groups as a symbol of the fight for Western civilization? Or his tat with an AK-47 beneath the American flag? If he was a Muslim, he would likely be shipped off to CICOT in the middle of the night. But he is a Christian Nationalist and former FOX celebrity, so I guess that makes him fit for sitting atop the DOD

Hegseth, who has called for an “American Crusade” against the “internal” and “domestic enemies” of the U.S. and Israel, was nominated to his position by a President and Commander-in-Chief who is publicly itching to deploy that military throughout the United States. Who will save the people of the U.S. from an internal crusade of a military that already has an extremism problem? Hegseth is a Christian Nationalist who believes that Islam is a natural, historic enemy to the West and has lamented growing numbers of American Muslims. For Hegseth, his boss and oh so many MAGAites, this is the “Melting Pot” they are working for . . . even if they’ve never heard of Israel Zangwill or Emma Lazarus.

One positive thing we’ve learned over the past week is that public outcries can occasionally cause the MUMP regime to reverse course in rewriting history . . . in removing everything in the “salad bowl” save the utterly bland and tasteless lettuce. Case in point: a couple of days ago the Pentagon deleted from its website pages highlighting Black veterans such as Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, Vietnam-era medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers as well as the Japanese American 422nd Combat Regiment. After a vast public roar against the deletions, the Pentagon restored most of the pages. Let this be a lesson to us all: speaking in a loud, unified voice, making our thoughts public and feelings well-known can be more powerful than a clenched fist.

In a few hours, we will be dining on a large Caesar Salad with chunks of baked Salmon . . . a perfect symbol of what America should be.

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categories / Immigration

#1029: An Act of Resistance

March 10, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

It’s now been slightly more than 60 years (!) since the Free Speech Movement began at the University of California at Berkeley, long the nation’s number one public university. Those were incredibly heady days, which turned a generation of young adults into lifetime political activists. For those of us who were around at the time, the names Clark Kerr, Mario Savio and Bettina Aptheker (not to mention Jackie Goldberg, Art Goldberg and Michael Rossman) are as indelibly engrained as John, Paul, George and Ringo. Personally, my political memories of the ‘60s include attending large rallies, warming up crowds singing songs of protest penned by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger, blocking highways and speaking at innumerable protest rallies. For the most part, we were protesting the war in Viet Nam (Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, NLF is gonna win!), the military draft (Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?) and then, in 1969, the closing down of Berkeley over what has been historically known as The Battle for People’s Park. Those who were around at the time will long remember Alameda County Sheriff Frank Madigan, Santa Rita prison and the guards, who we nicknamed The Blue Meanies, named after the villains in the Beatles’ movie Yellow Submarine. You may also remember the name James Rector, a student activist who was killed when teargassed from a sheriff’s helicopter . . . which we called a “whirley pig.”

By the summer of 1969, I’d chopped off my pony tail (which has returned every few years), trimmed my beard, purchased a couple of Brooks Brothers suits and went off to Washington, D.C. where I put my political energy to work as an intern in the United States Senate. Over the next several years I worked for Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK), former California Assembly Speaker Jess “Big Daddy” Unruh (where my boss was Fred Taugher, who has been a longtime reader of this blog), and California Governor Jerry Brown, where I worked in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research under Bill Press, one of the best political writers and pundits in the business.

One of the most important things political activists of the Viet Nam era managed to pack in their luggage of life was - and still is - the need for resistance. Yes, I know, most often, it’s the people with the megabucks who generally call the shots. Let’s face it: ever since the Supreme Court’s horrific 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections, electing and controlling both the Congress and the political agenda has been even worse and more brazen than at any time since the Gilded Age. Just look at the financial statements (if you can find them) of those who sit in our current cabinet, or he who serves as the "shadow POTUS.” At first glance, there are really only 4 things that can stop the autocratic oligarchs from turning the United States into something that has only one goal: to enrich the already stinking rich and making the rest of us pay for it. What are these four entities?

The United States Congress, which currently contains a majority of invertebrates. Even if the Constitution is on their side when it comes to controlling the purse strings, without a collective spine it really doesn’t matter.
The Federal Judiciary, which of late has begun showing a bit of spine. In a 5-4 decision this past Wednesday, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined Justices Sonia Sotomayor. Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson backing a federal judge’s power to order the MUMP Regime to pay $2 billion to USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) contractors but did not require immediate payment. This was the first DOGE test for SCOTUS; they are not happy campers. As a result, MAGA extremists have targeted Justice Coney Barrett. claiming that she is a closet liberal. One conservative media personality, Mike Cernovich, posted on X. “Another DEI hire. It always ends badly.” When confirmed, she became the fifth woman to ever serve on the bench. Somehow I have my doubts about the federal courts being our saving grace. The response to Justice Barrett shows just how rattled and unprepared the right-wing marching and chowder society was for a setback. Please note: although the federal court system is potentially the “last best hope” for stopping IT and his team in their demonic tracks, it will require POTUS and his BFFs to obey the court’s ruling. Whether or not he/they will obey what the majority of the court rules is anyone’s guess.
Wall Street: We have already seen what a couple of disastrous days for the Dow Jones can do to force Felon47’s hand. Already well known for waffling, IT tabled tariffs against both Mexico and Canada after the market lost more than a thousand points and both countries announced their own tariff proposals against the USA. There is already quite a bit of talk on “the street” (a polite way of saying “among investors”) about POTUS’ economic policy vis-a-vis inflation, higher prices massive job losses. If the titans of wealth lose faith in IT, he will have to change gears. He has no concern about being accused of inconsistency; everyone on Wall Street knows who and what he is.
People Power: This is something which has always existed in America . . . sometimes more, sometimes less. It includes such obvious activities as voting and contributing money to candidates and campaigns we favor, and the broad category of “volunteerism.” This latter category includes such things as knocking on doors, making phone calls or writing postcards to voters, and of course, corresponding with your member(s) of the House and Senate. Then too, think about attending “Town Hall” meetings in which your elected officials make themselves available. Over the past several weeks, these meetings have met with such a wave of angry backlash that Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), chair of the House GOP’s campaign arm issued a stark message to the G.O.P. rank and file: Stop having in-person town halls with your constituents. Seems like something is beginning to get through. By cutting back on face-to-face meetings, Republican members of Congress are not winning any new friends . . . let alone keeping the friends they obvious have.

An Angry Crowd of Republicans at a Town Hall

Outside of ITs extreme MAGA base - which is cultic in its devotion - a growing percentage of the American public is finally beginning to catch on to his numerous character and personality flaws and utter lack of knowledge about oh so many things. Farmers in the Midwest are scared witless that his tariffs will kill their livelihood; families sitting around the kitchen table are asking why the price of eggs continues to rise despite his promise to fix it on day one. In the eyes of many, with each passing proclamation, ITs craven bullishness is becoming more and more apparent. As a result, his poll numbers - historically anemic - are dropping like a 300-pound skydiver who forgot to strap on his parachute.

Back in rabbinic school, we all had to take a course in what is called homiletics - the art and science of giving meaningful sermons. At Hebrew Union College our instructor was the delightful Lowell McCoy who, despite being an ordained Methodist minister, was, for many of us, our “favorite rabbi." He was a gentleman of the highest order and had a passion for the spoken word. The professor who filled us in on subject matter for sermons was the late Hungarian-born Eugene Mihaly, who taught both rabbinic literature and homiletics. One of the things Dr. “Mihomily” (as many generations of students called him . . . but never to his face) was that in order for a sermon to be both proper and meaningful, it had to end on a note of נחמתה (n’khem-ta) a Hebrew word meaning, roughly “consolation,” “comfort,” or “relief.”

So what in the heck does this detour have to do with this post? Just this: I’m going to take Dr. Mihomily’s advice and conclude with a bit of comfort. To wit, the situation involving a handful of brave government employees working for a largely unknown, infinitesimally-tiny agency whose annual budget - about $46 million - (which is less than 0.000022% of the $2 trillion dollars DOGE wants to eliminate from the federal budget) who bravely stood their ground against the forces of the MUSK Regime.

The agency in question is the United States African Development Foundation, whose mission is To support African-led development that grows community enterprises by providing seed capital and technical support. Over the past 5 years, USADF has invested more than $117 million directly into over 1,000 African-owned led SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), entrepreneurs, and community organizations and impacted over 7 million lives in some of the poorest countries in Africa. USADF was created by an act of Congress in 1980; its original sponsors were Senators Edward Kennedy and George McGovern, and began program operations in 1984, during the Reagan Administration. Throughout the 40+ years it has been in service it has provided financing to more than 1,700 small enterprises and community-based organizations.

This past February 25th, IT issued an executive order declaring that the “non-statutory components of functions” of USADF . . . shall be eliminated to the maximum. This past Wednesday (March 5), a couple of DOGE workers and Pete Marocco, the director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, arrived at USADF headquarters in order to get access and fire all the employees. The roughly 50 employees refused to let them inside. After about an hour of trying to enter the agency’s building, the DOGE squad left, threatening to come back the next day. But the next day did not come. On Thursday, March 6, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard j. Leon (appointed by Pres. G.W. Bush in 2002) issued an order hours after the filing of a lawsuit by the president and CEO of USADF. In his order, the judge agreed with the USAFD’s legal contention: DOGE and IT do not have the authority to shut down the agency, which was created by Congress. This ruling, and the legal basis upon which it was filed, may pave the way to keep the Regime from closing down other agencies such as the Department of Education, FEMA and the EPA.

Although a “David” of an agency in terms of size and relative influence, its 50 employees combined, through an act of resistance, to at least temporarily “slay Goliath.” If there is a G-d in Heaven (believe me, there is), their resistance should send shockwaves to all those in the United States and around the world who are afraid to turn on the news or read a headline. There is so much we can do to shut down FELON 47’s nihilists and true-believers. Keep up on what’s happening, no matter how depressing it is; always remember that together we can accomplish far more than we can a part; join your local Democratic Party club and lend support to those who make sense. And above all, remember the words of Teddy Roosevelt:

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”

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categories / The Coming Autocracy

#1,028: The Ambush

March 03, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

The art and underlying skill of diplomacy lies in being able to firmly disagree with someone or express strong opposition while still maintaining a polite and respectful demeanor. Winston Churchill (supposedly) expressed this truism best when he opined that “Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions “ I’m not so sure Winnie ever said or wrote this; he simply wasn’t that witty. One wag I am sure of is humorist, columnist, movie star (and at one time the honorary Mayor of Beverly Hills) Will Rogers, who unquestionably said “Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie,' until you can find a rock."

Historically, the best, most successful acts of diplomacy have taken place behind closed doors - often in out-of-the-way places and, in the modern age, never, ever, in front of a bank of cameras. Ever since his ride down his gilt escalator in 2015, the public has come to expect the unexpected from IT. Whether it be in what he says, how he gestures or the lies he tells, people the world over have come to take it for granted that the 47th POTUS is what Mark Twain once called “a falsehood in flesh and blood.” To say that IT is the bipolar opposite of a diplomat goes without saying . . . but say it we must.

Last Friday’s Oval Office presser with Felon47, Vantz, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was not an historic act of diplomacy taking place in a room full of cameras and reporters; it was an out-and-out ambush. Going in to the meeting, President Zelensky had hoped to secure U.S. support in any cease-fire talks with Russia. (Remember, during the 2024 campaign, IT had promised the American voting public - and indeed, the world - that he could and would bring the now 3-year old war to a close within his first 24 hours in office . . . and likely even before he took the oath of office. Instead, Zelensky’s relationship with both the president and vice-president was revealed for the entire world to see.

It was meant to be a moment of triumph for Zelensky, a change after weeks of maneuvering for an Oval Office meeting to demonstrate American backing in Europe’s longest and bloodiest war in generations. Instead, the meeting unraveled into insults. He was berated by both POTUS and VPOTUS as “disrespectful” for arguing that Russia posed a threat to Ukraine. On more than one occasion, the V.P. accused Zelensky of never having “thanked the President and the American people” for all they had given Ukraine, blamed them for starting the war against Russia . . . both obvious falsehoods. Voice rising, POTUS accused Pres. Zelensky of “gambling with World War III.”

Throughout the brief (10 minute) press conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio slouched quietly, his hands clasped and appearing stone-faced. Some commentators claimed he appeared to be “embarrassed.” And yet, early Sunday he fiercely defended ITs sharp turn against Ukraine’s leader, accusing President Zelensky of trying to derail the peace process with Russia by openly challenging the POTUS and VPOTUS. “What Zelensky did, unfortunately, is that he found every opportunity to try to ‘Ukrain-splain’ on every issue.”

During the Q&A that followed, the Ukrainian President was questioned about his choice to wear combat gear while attending a function in the Oval Office. “Why don’t you wear a suit? You’re in the highest level of this country’s office, and you refuse to wear a suit? I just want to see, do you own a suit?” Brian Glenn, a commentator for the arch-conservative Real America’s Voice (RAV) outlet asked. "A lot of Americans have problems with you respecting this office.” (It should be noted that Glenn is the boyfriend of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene). President Zelensky quickly jabbed back with a sarcastic remark. “I will wear [this] costume after the war will finish. (N.B.: he used the word “costume,” which in Ukrainian is костюм, their word for ‘suit’). “Maybe something like yours, yes, maybe something better, I don’t know, he added.

(Anyone find it odd that no conservative reporter or news outlet has questioned Elon Musk’s attire at the first Cabinet meeting of the Mump Regime? At that event he came clad in a single-breasted charcoal peacoat, which he opened wide at one point to show off the words “tech support” in large letters on a black T-shirt. His outfit was complemented by two bespoke items: a Tesla-themed Texas belt buckle and a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap. It has long been considered the height of disrespect to wear a hat in the Oval Office . . . )

It then quickly brought the gathering to an end and President Zelensky departed the Oval Office, and was driven to a military airport where he flew back to the Ukraine. Almost immediately thereafter, the marching and chowder society known as the Republican caucus began spreading verbal encomia, effusively praising and thanking the president for standing up for America. What went unspoken, of course, was that the only victor that afternoon was Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. As for the rest of America’s European allies, their leaders immediately rallied behind President Zelensky:

French President Emmanuel Macron posted: "There is an aggressor: Russia. There is a victim: Ukraine. We were right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago - and to keep doing so."
Germany's outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote that "no one wants peace more than the citizens of Ukraine", with his replacement-in-waiting Friedrich Merz adding that "we stand with Ukraine" and "we must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war".
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada "will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace".
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: "Ukraine, Spain stands with you," while his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk wrote: "Dear [Zelensky], dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone."

Whether or not the ambush of President Zelensky was preplanned or spontaneous is a question that began being asked within minutes of the actual event. Not surpassingly, the White House flatly denied any conspiracy to embarrass or humiliate Zelensky, thereby showing Vladimir Putin that he has an obsequious toady sitting in the Oval Office. If the humiliation session was spontaneous, then why did Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.-SC) tell members of the press almost immediately after the meeting when down in flames, that he had urged Zelensky earlier that morning not to “take the bait?” Did he know something? Even media pundit Geraldo Rivera weighed in on the meeting, telling viewers during his Friday appearance on NewsNation (formerly WGN), “I just could not believe what I was seeing. It’s President Trump at his worst. President Trump as an ill-mannered bully insulting a war hero. This wasn’t an Oval Office photo-op. This was an ambush,”

How much longer are we going to put up with a chief executive who seems to be a walking, breathing example of a tertiary syphilitic? How much further can America stomach a reality TV show host who will do or say anything that is on the tip of his tongue or corroding his frontal lobe? Friends, It and his cadre of changelings are causing the United States to become a laughing stock among nations . . . seemingly for the sake of several multi-billionaires’ greed, cupidity and utter corruptibility.

620 days until the 2026 midterm elections . . .

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categories / The Coming Autocracy

(#1,027): We the People

February 26, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Today, we end the 5th week (35 days) of the MUMP Regime. Yes, yes, I know, to most of you reading this post, it seems more like an eternity . . . something akin to the maleficent continuation of the Harding Administration, the one big difference being, from what I have read and learned, old Warren Gamliel, the original “America First” President, was a fairly benign gasbag with a well-developed self-deprecating sense of humor. Unlike IT, “Wurr’n” (as his wife Florence “The Duchess” called him), did not demand unswerving fealty in order to serve him; rather his cabinet and major advisors were drawn largely from his longtime twice-weekly poker circle (at which the Duchess mixed and served up the highballs). And unlike IT, Harding, the nation’s 29th POTUS, in addition to being an inveterate gambler (who was said to have lost the White House china in a single poker game), smoked and chewed tobacco, and had a bastard child (Nan Britton) who wrote a best-seller entitled President’s Daughter. Then too, when Harding quite unexpectedly died at age 58, there was a lot of speculation that his much-older wife, the aforementioned “Duchess,” had murdered him in order to save his/their reputation.

If it were not for Felon47, Warren Harding would still be considered the worst president in the history of the United States.

Getting back to IT’s first 5 weeks back in the White House:

He has all but ceded the reins of government to the non-elected multi-billionaire Elon Musk, who runs an unofficial “department” (DOGE). which owes nothing to anyone save IT and his BFF.

Managed to get his spineless U.S. Senate to approve 3 of the most unqualified people ever to serve in a presidential cabinet: RFK, Jr. at HHS; Pete Hegseth at DOD; Cash Patel as head of the FBI, (and as of this past Saturday, head of the ATF [Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives}), as well as an “unqualified henchman”, far-right podcaster Dan Bongino (who has never served in the bureau) as its next Deputy Director (the person in charge of its day-to-day operations). This marks the first time in the bureau’s 117-year history that the second-in-command post has not been held by one of its senior agents.
Unilaterally removed virtually the entire board of the Kennedy Center (including Chair David M. Rubinstein, a fellow billionaire), created a new board made up entirely of IT loyalists who then - mirabile dictu - selected him to be the center’s new chairman of the board. (n.b. It should be noted that IT has criticized past Kennedy Center programming, specifically drag performances, and vowed to reshape its cultural direction. When asked by the press, he admitted that he has never attended a single Kennedy Center event.)
Officially and unilaterally changed the name of The Gulf of Mexico to The Gulf of America (only within the couintry’s own continental shelf, which extends 22 nautical miles from the U.S. coast), thereby earning a gigantic raspberry from much of the Western world, and a threat to sue both him and Google Maps from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Ph.D., the daughter of Carlos and Annie Sheinbaum Yoselevitz.
Announced that his regime was firing 2,000 USAID workers and putting thousands of others on leave. This past Friday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected pleas in a lawsuit from USAID employees to keep temporarily blocking the government’s plan. The move escalates a monthlong administration assault on the agency that has closed its headquarters in Washington and shut down thousands of U.S. aid and development programs worldwide following an effort to freeze foreign assistance. Felon47 and his co-president/chief cost- cutter contend that the aid and development work is both “wasteful and furthers a liberal agenda.”
Following a midair collision between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter at DCA outside Washington, D.C. several weeks ago, IT, without citing a scintilla of evidence, insisted that DEI activities at the FAA under Joe Biden were to blame, and then proceeded to fire several hundred FAA employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend.
Hoisting a shiny-red chainsaw overhead while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, DOGE head Elon Musk vowed to cut between $1 trillion and $2 trillion from the annual federal budget by 2026. He even suggested that all Americans would receive a $5,000.00 check in the mail as their part of the savings. He said that in its first month of operation, the total estimated savings were $55 billion (which over the course of 12 months would be $660 billion . . . far less than the $1 to $2 trillion he had promised. Within a week, the DOGE website’s “wall of receipts” showed savings of just $7.2 billion. (n.b. If the MUMP Regime were truly, vitally, concerned about cutting out WFAA (“Waste, Fraud and Abuse”) from the federal government, wouldn’t it be one whole hell of a lot smarter to hire accountants and auditors, rather than allies and acolytes to oversee the project?)
As of February 25 - one day shy of 5 weeks - ITs approval rating on virtually every major poll shows him already underwater . . . the first time in the history of polling this has happened in a POTUS’s first month in office. Not surprisingly, Felon47 went incandescent, proclaiming the figures to be a conspiracy of lies, and rambling on Truth Social “I won the Presidential Election in a landslide, won ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, THE POPULAR VOTE, AND ALL FIFTY STATES SHIFTED REPUBLICAN, A RECORD, AND NOW I HAVE THE BEST POLLING NUMBERS I’VE EVER HAD.”
The new regime roster seems to be totally ignorant (whether truly or willfully) that firing tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of probationary federal employees in one fell swoop is going to wreak havoc with the economic multiplier. Simply stated, people without jobs and/or savings stop spending money; a lack of spending means that businesses like grocery and big box stores see a significant drop in sales, which means that they too may have to cut their personnel costs, which means more people without ready cash to make purchases. Unlike tech companies (which Musk knows best) where employee salaries and benefits are the No. 1 expense, in the federal government personnel costs make up about 4% of the entire budget. In other words, our co-presidents don’t understand Jack about how things work in the world of government.

Now mind you, all the above is but a minor, minor sampling. It is indeed monstrous to realize that America (and the world) still has 259 weeks until this regime is (G-d willing) replaced. Or, to be a bit more optimistic, 615 days and a few hours until the 2026 midterm elections - assuming they’re run on the up-and-up - can put Democrats back in charge of the House and Senate.

Many people I speak with in my travels tell me that they have pretty much stopped watching or listening to the news. It is, they say, just too painful and frightening to read or hear what the regime is doing to turn the country we love into an autocratic oligarchy . . . a country run for benefit of the super wealthy by the even wealthier. They see too much heartlessness, treachery and downright illegality - as well as the bold-as-brass undoing of America’s historic ethos of world leadership and compassion - to feel utterly powerless.

The 3 Most Important Words in Our History

Ah, but this is America; a country that belongs not to the unfathomably wealthy and corrupt, but rather, to “We the People of the United States.” These are the words which begin our most important document, the Constitution. I am beginning to see the rebirth of protest from We the People; of average citizens - Democrats and Republicans showing up at townhall forums and giving their members of Congress unshirted hell; of citizens inundating their members of the House and Senate with surface mail, email and voice messages stressing that that which is most important in their lives . . . winning reelection . . . isn’t going to happen unless they stand up and say NO YOU DON’T to the regime. (BTW: if you do not know who your member of Congress is or how to contact him/her, you can simply go to CONGRESS.GOV and find out). This Friday, Feb. 28 there will be a nationwide economic blackout organized by The People's Union USA, which describes itself as a "movement uniting citizens to reclaim power from corrupt politicians and corporations." Additionally, hundreds of people have been showing up in front of Tesla stores in order to protest Elan Musk.

Just a few hours ago, more than 20 Musk staffers resigned over DOGE’s (“Department of Government Efficiency”) “dismantling of public services.” And, in what might be a sign of things to come, Maine Governor Janet T. Mills actually defied IT right to his face, telling him that she would not accede to his executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s sports. “See you in court,” she said, while seated with a group of bipartisan governors in the White House State Dining Room.

And so, dear readers, I beg you to neither disengage from, nor abandon the office of citizen . . . the highest office in the land. We must do everything in our power to return this country to the people; to those who understand that when America is in the hands of the people, the country is healthier, safer and saner, and the whole world benefits.

We began with a paragraph about President Warren G. Harding and, for the sake of consistency, will end with him as well. As weak and unsuccessful a president as he was, he actually did more to preserve and protect the Constitution than any of our 47 chief executives. How so? He moved it (along with the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, known collectively as the “Charters of Freedom”) from a simple overflowing wooden cabinet in the State, War, and Navy Building (where they were fading) to the Library of Congress where the three documents were restored. Today, these three “Charters” have a safe and permanent home in the Rotunda of the National Archives.

Thanks President Harding: your place in history isn’t very good . . . but at least you did something positive for every American.

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categories / All Politics All the Time, The Coming Autocracy

(#1,026): It's Hard to Be An Ossoff

February 20, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Jon Ossoff, Georgia’s senior senator, is a man of many firsts: he is the first Jew ever elected to the upper chamber from the “Peach State”; he is the first millennial and first person born in the 1980s to serve in that chamber; at the time he took his oath of office (January 20, 2021), he was the youngest Democrat (33) in nearly a half century to win office (Delaware’s Joseph Biden was 30 years old when he was originally installed on January 3, 1973).

Additionally, Jon Ossoff survived one of the most overtly antisemitic senate campaigns in American history. In that election, incumbent Republican David Perdue ran a fund-raising ad which included grainy photographs of Ossoff and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is also Jewish. An article in The Forward cited graphic design experts who found that the size of Mr. Ossoff’s nose was greatly exaggerated in comparison with the original image; his proboscis appeared wider and longer, while no other facial features had been noticeably altered.

Ossoff defeated incumbent Perdue by nearly 60,000 votes (50.61%-49.39%). He was sworn into office using the Bible of Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, the late rabbi of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple in Atlanta, which was bombed in 1958 by white supremacists for Rothschild's civil rights activism. Ossoff became Bar Mitzvah at the Temple in 2000.

As a senator, Jon Ossoff has been among his party’s progressive wing. He has seats on the Judiciary (Subcommittee on the Constitution and Human Rights); Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight); served as Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations ion the 117th Congress); and Select Committee on Intelligence. He ranks in the upper third among Senators who work in bipartisan fashion. Within 2 years of his arrival in the senate, then-former POTUS IT publicly urged Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to run for Ossoff’s senate seat in 2026.

(it should be noted that Senator Ossoff is the son of a Jewish father [Richard, an attorney/publisher] whose grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century, and an Australian mother [Heather Fenton, founder of a political PAC], who was born and raised in Sidney. The future senator was raised in a small unincorporated community where there were few if any Jews. He traveled to Atlanta to take religious instruction and was formally converted before become a bar mitzvah. According to strict Orthodox Jewish law, Ossoff is not Jewish; the Reform movement considers him Jewish by means of patrilineal descent. John Ossoff is married to Alisha Kramer, an obstetrics and gynecology resident at Emory University. They were married in 2017 after 12 years of dating. They have 1 daughter who was born in 2021.)

Throughout his first 4 years in the Senate, Jon Ossoff has highlighted his Jewish identity and voted for billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel. In the 2024 presidential election Georgia gave its 16 electoral votes to #Felon47. The final tally showed his winning margin to be 115,100 votes (50.7%-48.5%). In looking ahead to 2026, Jon Ossoff knows he is going to be in one of the costliest, most competitive senate races in the country.

Last November 20, just two weeks after the presidential election, the United States Senate (still in the hands of Democrats) resoundingly rejected a series of three resolutions offered by Senator Bernie Sanders to block weapons transfers to Israel. Nonetheless, the move to curtail American support for the war in Gaza drew what the New York Times called “substantial support from Democrats, reflecting growing consternation in the party over the conflict.” . The vote showed that support for restricting Israel’s military operations had grown beyond just the most progressive lawmakers, with notably more senators joining them than in previous efforts. In his speech before the vote, Sanders (I-VT), a frequent critic of the Biden administration for continuing to support Israel militarily despite ample evidence of human rights violations in Gaza said, “You cannot condemn [human rights violations] . . . and then turn a blind eye to what the United States is now funding in Israel . . .”

The specific measures sought to block the transfer of certain tank rounds and mortar rounds and kits to turn ordinary bombs into precision-guided munitions, known as JDAMs. The vote on blocking the transfer of tank rounds failed, 18 to 79; the vote on blocking the transfer of mortar rounds failed, 19 to 78; and the vote on blocking the transfer of JDAMs failed, 17 to 80. Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin, voted present on all three.

Jon Ossoff was one of the seventeen Senate Democrats and two independents backing at least one of the three measures. After the bills went down to defeat, Ossoff defended his votes, saying: “American support for Israel’s non-negotiable right to exist and to defend itself is rock solid. Had these resolutions passed, however, perhaps Israeli politicians would have received the necessary message that has so far been disregarded, which is, ‘Yes, defend yourself. Yes, defeat your enemies,’ but have mercy for the innocent, restrain your own extremists, and respect the interests of the United States.”

These three votes - as well as the Georgia senior senator’s criticizing Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza - has put his reelection into question. Within weeks of the November 20th vote, Ossoff was being attacked in the press; at least one editorial writer called his votes ". . . not only a betrayal of his previous stance, but also an affront to the Jewish community of Georgia . . . . By failing to assist Israel in its battle to win the war, Sen. Ossoff is betraying those held captive.” What made this opinion piece (written by Harry Paul of the Libertarian Independence Institute) even more ominous was that it was published in the Jerusalem Post.

Even worse, now some of his fellow Democrats have not only turned on him - they are encouraging the most formidable Georgia Republican who could challenge him in 2026, Gov. Brian Kemp, to do just that. (n.b.: It should be noted that Gov. Kemp and #Felon47 have had a long and well-documented disaffinity for one another. Nonetheless, Kemp would make a far, stronger opponent for Jon Ossoff than M.T.G.).

Three days ago, the New York Times reported on a private mid-December letter to Governor Kemp from some of Georgia’s major political donors and Jewish community leaders. It read, in part: “Should you decide to run in the 2026 election, you would find no better friends, more loyal allies or stronger supporters than us and our community.”

This is indeed a troubling statement. But then again, American Jewish Politics has long been quite puzzling to most outsiders. For more than 110 years, American Jews have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in presidential elections. To anyone who follows American politics closely, the attachment of Jews to the Democratic Party is hardly a revelation or a state secret. It has, however, been a bit of an anomaly to many, perhaps best encapsulated by the late American sociographer Milton Himmelfarb’s tongue-in-cheek bon mot, “American Jews earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans.”

Actually, when one stops and considers, Himmelfarb’s witty comment is really not all that surprising. For most American Jews it was the Democrats who provided both a platform and series of accomplishments that best fit in with their set of core civic values. Over many years it was the Democrats who got women the right to vote; got African-Americans the right to vote; created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty; ended (despite the Southern wing of the party) segregation and passed the Civil Rights Act; created Medicare; passed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. In many Jewish eyes, much of what they saw Republicans doing was standing in opposition to every one of those programs. If there is a secular political creed attached to being Jewish can be found in the words of the sage Hillel:

אַל תִּפְרוֹשׁ מִן הַצִּבּוּר

(Ahl teef-rosh min ha-Tzebor . . . namely, “Do not separate yourself from the community.”

Over the past several years - and especially since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and Israel’s military retaliation on Gaza - an increasing number of American Jews have placed the security of the Jewish State at the top of their political issues list. The corresponding rise in anti-Semitic acts has caused many to to question “Which party is more solidly on the side of Israel, and the American Jewish community: Democrat or Republican?” I guess it all depends on to whom you ask the question. I have heard countless Republicans aver their party is far more pro-Israel; that their president is “the best friend” and “done more for Israel” than any chief executive in history. They frequently trash Democrats going on and on about “they are all the anti-Zionist, pro-Palestinian anti-Semites” and how “Liberals are socialists and socialists are communists and communists all hate Israel.”

When it comes to Israel, American Jews - the majority of whom still vote the Democratic ticket - are at sixes and sevens. While they/we love the Jewish State, have both visited and studied there, are, for the most part up on its politics, and many of us have family living there, nonetheless are in emotional, political, and verbal disagreement with Bibi Netanyahu and his war policy, and find Its proposal for an American take-over of Gaza and convincing Egypt and Jordan to give homes to approximately 2 million Palestinians risible, undoable, and just short of insane.

Senator Ossoff’s well-heeled Jewish donors are caught in this dangerous bind. By going on record as being deeply disappointed in his “turning” on Israel, they are essentially telling the world that a deeply conservative Republican like Brian Kemp – who has supported some of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, has supported efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, has sought to introduce work requirements for Medicaid recipients, and during the the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited localities from implementing stricter public health measures in his state, would be preferable to the senator due to 3 votes he cast in November 2024 and questioned Netanyahu’s war strategy.

Esther Panitch, a Democrat and Georgia’s only Jewish state legislator put the situation into a nutshell: “If Marjorie Taylor Greene is the Republican nominee, I can’t vote for her . . . [Governor] Kemp has done things I am fighting against every day (such as his signing of a six-week abortion ban) . . . but it is a different level of betray that Ossoff has committed.

In other words, a number of American Jews are willing to vote for - and donate to - conservative Republican politicians regardless of where they stand on a wide range of social, educational, economic and healthcare issues . . . just so long as they are as hawkish as hell when it comes to Israel. I have long believed that if one wants to determine who is best for Israel in a race, find out first how they stand on at least 10 non-Israel related issues . . . such as climate change and the environment, gun safety, voter equality, the role of government, the separation of Church and State . . . and on and on. Those whose positions on these issues go counter to what you believe cannot, in the long-run be "best for Israel.”

They have a platform and a playbook for changing America, American governance and American political weltanschauung. It is called Project 2025, and many of its authors and contributors now work in and for the MUMP REGIME. Many lack the basic qualifications or experience for the positions they hold save one: unswerving devotion to their leader and their leader’s BFF (aka the “Richest Man on the Planet"). Remember, this is the regime which employs many out-and-out anti-Semites and recently created (by executive order) a task force to be led by A.G. Pam Bondi to investigate and root our “anti-Christian bias” in the U.S. In announcing its formation, #Felon47 said he believes people “can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring G-d back into our lives.”

I realize that this particular blog may open me up to a lot of criticism . . .perhaps, even being accused of being a “self-hating Jew.” What the heck; I have a fairly thick skin and know myself well. I am what one might call a “traditional Jew who possesses both a social conscience and a wry, self-deprecating sense of humor. We I registered to vote in Georgia, I would gladly vote for Jon Ossoff. His occasional vote against upgrading military hardware destined for Israel doesn’t change reality; those bills were going to pass anyway. He has long known that politics ain’t for sissies.

In Yiddish, there is a statement that says plain and simply “It’s hard to be a Jew” (ס'איז שווער צו זײַן אַ ייִד - s'iz shver tsu zayn a yid). It’s difficult to understand this common expression if you’re not a MOT - a “member of the tribe.” Not because of any translational difficulty, but rather because among Jews, it is understood not as a complaint, but rather as a shoulder-shrugging lament about belonging to this ancient and most argumentative family. I’m sure Senator Ossoff heard the expression growing up and understands it in his kishkes - his innards, the home of all Jewish wisdom.

Perhaps for him and what he’s about to be going through heading into 2026, we should amend it to

עס איז שווער צו זיין אַן אָסף . . . “ Siz shver tsu zayn an OssofI “It’s hard to be an Ossoff . . . “

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categories / Religion and Politics, All Politics All the Time

(#1,025) The MUMP Regime: Defying Democracy & the Constitution?

February 10, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall (R) Giving the Oath of Office to President Andrew Jackson on March 4, 1829.

It goes without saying that many of humanity’s most profound truths are either of unknown origin or attributed to more than one - if not two or three - different philosophers, writers or sages. Take but one example . . . the old saw which teaches “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Ask a literate person who is responsible for this eternal verity and you are just as likely to hear the names Edmund Burke, George Santayana and Winston Churchill, one of the most oft-quoted polymaths of the late 19th and 20th century. I myself have come across at least 5 slightly different versions of this lesson:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who do not learn from the experience of history, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who cannot learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Yes, they are all saying pretty much the same thing, but with slightly different words. As to precisely who the original author was no one knows of a certainty. My money is on the Spanish-born American philosopher, essayist and novelist (The Last Puritan) George Santayana (1863-1952), just because he was so astonishingly sagacious.

Permit me to pair this aphorism with an historic phrase all but universally ascribed to America’s 7th president, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845). Before typing out the phrase, and getting to the up-to-the-minute meat of this post, I will give you its political background and let you know that “Old Hickory” never said it.

First its background: First its background: In September 1831, Samuel A. Worcester and others, all non-Native Americans, were indicted in the supreme court for the county of Gwinnett in the state of Georgia for "residing within the limits of the Cherokee nation without a license" and "without having taken the oath to support and defend the constitution and laws of the state of Georgia." They were indicted under an 1830 act of the Georgia legislature entitled "an act to prevent the exercise of assumed and arbitrary power by all persons, under pretext of authority from the Cherokee Indians." Among other things, Worcester argued that the state could not maintain the prosecution because the statute violated the Constitution, treaties between the United States and the Cherokee nation, and an act of Congress entitled "an act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes." Worcester was convicted and sentenced to "hard labor in the penitentiary for four years." The U.S. Supreme Court received the case on a writ of error. The case became known as Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 (1832). The question before the court was whether or not the state of Georgia had the authority to regulate the intercourse between citizens of its state and members of the Cherokee Nation.

The case was argued on February 21-23, 1832; the decision was handed down 8 days later. Writing for the court in a 4-1 decision, Chief Justice Marshall held that the Georgia act. under which Worcester was prosecuted, violated the Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States. Marshall argued, "The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community occupying its own territory in which the laws of Georgia can have no force. The whole intercourse between the United States and this nation, is, by our constitution and laws, vested in the government of the United States." The Georgia act thus interfered with the federal government's authority and was unconstitutional. Justice Henry Baldwin dissented for procedural reasons and on the merits.

According to American political mythology, upon learning of the court’s decision, President Jackson (that’s him taking the oath of office alongside Chief Justice Marshall in the painting above, defiantly bellowed “Chief Justice Marshall made his ruling; now, let’s see him enforce it!” According to Court historian Jeffrey Rosen, Jackson’s real remark was made in a letter to John Coffee, a well-known planter and state militia brigadier general in Tennessee: “. . . the decision of the Supreme Court has fell still born, and they find that they cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate.” Truth to tell, Jackson had no desire to threaten Georgia with federal forces or openly challenge the Supreme Court. “Old Hickory” solved the problem by convincing the governor of Georgia to set the defendants (who were Christian missionaries) free. Years later, journalist Horace E. Greeley, who himself would lose in a landslide (286 electoral votes to 66) to Ulysses Grant, who referred to Greeley as “a genius without an ounce of common sense.” Before running in the 1872 election, Greely published a history of the recently concluded Civil War called "The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion, in which he apparently gave the fictive quote about Justice Marshall enforcing his decision.

This bit of the past is meant to serve as prologue for the horror show that has been transpiring over the past 40 days; i.e. ever since January 20, 2025. In just his first week in office, IT signed dozens of executive orders affecting everything from immigration, climate change and oil exploration to health and medical research, as well as eliminating federal diversity programs, directives defining gender and much, much more. And this isn’t even mentioning the roughly 1,500 pardons and commutations he issued to the people he refers to as “hostages” or “true patriots” . . . the people who stormed Congress on January 6, 2021. Executive orders, despite being limited, are not all that easy to overturn. Courts can strike them down not only on the grounds that the president issuing them lacked authority to do so, but also in cases where the order is found to be unconstitutional in substance.

At this early point in the nascent MUMP Regime, when so many Americans are walking about in a collective haze, fearful that Democracy is being eroded from within, about the only positive feeling is that somehow, the Courts — our third branch of government - will step up and become our Knight (or Dame) in shining armor. And despite the Supremes having a public opinion rating just ahead of cockroaches and snails, one must be aware of how the lower courts (both federal and state) have already been responding to the most asinine promises and proposals coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In a trenchant essay by A.P. writers Chris Megerian and Lindsay Whitehurst the two journalists note, A familiar pattern has emerged since President Donald Trump returned to the White House less than three weeks ago: He makes a brash proposal, his opponents file a lawsuit and a federal judge puts the plan on hold. It’s happened with Trump’s attempts to freeze certain federal funding, undermine birthright citizenship and push out government workers.

A word to the wise: although just about every Democrat on the planet, most independents, and a majority of non-MAGA Republicans may be encouraged by the initial round of judicial resistance, the legal battles are only beginning. Lawsuits that originated in more liberal jurisdictions like Boston, Seattle and the District of Columbia could eventually find their way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where its conservative majority has time and again demonstrated its willingness to overturn precedent. To date, roughly three dozen lawsuits have already been filed, including those by FBI agents who fear they’re being purged for political reasons, families who are concerned about new limitations on healthcare for transgender youth, and the MUMP Regime’s attempt to freeze as much as $3 trillion in federal funding.

Just this past Thursday, U.,S. District Judge John Coughenour blocked ITs executive order on birthright citizenship, which was intended to prevent the children of parents who are in the country illegally from being automatically considered Americans. The judge described birthright citizenship, which was established by the 14th Amendment as “a fundamental constitutional right” and he assailed POTUS in scathing terms. On the very same day in Boston, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. put a kink in ITs plan to encourage federal workers to resign by offering them paid leave until September 2025. There is a huge judicial problem here: nowhere in the current federal budget are there the billions of dollars required to fulfill this paid leave promise . . . a promise coming from a man who has made a career of not paying bills to those who do work for him (let alone the American people). Congress - which has the sole right to craft and create a budget will not be voting on the next federal budget until October 2025. (BTW: It should be noted that Judge O’Toole, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1995, did not express an opinion on the deferred resignation program; he merely voted with the majority.)

Currently, there are also three lawsuits challenging POTUS’ effort to overhaul the civil service, stripping away job protections from tens of thousands of employees, and giving the White House unilateral firing authority if they fail to “faithfully implement administration policies,” and other lawsuits challenging the administration’s attempts to unilaterally fire a member of the National Labor Relations Board, one of several agencies that are supposed to be independent of the executive branch. A lawsuit to stop Elon Musk’s team from accessing ultra-sensitive data at the Treasury Department yielded an agreement to do so for now.

It makes one wonder if IT (or anyone in his and his BFF’s circle of twenty-something acolytes who hold in their hands the super, super secret algorithmic keys to virtually everyone’s Social Security numbers) is familiar with Worcester v Georgia. Oh perhaps a couple of them have a vague recollection of some president long ago challenging a long-forgotten Chief Justice to enforce a decision that the White House did not like. But I’ll bet you a bushel and a peck that they neither know that the president in question never uttered the words about the Chief Justice enforcing the decision, nor understand that in his own way, that president Andrew Jackson was far more interested in preserving the Constitution than in getting his way.

Nor do they likely know that during his time as POTUS, Thomas Jefferson actually disregarded a ruling (dealing with the Embargo Act of 1807, a drastic - and absurdly self-destructive - attempt to punish Great Britain for seizing American merchant ships. This legal ruling was issued by a single Supreme Court associate justice, William Johnson. (Back in the early 19th century Supreme Court Justices “rode circuit” and traveled to courts around the country to hear appeals.) Jefferson disregarded John’sons decision which rebuked the nation’s 3rd President for insinuating the doctrine of “constructive treason” - a judicial fiction that refers to actions carried out without a treasonable intent, but found to have the effect of treason. Jefferson gave up his fight, thus allowing the Constitution to retain its supremacy. Moreover, Presidents Lincoln and Grant both tried to suspend Habeas Corpus during their 16 years in office, and both suffered defeat at the hands of SCOTUS.

And let’s not forget FDR who, after suffering a number of New Deal reversals in the nation’s highest court, (most notably, AL.A. Schechter Poultry Corp v. United States . . . nicknamed the “Sick Chicken Case”) set off on his disastrous “Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937,” (known to history as his “Court Packing Plan”), which would have granted the president power to appoint an additional justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, up to a maximum of six, for every member of the court over the age of 70 years. One of FDR’s closest advisors, Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (whom FDR called "Isaiah,” for his prophetic mien) openly opposed his friend’s court packing plan; in turn, FDR considered Brandeis’ public and private pronouncements to be an act of defiance. Nonetheless, Roosevelt relented; his plan was consigned to the dustbin of history.

When it comes to democracy and the Constitution, we are indeed living in perilous times. The MUMP Regime, guided largely by ultraconservatives from the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, are doing their damndest to, in the words of Washington anti-tax salonista Grover Norquist ". . . cut government in half in twenty-five years to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." What all the MUMP loyalists seem to forget is that they - for better or for worst - are the government. Whether or not they will actually reach their goal, and turn over what is left of the federal government to the approximately 756 billionaires who are members of their club, is anyone’s guess. It strikes me that in order for them to fail, it will require Congressional Republicans growing spines, Democrats finding a positive path and purpose they can run on, and a federal judiciary that finally, finally, puts precedent over politics. And as for we, the people, we must pull on our gloves, strap up our protest boots and act in consonance with the lesson taught us by our great British cousin, Winston Churchill:

“ . . . never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to conviction of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy . . . never, never, never, never!”

And while we’re fighting the good fight, let’s never forget the lessons of history . . . lest we are forced to relive them.

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categories / American History

(#1,024): “Empathy,” “Compassion” and “Mercy” – Three Words sure to Put You on IT’s S****List

February 02, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Believe it or not, according to innumerable studies of mental health professionals, the vast majority of people rank fear of speaking in public as number one - 75% according to the National Institute of Mental Health. I know it sounds crazy, but public speaking is feared more than death itself. There’s even a name for the fear: glossophobia. It is derived from two Greek words: γλώσσα (glossa), meaning tongue and φόβος fovos), meaning fear or dread. Glossophobia affects men and women in equal numbers, although men are more likely to seek treatment for it. When queried, people suffering from this common ailment site fear of being laughed at, fear of “falling flat on their face,” and being “found out” to be an ignorant fool. Rememdies? There are, relatively speaking, few. It’s not like simply taking a dose of an antihistamine like Benadryl to ease pruritis (itching) or aspirin to ease the pain of a headache. Typically, glossophobia treatments often involve lifestyle changes, psychotherapy and medications. Short-term medications known as beta-blockers (e.g. propranolol, which should never be mixed with Benadryl) can be taken prior to a speech or presentation to block the symptoms of anxiety.

It seems counterintuitive, but even those of who regularly speak before the public - whether live or in front of a camera - can suffer from a subset of glossophobia, known as stage fright. Hollywood lore abounds with stars who have suffered from paralyzing stage fright including, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Barbara Streisand and even Lord Laurence Olivier. One of the most famous and best-documented examples is actor/comedian Carol Burnett, who is alleged to have thrown up nightly before each show.

Those lifetime public speakers and/or actors who have never suffered a minute’s worth of glossophobia (including yours truly) find it hard to understand - at least emotionally - what the other 75% go through. This is not to say that speaking in front of a “packed house” is as easy as playing chopsticks . . . especially when the speaker is also responsible for the script itself. Besides needing to possess at least a modicum of oratorical skill, those who deliver (as opposed to merely write) political speeches, academic lectures and especially, sermons, eulogies and invocations, must know what they’re writing and speaking about. . . which can call for innumerable false starts, erasures, deletions and drafts. Composing and delivering sermons, of course, is a particularly difficult artform. At their very best, they are a mixture of homily, Scriptural referencing, didacticism and frequently moral challenge. They can also on occasion get the sermonizer in hot water with many congregants or parishioners. Sermons work best when they combine empathy, sympathy, tenderness, humanity, occasionally a touch of humor and at least a dash of controversy. Take the sermon Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, delivered in front of the newly-sworn in POTUS, the First Lady, the Vice President and Second Lady at the National Cathedral the day after IT took the oath of office for the second time. This National Prayer Service is a tradition that goes back several generations.

During her sermon, Bishop Budde, the first woman to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, ignited a firestorm when she urged the newly-sworn in President to show empathy "upon the people in our country who are scared now," including immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community. "I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President," she pleaded with him, who was seated mere feet away in the first row of pews. In including immigrants among the people in our country “who are scared now,” she was speaking from personal experience, for not only has she devoted countless pastoral hours counseling and caring for members of the LGBTQ community, she herself is the daughter of an immigrant; her mother, the late Ann Bjorkman, moved to the U.S. from Sweden. married American William Edgar and eventually became a single mother raising the future Bishop.

In her sermon at the Washington National Cathedral, Bishop Budde challenged the president directly, asserting that "millions have put their trust in you."

"The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals," she told the crowd in the pews, adding that migrants are "good neighbors" who pay taxes and are also "faithful members of our churches, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara and temples."

The bishop's by now-famous talk followed #Felon47’s rollout of a series of controversial orders and policies, including his promises to deport "millions" of undocumented immigrants and his moves to end protections for transgender people. The president was. unsurprisingly, angry with Bishop Budde - a longtime progressive activist whose connection to the LGBTQ community is personal and long-standing. In 2018, she and Bishop V. Gene Robinson presided over a public ceremony at the National Cathedral to honor Matthew Shepard, a gay hate-crime victim whose ashes were interred there. In 2017, she oversaw the removal of Washington National Cathedral's stained-glass windows honoring Confederate generals, which were replaced in 2023 with windows representing the civil rights movement.

In 2020, Budde criticized the clearing of protestors from Lafayette Square for President Donald Trump's photo op during the George Floyd protests. She also delivered a benediction at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Needless to say, the newly-inaugurated POTUS was sorely aggrieved at what the Bishop had to say in her homily, took it as a personal affront, and let his MAGA followers know precisely what he thought about her. He later demanded an apology, calling the bishop a "radical Left hard line Trump hater" and "so-called bishop." "She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart," he posted on Truth Social, the platform he owns. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican, urged in a post on X that Budde be deported. The question is: to where? To New Jersey, where she was born in 1959?

I for one find it simply unfathomable that using the words “empathy, “compassion” and “mercy” in a homily can earn one an entire page on the president’s sh . .t list. How thin can be his skin; how insecure can be his soul?

It seems that every day bring yet another cretinous, grossly insensitive, fact-free comment from #Felon47. Just the other day, at his first news conference since the aircraft collision over the Potomac River, he implied that DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs were likely the cause of the crash, although an investigation into the fatal disaster has only just begun. Later that day (Thursday Jan. 30) a White House memo said the Biden administration had recruited “individuals with severe disabilities in the FAA” . . . people incapable of handling the job of air traffic controller. “A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” he added. “This was in the Obama administration.” Leave it to our newest POTUS to inject rancorous partisan political arguments at a time when empathy, unity and leadership are required.

Believe it or not, there is actually a term for making such cretinous statements in public: dontopedalogy . . . a curious word generally ascribed to the late Prince Phillip, meaning “The art and science of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth.”

Over many years, I have been honored to deliver invocations at political and medical gatherings, and opening-day ceremonies of various legislatures and even the first public luncheon for the then-”Florida Marlins” back in 1993. (I will never forget that invocation; it came the night after their first game . . . in which they had defeated my Los Angeles Dodgers by a score of 6-3, with former Dodger Charlie Hough getting the victory and future “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine going four-for-four).

I close with a piece I delivered before the Florida State Senate . . . a deeply conservative body . . . a number of years ago. Believe it or not, I did not receive a single negative response. Oh how the times have changed:

MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE:

WE CALL YOU BY A HUNDRED DIFFERENT NAMES, AND CALL UPON YOU IN A THOUSAND DIFFERENT WAYS. AND YET, WHETHER WE ADDRESS YOU AS G-D, JESUS, HA-SHEM, ALLAH, VISHNU OR YAWEH; WHETHER WE STAND, KNEEL OR FALL PROSTRATE ON THE GROUND; WHETHER WE RECITE PRAYERS THAT ARE WRITTEN FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, RIGHT TO LEFT OR TOP TO BOTTOM, WE ARE ALL, ESSENTIALLY, ADDRESSING THE ONE WHO CREATES AND SUSTAINS, WHO EXALTS AND JUDGES, WHO BLESSES AND ENABLES THAT WHICH IS BEST IN EACH OF US. THROUGH THE VERY ACT OF INVOKING YOUR NAME, WE SEEK YOUR GUIDANCE, YOUR APPROVAL, AND ABOVE ALL, YOUR STRENGTH AND BLESSING.

UNQUESTIONABLY, YOU HAVE ALREADY BESTOWED MANIFOLD BLESSINGS UPON THE MEMBERS OF THIS AUGUST LEGISLATIVE BODY – BLESSINGS THAT HAVE PERMITTED THEM TO BECOME LEADERS IN THIS GREAT STATE. WE PRAY THAT THEY BE EVER MINDFUL OF THE AWESOME RESONSIBLITY THAT COMES FROM BEING SO ENGIFTED; THAT THEY CONSTANTLY PAUSE TO REFLECT UPON THE VERY NATURE OF COMMUNAL RESPONSIBILTY. MAY THEY KEEP UPPERMOST IN THEIR HEARTS AND MINDS THE MOST BASIC AND PURPOSIVE REASONS WHY THEY ARE HERE: TO FEED THE HUNGRY AND CLOTHE THE NAKED; TO EXERCISE STEWARDSHIP OVER ALL THE NATURAL GLORIES THAT YOU HAVE CREATED; TO EDUCATE, TO ELEVATE AND TO ADVOCATE.

MAY WE, WHO HAVE BEEN GIVEN SO MANY BLESSINGS, BE EVER COGNIZANT OF THE FACT THAT MANY PATHS CAN LEAD TO THE SAME DESTINATION. MAY THESE MEN AND WOMEN – THEY WHO CALL EACH OTHER “HONORABLE” AND “DISTINGUISHED” – REALISE THAT YOU, DEAR G-D, HAVE GIVEN US TWO EARS WITH WHICH TO HEAR AND BUT ONE MOUTH WITH WHICH TO SPEAK. MAY ALL OF US UNDERSTAND THAT ALTHOUGH THERE ARE UNDOUBTEDLY MANY PATHS TO THE GATES OF GLORY, THERE IS BUT ONE GATEKEEPER – YOU AND YOU ALONE.

MAY YOU BLESS US AND KEEP US.

MAY YOU CAUSE YOUR GREAT COUNTENANCE TO SHINE UPON US AND BE GRACIOUS UNTO US.

MAY YOU LIFT UP THE LIGHT OF YOUR COUNTENACE AND GRANT US THE MOST PRECIOUS OF ALL YOUR ABUNDANT BLESSINGS – THE BLESSING OF PEACE.

AMEN

Now, more than ever, we must call out the callous words, the cruel names, the all but total lack of empathy, compassion and mercy being shown on the part of our supposed leader. We have bid a tearful farewell to one of the most decent men ever to occupy the Oval Office, Jimmy Carter. Although likely not our best president, no one has ever been able to hold a candle to his humanity, his love of people, and of G-d. He followed the admonition to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d” better than anyone else in our history. He turned his beliefs into action and actually made the world a better place. Will the same ever be said of #Felon47? Unless and until he gets his foot out of his mouth and learns that the first person also has a plural . . . the chances are absolutely none . . . and even less than that.

In the words of King David’s lament (2 Samuel 1:19) אֵ֖יךְ נָֽפְל֥וּ גִבּוֹרִֽים “How the mighty have fallen!”

To remind a leader of the necessity of exercising empathy, compassion and mercy should never, ever be taken as an insult . . . it is a gift from on high.

It’s time to take your foot out of your mouth and start acting like a human being.

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1,023: That Was the Week That Was

January 27, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

On November 10, 1963, NBC began airing one of the granddaddies of all satires on the news. Based on a BBC-produced program which was a huge hit across the pond, it was called That Was the Week That Was. Both were created and starred the future interviewer par excellence Sir David Frost. The American version - which only aired until May 1965, was, to say the least, an acquired taste. But what a delicious taste it was! Long, long before Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, The Daily Show starring John Stewart, The Colbert Report or Late Night With Seth Meyers, there was the show affectionately called TW3.

It’s pilot featured Henry Fonda and Henry Morgan, with Mike Nichols and Elaine May as guests, and supporting performers including Gene Hackman. The recurring cast included Frost, Morgan, Buck Henry, Tom Bosley, Bob Dishy, Mort Sahl, and Alan Alda, with Nancy Ames singing an opening news-satire-song. The writing staff wasn’t too shabby either; it included such clever brainiacs as Gloria Steinem, Sol Turtletaub, and the irrepressible Calvin Trillin. It’s music was handled by one of the greatest satirists of all time, Harvard Math Professor Tom Lehr (“It is a sobering thought to consider that when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was my age, he had been dead for 2 years.”)

This is not meant to be a piece on a classic television comedy. If it were, I would be posting it on my other blog, Tales From Hollywood & Vine. Rather, I begin in this fashion because we are about to conclude the first week (168 hours) of the MUMP Regime. And what a breathless, mind-numbing and, to be perfectly honest, horrifying week its been. For nearly a century, the measure of a new presidential administration has been “The first hundred days.” With the advent of IT.2, it would now seem to be the first 168 hours. And so, let us present, with some specificity of detail, what that week has entailed . . . . the first of a possible 208 weeks of the strangest, silliest and g-d help us all, most sinister time in American history.

Presidential actions can take different forms, including executive orders, memoranda and proclamations. Pardons and other acts of clemency — of which Trump issued hundreds in his first days in office, most related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — are not executive orders.

Let us note here: An executive order is an official document issued by the U.S. president that shapes the way federal government operates and sends a message as to the president's top priorities in office. It is not a piece of legislation, and it does not require approval from Congress. The only way to overturn an executive order is through another executive order — Trump revoked dozens of Biden's executive orders on Jan. 20. Historically, however, Congress has challenged executive orders and can also delay an order from taking effect, such as by removing funding.

That following are executive orders issued by IT on January 24, 2025,

BORDER SECURITY, CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION

Clarify the military's role in protecting national borders; have the secretary of defense revise a plan to "seal" the borders and "repel forms of invasion."

Designate cartels and other organizations, such as TdA and MS-13, as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.
End birthright U.S. citizenship of children born in the country when neither parent is a citizen or legal permanent resident.
Enhance vetting and screening across agencies during the visa-issuance process.
Ensure the federal government upholds existing immigration laws.
Pause entry into the U.S. of refugees under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program until the program is "realigned" with the interests of the U.S., given a "lack of ability to absorb large numbers of migrants."
Secure U.S. borders, such as with a physical wall.

DIVERSITY AND GENDER

End all "diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility" programs in the federal government, "under whatever name they appear."

Prevent hiring in the federal government on the basis of race, gender or religion, and instead base hiring on "merit, practical skill, and dedication to our Constitution."
Recognize only two sexes at the federal level of government, male and female.

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Declare a national energy emergency.

Expand the use of American energy resources; for example, encourage energy exploration and production and end programs that promote electric vehicles over those with gasoline engines.
Open Alaska to increased oil and gas drilling.
Put the U.S. first in environmental agreements, including by withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.

FEDERALWORKFORCE AND GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS

End the "weaponization of the federal government," meaning the alleged use of the government's legal force and intelligence against its perceived political opponents. The attorney general will conduct a review of the federal government since 2021 to identify such instances.

Establish the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Hold former government officials accountable for alleged election interference and improper disclosure of sensitive governmental information, such as relating to Hunter Biden's laptop and a memoir by former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Restore freedom of speech and end federal censorship by preventing federal government employees from abridging citizens' First Amendment rights, ensuring no taxpayer money is spent on such efforts and correcting past misconduct by the federal government related to censorship of protected speech.
Revive a category of career federal employees — previously known as "Schedule F" — that makes them easier to hire and fire in order to "restore accountability" to the federal workforce. IT issued a similar order late in his first term, and Biden rescinded it shortly after his inauguration in 2021.

FOREIGN POLICY

Bring the Department of State in line with an "America First" foreign policy.

Designate Ansar Allah, more commonly known as "Houthis," as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Pause foreign development assistance funds in order to asses alignment with U.S. foreign policy.
Withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization.

TECHNOLOGY

Create a plan for the U.S. to "sustain and enhance" global artificial intelligence dominance and develop AI systems "free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas." The order also revokes certain existing AI policies and directives that "act as barriers to American AI innovation," but these policies and directives are not named.

Delay a ban of TikTok for 75 days, starting on Jan. 20.
Expand access to the digital asset industry, including blockchain technology, for citizens and the private sector by establishing a regulatory framework for issuing and operating digital assets. The order also revokes a Biden executive order titled "Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets" and the Treasury's "Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets." It should be noted that both Donald and Melania Trump now have their own crypto coins ($TRUMP). It speaks to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have more than $50 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 48 hours previously. How long it takes for this to come before the federal court as a conflict-of-interest is anyone’s guess.

misc.

Declassify the records concerning the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reinstate the name Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, which has officially been recognized as Denali since 2015, and change the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America."
Restore the death penalty in federal cases and ensure states that impose capital punishment have a "sufficient supply" of lethal-injection materials.
Revoke 78 of Biden's executive orders and memorandums. Notable examples are his efforts to lower prescription drug prices, eliminate privately operated criminal detention facilities and advance racial equity.

Not making this list is a call placed from Air Force One to King Abdullah of Jordan early Saturday morning “suggesting” that both Jordan and Egypt take in more Palestinians. This raises new questions about U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and two of its most important allies in the Middle East. The President’s comments appear to echo the wishes of the Israeli far right that Palestinians be encouraged to leave Gaza – an idea that goes to the heart of Palestinian fears that they will be driven from their remaining homelands, and one that is likely to be roundly rejected by Egypt and Jordan. (As of this writing, IT has yet to speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

And so, that, in a huge nutshell, was the week that was. It is daunting, gloomy and downright horrifying to consider what the second week will be like. And this is not even to mention that IT’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, whose baggage includes charges of alcoholism, support for extremist Christian views (including a belief in “sphere sovereignty,” which promotes Old Testament laws and patriarchal structures) has been approved by the Senate by a vote of 51-50. It not only shows how little IT cares about who runs the American military industrial complex, but how very weak-kneed and accommodating the Republican caucus is in the Senate; they are petrified that if they vote against their president, that their president with primary them. You tell me: is any job that pays $174,000.00 worth that much damage to one’s soul . . . presuming that one possesses a soul?

Of late, I have been receiving emails from readers wondering if I’m at all afraid of being labeled an “enemy of the state” for all my years of writing biting, satirical and occasionally downright disagreeable essays about the current POTUS. My answer is always the same: “I’m too busy to be worried. If there comes a day when I hear that ‘knock on the door,’ I’ll answer it and take it from there.” You’ve got to understand, as a Hollywood Brat I lived through the Blacklist and know that a strong set of beliefs and an ethical core are more powerful than a gloved fist. I also receive a different kind of email: those who write warning me that “you’re going to get what you deserve.” I don’t respond to them. But if I did, I would likely draw further wrath by explaining that “what I deserve is good health for me, my wife, our family and friends, and the ability to continue doing what I have always done . . . getting into good trouble.”

When Erica and I were really young, our Grannie Annie, the mistress of a million million Afghans, used to put us to bed at night by reading poetry. Her favorites were Lord Byron, Keats, Shelly and an American poet named Frank Lebby Stanton. He couldn’t hold a candle to Byron, but was easier to understand. My favorite of his pieces was called Keep A-Goin’! and has shaped my Weltanschauung (worldview) for more easily more than 70 years:

Ef you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin'!
Ef it hails, or ef it snows,
Keep a-goin!
'Taint no use to sit an' whine,
When the fish ain't on yer line;
Bait yer hook an' keep a-tryin'—
Keep a-goin'!

When the weather kills yer crop,
Keep a-goin'!
When you tumble from the top,
Keep a-goin'!
S'pose you're out of every dime,
Bein' so ain't any crime;
Tell the world you're feelin' prime—
Keep a-goin'!

When it looks like all is up,
Keep a-goin'!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
Keep a-goin'!
See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like sighin' sing -
Keep a-goin'!

That was the week that was . . . what in the world will week two bring?

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categories / All Politics All the Time

#1,022: "Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan"

January 25, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Within literally 2 minutes of word being released that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a Gaza ceasefire deal, I posted both a headline and a link to that effect on my Facebook page. Within a couple of minutes, a fellow I’ve known down here in South Florida for more than 40 years . . . and never really discussed politics with for reasons which will quickly become obvious . . . posted a 2-word response: “Thank Trump.” I quickly answered in 2 words “Thanks, no.”

The fellow responded to my answer in 6 words: “He threatened them and meant it.” Not being able to sit still, I wrote him back: “You give him far, far too much credit. It's Biden and his State Department that have been working on this for over a year.” My friend in turn wrote “You’ve got to be kidding! A Year !!?? The only thing Hamas or Iran types fear is force. Trump made it very clear after he was elected that if these lunatics didn’t release the American hostages ( assuming they are alive) by the time he took office they would pay a terrible price. If you think they are agreeing to release them a week before he takes office is a coincidence then you don’t understand how they see the world.”

At this point, not wishing to violate what I’ve been telling my university students for nearly 30 years (Don’t beat your head against a wall, engaging in political arguments with people who will never change their mind . . . unless you’re in love with migraine headaches”), I broke off the Facebook conversation. But this was by no means the end of the “Trump-was-solely-responsible-Biden-didn’t-accomplish-Jack-your’re-full-of-it-and you’re-a-liberal-no-nothing” back and forth.

As luck would have it, one of the “Hollywood Brats” (a second generation Property Manager) who was a mainstay of our temple youth group 60 years ago, took up the cudgels for his skinny friend and wouldn’t give an inch. This Hollywood Brat is a mountain of a man . . . easily the biggest of our crowd. He looks like the epitome of a hardcore jock (well, he does play a lot of golf) but is really a very bright and literate fellow. After about 30 back-and-forth postings, both men gave up the fight. I managed to call my “Brat” friend, thanked him for his staunch efforts, told him I would be writing this blog, and promised to safeguard his anonymity (except for others of our clique who will instantly know who I am writing about).

It should come as no surprise that Felon #47 and his staunchest loyalists firmly believe that a single, conning narcissist could pull off the ceasefire almost single-handedly because he is both lethally fearsome and the world’s best negotiator. Sorry to say, but this is simply not the way diplomacy works. It is a terribly difficult artform; some have even earned advanced degrees in it, from places like Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins and the “Rolls Royce” of such institutions, the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University. Diplomatic successes do not occur overnight, which is what IT has tried to convince the public about . . . that he did not become involved in achieving the cease fire until the day after he won the 2025 election . . . an election in which nearly 36% of the American voting public did not cast ballots. To hear him tell it, the reason why the ceasefire took less than 2 months to achieve is because he put fear in the hearts and minds of those he faced, and is the world’s best negotiator. Again, this is simply not how diplomacy succeeds.

How can I put this? Well, consider an algae (which is neither bacteria nor plant but an aquatic photosynthetic organism) doubles in size in less than 24 hours. It begins life in, say Lake Michigan, as a teeny-tiny organism which cannot be seen without a microscope. Now, let’s say it takes 20 years to become visible to the naked eye. How long would it take to completely fill the lake’s 22,300 square miles? Believe it or not, if left unabated, less than 4 months. To those who pay no attention, it would seem that the lake was overtaken by this organism in a short span of time; to those who know something about microbiology, it took over 20 years. This, in a sense, is how a successful act of diplomacy works; it seems to happen overnight, but actually takes a lot of time and many starts and stops before it happens “overnight.”

Reportage on the Biden Administration’s initial efforts to patch together a ceasefire came as early as January 21st of last year. The first article published in the New York Times on January 21st, 2024 informed readers that the President and Sec. of State Anthony Blinken (who had already made several clandestine trips to the Middle East) were sending Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk to meet with Egyptian and Qatari leaders “in hopes of making progress toward freeing captives held by Hamas.” This was likely the first time anyone outside of the White House, “Foggy Bottom” (which is the nickname for the State Department) or Capitol Hill had ever heard the name “McGurk.” He is a longtime diplomat who has served first as the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant under Presidents Obama and Trump, who kept him on. He resigned this position during the first Trump Administration after 45’s October 2019 withdrawal from Syria, which McGurk had strongly warned against doing. Biden brought him back at the beginning of his administration and created a new position for McGurk: National Security Council for the Middle East and North Africa. He is well-schooled in the politics, culture and historical difficulties of the Middle East. Over the past year, occasionally accompanied by C.I.A. director William J. Burns, he has been on the road dealing with the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, Egypt and 5 of the 7 Gulf Coast Emirates (UAE, comprised of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah and Ras al Khalman). Not universally loved or appreciated by more progressive members of the Democratic caucus on Capitol Hill (they say he doesn’t place human rights at the top of his agenda) he is widely acknowledged for knowing the politics, the people and the political psychology of Middle Eastern leaders.

Unlike Secretary McGurk’s years of diplomatic experience, the incoming administration’s Middle East representative, Steve Witkoff boasts no such credentials, but rather is a longtime (more than 4 decades) IT friend, business associate and golfing buddy. Like his pal, Witkoff and Jared Kusher’s father Charles (who, if approved will be America’s next Ambassador to France) Witkoff is a multi-billionaire property developer and investor. Like Jared, much of Witkoff’s investment capital comes from the Saudi’s and members of the U.A.E.

In addition to his business style and personal interests in the Middle East, Witkoff reportedly shares ITs brash personality. As an example, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Witkoff called from Qatar to tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aides that he would be coming to Israel the following afternoon in order to finalize the ceasefire deal, but was told by aides that the Israeli leader could not be disturbed during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. Witkoff, who is Jewish himself, responded “in salty English”, saying that he did not care what day it was. Netanyahu obliged. Whether or not this is 100% accurate is immaterial; the contretemps is already a part of the story that will be told for generations as yet unborn . . .

In the final days of ceasefire talks it came down to a triumvirate: McGurk (representing the Biden Administration and the State Department), Witkoff (representing the incoming administration and himself) and the Qatari P.M. (and chairman of the Board of “Aspire” – the Qatari Investment Company) Sheik Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Behind the scenes – and located on various floors of the prime minister’s palatial compound close to the old market in downtown Doha – were, among others, representatives of Egypt, Israel and Hamas. Unwilling to meet face-to-face with either the American or Israeli delegation, the people representing Hamas had negotiation “talking points” hand delivered to their rooms.

Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, Netanyahu and his far-right nationalist war cabinet were venting, accusing and threatening to leave his coalition if he took pen to paper and agreed to any ceasefire. In other words, they were holding Bibi’s feet to the fire; without their continuing membership in his coalition, his job (and very freedom) could be at stake. It is difficult to know what deal they reached in order for the Israeli P.M. to sign on to the agreement without losing his parliamentary majority . . . a tall order, to say the least. As of yesterday, far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, did resign from the cabinet and encouraged like-minded parliamentarians to do the same, which could potentially force yet another “early election.”

It is far too early to know if the ceasefire will be worth the paper (sans handshakes) it’s written on. The first stage, if all goes according to plan (which rarely happens in the Middle East) is for a six-week cessation to hostilities. During that time, hostages and prisoners are scheduled to be freed; the precise number on both sides has been a point of contention since day one. During the ceasefire, upwards of 600 daily trucks of food, medicines and supplies will be delivered into Gaza, as the world’s economic powerhouses begin working on how the area will be rebuilt — how much it will cost, who will do the building, in what order will structures be constructed and how to keep graft and corruption to a minimum. All of this must be negotiated under a new American administration whose initial concern back home is the deportation of millions of illegal residents, getting a cabinet approved, and instituting a system of tariffs, not seen since the disastrous days of the Fordney-McCumber Act passed during the Harding Administration in 1922.

Unquestionably Bibi Netanyahu has given a pre-Inauguration gift to the man who will take the presidential oath of office later today. I fear, however, that it may well turn out to be a gift that will turn out to be as stable as mercury. Yes, Bibi has given Felon #47 the ability to boast that he - and he alone - was responsible for the ceasefire. At the same time President Biden has taken a quiet, gentlemanly share of the credit. It will be up to future historians to determine precisely who was most responsible for the Gaza ceasefire and, depending on whether it holds for even the initial 6-week period, whose fingerprints are the clearest. If the ceasefire manages to work and change the face of history, let everyone take a bow; if, alas, it falls apart, all we will hear or see is the sound of silence and the pointing of fingers.

For, as either JFK, Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano or the Roman historian and politician Tacitus said: Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan. (JKF supposedly said this after the utter failure of the Bay of Pigs fiasco); to Tacitus (56-120 CE) goes the original: Iniquum est hoc de bello; victoria ab omnibus petitur, non uni soli,” namely, “This is an unfair thing about war: victory is claimed by all, failure to one alone.”

Let us pray it will a victory for the many.

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categories / The Middle East

#1,021: Where There's Fire, There's Smoke & Mirrors

January 12, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

For nearly a week, my heart has been breaking, my soul in turmoil and my kishkes (Yiddish for “guts”) twisted into painful knots because of the many wildfires ravaging Los Angeles County. My sister Erica and brother-in-law Bob are longtime residents of West Hills (formerly Canoga Park) where they had been under an evacuation warning for 24+ hours, which was upgraded to an order on Thursday. They fled to Redondo Beach, about 40 miles to the Southeast via the 405 (we natives call it the San Diego Freeway) where they spent a couple of hours, had pizza with family, and then returned back home; turns out the order had been the likely result of a computer glitch. They, along with Madam’s longtime companion Fred, live on the very border of the “Kenneth” fire, centered in Calabasas, just down the hill, on the other side of the 101 (which natives call the Ventura Freeway). As of 7:00 this morning (PST) the Kenneth, fire is fully contained. Thank god! It is currently being investigated as an act of arson. Before containment, it burned 1,052 acres of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Meanwhile, The Palisades fire between Santa Monica and Malibu on the city’s western flank and the Eaton fire in the east near Pasadena, already rank as the most destructive in L.A.’s history, consuming more than 34,000 acres as well as many homes of celebrities, with the Palisades Fire just 11% contained and the Eaton Fire 27% contained as of today (1/12/2025) at 1:06 EST. As of 6 hours ago, the death toll has risen to 16 with more than 12,000 structures (both homes and businesses) burned to the ground. Among the celebrities losing their homes in the Palisades fire (where homes list for more than $3 million) are actors Jeff Bridges, Mel Gibson, Rosie O’Donnell, Candy Spelling, Adam Brody, James Woods, Billy Crystal, Sir Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman and Paris Hilton.

Among the historic landmarks destroyed in both the Palisades and Eaton fires were:

Palisades Charter High School, featured in movies like “Teen Wolf,” “Carrie” and “Freaky Friday,” was damaged by the Palisades Fire, including classrooms, bungalows, tennis courts and the school’s baseball field, a Los Angeles Unified School District official told the New York Times.

Several structures at the Will Rogers State Historic Park, a 300-acre property once owned by former actor Will Rogers until he died in 1935, were destroyed in the Palisades Fire, including Rogers’ former home, according to California State Parks.

The Getty Villa, a museum near the Pacific Coast Highway featuring Greek and Roman art and antiquities, said it would remain closed through at least Monday and is still “safe and intact,” though trees and vegetation at the museum had reportedly burned.

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, founded in the early 20th century, told congregants its buildings were lost to the fire, though the facility’s Torah scrolls were safe, officials said.

The first monster conflagration I ever experienced up close and personal began on November 5, 1961: the Bel Air Fire. Beginning as a brush fire, it destroyed nearly 500 houses in the hillside enclave in less than 3 days, including the homes of Burt Lancaster, Zsa Zsa Gabor, comedian Joe E. Brown, composer Lukas Foss and writer Aldous Huxley. I remember the flames flaring up skyward and feeling like the world was coming to an end. I followed it as closely as possible on my transistor radio and the old Los Angeles Mirror. Reliving those hellish days the one thing I do not recall was anyone blaming the city council, then-Mayor Sam Yorty, or Governor Edmund G. "Pat” Brown for the disaster. In a sense, you could say that while there was plenty of fire, there was hardly any "smoke” . . . a word which can also mean obfuscation, as in “smoke and mirrors.”

As compared to the Bel Air fire of 1961 which, until this week was the worst in L.A. history, the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and other wildfires of 2025 have far, far more smoke. The picture adorning the first paragraph of this post is an AI-generated lie. Despite what you see I am delighted to say that the “Hollywood” sign has not burned down; it has been, however, cloaked in smoke. (N.B. if you’re looking to check whether an online image is fake or AL-generated, you can use the Google Reverse Image Search Tool to find the origin of the image or whether it has been edited.)

Why in the world would anyone post such an utter falsehood as that sign being enveloped in flames? So far as I can tell, it serves to prove a political point: to wit, that G-d is the source of the wildfires; CO (my pronoun for the Divine) is punishing all those immoral, "woke-loving,” DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) - pushing sensualists in Southern California for inducing “true believers” to turn their backs on the Divine.

Over the past several days, IT, the once and future POTUS, has been blowing smoke by the megaton. He has blamed the wildfires on California Governor Gavin Newsom (whom he now refers to "Newscum”) for failure to contain the fires and claimed he had blocked an infusion of water to SOCAL (our shorthand for "Southern Calif”) over concerns about how it would affect a threatened fish species. The precise wording of his “Truth Social” online rant was: Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.

Governor Newsom’s press office responded by saying in a statement that the “water restoration declaration” that Mr. Trump had accused him of not signing did not exist. The response continued, “The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.” the statement said, and then continued, The rhetoric is very familiar, it’s increasingly acute, and obviously we all have reason to be concerned about.” Newsom added that Trump’s assertions about a state water project and the delta smelt were a “salad, it’s the form and substance of a fog, it’s made-up, it’s delusional”.

IT has yet to respond to the governor’s invitation to visit SOCAL and get a first-hand look at the devastation. There is also grave concern as to whether or not he will cancel President Biden’s release of FEMA funds and personnel. This is no idle fear. Yesterday, Ohio Republican congressman Warren Davidson said that aid should be withheld from California until the state reforms its forestry management.

As for Governor Newsom, 6 hours ago, he issued an executive order to suspend permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act to allow victims of the recent fires to restore their homes and businesses faster. And just yesterday, Governor Newsom announced on his Facebook page that “California is preventing insurance companies from canceling or not renewing home coverage for LA wildfire victims in affected zip codes over the next year. Whether homeowners have suffered a loss or not, we're alleviating the stress of finding new insurance during these times.”

It really wasn’t all that long ago when a national disaster - a devastating hurricane or earthquake, the unimaginable tragedy of 9/11 - brought the nation together; a time when the American people’s “higher angels” managed to make us all proud despite our tears and grief. Tragically, this is no longer the case . . . at least for now. So long as we have so-called “leaders” whose preference is for an uppercut and a rabbit punch (as opposed to an open hand and a hug) we will find ourselves incapable of acting in the spirit of America - e pluribus unum (Latin for “out of many, one” - at our times of greatest need. But what can you expect when the "leader” of the moment is guided by another Latinism: falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus:, e.g. “false in one thing, false in everything.”

For those who wish to make a contribution to the people of California who have lost so much, might I suggest a donation to Americares, which has the highest possible rating at the Charity Navigator website.

To hell with עשן ומראות - “smoke and mirrors.” What we need now - more than ever - is חסד ואמת - “loving kindness and truth.”

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categories / Conspiracies, Climate Change

#1,020: Whatever Became Of the Truth?

January 06, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

Once upon a time there were newscasters like Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, and David Brinkley - solid experienced journalists - who were unimpeachable sources of broadcast truth. What news they broadcast 5 nights a week was rarely - if ever - questioned; they were the voices of truth, reason and Mt. Sinai. Those who did not like what they were hearing - about the war in Vietnam, racial relations or the economy to name but three - did not question the veracity of their reportage . . . but merely the painful reality of the times. This is no longer the case.

The heirs of newscasters/journalists like Cronkite, Chancellor and Brinkley (among others) are no longer bound by what may be called “the truth,” but rather by what their corporate sponsors wish the public to see, hear and believe. And when it comes to the news-gathering public, it would seem that most seek those who broadcast what they want to hear or already believe, as opposed to those of us who are doing our darndest to learn what in the hell is really going on. Print media, I am sorry to say, is largely in the same creaky boat. When billionaire publishers of newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post can, at the last moment, decide not to endorse a presidential candidate (Kamala Harris) for fear that they might be on ITs bad side should he be elected, is more than an act of craven cowardice; it is an egregious betrayal of journalistic integrity.

Precisely 2 weeks from today, the 47th POTUS will take the oath of office. One can make book on the White House Office of Communications announcing that the gathered crowd was in the millions . . . far larger than any gathering since Moses descended from Mt. Sinai, Tablets in hand. Of course, the crowd size will be exaggerated to the point of being an outright, obvious lie, which is only fair, considering that IT won the election on the basis of a long, long string of lies. To have heard him tell it during - and even after - the campaign, “He is,” in the words of New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker “ . . . about to take over a nation ravaged by crisis, a desolate hellscape of crime, chaos and economic hardship.” Indeed, just the other day, IT declared on social media “Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World! This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective and virtually nonexistent leadership. . . . The USA is breaking down - A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation. Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it.”

This is, of course, pure nonsense. By many traditional metrics, the America that the MUMP Regime inherits from President Biden 2 weeks from today is actually in far better shape than that bequeathed to any newly elected president since George W. Bush moved into the White House on January 20, 2001. For the first time in nearly a quarter century, there will be no American troops at war overseas. New data reported in the last few days indicate that murders are way down, illegal immigration at the southern border has fallen even below than where it was when IT left office, and roaring stock markets, finished their best two years in the past quarter century.

Moreover, jobs are up, wages are rising and the economy is growing as fast as it did during ITs presidency. Unemployment is as low as it was just before the Covid-19 pandemic and near its historic best. And to top it all off, the United States is producing more oil and natural gas today than ever before . . . and far more than any other country. These are all facts - the truth - which can be verified if only:

One is willing to do a bit of research . . . which not everyone is willing or capable of doing;
One doesn’t mistrust anything that comes from a source they’ve been convinced is part of a conspiracy whose sole purpose is disproving whatever their MAGA leader says, and
One accepts the fact that there is such a thing as the truth.

It goes without saying that for many Americans all these positive trends have yet to make a difference in their daily lives; consequently, they firmly believe that Biden and his team are talking through their hats. For in reality, these naysayers do, in the main, live from paycheck-to-paycheck, carry high credit card debt, cannot afford to buy a home, remember when gas prices were under $2.00 a gallon (March of 2020, during the Obama Administration), can read you line and verse about how both inflation and prices for such staples as eggs, milk and meat are all far too high (actually, the rate of inflation has returned close to normal), and on and on. In short, they swallow much - if not all - of what IT endlessly ragged on about during the campaign, and concluded the race by saying that he had scored one of the largest victories in history. (For those who care to check, the final vote showed It receiving 49.8% of the vote (77,303,428) to V.P. Harris’ 48.3% (75,018,929 votes) . . . hardly a crushing victory.

If history repeats itself, we can expect to see the 47th POTUS continue to tear into his predecessor’s record of doing nothing, of pardoning his son Hunter, and of being a doddering old fool. As time goes by, he will make fewer and fewer promises (except renewing his gift-wrapped 2017 tax cut to the execrably hyper wealthy), and assert in no uncertain terms that what the public may perceive as failures, is really the fault of ultra-liberal, communistic collaborators. He will, in turn, have any number of “Come to Jesus” moments when he learns that no one can deport 12-20 million illegals (tons of whom have lived in this country for decades . . . many working at Mar-a-Lago) all in one fell swoop. Who’s going to pay for it? Who’s going to hire the busses, planes, trains and ships? Similarly, one man cannot simply shut down FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. and all that entails with a simple performative utterance.

Indeed, it’s going to be hard enough for IT to get many of his cabinet nominees approved by the United States Senate. As deeply conservative as the new Majority Leader - South Dakota’s John Thune – may be, he is both affable and an institutionalist. As Senate Minority Leader, Thune was one of the few Republicans in that chamber who acknowledged Joe Biden’s 2020 win, telling reporters, “At some point you have to face the music.” During Biden’s presidency, Thune voted with Biden 35 percent of the time, which placed him in the top half of GOP senators who have voted in support of some of Biden's policy priorities.

Just how long IT and his loyalists are going to be able to bend reality and truth to fit their agenda is anyone’s guess. Convincing so many Americans that two-times-two isn’t necessarily the truth is both highly dangerous and the mark of a dictator-in-the-making. It brings to mind a quote by the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky who, in one of his earliest (and most difficult) novels, Notes From the Underground, (written in reaction to Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s appallingly bad ideological novel What Is to Be Done? (1863), put into the mouth of his anonymous narrator the following simple piece of insolence:

Twice two makes four is a pert coxcomb who stands with arms akimbo barring your path and spitting. I admit that twice two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too.

This bit of sarcastic wisdom has stayed with me for nearly 60 years. Indeed, I typed out the quote, and hung it on my dorm room door a long, long time ago.

There are those who find health in seeking the truth; there are others who make a living convincing others that there is no objective truth . . .

G-d help us all!

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categories / All Politics All the Time

#1,019: The Mump Regime

December 24, 2024 / Kurt F. Stone

Timothy Snyder, the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University, is without question, one of the most profoundly important thinkers of our time. The author of a dozen books, including such seminal works as On Tyranny, Our Malady, Black Earth, and his latest, On Freedom, Dr. Snyder (who earned his PhD at Oxford), is a polymath: an expert in diverse fields. His books, monographs and essays deal with both medieval and modern European history, the underpinnings of the Holocaust, the rise of American authoritarianism and healthcare in America. He speaks five and reads ten European languages, and is one of the few American intellectuals to be named a permanent fellow at Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, the “Institute for Human Sciences” in Vienna.

I owe the title of this blog, The Mump Regime, to Professor Snyder. It comes from a piece he wrote for his own blog, Thinking About . . . Just as I had, within the past year, searched for a new epithet-cum-nickname for the once-and-future POTUS (IT), he had been looking for a term to use in place of “The Trump Administration.” In paying close attention to the implied threats and actions of the president-elect and his current BFF, Elon Musk (AKA “The richest man on the planet” TRMOTP), Prof. Snyder concluded that Musk just might do more of the political planning and damage than his “poorer” leader. Because of the fact that TRMOTP does seem, at this point, to wield more public power than IT, Prof. Snyder decided that his term for the new regime should be “MU(sk)TruMP. After all, as co-head of the nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), TRMOTP has taken it upon himself to make pronouncements on everything from eliminating funding for childhood cancer research to tearing down the Department of Education to eliminating the debt ceiling and replacing it with a $280 Trillion Price Bitcoin Reserve To Save The Dollar. (It should be noted that “DOGE” is also the name of the bitcoin the incoming regime is pushing for its own financial gain . . . as well as the name given to the supreme leaders of Venice from roughly the 5th to the 18th century.)

Congress’ last minute passage of a spending bill that will keep the government running until March was a dangerous, headlong drive down a poorly-paved road. That 38 Republicans (along with all but one Democrat who voted “present”) voted against MUMP - despite their threat to run and fund MAGA purists against any and all dissenters - was a major defeat for a regime which has yet to take the oath of office. Much of the blame must rest with Musk, who in over 100 online messages repeatedly lied about what was in the original bill.

TRMOTP falsely claimed that members of Congress would get a 40% pay raise as part of the package. The truth is that members of the House and Senate have not had a raise to their $174,000 salaries since 2009, after repeatedly freezing a law implementing automatic cost-of-living (COLA) increases. The bill they passed did not include a COLA freeze, but this means a maximum potential pay adjustment of a mere 3.8%. (Even if lawmakers had given themselves all 15 years of rejected COLAs (which again, they are not doing), it would result in only a 31% increase, according to the Congressional Research Service. TRMOTP also posted a claim that the bill would provide $3 billion for a new NFL stadium in Washington. This is pure stuff fand nonsense. The bill transfers control of the site of the existing RFK Stadium to the D.C. local government for redevelopment, which could potentially include a stadium. No federal funds are changing hands as part of the transaction.

The entire funding affair didn’t do much for Speaker Mike Johnson’s hold on power. When he jettisoned the bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown after facing the fierce criticism from MUMP, Democrats got into the act, decrying the omission of four bills related to pediatric cancer research and treatments from the revised funding bill. “Republicans would rather cut taxes for billionaire donors than fund research for children with cancer,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, said Friday on social media.

But with the clock ticking down the minutes and seconding until Friday December 20 turned into Saturday December 21 (the “witching hour”) the Senate voted unanimously to renew the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act (named after a 10-year-old girl who died from diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma [DIPG], an inoperable brain tumor in 2013). The bill extended $12.6 million in annual cancer research funding through 2031, allowing the National Institutes of Health to continue researching the biology of childhood cancer and structural birth defects.

(It should be noted that three other cancer-related measures were scrapped at the end of 118th Congress. These include a new policy that would have made it easier for low-income children on Medicaid to cross state lines for specialized cancer treatment, and two bills aimed at incentivizing pediatric cancer drug development.) TRMOTP and his titular boss proclaimed that this kind of spending was precisely what the DOGE was looking to jettison in order to bring down a deficit which they know perfectly well will skyrocket once ITs 2017 tax cuts are reinstated in 2025. Unless, of course, members of the House grow a pair and just say no . . .or go back and take Econ 101, which will teach them that passing massive tax cuts for the wealthy at the same time you are initiating historically high tariffs is a prescription for economic disaster.

Notably AWOL in last weeks fiscal sturm und drang was the Vice President Elect, J.D. Vontz, Republican of Ohio. The question is why? Why has he faded from view? Could it be because he has been replaced in ITs political affection by TRMOTP? If this is so - and I believe it is - then we can perhaps breathe a sigh of relief. Why? Because, if history is any indicator, the one thing that can get a person removed from IT’s A-list faster than anything is garnering more public airtime. than the boss of bosses. IT loves TRMOTP because he is a multi-multi billionaire who is willing to do anything and everything necessary to make his fellow narcissist the eternal king of kings. But that could be the source of his very downfall. Already, Musk is being chided and derided for knowing even less about politics, legislation, and the day-to-day operation of government than his “poor pitiful cousin.” Loyalty is one thing; publicity is another. I would give the MUMP Regime less than 6 months before it begins to suffer what in medical terminology is known as a comminuted fracture . . . e.g. trouble in paradise . . .

Thank you, Prof. Snyder, for giving a truly sharp-witted appellation to what is shaping up to be a sinister administration.

And we have yet to speak of such hideous afflictions the regime looks to foist on America, such as mumps (Parotitis), measles, polio . . . and getting Fluoride out of our drinking water . . .

Wishing one and all a HAPPY, MERRY EVERYTHING! See you next week.

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categories / All Politics All the Time, Medical Ethics, The Coming Autocracy

#1,018: Pardon Me!

December 17, 2024 / Kurt F. Stone

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Emilie Todd and Benjamin Hardin Helm, 1857.

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr’s. recent pardon of his son Hunter has a lot of people talking. According to recent polling done by the now-80 year old Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago, only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of the President’s decision to pardon his son after earlier promising he would do no such thing. The survey found that a relatively small share of Americans “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the pardon, which came after the younger Biden was convicted on gun and tax charges. About half said they “strongly” or “somewhat” disapprove, and about 2 in 10 neither approve nor disapprove. Unsurprisingly, a higher percentage of Republicans - both office-holders and everyday voters - found fault with Biden’s act than Democrats. As soon as the pardon was announced, the President-Elect took to Truth Social, slamming Biden for what he called "an abuse and miscarriage of Justice! Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?" he wrote. Steven Cheung, the President-Elect’s communications director, told Newsweek, "The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system."

Political commentator Ben Shapiro slammed the president for his decision to issue the pardon, saying that Biden "has always been a venal liar who utilized his political power to pursue familial gain. So of course he's pardoning Hunter. He was always going to pardon Hunter. Hunter was the bagman." Shapiro and many other voices on the right have seized on the timeframe of Hunter's pardon to note that it starts before he joined Ukrainian gas company Burisma's board of directors. Shapiro later posted a video trying to connect the dots on this narrative.

Ezra Klein, a popular New York Times opinion columnist, acknowledged that "it's terrible politics and precedent," but argued that "the Trump team has been brutally clear they want revenge on their enemies, they are obsessed with Hunter in particular, and that would weigh like hell on me if I were his father and could protect him." Klein also joked about the "Dark Brandon" memes and endorsed the suggestion that Hunter Biden should appear on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Political pollster Nate Silver had harsh words for the president, writing on X that he "voted for Harris despite feeling like Democrats indulged in a lot of bad behavior that voters were rational to publish. After the White House lying about the Hunter pardon I'm not sure how much more I can tolerate." Silver also called for voters to reject "any Democrat in 2028 who doesn't repudiate the pardon within 48 hours." He also accused the White House of "consistently" lying about Biden's plan to abide by the court's decision on Hunter Biden's cases and called Biden "a selfish and senile old man."

Many Republicans, including members of both the House and Senate appear to believe that Biden’s pardon of son Hunter was, historically speaking, absolutely nonpareil; that no other POTUS had ever pardoned a member of his own family. If they really, truly believe this (which I doubt) when the lights go down and they put their heads on the pillow, then they had best go back and relearn high school-level American history. For not only did their once-and-future leader pardon his מַחֲטוּנִים* billionaire real estate mogul Charles Kushner in December 2020; he recently announced that he was nominating him to become America’s next Ambassador to France. (*Pronounced mechute’n), this is a basically untranslatable Yiddish term, meaning something like “your child’s father-in-law” which, in the eyes of Jewish custom, makes Jared’s father a flesh-and-blood member of the Trump family). And to make sure we’re all on the same page, remember that In 2005, Charles Kushner was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. After learning that his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal investigators, Charles Kushner hired a sex worker to lure him into a hotel room with a hidden camera and then sent the recording of the encounter to his sister. The senior Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts, including tax evasion and witness tampering. He was sentenced to two years in prison and was ordered to pay $508,900 to the Federal Election Commission. After his release - and before he received his pardon - he returned to the real estate business.

So we can add IT to Biden as presidents who have pardoned family members. But we’re not even halfway there. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a posthumous pardon to Confederate General Benjamin Hardin Helm, who was the late husband of Emilie Todd Helm, (that’s them in the picture above). Emilie Todd was the half-sister of Lincoln’s wife, thereby making the general Lincoln’s brother-in-law. General Helm was the last commander of the “Orphan Brigade”* and was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga. Lincoln had originally offered Emilie Todd's husband a position in the Union Army, but he chose to raise a regiment for the Confederacy. (*The “Orphan Brigade was made up of Kentucky regiments that were "orphans" because Kentucky's secession movement failed, leaving them without a "home state" in the Confederacy.) Nonetheless, Lincoln pardoned him, thus permitting his widow (who after his death moved to the White House), to sell her homestead and Kentucky-grown tobacco on the open market.

Ironically, Abraham Lincoln also pardoned Joseph Robinette Biden’s Great Great Grandfather, Moses Robinette on September 1, 1864. In 1861, Robinette, who was working as a veterinary surgeon for the Army of the Potomac’s reserve artillery had been convicted of a number of offenses including attempted murder. Found guilty in 1864, he was sent to the Dry Tortugas islands of Florida to serve out his 2-year sentence. When the attempted murder charge was overturned, Robinette’s case was brought to Lincoln’s attention. Within a matter of weeks, the nation’s 16th POTUS pardoned “Doc” Robinette.

Rounding out the list of presidents who have pardoned family members is Bill Clinton, our 42nd Commander-in-Chief. On one of his last days in office, he issued a pardon for his half-brother Roger Clinton, Jr., who, in 1985, had been tried, convicted and served federal time for possession and drug-trafficking. The conviction came on the heels of a sting operation operation looking into conspiracy to distribute cocaine. During the time his brother served as POTUS, Roger’s Secret Service code name was “Headache,” due to his unpredictable behavior.

I for one am a bit torn about Joe Biden pardoning Hunter. On the one hand, this man has lived through more family tragedy than perhaps anyone in public life: those of a certain age well remember the president’s shared anguish over his two sons, after the boys survived a car crash that killed Biden's first wife and a daughter more than a half-century ago. Or to those who heard the president regularly lament the death of his older son, Beau, from cancer, or voice concerns — largely in private — about Hunter’s sobriety and health after years of deep addiction. But on the other, for months prior to the November election President Biden said he would not, under any circumstance, pardon his remaining son: “No one is above the law.” His stunning reversal is hard for a majority of Americans to swallow, myself included. But this pardon is not the sum total of everything one need to know about Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. For Republicans, this reversal gives them license to self-righteously proclaim to anyone and everyone who will listen and agree, that this pardon will, when all is said and done, be the only thing history will remember about Joe Biden. This is stuff and nonsense. American history is replete with presidents who have granted pardons that are far more questionable and downright dishonest:

In 1869, President Andrew Johnson pardoned Dr. Samuel Mudd, who had been sentenced for assisting Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth. It is likely that Mudd earned his pardon from Ft. Jefferson n part because of his efforts to halt the spread of an outbreak of deadly yellow fever at the prison. (In 1936, 20th Century Fox produced a film loosely based on Mudd’s life. The Prisoner of Shark Island, directed by John Ford, and starring Warner Baxter.
In 1922, President Calvin Coolidge granted an unconditional pardon to Lothar Witzke, a citizen of the Weimar Republic who had been imprisoned in the United States for his involvement in a 1916 bombing attack on New York Harbor that left seven dead. After being Coolidge’s pardon, Witzke was deported to Germany where he received a hero’s welcome.
In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant effectively pardoned most members of the Confederacy when he signed the Amnesty Act. This allowed former Confederacy members to once again vote and hold office. Tensions were still high across the United States and Grant viewed the act as a way to promote unity. Believe it or not, the incoming administration has used this act in defense of their stated goal of pardoning all the jailed or arrested January 6 perpetrators.
On September 8, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford signed what is hands down, the most controversial pardon in American history: that of Richard Nixon. The former president received a full, unconditional pardon for his role in the Watergate Scandal, which resulted in his resignation. Nixon is the only former president to receive a pardon.
IT’s mass pardons of such convicted loyalists as Roger Stone, Paul Manifort, Michael Flynn and former Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff Joe Arpaio The last of these was perhaps IT’s most controversial pardon. Arpaio was convicted of contempt of court for illegally detaining people without reasonable evidence after being ordered to cease these practices. Civil rights groups protested the pardon as they viewed Arpaio's actions as unconstitutional attacks on immigrants. to name but a few.

Those who believe that Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son (despite his earlier statements to the contrary) will be all that history remembers him for are delusional. Historians (presidential and otherwise) tend to have a far broader and more all-encompassing view of our nation’s chief executives than political operatives, staunch loyalists and the so-called “partisan base.” I’ve got to believe that Joe Biden doesn’t sleep as well at night as the man who will replace him come January 20, 2025. Biden, when all is said and done, is a man of heart, faith, inherent kindness and conscience. He is, in the words of Mark Twain, “. . . the sort of man who speaks a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”t A perfect man? No, of course not. But within his soul he is at least a man who cares about doing for others, rather than mostly - if not strictly - for himself. His successor, on the other hand, sleeps well and does not worry a farthing about what history’s . . . let alone G-d’s . . . judgement of him will be. In his mind it really doesn’t matter, for he will be dead and all those mansions, towers and golf courses bearing his name will be the only legacy that matters. However much he will ultimately eviscerate democracy while enriching both himself and his billionaire backers is of no concern to him, for he lives only in the moment, only for himself.

Will IT ever get his comeuppance? Will it ever dawn on a majority of the American voting public that the man they elected with precisely 49.78% of the popular vote is a grifter, a conman, what British humorist Sir P.G. Wodehouse would have called a “gumboil of a human being”? I hope so. 2026 is going to be as crucial - if not more so - than 2024. Already, Democrats are raising money and seeking candidates in order to take back both the House and the Senate in the next mid-term elections . . . assuming there will be elections.

If I sound a bit harried and pessimistic, please, PARDON ME!

Copyright024 Kurt Franklin Stone

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categories / American History, All Politics All the Time

#1,017: Farewell, Dr. al-Assad?

December 10, 2024 / Kurt F. Stone

The past 48 hours have marked a tectonic shift in the political plates and fates of the Middle East. The fall of Damascus at the hands of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS: Arabic for either “Organization for the Liberation of the Levant” or “Levant Liberation Committee”) and the fleeing of murderous Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and his family to Moscow, have left tens of million in the region - and indeed, around the world - cheering and fearing the future. Already, thousands upon thousands of Syrian refugees are making the trek back to their homeland from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the U.K. and Germany . . . to name but 4 countries where they have been living in exile.

At this early juncture, it would appear that the biggest losers are Iran and Russia, who have been largely responsible for supplying the Assad regime with arms and weaponry. It is, of course, far too early to say with any certainty what the toppling of Dr. al-Assad (he’s a board-certified ophthalmologist who did his post-graduate training at London’s Western Eye Hospital) will have on the future of the country he and his father ruled with an iron fist for more than half a century. Abu Muhammad al-Julani is the nom de guerre of the leader of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham, which eventually toppled al-Assad and forced him to flee. As of today, al-Jolani is the titular Syrian Prime Minister. Born Ahmed Hussein al-Shar'a in 1982, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to a family whose historic roots were the Golan Heights (hence the nisba* “al-Julani” [roughly translated as “the Golanite”]), his life over the past two decades has been a roadmap of Islamist militancy in Iraq and Syria. He battled U.S. forces in Iraq and was jailed by the Americans for several years. He rose through the ranks of the group then known as the Islamic State of Iraq, or ISI, and then with help from ISI’s successor, ISIS, Jolani founded an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been designated a terrorist by the United States since 2013.

(* nisba: نسبة “attribution” . . . an adjectival surname indicating the person's place of origin, ancestral tribe, or ancestry, used at the end of the name).

In 2021, al-Jolani (who, since this past Thursday has dropped his nom de guerre in favor of his birth name) emerged from the shadows and sat down for his first interview with Frontline correspondent Martin Smith. Much was to be learned:

Jolani's journey as a jihadist began in Iraq, linked to al-Qaeda through the Islamic State (IS) group's precursor - al-Qaeda in Iraq and, later, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). After the 2003 US-led invasion, he joined other foreign fighters in Iraq and, in 2005, was imprisoned at Camp Bucca, a forward operating base that housed a theater internment facility maintained by the United States military in the vicinity of Umm Qasr, in extreme southeastern Iraq, where he enhanced his jihadist affiliations and later on was introduced to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the quiet scholar who would later go on to lead IS.

In 2011, Baghdadi sent Jolani to Syria with funding to establish the al-Nusra Front, a covert faction tied to ISI. By 2012, al-Nusra had become a prominent Syrian fighting force, hiding its IS and al-Qaeda ties. Tensions arose in 2013 when Baghdadi's group in Iraq unilaterally declared the merger of the two groups (ISI and al-Nusra), declaring the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), and publicly revealing for the first time the links between them. Jolani resisted, as he wanted to distance his group from ISI's violent tactics, thus leading to a split. To get out of that sticky situation, Jolani pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, making the al-Nusra Front its Syrian branch.

From the start, he prioritized winning Syrian support, distancing himself from IS's brutality and emphasizing a more pragmatic approach to jihad. Despite the public split from al-Qaeda and name changes, HTS continued to be designated by the UN, US, UK and other countries as a terrorist organization, and the US maintained a $10m reward for information about Jolani's whereabouts. Western powers considered the break-up to be a façade.

Under Jolani, HTS became the dominant force in Idlib, north-west Syria's largest rebel stronghold, and home to about four million people, many of whom were displaced from other Syrian provinces. To address concerns about a militant group governing the area, HTS established a civilian front, the so-called "Syrian Salvation Government" (SG) in 2017 as its political and administrative arm. The SG functioned like a state, with a prime minister, ministries and local departments overseeing sectors such as education, health, taxes and reconstruction, while maintaining a religious council guided by Sharia, or Islamic law. Although the new government did not mandate the wearing of the hajib (head-covering) for women, many women in the province began donning them in public. Since the beginning of 2024, a former engineer, Muhammed al-Bashir was the chief administrator of the SG.

Earlier today (Tuesday, Dec. 11) al-Bashir has been appointed post-Assad Syria’s interim prime minister. The decision came after Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader met with the outgoing Syrian Prime Minister and Vice President Faisal Mekdad to discuss a transitional government just yesterday. "The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until 1 March," Bashir said on Tuesday, according to state media.

So what happens next? Anyone got a crystal ball they truly trust? al-Assad’s downfall evokes memories of the 2011 uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, each of which brought about either civil war or authoritarian rule. Global responses, both rhetorical and real, are pretty much what one would expect: we are truly glad the Assad regime is on history’s ash-heap, pray that the rebels will turn their spears into pruning hooks, but beyond that, who knows?

In Washington, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East Daniel Shapiro said, “No one should shed any tears over the end of the Assad regime.” He said that the U.S. would maintain a presence in Eastern Syria “to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” and would take all necessary measures to defend its forces in the area.

IT proclaimed on his social media site that the United States should stay out of Syria: “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” he declared in his ALL CAPS style.

Turkey: Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister said, “Syria has reached a stage where the Syrian people will shape the future of their own country. Today there is hope.” Turkey is obvious glad that Assad is gone; perhaps now Turkey can see the more than 3 million Syrians living within their borders return home.

France: President Emmanuel Macron wrote that “the barbaric state has fallen . . . In this moment of uncertainty, I send them my wishes for peace, freedom and unity. France will remain committed to the security of all in the Middle East.”

Iran: Although the country has long been among Dr. Assad’s staunchest supporters, its foreign ministry wrote in a post that “determining Syria’s future and making decisions about its destiny are solely the responsibility of the Syrian people, without any destructive interference or external imposition.”

Israel: P.M. Netanyahu took a victory lap, proclaiming that Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon had caused a “chain reaction” that helped precipitate the collapse of the Assad regime, which he called “ . . . a key cell in Iran’s axis. This [is] the direct result of the blows we dealt Iran and Hezbollah.” Earlier today, Israel said that it had destroyed Syria’s navy in overnight airstrikes, as it continued to pound targets in Syria despite warnings that its operations there could ignite new conflict and jeopardize the transition of power to an interim government.

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that the Israeli military had “destroyed Syria’s navy overnight, and with great success.” His remarks appeared to confirm Israel’s responsibility for the destruction documented in the Syrian port city of Latakia, where photos showed the smoldering remains of ships sunk at their dock.

Britain: “It’s too early to remove Syrian rebels from the terror list.

In boning up on, and familiarizing myself with, Ahmed Hussein al-Shara’a, I find myself convinced of 3 things:

He is sharp as a tack;
He possesses the inscrutability of the truly unknowable;
He is an utter pragmatist.
This last point could be, when all is said and done, the most important and telling of all. History teaches that once the shooting stops, leaders of successful rebellions and/or revolutions are frequently failures when it comes to governing. Take the Hasmoneans (Maccabees) as an early example; they were uncanny guerilla fighters who, though totally unskilled as warriors and going up against what was perhaps the very first professional army in the history of the world (the Greco-Assyrians of King Antiochus Epiphanes) they managed to pull off a miraculous victory. However, when it came to leading a state at peace, they were utter failures at governance and had to ‘invite in” a group to help them (the Romans), who would eventually be responsible for destroying all they had created. They lacked both vision and an understanding of pragmatism.

Ahmed Hussein al-Shara’a appears to be a pragmatist. Once he and HTS conquered Idlib, he and his lieutenants removed their headpieces, trimmed their beards, put on western clothing and began creating a civil government. They also jettisoned their early sponsors’ notion of worldwide jihad and began proclaiming themselves to be interested in remaking Syria. Period. Just how much religious fanaticism will be on display in the new Syria is anyone’s guess; however, there is always their first test case in Idlib. There, they created a civil administration which, if not favorable to all (I mean, who likes paying increased taxes?), at least they had the support of enough people to not have the problem of counter-revolution hounding them every hour of the day. And within hours of getting Dr. al-Assad to flee, began the process of governmental transition which, as we in the U.S. have learned of late, is not always a given.

What tomorrow will bring to Syria and the rest of the Middle East is anyone’s guess. But at least for now, Iran and Russia seem to have lost a supportive conduit, which is a good start. Let’s hope that Tevya’s rabbi’s blessing for the Tzar will be the same for Dr. al-Assad . . . that “G-d bless and keep him . . . far away from us.”

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categories / The Middle East