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

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?

Charles Laughton as “Albert Lory”

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.

 Copyright©2025 Kurt Franklin Stone

#1029: An Act of Resistance

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?

1.   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.

2. 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. 

3. 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.

4. 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.” 

Copyright©2025 Kurt Franklin Stone

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

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. 

Copyright©2025 Kurt Franklin Stone

Trying to Put the Genie Back in the Bottle (#1,016)

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The apposite expressions “Letting the genie out of the bottle” and “Putting the genie back into the bottle” come from One Thousand and One Nights,” a massive collection of medieval folktales composed in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age (c. 8th - 13th Century, C.E.). The main storyteller in these tales is Scheherazade, wife to the sultan, who saves her life by telling him a different story for one thousand and one nights. Many of the stories deal with genies who are either trapped in . . . or escaping from . . . a bottle. Over centuries, the parallel expressions about “letting the genie out of the bottle, and “putting the genie back in” have come to mean, respectively, doing something that cannot be undone and reverting a situation; putting things back as they were before something became a reality.

One of the most obvious examples of letting the genie out of the bottle would be August 6, 1945 . . . the dropping of an atomic bomb (nicknamed “Little Boy”) on Hiroshima, and 3 days later, the second atomic bomb (nicknamed “Fat Man”) on Nagasaki. In dropping these two bombs, the “genie” of nuclear destruction was let out of the “bottle” of human warfare; forever more, the nightmare of nuclear destruction engulfed all humanity. And despite the signing, sealing and delivering of various treaties over the past several decades, the genie has never been successfully returned to the bottle.

More recently, the genie of “Artificial Intelligence”(A.I.) has escaped from the bottle, thus unleashing incalculable problems, possibilities and challenges within the realms of academia, political campaigning and what used to be known as “the truth.” (See my January 29, 2023 piece entitled A Pandora’s Box of Existential Fears.)  Because of such innovations as ChatGPT, it has become next to impossible to know who wrote what and/or whether there is any such thing as the “objectively verifiable.” For that generation now known as “Mind Children,” (as the Harvard roboticist Hans Moravec dubbed them more than 30 years ago) the source of knowledge is no longer to be searched out in the classroom or a cavernous library, but rather by turning attention to that which one can easily hold in the palm of one’s hand.

Which leads us to the fastest growing and most omnipresent genie of them all . . . SOCIAL MEDIA.

The first true social media networking site - SixDegrees.com -  was launched in 1997, allowing users to create profiles, connect with friends, and share content. It marked the beginning of the social networking era, enabling users to see connections between friends and expand their social circles through a concept known as 'six degrees of separation.' 6 years later, Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, co-founded My Space, the first social network to reach a global audience.  (Although still active today, My Space has become a ghost of its past. With no new content added since early 2022 and a disabled media player, the site's functionality is severely limited.  Nonetheless, it still occupies a spot in the “Social Networking Hall of Fame” [if indeed, there were any such thing.])  

2 years after My Space (2004), Harvard undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg started up Facebook (originally called Thefacebook). Its initial purpose was to connect Harvard students with one another. Facebook's popularity exploded; by the end of 2004, it already  had over 1 million users.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  At the end of 2024, Facebook, which is now owned by “Meta,” a publicly owned company (of which Mr. Zuckerberg owns approximately 13.5% of its 350 million outstanding shares [worth c. $120 billion to young Mr. Z.]) it has 3.27 billion daily active people (DAPs)  who access Meta-owned products including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.  Additionally:

• Facebook, as a stand-alone platform, gets 2.11 billion daily active users, which may have accounts on other family products

• Last quarter’s investors’ report shows a 6.51% increase in daily active people year-over-year

• 80.15% of the monthly people will log in daily to one of these family-owned services

• 60.56% of the world’s active internet users access Meta-owned services daily.

• India has more Facebook users (350 million) than any other country in the world; the USA comes in second with 194 million.

There are, of course, many, many highly successful social media platforms in today’s world.  Interestingly, the younger one is, the greater the chance will be that he/she are signed up with - and make daily use of -  a greater array of platforms than one’s elders. This is to say that Baby Boomers (whom I would imagine make up the majority of this blog’s readers) are familiar with - and make use of - Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and perhaps Linkedin, while members of younger generations make use of platforms that are largely unknown to those who are now pretirees (my term for those of retirement age who are still gainfully employed).  Like you, I have vaguely heard of "Tik Tok,” "WhatsApp,”  “Tumblr,” “Snapchat” and “Telegram.”   

These, and other platforms are where a vast majority of young people get their news and views (whether it be true, false or sheer twaddle), “meet” new people and share thoughts, feelings and fears they might never share face-to-face with family, teachers, classmates or non-cyberspace inhabitants.  You can see them all over the place using their iPhones, Androids or occasionally Tablets, in classrooms, malls, gyms, sporting events and restaurants (both fast and slow food); walking down the street, texting, chatting, listening to music, connecting with the rest of the planet. I have yet to get over seeing a table filled with teens at Dunkin Donuts, Wendy’s or some other public place, each one caught up in their own world despite the fact there may be 4, 5, 6 or more people sitting with them.  To my way of thinking, overreliance on social media has become an addiction for many.  Moreover, it represents a clear and present danger to mental health of those - especially teens - for whom it is a way of life.  

Over the past decade, numerous peer-reviewed academic studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts. Social media may promote negative experiences such as: Inadequacy about one’s  life or appearance, as a skewed view of the world itself . . . which can lead to feelings of doom.  In May of last year, United States Surgeon General (U.S.S.G.)  Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health - PDF. In it, Dr. Murthy and his research colleagues noted in the reports introductory paragraph: While social media may offer some benefits, there are ample indicators that social media can also pose a risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. Social media use by young people is nearly universal, with up to 95% of young people ages 13-17 reporting using a social media platform and more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly.”

Dr. Murthy and his colleagues further noted “Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violent and sexual content, to bullying and harassment. And for too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends. We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis – one that we must urgently address.”  In other words, the Genie has escaped from the bottle. 

The question becomes: is there anything currently being done to put the Genie back in the bottle? Attempts to do so are in their early stages here in the United States. According to the Age Verification Providers Association website: As of June 2024, 10 states have passed laws requiring children’s access to social media be restricted or parental consent gained. 3 more are currently injuncted (e.g. restrained by a court order). Here in Florida, H.B. 3 goes into effect on July 1, 2025. The bill, the Online Protections for Minors Act, requires social media platforms to verify users’ ages, obtain parental consent for users under 18, protect minors’ personal data, and limit their exposure to harmful content.

Doing things on a state-by-state or city-by-city basis does not do away with the Genie; it merely creates a series of different sized bottles . . . most of which will be too small to hold a gigantic Genie. To date, one country (which happens to be a continent) has done something on a national basis: Australia.

Less than a week ago, Australia, the “Land Down Under,” imposed a sweeping ban on social media for children under 16. After sailing through Parliament’s lower house on Wednesday, November 27, the bill passed the Senate the very next day with bipartisan support. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that it puts Australia at the vanguard of efforts to protect the mental health and well-being of children from detrimental effects of social media, such as online hate or bullying. Not every “Down Under” agrees with the legislation: some claim it will stifle freedom of thought and expression; others are of the opinion that it does not go far enough. I find nothing surprising about this; after all, Australia is a robust democracy. The one good and hopeful thing to note is that at least one non-authoritarian country on the planet has decided that it may well be possible to put the Genie back in the bottle.

Could this ever work in the United States on a national level? I highly doubt it . . . and for several reasons. First and foremost, there’s the matter of the makeup of the new, incoming 119th Congress. Unless something drastically changes in the next 32 days, the first resolution that body will consider is Rep. Nancy Grace’s (R-SC) bill to ban transgender people from using bathrooms of their choice in the U.S. Capitol.  (It just so happens that on January 3, 2025, the nation's first transgender lawmaker, U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., is set to join Congress). In her obviously disingenuous remarks about the reason behind the resolution, Rep. Grace told the press; "The sanctity of protecting women and standing up against the Left’s systematic erasure of biological women starts here in the nation’s Capitol. We are standing up for women, protecting their spaces, and restoring a bit of sanity to Capitol Hill." She added, "The Left screams TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) politics, we call it putting women first."  There likely won’t be enough serious-minded legislators on Capitol Hill to get beyond the “Attack on WOKE” legislation that holds their base in thrall.

Then too, when one considers that IT’s new BFF, Elon Musk, is not only the richest person on the planet, but also owns X, the planet’s largest money-losing social media platform.  And to make matters worse, who just came by to  kiss the ring at Mar-a-Lago?  Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg, that’s who.  Can you see him being in favor of losing money by putting legal strictures on his platform?  I rather doubt it.

Having said the obvious, I still believe that for the sake of our children . . . and the generation of leaders they will someday become . . . we must follow in the footsteps of our Aussie cousins and doing whatever we can to put the Genie of Social Media (which is inherently anti-social) back in the bottle.  Our future depends on it.

 Copyright©2024 Kurt Franklin Stone