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#1,040: The "Best and Brightest" Are Now "The Bottom of the Barrel"

June 09, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

There is no absolute certainty as to where the expression “the best and brightest” comes from. Most sources believe it was originated by the former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (1916-2009) who served under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson at the height of the Cold War. Prior to his 7+ years (1961-1968) as head of DOD, McNamara worked for the Ford Motor Company, eventually becoming the first president from outside the Ford Family since its initial leader, John S. Gray, in 1903. When McNamara took over as chief of production at Ford, he created a staff of whiz kids who shook up what was then a dying corporation with modern business and analytical methods. He then brought many of these young people (among whom were Harold Brown [himself a future Sec. of Defense], Adam Yarmolinsky and Wiiiam Kaufman) into government.

McNamara used the phrase “best and brightest” when talking about his tenure at Ford in the 2004 Oscar winning documentary The Fog of War. The phrase became a pejorative because of David Halberstam’s 1993 book of that title, which detailed how the best and brightest nonetheless got us into the quagmire of Viet Nam. Sadly, after that book, the phrase was mostly used ironically . . . or sarcastically. (n.b. It has long been my belief that the phrase goes back to best of all British comic novelists, author P.G. Wodehouse, in his 1921 wheeze, Jeeves in the Springtime. I for one still use the term in its non-sarcastic Kennedy-era meaning . . . indicating the most capable people to work with.”

Which gets us to the current era.

One will recall that during the presidential campaign of 2016, Pumpkin Punim repeatedly boasted that if elected, he’d “surround myself only with the best and most serious people” - adding; “We want top-of-the-line professionals.” We know how that solemn oath turned out: during his first 18 months of his presidency, myriad members of his cabinet and senior staff departed - often under suspicious circumstances (remember Paul Manafort, General Flynn and Carter Page?). Less than 2 years after taking his first oath of office, nearly half of ITs cabinet and close advisors had either resigned or been fired . . . leaving in their wake a panel of “acting” secretaries who did not require Senate approval.

His second term can easily be summed up by a silly line from Herman’s Hermit’s 1965 smash hit I’m Henry the Eighth I Am (which, unbelievably, dislodged the Stone’s I Can’t Get No Satisfaction from the top of the billboard chart): Second verse, same as the first. . .

Felon 47’s second cabinet is, if anything, even more incompetent and less reflective of the American public than the first. The tie that binds them together is neither prior governmental experience nor the urge to serve; rather, it is lucre and loyalty . . . and ofttimes, a link to Fox News. Unlike JFK’s and LBJ’s “best and brightest” these men and women are the bottom of the barrel. Just consider that:

His initial pick for Attorney General, then-Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration after facing intense scrutiny of allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. in late May, the disgraced Gaetz said he was considering a run for Governor of Florida.
David Richardson, the person named to head FEMA baffled his staff after admitting he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season. Richardson, who has no disaster response experience made this comment on the second day of hurricane season. Before joining FEMA he was assistant secretary of DHS’ (Department of Homeland Security) office for countering weapons of mass destruction, which has told staff he will continue to lead.
The DHS secretary, former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem botched a question about habeas corpus - the legal right, guaranteed in the constitution, that allows people detained by the government to challenge their detention. I. Testifying during a recent Senate hearing, she claimed habeas corpus was the president’s “constitutional right” to deport people.
While discussing artificial intelligence, Education Secretary Linda McMahon referred to it as “A1” - like the popular steak sauce. Speaking at a summit hosted by Silicon Valley investors, the learned Secretary (who is a former professional wrestling promotor), said “I wish I could remember the source, but there’s a school system that’s going to start making sure that first graders or even pre-Ks have A1 teaching every year starting that far down in the grades.” More recently, when asked by Representative Summer Lee (D-PA) “Would it be ‘illegal DEI’ for a lesson plan on the Tulsa Race Massacre?” was, responded that she intends to “look into it more.”
Its Social Security Commissioner, Frank Bisignano, a Wall Street billionaire, told his staff that he didn’t even know that Social Security had a commissioner, and had to Google the job when he was offered it.
Sean Duffy, a former MTV reality television star (Road Rules: All Stars) and now the new head of the Dept. of Transportation won’t let his wife fly in or out of the Newark Airport due to safety concerns.
Thomas Fugate, a 22-year old former grocery clerk with zero government experience of any kind, was tapped to be the head of an $18 million terror prevention team, replacing William Braniff a U.S. Army veteran with more than two decades of national security experience and the former Director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) within DHS. CP3 staffers have expressed shock at how little Fugate knows about the basics of his role and likened meetings with him to “career counseling.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Need we say more? And last but certainly not least,
Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who is a drunk who knowingly texted war plans and emailed them to his family and friends. Hegseth is a graduate of Princeton (class of 2003) who became a frequent contributor to The Princeton Tory, the school’s conservative newspaper. For a time he served as publisher, and he was responsible for articles that, as he wrote, “strive to defend the pillars of Western civilization against the distractions of diversity.” Among these pieces, which stirred controversy at Princeton, was an editorial he cowrote that declared that “the homosexual lifestyle is abnormal and immoral.” In other editorials he criticized Halle Berry for accepting the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Monster's Ball (2001) "on behalf of an entire race", and The New York Times for announcing that it would print gay marriage announcements, arguing that it would justify publishing marriage announcements for incestuous, zoophilic, and pedophilic relationships.

After his military service (during which he was a guard at the Guantanamo Detention Center in Cuba, and worked as a civil affairs officer first in Baghdad, then in Samarra), Hegseth returned to his native Minnesota, ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate, ran a political PAC, and then spent 10 years (2014-2024) as a regular commentator and presenter for Fox News. In his inaugural press release after being approved by the senate, the secretary stated his goals and philosophy: “We will revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military. We are American military warriors.” Just recently, grafting this military modus operandi onto his abject phobia of anything smacking of DEI (and anything gay), he announced that he was stripping the name Harvey Milk (a Korean War veteran and the first openly gay man to win elected office in the United States), off of a USNS (United States Naval Ship) . . . a highly unusual and deeply disturbing act. And, to make things even worse, Hegseth added a hateful exclamation point to his homophobic deed by making his announcement on the first day of “Pride Month”, the monthlong observance of the LGBTQ+ community.

There is no timeline for the renaming or what new name the ship (a fleet replenishment oiler) will be. The Navy referred all comments to SECDEF Hegseth’s office, which provided a brief written statement: "Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete." Moreover, officials at the DOD say that other ships under review for possible name changes include:

USNS Thurgood Marshall (the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court);
USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg (named after the late Supreme Court Justice, the first Jewish woman on the court;
USNS Harriet Tubman, named for the woman who helped slaves escape to freedom in the 19th century;
USNS Delores Huerta and USNS Cesar Chavez, both Hispanic labor leaders;
USNS Lucy Stone, a 19th century suffragette and
USNS Medgar Evers, a 1960s-era civil rights leader who, like Harvey Milk, was assassinated.

The above are all John Lewis-class ships, meant to be named after civil rights leaders and activist icons. The lead ship in the group is named after the noted American politician and civil rights leader.

In essence what SECDEF Hegseth and his Command-in-Chief have done is to offer a one-finger salute to the LGBTQ+ community. It’s all part of a larger effort to whitewash the accomplishments and arguably, the humanity of women and minorities in the U.S. Military . . . and American life itself.

If you are concerned . . . or weary . . . or frightened by all the totalitarian dreck that is making America less and less small-d democratic on an almost daily basis, I recommend that the majority of us not retaliate in kind (e.g. not giving back a one-finger salute to the MAGA maniacs and their delusional, self-anointed defenders), but rather by taking to the streets this coming Saturday, June 14: the day of the nationwide "NO KINGS” protests.

There are any number of trustworthy online sites where you can get information about what is happening in your community and across the country:

Newsweek

The “NO KINGS” website

Simply Google “NO KINGS DAY PROTEST” + THE NAME OF YOUR COMMUNITY Here’s an example

In the words of the late Rep. John Lewis: “Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”

Here’s hoping that the best and brightest can put the bottom of the barrel back where they truly belong . . .

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#1,039 The Ketamine Kid Has Left the Building, But RFK, Jr. Just Might Be Here to Stay

June 03, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

We begin the month of June with a bit of good news: Elon “The Ketamine Kid” Musk has taken his shiny chainsaw and moved out of both the White House and Mar-a-Lago. His stint as co-president and leader of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) has been, by any reasonable measure, an abject failure; in the language of Space-X, (his privately-owned, federally-funded [$3.8 billion in 2024 alone] version of NASA), his dream of shrinking the federal government workforce has had a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” While he originally claimed that he would save the taxpayers $1.6 trillion through cutting out “waste, fraud and abuse, and irrelevant programs” his most recent estimate is a paltry $175 million; experts believe the real number is significantly lower. And, in addition to seeing sales of his Tesla automobiles and cybertrucks (the ugliest looking vehicle in history) tank by as much as 50%, his personal net worth has shrunk by more than 25%. Poor fella!

Truth to tell, the Ketamine-addled Musk (who has also admitted to using Adderall, Ecstasy and psychedelic mushroom [Psilocybin]) has done real damage to both the federal government and the nation’s ability to do good for the impoverished masses at home and around the globe. Our reputation as a caring partner has been shattered. To my way of thinking, one of the very worst things Musk did during his unsupervised tenure was the shredding of the United States Agency for International Development. Though a rump operation is operating inside the State Department, the administration says that it has terminated more than 80 percent of U.S.A.I.D. grants. Brooke Nichols, an associate professor of global health at Boston University, has estimated that these cuts have already resulted in about 300,000 deaths, most of them of children, and will most likely lead to significantly more by the end of the year. That is what Musk’s foray into politics accomplished.

So that’s the good news . . . the Psychopath from Pretoria has left the building.

Now for the bad news: we’re still stuck with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is potentially an even greater threat to the nation’s health (physical, psychological, educational and financial) than the Ketamine Kid. Even before he was approved by the United States Senate, more than 17,000 members of America’s medical establishment signed a letter from the Committee to Protect Health Care, urging senators to reject his nomination, saying he was “unqualified to lead” and was “actively dangerous”.

RFK, Jr., once known as a highly successful and respected environmental attorney has, over the past many years, morphed into a dysphonic demon who holds dangerous, medically medieval views on everything from vaccines, pesticides, prescription drugs to a description of America’s children as being overmedicated and undernourished. He still contends that the MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) vaccine is a contributing cause of autism in children . . . a decades-old lie which has been disproven by virtually every epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist on the planet. In matter of fact, the few “medical people” who agree with RFK seem to be working under him at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which was headed from 1984 to 2022 by Dr. Anthony Fauci, M.D. and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, whose administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who promoted the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid.

Kennedy’s cuts in research funding are absolutely mind-numbing. As but one example, just last week HHS pulled millions of dollars in funding for a human bird flu vaccine developed by Covid vaccine-maker Moderna. Before IT took office for his second term, the Biden administration had awarded $766 million to the Massachusetts-based drugmaker. They invested $176 million last summer, and tacked on another $590 million in January. According to Moderna CEO Stėphane Bancel “While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in the interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine. . . . These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role of mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats.”

Moreover, RFK’s call for a blanket requirement for placebo-controlled trials threatens research ethics and vaccine access. HHS says the new plan will “promote transparency” in vaccine research. In matter of fact (and from my decades of experience vetting clinical trials through an Institutional Review Board [IRB]), I can state that it would affect vaccine access and diminish the public trust. The change would require all new vaccines to undergo placebo-controlled trials before approval, which means that some people would receive the vaccine and others would get an inert substance, like a saline injection, before the results are compared. If this had been the case with the initial COVID-19 vaccine, tens - perhaps hundreds - of millions more people would have died during the pandemic for the simple reason that the vaccine would still not be available to the public.

Now mind you, these - and many other - medical and research policy changes are coming from a Cabinet Secretary who is not an MD, never (to the best of my knowledge) served on an IRB, and who, while telling mothers and fathers not to trust what medical experts say about vaccines one moment, then tells Congress “ . . . people shouldn’t take medical advice from me” the next. I don’t know, perhaps that’s what comes from being a recovering heroin addict who had his brain partially eaten away by a Taenia solium - a pork tapeworm. Whatever the case, he and his entire department represent a clear and present danger to the health and welfare of the American public.

Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), the Regime’s signature omnibus health program, was created by Executive Order (EO) 14212 on February 13, 2025. It established the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission, whose stated purpose was/is “to improve the health of Americans, particularly children.” From day one, medical professionals took a “We’ll believe it when we see it” stance. A week ago, HHS and its leadership issued their first report, a 73-page “assessment” of the program. According to Los Angeles Times’ business columnist Michael Hiltzik, “A sloppier, more disingenuous government report would be hard to imagine.“ At least seven sources cited in the report do not exist. HHS hastily reissued the report with some of those citations removed, but without disclosing the changes — an extremely unkosher action in the medical research community. The MAHA report attributes the rise in childhood obesity and diabetes in part to ultraprocessed foods (UPFs). But it’s silent on what experts call the “social determinants of disease,” which are heavily related to economics. And although the report mentions that safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP, or food stamps, school lunch and breakfast programs, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, could play a role in promoting healthy eating, it doesn’t mention that those programs face severe budget cuts from the White House.

There can be no doubt that RFK. Jr. and his medical conspiracists - who are also in favor of giving children raw milk and getting fluoride out of our drinking water - pose an even greater danger to society than the Ketamine Kid. For while Musk’s chainsaw approach to reducing the federal spending footprint will undoubtedly cost far more than it saved, Kennedy’s “remedies” will likely affect the health and wellbeing of everyone . . . regardless of how rich or poor they are. Being a multibillionaire (or even a multimillionaire as is RFK, Jr., one of the “poorest” members of the Cabinet) cannot save you from succumbing to a disease for which clinical trials no longer exist. This is an issue that the vast majority of the American public should understand and get behind: that conspiracies cannot heal the sick, and that properly, ethically-run clinical trials do save lives.

To paraphrase the rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof, “May G-d bless and keep RFK and his conspiracists . . . far away from us.

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categories / The Regime, Conspiracies