Filtering by Category: Power to the People!

#1,053: Did You Hear the One About the Psychiatrist Who Went to Heaven?

October 20, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

First things first: yesterday Annie, Nurit and I attended a historic, energetic, colorful, and totally peaceful “No Kings” rally along University Drive in downtown Coral Springs.. My guestimate is that there were about 2,500 people along the route, which stretched for about half-a mile, mostly on the east side of the street (the shady side . . . remember, this is sunny South Florida!) The placards, tee-shirts and costumes were about as creative as humanly possible. Altogether, there were people of all ages, colors and languages in attendance, not to mention the hundreds of drivers honking their horns in solidarity. Standing and waiving my two-sided sign, I couldn’t help but remember the first protest rally I ever attended . . . a “No War Toys!” protest held on Santa Monica beach back in the summer of 1964. For many, rallying, protesting and resisting is not for sissies; it is a lifelong obsession.

Many of us attended a similar event back in June, but the months since have seen IT make a truly dizzying array of changes in quick succession. This time, the crowds included a new round of protesters, those who said they were outraged over immigration raids, the deployment of federal troops in cities, government layoffs, steep budget cuts, the chipping away of voting rights, the rollback of vaccine requirements, the reversal on treaties with tribes and the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. Despite what the White House press office claimed, this turned out to be the single-largest protest rally in American history.

I know that whenever I attend a protest rally (and I’ve been doing it for more than 60 years now), I remember the words of Rabbi Tarfon:

לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמוֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה

“It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it” (Pirke Avot, 2:16)

Hate to say it, but I don’t think the work will ever be finished. Over the past 250 years, America has always had a kind of split personality; a bifurcation of both intention and identification, if you will. Our very Constitution is an attempt to keep that bifurcation - between rich and poor, landowner and landless, “blueblood” and "illegal” - from becoming a chasm of societal necrosis. It is precisely because of our historic bifurcation that we have a bicameral federal legislature: the House was meant to represent the people; the Senate was a sop to the wealthy. That is also why we have a tripartite federal setup: legislative, executive and judicial . . . with the legislative coming first.

Nonetheless, what’s been going on since a (supposed) billionaire descended on a gold-encrusted elevator back in 2015 to announce that he was running for POTUS is something Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and the rest of the Founders could never have imagined . . . let alone been prescient enough to set up safeguards against . . . to wit, a "leader” who simply doesn’t give a sh-t about anything or anyone but himself.

To the MAGA leader and his family of followers, the U.S. Government is no mere piggybank; it is their personal mint; a tool for making them richer than Croesus, the last king of the ancient Lydian Empire. What makes things even more deplorable is that he - and his closest followers - are now likening him to both the savior of Christianity and the Almighty coself* (co being my "he/she” pronoun for the Divine).

Want proof? Well, just a couple of days ago, POTUS’s son Eric, told podcaster Benny Johnson that we should all thank his dad for " . . . keeping Budweiser trans free, Colin Kaepernick out of the NFL and for 'saving G-d’.” This is way beyond chutzpah; it is outright blasphemy. Eric the Egregious actually told the podcaster “We’re saving Christianity. We’re saving G-d. We’ve saving (sic) the family unit. We’re saving this nation. I mean, DEI is out of the window . . . We have a return to people going to church.” AAArgh!

Not to be outdone, just days before the nationwide “No Kings” rallies, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News The Democrat Party’s main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals. Back in April Leavitt claimed that her boss was behind a ‘spiritual revival’ in the U.S. and helping people move ‘closer to G-d.’ Who in the hell is she referring to? The man who has spent less time in church than the founder of “American Atheists,” the late Madeline Murray O’Hair?

Somewhat ironically, during the 4 months between the June 14th and October 18th rallies, I’ve been immersing myself in reading the late novelist Upton Sinclair’s jaw-dropping 11-volume Lanny Budd series . . . an utterly brilliant (though lamentably long-forgotten) work of historic fiction. Between 1940 and 1953, Sinclair wrote this series of novels featuring a central character named Lanny Budd. He was the son of an American arms manufacturer who moved in the confidence of world leaders, not simply witnessing events, but often propelling them. Lanny has often been characterized as the antithesis of the “Ugly American”: a sophisticated socialite who mingles easily with people from all cultures and socioeconomic classes. What originally drew me to the series was that it covers western history from WWI through McCarthyism about as well as any textbook could ever hope . . . and yet be totally entertaining.

Here comes the irony: right now, I am immersed in the 5th volume of the series, Presidential Agent, in which Lanny becomes a secret agent in the employ of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Upon meeting FDR, we listen in as the great man tries to impress Lanny with just how terribly busy he is . . . and what his enemies say about him. I am supposed to be drunk all the time, and in spite of my physical deficiencies I maintain a large harem. Lanny responds by saying;

Have you heard the one about the psychiatrist who died and went to heaven and was invited to psychoanalyse G-d?

FDR: No. Has that something to do with me?

Lanny: St. Peter explained that G-d was suffering from delusions of grandeur . . . He thought He was Franklin D. Roosevelt!

The president threw back his head and laughed heartily; he put his soul into his enjoyment of a joke, and it was a good thing to hear. Lanny remembered that Abraham Lincoln had sought the same kind of relief from too many burdens. . . .

From what I’ve learned through research, this was actually a well-known joke in 1936 . . . after FDR won a second term, beating the pants off of Kansas Governor Alf Landon 60.8%-36.5% (523 electoral votes to a mere 8). Considering those who are touting the Beloved Pouter Pidgeon as the true Savior, the satiric bot mot still works rather well.

Make no mistake about it: FELON#47 is neither the savior nor the redeemer . . . let alone a leader of a country. What he is is the leader of a cult; a man suffering from unmistakable mental deficits and an ego thinner than tissue paper. That so many of his followers believe every word he says - or remain mum in the face of what they know to be his many shortcomings - is traitorous . . . to say the least.

NO, G-d Almighty does not want to be IT; what Co wants - or demands - is for all of us to be patriots, and thus fearlessly live up to the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship . . . which includes voting, rallying and resisting autocracy.

Rabbi Tarfon spoke the absolute truth:

It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it."

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categories / American History, Power to the People!, The Regime

#1,052: Action is the Antidote to Anxiety

October 12, 2025 / Kurt F. Stone

This past week has been worthy of Charles Dickens’ opening sentence in A Tale of Two Cities:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

To say that the past 168 hours have been weird to the max is an overstatement. Consider that many of us - for the first time ever - are actually in agreement with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on an issue. “What issue?” you ask. Precisely this: the Republicans’ “Big Bad Bill” which has started putting the cost of health care well beyond the means and hopes of millions upon millions of American taxpayers. . . and is at the heart of the current federal shutdown.

Never mind the fact that Greene - a.k.a. Capitol Hill Karen - enthusiastically voted for the bill’s passage; as of the other day, she’s up in arms. It seems she’s finally become aware that it will affect her own adult children, who will no longer be able to afford health insurance. Now, suddenly, she’s ashamed to be a MAGA-ite. Well sorry Marge; just because you have taken this most anti-MAGA stance (for which I do sincerely applaud you) doesn’t erase all the gruesome, heartless things you’ve done and said in your racist, Islamophobic, anti small-d democratic political career. Hell, even a broken clock is correct twice every 24 hours.

Then, of course, there is the breathtaking news that finally, finally, after more than 2 years, the war between Israel and Hamas just might be coming to an end; that Israeli hostages - both living and deceased - will be returning home in a swap for upwards of 2,000 Palestinian prisoners currently being held in Israeli prisons. As of this morning (Sunday Sept. 12, 2025) Israel and Hamas have signed a cease-fire agreement to free the remaining hostages in Gaza. But the future is murky: Many of the plan’s ambitious ideas for postwar Gaza have yet to be negotiated.

Yes, there are certainly hopeful signs on the horizon . . . for which POTUS and his negotiating team (Miami neighbors Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff) should be applauded. What they have accomplished has taken place largely behind closed doors and away from the cameras . . . where traditionally, the greatest strides in diplomacy have always taken place. Joining in on the diplomatic sessions with Kushner and Witkoff (both of whom made their billions in international real estate and venture capitalism) in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh were the Qatari P.M., Sheik Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, Pakastani PM Shehbaz Sharif, and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin.

As much room as there may be for rejoicing, one must keep a couple of things in mind. First, as recently as February of this year, POTUS spoke freely about his underlying motive for bringing “peace” to the Middle East. In a meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu, he spoke of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population in order to develop Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” He called on Egypt and Jordan, in particular, to absorb the displaced population, while the United States would “own” the seaside territory. In a Fox News interview, Trump further clarified that the relocation of the Palestinians would be permanent, with no right of return. Remember this: the man is at base a deal-maker, not a diplomat. And that fact alone throws several cups of cold water (at the least) onto the smoldering passion for peace in the Middle East.

Second, remember that whether or not he and the international community will actually succeed in bringing the war to an end, he is still the man who is currently:

Overseeing the firing of hundreds of thousands of federal workers;
Keeping members of the military from receiving their pay;
Ordering National Guard troops into Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon either “in order to protect those cities from dangerously high crime rates” or “to protect ICE agents from being attacked by left-wing Marxists.” This may be nothing more than a pretext for implementing the Insurrection Act . . .
Sanctioning retributive prosecutions against the likes of former FBI Director James Comey and NY Attorney General Letitia James and likely California Senator Adam Schiff;
Calling for the imprisonment of mayors and governors who have publicly called him out;
Is enriching himself and his family to the tune of at least $5 billion in their latest cryptocurrency venture;
Joining hands with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in pushing unproven (and unsound) advice around Tylenol and various vaccines;
Issuing an executive order purporting to go after “domestic terrorism,” and authorizing punishments for even tenuous connections to speech the regime doesn’t like.
And on and on and on . . .

These are indeed anxious times. And while there is, to paraphrase Ernest Thayer’s Casey at the Bat, “Some joy in Mudville,” (i.e. MTG’s turnaround on the “Big Bad Bill” and the return of the hostages from Gaza) it must not cause anyone into thinking that, in the words of yet another poet (Robert Browning) G-d’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world. One good act, one political volte-face does not - nay, cannot - make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear . . . as our British cousins used to say. However, sometimes the opposite can be true. Here, I am thinking of the late Senator Edward Kennedy who did an awful lot of political good during his life. And yet for many, all that good has been nullified by precisely 4 words (which many can no longer identify): “Chappaquiddick” and “Mary Jo Kopechne.”

In any event, anxiety currently abounds, and there is an early-stage trickle of resentment beginning to be expressed all over the country. As one might expect, the greatest, most audible resentment comes from America’s center-left. And yet, there is beginning to be heard and felt a deepening of pique and displeasure from the center-right as well. More and more, we are hearing the words TRUMP MUST GO! THE MAN’S A MENTAL CASE! and WHAT ABOUT USING THE 25TH AMENDMENT!

Someone far wiser than I once wrote that “Activism is the antidote to anxiety.” I firmly believe this to be true; I’ve seen it happen in Berkeley, Chicago, and along the National Mall in years past. It can happen again this coming Saturday, October 18, 2025.

I’ve been pushing the national “No Kings” day of protest for quite some time. Once again, I’m urging one and all to join in, SIGN UP and attend a rally in your neck of the woods. Our presence, our signs, our voices and our activism can relieve the anxiety. Let Mr. Speaker Johnson proclaim that everyone at “No Kings” protests is a terrorist bent on showing that they hate America and are pro-Hamas. He is, as Grannie used to say, “Full of canal water.”

Peaceful public protest is as American as apple pie.

Come on out and engage in a slice of patriotism.

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categories / Power to the People!