Should America return the Statue of Liberty to France?
A French government official believes the United States should return the Statue of Liberty to France.
The statue was a gift from France in 1886 to celebrate the centennial of America’s independence from England, and it was a symbol of the enduring friendship between France and the United States. Over the years it has become a symbol of freedom for people all over the world.
But with America’s drift toward authoritarianism and its rampant xenophobia, it no longer embodies those ideals.
I think America should return the Statue of Liberty to France. It is no longer worthy of such a statue.
In its place, America should construct a statue of a gigantic golden calf. The MAGAts will understand the significance of that, seeing as how they’re such Biblical scholars.
If not a calf, then a giant golden pig. Pink Floyd fans will know what I mean.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Our new Secretary of Defense, that drunkard, Comrade Hegseth, has decided that Russia no longer poses a threat to the United States and has ordered a cessation of both offensive and defensive cyber security activities aimed at Moscow.
We’re such good friends with Russia now, despite the fact that our favorite Russian oligarch, Polonium Putin, ordered his cyber forces to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election on a seismic scale, and then again in 2020, and yet again in 2024. And they’re still doing it. Just recently, when the Republicans passed that sorry excuse for a budget, thousands of new accounts showed up on social media, accounts with millions of followers, claiming the Republicans had passed a new budget that contained tax breaks on tips, overtime and Social Security, and the horrible Democrats voted against it.
Those social media accounts were fake. Those millions of followers, bought and paid for. There were no provisions for tax breaks on tips, overtime and Social Security in the GOP budget.
It was all a lie.
We’re such good friends with Russia now, despite the fact that Polonium Putin’s political adversaries have an odd way of falling off balconies or out of windows in high-rises, or drinking radioactive tea and unaliving themselves.
And we’re such good friends with Russia now despite Polonium Putin hurling his army, navy and air forces against Ukraine in an illegal invasion, unaliving tens of thousands of innocent people; targeting schools, churches and hospitals with his missiles and bombs; kidnapping tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to diminish his depleted ranks; and raping thousands of Ukrainian women, children, even men.
Tell me something.
Why haven’t these people been arrested for treason? Because that’s clearly what’s happening here. They’re rendering our nation defenseless against its primary enemy – not the Russian people, but the corrupt and criminal Russian leadership.
Russia said the other day that America’s worldview now aligns with Russia’s worldview. If that ain’t treason, I don’t know what is.
And we owe it all to Donald Trump and his alcoholic lapdog Comrade Hegseth.
SMH.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Well, that was disappointing.
I tuned into the Oscars last night expecting fire and brimstone. What I got was tea and crumpets.
There was a little bit of Gaza, a little bit of immigration, a little bit of the Holocaust and racism, one mention of Russia, and that was about it. You would have thought those people had been counseled beforehand to avoid the subject of politics.
Man, in the past actors like Meryl Streep, Sean Penn, Jane Fonda and Shirley MacLaine would have been all over that shit. But last night? It was like watching a bunch of people who had been huffing helium-filled balloons laugh at their Donald Duck voices.
I guess this means we’re on our own. We’ve been abandoned by the media, the government has sold its soul to the devil, the courts are starting to knuckle under and now Hollywood has abandoned us too.
Well, that’s OK. We can do it. We’ve done it before; we can do it again.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I was talking to a friend the other morning. He and I are in agreement that this country will likely enter a recession later this year.
Nothing Trump, Musk and the Republicans are doing will keep it from happening. In fact, their actions are raising the probability of a recession.
Trump’s tariffs are re-igniting inflation, and his tax cut for billionaires is adding more stress to already-stressed low- and middle-income wage earners.
Musk’s firings are destabilizing the employment sector. People aren’t spending money because they’re afraid they’ll lose their jobs. When people don’t spend money, manufacturing declines. Companies stop investing in their future and lay off employees, further exacerbating the unemployment problem.
Instead of addressing the debt, the Republican-led Congress is raising the debt limit and borrowing another $4 trillion, adding to the mountain of red ink.
Trump’s strategy for energizing the economy – tariffs and “drill, baby, drill” – are based on misconceptions. Foreign countries don’t pay our tariffs. American businesses that import foreign goods pay tariffs. They in turn pass the cost of those tariffs off on the American consumer. So a tariff is operationally equivalent to a tax increase.
As for “drill, baby, drill,” thousands of oil drilling leases on federal lands are lying fallow already. Why? Because the price of oil is so low the oil companies would lose money by “drill, baby, drill.” So what’s the point in encouraging even more drilling?
Inflation is up 3 percent. Consumer confidence plunged 7 points in February. The expectations index dropped below the magic number of 80, which signals the approach of a recession.
I don’t know how long it will last, and how severe it will be, but I’m convinced it’s coming. My advice to you is to buckle up.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I see where Donald Trump wants to eliminate Pride Month and replace it with some kind of military appreciation month.
You mean like May, Donald? The month of May is designated Military Appreciation Month. Plus there’s Veterans Day, a federal holiday, and Memorial Day, a national holiday, and a whole slew of other days, like Military Spouse Appreciation Day. They’ve even got a day to appreciate military dogs.
But let’s get rid of the one time of the year when maybe a little bit of kindness could be shown to a group of people comprising 10 percent to 15 percent of the population of the United States, people who have been tormented, abused, assaulted and even unalived.
We all know Trump doesn’t care about the military. Otherwise, he wouldn’t say the horrible things about them he says, and he wouldn’t have fired a thousand VA workers. This is just another Trump culture war dog whistle intended to distract you from the fact he’s screwing up everything he touches, and aside from implementing Project 2025 he doesn’t have a plan for the future.
He’s sure doing a number on the economy. Inflation is up 3 percent and when the next report comes out it’ll be a lot higher. Unemployment is also up – you can’t fire a couple of hundred thousand people without that number changing. Consumer confidence is plunging. People are afraid to spend money because they don’t know if they’ll have a job and they’re afraid the economy is heading south. The latest polls show 53 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Trump is handling the economy. On Friday, the Dow plunged over 700 points, as if to accentuate those worries.
He’s throwing our allies to the wolves and cozying us up to our enemies. I’m surprised he hasn’t booked a flight to Iran so he can pal around with the ayatollah. America is becoming known as a rogue nation, like some of the other garden spots of the world like Yemen, North Korea and Somalia.
As for Project 2025, you remember when Trump was on the campaign trail and said he knew nothing about Project 2025? Remember that? Well, get this: Somebody has built a Project 2025 tracker, which keeps tabs on the number of Project 2025 that have been implemented by the Trump regime. So far, that number is up to 39 percent. And virtually all the authors of Project 2025 are now working for Trump. What an astounding coincidence!
How does it feel being lied to?
The intent of Project 2025 is to transform America into a theocratic dictatorship with right-wing Christian extremists calling the shots. They don’t care how much of the Constitution they have to violate to get what they want.
As for Trump and Musk, this is just a good old-fashioned smash-and-grab. You rush in, break everything, take all that you can, then head for the hills. The Democrats are looking on with their frowny faces, and the Republicans are actually cheering for the muggers because they think they’re going to get a share of the loot.
And we owe it all to prejudice, bigotry, laziness and greed.
Congratulations, MAGA. You voted for this.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I’m seeing lots of MAGA folk celebrate the firings of civil servants and the dissolution of federal agencies. They’re gloating about all the money being saved, as if any of that money will find its way into their pockets.
“Yeah, we’re going to get a big tax refund,” they say, or “The government is going to send us a check! It’s all over Fox News.”
By “Fox News” I assume they mean Fox Entertainment. That’s what Fox’s own lawyers argued during the Dominion lawsuit, that Fox News wasn’t really a news operation. It’s an entertainment company. So that’s where the MAGA folk are getting their information – from an entertainment company. Oh, and Fox lost that lawsuit and had to pay Dominion almost $800 million for lying about Dominion’s voting machines. So the MAGA folk are getting their information from a lying entertainment company.
But I digress. The MAGAts won’t see one penny of the savings because it’s all going to people like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and other billionaires in the form of a big fat tax cut.
In fact, I’d like to ask the MAGA folk something:
Do you remember back in 2017? Does your miniature Christmas tree light brain go back that far? Do you remember Donald Trump’s tax cut, the one you thought was such a great idea, although it added about $7 trillion to the debt – remember that?
Well, it’s due to expire this year. Congress could vote to extend it but so far they haven’t. And if they don’t extend it, guess what? Your taxes will go UP 22 percent! That’s right, 22 percent. Some of you will have to file TWO returns with the IRS this year. How do you like them apples, MAGA?
Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos are sitting back in their palaces and laughing at you, and you deserve to be laughed at. Because you’re MAGA morons.
You voted for this.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I see where Captain Brain Worm, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., our new Health & Human Services director, believes people who take anti-depressants are “addicts.”
His strategy for releasing them from this awful addiction? A few weeks, months or years spent at labor camps – excuse me, “rest farms” – where they could rediscover their connection with nature by digging up beets, slopping hogs, you know, all that nature-y stuff.
I suppose he would know a thing or two about addiction, seeing as how he was an addict himself for many years. Except he wasn’t addicted to anti-depressants. No, he was addicted to the good stuff. Hard-core narcotics. Heroin.
And as we all know, heroin never touches your brain. You could come out of a multi-year addiction to heroin without once thinking a worm was eating your brain, or that a dead bear beside the road needed picking up and hauled off to be dumped in Central Park, or that fluoride in drinking water causes autism (do Americans actually drink the water that comes out of their taps anymore?). Those are perfectly reasonable suppositions to draw after looking at all the evidence.
I saw a headline on a legit news site that asked a rhetorical question: Can RJK Jr. make America healthy again?
I had to laugh, not at the headline, but at the fact it was even asked.
Why do we treat this guy as a legitimate health professional? He’s a kook; he’s crazy; he’s fried his brain with heroin.
What we need to do is pat him on the head, put him in the corner and ignore him for the next four years until we can get rid of him AND the people who gave him a position of authority in the first place.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
If you’re not a fan of my daily rants, I get that. Some people want social media to be an escape, an oasis of positivity or just fun entertainment. Nothing wrong with that.
I see it this way: My country slides into fascism only once, and it’s my duty to #resist in every way possible, from calling my senators and congresslizard to volunteering for the loyal opposition and, yes, evangelizing online. I plan to continue these posts for as long as I can stomach doing it, or until I’m banned from this platform … or arrested.
Which brings me to today’s subject.
I’m on all the major social media platforms – this one, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Twitter (yes, I still call it “Twitter”), TikTok, YouTube – and it seems in all those venues, I’m surrounded by pain and suffering. WAIT! Don’t be one of those condescending twits who says, “The algorithm gives you what you ask for.” I’m aware of that. I’m also aware that I happen to give a shit about things. It ain’t all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.
This social media gloom is coming from people who’ve lost their jobs – they’ve been laid off or fired. Government workers, civil servants, former park service personnel, nuclear facility workers, aid workers, employees of the FAA and so on. I guess what infuriates me more than anything else is the reason for these firings. They’re not being done because the nation has hit a wall and the budget must be balanced or the debt paid down.
It’s so the Republicans can take the money they save by dismantling the government and give it to people like Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos in the form of a big, fat, juicy tax cut.
They’re not balancing the budget or paying down the debt. They’re making it worse, borrowing another $4 trillion to $5 trillion. Did you know every year, a chunk of the federal budget amounting to about 17 percent goes to PAY THE INTEREST on the debt?
I wonder just how much of this punishment we’re expected to take? They’re wrecking the economy, destroying our foreign relations and making life in this country damn near impossible for anybody who earns less than a couple of hundred grand a month. What are the rest of us supposed to do? Die?
Yesterday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest of what’s happening in this country. You barely saw mention of it in the media. Rachel Maddow – I hear she’s giving the protests extensive coverage. The media are focused on the weather, not the upheaval in our government.
It’s massively frustrating, and it’s depressing. I was hoping in my old age I could live in a country that cared about people, and the future. Certainly not this bitter kleptocracy.
I like cake, guys, but I’m not going to eat it every day.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
Imagine you’re getting divorced.
Your ex, their lawyer, your lawyer, and the judge are all meeting. You aren’t there. You weren’t invited. You don’t know what they’re saying. You don’t know what they’re deciding. You have no idea what the future holds for you.
That’s the situation Ukraine faces with the shameful meeting between the United States and Russia in Saudi Arabia right now.
Basically, America and Russia are carving up Ukraine, just like Britain, France and Germany carved up Czechoslovakia in 1938. It’s the Munich Agreement, 2025 Edition.
After they’re done with Ukraine, then what. Are the Baltic States next? Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which by the way are members of NATO. If Putin sends his tanks into the Baltic States, will NATO fight back, especially if it doesn’t have the backing of the United States, which it probably won’t.
What about Poland? If Putin moves into Poland I know the Poles will fight, but will NATO help them?
Maybe this is what Donald Trump wants. Maybe he wants a conflict between Europe and Russian, which would weaken both parties and leave China as the only serious obstacle to American global hegemony.
I’m just speculating here, just spitballing. But in one possible scenario, the world could be rendered in Donald Trump’s image.
That scares the hell out of me.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I submit DOGE itself is a significant source of waste and fraud.
It is at least a duplication of services, as another government agency already exists that is tasked with finding wasteful spending: the GAO.
The GAO, or Government Accountabity Office, has existed for decades and has a verifiable record of saving taxpayer dollars. For instance, last year the GAO saved American taxpayers almost $70 billion in wasteful spending. Since 1999 GAO has targeted over $1 trillion in waste.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have not revealed one penny of legitimate fraud or waste. When they are asked to prove their bombastic claims, they produce lists of agencies and individuals who they don’t like. Hate to say it but just because you don’t like an agency or individual doesn’t mean they’re guilty of fraud or waste.
These are enemies lists and nothing more. In fact, some of the names on these lists are agencies or individuals who exercise regulatory authority over Elon Musk and the conduct of his business interests, which suggests they are being eliminated so that Musk’s businesses can operate without oversight or accountability.
Folks, I can’t overemphasize the danger this country faces at the moment. We have a president who may or may not be cognitively impaired and has handed the keys to the government to a foreign national who is changing the nation’s digital infrastructure in ways nobody knows or understands.
If this isn’t a recipe for catastrophe, I don’t know what it.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .