March 6, 2025

    Lieutenant Kije is well known in the music world, the world of cinema, and a M.A.S.H. episode concerning Captain Tuttle may be a more modern version.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Kij%C3%A9#:~:text=Lieutenant%20Kij%C3%A9%20or%20Kizhe%20(Russian,his%20rise%20through%20the%20ranks.).  I enjoy the music of Prokofiev whose music for the film version of of Tynyanov's novella was written after he returned to Russia from Paris during the Stalin purges. Prokofiev enjoyed great success abroad but missed speaking with the Russian people in his native language, missed the music, folklore, literature and  ambiances of his native homeland. In the film version Emperor Paul and the lady in waiting initiate the parody so that the fictious Kije is sent to Siberia but then ultimately elevated by the emperor to General but since he was summoned the emperor was told he was killed. The five themes in the music are explained in the Wikipedia post ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Kij%C3%A9_(Prokofiev)). 

    Factcheck.org has a post out of the world of Prokofiev and M.A.S.H.  "In recent days, some social media posts have repeated a fabricated claim that DOGE had halted millions in supposed royalty payments to former President Barack Obama.

A Feb. 27 Threads post falsely claimed, “DOGE stopped an annual payment to Barack Obama for $2.6 million for ‘royalties associated with Obamacare.’ He’s been collecting it since 2010, for a total of $39 million in taxpayer dollars.”

The posts are referring to the Affordable Care Act, the health care law enacted in 2010 under Obama that became known as Obamacare.

But the claim that the former president had been receiving royalty payments for the health care law he championed was the invention of America’s Last Line of Defense, or ALLOD, which publishes fabricated political stories and claims on its websites and social media pages that it describes as satirical. ALLOD posted the claim about Obama this month, and the image shared on social media included a stamp labeling the claim as satire.

The ALLOD website says, “Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”

The other social media posts sharing the claim did not identify the content as satire.

We could find no evidence that DOGE had stopped any payments to Obama, who as a former president does receive an annual pension payment from the government. Obama has received about $10.5 million from his presidential pension and other government benefits, such as travel and office space, since leaving the White House, The Hill reported. Since he left office at the end of his first term, Trump had received more than $3 million." (https://www.factcheck.org/2025/02/posts-spread-false-claim-about-doge-halting-supposed-obamacare-royalties/).  

    For those of us that are interested in the accurate data and honest analysis of political statements I'm sure you can find similar misstatements and claims of government inefficiency  and corruption. We're living in the narrative of Kije with our modern twist of political intrigue. 

    A friend sent me this email "I would like to suggest a game in which we develop a name for Elon Musk and his boy band of overconfident Gen Zs.  I will gather your suggestions and, as they stop coming in, I will circulate my favorites to all of you.

Here are some I thought of:

Elon and the bootlickers

Elon and the hatchet men

The 2025^th dimension

The Wee Five

Elon and the Ooops

The Orange Crush

Slash Burn and Fire

Destiny’s Gone Wild

Donnie and the Decapitators

Donnie and the Disrupters

 

Give it a go."

Responses from others to his post included:

Slash, Burn and Fire

Cross You and Bash

Little Donny & the ELONgulates.     (Perhaps too much of an insult to the ungulates)

DON’T and his hit song ELONg Fall Folly

The Musk Oxen

The Donbastards

Musk & the Malevolents

The Musketears

Little Donny and the ELONgated Egos

Little Don and the fELONs

Don Boy and the fELONies.    

Don and the ELONians. (Video game, look it up)

The fELONious Assaults

The mELONheads

The Mothers of Devolution

E6L6O6N.     (Probably too esoteric for the MAGA crowd to figure out)

    The Kije connection helps me stay grounded since everyday I read in the news more fantasy and intrigue stated as real concerns of the government which is uncovering them and correcting past mistakes. Our real present administration is feeding us drama, corruption, and hero worship with fiction and distortion of the facts.  

    The other day I was at a professionals office for assistance in some financial matters. In our personal goodbyes he mentioned that he was pleased with the present administrations downsizing of government. I sent him the following post after our meeting. " 

https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-people-work-for-the-federal-government/

   I’ve been thinking about our closing conversation regarding government downsizing. This has been a subject in Monday meetings at my house with a diverse group. I too, would like less waste in our government, and yet the  current government does not follow good business practices. Its approach strikes me as haphazard, disruptive and dangerous. 

Our government has a workforce that has been fairly steady over the past few decades.  Above is a link to an article that has statistics from a reliable source regarding this subject. 

Our current DOGE budget reviewers under Musk have taken a red pen to our federal government’s work force claiming success in eliminating waste and deadwood.  The current fact checking of these claims regarding these actions seem to be minimal savings with maximum disruptions. 

For example, my son’s best friend worked for USAID and his wife is a partner at Deloitte overseeing government contracts. In my conversations with them I was impressed with their commitment to assist other countries development towards improving those people’s lives and in the process their government’s health and democracy. In turn this benefits the US with international goodwill, which helps prevent wars and terrorism. In one fell swoop this agency has been eliminated by a non elected non vetted oligarch! 

My daughter works for a military engineering federal agency as a civil servant. She is disgusted that she received an email from a group in the Executive Branch not reviewed by congress (DOGE) advising her to look for employment in the private sector which is characterized as having more prestige and possibly higher salaries and benefits than her current job. My daughter, like her mother, a civil servant working directly for our Pacific fleet commander, felt proud and patriotic working for our government. To dismiss out of hand these employees and continue to threaten them via emails turns my stomach.

You, an accomplished business executive that ran a successful firm with employees did not manage your business this way. Musk and Trump however, have a history of treating employees badly.

Is this what downsizing should be?

    I self evaluate myself as a person who enjoys life and looks for adventures and humor.  With our national park system stressed with staff shortages I'm concerned that these treasures may greatly suffer with this attack against our federal workforce. I don't see these affected people as bureaucrats but as committed people wishing to preserve and enhance our parks so we can visit and admire. 

    When we make a commitment to another country to assist them if attacked if they give up their nuclear weapons we have a moral obligation to respect them in need unless they are the aggressor out of hand. The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances did just that and the U.S.A. was a signatory! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum#:~:text=As%20a%20result%20of%20other,gave%20up%20their%20nuclear%20weapons.)  I am outraged with our president and vice presidents behavior and lack of support to a country fighting a dictator like we fought during our Independence war.  Kije is a satire but the stances of our government no longer is entertainment to me but attempts to garner power, influence, and self aggrandizement at the expense of a brave nation. 

    I would like to imagine that I'm reading a good science fiction novel about the future like The Parable of the Sowers by Octavia Butler in which the then president of the U.S.A. of the future is declaring he will make American great again but alas reality as I view it prevents me from having this deception. 

Leonard

P.S. Please view next post dated March 7, 2025 for a continuation of this subject

Nassau County Museum of Art Long Island New York