Tonight CNN broke the story that members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol think they know who wrote one of the eye-popping texts to Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The text was the one sent the day after the election, before all the states had called the election, suggesting that Republicans should not wait for results in three states but should simply appoint their own electors. Then the whole mess would be thrown to the Supreme Court. Trump had frequently said that the Supreme Court, to which he had named three justices—including one at the very end of October, when the election was already underway—would decide in favor of him in the case of a contested election.
I count myself as extremely fortunate to not be one of the 800,000. However, I was Covid-19 virus patient as of March 13 2020 and I am still dealing with the debilitating aftermath including lung and vascular damage. My local hospital was crammed with sick employees who didn’t have proper PPE, there were few safety protocols and no available beds. Even the lab refused my doctor’s order for a chest X-ray saying they did not have any way to sterilize the room afterward. I survived but my fury is as intense and focused as ever. Those who impeded the scientists and doctors have blood on their hands that is damningly obvious and I accept no excuses.
Mary, Trump should indeed be charged with negligent homicide. In my circle, a friend of mine from our theological training and one of our young pastors at Judson Memorial in NYC has been suffering for a year - maybe more - with the Covid aftermath. You who are living with long-term damage are owed a great deal more than even Trump, with all his money and power, could ever repay.
Maryomary: Your outrage is broadly shared! It consistently seemed that the early strategic planning emphasized optics over collective safety, monetizing strategies over public health concerns. It was a heartbreaking betrayal of the collective trust we citizens have had in the government’s management of our public health safety. In our family too, we have a dear young family member struggling with long COVID symptoms. I am grateful for every bit of news HCR shares that confirms the investigative committee is getting evidence proving TFG administration’s ongoing callous disregard for the public safety. Accountability critical for all of us, but especially those still left suffering. Wishing you and all of us, recovery, relief and answers!!!
"It consistently seemed that the early strategic planning emphasized optics over collective safety, monetizing strategies over public health concerns. It was a heartbreaking betrayal of the collective trust we citizens have had in the government’s management of our public health safety." Exactly!
I agree. TFG's willful disregard of Covid and its toll on US citizens is one of the highest crimes imaginable. His spin doctoring is malfeasance deserving of banishment. Perhaps try him in The Hague's International Criminal Court where other national leaders have been tried for Crimes Against Humanity.
I join all those others in deploring what has happened to you. Several friends also have long term effects from Covid, and I wish that the CDC would gather testimony from all of you. No one deserves death, but neither do they deserve being deprived of basic physical functions.
It is infuriating that those in power knew that there were long term Covid symptoms, but still tried to silence the scientists. I am sorry you are one of those suffering with Covid lung and vascular damage. Your outrage is deserved.
Jessica Jones, whistle-blower from Florida who lost her job with FL dept of health is now running for congress, against Matt gaetz. She has my donation dollars already
How dreadful that you continue to suffer from effects of Covid, Mary! My heart goes out to you. Take good care of yourself -- sending you hugs and strength.
I believe I caught covid at a New Year's Day (2020) ballet class. I struggled for months with symptoms that later were identified as covid symptoms. What helped me the most were Meyer's Cocktail infusions. A Meyer's Cocktail is a combination of various vitamins. I am now fully recovered.
D is not a placebo. I suspect zinc probably isn't as well, but my certainty on that is not high, mostly because I haven't studied it. See my post above.
Vitamin D and ZInc have some demonstrated efficacy with viruses. Problem is the doses in many of the over the counter products are way too high, and dangerous.
Not true of D. The doses there are often too low. It's hard to get too high a dose of D. I take 3000 IU/day in the darker months. (In summer, I run shirtless every day and don't need the supplement.) Fauci takes 6000 IU/day. One of my best friends takes 10,000/day, having been prescribed that for osteopenia, and she's been doing it for years with no ill effect.
you want to aim for a blood level of 40-60 ng/ml. (Mine is around 55ng/ml both summer--from the sun--and winter, from the supplement.)
It takes about 6-8 weeks of supplement for your blood level to get where it needs to be. You can speed it up by taking a high dose, like 10,000, for a week or two.
Rule of thumb: if your shadow is longer than you are, the sun is too low in the sky and the relevant rays are being filtered out by the atmosphere.
Without sufficient D, your immune system is not working on all four cylinders. Since I began taking D in 2004, I almost never get colds or flu. I went from 2-3 colds a year to getting a cold every 3-4 years.
Being a somewhat chubby senior woman, I can't go outside and run shirtless. I do take Vit D (not in as high a dose as you do) I truly recommend taking a daily walk outdoors. Short and slow if that is all you can manage, build up as you can. There is a (Swedish, methinks?) saying about there being no bad weather, only poor clothing choices. Turn that face up to the sun if you are mostly clothed. MIght not get enough Vit D to make a big difference but that exercise surely will help your overall physical and mental health.
Thanks for your excellent posts, you are among the folks I look for daily.
I think we've been through this debate before David. Suffice it to say, my review of the literature, and my own case studies, particularly on folks who have been on large (greater than 2000 IU/day) showed increased severe fatigue over time (one patient in my caseload was admitted to the hospital in coma, resolved with stopping Vitamin D). My RN, MSN hopefully counts for something.
What's important is not the dose, but the blood level. My blood level is the same on no supplements in summer, as it is on 3000 IU in winter. The level I specified--40-60ng/ml--is what researchers have found in hunter-gatherers (there are still a few tribes left). And there is literature now showing that people with higher levels of D are less likely to end up in the ICU from covid.
My doctor, a Harvard Medical School professor, disagreed with me on this for years, but she has come around.
This discussion made me curious so I took a look at the Mayo Clinic website. They recommend the following
“Taking a multivitamin with vitamin D may help improve bone health. The recommended daily amount of vitamin D is 400 international units (IU) for children up to age 12 months, 600 IU for people ages 1 to 70 years, and 800 IU for people over 70 years.”
But then include this, which suggests dosage up to 4000IU might be OK.
“Taken in appropriate doses, vitamin D is generally considered safe.
However, taking too much vitamin D in the form of supplements can be harmful. Children age 9 years and older, adults, and pregnant and breastfeeding women who take more than 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D might experience:
Nausea and vomiting
Poor appetite and weight loss
Constipation
Weakness
Confusion and disorientation
Heart rhythm problems
Kidney stones and kidney damage”
I plan to research further and talk with my doctor. I am able to be outside a lot, however live in the northeast where winter sun is weak and use sunscreen which blocks some vitamin D.
Thanks to those of you who brought this to our attention, along with the caveats.
Well, if you don't believe in vitamins, or haven't studied biochem and haven't learned that vitamins are actually catalysts, and the rxn won't occur without the catalyst, you might think so. I'm not going to argue with someone who doesn't understand nutrition, vitamins, or catalysts.
Sounds like you got the right cocktail. I don't know the formula, but I would imagine it includes Vits. C and D3 as well as Zinc. Offhand, I really believe the IV delivery made a big difference for you.
Vit. D is critically important, and I had to learn the hard way. For years, I would get extreme bronchitis during the winter. In two years, it resulted in 3 cases of pneumonia. Considering that I don't smoke but do exercise regularly and eat healthily, I couldn't imagine what would cause it. My doctors at the VA always diagnosed bronchitis. There was never talk of vitamins or especially Vitamin D. I learned on my own, and in the past 3 winters I've never had bronchitis much less pneumonia. (I heard one noted nutritionist say that Vitamin D is actually a hormone.) For those of us in the cold, gray winter areas, Vitamin D is essential. It will remain critically important to me. (I use a liquid formula which includes Vit. K2.)
That is a harrowing story. You were so unfortunate to have caught it at a point when nobody, hospitals not excepted, knew a damn thing. I don’t know you, but I’m glad to hear that at least the end of your story was somewhat fortunate. However the fact that you are still dealing with long Covid is most unfortunate. Grace to you.
As for your last sentence, full agreement. Blood on their hands - no excuses.
Memo to the smarmy Dr. Redfield and the always dutiful Dr. Birx: You two and Dr. Fauci whom I do admire, could have resigned. Publicly. Together. In the loudest way possible. And then attacked ceaselessly from the outside.
I don’t buy the reasoning that someone worse would have taken your place and you spared the nation from more disaster. That is the merest fig leaf of a rationalization. Public obeisance to a madman is a dangerous example to set for the nation in a crisis of the highest order.
Your joint resignation, at the time of the famous “bleach is the solution” news conference or when Scott Atlas was pushing the President to a policy of no Covid mitigants in a quest for herd immunity for the last 500 survivors, would have set off a public earthquake. Who knows what would have happened them? You might have set off a stream of resignations, to the total humiliation of Trump and the effective end of the mythology he created.
At the very least I think it would have set off a massive confrontation. On the one side there would have been those citizens who a) wanted to live and b) thought their best chance was through the efforts of science.
On the other side, there would have been, no offense. those Americans who had lost their mind.
I agree, Mary. But I keep thinking about the sub-prime mortgage crisis that caused the Great Recession. Zero, none, not one of those responsible spent a day in jail. I hope it's a precedent that will be broken.
I am so sorry that you're among the long-haulers. As bad as Covid has been, I suspect that an even worse pandemic "after-effect" is going to be the continuing medical issues of our survivors. I have two in my immediate circle (my sister in law and my best friend) who are both long haulers. My friend was sick in March 2020 (her Mom, living with her, nearly died) and neither were either hospitalized or (they believe) not counted in the early count of local Covid cases.)
When the pandemic is "over", the continuing and long term after effects are going to be as bad as what we're seeing now.
One of my local TV stations spends about 75% of the broadcast covering Covid developments. The two biggest stories on this Cincinnati station right now are Covid and the Kentucky tornadoes. They do an excellent job.
I'm hoping against hope that the theme of national coverage will be the percentage of people hospitalized for Covid who are not vaccinated and who bears responsibility (Republicans and Fox News). Not holding my breath.
Sorry to hear of the pain and suffering MaryO. I have a cousin who was unvaccinated by choice, got the virus, took up a hospital bed and when cured thanked her prayer army or some such insanity. Don't speak to her anymore. If you have the energy help us gain 3 or 4 Democratic Senate seats in 2022 and then MAYBE we can deal with some of this nihilism on the right.
Horrifying. Hospitals that fail to protect patients by allowing staff to resist masking and vaccination should be sued for negligence. Their first mandate is to “do no harm.” In Lewis County, upstate NY, nurses shut down the hospital by refusing to perform with DUE DILIGENCE . Mind you, this occurred in Rep. Elise Stefanik’s district; she’s the rabid right-winger who replaced Liz Cheney…
Yesterday I openly wondered if it was formally illegal to incite insurrection against the US Government.
Well, to my surprise, and, thanks to Ally House yesterday for posting the below section of the 14th Amendment, and, another poster I cannot remember or find after looking through the posts yesterday, there are two laws against insurrection:
Section 3 of the the14th Amendment:
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
18 US Code 2383
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. "
So, I figure it might be difficult to get Trump's rather massive posterior into a local patrol car down near Mara Lago and, indeed, the cops might have to bring in the Paddy Wagon to get his rather large posterior to the county jail ..... but.....
I now am optimistic that we will get to see Trump sitting in the County Jail getting prepped for Federal prison fairly soon.
I"d take that Mike, but in all honestly, first thing I do every morning after I take the bp meds and feed the cats is look on msn.com praying there will be a screaming headline that tfg is dead.
It is worth following Teri Kanefield's writings. She's a constitutional lawyer and explains the *slow* legal workings of all this quite well. Most importantly, she cautions that merely criminally convicting people does not solve the problem of authoritarianism. Those aligned with authoritarian thought will always be around.
A few photographs of Trump behind bars in a striped pantsuit and his martyrdom will be somewhat tainted. Nothing takes the shine off of a person like prison clothes.
I hope they put him in the “general population” - you know the one - the one Jeffrey Dahmer was in. You kill two birds with one stone; you get to see him in prison and he dies, to boot.
I say there have been more than enough of 'ifs, 'when's' and 'buts'. It is long past time for the FBI and DOJ to begin criminal investigations of the insurrection's/coup's planners. You're suggesting, Pat, another reason to give the destroyer's more time to finish us off.
the cops in Palm Beach Fla coddled a known child molester ( Epstein), giving him unlimited freedoms, they are HUUUUGE Trump fans...they will do nothing.
There was one cop in Florida who found three girls who had been abused by Epstein, then, gathered evidence backing up there story, and eventually arrested Epstein in July of 2006.
Sadly, the Bush administrations justice department worked a deal with someone in Florida to let him go. The cop that arrested Epstein was named Michael Reiter.
So, there are a some folks down in Florida, like there are everywhere who, even when presented with the payoff, will turn it down and "do the right thing".
I think a huge dilemma is how to jail a past president. You can't put him in with other prisoners. Do you buy private property, build a huge fence around it, and make a home for him and a couple of apartments for secret service? Not something we have had to think about before.
When pigs fly. That would incite a bloody guerrila civil war on the streets of the resulting disUnited States of America. A comfortable exile for the former president and his immediate family is a logical alternative, leaving his remaining supporters to face justice. But remember, Napoleon escaped from Elba and tried to regain power.
This problem extends beyond Palm Beach. Too many in law enforcement don't understand that their mission, to protect the public and maintain civil order, must take precedence over their personal politics. Give someone a law enforcement job which entitles them to wear an American Flag on their shirt sleeve, and this includes related jobs such as corrections personnel, and they identify themselves as personal protectors of that flag, letting their politics influence them. Look at all the flag wavers on January 6 at the Capitol.
we have no further to look than the shooter at the church in SC when the police arrested him and stopped to get him something to eat and drink to know that this issue does not just live in FL. It lives in Wisconsin, it lives in OH, it lives in every state of the Union.
When that scummer Rush Limbaugh was arrested for illicit drug use the Palm Beach Police fawned around him as a celeb and champion of their white supremest beliefs.
I have been wondering ever since Jan 7, 2021 why Nancy Pelosi even agreed to seat the 147 members who were in open defiance.....maybe she was waiting for the hard chips to fall so there could be no wiggle room about their guilt.
Here is the part of the amendment you neglected to include, Mike, It is the loophole that turns the entire removal process into a potential joke:
"But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Meaning Congress can overturn the disability (exclusion) from holding office again.
Explanation: "The right to remove disabilities imposed by this section was exercised by Congress at different times on behalf of enumerated individuals.1 In 1872, the disabilities were removed, by a blanket act, from all persons except Senators and Representatives of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.2 Twenty-six years later, Congress enacted that the disability imposed by section 3 . . . incurred heretofore, is hereby removed."
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. "
Daria, first, Trump is not disabled so there are no disabilities to remove. :-) :-)
Second, code 2383 is unambiguous.
So, hopefully whatever lawyer is the prosecution, knows enough to dance well.
We've actually had several discussions around Section 3 of the 14th. There are a couple of loopholes within the amendment itself, most notably one that allows the guilty party to serve again. Congress has a bad habit of taking care of Congress and not the (US) American People.
Here it is:
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3:
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Explanation: "The right to remove disabilities imposed by this section was exercised by Congress at different times on behalf of enumerated individuals.1 In 1872, the disabilities were removed, by a blanket act, from all persons except Senators and Representatives of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.2 Twenty-six years later, Congress enacted that the disability imposed by section 3 . . . incurred heretofore, is hereby removed."
18 US Code 2383 bars him from holding office again.
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. "
Optimism is warranted where getting to see his mug shot after being booked are relevant.
daria, I would note, aside from the necessity that one branch serves as a check on the other, a 2/3s-vote threshold from each House is a mighty high bar and nearly impossible to reach, particularly at this time when government is so polarized.
I agree. My point is that there is, in fact, a built in loophole that can be used in the event there is a sufficient number if votes to reinstate ones eligibility to hold office. It may be entirely "academic" but it does exist.
daria, I suppose my profound admiration for our admittedly flawed Founders, who, nonetheless, understood the need for constant checks against the anticipated excesses of any one branch precludes me from viewing one such check as a “loophole.” I hope my pressing concern over this point is not viewed as irritating, but, instead, as a tribute to those who sought to balance power in a way that might protect the country from the corrupt self-serving impulses of any one faction.
Barbara, I too have deep regard for our founders. It is important to understand, however, that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1868. It was not crafted by the founders but was "One of three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for Black Americans".
I don't find your concern irritating, however, I think it is important to understand when and why the 13th and 14th Amendments were drafted and ratified. Again, the Founders had nothing to do with these amendments. These amendments have to do with the abolishing slavery and establishing equality for Black Americans . The removal of Disability by a 2/3 vote in both Chambers is, in an unbalanced Congress, very dangerous.
I hope you don't find my insistence around the specifics of these amendments irritating or insulting. I know I can seem pedantic.
Section 3 explained:
"Section Three of the amendment, gave Congress the authority to bar public officials, who took an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, from holding office if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the Constitution. The intent was to prevent the president from allowing former leaders of the Confederacy to regain power within the U.S. government after securing a presidential pardon.
Removal of Disability in section 3 explained:
" It states that a two-thirds majority vote in Congress is required to allow public officials who had engaged in rebellion to regain the rights of American citizenship and hold government or military office."
daria, My understanding, when the 14th Amendment was drafted, was that its crafters were adhering to the section of the Constitution that had established the few exceptions that would require a supermajority as opposed to a simple up or down majority vote. Among those exceptions was the conviction/removal of an impeached officer. Btw, I have valued every one of your postings, not just here, but everywhere else.
800,000+ deaths and all those families mourning, all because TFG refused to act to contain the virus at the outset and throughout its inevitable spread. I wish he could be tried and convicted of negligent homicide for each death.
Assigning Pence as the head of the task force knowing that Drump could manipulate him. Kushner in charge of PPE and using young volunteers to coordinate very little. I could go on.
That 1/6 committee is made up of some serious workhorses. How they prevented leaks from getting out was masterful. Having Liz Cheney read the texts from Fox News personalities and Trump Jr. was again I must use the word “masterful”.
A doctor I know told me at the beginning of all this that a pandemic is evolution's IQ terst: are you smart enough to take this information and modify your behavior in such a way as to maximize your chance of survival? For the 46% of Republicans who won't get vaccinated, they have flunked. The more of them who die, the greater America will become again. From this point on, when someone comes to the ER with Covid, and they're un-vacdcinated, they should be turned away. "You did this to yourself, moron, and we need to keep our facility for people who contribute to society. You're on your own." I have no pity or compassion left for these people.
I wish it were that simple TC. I agree with how you feel. They are incredibly irresponsible and possibly morons, or probably brainwashed. It’s so hard because as healthcare providers we don’t refuse care for someone who drove drunk and got into an accident that injured or killed someone. We have our personal feelings about it but still provide the same care. Maybe the difference is the immense volume of people refusing to be vaccinated that are overwhelming our hospitals, spreading the virus and acting as Petri dishes for mutations when it can so easily be prevented. With this group I think we are losing our patience
Regardless of why anti-vaxers choose to be extraordinarily selfish, irresponsible, and cause others to suffer and die, karma with a capital K appears headed their way. The experts are nearing agreement that we are about to be inundated with an unprecedented number of cases. And the unvaccinated will overwhelm hospitals, and many of them will die. They also will keep countless people who need medical care for other reasons of getting care.
Who will this despicable group blame? Certainly not themselves. Probably Biden and the Communist Democrats. It’s mass insanity.
It is certainly not about taking responsibility. Today, in a parking lot, the vehicle next to me had a bumper sticker: "Liberal democrat. Communist. No difference." This, in my small, liberal (mostly) town in the Pacific Northwest.
"Tree-hugging Dirt Worshiper" is one of many on my vehicle.
I have the "Tree hugging dirt worshiper" bumper sticker on the clipboard I use to keep myself 'organized' at work (I am an RN). I also have "No Farms, No Food". Keeps the right-wingers guessing :)
It makes my head hurt to contemplate the rank stupidity of anyone who equates a liberal Democrat with a Communist. On the one hand I understand how people fall for such outlandish manipulation. But they also revel in name calling and belittling others, which reveals who they really are.
I am retiring from my position (as a Nurse leader) at the end of this month, mainly due to abuse from the non-medical leadership where I work. I have already joined a mobile vaccination team operating in my area, and am waiting to hear about a job as Director of Medical Services for the Homeless at a hospital in a nearby city. Times they are a changin'. :) Thanks for your posts, Karen!
I retired Dec.2019 already burned out from constantly working with unsafe staffing levels. At that time inadequate staffing was a financial decision and a known acceptable mortality rate. I was a Neuro ICU nurse in a level 1 trauma center.
Even Heroes are human beings who cannot be expected to last for years in these times. I/we don't ever list you as ex-heroes, Karen. Just casualties who did their best for us. Pass the word to your colleagues.
And yet.... the daughter of one of my former coworkers (a man who is now second in command of my former agency and is one of the good cops left, whose two sons are joining the department) has his youngest child, his daughter, beginning her nursing career. A servant's heart.
My DIL works for a health facility staffing company. She is burned out from having to find people to staff shifts, between their own Covid (rare), their own burnout, etc. And she’s the staffer not a physician or nurse!
The local hospital here in western MA, not a huge system but certainly the biggest in the area, has 1,800 openings. They are grossly understaffed and unable to attract nurses and behavioral health folks. The system has just announced putting off any "elective" procedures due to staff shortages.
True Karen. I'm a retired 40+ year medical technologist. GSWs (gun shot wounds) could hinder our entire lab at a major medical center due to the insane amount of blood test and blood products needed. One ICU Rn told me she got so discouraged when a GSW was brought to her care and she saw that the patient had scars from prior GSWs, but it did not stop her from giving her best care.
I would not be able to actually turn away a sick person at the hospital door so don't put me in charge of the "no unvaccinated" strategy at hospitals.
Why would I be a bad choice??
I don't think everyone has the same mental operating facilities and I do think that many charlatans are manipulating information on youtube, at thousands of churches in America, on facebook, etc., in order to make people think vaccines are bad.
I remember when I believed the white man at the front of the church when he told me whatever nutty thing that I believed God had told him. Yes I do.
So, I understand how a nice, normal human being can be convinced that vaccines are from Satan.
I thank my own good luck at having had the mental faculty to break free from those times and that world and I could and did enter an educated world where thoughtful information is in conflict with crank stuff and I can sort the chaff.
But, not everyone can and I once could not either.
So, don't put me at the hospital door TC. I would be hard pressed to stop some pour soul who has been on the receiving end of giant amounts of BS by thousands of charlatans and just cannot tell.
my son has a very high IQ, is very successful in his chosen field of finance and yet he will not get vaccinated. He will wear a mask and socially distance, he knows how dangerous Covid is. He has always been attracted to conspiracy since child hood. He reads white papers and VAERS reports then chooses to believe the one off scientists that submit results that have not been peer reviewed or duplicated by independent third parties... when I think to myself that anti- vaccers should not be treated I think of my son and am glad they can be treated.
My sister's partner (hard to call a 58 year old man a "boyfriend") is in the same boat. Wicked intelligent, very well versed in the study of supernatural and vortexes (vortices?) but a huge conspiracy theorist refuses vaccination. Not even the birth of his new grandbaby (his daughters will NOT let him visit unvaced) will get him to believe or behave differently. He's not welcome in our home, nor in my sister in law's home.
Marcy, Well, I am sad to say I never did get smart.
However, I worked my way to a Chemical Engineering degree at A&M, did well, and was offered a full fellowship at UT Austin for Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. The pay was phenomenal compared to anything I had seen before so I took the deal.
While at UT Austin, in my supervising professors group, there was a very nice fellow from Taiwan, an incredibly fine guy from India, another guy from the inner city in Houston and guy from Venezuela, myself.
In my previous incantation as a Baptist from East Texas, the guy from India and the guy from Taiwan would have been perceived as going to hell.
However, I just could not see it. These guys were nice, more genuine and more honest than almost anyone I had ever met. I concluded they were not going to hell.
This opened the door to question everything I had ever been indoctrinated into. I had UT Austin's library right there and started reading widely.
Soon after I concluded that Mary Magdalene had absolutely been the smartest woman in history when she gave resurrected life to Jesus Christ and the disciples believed her when she declared Jesus arisen.
This conclusion opened the door for me to read ever more widely, subscribe to the NY Times and begin to question everything .... period.
Eventually, I realized Republicans lie about everything, always and I stopped voting for them.
My eye opening was when I first googled the National Debt and realized Reagan was lying about being fiscally responsible.
Now? My former church would, no doubt, declare me heretical for believing that good folks who never heard of Jesus are not going to hell, forgiving someone for stealing a loaf of bread from a 7-11 makes more sense than locking him up, living in a diverse community to hear different laughter is more fun than an all white neighborhood, and cutting corporate taxes is complete BS, ...
and locking up Trump is the absolute correct course of action.
So, I never got smart. I am still trying to learn.
Mike S., you have just laid out the reason conservatives think colleges are too liberal! Hahahaha. Isn't it so true that nothing works to open one's eyes to the humanity (and redeeming qualities) of each person as getting to know them individually? And isn't that what we Christians are called to do??? Thanks for responding. Merry Christmas.
12 years of catholic school, but in my senior year, I started questioning everything! I escaped before the brain washing took hold. They demand blind faith from their followers and use fear tactics to keep everyone in line. They follow "satan", trump, for the "greater good", to do away with abortion. Vice President Pence was a prime example. But I have to believe that has done more damage to organized religion than good. Guess that's to be seen.
They reject science because it challenges them for proof, they suppress women because strong, smart, women don’t make good doormats, they rejoice at ignorance & suffering because it keeps them in business, and they protect the wealthy because the wealthy protect them
would get sick and live or die by themselves but, as someone else noted, the anti-Vader’s are nurseries for Covid 19 mutations. They threaten all of us.
That’s what I keep pondering. When I go out for supplies I look at the 90% of unmasked here and wonder which one is currently incubating a new, deadlier variant. This pandemic could go on until this virus wipes out all or most of humanity.
Picture that. A host of hosts growing new variants, each more virulent and vaccine resistant. Become a human weapons for the very beliefs they wish to uphold. A dystopian dream out to get the "libtards". A public health nightmare or script idea for a new miniseries. Perhaps, in some more isolated communities, could this happen?
The virus will continue to mutate until it runs out of hosts in which to do so or until it burns itself out by running through all the variations it can produce.
It does not require isolated communities. Right now all it takes is an unvaccinated host. It is possible the virus could mutate to work around vaccines completely, especially given how much “training” it has in available hosts. Meaning, it could mutate faster than we can keep up with it.
This is what viruses do. There’s no hostile intent or malevolence.
Hostile intent and malevolence are what humans do to each other and we’ve seen plenty since trump & his cabal deliberately decided to turn a public health situation (the pandemic) into a way to gain followers and to thwart any who disagreed with them politically - their only two policies being “fuck you, that’s why” (“you” being all who aren’t in their cult) and “how much money can I get out of this?” (“this” being anything at all - charities for veterans or children with cancer, corruption of laws & policies, environmental destruction, a pandemic which kills and damages other humans…).
I think the word surcharge could be put in Play here. Money has a way of sorting things out. If your suitcase weighs too much you get a surcharge to have it go through.If you take up too much room in one seat on an airplane and have to buy two that would be a surcharge to me. A surcharge in the form of 1000 or $2000 for people who are unvaccinated because they’re taking spaces for people who really need to be in the hospital. Opposed to people who could’ve prevented being in the hospital.
The Darwin Award, created in 1993, will be awarded this year to the 46% of the Republicans who won’t get vaccinated. To win you have to be deemed the winner in a contest to identify who, by their death, will most improve the human gene pool. [Until now, this has been awarded to individuals but, like the Nobel Prize, it can be awarded to a group, so these ignoble Republicans qualify.] I am now endeavoring to calculate whether the dead unvaxed Republicans offset the votes lost by the Republican voting restrictions for non-whites. Preliminary results suggest a white wash.
I've been saying all along that unvaccinated people who get COVID and go to a hospital should be denied treatment. Cruel of me, perhaps, but they have put all of us at risk, and those who are vaccinated should be first in line at emergency rooms, whether it be for COVID or other illnesses.
I understand the sentiment but as a nurse posted elsewhere today (sorry, can’t recall her name) we don’t turn away drunk drivers who crash their vehicles or drug users who overdose. I’ll add - we don’t turn away anyone who has caused or brought upon themselves injury through ignorance or willful stupidity or through any other means. Should a battered spouse be denied medical care because “they ought to know better than to stay with someone who hits them”? Where would you draw the line for who could receive medical care?
We have to be better than that.
However, I do think we need to create two medical systems and post-haste. One for covid and one for everything else. Same level of care for both with medical professionals rotating through each system. People are dying preventable deaths from lack of regular medical care and that is as wrong as deliberately letting all unvaccinated go untreated.
A battered spouse staying with his or her partner is hurting just him- or herself (or their families), whereas the unvaccinated are putting untold numbers of people at risk.
If you wish to be nitpicking about it, this is true. However, drunk drivers and drug users can and do hurt and kill others at times. Same with people who refuse to vaccinate their children against measles, chicken pox, etc. Should we refuse all of these people, including the innocent children, medical care too?
The other comment was deleted because my edits were not accepted. (What's the good of a long-awaited edit feature if it doesn't work?)
Not the innocent children. And there is a difference between even those anti-vaccers whose kids might get measles or chicken pox, and those who are COVID-unvaccinated, who might contaminate many people with a serious, perhaps deadly, perhaps long-term illness. I acknowledge there is a quandary, and I don't mean to nitpick; I'm just offering my personal opinion, that maybe such selfish people SHOULD be punished, by denial of care, for disregarding the rights of others to live a healthy life.
But perhaps your idea of a two-tier medical system would at least keep care available to the innocent people who need care for heart attacks, strokes, etc., with the medical people also providing services to COVID patients in a separate system.
My question for you is - can you decide exactly what scenarios would be punishable by refusal of any and all medical care? Would a child with measles be cared for but not the 4 adults at school they infected? Would their parent who was unvaccinated be cared for? Or not, since they withheld the vaccine from their child? (Measles can be deadly, especially for adults.)
What about cancer? Should smokers receive any medical care for lung cancer? Or any kind of cancer that could be traced to smoking? What about cervical cancer? There is a vaccine for that now. Should we separate those with cervical cancer into the treat/don’t treat groups due to whether or not they were vaccinated? And for that matter - what of people who carry the HPV virus (which can lead to cervical and penile cancers) who continue to have unprotected sex? Should they receive medical care?
I know you are offering your personal opinion. I respect that even though I strongly disagree with it. I’m pointing out examples of where your thoughts on withholding medical care could be applied. And, I only touched on a few medical issues. I haven’t gone into applying that idea to the poor or those of color. What of people who can’t afford fresh fruits and vegetables? Those whose only store nearby is a Dollar General? Should they be denied medical care for gastrointestinal disorders, cancer, poor dental health, etc all because they can’t afford to get to or buy organic fresh food?
It’s a slippery slope and one I hope humanity never heads down. I can just see the laws that the rich and the white supremacists would put into effect to deny medical care for all those they don’t deem good enough or white enough.
I appreciate that you were willing to have this conversation. Thank you.
Doctors can and do end up having to make ugly choices though. I have no doubt they’ve been in the position, in hard hit areas, of having to choose between a vaccinated over unvaccinated patient when two patients of similar age and health handicaps need drastically limited resources. They’d have to see a vaccinated emergency patient has a greater chance of survival than the unvaccinated person in a hospital loaded with Covid-19 virus.
Yes, Molly Ivins, IF Stone, and political cartoonist Herblock. Sadly their works are still applicable.
"The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you’re going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins."
Perilously, Texas is not alone. Writes David Pepper in his new book, Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines "that maps out how Republicans have effectively forced minority rule on Americans, first at the state level in legislatures, governorships, and state courts."
Thank you for this. One correction: Sandra Lindsay was the first person to receive the vaccine after approval by the FDA. I had my first vaccination in August 2020 as part of the Moderna Clinical Trial. Between the three trials (Moderna, Pfizer, J&J), over 60,000 of us were vaccinated prior to its Emergency Use Authorization.
From the pen of Kevin Drum, who I agree with 100%:
"I am all in favor of bullying people into getting vaccinated.
"With the Omicron variant barreling down on us, I'd like to take this chance to say that I'm all in favor of making life as miserable as possible for people who don't get vaccinated. This is not because I have no empathy for them, or because I think they're stupid and want to punish them. It's purely for selfish reasons. The more people who get vaccinated, the safer I am. Every person who refuses to get vaccinated is a mortal threat to me and my family, and that's not something I'm willing to treat lightly.
The "twisted"-est part of this pandemic is that it appears to be a intentional genocide promoted by the extremist, terrorist authoritarians of America supported by hostile foreign entities. Why would you intentionally kill your own supporters? Because once you have established total power and completely obliterated a democracy, you no longer need voters?
And the Fox propaganda station/Murdochs should also pay for the lies they spewed which have caused their viewers deaths and tragic health consequences for all.
They are not killing enough to lose elections though and they are causing Democratic voters to die to who are around conservatives. I agree that once they have total power Republicans wouldn't care but for now they still need the deplorables to vote.
I think in the true spirit of Drum's tweet, "bullying" is an apt word. Like the rest of us, he's sick to death of these people who are endangering the rest of population with their silly intransigence. And with the threat of a major increase in cases because of the Omicron variant poised to sweep this country, this is all the more urgent. We've lost patience and it's time to stop mollycoddling these people. I'm sorry, but I see "directing with consequences for non-compliance" is still a form of "bullying". Drum's semantics here are purposefully concise and to the point as befits his mindset, and I agree with him. Call it what you will, stricter measures may have to be taken for compliance, or the risks/threats to the rest of us increase exponentially. As I and others have said on here numerous times, the Left has got to sometimes stop being so g_ddamn "nice" and give back to these people the same as they're dishing out. Because their actions can directly threaten me and my family, then "BULLY" their asses. Gloves need to come off now. And yes, "That's it. That's all there is to it."
Thanks for posting the original Tweet!...I didn't, since not everybody has Twitter, but it is worth it on there to see responses. I sometimes prefer to post just the words, rather than a link, as they can seemingly carry a little more weight.
Many hospitals have shut down surgery services due to being overwhelmed with intensive care Covid patients. Many cancer patients are not able to have their cancers removed surgically (the recommended treatment) because of obstinate anti-vaxxers taking up medical resources. We are losing excellent, highly trained providers because of the abuse of our healthcare system. Complex and multifactorial, the consequences will effect us all.
My brother had a long inpatient cancer surgery this week in England. He had glowing reports about the care and the hospital, thank you NHS! This was at no cost to him beyond his income taxes. I try not to despair about the state of this formerly-fine country...
I have a friend whose bone marrow transplant was postponed in early September (as he was ON HIS WAY to OHSU) due to losing several clinics to overflow COVID patients. He was finally able to get in on December 10, and is in his recovery process now.
As a 40+ year medical technologist, I assisted physicians on literally thousands of bone marrow aspirations over those years. I've crossed paths with many type of doctors over the years, the oncologists and oncology nurses (and ESP the Pediatric onc docs and rns) are among the greatest human beings I have had the pleasure of meeting. Good luck and best wishes to your friend! Let him know that this group will surely send out good karma, prayers and thoughts (as each of us finds most fitting) for his healing.
Charlie is actually the older brother of one of my best friends growing up. He's a Vietnam Veteran, is married to his husband, and spent 50 years working as a forest ranger. Really one of the good guys.
Yup. I was one who had cancer treatment postponed from April until June because of COVID-19 patients taking all beds and services. Am still feeling consequences and not recovered.
“The currency of Public Health is credibility”- Dr. Charity Dean
From now on please:
Mr. Scott Atlas
Mr. Bob Redfield
THESE TWO ASSCLOWNS HAVE DISQUALIFIED THEMSELVES AS DOCTORS.
Here’s a reminder what past CDC Director Foege ( responsible for eradicating smallpox from the face of the Earth in the 1970s) sent to Mr Bob Redfield, telling him to resign and why.
Ex-Governor Rick Perry is not one of the brighter light bulbs on this planet. He started in Texas politics as a Democrat, then became a Republican, and was the longest serving governor in Texas’s history. As a presidential candidate he promised to abolish three Cabinet positions—during a debate he named two, including the Department of Energy, but couldn’t remember the third. Trump appointed Perry, who had done badly in basic science, Energy Secretary. Perry accepted with alacrity, totally ignorance that the department’s primary responsibility was related to nuclear matter.
Now we learn that Dim Light Bulb Perry the day after the presidential election sent a memo to Mark Meadows, White House Chief of Staff, with a blue print for fudging the election results in Congress with the intention of having the matter decided by the Supreme Court, which included three recent Trump appointees. I find it implausible that Perry could have conceived and drafted such a plan on his own within twenty-four hours. To phrase it kindly, he is a ‘slow thinker.’ The House 1/6 committee should subpoena this former Trump cabinet member to learn the genesis of this electoral plot.
Turkey Chin McConnell, who is still furious at Trump for losing him the Senate leadership spot because of the Georgia senatorial brouhaha, has seemingly made a stunning reversal. Initially he had strongly opposed any serious investigation events related to the 1/6 Capitol Building insurrection
Oophs, my computer, with a mind of its own, posted my commentary in mid-thought. ‘Initially he had strongly opposed any serious investigation of events related to the 1/6 Capitol Building insurrection.” Indeed, he seemed in lockstep with the Trumpists who opposed ‘a witch hunt’ into this conspiracy. So why would McConnell break with Senate/House protocol and comment on this Democrat-led committee’s subpoena-issuing posse? Perchance he is sensing that the BIG LIE/1/6 insurrection will play less and less well as Trump Mafiosos start blinking in the harsh light of public investigation. With a sense of loyalty that would make a cockroach blush, McConnell may be distancing himself from a ‘stinking ship.’ I expect that Jabba the Hutt once again will attack McConnell. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving twosome.
Daria Thanks!!! I just tried this and nothing happened. So I’ll try, try, and try again. The computer gods are not friendly. Earlier today they posted a commentary when I was in the middle of writing. Could it have been Darth Vader trying to protect Jabba the Hutt?
Keith, I think it's a function in progress. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sigh! I remain hopeful that it will become fully functional sooner than later😉
"Perchance he is sensing that the BIG LIE/1/6 insurrection will play less and less well as Trump Mafiosos start blinking in the harsh light of public investigation"
I never in my life thought that we’d get to a point where one of our two major political parties would side with authoritarianism, anti-science and a longtime adversary but, well, here we are.
I’m beyond disgusted with Manchin. I used to live in his podunk home town. Years ago, Fairmont WV received enough federal funds to redo the exits to make a grand entry to downtown Fairmont BUT nothing is open, save a donut shop or therapists office. I am quite unhappy with Manchin and NOW he brings up the ban on offshore drilling???? Ugh! I could scream 😱!
H. A., Though I, too, am frustrated with Manchin (and Sinema), stay tuned. A group of Senators that include Manchin are exploring Senate rule changes that would reinstate some form of the talking filibuster, that once exhausted, would conclude with an up or down majority vote. The current thinking is that voter protection legislation would be the first to benefit from this rule change.
As for BBB, a handful of creative thinkers are stitching together legislation that would fall within Manchin’s $1.75 trillion figure over 10 years. They estimate they could preserve most of the child tax credit expansion, affordable child care and Pre-K, fixes to ACA subsidies, with enough left to pick another policy. There also is the advantage of the legislation not lapsing, say in 3 years, and being subject to repeal were the Republicans to retake power.
My point is that Dems conceivably can deliver on two principal goals: 1) pass legislation that blocks GOP initiatives to suppress and nullify votes and 2) show they can enact legislation that makes noticeably enough difference in people’s lives to galvanize the base for 22. As stated, stay tuned.
A pièce de résistance of informative milestones, Heather! You have such a keen eye for writing about the most vital and significant, not to mention, compelling happenings in our twilight zone of living history.
"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge." Rod Serling
Serling ends with the words: “He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others."
Those whose minds have not been cleansed of all of the allegedly fake news may recall that the distinguished former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry, whose telephone number is strangely appearing, was deep into the Ukrainian gas-seeking deal with Lev Parnas and his friends and that he indeed led the US delegation to the Ukrainian inauguration. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!
It may be that we need look no further than the GRE as in greed. The sniff of gas and oil fortunes has made (and undone) many a Texan but your question is nonetheless a good one.
Imagine that I told you ten years ago that TFG would be accused by at least 19 women of sexual misbehavior and assault. That he would essentially admit on tape that he would "grab women by the "p...." and that "when you are famous you can get away with it". That he would pay off two women to keep them quiet about his affairs (while married) ... and that he would claim that he could "shoot someone on 5th Avenue" and still not lose a vote. And that after all that he would be elected President largely because of the support of "Christians". Evangelical "God Fearing" folks being at the core of support for a very bad business tycoon from NYC whose excesses would send Jesus himself into a tirade.
Imagine if I had told you ten years ago that TFG, as President, would have "handcuffed" scientists - discouraging them from recommending a vaccine that he had taken credit for developing at "warp speed" causing the deaths and suffering of hundreds of thousands (huh?) - and that then he would attempt a violent coup to return to office after losing re-election...what would your reaction have been?
It is surreal. Lesson learned. Expect anything. And don't expect a cult to act logically or morally.
In fact, I thought back to my 7th grade middle school experience where (almost) all the girls were, seemingly, attracted to the "bad boy" in the class and all the nice guys were invisible to those same girls. The "bad boy" was also the alpha among the boys. Boys wanted to be around him (with some exceptions). He smoked and cursed and broke all the rules. I remained very neutral outwardly to avoid ending up on the wrong end of a fistfight with said bad boy who was also tad taller than everyone having hit puberty well ahead of some of us.
After thinking about that experience, I am not surprised that a large number men and women voted for Trump enthusiastically.
Trump is very similar to my 7th grade "bad boy". He flaunts all the rules, brags on himself, represents himself as the superior, and denigrates many people frequently. Just exactly like my 7th grade bad boy who would have been voted the "most popular" boy in my 7th grade.
I think if we recognize humans are mammals we don't have to look far to see many parallel outcomes like Trump's even in standard wolf pack behavior.
The "boys" want to be like Trump because he represents as the alpha. The girls all love him because he represents himself as the alpha, immune from rules, a real MAN.
Nobody wants to get on his bad side because they might be the target of denigration.
Trump's American experience looks almost a mirror of my 7th grade middle school experience.
Tfg is emotionally about 8 years old. His supporters are probably stuck in some middle school emotional time warp and both are scary concepts, given their power. But let's leave out the both-siderism. I think the universe of anti-tfg voters are able to think critically at an adult level (most of the time!) and certainly when in a voting booth.
Barbara, the "both sides" notion creates wild misunderstanding. Though the 7th grade mentality blooms among men, the other side, the Democrats, would never have recruited or elected #45.
I agree. Also, more and more, those 7th grade girls who grow up in this day and age are realizing their own strengths and no longer look up to the strong armed bully men.
I intensely dislike the both sides equal philosophy . It is destructive. What I am talking about is everyone, no matter your age, politics, income, nationality and religion take a deep breath and douse the flaming discourse.
Just ordered (per HCR's recommendation) "Orwell's Roses" by Rebecca Stolnik, to learn the characteristics he found in a perdon who did NOT fall for the swagger and was not conned by the Hitlers.
Remember, Mike - those were 12 year olds - with not yet developed brains, right? Which certainly is telling. I do have to say wolf packs - from what I've read - likely have evolved more than the current "bad boy" enthusiasts! Most other species have.
Nick Camody is a great follow on Twitter if you are interested in the MAGA world psychology. He's a lawyer and psychologist. (The threads usually reference prior threads so you might end up going down worm holes)
Yes, this is the rat the “religious right” helped put in office and many still think he is the greatest! Mostly because they love the new SCOTUS and the abortion law reversal. So hard to justify…
If you told me it was going to be death star, I would expected exactly what happened. Meanwhile, my pointing this out to the Bernie cult and those who voted for Jill, not green, Stein, fell on deaf ears. It's still going on despite the good things that the Biden administration does.
"That he would essentially admit on tape....." I sincerely request that folks stop quoting trump on this. It was bad enough hearing it the first time. I 100% cringe every time it is said.
I have one friend who has told me that she can "never vote for a Democrat as long as they support abortion" because she "won't stand before GOD and be judged that (she) stood by as babies were murdered"
I firmly believe that for many of them, they are one issue voters and that issue is abortion.
I count myself as extremely fortunate to not be one of the 800,000. However, I was Covid-19 virus patient as of March 13 2020 and I am still dealing with the debilitating aftermath including lung and vascular damage. My local hospital was crammed with sick employees who didn’t have proper PPE, there were few safety protocols and no available beds. Even the lab refused my doctor’s order for a chest X-ray saying they did not have any way to sterilize the room afterward. I survived but my fury is as intense and focused as ever. Those who impeded the scientists and doctors have blood on their hands that is damningly obvious and I accept no excuses.
Mary, Trump should indeed be charged with negligent homicide. In my circle, a friend of mine from our theological training and one of our young pastors at Judson Memorial in NYC has been suffering for a year - maybe more - with the Covid aftermath. You who are living with long-term damage are owed a great deal more than even Trump, with all his money and power, could ever repay.
Mary, I'm sorry you're still dealing with the effects of Covid. I cannot imagine the outrage you're feeling as cases surge upwards once again.
Please stay safe. We are with you.
Maryomary: Your outrage is broadly shared! It consistently seemed that the early strategic planning emphasized optics over collective safety, monetizing strategies over public health concerns. It was a heartbreaking betrayal of the collective trust we citizens have had in the government’s management of our public health safety. In our family too, we have a dear young family member struggling with long COVID symptoms. I am grateful for every bit of news HCR shares that confirms the investigative committee is getting evidence proving TFG administration’s ongoing callous disregard for the public safety. Accountability critical for all of us, but especially those still left suffering. Wishing you and all of us, recovery, relief and answers!!!
IMO, the republicans are still playing their part in “emphasized optics over collective safety, monetizing strategies over public health concerns”.
"It consistently seemed that the early strategic planning emphasized optics over collective safety, monetizing strategies over public health concerns. It was a heartbreaking betrayal of the collective trust we citizens have had in the government’s management of our public health safety." Exactly!
Trump needs to be charged with Crimes Against Humanity.
I agree. TFG's willful disregard of Covid and its toll on US citizens is one of the highest crimes imaginable. His spin doctoring is malfeasance deserving of banishment. Perhaps try him in The Hague's International Criminal Court where other national leaders have been tried for Crimes Against Humanity.
Pardon my ignorance, but what does “tfg” stand for? Thank you.
TFG stands for The Former Guy, Pres.Biden's phrase for Trump. It's being used commonly now since even mentioning Trump is painful!
Thanks Hope, yes, to utter his name is anathema.
I join all those others in deploring what has happened to you. Several friends also have long term effects from Covid, and I wish that the CDC would gather testimony from all of you. No one deserves death, but neither do they deserve being deprived of basic physical functions.
It is infuriating that those in power knew that there were long term Covid symptoms, but still tried to silence the scientists. I am sorry you are one of those suffering with Covid lung and vascular damage. Your outrage is deserved.
Note the attempt (and probable success) to muzzle COVID data at the University of Florida
Jessica Jones, whistle-blower from Florida who lost her job with FL dept of health is now running for congress, against Matt gaetz. She has my donation dollars already
Rebekah Jones FL-01 | 2022
Oh, I didn't know this! Wow, she's a firebrand.
Rebekah, Rebekah! I thought Jessica didn't sound quite right
https://www.rebekahjonescampaign.com/
I'm sorry about your debilitating aftermath, and I hope things improve for you, and that you have plenty of support from friends and/or family.
How dreadful that you continue to suffer from effects of Covid, Mary! My heart goes out to you. Take good care of yourself -- sending you hugs and strength.
I believe I caught covid at a New Year's Day (2020) ballet class. I struggled for months with symptoms that later were identified as covid symptoms. What helped me the most were Meyer's Cocktail infusions. A Meyer's Cocktail is a combination of various vitamins. I am now fully recovered.
I'm glad you're feeling better, but I'm sceptical about whether the vitamins were responsible for your recovery.
The vitamins may have been a placebo, but sometimes that is all that is needed.
D is not a placebo. I suspect zinc probably isn't as well, but my certainty on that is not high, mostly because I haven't studied it. See my post above.
Zinc does show significant efficacy, but again, dose does NOT need to be high).
Vitamin D and ZInc have some demonstrated efficacy with viruses. Problem is the doses in many of the over the counter products are way too high, and dangerous.
Not true of D. The doses there are often too low. It's hard to get too high a dose of D. I take 3000 IU/day in the darker months. (In summer, I run shirtless every day and don't need the supplement.) Fauci takes 6000 IU/day. One of my best friends takes 10,000/day, having been prescribed that for osteopenia, and she's been doing it for years with no ill effect.
you want to aim for a blood level of 40-60 ng/ml. (Mine is around 55ng/ml both summer--from the sun--and winter, from the supplement.)
It takes about 6-8 weeks of supplement for your blood level to get where it needs to be. You can speed it up by taking a high dose, like 10,000, for a week or two.
Rule of thumb: if your shadow is longer than you are, the sun is too low in the sky and the relevant rays are being filtered out by the atmosphere.
Without sufficient D, your immune system is not working on all four cylinders. Since I began taking D in 2004, I almost never get colds or flu. I went from 2-3 colds a year to getting a cold every 3-4 years.
Being a somewhat chubby senior woman, I can't go outside and run shirtless. I do take Vit D (not in as high a dose as you do) I truly recommend taking a daily walk outdoors. Short and slow if that is all you can manage, build up as you can. There is a (Swedish, methinks?) saying about there being no bad weather, only poor clothing choices. Turn that face up to the sun if you are mostly clothed. MIght not get enough Vit D to make a big difference but that exercise surely will help your overall physical and mental health.
Thanks for your excellent posts, you are among the folks I look for daily.
I, too, fit that description, and supplement with Vitamin D at a lower dose during the fall and winter.
I think we've been through this debate before David. Suffice it to say, my review of the literature, and my own case studies, particularly on folks who have been on large (greater than 2000 IU/day) showed increased severe fatigue over time (one patient in my caseload was admitted to the hospital in coma, resolved with stopping Vitamin D). My RN, MSN hopefully counts for something.
What's important is not the dose, but the blood level. My blood level is the same on no supplements in summer, as it is on 3000 IU in winter. The level I specified--40-60ng/ml--is what researchers have found in hunter-gatherers (there are still a few tribes left). And there is literature now showing that people with higher levels of D are less likely to end up in the ICU from covid.
My doctor, a Harvard Medical School professor, disagreed with me on this for years, but she has come around.
This discussion made me curious so I took a look at the Mayo Clinic website. They recommend the following
“Taking a multivitamin with vitamin D may help improve bone health. The recommended daily amount of vitamin D is 400 international units (IU) for children up to age 12 months, 600 IU for people ages 1 to 70 years, and 800 IU for people over 70 years.”
But then include this, which suggests dosage up to 4000IU might be OK.
“Taken in appropriate doses, vitamin D is generally considered safe.
However, taking too much vitamin D in the form of supplements can be harmful. Children age 9 years and older, adults, and pregnant and breastfeeding women who take more than 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D might experience:
Nausea and vomiting
Poor appetite and weight loss
Constipation
Weakness
Confusion and disorientation
Heart rhythm problems
Kidney stones and kidney damage”
I plan to research further and talk with my doctor. I am able to be outside a lot, however live in the northeast where winter sun is weak and use sunscreen which blocks some vitamin D.
Thanks to those of you who brought this to our attention, along with the caveats.
Wait a minute—if D is taken in doses too high over a period of time, kidney stones can result…but I agree that D & zinc have a place in healing.
Anything can become problematic in too large doses, including D. But too much D is MUCH more than they used to think it was.
I thought vitamin C was supposed to do that.
That was Linus Pauling's theory around 50 years ago. As Dawna says below, C has some important actions, but D is far more critical.
C is necessary for Calcium absorption, along with D; calcium stabilizes cellular membranes…
Well, if you don't believe in vitamins, or haven't studied biochem and haven't learned that vitamins are actually catalysts, and the rxn won't occur without the catalyst, you might think so. I'm not going to argue with someone who doesn't understand nutrition, vitamins, or catalysts.
Sounds like you got the right cocktail. I don't know the formula, but I would imagine it includes Vits. C and D3 as well as Zinc. Offhand, I really believe the IV delivery made a big difference for you.
Vit. D is critically important, and I had to learn the hard way. For years, I would get extreme bronchitis during the winter. In two years, it resulted in 3 cases of pneumonia. Considering that I don't smoke but do exercise regularly and eat healthily, I couldn't imagine what would cause it. My doctors at the VA always diagnosed bronchitis. There was never talk of vitamins or especially Vitamin D. I learned on my own, and in the past 3 winters I've never had bronchitis much less pneumonia. (I heard one noted nutritionist say that Vitamin D is actually a hormone.) For those of us in the cold, gray winter areas, Vitamin D is essential. It will remain critically important to me. (I use a liquid formula which includes Vit. K2.)
Can you enlighten us on Meyer’s Cocktail? Thank you.
That is a harrowing story. You were so unfortunate to have caught it at a point when nobody, hospitals not excepted, knew a damn thing. I don’t know you, but I’m glad to hear that at least the end of your story was somewhat fortunate. However the fact that you are still dealing with long Covid is most unfortunate. Grace to you.
As for your last sentence, full agreement. Blood on their hands - no excuses.
Memo to the smarmy Dr. Redfield and the always dutiful Dr. Birx: You two and Dr. Fauci whom I do admire, could have resigned. Publicly. Together. In the loudest way possible. And then attacked ceaselessly from the outside.
I don’t buy the reasoning that someone worse would have taken your place and you spared the nation from more disaster. That is the merest fig leaf of a rationalization. Public obeisance to a madman is a dangerous example to set for the nation in a crisis of the highest order.
Your joint resignation, at the time of the famous “bleach is the solution” news conference or when Scott Atlas was pushing the President to a policy of no Covid mitigants in a quest for herd immunity for the last 500 survivors, would have set off a public earthquake. Who knows what would have happened them? You might have set off a stream of resignations, to the total humiliation of Trump and the effective end of the mythology he created.
At the very least I think it would have set off a massive confrontation. On the one side there would have been those citizens who a) wanted to live and b) thought their best chance was through the efforts of science.
On the other side, there would have been, no offense. those Americans who had lost their mind.
I know who I would have bet on.
Well said.
I can’t help but wonder if all of you who have these disabling Covid conditions can go after trump in a civil suit. He must be held accountable.
I agree, Mary. But I keep thinking about the sub-prime mortgage crisis that caused the Great Recession. Zero, none, not one of those responsible spent a day in jail. I hope it's a precedent that will be broken.
Mary,
You are right to feel anger toward Trump. He convinced many the CV-19 was a hoax.
However, see my other posts today.
He is going to jail. I am optimistic you will see him in stripes behind bars in the not too distant future.
In fact, I encourage you to imagine Trump in stripes, in a small jail cell, with (very) friendly inmates and
a prison guard whose wife died from CV-19 making sure he does not escape.
I am so sorry that you're among the long-haulers. As bad as Covid has been, I suspect that an even worse pandemic "after-effect" is going to be the continuing medical issues of our survivors. I have two in my immediate circle (my sister in law and my best friend) who are both long haulers. My friend was sick in March 2020 (her Mom, living with her, nearly died) and neither were either hospitalized or (they believe) not counted in the early count of local Covid cases.)
When the pandemic is "over", the continuing and long term after effects are going to be as bad as what we're seeing now.
The press and spokespeople do not talk about long Covid nearly enough, if at all.
One of my local TV stations spends about 75% of the broadcast covering Covid developments. The two biggest stories on this Cincinnati station right now are Covid and the Kentucky tornadoes. They do an excellent job.
I'm hoping against hope that the theme of national coverage will be the percentage of people hospitalized for Covid who are not vaccinated and who bears responsibility (Republicans and Fox News). Not holding my breath.
Sorry to hear of the pain and suffering MaryO. I have a cousin who was unvaccinated by choice, got the virus, took up a hospital bed and when cured thanked her prayer army or some such insanity. Don't speak to her anymore. If you have the energy help us gain 3 or 4 Democratic Senate seats in 2022 and then MAYBE we can deal with some of this nihilism on the right.
Horrifying. Hospitals that fail to protect patients by allowing staff to resist masking and vaccination should be sued for negligence. Their first mandate is to “do no harm.” In Lewis County, upstate NY, nurses shut down the hospital by refusing to perform with DUE DILIGENCE . Mind you, this occurred in Rep. Elise Stefanik’s district; she’s the rabid right-winger who replaced Liz Cheney…
You should be getting a lot more likes for this terrific comment. I second everything you say.
Yesterday I openly wondered if it was formally illegal to incite insurrection against the US Government.
Well, to my surprise, and, thanks to Ally House yesterday for posting the below section of the 14th Amendment, and, another poster I cannot remember or find after looking through the posts yesterday, there are two laws against insurrection:
Section 3 of the the14th Amendment:
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
18 US Code 2383
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. "
So, I figure it might be difficult to get Trump's rather massive posterior into a local patrol car down near Mara Lago and, indeed, the cops might have to bring in the Paddy Wagon to get his rather large posterior to the county jail ..... but.....
I now am optimistic that we will get to see Trump sitting in the County Jail getting prepped for Federal prison fairly soon.
I, for one, cannot wait.
If the DOJ can’t hold him and the Jim Jordan’s in Congress accountable, our justice system is truly broken.
I think Trump is headed to jail. I really do.
I"d take that Mike, but in all honestly, first thing I do every morning after I take the bp meds and feed the cats is look on msn.com praying there will be a screaming headline that tfg is dead.
Shamefully, I do the same...or McConnell, Graham, Jordan, etc.
'or', perhaps, and? It is very difficult to agree to leniency for the enemies of us all.
Miselle, well, that would make a boring end to this movie now would it not?
Let's put him in Federal Prison instead.
Boring, Mike? How shall we spell J U S T I C E?
Liz, for now, lets just imagine Trump in stripes behind bars eating a nice, smelly plate of prison food.
Like all the folks in jail because they listened to him on Jan 06
Nope. That’s when we all find out he has Alzheimer’s .
:-)
Trump never could remember anything. He has never been able to focus well since he was hit in the temple with a pitched baseball in middle school.
He cannot read.
You’re an optimist but I’ll certainly join you.
Imagining a crook like Trump in jail is good for the soul.
I do hope you are right, Mike!
Well, independent of right and wrong, it is a wonderful Christmas image to imagine Trump behind bars after all these years of hurting so many people.
It is worth following Teri Kanefield's writings. She's a constitutional lawyer and explains the *slow* legal workings of all this quite well. Most importantly, she cautions that merely criminally convicting people does not solve the problem of authoritarianism. Those aligned with authoritarian thought will always be around.
Aye, I guess that's right, but, having Trump in jail to laugh at? Priceless.
Thanks for the tip on Kanefield. Sounds like interesting stuff.
I would like to see this, as well.
But, then, the movement would have a martyr.
But, then, if he's not jailed, justice will not be done.
But, if justice is done, the movement would have a martyr.
This is something we computer programmers call an infinite loop.
Martyr Shmartyr … put his ass in jail.
I second this motion!!
😂😂😂
A few photographs of Trump behind bars in a striped pantsuit and his martyrdom will be somewhat tainted. Nothing takes the shine off of a person like prison clothes.
I hope they put him in the “general population” - you know the one - the one Jeffrey Dahmer was in. You kill two birds with one stone; you get to see him in prison and he dies, to boot.
Thank you Cara, brilliant idea. Opening this up:
Pretend you are the warden choosing his assigned cellmate. Any suggestions?
The son of Quesem Soleimani?
You're singing our nightmare to a T----!
:-)
sadly it does not, my home state of OH re-elected Jim Traficant as rep even though he was convicted and in jail.
Well, sometimes the bad boy becomes popular, true.
That, in fact, is a serious weakness of Democracy.
Everyone gets to vote.
I see a theme in your comments this morning, Mike S. 😀
You have warmed to your task.
Not a loop.
A simple if…else…end if.
And I’ll take the “if justice is done…” for $1000, Alex.
.....end if.
I love it.
The Daily Double‼️
I think there is an off.
??
huh
I say there have been more than enough of 'ifs, 'when's' and 'buts'. It is long past time for the FBI and DOJ to begin criminal investigations of the insurrection's/coup's planners. You're suggesting, Pat, another reason to give the destroyer's more time to finish us off.
That's not at all what I'm saying!
Does 45 belong in jail? YES, like 5 years ago!!!
BUT we have to realize that putting him there will energize his base. We need to be prepared for that.
Well looped!
the cops in Palm Beach Fla coddled a known child molester ( Epstein), giving him unlimited freedoms, they are HUUUUGE Trump fans...they will do nothing.
Mr. Paschal,
There was one cop in Florida who found three girls who had been abused by Epstein, then, gathered evidence backing up there story, and eventually arrested Epstein in July of 2006.
Sadly, the Bush administrations justice department worked a deal with someone in Florida to let him go. The cop that arrested Epstein was named Michael Reiter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Reiter_(police_officer)
So, there are a some folks down in Florida, like there are everywhere who, even when presented with the payoff, will turn it down and "do the right thing".
I am now very optimistic Trump is going to jail.
I think a huge dilemma is how to jail a past president. You can't put him in with other prisoners. Do you buy private property, build a huge fence around it, and make a home for him and a couple of apartments for secret service? Not something we have had to think about before.
It could be done on the beach at Guantanamo.
Sure you can put him in with the other prisoners. Trump is nothing special.
That was going to be my point. HE tarnished the Presidency. His prison arrangements should above all return him to citizen status.
I think prison inmates don't have hired protection.
They are all on their own.
So it should be with Donald J. Trump.
Let's see how it turns out for our illustrious President.
Yeah but Presidents get Secret Service protection for life. Last I heard.
That's my point for my comment. What do we do about that?
They used to exile them to Scotland, I believe. :-)
Oh, wait. That's English Kings.....
Please read my comment above.
When pigs fly. That would incite a bloody guerrila civil war on the streets of the resulting disUnited States of America. A comfortable exile for the former president and his immediate family is a logical alternative, leaving his remaining supporters to face justice. But remember, Napoleon escaped from Elba and tried to regain power.
Naw.
If social media management is done properly a picture of a somewhat mussed up Trump in prison garb will be on every screen.
it is amazing how fast the shine can come off of someone when they are no longer in a suit.
No.
Justice cannot (or at least should not) be swayed by threats of civil disorder. The criming came first.
What price justice? Chemo can cure cancer but enough of it can kill the patient.
Finally I have been waiting to see pigs “actually” fly.
This problem extends beyond Palm Beach. Too many in law enforcement don't understand that their mission, to protect the public and maintain civil order, must take precedence over their personal politics. Give someone a law enforcement job which entitles them to wear an American Flag on their shirt sleeve, and this includes related jobs such as corrections personnel, and they identify themselves as personal protectors of that flag, letting their politics influence them. Look at all the flag wavers on January 6 at the Capitol.
we have no further to look than the shooter at the church in SC when the police arrested him and stopped to get him something to eat and drink to know that this issue does not just live in FL. It lives in Wisconsin, it lives in OH, it lives in every state of the Union.
I did not know this had occurred.
When that scummer Rush Limbaugh was arrested for illicit drug use the Palm Beach Police fawned around him as a celeb and champion of their white supremest beliefs.
So, yeah that too.
I have been wondering ever since Jan 7, 2021 why Nancy Pelosi even agreed to seat the 147 members who were in open defiance.....maybe she was waiting for the hard chips to fall so there could be no wiggle room about their guilt.
If only. Also many of the FOX “opinion” folks might be able to report from federal prison also.
Robin,
GREAT IDEA. No lie.
Tucker Carlson interviews Trump through a prison window and a lousy prison microphone! Asks him how he likes his new stripes!
But, then again, Trump might be in solitary confinement for his protection.
:-)
I sense a prison fixation in you, Mike. You are spurring the fantasies of subscribers, who long held such hopes, wishes and dreams.
Here is the part of the amendment you neglected to include, Mike, It is the loophole that turns the entire removal process into a potential joke:
"But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Meaning Congress can overturn the disability (exclusion) from holding office again.
Explanation: "The right to remove disabilities imposed by this section was exercised by Congress at different times on behalf of enumerated individuals.1 In 1872, the disabilities were removed, by a blanket act, from all persons except Senators and Representatives of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.2 Twenty-six years later, Congress enacted that the disability imposed by section 3 . . . incurred heretofore, is hereby removed."
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt14-S3-1-1/ALDE_00000848/
18 US Code 2383
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. "
Daria, first, Trump is not disabled so there are no disabilities to remove. :-) :-)
Second, code 2383 is unambiguous.
So, hopefully whatever lawyer is the prosecution, knows enough to dance well.
Great debate going on.
:(
Mike I do LOVE this post of yours. ❤️❤️
Thanks Roland. I was not actually thinking it would make folks happy, but, I am happy it did.
Of course, not a happy subject. But it does make the heart and spirit glad to consider that justice could be served.
Indeed. Brightens my day no end to visualize Trump in stripes behind bars.
We've actually had several discussions around Section 3 of the 14th. There are a couple of loopholes within the amendment itself, most notably one that allows the guilty party to serve again. Congress has a bad habit of taking care of Congress and not the (US) American People.
Here it is:
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3:
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Explanation: "The right to remove disabilities imposed by this section was exercised by Congress at different times on behalf of enumerated individuals.1 In 1872, the disabilities were removed, by a blanket act, from all persons except Senators and Representatives of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.2 Twenty-six years later, Congress enacted that the disability imposed by section 3 . . . incurred heretofore, is hereby removed."
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt14-S3-1-1/ALDE_00000848/
Daria,
18 US Code 2383 bars him from holding office again.
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. "
Optimism is warranted where getting to see his mug shot after being booked are relevant.
:-)
daria, I would note, aside from the necessity that one branch serves as a check on the other, a 2/3s-vote threshold from each House is a mighty high bar and nearly impossible to reach, particularly at this time when government is so polarized.
I agree. My point is that there is, in fact, a built in loophole that can be used in the event there is a sufficient number if votes to reinstate ones eligibility to hold office. It may be entirely "academic" but it does exist.
daria, I suppose my profound admiration for our admittedly flawed Founders, who, nonetheless, understood the need for constant checks against the anticipated excesses of any one branch precludes me from viewing one such check as a “loophole.” I hope my pressing concern over this point is not viewed as irritating, but, instead, as a tribute to those who sought to balance power in a way that might protect the country from the corrupt self-serving impulses of any one faction.
Barbara, I too have deep regard for our founders. It is important to understand, however, that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1868. It was not crafted by the founders but was "One of three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for Black Americans".
I don't find your concern irritating, however, I think it is important to understand when and why the 13th and 14th Amendments were drafted and ratified. Again, the Founders had nothing to do with these amendments. These amendments have to do with the abolishing slavery and establishing equality for Black Americans . The removal of Disability by a 2/3 vote in both Chambers is, in an unbalanced Congress, very dangerous.
I hope you don't find my insistence around the specifics of these amendments irritating or insulting. I know I can seem pedantic.
Section 3 explained:
"Section Three of the amendment, gave Congress the authority to bar public officials, who took an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, from holding office if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the Constitution. The intent was to prevent the president from allowing former leaders of the Confederacy to regain power within the U.S. government after securing a presidential pardon.
Removal of Disability in section 3 explained:
" It states that a two-thirds majority vote in Congress is required to allow public officials who had engaged in rebellion to regain the rights of American citizenship and hold government or military office."
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/thirteenth-amendment
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fourteenth-amendment#section_6
daria, My understanding, when the 14th Amendment was drafted, was that its crafters were adhering to the section of the Constitution that had established the few exceptions that would require a supermajority as opposed to a simple up or down majority vote. Among those exceptions was the conviction/removal of an impeached officer. Btw, I have valued every one of your postings, not just here, but everywhere else.
800,000+ deaths and all those families mourning, all because TFG refused to act to contain the virus at the outset and throughout its inevitable spread. I wish he could be tried and convicted of negligent homicide for each death.
I agree. He & all those who helped or did nothing (ex. Redfield) should be charged with crimes against humanity.
Those who knew better and did not speak out.
Assigning Pence as the head of the task force knowing that Drump could manipulate him. Kushner in charge of PPE and using young volunteers to coordinate very little. I could go on.
That 1/6 committee is made up of some serious workhorses. How they prevented leaks from getting out was masterful. Having Liz Cheney read the texts from Fox News personalities and Trump Jr. was again I must use the word “masterful”.
The steady work and findings of the House Select Committee…are those the cracks finally letting the light in? I certainly hope so.
Thank you for this, Heather.
A doctor I know told me at the beginning of all this that a pandemic is evolution's IQ terst: are you smart enough to take this information and modify your behavior in such a way as to maximize your chance of survival? For the 46% of Republicans who won't get vaccinated, they have flunked. The more of them who die, the greater America will become again. From this point on, when someone comes to the ER with Covid, and they're un-vacdcinated, they should be turned away. "You did this to yourself, moron, and we need to keep our facility for people who contribute to society. You're on your own." I have no pity or compassion left for these people.
I wish it were that simple TC. I agree with how you feel. They are incredibly irresponsible and possibly morons, or probably brainwashed. It’s so hard because as healthcare providers we don’t refuse care for someone who drove drunk and got into an accident that injured or killed someone. We have our personal feelings about it but still provide the same care. Maybe the difference is the immense volume of people refusing to be vaccinated that are overwhelming our hospitals, spreading the virus and acting as Petri dishes for mutations when it can so easily be prevented. With this group I think we are losing our patience
Regardless of why anti-vaxers choose to be extraordinarily selfish, irresponsible, and cause others to suffer and die, karma with a capital K appears headed their way. The experts are nearing agreement that we are about to be inundated with an unprecedented number of cases. And the unvaccinated will overwhelm hospitals, and many of them will die. They also will keep countless people who need medical care for other reasons of getting care.
Who will this despicable group blame? Certainly not themselves. Probably Biden and the Communist Democrats. It’s mass insanity.
It is certainly not about taking responsibility. Today, in a parking lot, the vehicle next to me had a bumper sticker: "Liberal democrat. Communist. No difference." This, in my small, liberal (mostly) town in the Pacific Northwest.
"Tree-hugging Dirt Worshiper" is one of many on my vehicle.
I have the "Tree hugging dirt worshiper" bumper sticker on the clipboard I use to keep myself 'organized' at work (I am an RN). I also have "No Farms, No Food". Keeps the right-wingers guessing :)
It makes my head hurt to contemplate the rank stupidity of anyone who equates a liberal Democrat with a Communist. On the one hand I understand how people fall for such outlandish manipulation. But they also revel in name calling and belittling others, which reveals who they really are.
snark: the shallow end of the gene pool
Exactly right!
That's exactly the group I am talking about.
I know
We have nurses leaving in numbers not seen before
I am retiring from my position (as a Nurse leader) at the end of this month, mainly due to abuse from the non-medical leadership where I work. I have already joined a mobile vaccination team operating in my area, and am waiting to hear about a job as Director of Medical Services for the Homeless at a hospital in a nearby city. Times they are a changin'. :) Thanks for your posts, Karen!
I retired Dec.2019 already burned out from constantly working with unsafe staffing levels. At that time inadequate staffing was a financial decision and a known acceptable mortality rate. I was a Neuro ICU nurse in a level 1 trauma center.
Thank you for remaining a medical provider, albeit in a different role.
Steve, best wishes.
Even Heroes are human beings who cannot be expected to last for years in these times. I/we don't ever list you as ex-heroes, Karen. Just casualties who did their best for us. Pass the word to your colleagues.
Well said Gus! Amen!
And yet.... the daughter of one of my former coworkers (a man who is now second in command of my former agency and is one of the good cops left, whose two sons are joining the department) has his youngest child, his daughter, beginning her nursing career. A servant's heart.
My DIL works for a health facility staffing company. She is burned out from having to find people to staff shifts, between their own Covid (rare), their own burnout, etc. And she’s the staffer not a physician or nurse!
And she’s doing heroic work, too.
The local hospital here in western MA, not a huge system but certainly the biggest in the area, has 1,800 openings. They are grossly understaffed and unable to attract nurses and behavioral health folks. The system has just announced putting off any "elective" procedures due to staff shortages.
😢
True Karen. I'm a retired 40+ year medical technologist. GSWs (gun shot wounds) could hinder our entire lab at a major medical center due to the insane amount of blood test and blood products needed. One ICU Rn told me she got so discouraged when a GSW was brought to her care and she saw that the patient had scars from prior GSWs, but it did not stop her from giving her best care.
TC,
I would not be able to actually turn away a sick person at the hospital door so don't put me in charge of the "no unvaccinated" strategy at hospitals.
Why would I be a bad choice??
I don't think everyone has the same mental operating facilities and I do think that many charlatans are manipulating information on youtube, at thousands of churches in America, on facebook, etc., in order to make people think vaccines are bad.
I remember when I believed the white man at the front of the church when he told me whatever nutty thing that I believed God had told him. Yes I do.
So, I understand how a nice, normal human being can be convinced that vaccines are from Satan.
I thank my own good luck at having had the mental faculty to break free from those times and that world and I could and did enter an educated world where thoughtful information is in conflict with crank stuff and I can sort the chaff.
But, not everyone can and I once could not either.
So, don't put me at the hospital door TC. I would be hard pressed to stop some pour soul who has been on the receiving end of giant amounts of BS by thousands of charlatans and just cannot tell.
my son has a very high IQ, is very successful in his chosen field of finance and yet he will not get vaccinated. He will wear a mask and socially distance, he knows how dangerous Covid is. He has always been attracted to conspiracy since child hood. He reads white papers and VAERS reports then chooses to believe the one off scientists that submit results that have not been peer reviewed or duplicated by independent third parties... when I think to myself that anti- vaccers should not be treated I think of my son and am glad they can be treated.
My sister's partner (hard to call a 58 year old man a "boyfriend") is in the same boat. Wicked intelligent, very well versed in the study of supernatural and vortexes (vortices?) but a huge conspiracy theorist refuses vaccination. Not even the birth of his new grandbaby (his daughters will NOT let him visit unvaced) will get him to believe or behave differently. He's not welcome in our home, nor in my sister in law's home.
There have been over EIGHT TRILLION doses given. I think to myself, isn't this enough trials for the doubtful?!?!
Sadly, no. He also believes he was abducted by aliens, so...
Abducted by aliens. And there you have it.
Their response to that is… but who knows what we will learn about the side effects in 10 years!!!
Who knows if we will be here in 10 years!
k.paschal, sorry to hear.
Mike S, what was the source of your epiphany? I long to hear stories of people who got smart.
Marcy, Well, I am sad to say I never did get smart.
However, I worked my way to a Chemical Engineering degree at A&M, did well, and was offered a full fellowship at UT Austin for Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. The pay was phenomenal compared to anything I had seen before so I took the deal.
While at UT Austin, in my supervising professors group, there was a very nice fellow from Taiwan, an incredibly fine guy from India, another guy from the inner city in Houston and guy from Venezuela, myself.
In my previous incantation as a Baptist from East Texas, the guy from India and the guy from Taiwan would have been perceived as going to hell.
However, I just could not see it. These guys were nice, more genuine and more honest than almost anyone I had ever met. I concluded they were not going to hell.
This opened the door to question everything I had ever been indoctrinated into. I had UT Austin's library right there and started reading widely.
Soon after I concluded that Mary Magdalene had absolutely been the smartest woman in history when she gave resurrected life to Jesus Christ and the disciples believed her when she declared Jesus arisen.
This conclusion opened the door for me to read ever more widely, subscribe to the NY Times and begin to question everything .... period.
Eventually, I realized Republicans lie about everything, always and I stopped voting for them.
My eye opening was when I first googled the National Debt and realized Reagan was lying about being fiscally responsible.
Now? My former church would, no doubt, declare me heretical for believing that good folks who never heard of Jesus are not going to hell, forgiving someone for stealing a loaf of bread from a 7-11 makes more sense than locking him up, living in a diverse community to hear different laughter is more fun than an all white neighborhood, and cutting corporate taxes is complete BS, ...
and locking up Trump is the absolute correct course of action.
So, I never got smart. I am still trying to learn.
Mike S., you have just laid out the reason conservatives think colleges are too liberal! Hahahaha. Isn't it so true that nothing works to open one's eyes to the humanity (and redeeming qualities) of each person as getting to know them individually? And isn't that what we Christians are called to do??? Thanks for responding. Merry Christmas.
I can assure you Marcy, that Texas A&M University was a bastion of far right propaganda. The school newspaper had two editorialists.
George Will
William F. Buckley
They indoctrinated all of us. I shook it free MUCH later after making many voting mistakes.
Yes!!
and Merry Christmas as well.
Terrific story well tolld, Mike S.
No wonder the RNC had a speaker declaring “professors are the enemy.”
people who think, and choose to do so, are definitely the enemy of the RNC.
12 years of catholic school, but in my senior year, I started questioning everything! I escaped before the brain washing took hold. They demand blind faith from their followers and use fear tactics to keep everyone in line. They follow "satan", trump, for the "greater good", to do away with abortion. Vice President Pence was a prime example. But I have to believe that has done more damage to organized religion than good. Guess that's to be seen.
Religion’s playbook never changes, does it?
They reject science because it challenges them for proof, they suppress women because strong, smart, women don’t make good doormats, they rejoice at ignorance & suffering because it keeps them in business, and they protect the wealthy because the wealthy protect them
It would be nice if the not-me anti-vax crowd
would get sick and live or die by themselves but, as someone else noted, the anti-Vader’s are nurseries for Covid 19 mutations. They threaten all of us.
That’s what I keep pondering. When I go out for supplies I look at the 90% of unmasked here and wonder which one is currently incubating a new, deadlier variant. This pandemic could go on until this virus wipes out all or most of humanity.
Picture that. A host of hosts growing new variants, each more virulent and vaccine resistant. Become a human weapons for the very beliefs they wish to uphold. A dystopian dream out to get the "libtards". A public health nightmare or script idea for a new miniseries. Perhaps, in some more isolated communities, could this happen?
The virus will continue to mutate until it runs out of hosts in which to do so or until it burns itself out by running through all the variations it can produce.
It does not require isolated communities. Right now all it takes is an unvaccinated host. It is possible the virus could mutate to work around vaccines completely, especially given how much “training” it has in available hosts. Meaning, it could mutate faster than we can keep up with it.
This is what viruses do. There’s no hostile intent or malevolence.
Hostile intent and malevolence are what humans do to each other and we’ve seen plenty since trump & his cabal deliberately decided to turn a public health situation (the pandemic) into a way to gain followers and to thwart any who disagreed with them politically - their only two policies being “fuck you, that’s why” (“you” being all who aren’t in their cult) and “how much money can I get out of this?” (“this” being anything at all - charities for veterans or children with cancer, corruption of laws & policies, environmental destruction, a pandemic which kills and damages other humans…).
Well said.
Thanks.
Survival and growth and mutations that permit such are cellular imperatives. Agree about intents of the human species.
So sad and unavoidable but for the willfully ignorant.
True. 100% true.
If memory serves, wasn't it the Republican Party who used to preach the virtues of personal repsonsibility as a cornerstone of morality? Funny that.
Do you expect these good folks will be demanding full access to (extreme) (better) medical treatment AND lower premiums under the ACA? Hum.
Funny that, indeed.
Well, the Republicans are like Baptist preachers.
The preacher will say that if you run around on your wife you will go to hell, then, next day he will be caught with the wife of church Deacon.
I think the word surcharge could be put in Play here. Money has a way of sorting things out. If your suitcase weighs too much you get a surcharge to have it go through.If you take up too much room in one seat on an airplane and have to buy two that would be a surcharge to me. A surcharge in the form of 1000 or $2000 for people who are unvaccinated because they’re taking spaces for people who really need to be in the hospital. Opposed to people who could’ve prevented being in the hospital.
If insurance companies, based on actuarial figures, charge more for smokers and drivers under 25, then why not unvaccinated folks?
ABSOLUTELY.
I wish all liberals thought like you. Any compassion shown to a republican will only come back to bite us.
I totally agree. The same with the new pill that Pfizer has developed. No vaccine no pill!
The Darwin Award, created in 1993, will be awarded this year to the 46% of the Republicans who won’t get vaccinated. To win you have to be deemed the winner in a contest to identify who, by their death, will most improve the human gene pool. [Until now, this has been awarded to individuals but, like the Nobel Prize, it can be awarded to a group, so these ignoble Republicans qualify.] I am now endeavoring to calculate whether the dead unvaxed Republicans offset the votes lost by the Republican voting restrictions for non-whites. Preliminary results suggest a white wash.
I've been saying all along that unvaccinated people who get COVID and go to a hospital should be denied treatment. Cruel of me, perhaps, but they have put all of us at risk, and those who are vaccinated should be first in line at emergency rooms, whether it be for COVID or other illnesses.
I understand the sentiment but as a nurse posted elsewhere today (sorry, can’t recall her name) we don’t turn away drunk drivers who crash their vehicles or drug users who overdose. I’ll add - we don’t turn away anyone who has caused or brought upon themselves injury through ignorance or willful stupidity or through any other means. Should a battered spouse be denied medical care because “they ought to know better than to stay with someone who hits them”? Where would you draw the line for who could receive medical care?
We have to be better than that.
However, I do think we need to create two medical systems and post-haste. One for covid and one for everything else. Same level of care for both with medical professionals rotating through each system. People are dying preventable deaths from lack of regular medical care and that is as wrong as deliberately letting all unvaccinated go untreated.
A battered spouse staying with his or her partner is hurting just him- or herself (or their families), whereas the unvaccinated are putting untold numbers of people at risk.
If you wish to be nitpicking about it, this is true. However, drunk drivers and drug users can and do hurt and kill others at times. Same with people who refuse to vaccinate their children against measles, chicken pox, etc. Should we refuse all of these people, including the innocent children, medical care too?
The other comment was deleted because my edits were not accepted. (What's the good of a long-awaited edit feature if it doesn't work?)
Not the innocent children. And there is a difference between even those anti-vaccers whose kids might get measles or chicken pox, and those who are COVID-unvaccinated, who might contaminate many people with a serious, perhaps deadly, perhaps long-term illness. I acknowledge there is a quandary, and I don't mean to nitpick; I'm just offering my personal opinion, that maybe such selfish people SHOULD be punished, by denial of care, for disregarding the rights of others to live a healthy life.
But perhaps your idea of a two-tier medical system would at least keep care available to the innocent people who need care for heart attacks, strokes, etc., with the medical people also providing services to COVID patients in a separate system.
There's an edit function here now? How is it supposed to work?
My question for you is - can you decide exactly what scenarios would be punishable by refusal of any and all medical care? Would a child with measles be cared for but not the 4 adults at school they infected? Would their parent who was unvaccinated be cared for? Or not, since they withheld the vaccine from their child? (Measles can be deadly, especially for adults.)
What about cancer? Should smokers receive any medical care for lung cancer? Or any kind of cancer that could be traced to smoking? What about cervical cancer? There is a vaccine for that now. Should we separate those with cervical cancer into the treat/don’t treat groups due to whether or not they were vaccinated? And for that matter - what of people who carry the HPV virus (which can lead to cervical and penile cancers) who continue to have unprotected sex? Should they receive medical care?
I know you are offering your personal opinion. I respect that even though I strongly disagree with it. I’m pointing out examples of where your thoughts on withholding medical care could be applied. And, I only touched on a few medical issues. I haven’t gone into applying that idea to the poor or those of color. What of people who can’t afford fresh fruits and vegetables? Those whose only store nearby is a Dollar General? Should they be denied medical care for gastrointestinal disorders, cancer, poor dental health, etc all because they can’t afford to get to or buy organic fresh food?
It’s a slippery slope and one I hope humanity never heads down. I can just see the laws that the rich and the white supremacists would put into effect to deny medical care for all those they don’t deem good enough or white enough.
I appreciate that you were willing to have this conversation. Thank you.
Doctors take an oath.
Doctors can and do end up having to make ugly choices though. I have no doubt they’ve been in the position, in hard hit areas, of having to choose between a vaccinated over unvaccinated patient when two patients of similar age and health handicaps need drastically limited resources. They’d have to see a vaccinated emergency patient has a greater chance of survival than the unvaccinated person in a hospital loaded with Covid-19 virus.
Therein lies the quandary.
But…but…my grandchildren are at risk…
I think of Texas as the laboratory for bad government. - Molly Ivins
There have been many times over the last years I wished she were still here to comment on the sad state of affairs we are in.
Yes, Molly Ivins, IF Stone, and political cartoonist Herblock. Sadly their works are still applicable.
"The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you’re going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins."
I. F. Stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._F._Stone
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblock-gallery/
Love that Stone called Stalin the Moscow Machiavelli, now we have Mitch, who fits that to a T
New moniker? "Moscow Mitch Machiavelli" ?
It is possible that Machiavelli has gotten a 'bad rap' and that he suffers by both comparisons.
Perilously, Texas is not alone. Writes David Pepper in his new book, Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines "that maps out how Republicans have effectively forced minority rule on Americans, first at the state level in legislatures, governorships, and state courts."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/11/28/2066084/-An-interview-with-David-Pepper-Laboratories-of-Autocracy-author-about-the-GOP-war-on-democracy
Many thanks for this link, Ellie. Will be forwarding it for sure!
Thank you Ellie. I got the Pepper book a week ago. Thankyou for your always helpful references!!!
Well, after all, the "forefathers" of Texas stole a huge part of Mexico and turned themselves into heroes. The apples fall right under that tree.
Texas had some good years til Rove foisted W on the state, been hell ever since.
Yes - don't forget Anne Richards!
Never, she and Molly were my heroes, such a loss
Don't forget (among others):
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Beto O'Rourke
Matthew Dowd
Lina Hidalgo
Steve Adler
Michael Hinojosa
the Democratic legislators who left Texas to prevent quorum
and all the in-state progressives working hard through organizations such as League of Women Voters and Blue Horizon Texas
www.bluehorizontexas.org
and how could I forget Barbara Jordan?!?!?
I’m a James Michener fan. His novels “Texas” and “Mexico should be required reading
Bravo to Molly Ivins - well said.
Thank you for this. One correction: Sandra Lindsay was the first person to receive the vaccine after approval by the FDA. I had my first vaccination in August 2020 as part of the Moderna Clinical Trial. Between the three trials (Moderna, Pfizer, J&J), over 60,000 of us were vaccinated prior to its Emergency Use Authorization.
I'm grateful to you and all the others who took part in the clinical trials.
Thank you for being part of the clinical trials.
From the pen of Kevin Drum, who I agree with 100%:
"I am all in favor of bullying people into getting vaccinated.
"With the Omicron variant barreling down on us, I'd like to take this chance to say that I'm all in favor of making life as miserable as possible for people who don't get vaccinated. This is not because I have no empathy for them, or because I think they're stupid and want to punish them. It's purely for selfish reasons. The more people who get vaccinated, the safer I am. Every person who refuses to get vaccinated is a mortal threat to me and my family, and that's not something I'm willing to treat lightly.
"That's it. That's all there is to it."
Vaccination schedules:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/easy-to-read/child-easyread.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/easy-to-read/adolescent-easyread.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adult.html
The twisted abuse of the covid vaccine as a tool of propaganda makes me crazed.
The "twisted"-est part of this pandemic is that it appears to be a intentional genocide promoted by the extremist, terrorist authoritarians of America supported by hostile foreign entities. Why would you intentionally kill your own supporters? Because once you have established total power and completely obliterated a democracy, you no longer need voters?
And the Fox propaganda station/Murdochs should also pay for the lies they spewed which have caused their viewers deaths and tragic health consequences for all.
They are not killing enough to lose elections though and they are causing Democratic voters to die to who are around conservatives. I agree that once they have total power Republicans wouldn't care but for now they still need the deplorables to vote.
No clue why the double posting. Sorry, folks.
I had a couple of mine do that this past week...
There are enough bullies in this world...change "bullying" to directing with consequences for noncompliance (such as the mandates).
Kim Weisman, I like that “…directing with consequences for noncompliance…”
I think in the true spirit of Drum's tweet, "bullying" is an apt word. Like the rest of us, he's sick to death of these people who are endangering the rest of population with their silly intransigence. And with the threat of a major increase in cases because of the Omicron variant poised to sweep this country, this is all the more urgent. We've lost patience and it's time to stop mollycoddling these people. I'm sorry, but I see "directing with consequences for non-compliance" is still a form of "bullying". Drum's semantics here are purposefully concise and to the point as befits his mindset, and I agree with him. Call it what you will, stricter measures may have to be taken for compliance, or the risks/threats to the rest of us increase exponentially. As I and others have said on here numerous times, the Left has got to sometimes stop being so g_ddamn "nice" and give back to these people the same as they're dishing out. Because their actions can directly threaten me and my family, then "BULLY" their asses. Gloves need to come off now. And yes, "That's it. That's all there is to it."
Darts? Vaccine darts?
Nice, Kim!
https://twitter.com/kdrum/status/1471927437701222401?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Thanks for posting the original Tweet!...I didn't, since not everybody has Twitter, but it is worth it on there to see responses. I sometimes prefer to post just the words, rather than a link, as they can seemingly carry a little more weight.
Many hospitals have shut down surgery services due to being overwhelmed with intensive care Covid patients. Many cancer patients are not able to have their cancers removed surgically (the recommended treatment) because of obstinate anti-vaxxers taking up medical resources. We are losing excellent, highly trained providers because of the abuse of our healthcare system. Complex and multifactorial, the consequences will effect us all.
My brother had a long inpatient cancer surgery this week in England. He had glowing reports about the care and the hospital, thank you NHS! This was at no cost to him beyond his income taxes. I try not to despair about the state of this formerly-fine country...
May your brother be well!
Thank you, Barbara. So far, so good!
Blessings to you and yours, and to all the good people who comment on this page.
I, and other members of my family have had excellent experiences with the NHS
Exploitation, I am afraid, has always been part of the American landscape.
Hedge funds now own many hospitals and I can assure costs will go up and care level will go down as a result.
I have a friend whose bone marrow transplant was postponed in early September (as he was ON HIS WAY to OHSU) due to losing several clinics to overflow COVID patients. He was finally able to get in on December 10, and is in his recovery process now.
https://www.ijpr.org/health-and-medicine/2021-09-14/patients-doctors-frustrated-as-covid-delays-elective-treatments-in-oregon?fbclid=IwAR3qreJUsrH6ru_lEQXJDC99BMBwwBLUeJg1wFhpV60MZRq0y0aQfW3itEQ
As a 40+ year medical technologist, I assisted physicians on literally thousands of bone marrow aspirations over those years. I've crossed paths with many type of doctors over the years, the oncologists and oncology nurses (and ESP the Pediatric onc docs and rns) are among the greatest human beings I have had the pleasure of meeting. Good luck and best wishes to your friend! Let him know that this group will surely send out good karma, prayers and thoughts (as each of us finds most fitting) for his healing.
Charlie is actually the older brother of one of my best friends growing up. He's a Vietnam Veteran, is married to his husband, and spent 50 years working as a forest ranger. Really one of the good guys.
Yup. I was one who had cancer treatment postponed from April until June because of COVID-19 patients taking all beds and services. Am still feeling consequences and not recovered.
So sorry, Christina
Healing Hugs to you
I am so sorry.
“The currency of Public Health is credibility”- Dr. Charity Dean
From now on please:
Mr. Scott Atlas
Mr. Bob Redfield
THESE TWO ASSCLOWNS HAVE DISQUALIFIED THEMSELVES AS DOCTORS.
Here’s a reminder what past CDC Director Foege ( responsible for eradicating smallpox from the face of the Earth in the 1970s) sent to Mr Bob Redfield, telling him to resign and why.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/letter-from-former-cdc-director-william-foege-to-cdc-director-robert-redfield/ea0cfa77-4c67-440c-9aa7-3cd0fe1f62bd/
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/10/08/921872526/past-cdc-director-urges-current-one-to-stand-up-to-trump
"a slaughter and not just a political dispute"...WOW
Ex-Governor Rick Perry is not one of the brighter light bulbs on this planet. He started in Texas politics as a Democrat, then became a Republican, and was the longest serving governor in Texas’s history. As a presidential candidate he promised to abolish three Cabinet positions—during a debate he named two, including the Department of Energy, but couldn’t remember the third. Trump appointed Perry, who had done badly in basic science, Energy Secretary. Perry accepted with alacrity, totally ignorance that the department’s primary responsibility was related to nuclear matter.
Now we learn that Dim Light Bulb Perry the day after the presidential election sent a memo to Mark Meadows, White House Chief of Staff, with a blue print for fudging the election results in Congress with the intention of having the matter decided by the Supreme Court, which included three recent Trump appointees. I find it implausible that Perry could have conceived and drafted such a plan on his own within twenty-four hours. To phrase it kindly, he is a ‘slow thinker.’ The House 1/6 committee should subpoena this former Trump cabinet member to learn the genesis of this electoral plot.
Turkey Chin McConnell, who is still furious at Trump for losing him the Senate leadership spot because of the Georgia senatorial brouhaha, has seemingly made a stunning reversal. Initially he had strongly opposed any serious investigation events related to the 1/6 Capitol Building insurrection
Oophs, my computer, with a mind of its own, posted my commentary in mid-thought. ‘Initially he had strongly opposed any serious investigation of events related to the 1/6 Capitol Building insurrection.” Indeed, he seemed in lockstep with the Trumpists who opposed ‘a witch hunt’ into this conspiracy. So why would McConnell break with Senate/House protocol and comment on this Democrat-led committee’s subpoena-issuing posse? Perchance he is sensing that the BIG LIE/1/6 insurrection will play less and less well as Trump Mafiosos start blinking in the harsh light of public investigation. With a sense of loyalty that would make a cockroach blush, McConnell may be distancing himself from a ‘stinking ship.’ I expect that Jabba the Hutt once again will attack McConnell. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving twosome.
Keith, substack now has an edit function. Click on the 3 dots to the right of the word delete, et voila, editing is a reality!
Daria Thanks!!! I just tried this and nothing happened. So I’ll try, try, and try again. The computer gods are not friendly. Earlier today they posted a commentary when I was in the middle of writing. Could it have been Darth Vader trying to protect Jabba the Hutt?
Keith, I think it's a function in progress. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sigh! I remain hopeful that it will become fully functional sooner than later😉
Alleluia and Hosannah in the highest! The edit function worked (and personally I am functioning better).
Daria, I just noticed that this morning. Hurray!
Mim, made my morning!
I know, Daria!
You are spot on.
"Perchance he is sensing that the BIG LIE/1/6 insurrection will play less and less well as Trump Mafiosos start blinking in the harsh light of public investigation"
I never in my life thought that we’d get to a point where one of our two major political parties would side with authoritarianism, anti-science and a longtime adversary but, well, here we are.
Add Senator Manchin to the mix and you have both major political parties 😩
I’m beyond disgusted with Manchin. I used to live in his podunk home town. Years ago, Fairmont WV received enough federal funds to redo the exits to make a grand entry to downtown Fairmont BUT nothing is open, save a donut shop or therapists office. I am quite unhappy with Manchin and NOW he brings up the ban on offshore drilling???? Ugh! I could scream 😱!
H. A., Though I, too, am frustrated with Manchin (and Sinema), stay tuned. A group of Senators that include Manchin are exploring Senate rule changes that would reinstate some form of the talking filibuster, that once exhausted, would conclude with an up or down majority vote. The current thinking is that voter protection legislation would be the first to benefit from this rule change.
As for BBB, a handful of creative thinkers are stitching together legislation that would fall within Manchin’s $1.75 trillion figure over 10 years. They estimate they could preserve most of the child tax credit expansion, affordable child care and Pre-K, fixes to ACA subsidies, with enough left to pick another policy. There also is the advantage of the legislation not lapsing, say in 3 years, and being subject to repeal were the Republicans to retake power.
My point is that Dems conceivably can deliver on two principal goals: 1) pass legislation that blocks GOP initiatives to suppress and nullify votes and 2) show they can enact legislation that makes noticeably enough difference in people’s lives to galvanize the base for 22. As stated, stay tuned.
Yes, Ian, I’ve said that so many times lately. Most of us were complacent about our democracy. We simply could not even fathom
we might lose it. Never in America. How wrong we were.
A pièce de résistance of informative milestones, Heather! You have such a keen eye for writing about the most vital and significant, not to mention, compelling happenings in our twilight zone of living history.
"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge." Rod Serling
Serling ends with the words: “He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others."
Rowshan, absolutely perfect time and place to reference Serling's intro to The Twilight Zone. Brava!
Thank you, Daria. I often feel that's where we are these days.
a democratic republic??
Those whose minds have not been cleansed of all of the allegedly fake news may recall that the distinguished former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry, whose telephone number is strangely appearing, was deep into the Ukrainian gas-seeking deal with Lev Parnas and his friends and that he indeed led the US delegation to the Ukrainian inauguration. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!
A person has to wonder who is directing Perry in all this, and if there are any GRU phone numbers in Perry’s phone records.
It may be that we need look no further than the GRE as in greed. The sniff of gas and oil fortunes has made (and undone) many a Texan but your question is nonetheless a good one.
Imagine that I told you ten years ago that TFG would be accused by at least 19 women of sexual misbehavior and assault. That he would essentially admit on tape that he would "grab women by the "p...." and that "when you are famous you can get away with it". That he would pay off two women to keep them quiet about his affairs (while married) ... and that he would claim that he could "shoot someone on 5th Avenue" and still not lose a vote. And that after all that he would be elected President largely because of the support of "Christians". Evangelical "God Fearing" folks being at the core of support for a very bad business tycoon from NYC whose excesses would send Jesus himself into a tirade.
Imagine if I had told you ten years ago that TFG, as President, would have "handcuffed" scientists - discouraging them from recommending a vaccine that he had taken credit for developing at "warp speed" causing the deaths and suffering of hundreds of thousands (huh?) - and that then he would attempt a violent coup to return to office after losing re-election...what would your reaction have been?
It is surreal. Lesson learned. Expect anything. And don't expect a cult to act logically or morally.
Bill,
I thought a bit about your post.
In fact, I thought back to my 7th grade middle school experience where (almost) all the girls were, seemingly, attracted to the "bad boy" in the class and all the nice guys were invisible to those same girls. The "bad boy" was also the alpha among the boys. Boys wanted to be around him (with some exceptions). He smoked and cursed and broke all the rules. I remained very neutral outwardly to avoid ending up on the wrong end of a fistfight with said bad boy who was also tad taller than everyone having hit puberty well ahead of some of us.
After thinking about that experience, I am not surprised that a large number men and women voted for Trump enthusiastically.
Trump is very similar to my 7th grade "bad boy". He flaunts all the rules, brags on himself, represents himself as the superior, and denigrates many people frequently. Just exactly like my 7th grade bad boy who would have been voted the "most popular" boy in my 7th grade.
I think if we recognize humans are mammals we don't have to look far to see many parallel outcomes like Trump's even in standard wolf pack behavior.
The "boys" want to be like Trump because he represents as the alpha. The girls all love him because he represents himself as the alpha, immune from rules, a real MAN.
Nobody wants to get on his bad side because they might be the target of denigration.
Trump's American experience looks almost a mirror of my 7th grade middle school experience.
No joke.
Tfg is emotionally about 8 years old. His supporters are probably stuck in some middle school emotional time warp and both are scary concepts, given their power. But let's leave out the both-siderism. I think the universe of anti-tfg voters are able to think critically at an adult level (most of the time!) and certainly when in a voting booth.
Good analogy. Thanks. And unfortunately on both side of the political divide an awful lot of people are acting like 7th graders.
Barbara, the "both sides" notion creates wild misunderstanding. Though the 7th grade mentality blooms among men, the other side, the Democrats, would never have recruited or elected #45.
I agree. Also, more and more, those 7th grade girls who grow up in this day and age are realizing their own strengths and no longer look up to the strong armed bully men.
I intensely dislike the both sides equal philosophy . It is destructive. What I am talking about is everyone, no matter your age, politics, income, nationality and religion take a deep breath and douse the flaming discourse.
Just ordered (per HCR's recommendation) "Orwell's Roses" by Rebecca Stolnik, to learn the characteristics he found in a perdon who did NOT fall for the swagger and was not conned by the Hitlers.
Remember, Mike - those were 12 year olds - with not yet developed brains, right? Which certainly is telling. I do have to say wolf packs - from what I've read - likely have evolved more than the current "bad boy" enthusiasts! Most other species have.
Maggie, I think you might be on to something by pointing out the not developed brain of the 12 year olds. Yes indeed.
:-)
When you think about the petty stuff & conspiracy theories they are so quick to jump on - sounds like it, huh?
Nick Camody is a great follow on Twitter if you are interested in the MAGA world psychology. He's a lawyer and psychologist. (The threads usually reference prior threads so you might end up going down worm holes)
Yes, this is the rat the “religious right” helped put in office and many still think he is the greatest! Mostly because they love the new SCOTUS and the abortion law reversal. So hard to justify…
If you told me it was going to be death star, I would expected exactly what happened. Meanwhile, my pointing this out to the Bernie cult and those who voted for Jill, not green, Stein, fell on deaf ears. It's still going on despite the good things that the Biden administration does.
"That he would essentially admit on tape....." I sincerely request that folks stop quoting trump on this. It was bad enough hearing it the first time. I 100% cringe every time it is said.
I have one friend who has told me that she can "never vote for a Democrat as long as they support abortion" because she "won't stand before GOD and be judged that (she) stood by as babies were murdered"
I firmly believe that for many of them, they are one issue voters and that issue is abortion.
I saw a comment by a mother whose 14y/o son was murdered thru gun violence: "An extremely late term abortion". They don't care about that tho.