Thoughts of a retired physician

  Each day, as we approach the election, seems like a year. On social media, the ramp-up of opposing posts began long ago and seems to approach an asymptote. A few thoughts on what is happening and what I am doing to navigate these perilous times. Engagement is important and that takes many forms. I have contributed money on multiple occasions to Democratic candidates because, unfortunately, money drives politics. If you have not read Jane Mayer’s book Dark Money: The Hidden History of Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right you need to do so. America has struggled with inequality for many years but the rise of a plutocratic caste of billionaires, intent on amassing ever more wealth and power, seems to me to be central to why we are so polarized today. Sadly, the concept of “one person, one vote” is perverted when a small number of plutocrats can tilt the field away from democracy. Fat cats of the Daddy Warbucks stripe, such as Charles Koch, use their money to finance so-cal

  , Rest in peace, RGB. Rest in power, RGB.We have the watch.

  The view from my window today is terrible. Smoke fills the air, the air quality index in Altadena is 280, and California seems to be aflame. In addition to California, Oregon is also burning, there are fires in Washington State, and other parts of the West are also in crisis due to wildfires. California alone has over 3,000,000 acres burned, an order of magnitude worse than 2019.  A witty saying is that denial is not a river in Egypt. The denial of climate change, which is worsening the fire situation in the Western United States, comes from several sources. The primary funding for denial of climate change has come from the fossil fuel industry. Jane Mayer’s book Dark Money , published in 2016, remains a classic in revealing the immense sums of money spent by fossil fuel sources such as the Koch brothers. The big oil companies additionally spent hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying (translation: buying votes in Congress and state legislatures) to be certain that government polic

  The pen is mightier than the sword. — Edward Bulwer-Lytton This has been an extraordinary week in American politics. As I thought about it, the famous quote above came to mind. In 59 days, Americans will decide who will be president come 20 January 2021. As always with politics, words (thankfully) remain at the forefront of the debates. A few words towards the end on weapons. Let’s turn to the words first, though. Donald Trump has told more blatant lies since assuming office than any prior president and probably more than all previous presidents combined by orders of magnitude. In addition, he routinely (daily) puts out rhetoric that is full of hatred directed at any person or group he feels is a threat to him. If you beg to differ, I offer up his Twitter feed . Scroll through and see for yourself.  As I type this, what has flummoxed Trump and his sycophants is The Atlantic article by Jeffrey Goldberg about what Trump really thinks of the American militar y. Trump is well known