Thoughts of a retired physician

  I hate to debase my own blog but this is the infamous mugshot of Donald Trump. It is the first mugshot ever of a former president. Please note the hard-edged scowl and the glaring stare. Word is that Trump did not want his mugshot done but the indicted criminal had no choice in Fulton County, Georgia. That probably helps account for the look but I think it isn’t the total story. Trump is rarely seen smiling and his smiles have always been totally fake when he does smile. He prefers to be seen as the ultimate tough guy so photos of him usually show what is more easily interpreted as a man pissed off with the world who wants others to believe he is really intimidating.  However, he has already profited from this photo. CBS News says as of this morning Trump and his campaign have raked in $7.1 million from the merchandising of the mug’s mug on a mug. Of course, that is what Trump does and has always done – grifting off his faithful cult. Nowadays the money is probably going to multip

  “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” Joan Didion, The White Album , 1979. Eight words that hold a real truth. They apply to each of us as a person but they also apply to us as a nation. In 441 days we will have a general election in which 1/3 of the Senate, all of the House of Representatives, and the next President will be selected. The coup that Donald Trump attempted in 2020 did not culminate in January 2021. It is a slow coup that has festered since then with Trump and his cult of MAGA followers (including what used to be known as the Republican Party) has kept alive and which still threatens our country.  David French has a sobering analysis in the New York Times today. He references a 126-page paper in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review by William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen entitled The Sweep and Force of Section Three . Baude and Stokes, two conservative law professors who are members of the Federalist Society (and by no means partisan) make the point

  As my birthday approaches, thoughts of aging creep into my brain. Margan and I try to take measures that are healthy and she found one among the docs we follow on Twitter (I refuse to use the awful name the sociopathic owner of that platform has given it). TheLiverDoc (@theliverdr on Twitter and instagram@theliverdr) posted nine “simple life hacks” for better liver health . They are supported by a medical study which is in the original tweet. In thinking about them, they are a reasonably good guide to health in other areas such as cardiovascular fitness and cognition. Here are his nine recommendations: Daily walking – at least 30 minutes daily and 6000 to 8000 steps for the elderly crowd. The following figure shows this effect in those older and younger than 60, with a “sweet spot” of 8000 steps daily for us geezers. Brisk walking – walking 100 steps per minute decreases liver fat; 150 minutes per week is recommended. Running – personally, I left running behind when I retired from

  The Supreme Court’s recently concluded term contained at least one good decision – they ordered the state of Alabama to redraw its voting map to ensure the voting rights of Black Alabamians in accordance with section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But Alabama is Alabama, after all. On 21 July the white Republican dominated Alabama House and Senate overwhelmingly refused and simply concentrated more Black voters in the 2nd district, still safely controlled by the GOP. Kay Ivey, the Republican governor, swiftly approved the map drawn by her legislature.  This should and will be challenged in court. Alabama has a long history of defying the federal government (see American Civil War, 1861-1865 as well as Jim Crow) and the strain of white supremacy is both deep and wide here. This election map is all tied up in the Republican’s anxiety about maintaining the razor-thin majority they currently have in the House. McCarthy apparently communicated with the sponsor of the map , Alabama Rep

  On 13 July the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA); this is the annual act to fund the military for the coming year. Although there is always grousing about the bill, this has been a bipartisan exercise perennially because it goes to the heart of what the federal government does that no individual state can do – provide for the defense of the nation. The bipartisan part ended this year. Kevin McCarthy, the weakest House speaker ever, bent over backwards to allow the crazies in the Republican caucus to lard the NDAA up with amendments that provide for their culture war but do nothing to provide for the common defense. As Heather Cox Richardson wrote in her Letters from an American , Republicans added amendments that eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the Defense Department; end the Defense Department program that reimburses military personnel who must travel for abortion services; bar healthcare for gender transition; prevent the mi

  John Roberts wants everyone to respect “his” Supreme Court and specifically wants the liberal justices to refrain from criticizing rulings coming from the conservative supermajority, of which he is a part. John, buddy, ain’t gonna happen. SCOTUS under your leadership seems hell bent on returning the United States to a time when women were not supposed to be seen outside the kitchen or the nursery, when Jim Crow laws were rampant, when gays were criminals who ought to be extirpated (or at least kept in a closet), and when corporations and the plutocrats running them were free to plunder and pollute without any checks or balances. You and your ilk have manufactured doctrines from whole cloth for decades now. The ideas of “textualism” and “originalism” are bandied about as though Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and the other Founders were forever locked in place and could only be interpreted through the lens of 1790, a time when the first census showed a population of 3,929,214 (

  The federal indictment of Donald Trump ( 37 felony charges all told ) will result in perhaps the most significant criminal trial in American history. Trump faces 31 counts of retention of classified government documents and associated charges of lying to federal officers, obstruction, etc. This is at the same time he is the leading candidate for the GOP nomination for president in 2024. As I type this, election day 2024 is a mere 505 days in the future. If you thought the 2020 presidential election was contentious, you’ve seen nothing yet. It seems clear to many that Trump’s desperation to be the nominee and to win now relates to the strength of the case the DOJ has brought. If you have not yet done so, regardless of your political stance, read the indictment in full, then think about what it alleges. The primary purpose of a president is to keep America, its people, and its Constitution safe. The evidence to be presented in court seems to me to be incredibly damning. Yes, I have fri