Thoughts of a retired physician

  The Republicans managed to elect a new Speaker of the House today after 3 weeks of chaos and turmoil. He is Mike Johnson of Louisiana, first elected to Congress in 2016. A far-right Trumpist conservative, and now 2nd in line to the presidential succession after Vice President Kamala Harris, his elevation to the speakership should send shivers up the spine of everyone who supports democracy. In the British Parliament, he would be described as a back-bencher. He sits on two important House committees, Judiciary and Armed Services. He is also a member of the Republican Study Committee, a group of about 150 Republican House members who push conservative legislation. He is cozy with the House Freedom Caucus, a group of anarchists that include Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Scott Perry and other assorted bomb-throwers who were responsible for the nonsense of the past three-plus weeks and whose seeming raison d’etre is the obstruct and destroy the United States government. They favor the right-wi

  Politics today is an endless cultural war. Democrats seem intent on policy issues such as infrastructure, strengthening the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, voting rights, dealing with the menace of climate change, while Republicans focus on limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ people, banning books, turning education into indoctrination – and of course, pursuing the war on women’s health by limiting reproductive choice.  In her Letters from an American from 1 September (which I repost daily on Facebook and Twitter), Heather Cox Richardson writes that  Meanwhile, Republicans continue to focus on ending abortion, and their determination is leading them to assert power over citizens of Republican-dominated states in a way that is commonly associated with authoritarian governments. Having won the battle over Roe v Wade in last year’s Dobb’s decision by a Trump-packed Supreme Court, the Republicans have found out (and continue finding out) that when you decide to ride a tiger

  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