“The evil that men do lives after them"

“The evil that men do lives after them" - Mark Antony, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare

Tom Toles

There may be chaos for the next few weeks until Biden and Harris are inaugurated, but even without that, once Biden takes office, he faces a huge plate of problems with extra sauce and meatballs. He will have to work hard to undo so much evil wrought upon our country. And it will take years.

Yet, I feel hopeful for the future. It will be a time of healing and progress. Though Joe isn't the most progressive, we have a good chance of righting our ship and getting her back on course.

I envision Joe Biden helping us to:

• Unite the country against our common enemy, COVID
• Cement healthcare for all Americans 
• Pave the way for humane and just immigration. We must find the parents of those 545 caged children and close inhumane detention centers immediately!
• Revere and listen to science
• Take climate change seriously. Let's rejoin the Paris Accord and be the world's leader again
• Reform the Supreme Court
• Reform the criminal justice system so that it is truly just, from the traffic stop up to bail, sentencing, and parole
• Further equal rights
• Affirm that black lives matter
• Rebuild allied international relationships
• Sever damaging international relationships
• Reverse tax cuts for the uber-rich.
• Pledge liberty and justice for all
• Rid our nation of the Electoral College
• Return the White House to the People's House (Mr. Biden, tear down those walls!)
• Have a functional Executive Branch with a full slate of permanent Cabinet members
• Engage in normal, reasoned political discourse
• Sleep well at night and not wake up with the pit of despair looming. Boring ol' government! What a relic!
• And related, not think about the government daily and have faith that they are doing their jobs 

And speaking of Cabinet members, while we are dreaming, let's guess at who would be good for Biden to choose. Progressives turned out for Biden, and he should bring some progressive voices in. Elizabeth Warren certainly needs to be appointed to Secretary of the Treasury. I would love the country to be moved further left, but I don't think it would be bad if Biden chose a Republican or two to help run the Executive Branch, for the sake of healing our fractured nation. Cindy McCain (Secretary of Education!), George Conway, Michael Steele, and Steve Schmidt are my first thoughts. Is that weird? These folks all have been instrumental in calling the current iteration of the GOP to the carpet and rejecting 45's toxicity, as well as bringing along some conservative votes. How deliciously ironic it would be to have George Conway take a role in the new White House! Former Ohio GOP Governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich has sounded like a very reasonable person lately, as well as former Sen. Jeff Flake. Maybe just one of those folks to help build those bridges.

Other good picks for Biden senior advisors: Stacey Abrams, Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Mayor Pete, Beto O'Rourke, Van Jones. How about Susan Rice and Tammy Duckworth? 

It's exciting to consider the possibility of having smart, capable, normal people running the Executive Branch, who have experience and who believe in the offices they run. There are such possibilities! Who are your picks?

There's been a lot of talk about reaching out to the right and showing compassion. Ok, compassion is at the top of Libs' traits. We have always had compassion for conservatives who need help and protection. And most liberals I know have no argument with conservatives voicing their opinion on, and working toward, policies they believe in. If you wanna talk about taxes, fracking, spending, regulations, let's talk about those. I've said it over and over. I have disagreements with conservative policy but not conservative people. The last four years were not about policy (oh to talk about policy again! Oh happy day!).

What we do take issue with is racism, misogyny, and hate for LGBTQ folks and attitudes and actions that hurt people. That's pure hate. And if you're there, expect more rejection. As long as you don't hate my neighbor, I don't hate you. 

But we all understand the mourning the MAGAts are going through. Loss stings. So, my advice to them to cope with their loss: do what we did. Call your members of congress and express your views. Organize neighborhood meetings on how best to maintain tax cuts for the 1%. Go ahead, vote against your own interest. Guess what? We snowflakes will be still be fighting for you and will be there to pick you up again. 

I saw this map yesterday, and I love it. 

Showing red vs. blue maps leads people to see America as more divided—and judge people more by their state's stereotypes.

Data: purple maps of state proportions are more accurate, and reduce perceived polarization and stereotypes.https://t.co/tHFsWsx6Ilhttps://t.co/z16GdnYKHN pic.twitter.com/jod8EiRgpf

— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) November 7, 2020

 

Or how about this one. The solid red and blue blocks are misleading. People vote, not acres. Here's a cool graphic from 2016:

So, onward.

• We still face a Senate fight. Two – count 'em two – Senate seats in Georgia are up for run-off on January 5, and the control of the Senate is in the balance. Stacey Abrams got the vote out in Georgia for president. Let's help her get two blue seats for Georgia. Donate or volunteer to Abram's organization, Fair Fight, today. Check this website to volunteer for a postcard-writing campaign. I'm not sure if Postcards to Voters will re-up for Georgia, but check here in the next few days.

• It's unknown who our Governor Newsom will appoint to take over Senator Kamala Harris's seat. I hope he picks Rep. Karen Bass from LA. She checks a lot of the boxes. 

• Don't hold your breath for a concession speech from Babyfingers. Yes, it would help toward healing the nation. Yes, it would reflect a bigger character. This grub does not have character. He does not care about healing. He does not care about the nation. He doesn't care! He doesn't care. 

You wanna talk character and caring? Watch Al Gore's or John McCain's concession speeches. Now, those were statesmen.

• SCROTUS doesn't even care enough to plan a news conference right. What a fitting end to a whimpering campaign: a botched reservation at the Four Seasons sent his team to the Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot, next door to Fantasy Island, an adult-video store, and across the street from a crematorium. *chortle* The Onion couldn't have done it better. Pathetic. (And please read this poem appearing in The Atlantic) 

• Biden is not waiting until January 20 to govern. He has already hit the ground running for COVID response. He is readying a task force, which he will unveil tomorrow, Monday November 9. He has already reached out to governors and mayors. He has a plan. He simply can't wait on this. In the 70+ days until his inauguration, at current pace it's possible that there will be nearly 8,000,000 new cases and 70,000 more deaths in the United States. Unacceptable. 

• COVID remains our #1 crisis. Please watch this space for a personal COVID story, coming soon.

The End of an Error

We voted. Pandemic be damned, we voted! And in record numbers. 

And here we are, the day that we have been waiting what seems like 4000 years for. A day to look forward, in hope.

What a rollercoaster ride! Tons of feelz over the last few days.

And then, finally, on Saturday evening this happened.

WE DID IT!!

A decent, good man is to be our 46th President. 

I was most moved seeing Kamala on that stage dressed in suffragette white. The first woman! First Black person! First Black woman! First Asian American person! First Asian American woman! to be elected to be Vice President. I felt elated and relieved at the victory for Biden, but I was deeply moved for Kamala, similar to my emotions when Obama was elected. Wow. Wow. Wow. 

What a journey.

Election Day began with hope and calm, knowing that the polling numbers were favorable for Joe and Kamala. As the polls closed and walk-in vote tallies began, 2016 PTSD washed over with a vengeance and doom and hopelessness set in. By Wednesday morning, counts from drop-off and mail-in votes were more favorable for Biden. Rollercoaster headed back up.

By mid-day Wednesday, it really felt like Biden's victory was cemented. The TV talking heads began talking about what a Biden presidency will feel like. I remember that same moment in 2016, when the election wasn't called, but the pundits were giving us the reality. It felt like a hard punch in the gut. This time, it was a wonderful wave of relief. Once Wisconsin and Michigan were called for Biden, I became confident. So did Biden and his team. They launched his transition website.

On Thursday morning, it was becoming apparent that Biden could take Georgia and Pennsylvania, but the margin was shrinking in Arizona. Roller. Coaster. 

Friday morning news graphics showed four battleground states with outstanding votes – Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Arizona – were all in the blue. And they stayed there. 

I was a TV junkie all week. I heard many secretaries of state from battleground states talk about their election process. All of them were proud of their state's efforts, and all were very affirming: the election was performed carefully, transparently, fairly, with integrity, and every single vote was being counted by dedicated poll workers. Our democracy works. 

This is an important point to make. The elections are run not by the Federal government, but by states and local officials. Local election commissions run elections. County clerks run elections. Some of the officials are elected; some are appointed. Every state – indeed every county in the nation – does things differently. But for all of their differences, they do their job steadfastly and ethically. Our system is completely decentralized, and that's what makes it both frustrating and absolutely wonderful. 

Late Thursday we endured 20 minutes of lies and some very disturbing attacks on our democracy from the finger-lickin' puckerface. As expected, he attacked our processes and spun wild conspiracy theories, of course without a shred of evidence. He hadn't grasped that the voters are in charge. There is no evidence of fraud anywhere. Please, someone send a memo to the Whitewash House? In a style he understands: THERE IS NO CONSPIRACY TO STEAL THE FREAKING ELECTION. THIS IS OUR DEMOCRACY SPEAKING. THE VOTERS DECIDE. WE THE PEOPLE VOTED YOU OUT. 

It was disappointing that more Repugs didn't rebuke the orange anus's Thursday statement. A few did issue comment defending democracy the next morning, but others, particularly the odious Lindsey Graham, and Ted Cruz, supported the festering boil. But a bright spot: one of the best voices was former New Jersey governor Chirs Christie, close TЯUMP advisor and ABC News commentator, who said immediately and forcefully: "We heard nothing today about any evidence. This kind of thing, all it does is inflame without informing. And we cannot permit inflammation without information."

And the count went on.

It. Took. For. Ever. We are in a historic time. It would have been unwise to call the election before it was crispy around the edges. Due to the pandemic, states and counties were implementing brand-new election methods. Pennsylvania, for example, had never had a state-wide mail-in ballot. Oregon and Washington? They've been doing only mail-in voting for decades. Add to Pennsylvania's woes: the state GOP actually muddied the waters by not allowing pre-canvassing. If county clerks had been allowed to start processing mail-in and drop-off ballots as they came in, the actual counting wouldn't have taken all freaking week. 

But the fact that it happened this way: Americans and the world can be confident in the integrity of our process.

Some election notes:

This election turned out a record-setting projected 66.4% voter turnout, giving Joe Biden over 74.5 million votes, the most votes received by a presidential candidate ever. Yay Joe!

The networks were very careful in calling states' electoral votes.to characterize states as "too early to call" (vs. "too close to call") during the first couple days, and did not call states such as Arizona and Nevada even though the math was pretty clear that Biden would take those states. The Associated Press and Fox News (!!) called Arizona for Biden really early, while most other outlets held off until [....still loading]. 

There were some deep disappointments. It is quite dismaying that so many Americans just don't seem to have been paying attention over the last four years and still chose to support the fascist, misogynistic, racist toddler. It makes one wonder. Are they really truly that uninformed? Or are they misinformed? Did 45's propaganda work? Did Russia's propaganda work? Why have millions of Americans stopped thinking? Books shall be written about that. 

And the Senate seats we expected to flip, didn't. But! Both of Georgia's Senate seats will be up for run-offs in January. It's possible that Dems will control the Senate if they win both of Georgia's Senate seats. Get ready to donate and write postcards again! Otherwise, we'll have to wait until 2022 to get the Senate. 

That the blue wave didn't crash over us, was surprising and saddening. I must say, the Dems who rigged the election and stole it from the Mango Mussolini really should've planned better and held on to House seats, got rid of Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, and flipped the United States Senate. And how 'bout more states and a bigger margin next time, huh?

One of the best story of the election: Georgia! I'm so happy for the results in Georgia. Though there is a razor-thin margin of less than 10,000 votes as I write this, Georgia flipped blue! They haven't voted for a Democrat since 1992. Georgia is the poster child of voter suppression and the fight for voter rights. What a success story! Thank you, Stacey Abrams, for being the consummate community organizer and getting out the vote for Georgia and across the country! Let's have more from Ms. Abrams! She's a national hero! 

Indeed, Black people from coast to coast mobilized and voted. We owe a debt of gratitude to black people for making this election happen. 

It was quite a journey this week, but in the end... We the people prevailed. We did it. Go, Team U.S.A!

Congratulations, Resisters! We did it!!

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” The King, Henry IV, Part 2, William Shakespeare

Time Magazine

We are in for a really wild ride, because this man is a rat backed into a corner. He has a number of criminal charges ready to be levied against him at 12:01pm on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. He is in love with power and feels that he has unlimited power -- he wants unlimited power. He has white supremacist terrorists at his beck and call. And he is unhinged. 

If you've read Little Sister Resister for very long, you know I am a Pollyanna. If there's a choice between two unknowns, why not choose the more positive scenario? Be optimistic, but don't let your guard down. Act toward the outcome you desire.

And we all have done that over the last four years as we performed our many acts of resistance, and we are doing that now as we vote. However, there are many unknowns about what will happen on November 3 and in the weeks following, and some of the scenarios are pretty darn scary. Pollyanna, step aside for a mo.

It's tragic that in order for our democracy to be saved, the Democrats will need to win in a landslide on Tuesday. It's not enough to "win;" they need to win big. Because if they don't win big, 45 will contest the election. In fact, he's telegraphed that he will contest it anyway by not committing to a peaceful transfer of power.

Be prepared for lawsuits.

He believes the federal courts are his courts because he has appointed a ton of federal judges. I wrote about it in an earlier blog post: Getting scared, but holding on to hope (May 12, 2019). Now he has stacked the Supreme Court with immoral appointees, and our beloved triumvirate system is direly imperiled. 

If you don't remember the 2000 election, we all went to bed on election night confident that we would swear in President Gore. We woke up the next morning – and every morning for the next five weeks – confused and concerned. It wasn't until December 12, 2000 when Bush v. Gore was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States and George W. Bush was declared the winner. Overturning the will of the majority of Americans, SCOTUS handed the Presidency to the loser of the popular vote.

We should be extremely concerned that this could happen again, especially with the newest über-conservative justice (I am still in denial and can't stand to set my fingers to type her name), seated just 8 days before the election and after 60,000,000 votes had been cast. And don't forget: Justice Kavanaugh recently wrote the opinion ruling that Wisconsin mail-in voters must have their ballots received by Election Day to be counted. The whiny boofer is firmly on Team TЯUMP.

Agent Orange will file a lawsuit in any state that is close. He loves big, beautiful lawsuits, and he truly believes that the judges that he has appointed are "his" judges. He believes that the Attorney General is "his" personal attorney and that the Department of Justice is "his" own personal law firm (about which, the other day, a federal judge said "nope"). Now that he has successfully implanted three Supreme Court Justices, he feels that the body is "his" personal Supreme Court as well. And at least one may think of himself as just that: Justice Kavanaugh, remember, was part of George W. Bush's legal team in Bush v. Gore, which ultimately handed the presidency to the loser of the popular vote and arguably the loser of the electoral vote. Watch what he said a generation ago. "What they care about is how to interpret the Constitution -- what are the enduring values that are going to stand a generation from now?" 

And here we are.

Be prepared for violence. 

There may be violence. Forget racist "dog whistles." No, Dingleberry Fuckface has overtly courted white supremacists, and they have overtly acted to do his bidding. Far before the 2016 election, he was cozy with them. His birther claims invited them; he re-tweeted Nazi sympathizers during his first presidential campaign; and he was endorsed by David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Recently, has blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for unrest and spouts nothing but vitriol when he talks about the social movement.

The white supremacists have done his bidding. He put a call out to "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!," and they plotted to do so by planning to kidnap and murder Michigan's governor. There are many examples of what his "very fine people" have done for him (El Paso shooting, anyone?), and there is no sign that they will take his defeat next week gracefully.

Before the 2016 election, J.M. Berger, writing for Politico, outlined the Mango Mussolini's bourgeoning relationship with white supremacists, writing, "If Trump wins the election, subscribers to those views believe, they will be able to claim increased legitimacy and seek a bigger role in mainstream politics." 

And here we are. 

Be prepared for chaos.

What might happen in the 78 days between Election Day and Inauguration Day? 

Dr. Ramani Durvasula, a licensed clinical psychologist and expert on narcissistic personality disorder and narcissistic abuse told Salon, "If Trump loses it will be like watching a three-year-old refuse to go to bed. They will just stand there, poignantly in their Superman pajamas and say NO, I am NOT going to bed, and drop to the ground and scream. Plan on an adult version of that. As is often the case when a difficult personality style like this faces disappointment we tend to see a cascade of reactions – oppositionality, denial, rage, despair, paranoia, more rage, entitlement, victimhood, and vindictiveness." She and Yale psychologist Dr. Bandy X. Lee, warn of "rage" and "terror" after the election.

Unfortunately, we do not have a three-year-old on our hands. We have a powerful king-wannabe, who lies with uneasy head, who has power to mobilize a military, and who does not and will not play by any set of rules but his own. 

If he loses, he will still have 78 days to further bastardize the presidency. He may try everything in his still-active power to disrupt the transition. The Transition Integrity Project, a bipartisan group of over 100 experts, spent time over the summer speculating about many scenarios, including 45's corrupt use of power that "would prioritize personal gain and self-protection over ensuring an orderly administrative handoff to his successor. Trump may use pardons to thwart future criminal prosecution, arrange business deals with foreign governments that benefit him financially, attempt to bribe and silence associates, declassify sensitive documents, and attempt to divert federal funds to his own businesses." That's probably just the tip of the iceberg.

I had thought of this scenario, and TIP did also: 45's legal preservation for himself and his family may be of utmost importance. It's possible he would resign on January 19, 2021 or before and count on President Pence to issue pardons and handle the transition. 

I encourage you to read TIP's report. They thought through many scenarios, and the report is extensive and sobering. Read the end, too, about the lingering "Trumpism" that may occur even when he does leave office.  Does anyone believe he will retire quietly, as dozens of presidents have done before? MAGA TV anyone? Put it on channel 666.

What if 45 refuses to leave the White House on January 20? Who will remove him? There have been many who have speculated as to that scenario. Think about that. For the first time in our history, we are worried that the former president will not leave willingly. 

Be prepared for anything.

What we can do to prepare: state and local governments and election officials will have to be prepared to stand very strong in their certification of results. 

Constitutionally, the Congress has a role in certifying the electoral votes and transitioning power. Both the Senate and the House have already voted to affirm the peaceful transfer of power after this election. The Senate vote was unanimous. The House vote was 397-5. The five hold outs who would not affirm this most-revered American tradition? All Repugs, of course. You can guess the ones who voted against it: Matt Gaetz (FL), Louie Gohmert (TX), Steve King (IA), Thomas Massie (KY), and Clay Higgins (LA). Matt Gaetz is one of the most odious members of Congress in our history. I wish the loudmouth would go away, but Florida's 1st District voters want him to stay. Dang.

Given that the Orange Scourge is their disease, the GOP must take a role in insisting on the peaceful transfer of power. They must not help wage a coup. Will they have the cajones to stand up to him when the rubber hits the road? GOP leaders have stated they will, but yanno, I'll believe it when I see it. 

Media and social media will have a role to sound alarms, report the truth, and call for action.

Ultimately, it may be up to us. We may have to take to the streets. Read this article. Plan ahead. And be prepared to prevent a coup. We may not have much time to stop one.

And there we are. 

Buckle up. Read. Rise. Resist. Our democracy depends on it.

The End is Nigh

Joe Heller

One week to goooo! Tra-la! Tra-loooo!

Indulge my political geek side for a moment!

I don't know about you, but I've been obsessively looking at polls in battleground states, both for the general election and for Senate seats. 

Right now, polls are very good for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris! But as we know from four years ago, polls can take a crap if citizens don't VOTE. 

And vote, we are. 

So far, over 62 million votes have been cast. Compared to this time four years ago? Today we have cast 15 million more than the total sum of early votes in 2016 -- but more than that, it's 45% of the TOTAL number of votes cast in 2016. And we still have a week to go, and the biggest voting day of all, November 3.

It's very good news! And great news that the postal service and election officials aren't overwhelmed with ballots right at the end.  

So, what do the polls tell us?

National polls have Biden ahead by nine points. That's quite a lead, but unfortunately we don't elect by popular vote. We elect by a system that the white patriarchy established; the stoooopid electoral college. 

How is Joe looking there? Pretty good, too. If the votes are cast as polling indicates, Joe is in very good shape to win his required 270 electoral college votes. Here are a few polls in key battleground states, as reported by FiveThirtyEight.

I especially like to look at states that 45 eked by during the 2016 election and states that may just yet turn surprisingly blue.

Michigan: In 2016, DJT squeaked by and won Michigan by 10,704 votes (a 0.23% margin). Today, Biden leads by eight points. Come on, Michiganders, VOTE!

Wisconsin: Similarly, Drumpf won Wisconsin in 2016 by a little more than 22,000 votes. The polls there show that Biden leads by seven points.

Pennsylvania was equally close (45 won by about 44,000 votes), and today Biden leads by five points in the polls.

Ohio has always been an important swing state through the decades. Ohio voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, but in 2016, the odious one took the state handily. This year, it's neck-and-neck, with 45 holding a slim 1.5% lead.

North Carolina went for Obama in both elections but elected PoopHead in 2016, and this year Joe has a slim 2.5% lead in the polls. Know anyone in NC? Help them get to the polls!

Georgia, how we love thee and how we are so frustrated at your history of voter suppression! The Orange Menace won by five points in 2016. It's a dead tie today in Georgia. I'll be on the edge of my seat for that state. 

PESKY FLA: Florida, Florida. Our problem child. Donny won Florida by a slim 1.2% margin in 2016. The polls are quite tight today, but Biden is up in the polls by a little more than two points. Florida has lots of electoral votes. We need Florida. Vote, Florida, vote!

The November Surprise may be in Texas and Arizona. Dare it possible that Texas turn blue? There is speculation that it is trending that way. It's neck and neck in the polls today, and some pundits think it may actually flip. Arizona, famously pugnaciously Repug (think Sheriff Arpaio) is trending toward Biden by 2.9%. If Arizona flips, I can finally stop boycotting the state as I drive across from California to New Mexico and back. 

Love interactives? Try your hand at calling the general election with this interactive electoral map from Financial Times or this one from FiveThirtyEight.

OK, so what about the Senate?! We can actually flip the Senate! Oh golly that would be so great!

Here are nine Repug seats that may flip -- and we only need a net gain of four to take control of the Senate.

Colorado - John Hickenlooper has a pretty commanding 8% lead over incumbent Cory Gardner. Regret being 45's chief ass-kisser, Cory? (Joe is ahead by 13% in Colorado)

Arizona - it's close, but Dem Mark Kelly is poised to defeat incumbent Martha McSally. 

North Carolina - Woot! Cal Cunningham has been pulling ahead of Sen. Thom Tillis for weeks! 

Maine - Sara Gideon has a really good lead over two-faced Susan Collins. It'll be good to see Collins in the rear-view mirror. 

Iowa's race is really close between Joni Ernst and Theresa Greenfield. But Dem Greenfield has a good chance in that battle. 

Montana - It's a close race between Democrat Steve Bullock, current governor of Montana, vs. Rep incumbent Steve Daines. It would be great if Montana took a Dam seat in the Senate. 

Georgia -- Both Senate seats are up for grabs in Georgia, due to a special election for appointed Republican Kelly Loeffler. The races are tight and may end up in a run-off in January. 

And finally, 

South Carolina - Oh how yummy yummy it would be if 45's slobbering lap dog Lindsey Graham went down this year. His Dam challenger Jaime Harrison has truly been giving Lindsey a run for his money (and raising a ton more money, too - shattering records!). I think Harrison can pull off a win, amazingly, for the seat that Graham took over from nearly-dead 43-year senator Repug Strom Thurmond in 2003. Go, Jaime, goooooo!

I will tentatively add Kentucky to this list. Dem challenger Amy McGrath has been fighting a good fight. It's a long shot, but oh how delicious it would be if she sent McConnell home to sweet Kentucky. 

There are a couple Dem seats that are up for grabs:

Alabama, where Repug Tommy Tuberville has a commanding lead over Dem incumbent Doug Jones, will probably flip red, but Michigan is poised to keep its Democrat Senate seat for Sen. Gary Peters. His challenger, John James, is a long shot at this point.

There will be plenty of excitement a week from tonight! I hope we get some definitive results that night. Our Democracy will win.

If you haven't yet, please plan your ultimate act of resistance: VOTE! 

Words of the Week

Tom Toles

The words-of-the-week for the first week of October read like an 11th grader's vocabulary test.

Obfuscation was the word of last weekend, and indeed this past week, when 45 was hospitalized at Walter Reed and a waterfall of contradictions came from hospital physicians, 45's official physician, and Mark Meadows, his Chief of Whitewash. 

We in health care know the patient is gonna do what the patient is gonna do. Even – and sometimes especially – when the medical professionals recommendations are what's best. Recommendations are just that. And some patients with faulty judgment decide on a course that is not recommended. 

And when you are a really stupid patient and the most powerful person on the planet, you get to do really, really stupid things. And when you are Commander in Chief and your physician is a member of the military, you get to tell him what to do and what to say. And you set a course that is detrimental not only to the patient, but to an entire nation's security.

While in the hospital and after, we got a few reports of his health and treatment. We learned that he was on oxygen some of the time and that he got a cocktail of pretty powerful medications including the steroid dexamethasone and the experimental Regeneron, which has been given to ten patients so far, outside of clinical trials. We didn't get any detail about the state of his lungs.

The doctors have said some things, while 45's Chief of Staff said something else. I betcha Mark Meadows got into deep doo-doo with his boss when he turned to press members after the physician spoke to them, asking to go off the record – while cameras were still rolling – and gave contradictory information. 

Evasion. Although he shared some information about medications, 45's vital signs, and early use of oxygen, his physician, Lt Cdr Dr. Scott Conley, suddenly invoked HIPAA in his refusal to give further information. HIPAA protects a patient's privacy, and it's a good law. But under HIPAA guidelines, the patient can give permission to share information. It wasn't HIPAA that was disallowing the dissemination of the information; it was the patient. Period. We the American people need to know this information. Contact tracers need to know this information. 

The patient refuses to disclose information which would give a better picture to his course of illness and would help contact tracing. 

Intimidation. Not only has he refused to release details of his course of illness, he asked physicians and Walter Reed staff to sign nondisclosure agreements. It's his go-to tactic, but in this instance it is alarming. Paul Waldman, writing for the Washington Post, explains why. 

All of this obfuscation, evasion, and intimidation cause us to have more questions than answers. The patient refuses to allow release of his chest imaging. He refuses to state when he last tested negative, and test results since he was released from the hospital. You have to ask yourself, "What is he hiding?" We are left to guess about the state of his health, and assume the worst: that he was infectious earlier than he admits and that he is sicker than he projects. The Washington Post implores: We need answers. 

Authoritarian. After three days in the hospital, the patient discharged himself, hitched a ride back to the Whitewash House in his personal helicopter, strode triumphantly across the lawn, puffed his way up the staircase to the Truman Balcony, defiantly ripped off his facemark, and gasped his way through the rest of his informercial for president. 

And those smartie-pants at The Lincoln Project answered with this. Brilliant.

Another group likened his triumphant return to another dictator's several years ago:

Manic. The prescribed steroid treatment has been especially concerning. It's powerful stuff. This medication can have emotional and cognitive side-effects. It can make a person feel manic and invincible. Here is one person's experience being on this powerful drug. 

Give some steroids to a madman and hand him a phone, and you get a tweetstorm like this (done while still hospitalized):

Even Don Jr. was so concerned about his tweeting that he reportedly wanted to stage an intervention. Think about that. 

A few days later, 45 called in high and coughing to Sean Hannity's program and reported he was feeling great and ready to go hold rallies that night. He was hoarse, he was coughing, and he was a little unhinged. He refused to answer Hannity's question – posed three times – if he has tested negative since being hospitalized. Tidbits from the audio here. 

He also was manic talking to Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo. The "interview" was, true to form, bizarre. And evasive. And concerning. Here are some of the most bizarre bits. 

Take a brain that is already impaired by dementia, mental illness, or both, add a drug to jack it up, add a dash of fever and shortness of breath, and ask yourself: is this a person we want holding the codes to the nuclear button?

Incoherent. Through his press secretary, in his recorded videos, and during his unhinged FAUX interviews, he has said:

• that he wasn't very sick and just went to the hospital "out of an abundance of caution,"
• that American's shouldn't be afraid of the virus, 
• that he was "very sick,"
• that it "would have gone away by itself,"
• that he beat COVID because he is "perfect physical specimen and extremely young,"
• that he "would have done it fine without drugs," 
• that it was "a blessing from god" that he got sick,
• that he's immune,
• that he's not contagious (6 days after his diagnosis, without a negative test),
• that he's been cured by the medications he was given: "to me it wasn’t therapeutic, it just made me better. Okay, I call that a cure.”

Apathy. All those "best words" and not a word about all the people who he has infected. Not a word about the the 210,000 Americans that have lost their lives under his watch. Not a word about the more than 7,700.000 more Americans who have become ill with the virus. Not a word about the nearly three dozen people in his immediate orbit who have been infected with coronavirus. Not even much about his wife. Not a word about the secret service members who suffered forced exposure to his filthy exhalations during his joyride; not a word about senior advisor and chief lizard Stephen Miller; communications director Hope Hicks; press secretary Kayleigh McEnany; former counselor Kellyanne Conway; campaign manager Bill Steplen; several Pentagon officials; a couple of Senators; White House housekeepers; nor a word about at least three White House journalists. And not a word about his friend Chris Christie, who remained hospitalized in New Jersey until this morning. There was great concern for Christie; he has several risk factors, and he was in sustained close contact (mask-less) with 45 during debate prep. Not a shred of empathy or even acknowledgement. 

Derision. But he did have something to say when he was guessing about how he contracted the virus. He suggested that he probably got infected by the Gold Star families he met a couple weeks ago. There is not one shred of truth to it, and thankfully, none of them has been reported to be ill. Just one more example of his disdain -- hatred, really -- for the military and military families. 

Myopic. We're a little more than a week after his "official" diagnosis, so we must prepare for more folks in his orbit -- and the spiraling orbit out from them -- to become ill. We may never know the true extent of this superspreader situation, because there has not been even an attempt at contact tracing. And we know from stories like this that the effects of a superspreader event can reach far and wide. WaPo: Maine wedding ‘superspreader’ event is now linked to seven deaths. None of those people attended.

Persevere. As for the rest of us, we must take up the fight. Wear a mask. Wash your hands frequently. Stay six feet away from others. And go vote. Today. 

United Schadenfreude of America

Welp, he gone and dunnit. The President* of the United States went and got hisself infected with the China Virus.

And the nation shares a deep sense of schadenfreude.

What a moron.

Oh, the right is suddenly calling for compassion and empathy. Nope, sorry. The man who has done so much damage to this country? The person who has drug our country through crisis after crisis for four years? The man who has gleefully cheered the misfortune of others? The person whose gross negligence has caused thousands and thousands of Americans to lose their lives? Nope, no compassion from this Resister. The punishment almost fits the crime. So, I'll pass on compassion. I'll save it for all the souls he has harmed.

To be clear: I don't want him to die. Not at all. I want him to get COVID toes. I want him to have a drenching fever. I want his lungs to hurt. I want him to feel numbness in his arm as COVID throws a small clot. I want him to feel scared and alone. I want him to gasp for breath. I want him to feel every inch of the endotracheal tube. I want him to have to talk to Melania on FaceTime, with a nurse holding the iPad. I want him to lay with IVs in his arms (full of bleach, please). I want him to have nightmares of masked and hooded aliens coming to take him away, just like my post-COVID patient experienced in the ICU. I want him to feel like he is living in a cage.

I want him to feel all of that, and then I want him to live. I want him sit with his oxygen cannula chapping his nose, watching election returns on FAUX News and see every vote counted. I want him to watch as the American people take power away from him. I want him to walk out of the Whitewash House on January 20, grasping his walker, hobbling toward the armored car that will take him straight to the Graybar Hotel. 

Yanno, it's not my usual to have a complete and utter lack of compassion. It's my opposite, in fact. But that's what we have on our 1,352nd backwards day. I wish I could wish him well, but the truth is: Karma. Is. A. Bitch. 

If hating him is wrong, I don't wanna be right. I'll let more lofty individuals (like Joe Biden and Barack Obama) take the high road on this one. Or Damon Young. (Seriously, read Damon Young)

And let us remember what his favorite book says:

Hosea 10:13. You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors,

Galatians 6:7. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

Proverbs 22:8. Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

Job 4:8. As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

Luke 6:38. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

Hosea 8:7. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. 

Jeremiah 17:10. I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

Proverbs 1:3. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

Proverbs 14:14. The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.

Matthew 7:16. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

I'm not alone in my feelings. The memes, they be flyin' -- I'll share some below.

But first I have to share more of my outrage. 

The Timeline.

Details of the timeline of his diagnosis are a little muddled and confusing, but there are some reports that he tested positive earlier than he admitted and yet went ahead with public appearances. 

At a briefing on Saturday, physician Sean Conley stated that 45 was "72 hours into the diagnosis." That would put his diagnosis on Wednesday, not Friday, when he announced it on Twitter. We know that the virus has an incubation period and positive test results do not appear until several days after exposure, so he was likely infectious at the debate on Tuesday. 

And according to the New York Times, "Dr. Brian Garibaldi, another physician treating the president, also said that Mr. Trump had received an experimental antibody therapy “about 48 hours ago,” which would have been midday Thursday — before the confirmation test Dr. Conley said came back positive that evening and a full day before the White House disclosed the treatment on Friday."

And it so happens that he arrived too late to Tuesday's debate that he was not able to be tested. His whole family, as well as GOP Senators and other supporters and inner circle, sat in close proximity without masks. 

Hope Hicks started feeling ill while on Air Force One returning from a fundraiser in Minneapolis on Wednesday. She was diagnosed the next day. Despite his close advisor being ill, he continued on to a fundraiser in New Jersey where he met – maskless – with 18 donors on Thursday. 

Finally in the wee hours of Friday morning, at 1am Washington time, he tweets out that he and Melania tested positive. One o'clock in the morning! What kind of bullshit is that? It's gold-plated TЯUMP Brand Bullshit. That's what it is. 

On Saturday, there was a gathering to announce the nomination of Judge what's-her-name for SCOTUS. His inner circle were all there. No one wore masks.

Since his announcement on Friday:

• He has been hospitalized at Walter Reed Hospital, where he is getting world-class treatment and will receive therapies that are not available to all. Days upon days of hospitalization, with care from the finest physicians in the land, cared for with all the treatment options available, all for the low, low cost of $750 in federal taxes. (Thanks Sister Resister Anne for that point!)

• He sent out a jumbled, nonsensical, tired, less-orange-looking video Saturday afternoon. I'm not sure how much I trust him. Next time, can he please hold up a current newspaper?

pic.twitter.com/gvIPuYtTZG

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020

• The following people have tested positive so far:
• Kellyanne Conway, present at the debate.
• Chris Christie, present at the debate and coached 45 ahead of the debate.
• Sen. Mike Lee, present (maskless) at the justice nomination event and had met privately with whatever her name is.
• Sen. Thom Tillis.
• Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame president, present (maskless) at Whitewash House justice nomination event. 
• Bill Steplen, 45's campaign manager.
• and others in his circle have tested positive, while most of his family members have tested negative.

• VP Pence has tested negative, and I hope he stays negative, for the sake of the country in these chaotic days. But, please, Speaker Pelosi, stay well and prepare....

• Joe and Jill Biden have also tested negative so far. Here's a little contact tracing info. We'll have to watch and see who becomes ill in the next few days. Stay healthy, Joe. Stay healthy. And I truly wish the best for Melania, and for every other person who has had the misfortune to breathe that man's air. I do not wish bad for any of them. Just for the one. 

Now, from the You-Gotta-Laugh-to-Keep-From-Crying Files... 

Memes-Memes-Memes!

Stay tuned. Wear a mask. Stay 6 feet away. Wash your hands. And go vote.

Voting is happening now! DROP YOUR BALLOT. 

"It doesn't define you."

"It doesn't define you." - Joe Biden

Joe Biden has a stutter. He has had it all his life.

His stuttering is likely the source a big part of his deep empathy and compassion for other humans.

Stuttering usually begins in childhood, as it did for Joe Biden. Many stutterers don't "outgrow" the disorder; they learn to manage it. This is true for Joe Biden.

Joe has been open about his stuttering. But people are often surprised to hear that he has had a lifelong stutter. His stutter hasn't gone away; the truth is that he manages it well. Some of the strategies he has developed to manage his stuttering probably include starting over; revising a word or phrase; looking down at his notes; changing his gaze; slowing down his speech; or substituting a similar word or phrase. 

Stuttering is a motor speech disorder, not a language or cognitive disorder. It's not part of an intellectual disorder. Biden's stops and starts are evidence of his stuttering, NOT evidence of dementia. So you can stop that nonsense. Right now. 

But yes, communication pressures can increase dysfluencies. Bullies know that. Bullies can sniff out a person's vulnerabilities from a mile away. Talk to anyone who has had a stutter lasting past early childhood, and you will hear stories of bullying.

And so, the Bully-in-Chief's strategy during Tuesday's ugly, ugly debate was to put the pressure on and try to instigate dysfluencies. That was the chief reason for his disgraceful "performance" on that stage. There is evidence that this is true; early in September, the campaign outright told Politico that this was the tactic:

...they’re trying to identify words or phrases that trigger him to “reboot,” as one person familiar with the planning described it. Essentially, Trump aides are looking for ways to trip up Biden in an effort to spur an incoherent or unsatisfactory response — bolstering a key Trump argument against Biden built around his age.

and

One 2016 Trump campaign official said it’s a “calculated risk” to phrase things in such a way that might cause the former vice president to stammer in his response, acknowledging such a strategy could backfire if Trump deliberately appears to be messing with Biden's history of stuttering — an attribute Biden has used to demonstrate his ability to overcome challenges and his empathy for children in similar situations. One aide said Biden is a good debater and unlikely to have difficulty speaking in that environment. 

And guess what? Biden did not have difficulty speaking in that environment. Though Joe got flustered – and who wouldn't under that barrage? – he did not experience an increase in dysfluencies (and so what if he had?). And except for a couple of times ("Will you shut up, man?" and "Keep yapping, man"), he did not take the bait to sink to the orange grub's level. He was calm in the face of a bully's barrage of insults. I think this is a quality of a good leader.

Here is a wonderful piece about Joe Biden and his stutter from The Atlantic, written by a fellow stutterer. 

The fact of the matter, Joe's ability to overcome, as well as every person who stutters, should be admired, not mocked. It takes a lot of work to manage a stutter. It takes work every time the person speaks. Joe has had a lifetime of public service and public speaking. And only now is his stuttering in the limelight. It's only now that a grown-up bully has thrust it into the limelight. It's a great opportunity for education and the advancement of empathy. You probably know a person who stutters. You might not even know it. You will be showing them some grace if you keep negative comments about Joe's speech out of your own discourse. Communication disorders deserve empathy and compassion.

And this is just one more reason Joe is a truly decent guy. He understands empathy and compassion. It has it in spades, and he shares it. Just watch:

About stuttering: there's much we know about stuttering and much we don't.

We know that stuttering affects males more than females (1.6 to 2:1 at age 3 years, increasing to 3-4:1 in the teenage years); it is more prevalent in childhood; it is common in children developing their speech and language, and it is often transitory. We know that there is a subset of people for whom it is not transitory. It lasts their lifetimes. And this is true for Joe Biden.

There are a few typical types of dysfluencies that appear in a stutterer's speech. There are part- or whole-word reputations, such as saying "I want some tuh-tuh-tuh-tea," or "I - I - I am buying a car;" prolongations, such as "I have three sssssisters," or blocks, which is when the sound is initiated but the motor actions don't easily proceed. "I want a...... (lips pursed for /m/) .....marshmallow." Dysfluencies often happen with certain words or sounds, and the person managing their stutter can develop many internal strategies, including avoiding that particular phoneme. Revisions and interjections (such as "um" or "well"), though not technically dysfluencies, often accompany a dysfluent speaker's speech. There can be related motor behaviors that accompany dysfluency, such as visible tension or tics/movement in the mouth or face, or other areas of the body. Interestingly, dysfluencies often disappear when people who stutter speak to themselves, sing, speak in unison, speak with delayed auditory feedback, or speak with a fake accent or when acting. But we don't know why.

We also don't know a lot about the causes. The causes are thought to be multi-facorial. There seems to be a genetic component as well as neurophysiological factors. Environmental factors, emotional factors, and communication demands can all influence the expression of dysfluencies. 

Treatment is highly variable and treatment methods depend on the severity of the stutter, the patient's and the family's goals, the patient's age, and the presence of concomitant speech and language disorders. Treatment of fluency disorders is managed across the lifespan by Speech-Language Pathologists. 

For more information, see the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association or the Stuttering Foundation.

Thank you for reading, and for giving me another great opportunity, as a Speech-Language Pathologist, to provide a little insight into a speech disorder. 

Now, GO VOTE!