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Monday Crazy Go Nuts Reads

Posted: October 5, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: morning reads | Tags: , |45 Comments

Good Day Sky Dancers!

We Americans have had some really crazy few days even with the last 4ish years being one crazy day after another.

Today, we wonder exactly what Covid-19 hospital protocol allows a patient to ride around the block in a hermetically sealed SUV exposing every person around him in the process. Any idea?

I continually worry about the secret service and all of the workers at the White House. You know, the folks that have worked there forever to keep the place clean, the folks fed, and the garden manicured?

This New York Times article kind of sums that answer up: “The president made a surprise outing from his hospital bed in an effort to show his improvement, but the murky and shifting narrative of his illness was rewritten again with grim new details.” This is written by Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman.

 President Trump sought to dispel any perception of weakness on Sunday with a surprise and seemingly risky outing from his hospital bed to greet supporters even as his doctors once again rewrote the official narrative of his illness by acknowledging two alarming episodes they had previously not disclosed.

The doctors said that Mr. Trump’s blood oxygen level dropped twice in the two days after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, requiring medical intervention, and that he had been put on steroids, suggesting his condition might be more serious than initially described. But they insisted that his situation had improved enough since then that he could be released from the hospital as early as Monday.

The acknowledgment of the episodes raised new questions about the credibility of the information provided about the commander in chief of a superpower as he is hospitalized with a disease that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States. With the president determined not to concede weakness and facing an election in just 30 days, officials acknowledged providing rosy assessments to satisfy their prickly patient.

Determined to reassert himself on the political stage on his third day in the hospital, Mr. Trump made an unannounced exit from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the early evening, climbing into his armored Chevrolet Suburban to ride past supporters holding Trump flags gathered outside the building. Wearing a suit jacket and face mask but no tie, Mr. Trump waved at the crowd through a closed window as his motorcade slowly cruised by before returning him to the hospital.

Alexej Von Jawlensky

So, this is all very quite odd.

Andrew Joseph of Stat writes this: “‘There’s a disconnect’: Outside medical experts question the upbeat portrayal of president’s condition”. Supposedly, Trump has gotten a steroid that’s only given to patients in need of oxygen or ventilation. So, it rather implies he might still be on oxygen and we’re not being told about it’

The main concern: Trump started receiving the steroid dexamethasone, which is recommended only for hospitalized Covid-19 patients who are on ventilators or require oxygen. Trump’s medical team said Sunday they planned to continue giving him dexamethasone even as they touted that Trump was not on supplemental oxygen at that point and not having difficulty breathing.“I think today’s news means he’s sicker than I thought he was on Friday and Saturday,” said Nahid Bhadelia, the medical director of Boston Medical Center’s Special Pathogens Unit.

Outside experts also raised other reasons for skepticism.

For one, Trump has experienced at least two drops in his oxygen levels, his doctors confirmed Sunday. One, on Friday, led to doctors giving the president oxygen at the White House. During the Sunday briefing, the president’s lead physician, Sean Conley, said Trump’s oxygen levels had dropped again Saturday but he wasn’t clear whether oxygen had been provided again. It was that second episode that led the team to start him on dexamethasone, the doctors said. To the outside experts, two periods of low oxygen levels indicated this wasn’t a mild illness.

Multiple Secret Service agents are criticizing President Trump’s brief appearance in an SUV outside Walter Reed Medical Center Sunday evening, accusing the president of putting his protective detail in unnecessary danger.

He’s not even pretending to care now,” an agent who requested anonymity told The Washington Post.

“That should never have happened,” another unidentified agent, who works in both the presidential and first family detail, told CNN. “The frustration with how we’re treated when it comes to decisions on this illness goes back before this though. We’re not disposable.”Agents are authorized to decline requests that would place the president at risk, but not those that would put themselves at risk.

This comes from The Hill link above and was written by Zack Budryk

So, given that Republicans seem ready to jump off the cliff with the Orange Dumpsterfire I find this Politco story perplexing: “Republicans gripped by dread as multiple crises swirl. The presidency, control of the Senate and even a quick confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett are all in doubt less than a month from the election.” Evidently quite a few of them are now concerned about their elections. We just got this breaking news too. Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania will NOT run for re-election in 2022.

Trump’s Republican critics have long argued that he was a virus infecting their party that would eventually destroy it. Trump skeptics-turned-supporters, which could describe most Washington Republicans, made a different calculation: If the worst elements of Trump could be contained, then Republicans could keep a Democrat out of the White House, lock in a majority on the Supreme Court and protect their redoubt in the Senate. Even before Trump’s diagnosis, the cost of the deal with Trump was starting to look high. But the path to pushing through Barrett and retaining the Senate and even White House was hardly insurmountable.

That an actual virus has now infected Trump, his wife, his campaign manager, the head of the Republican National Committee, several advisers, and three senators — many of them at a celebration of Barrett’s nomination — thus throwing all three of the GOP’s 2020 goals into chaos, is a plot twist that would be rejected by any writer as just a little too on the nose.

“Trump has done more to derail the Barrett nomination than any Democrat,” said one dejected former senior White House official. “They are screwing themselves, that’s for sure.”

Republicans around the Trumpsterfire who have tested positive for COVID-19 include former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Hope Hicks, Russian Sparrow Melania Trump, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former senior advisor Kellyanne Conway . So far, Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller among those who tested negative for the virus

Trump’s fast track of Barrett might be on the slowed down track according to WAPO: “Positive tests for senators raise doubts about fast-track confirmation of Trump’s Supreme Court choice”. Thoughts and prayers to those Senators and stay in bed place for as long as you’re told too! This was penned by Seung Min Kim.

From the start, Senate Republican leaders have known their ambitious timeline to get Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett confirmed before Election Day offered little room for error.

But that tightly crafted schedule has now been thrown into uncertainty with the coronavirus diagnoses of at least two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the fear that other senators could test positive in the coming days. A handful of other GOP senators, on and off the committee, are also isolating as a precaution after being exposed to infected colleagues.

Sensing an opportunity to delay, Democrats are cranking up their push to postpone the Oct. 12 confirmation hearings, citing the safety of members, aides and Barrett herself — waging a public pressure campaign because they have no powers on their own to stop the proceedings.

In a statement to The Washington Post on Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanded that Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) require all members of the Judiciary Committee to be tested before participating in Barrett’s confirmation hearing. Democrats have also insisted that remote participation, even for senators, is inadequate for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

“Moving forward with the committee process when three senators have recently tested positive for covid-19 is irresponsible and dangerous, but doing so without requiring all members to be tested before a hearing in accordance with CDC best practices would be intentionally reckless,” Schumer said in the statement to The Post. “If Chairman Graham doesn’t require testing, it may make some wonder if he just doesn’t want to know the results.”

Lets just hope he does everything possible to sandbag that Graham operation. It might be more succesful though given Lindsey’s election problems.

So that’s it for me today! Just a couple of things. Please be patient with us as we learn how to use this crazy block editor from Word Press. It would cost us $283 odd dollars just to keep it as an add on supported for two years so definitely not worth that. Also, it’s time this week to help us with our annual fee to Word Press for what they do provide us now. It’s about $8 a month for the premium which is renewed for us on the 18th.

Be safe! Check in and tell us what’s up with you. And, what’s on your reading and blogging list today!

45 Comments on “Monday Crazy Go Nuts Reads”

  1. dakinikat says:
    October 5, 2020 at 11:18 am

    So, then there is also this:

    I’m facing a hurricane again later this week so …

    Mother earth is still not happy and read this and you will see why …

  2. dakinikat says:
    October 5, 2020 at 11:23 am

  3. Pat Johnson says:
    October 5, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    Love your choice of paintings, dak! The red chosen by the artist is so vibrant!

    I hate Trump more everyday. Apparently I too have no bottom to my disgust with this monster.

    He insists on ignoring the rules and protocols and puts everybody at risk with his selfishness and need for adulation. Sickening.

    I am so hoping he is voted out in November. I would like to feel optimistic but the GOP is so shady they will do anything to keep him there.

  4. jslat says:
    October 5, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    Just donated. This is the first time I’ve not had a problem donating!😊 So I figured 6 months+/- fees would catch me up for those years. 😊😊😊
    I love this blog and the group that gathers here.

  5. lumeanoastramagica says:
    October 5, 2020 at 1:20 pm

    👍👏

  6. Pat Johnson says:
    October 5, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    AN ASIDE…

    Donating to this blog gives me pleasure since the three ladies who “feed” us each day work very hard in creating these posts.

    It is important to have a place to vent, to express opinions, to keep up with what is happening to us and around us and these women deliver.

    Some of us go waaaaay back to 2008 when Hillary was our primary choice. That is 12 years of virtual friiendship!

    I can’t count the times I have been “talked off the ledge” by these women and their faithful posters because I tend to be more pessimistic and need a “boost” now and then. They come through.

    I enjoy the humor, the selected paintings that express feelings even on down days. I feel more educated by being a member of this blog. That counts for something.

    In other words, you 3 are appreciated. Your individual personalities come through your writing. It amazes me how well you do it day after day especially when things look so depressing.

    Hold tight, ladies! You are the best!

  7. dakinikat says:
    October 5, 2020 at 1:25 pm

  8. Minkoff Minx says:
    October 5, 2020 at 2:02 pm

    I wonder if there will be any women in today’s doctors press conference…there was none yesterday.

    • dakinikat says:
      October 5, 2020 at 2:09 pm

      well, asshole is still asholing …

      • jslat says:
        October 5, 2020 at 2:17 pm

        Is he high on steroids, or was never really sick?? Well, the unmasked rallies, meetings for the WH staff, and fundraisers, just to name a few will continue on. He’s insane and is leading a death cult.

        • Enheduanna says:
          October 5, 2020 at 2:58 pm

          He’s totally sick with this thing. But he’s a bratty man-baby who couldn’t even last three days confined in the hospital, so back he goes where he’s apparently NOT wanted. I’m going to be surprised if this doesn’t end badly.

          • dakinikat says:
            October 5, 2020 at 6:43 pm

            I remember when one of my fussy babies wouldn’t go to sleep and we had to drive her around the block in her car seat. That’s what last night’s antics reminded me of!!!

        • NW Luna says:
          October 6, 2020 at 12:31 am

          Steroid euphoria, says the clinician who sometimes has to prescribe steroids to her patients for relapses.

          • dakinikat says:
            October 6, 2020 at 10:26 am

            He totally was gasping for air when he stood there after ripping that mask off … and up like Cheetolini on the Truman Balcony! What a phony baloney!

      • dakinikat says:
        October 5, 2020 at 3:17 pm

  9. Enheduanna says:
    October 5, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    More good info on viewing Mars this month (tomorrow especially):

    https://www.cnet.com/how-to/mars-set-for-close-approach-to-earth-this-week-and-you-can-see-the-show/

  10. MsMass says:
    October 5, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    Kudos to this lady

  11. bostonboomer says:
    October 5, 2020 at 4:42 pm

  12. bostonboomer says:
    October 5, 2020 at 4:50 pm

    • NW Luna says:
      October 6, 2020 at 12:35 am

      Mmm-hmm. Steroid euphoria is one common reaction I’ve seen. Also steroid psychosis (less frequently) and steroid rage.

  13. bostonboomer says:
    October 5, 2020 at 4:54 pm

  14. bostonboomer says:
    October 5, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    CNN: It’s concerning that President Trump got so sick so quickly, by Dr. Celine Gounder

    The Regeneron monoclonal antibody cocktail is so new that we have yet to fully characterize the side effects associated with it. The side effects of other monoclonal antibodies may include fevers, chills, weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, rash, life-threatening anaphylaxis, cytokine release syndrome (which may also be caused by Covid itself), toxicity to the heart, abnormal blood clotting, infections, autoimmune reactions and more. Furthermore, the Regeneron monoclonal antibody cocktail has not been tested in patients as old as the President. We do not know if the Regeneron monoclonal antibody cocktail has previously been given in combination with other drugs like remdesivir. In summary, we do not know if the Regeneron monoclonal antibody cocktail is safe or effective.

    • NW Luna says:
      October 6, 2020 at 12:40 am

      Many MAbs up the risk of rare but serious and even fatal infections.

      I think Trump demanded certain drugs and his physicians caved. Or he fired the ones with backbones who wouldn’t give him the drugs he wanted. He’s on a weird mix. I’m not an infectious disease or pulmonology specialist, and have only a generalist’s understanding of covid-19 treatment, but his regimen seems …. frankly batty.

      I also think Trump’s demanded a small ICU be set up at the White House, and that he insisted on being discharged early AMA.

  15. dakinikat says:
    October 6, 2020 at 10:39 am

    This is coming right at us!

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