Category Archives: medical news

medical news

Fauci is a champ … not a chump

It is my sincere hope that most of us understand the huge chasm that exists between making a misstatement and telling a lie.

Speaking incorrectly about an issue is a mistatement. People in high places do it all the time. They should be given a pass — just once — if they state something incorrectly. A lie is different. Lying about something is a deliberate act, with the liar knowing that he or she says is false, but they say it anyway.

So it is with the struggle Anthony Fauci is facing these days. Republicans are so damn quick to toss he “liar” canard at Dr. Fauci that they forget that the liar in chief, Donald Trump, cannot tell the truth if his life depended on it.

Fauci, one of the world’s foremost infectious disease doctors, sought to tell his GOP Senate questioners that he’s never told a deliberate untruth. He says he hasn’t lied to Congress.

I happen to believe him.

A man of Dr. Fauci’s standing and stature isn’t awarded medals, citations, and declarations if he does shoddy work. Fauci has been far from shoddy in his efforts to protect Americans from the danger of COVID-19.

It is entirely possible that Fauci misspoke during the disease’s run through the populace. If he did, well, he’s a human being. A fallible human being. He also took an oath when he tossed the stethoscope around his neck to “do no harm” and to work to the limits of his ability to keep human being safe.

I believe Anthony Fauci fits the description as a medical champ. His foes on Capitol Hill are nothing but chumps.

medical news

Fauci is a hero, not a zero

How in the name of all that is sane does a man go from receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom to being treated as a run-of-the-mill hoodlum during a Senate committee hearing?

It’s not the individual, but rather it’s the change in the political climate that produces senators who have no sense of honor, decency or decorum.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the man who likely saved the lives of millions of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, was raked over the coals by senators intent on slapping handcuffs on him and tossing him into the slammer. Why? Because the dipshit in chief, Donald Trump, wants them to do it.

Fauci once was honored by another Republican president, George H.W. Bush, with a Medal of Freedom. President Bush cited Fauci’s work as the world’s premier epidemiologist and his work to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. It was that record that Donald Trump brought him on board to lead the right against COVID, except then Fauci began contradicting the statements made by the current POTUS.

So, Trump turned him into a pariah. Now we have Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who this week sought to vilify Dr. Fauci for alleged misstatements he made. He called Fauci a liar. Dr. Fauci pushed back, citing his constitutional right to invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid saying something that his accusers could use against him. He said Paul doesn’t know what he’s talking about and declared that “if anyone is lying, senator, it is you!”

I am going to stand with Dr. Anthony Fauci in this dispute. The man’s expertise is beyond dispute. It cannot possibly be challenged, especially by two-bit tinhorns masquerading as know-it-alls.

medical news

Candidates’ health is of major concern

I can’t claim this as an original thought, because I am stealing it from a friend of mine, but candidates’ health must become a major issue in determining their fitness for a job.

We’ve had too many presidents of the United States taking office while hiding serious illness. My friend notes that President Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke during his second term, President Cleveland suffered from cancer, President Franklin Roosevelt sought to conceal his wheelchair, President Kennedy suffered from Addison’s disease.

All those ailments were serious enough to consider even now, so many years after these men served in the highest office in the land. Indeed, FDR won election to a fourth term in 1944 while suffering from an ailment that would kill him a month after taking office in 1945. He was virtually a dead man when he planned the final assault on the Axis Powers near the end of World War II.

We had those phony questions about President Biden’s mental acuity during his term in office. Leading that charade was former White House physician and current Texas Panhandle congressman and loudmouth Ronny Jackson.

But my point is that a candidate’s health must be front and center on the issue to be discussed and examined. The candidates ought to be required to present physicians statements as to their physical well-being … as well as their mental alertness. And they should be prepared to refute any claims of ill health if they arise during the campaign.

medical news

Gotta ask, finally: Has Trump lost it?

My commitment to avoid offering armchair diagnoses of Donald Trump’s mental condition remains fairly strong … although I am going to acknowledge some kinks in the armor.

A lot of men and women, some with medical degrees, are saying the same voice about Trump: They believe the boy’s mental acuity is on a serious glide path toward the ash heap. I now shall acknowledge the obvious, which is that if enough medical experts detect cognitive decline in the head of state and commander in chief of the strongest military in world history … that’s time to engage in a serious discussion.

The question? Is it time to invoke the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the one that empowers the removal of a president from the awesome power at his disposal? We well might be entering that phase.

Trump is increasingly addled. He is changing policy stances literally every hour, or so it seems. He is angering out political allies. He started a war with Iran and has yet to tell us why he has subjected our young warriors to the prospect of war with a nation of 91 million citizens.

I don’t know if it’s time to invoke the 25th. I am leaving that call to others. A growing number of them are saying, “Hell yes, it’s time!”

I’m getting close to joining that amen chorus.

medical news

Shrill GOP voice has gone quiet … what gives?

One of Congress’s loudest and shrillest voices has gone strangely quiet since about the time Donald Trump took his oath of office in January 2025 … and I’m trying to figure out why the silence.

Rep. Ronnie Jackson, R-Amarillo, made a whole lot of noise during the term that President Biden served in the White House. Jackson, who once served as White House physician, could be heard constantly yammering and bellowing about President Biden’s mental acuity. The former doctor never saw any of Biden’s medical charts, but all but declared himself an expert on determining whether the president’s butter had slipped off its noodle.

Jackson, in my view, made a complete ass of himself during the Biden administration.

Now, though, a Republican (in name only) has moved back into the White House. Trump’s ramblings have become wildly incoherent. The individual cannot string two sentences together that seem connected or make a tangible thought.

I won’t venture a personal guess on whether I believe Trump’s train has left the station. It does puzzle me in the extreme that a politician who once was trained to be a medical doctor can suddenly become discreet when in the recent past he was shooting off his mouth about the conduct of a politician with whom he has profound differences.

I suppose that was at the heart of his constant bellowing about the former president’s mental health.

The current POTUS? He exhibits plenty of grist for the likes of Ronnie Jackson and others to comment. Trump has gone to war with Iran without explaining anything to the public about why he has chosen to make this world demonstrably less safe. He can find money to spend on the war but cannot find the dough to pay for needed domestic programs that feed hungry children and provide health insurance to millions of families.

The incumbent POTUS isn’t behaving like a man who knows what the hell he’s doing. Ol’ Ronnie Jackson, though, is standing with him. Silently, while he leads this nation into oblivion.

medical news

Don’t ‘try’ … just do it!

Forty-six years ago I made a command decision that freed me from the enslavement of a nasty habit and then changed my entire outlook on how I should treat future decisions. It changed my life.

Until Feb. 2, 1980, I smoked two packs of cigarettes each day. I liked smoking. I enjoyed lighting up a smoke and taking deep drags on it. Yes, I knew all about the surgeon general’s warning printed on the side of every pack I opened. I didn’t care. I was a young man and I must have thought I was invincible.

Then on that fateful day, I made a decision that has transformed me into a bona fide militant. I had slight cold and an annoying cough. I lit up a cigarette, took a drag … and damn near choked on it!

In that moment, I snuffed out the butt, crumpled up the pack from which I took it, tossed the pack of smokes into the trash. I never turned back.

My wife had been hassling me about the cough. She told me I should quit. I didn’t heed her wisdom. Until that fateful moment! I realized right then that Kathy Anne was a lot smarter than I am and I surrendered to the belief I should have listened to her long ago.

I was 30 years old at the time. I had been smoking since I was 15. So, for half my life I had been poisoning my lungs with cancer-causing agents.

The life lesson I learned from all this? It was to never postpone any decision that awaited! If I am going to quit a nasty habit, I vowed never to wait until next week, or the end of the day or until I was done doing what I intended to quit doing.

I have scolded many friends in the 46 years since that moment about the wisdom of my decision. I have told them if they’re going to quit smoking that they had to do it right then. Right there. No delay. Just quit. Period … full stop.

Of course, I never anticipated back in 1980 that smoking cigarettes could be such an expensive and nasty habit. I must be the master of impeccable timing.

local news, medical news

Recalling the ‘worst day’

It’s been a minute or two since I last wrote about the emotional journey I have undertaken since the worst day of my life came and went just shy of three years ago.

I believe my most recent post on High Plains Blogger mentioned that my journey was for all intents complete. That I had turned an important emotional corner since Feb. 3, 2023 when my bride, Kathy Anne, drew her final breath.

Indeed, my suffering is far less intense today than it was three years ago. I can smile, laugh at bawdy jokes and carry on as I used to do with my wife of 51 years. I have redefined “good” as it applies to my personal well-being and I am comfortable with saying I am “good” now. That’s an important thing for me.

I am also going to reveal on this blog a bit of news for you, which is that I am in a relationship with a woman who understands the journey I am still traveling. I won’t go into detail about her, other than to say we enjoy each other’s company.

My journey also has put me in touch with fellow brothers in grief. Many of them have lost their wives even more recently than I lost my bride to glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. The question comes from them: I can’t stop crying when I think of her. When will it stop? My answer? It won’t ever stop. Do not try to make it stop, because human emotion can be like a runaway freight train. You can manage it. I know that to be true, because I am able to manage my own emotions.

I had a moment today at lunch with one of my sons. He and I were talking about the upcoming date of commemoration and he recalled having dinner with his Mom and me. During our time together, Kathy Anne announced to my sons, our daughter-in-law, our granddaughter and me that in five years we were going to throw a huge party to salute her being “cancer free.” She was recovering nicely from the brain surgery she had to remove part of the tumor. We weren’t able to have that party, as just a few days later, Kathy Anne suffered a grand mal seizure … from which she didn’t recover.

My son’s recalling that statement from his Mom, however, filled me with sadness. My eyes got wet. I wanted to cry out loud. I held back.

These are the kinds of events that continue to tug at my ticker. But I am able to manage my emotions.

I don’t know what will occur a couple of days from now. I don’t expect the day will overwhelm me. I’ll have to run a couple of errands that will take me away from the house for most of the morning. I’ll drive to Bonham to see the Veterans Administration medics who take good care of me.

Feb. 3 always will be a day I will never forget. Not ever! It comemmorates the worst day I hope to ever experience during my time on this good Earth.

I’ll just add this. Kathy Anne instructed me to be happy if that day ever arrived and like most dutiful husbands I know, I always do what I am told.

medical news

This idiocy takes the cake … seriously!

Donald Trump continues to violate the Law of Idiocy by lowering the standard to never-before-seen levels.

Take his response recently during a two-hour Cabinet meeting about the MRI he received from the White House medical staff. A reporter asked Trump about the exam and its purpose. What were the docs looking for? the reporter wondered.

Trump answered with a lie that defies one’s ability to understand anything. You can’t make this up.

He said he “didn’t know” the reason for the MRI. Many millions of us have gone through an MRI procedure. It involves lying perfectly still on a tube that makes a whole lotta noise. It usually takes about 30 minutes to complete the exam.

You must understand this: There isn’t a medical doctor alive today who doesn’t tell the patient precisely why he or she is being asked to subject themselves to such discomfort. That only can mean that Trump lied about his supposed ignorance about why he received the MRI. Why in the name of medical malpractice would Trump have to lie about that? Never mind. He probably wants to hide whatever medical condition from which he might be suffering. Can’t reveal his humanity … y’know?

Anyhow, he lied about a subject that should become public knowledge. After all, he is the president of the U.S. of A., and that includes millions of us who don’t give a damn about the man personally, but who do care about whether our government is working for us.

And this moron is the nation’s chief executive!

Donald Trump, medical news, military news, national security

Why surround yourself with morons?

It’s a fair question, so I am going to ask it: Why does Donald J. Trump insist on surrounding himself with imbeciles and then put them in charge of vital organizations designed to protect our health and everyone from foreign and domestic enemies?

Two examples stand out. You know who they are, but I’ll spell it out anyway: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth.

RFK Jr., scion of one of the nation’s great political families — and namesake of my first political hero! — continues to astound me with his lack of knowledge of vaccines, of the value in investing in scientific research and his insistence that vaccinations do as much harm as good.

RFK Jr. needs to be shown the door. Rapidly. Without hesitation. Before more people die on his watch as secretary of health and human services. It won’t happen because RFK Jr. embodies the one thing that Trump demands: total loyalty to the notions that fly out of his mouth.

What about Hegseth, the former “Fox and Friends Sunday” co-host whom Trump plucked to become defense secretary? Spoiler alert: I categorically refuse to call him “war secretary” and head of the “war department,” per his and Trump’s name-change effort.

Hegseth summoned every flag officer in uniform to the nation’s capital, where they gathered in a room to listen to Hegseth and Trump talk to them about the need to eliminate “fat generals and admirals,” how women should have to meet the same physical training standards as men and how Trump’s deployment of troops to our nation’s cities should serve as practice for when they go into actual combat.

What is unintentionally hilarious is how Hegseth’s applause lines were greeted with stone-cold silence by the command staff … many of whom have served multiple combat deployments. These men and women are seasoned, highly skilled and effective warriors who need no lecture from a tinhorn soldier such as Hegseth about physical fitness.

And yet … Hegseth continues to disgrace our military — the most lethal and skilled organization of its kind in human history — simply by serving in a capacity for which he has earned zero qualification.

God help us!

medical news

Is Trump in decline?

The headline on top of this blog post demands an immediate answer … I have no clue as to whether Donald J. Trump is suffering any loss of mental acuity.

My reluctance to declare Trump to be off his rocker is more complicated than it seems. Consider the four years when Joe Biden was president of the United States. Critics asserted without a hint of ambiguity that they were certain the 46th president’s butter had slipped off its noodle. Did they have access to medical exams? Had they seen any test results? Were they fluent in body language that often gives away symptoms of mental decline?

No, no and no. Yet they persisted. I resisted the urge to join them. Why? For starters, I am a Joe Biden supporter. Second, I had no access to medical records. Third, I was not qualified to make any assertions about a high-profile politician’s mental fitness.

I am going to apply all those standards to Biden’s immediate successor.

Let me be clear on key point: I am likely to comment on the huge verbal gaffes that appear to be happening with stunning frequency. I cannot in good conscience, though, declare that Donald Trump needs a one-way ticket to the Funny Farm. Still, he does make me scratch my head when he said he ended a war between Azerbaijan and Albania.

Fair is fair. In fairness to the White House incumbent, I’ll let others talk among themselves about whether he belongs in the loony bin. I won’t join them.