25- Free the CDC

Additional furor over the CDC.

This time it’s personal.

The CDC director was asked to step down after refusing to support the administration’s agenda. Newly confirmed Susan Monarez refused. So they fired her for refusing to toe their line of bullshit and refusing to listen to RFK Jr.’s nonsense.

Basically they fired her for choosing public health over politics.

Good for her.

Also good for the wave of resignations that followed of an additional four high level department heads including the head of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious diseases. The others who resigned in protest were the deputy director and the heads of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and the head of the office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology. Like that’s not going to shoot us in the foot. Or, rather, in the public health.

For those who are not aware of what public health is, the definition that the American Public Health Association goes by is that “Public health promotes and protects the health of all people and their communities.” The association goes further to explain that their solutions are science-based, and evidence-backed that strives to give everyone a safe environment to live, work and play in.

For those who are not aware what science-based means broadly that there has been use of “rigorous, systematic, and objective methodologies to obtain reliable and valid knowledge.” This definition is by the American Education Research Association and is used as a framework to members of Congress. As someone who has spent the last three years learning how to do research I can assure it is not “vibes” only.

For those who are not aware what evidence backed means it is another way to phrase evidence-based. This means that the information used to back up the care or the data as been found through credible, reliable science. It is important to understand that there is a hierarchy of evidence that is used to rank research. The strongest is systematic reviews. This is a systematic investigation of the meta- analyses of research. There are nine steps to the pyramid of hierarchy of evidence pyramid with the last, lowest step being expert opinion. There are many hierarchy of evidence lists from the NIH, from the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination’s Level of Evidence, and many other. Not one of the progenitors say “vibes” only.

Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was understandably concerned with this development. He said, “Politicians don’t do science well. It is dangerous to put politics over public health.”

It is my opinion that is also costly to put politics over public health. Not just in lives of the people that will die but also fiscally. It is expensive to care for those who are caught up in the web of deceit that now descends on the agency.

Unless of course you don’t care about scientific inquiry and base your entire secretary-ship on the lies you tell yourself. And other people. That is cold comfort to those who have to bury the dead from the misinformation.

Don’t forget that over 80 people died when RFK Jr’s lies led them not to trust the Mumps, Measles, Rubella vaccination. They decided that he knew what he was talking about and didn’t vaccinate and a cluster soon followed. A deadly choice on their part. This information is in part from Senator Brian Schatz (D, HI) at the circus of confirmation of RFK.

This information is also widely known and you’d think it would be enough to sink his ego.

But that’s not a bad enough vibe for these people.

Tuesday Top of Mind 8/19/25- RIP United States Women’s Research, 1990-2025

RIP to women’s research, 1990-2025.

Although you were only active for a handful of years, compared to all the research that has been done on men (cough, cough, erectile dysfunction), you will be missed.

I realize that it wasn’t until the early 2020s that period products such as tampons and pads were even tested using human blood, but you taught us so much.

I realize that it was until 2013 that the first woman crash test dummy was made and used in crash tests, but for a brief moment the world realized that women are not just small men.

Some other things you’ve given the people with the female parts were life changing and life saving. I am writing about the BRCA and BRCA1 gene research that showed that some breast cancers are linked to uterine and ovarian cancers. This was in 1998. This led to identifying possible antibody treatments for those cancers.

I put 1990 as your birthday because that is when it became law that women and minorities are to be included in all clinical research. Before that, the NIH guidelines for inclusion of women were not included in research, although the policy had been changed in 1989. The inclusion of women and minorities in research allows the analysis of if the variables being studied affect women and minorities in a different way than other (male) participants. Programs were initiated to recruit and retain women for clinical trials.

I further realize that in 2001 the Institute of Medicine published “Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health: Does Sex Matter”. In this paper, the researchers examined biology from the cellular level up and concluded that the different hormones of the different genders DID impact medication response. We, as women, knew that of course there was a difference but the pharmacology companies didn’t even bother to research that until the late 1990s.

Say it with me, women are not just small men.

I realize that women are mysterious and “icky” to those in power. And worth only the output of our uterus. Why should they bother to test medications and tests and everything else with the lens that female and male are not the same? You taught them differently.

I put 2025 as your ending date because, well, we all know what is happening on the U.S. Federal level. With their pushback of all things gender and race that are not white and male.

Why? Hell if I know. Female are icky.

But research into gender disparities and racial disparities have been under attack since January 20, 2025. We all know what happened that day.

Since January, according to an article in the Atlantic, hundreds of research studies into health disparities and transgender health had their granted grant money yanked away from them. The agency officials who supported these research studies have suddenly lost their jobs.

With the new NIH Director the phrase of the day, the phrase that will guide research is “scientifically justified”.

What the hell does that mean?

Again, hell if I know. But I think it means whatever the hell will allow them to change focus on research. No longer will females and racial issue apply to their new male centered, white centered research focus.

Because after all, men are the most important gender/sex there is. Except if it was assigned female at birth. And white men are the most extra special of all.

With a cherry on top! And topless women to bathe them.

eye roll

RIP to the U.S. research focus on women’s body and racial disparities.

We hardly knew you.

May the future be bright. May the other half of this country wake up from the spell it is under and realize that this is stupid.

May other countries fly your flag proudly.

If you need me, I’m going to be listening to the No Cure For Cancer comedy album by Dr. Denis Leary.

And considering if this new hellscape of research has room for me. I know, probably not because I am a female and I have ideas.

Medical non-fiction book review 8/17/25- Beyond Limits: Stories of Third Trimester Abortion Care

Beyond Limits: Stories of Third Trimester Abortion Care by Shelley Sella, MD. Published 2025.

Do I have any idea how this book got on my radar? Nope, none.

But I am not surprised I had it to read. I believe I was perusing the new and notable section of the library. You know, the section where they put all the recently returned and the new and shiny books? Yeah, there.

I am very interested in feminine medical care, especially in these fraught times. Especially when females are under attack by those who should care for us in the governments. Yes, plural. State governments are as complicit as the federal.

But this cannot have escaped Dispatch readers’ attention. Nor the side I am on.

The woman’s.

Always.

This was a quick read. That is not saying it was an easy read. It was definitely not an easy read.

However, I believe it to be an important one.

In these stories, families cared for regardless of their feeling on abortion. That is, until they need one.

In this book, the author is careful to tell all the stories but focuses on the maternal indication, meaning that to be denied an abortion would have substantial negative effects on their life, or the fetal indication, meaning that there is something deathly wrong with the baby. One woman is anti-abortion until she needs one. Another is anti-abortion but understands that this is in the child’s best interest. Unsurprisingly, the second family have the support of their pastor and that of their community.

Dr. Sella points out when the mother has religious beliefs that conflict with abortion, pain, distress, and anxiety are heightened. And she takes steps to lessen all of these. She gives each couple a book about others who have to make the decision of peace for their baby, wanted as they are, loved as they are. It is “A Time to Decide, a Time to Heal: For Parents Making Difficult Decisions about the Babies They Love”. This book is written by Molly A, Minnick, MSW, Kathleen J. Delp, ACSW, and Mary C. Ciotti, MD.

For me this is take away from the entire book. Yes, the baby is dying, but not because of anything the mother did, and not because they aren’t loved and it sucks but the parents will get through this and by undergoing a late 2nd and 3rd trimester abortion, they are giving babies peace and not a life of struggle and pain and death. Or the mother faces certain hardships or death to carry the baby to term.

This doctor and clinic take steps to decrease the mother’s anxiety, with lowered lights, soothing music, and medication as needed to keep the patient less anxious and to decrease the pain. A counselor is also present. This is about supporting the mother who has chosen a better end for their wanted baby. Every person is there for support of the mother.

This book is part history lesson about the abortion care in the U.S. From the 1970s, all the way through the current Dobbs decision. Dr. Sella takes us along on her personal journey and history. Interspersed with the real time four days it takes to complete a third trimester abortion. These chapters focus on four mothers who are at the clinic in search of care.

The author was adamant that she not go to medical school, that she could provide care and counseling away from the bedside. But the doctors were still in charge and she realized that she wanted to support at bedside and give her patients back the power.

She gives the patients scripts to use when talking about why they are no longer pregnant. “The baby was sick and we went for testing. The baby didn’t make it. It’s hard for me to talk about right now.

What struck me as especially compassionate was the discussion she led with the families of what would happen after the now still birthed baby. All of it to make sure the families were as supported as they wanted.

Pictures, both medical of anomalies and commemorative are taken after the stillbirth. These pictures are always taken and kept in the chart, even if the woman says they aren’t wanted. That way they can give them to the family if they change their mind.

Taking pictures of a deceased infant has come a long way in the 25 years I’ve been a nurse. Now there can be photo shoots, and keeping the body in the room on a cold cot for as long as necessary. I have had many conversations with women, patients and friends alike, who have told me they would have like a picture. Or a remembrance of some kind so that others know that this baby was here, and was loved, and died. Because they haven’t forgotten.

Footprints and handprints can be taken. She counsels the families that if the pregnancy is ended closer to term, there will be a birth certificate and a death certificate. The mothers will have the option to view the baby the next day, after they’ve rested and recovered a little. But there is no pressure to do so. Of the four mothers the book is about, only one does so.

In the beginning and through the process, she counsels the families in a group, so that they have support and can feel comfortable sharing their stories.

She leads them through the expected question of will the baby feel any pain. She explains that is why the heart is stopped, through medication, before the delivery can take place. If there is no heartbeat, there can be no pain. Fetal pain is a subject that I have heard a lot about, probably because of the anti-abortion insistence that there is pain for a fetus during an abortion. There is no studies backing that up.

Through the entire book, the author is open to ongoing changes in American law and what these challenges mean to abortion care. And the unceasing anti-abortion backlash, up to an including the release of her personal home address leading to protests in her neighborhood.

Up to and including the murder of her mentor at the hands of an anti-abortion zealot. Inside of his personal church, where he was an usher. What these zealots fail to comprehend is that these are human beings they are calling murderers, and pigs, and more, This is a human being that they killed to satisfy their hate. As if by killing the head of the serpent they would kill the clinic and the need for this level of abortion care.

I think the best way to end was with what one of the fathers said when it was over and they were preparing to leave “Quite frankly, my religion has let me down.”

There are reasons listed in the book as to why these four women are seeking third trimester abortion care. Their babies are ill or the procedure is done to support the mother or the procedure is done to protect the life of the mother and she can now undergo additional cancer care. Dr. Sella ends each procedure four day period with a final meeting with the families.

There are several reasons to have a third trimester abortion. Some are fetal abnormalities incompatible with life. Some are maternal cancers or heart problems. Some are dealt blows by life such as rape or abuse. The reasons are the woman’s alone.

I am a firm believer that personal stories can change mountains and make the explaining of third term abortion need impactful. The personal stories and names, changed though I am sure they are, humanize the patients and give voice to the circumstances that led them to make the decisions they do.

This was one of the best medical non-fiction books that I’ve read. I will be recommending it to all the OB and Labor and Delivery nurses I know.

Tuesday Top of Mind 8/12/2025- Vaccine lies lead to deadly shooting at the CDC

The original title of this post was Panic at the CDC, with a subtitle of no, this ain’t no disco.

Then I thought better. Time to call the vaccine lies what they are, lies. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary the definition of a lie is to “make an untrue statement with the intent to deceive”.

We need to start naming the lies.

None of this namby-pamby “mistruths”, “states without evidence”, “mislead”, “false”, and “fabrications”. All of those words mean the same thing. That someone is not being honest with you *cough, cough, RFK Jr., Fox News* for their own benefit.

Use the word lie(s). Tell it like it is.

It is a good rule of thumb to interrogate your feelings about what you are being told. And also consider the motive behind the one telling you these “truths”. Is it to make you mad? Is it to make you do something that you would not normally do? Such as shoot up the very place that works, and has worked since 1946, to keep the public safe.

This is about a man who was poisoned by the media he was ingesting, not the vaccine that he receive. He thought, probably because that is what he was told, that the vaccine was making him depressed and suicidal.

So, emboldened by the lies that were being told to him at the highest levels and the news, the shooter gathered up his guns and went to kill the very thing he blamed for how his life had gone off the rails.

Never mind that the CDC had been actively working to keep him alive and in good health.

No.

He went to the CDC campus in Atlanta, Georgia and fired 180 rounds into the buildings. He broke 150 windows by firing indiscriminately at four buildings. He was not on the CDC campus, instead firing from the second floor of a CVS across the street.

He also killed a first responder, a Dekalb police officer by the name of David Rose. This was a man who will be missed by his wife and children. He was shot responding to the shooting.

This is an ongoing story and investigation. However, it is also a moment of reflection.

I certainly hope those who are spewing anti-vaccine lies and rhetoric do not sleep easy knowing that their reckless lies and breathless new reports caused this.

According to the CDC website, and the various vaccine makers such as Pfizer and Moderna, depression and suicidal ideation is not a side effect of the vaccines.

And no, I will not be naming the coward who thought it was a good idea to listen to the lies and act upon them. That is readily available.

As always when you are confronted with a news report, Facebook post, text from a friend, consider who your anger benefits.

For fuck’s sake, stop calling it misinformation and use the word lie!

FFS Friday 8/8/25- Forced Removal is Fairness Denied

I have thought about this all day. I have thought about how to approach writing about it. I have thought about all the the F words I wanted to use. I have felt compassion for these individuals impacted. I have felt rage at those who deny those who have bled for this country and served it honorably.

I am referring to the announcement that the Air Force is early denying retirement to all of its transgender members who have between 15 and 18 years of military service. They are being forced out with no retirement benefits. According to a Guardian article even those who were approved for temporary early retirement has had the rug pulled out from under them.

And then I remembered that cruelty is the point with this bastards.

No matter that the enlisted swore to uphold the Constitution, and would obey the President and the officers above them. All they wanted to do was continue to serve their country.
No matter that the oath of office for officers (yes they are different) is that they will support and defend the Constitution, while bearing allegiance to the country.

No, these individuals served as trans members of the military, proudly, for YEARS. And then an ill wind appeared and blew it all to hell. Because the ill wind is a petty little bitch and must destroy what they don’t understand.

To recap, trans members of the Air Force who have served the country and upheld their oaths, enlisted and officer alike, have bled in service of the country, have died for their country, have continued to serve under those who do not understand, who have done their best for the Constitution and their country were targeted for attack under the current administration. Some held strong to get to their 20. Others opted to take early retirement, unable to bear the strain of the unrighteous attacks from those who should be supporting them.

To me, they were forced out. In fact they were told to leave, that they were an abomination.

All they wanted to do was serve.

In 1993, 18 year old me, newly graduated, newly moved across the country to Nebraska, newly a college student, newly dressed in uniform, stood proudly on the wool rug in my detachment’s captain’s office, raised my right hand, and swore the oath of office. I was determined to be a career officer, to study hard, to be the best nurse I could be, to protect and care for servicemen in my care. I was excited to be among other cadets as we all learned what it meant to be an officer and how to support the Constitution to the best of our abilities and with our lives if needed.

This was not to be as I suffered an Air Force career injury due to some ripped up dorm stairs the next year and I was invited to leave as I could no longer fulfill my part of the oral contract. I was weeks away from bootcamp.

What they are doing now is barbaric and is spitting on the graves of all who willingly served before.

Forced removal is fairness denied. No matter that they took the enlisted oath or the oath of office. No matter that they were under attack by those who should have cared for them. No matter that as they had the country’s back in war times, the country decided they were nothing and flicked them off like a cigarette butt when you are done smoking it.

Are you paying attention yet?

I fear that next target will be the women of child bearing age so that they can go home and have babies.

FFS Friday 8/1/25-F-in Cowards #4

Oh, my god, they pulled up the corpse of Elmo and shot him again.

Shield your eyes, children.

And just like that the path in childhood has been closed to CHILDREN. No more education programs that are not ads for toys or ads for movies or just plain ads.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced today that it has begun shut down procedures. People are being laid off, with the corporation shuttering in January 2026.

The CPB was authorized by Congress in the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act to ensure that everyone, and I mean everyone, has access to non-commercial, high-quality content and telecommunications. They used 70% of their own funding to support more than 1500 locally owned radio and television stations.

This means that the shows and the broadcasts are not trying to sell you anything.

Unlike the rest of the world.

Every minute of every day.

But, alas, this is no more because congress yanked its funding in order to give money to millionaires and billionaires in the form of tax credits.

“But, but you will get a tax credit too!”

pffft, I’ll believe it when I see it.

We certainly did not receive any money during the pandemic and those 2017 “tax cuts”? Our taxes went up. By a lot. Many thousands of dollars a lot.

No, I don’t believe you when you tell me that it was worth it.

Fucking cowards.

Mr. Rogers is very disappointed in you.

I believe Horatio in Hamlet said it best “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince/and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Or maybe Inigo Montoya when he is advancing on Count Rugen, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoyo, you killed my father, prepare to die.” Count Rugen pleads for his life in the final duel, offering Inigo all that he wants, money, power jewels anything Inigo wants.

And Inigo, stabbed, bleeding, facing down the man who murdered his father twenty years before, tells him “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.”

Let me tell you, we are all Inigo.

We want our PBS and NPR.

Again, Mr. Rogers is very disappointed in all who voted for this.

FFS 7/18/25- F’in Cowards #3

Oh, my God, they killed Elmo.

Say it along with me and Kyle “You Bastards!”

Or they are doing their damnedest too. Kill Elmo that is.

This is, of course, a riff on the long standing killing of Kenny on South Park. This is a not quite children’s show on Comedy Central.

It isn’t just Elmo. It is also Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me. It is also Fresh Air with Terry Gross. It is also Sesame Street, writ large. It is also Masterpiece Theater. It is also PBS Newshour. It is also Antiques Roadshow. It is also Ken Burns’ myriad historically important history programs. It is also Morning Edition. It is also may podcasts that go beyond the story. Hey, that is a good point, it was also Paul Harvey.

This is when the big bad budget that was passed in March, with Chuck Schumer’s reluctant support, was deemed by some people to be too “woke” and so their leader decided that there needed to be a claw-back to money that has already been approved for things like NPR, PBS, and foreign aid.

As always, the more poor people are punished for being poor by the richest congress that lobby money can buy, the better for the richest congress that lobby money can buy.

For why?

Because we as a society don’t deserve nice things, apparently.

After all, if children watch PBS and see everyone being kind to the Muppets or learn something, they will be tainted. And infected with the so called “woke mind” virus.

Many people who voted for this stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid (did I write stupid yet?) bills in the last two weeks have come out to their outraged constituents as being unhappy with the bill. Cough, cough, Josh Hawley, Lisa Murkowski. Look at you trying desperately to save your jobs from your rightly outraged constituents.

Um, if the congressperson or senator doesn’t like a bill, there is a REALLY simple and EASY solution. Don’t vote for the fucking thing!!!!!!!!!!!

Grow a back bone or develop a set of balls or ovaries and stand up for your constituents! Stop listening to the minority who have the megaphone at the moment and start listening to the everyday Americans who have been calling your offices and standing up to you at town halls.

Stand up for the people who sent you there!

Stand up for your children and your grandchildren, for the god you profess to believe in’s sake!

Stand up to the wannabe tyrant at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

For fuck’s sake, the Founding Fathers would be so disappointed in your lack of care for those you wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire.

Fucking cowards, the whole lot of you!

FFS Friday 7/4/2025- freedom*

Today is the 4th of July and our nation’s independence day.

The asterisk? Well, let’s talk about it.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the asterisk is used as an indication of the omission of letters or words.

Independence through resolution in three parts: separation from the British Crown, a call to form foreign alliances, and a plan for confederation. Seems simple enough.

This means that we were separating from England and all that entailed, looking for friends that were not England, and grouping together. This grouping of people is also known as a confederacy.

No, not that one. The original one.

At the time the new country was a group of people who wanted to leave British rule and strike out on their own. With their own laws and their own ways of doing things. Where no king could wave his fat white hand and make nonsense rules for everyone.

Sound familiar? America just had a multi-million people nationwide protest on June 7, 2025 about it.

At the time to be a voting member of this new society you had to be a land owner, white, and male.

And that was it.

Women need not apply.

Slaves that were forcibly brought here from Africa and sold to these men need not apply.

Men who did not own property need not apply.

In the nearly two hundred and seventy five year history, these marginalized groups have fought and bled and died to be seen as a citizen. As a voter.

Strides were made. And the rich white men were not happy about it.

White men who were not property owners were granted the right to vote in 1787.

Slaves earned their ability not to be owned by another human with the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

Black men earned the right to vote in 1870.

Women earned the right to vote in 1920.

Poll taxes that were just racism by another name were abolished in 1964. As was segregation.

America has a checkered past and those of us who were not thought of or dismissed as not a person in the original documents has fought for every single step along the way.

And those who don’t think women are people or black people are people or native Americans are people have fought tooth and nail to maintain their grip on control.

Inch by inch, legislation by legislation, the rights that were bled for and wept over and fought for are being taken away by rich old white men who remember the “good old days”. When non white people were property of the whites and women were kept under their husband’s thumb.

That is the meaning of the asterisk in today’s post title.

Freedom for old rich white male property owners.

Crickets for everyone else.

Tuesday Top of Mind 7/1/25- Congratulations, senate! You have invented a new kind of stupid!

The song Congratulations from Hamilton begins with Angelica yelling at Alexander “Congratulations, you have invented a new kind of stupid. A damage that you can never undo kind of stupid.”

I was on tenterhooks all weekend. Waiting out the inevitable.

So this terrible bill has been top of mind all weekend. Which is exhausting.

You know, when exactly 50 of our senators bent over and took it. And said “Thank you, daddy, might I have another.”

A gross analogy but these are gross times.

This is when fifty of our senators did the unthinkable and consigned their constituents to the wolves.

Yes, some of them held their noses and voted.

Yes, three senators crossed the aisle and voted against the big ugly bill. Albeit for different reasons.

Rand Paul of Kentucky opposed the bill because it will add TRILLIONS to the deficit. And that was just a bridge too far. Not because of all the women and children and disabled people who will be tossed off the Medicaid roles. No. Because of money.

Thom Tillis of North Carolina (troll that he is) found at least one of his balls and voted against the bill. Because he knows what we all know, that many North Carolinians are in danger because of this passage.

Susan Collins of Maine also knows what we all know, that many of her Maine constituents will be in danger after the Medicaid cuts go fully into effect in 2026.

They are counting on us to forget this travesty.

You know who won’t forget they sold us down the river? Alaskans.

Lisa Murkowski played a will she or won’t she game all weekend. But in the end she voted for it after she secured some carve outs for Alaskans. The carve outs were then rebuked and removed by the Parliamentarian. So she got little for her trouble.

This ugly monstrosity of a bill now goes back the House of Representatives.

Man those phones and call your representative now.

Call them tomorrow.

Call them the day after.

Get your parents to call. Get your siblings to call.

CALL them incessantly.

Mail them congratulations cards.

Congratulations on being cowards.

Remind them that they serve at our pleasure. Well, in North Carolina, they serve at the pleasure of the gerrymandered districts and the lopsided government that the state legislature willed into being. But that is a post for another day.

There will be more coming but I have to end with f’in cowards, the lot of them.

Post-script- I heard back from the other North Carolina senator. Did I call him a coward in my email message? You bet I did.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war

The title is a direct Shakespearian quote. It is a line spoken by Marc Antony in the play Julius Caesar. It is chaotic times like these that make me turn philosophical and remember that we’ve all been here before. Many, many, many times. In a call back to the June 13’s dispatch about too numerous to count. I was referring to cultures at the time but pretend war also fits.

There is a moment in Hannah Gadsby’s 2020 comic special “Douglas” when they are explaining that we don’t hold men accountable for their hormonal actions, instead society holds women accountable.

The audience claps and cheers that sentiment and they snap to the audience “It’s bait, you fucking idiots. It’s bait, leave it.”

This part of the bit is particularly genius.

It is at once acknowledging that society does women dirty by making us shoulder the entire weight of the world while at the same time cooing at the men and praising them for the fucking bare minimum. It is telling women that there is nothing wrong with how things are and if the women feel like there absolutely is, gaslighting women into toeing the line.

In the comedy special they go on “It’s not for you. Fuck. It’s not a rally.” To me this brings to mind all the political rallies that a certain president was giving, trying desperately to hold on to the job that he very much did not want, but enjoyed the special treatments that he got because of this. Also this was released in 2020, bringing that chaotic time specifically to mind.

This time with the same president is also chaotic as fuck. On purpose. Again.

The truest thing they said during the special is that “Confidence makes (Americans) stupid”.

And it truly does.

Individually we are not stupid, but collectively some of us are. Some of us know that the bombing of “nuclear” sites in Iran was bait. And some of us hang on every word that the president utters.

Why is it bait?

Well there were the dramatic “No Kings” protests on June 14th. Millions of Americans (I have heard estimates from 4 million to over 10 million) took to the streets to declare that America is not a place for Kings. No matter how the president wants to be made a king.

Making spurious and curious bombing decisions. A tanking economy that had been the envy of the world less than 6 months ago. A federal bank that won’t cut interest rates. Thousands of research projects that had the potential to save lives and relieve suffering wiped out by disastrous policies. Leaning in to the echo chamber about vaccines, regardless of them being wrong. A beyond catastrophic bill in the Senate that the House of Representatives passed only because 2 Democratic reps had died in the month before and were not yet replaced. Not to mention the tanking, and I mean tanking, approval ratings.

That same day there was a fairly disastrous military parade through the streets of the nation’s capital. Low turnout, sloppy marching, miserably huddled guest of honor.

He had to distract from last weekend somehow.

And what is the best distraction?

Millions of Americans being forthright about hating you.

What’s a president have to do to get the heat off? Bomb a sovereign county that your own intelligence head said had no nuclear bombs or capabilities.

Which is what the asshole did.

Remember this is how the then president got us into the Iraq War II. Lying about weapons of mass destruction? Where trillions of dollars were spent and thousands of American lives were lost? It feels very much like that. We were lied to then too.

Because we do.

The American public has been very outspoken about not wanting war.

We are very tired of war.

But you had to do something to change the narrative.

Too bad it was getting you out of the boiling pot and putting the rest of us in the fire.

See also Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. I’ve written about this before. It is a poem about the atrocities of World War I and the agonies of the front line.