The Race By a Corrupt Selfish Power To Evade The Inevitable

Social media was abuzz yesterday about a report from the STAT website about a special approval on an experimental drug that went to a secret recipient (via Lizzy Lawrence):

Millions of Americans with obesity are eagerly awaiting a powerful new drug from Eli Lilly called retatrutide, which has demonstrated bariatric-surgery levels of weight loss. Some aren’t even waiting for approval from the Food and Drug Administration, instead racing to acquire it through sketchy means.

But STAT has learned that Eli Lilly and the FDA have allowed one person to gain access to the drug through the FDA’s “compassionate use” program, a pathway that gives patients with serious and immediately life-threatening medical issues access to experimental treatments. 

That means they exempted the rules for someone facing near-death urgency.

This person was a 79-year-old man at the time the request was made in April, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Those sources, who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals, said it drew the interest of top health officials, suggesting the person receiving this drug was well connected.

Just those two facts - the age of the person and the fear of reprisals - points to the likelihood trump was that person (he was 79 back in April and he will send his lackeys on a rampage if anyone leaks his real health status).

The speculation that trump is dying right here and now has been ongoing since his return to power back in 2025. The past few months of him being near-collapse - falling asleep, showing more signs of dementia, the recurrent doctors' visits - have fueled the rumors.

Rather than force trump into retirement, rather than trigger the 25th Amendment clause to put trump on hiatus for three weeks until there's evidence he's healthier, rather than confront the reality of his mortality... his handlers are pumping trump full of every drug they can find to keep him upright until there's nothing left to do but call the morgue.

trump himself is deliriously hanging on to power: railing about conspiracies over the algae-infested Reflection Pool he blames on everyone else, saber-rattling (again) over seizing Greenland or Cuba (or Gods help us both, again), threatening to blow up Iran (again). he's eager to turn the upcoming 4th of July celebrations - meant to honor the 250th year of the Declaration of Independence and our nation's official birth - into his own trump rally; during which he could go off the rails on a rant towards the entire world, or worse collapse altogether.

These are dark days, and the corrupt powers in high places are racing to finish their works before their king trump can't cover for them anymore.

The Meaning of the Mask

It hurts to see my state of Florida bring out its godforsaken high-level crazy-ass madness on the global stage, but here it was in all its infamy this week:

It's like they were being forced at gunpoint to eat their veggies and brush their teeth at night.

It's been one of the worst reactionary movements I've ever seen in my life outside of "All White Lives Matter" from its maddening tone-deafness, willful rejection of science, and desire of each of those screaming anti-mask arguers to show off their prideful selves.

The one consistent argument - aside from the conspiracy whacko stuff like 5G transmission (?!) - is how the masks will hurt them by cutting off the amount of oxygen we need. The "I Can't Breathe" excuse, which is so tone-deaf as to be crass intentionally. It's also wrong, with report after study after proven demonstration shows us.

So why are these wingnuts absolutely fucking freaking out over the wearing of something that really doesn't harm them and only costs about 6.99 to buy (cloth masks available in menswear stores NOW) or 15.99 to buy as a 50-pack off Amazon?

Masks are symbolic. They have cultural value. And in this case, in this Age of Coronavirus, the mask represents health care.

But here's the thing:

The mask is not about YOUR own health and well-being. The mask represents the health and well-being of EVERYONE ELSE AROUND YOU.

The mask does not stop you from contracting the virus. The mask reduces the odds of you spreading the virus to everyone else.

The mask is a symbol of you looking out for others, that you are a caring and thinking person, willing to do your part for the community - family, friends, neighbors, even your enemies - health.

What does it say for those who reject wearing the mask? What does it tell us when these self-absorbed people go out in public proudly displaying their faces? What level of Pride is driving these people to expose not themselves but everyone else to the risks of COVID?

It's not so much that each of these screaming, mocking people are increasing the odds they get exposed to a lethal virus.

It's that each of these screaming, mocking people are willing to get the rest of us sick. They don't care for us, they don't WANT to care for us. It would disrupt their self-perceptions of superiority.

Which symbolizes exactly how dangerous their self-centered, holier-than-thou, egomaniacal rage-driven world-view is.

Gods help us, because the people who refuse to wear the masks clearly don't give enough fucks to help us.

Their selfishness is getting everyone else killed.

When The GOP Narrative Means More Than Our Lives, Florida 2020 Edition

Shit just got real in Florida, via Lawrence Mower at Tampa Bay Times:

Floridians will be keeping their distance and wearing face masks for up to a year until a COVID-19 vaccine exists, Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said Monday before being whisked away by the governor’s spokeswoman.

Rivkees told reporters that Floridians needed to get used to current precautions, such as avoiding crowds of 10 or more and wearing face masks in public.

“Until we get a vaccine, which is a while off, this is going to be our new normal and we need to adapt and protect ourselves,” he said.

And then Gov. DeSantis had the top health care official in the state kicked out of the room.

What.

The.

Fuck.

All because Rivkees was speaking to the reality that we're unable to safely co-mingle until there's a cure? It's the truth: This coronavirus is highly effective at spreading, and reducing the risks is our only means to combat it right now.

Our governor kicked out his key player because said player wasn't on message?

DeSantis is already in a lot of trouble for showing clear ignorance of COVID-19 and his refusals to issue stronger protections for the public - he foolishly kept the beaches opened during Spring Break season even as the theme parks voluntarily shut themselves down - as well as making too-early noises about reopening the schools so that businesses can get back to making money by the start of May.

But DeSantis can't be bothered. Like other Republican leaders - Governors like South Dakota's Kristi Noem, Nebraska's Pete Ricketts, Arkansas' Asa Hutchinson - they don't want to deal with the serious ramifications of what spreading the coronavirus will do to their own states' citizenry.

The lack of empathy stems from the ALMIGHTY REPUBLICAN NARRATIVE that government is "the problem" never a "solution," and that businesses take priority over everyone's health and well-being.

In the process, they're letting their own voting constituents fall prey to a disease that's currently best fought by giving it no targets to hit (US).

Because somehow, some way, these Republican leaders know they'll be let off the hook come election day. That enough of their own base will forgive as long as they're convinced "the libruls" and "the Dread Other" took it worse.

Either that or they'll try cheating some more.

Even though the latest results from the Wisconsin primary and local judicial elections proved that gameplan has a few flaws (i.e., pissed off voters who overwhelming went with the Democratic candidates).

Of course, the Republicans tend to respond to these setbacks with more cheating, more denial, more suffering for others.

Gods help us if the GOP keeps playing this as a game with everyone else as their expendable pawns.

Personal Status Report: Digging Into the Membrane

Well. This has been something on my mind for some time.

Literally.

I went to see about clearing out my sinuses back in June, and when I got a CAT Scan they found a lump in the middle of my brain.

Further MRI and exams point to a tumor on my Pituitary gland, which shockingly enough affects about one in five people. Most people live their lives not even aware of it. I hadn't, didn't have any of the obvious signs for it - severe sufferers will have frontal headaches behind the eyes - and in some respects didn't even think to look for it. My blood tests over the years didn't show much deviance in the hormones managed by the gland, although I've been a chronic depressive for years I dunno if this tumor caused all of that.

The thing is, the tumor pushes upward from the spot in the skull where the gland rests, which just happens to be right below the point where the optic nerves criss-cross. So that as the tumor grows, eventually it will push apart or even engulf those nerves, causing vision loss. I already have loss of outer edge (peripheral) vision based on the eye exams they gave me two months ago.

So the neurosurgeon and ophthalmologist are both saying I need the surgery.

No idea yet how much it's going to cost. All I know right now about the surgery is that they gotta go through the nose, scrape out the tumor (they know where not to scoop the Pituitary, here's hoping), and patch up the hole in my head so I don't leak out spinal fluids. It involves a stay in the hospital for at least two days, have to be off work for at least a week maybe two...

The horrifying thing is, of course, they'll be digging in my brain. As someone who prides himself on above-average intelligence, I dread what effects this will have on mah head, brah.

The risks are minimal, but my parents are telling me I'm way overdue for a Will just in case things don't go well.

I'll keep blogging until the day of surgery. We'll see how it goes from there.

Good luck and IO SATURNALIA, everybody.