Fridays with Nicole Sandler

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  2. P J Evans says:

    Thune had a presser where he spent the time blaming the Dems for the shutdown and everything else in the last 9 months.
    And The Felon Guy wants a #$%^&*()!!! triumphal arch across the river from the Lincoln Memorial. Apparently he wants in the circle at the west end of the Arlington bridge.

    Reply
    • posaune says:

      It’s the traffic circle to get onto Route 110 — full of exhaust fumes and fog rolling down from the Lee Mansion. It can be a visibly difficult turn onto the 110 entrance.

      Reply
    • bloopie2 says:

      A triumphal arch? I am reading arguments these days that Trump is descending into madness, that his brain is going. The writers cite speeches, tweets, actions; they say that eventually the people will rebel, will push him aside. Maybe so. But history is replete with “crazies” who took and held power. Look up “mad kings” on Wikipedia and you’ll see a list of dozens — including Ludwig II of Bavaria (the castle guy) !

      Reply
      • Rayne says:

        “…Trump is descending into madness, that his brain is going.”

        He is. We’ve already been told he has a circulatory problem — chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) — but the public hasn’t been told bluntly this is only a symptom, not the underlying problem which is likely cardiovascular disease and possible comorbidities. The pooling of blood in his lower extremities means less oygenated blood is getting pumped to his brain, and we’re seeing the results.

        Reply
        • P J Evans says:

          I wonder how good he is at taking his meds, and whether his doctors are paying attention to what’s going on.

        • Rayne says:

          I think it’s less that he’s good or bad at taking his meds as much as the limits of medicine when it comes to the inevitability of entropy. He’s likely been on all of antithrombotic meds, antihypertensive drugs, diuretics, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, RAAS meds like ACE inhibitors, and lipid-modifying drug like statins given how long he’s had symptoms.

          CVI is a significant indicator of all-cause mortality inside 10 years; he’s had CVI for some time, it didn’t just pop up this year. And yet nothing but the mad chirping of crickets from the news media.

          ADDER: if he’s like my mom, he bitches about any change in how he feels after starting a new medication, making it more difficult for anyone helping him stay on meds to do so. As his dementia worsens, he can’t be left on his own to take his meds because he won’t remember what to take and when and if he’s already taken them.

        • P J Evans says:

          Statins can do a lot, especially with ezetimibe, but yeah, they can’t reverse much past damage if you don’t change habits. (Statin, blood pressure meds, SSRI, metformin. I’m in better shape than The Felon Guy, thanks in part to being active up until about five years ago, when my back decided to limit standing time, but still – I don’t expect to live to 85.)

    • RipNoLonger says:

      I think a tomb buried 10 feet under the Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant would be fitting. People gotta piss anyway. His acolytes will be given special passes to visit their king/god.

      Reply
  4. harpie says:

    Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials
    “Disease detectives,” high-ranking scientists, the entire Washington office and the staff of a weekly public health journal were among those who learned late Friday that they would lose their jobs.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/us/politics/trump-administration-cdc-layoffs.html
    Sheryl Gay Stolberg Oct. 11, 2025, 12:34 a.m. ET

    Click here for GIFT link:
    https://bsky.app/profile/lizardofoz316.bsky.social/post/3m2vgwpk25227
    October 11, 2025 at 1:22 AM

    Reply
    • harpie says:

      […] Layoff notices landed in the email inboxes of C.D.C. employees shortly before 9 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, notifying employees that their duties had been deemed unnecessary or “virtually identical” to those being performed elsewhere in the agency. Scientists, including leaders, in offices addressing respiratory diseases, chronic diseases, injury prevention and global health were among those affected.

      The staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the journal that reports on health trends and emerging infectious threats, was also laid off. The publication’s storied history includes a June 1981 report that five previously healthy gay men were treated for an unusual pneumonia — the first hint of the AIDS epidemic. […]

      Reply
    • harpie says:

      Notice to Current Federal Employees Facing Dismissal
      https://steadystate1.substack.com/p/notice-to-current-federal-employees
      The Steady State | October 11, 2025
      [330+ Veterans of the U.S. National Security Community. Promoting rule of law, democracy, and a positive role for the U.S. in the world.]

      […] Your Rights and the Role of the Courts
      If you are terminated under such circumstances, you may have legal claims under the Constitution, the Civil Service Reform Act, and statutes that protect federal employees from discrimination or retaliation for political views or protected speech. Litigation can be the mechanism to enforce those rights—but it depends, in part, on preserving the evidence now. […]

      Reply
      • harpie says:

        TRUMP et al FIRED them IN ERROR:

        Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error Friday’s layoffs swept up scientists involved in responding to disease outbreaks and running an influential journal. Officials said the mistaken dismissals were being rescinded. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/health/cdc-layoffs-measles.html Apoorva Mandavilli and Sheryl Gay Stolberg Oct. 11, 2025

        Click here for GIFT link:
        https://bsky.app/profile/apoorvanyt.bsky.social/post/3m2xg6jzmbc2h
        October 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM

        […] Among those wrongly dismissed were the top two leaders of the federal measles response team, those working to contain Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, and the team that assembles the C.D.C.’s vaunted scientific journal, The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. […]

        Reply
        • Rayne says:

          I know they’re calling this an error, but I think this was deliberate as hell and it’s meant to terrorize CDC employees as well as any other federal employees who have thought their jobs were critically important.

          I can’t help think of Stafford Beer’s aphorism on a daily basis after reading about one more bullshit move by Team Trump: A system’s purpose is what it does. If this administration is regularly terrorizing federal employees, that’s what it is.

  5. harpie says:

    Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders Dozens of sitting judges shared with The Times their concerns about risks to the courts’ legitimacy as the Supreme Court releases opaque orders about Trump administration policies. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/us/politics/judicial-crisis-supreme-court-trump.html Mattathias Schwartz and Zach Montague
    Oct. 11, 2025 Updated 11:04 a.m. ET

    Click here for GIFT Link:
    https://bsky.app/profile/cherylrofer.bsky.social/post/3m2wf3p3y2k2k
    October 11, 2025 at 10:22 AM

    More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public.
    […]
    In interviews, federal judges called the Supreme Court’s emergency orders “mystical,” “overly blunt,” “incredibly demoralizing and troubling” and “a slap in the face to the district courts.” One judge compared their district’s current relationship with the Supreme Court to “a war zone.” Another said the courts were in the midst of a “judicial crisis.” […]

    Reply
  8. xyxyxyxy says:

    TX water shortage
    “(Bloomberg) — Water shortages in South Texas are posing major risks to a fast-growing industrial hub that’s crucial to President Donald Trump’s twin goals of dominating global energy markets and slashing trade deficits.
    Municipal leaders are at odds over what to do….The issue also tapped into long-simmering resentment of the growing industrial presence of major water users such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Koch Industries LLC, Celanese Corp., and Occidental Petroleum Corp.”
    More in the story about Abbott vs locals.
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-water-crisis-threatens-booming-155618235.html

    Reply

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