They want a doctor that knows them and sees their humanity

I finished the book Rough Sleepers, Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People, by Tracy Kidder. I had mentioned back in April that Kidder died at the age of 80, so this was his last book. Rough Sleepers refers to people sleeping on the street. Kidder spent quite a bit of time with Jim (as he’s referred to in the book) and his work. This is the way Kidder had worked with his previous books. Jim’s work included driving around downtown Boston with a small team looking for homeless people and offering them soup, extra blankets, and a bit of money. Other days he worked at the Mass General Hospital in a clinic for homeless people or at a separate clinic with rooms that cared for the homeless while they recovered from an illness. Jim found that the homeless want to see the same doctor each time, a doctor that would know them from one visit to the next and spend as much time as needed rather than limit themselves to the allotted time a medical system has as its standard. They want a doctor who cares for them as people rather than seeing them as a body to be treated. They want a doctor that treats them like a human rather than the dregs of society. I think we all want that. A couple of the staff at the clinic worked to get their people into housing. They know the system well enough they sometimes have success. Sometimes they don’t. Kidder includes a discussion of the housing first movement – get a person housed and that will make all their other issues easier to manage. In many places that works quite well, in others it doesn’t. Some communities try to spend the funds to end homelessness, again with good results. Other times it doesn’t work as well. A big issue is many lawmakers (I add: usually Republicans) who simply don’t want to spend the money, no matter the great benefits. And, yes, that implies they want people to be homeless. Kidder describes Tony, one of the homeless men. He’s a big man and a kind soul, one who will do all he can to help out his fellow rough sleepers. Homeless women appreciate him because he will protect and not exploit them. But he is also an addict. Using frequently lands him in the live-in clinic. When he recovers enough to function he’ll serve as a social director – helping other residents, stepping in to break up arguments, and just being a friend to everyone. After a few days he’s back on the streets using again. Attempts at getting him housed don’t succeed because of things in his troubled past. I very much enjoyed the book and recommend it. Kidder is a very good writer, able to explain things well while maintaining his subject’s humanity. Michigan news has periodic stories of the Palisades nuclear power plant in southwest Michigan. The plant reached the end of its useful life and was sold to Holtec, a company that would decommission it and, presumably, tear it down in a manner that would minimize radiation exposure. But perhaps a year or two later that same company decided instead of decommissioning the plant they would return it to operation. The stories I hear are about the latest steps in the process, something that has not been done before. Karl Grossman and Harvey Wasserman of the Daily Kos community discussed an open letter to Congress by Arnie Gundersen that explains the plant isn’t and cannot be made safe. Gundersen has extensive experience and certification in the nuclear industry. But in the last three years, as long has this venture has been going on, he has been rebuffed by the The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and many other people in the nasty guy’s administration. The issue: Holtec has experience decommissioning reactors. It does not have experience running them. Staff members are not certified for that. The reason Holtec wants to run this one is that nuclear plants have never been profitable and never been as safe as they claim. They run with a great deal of government subsidy. And getting hands on that cash appears to be profitable for Holtec. In contrast to the significant subsidies needed by nuclear energy wind and solar are much cheaper. Gundersen goes into detail on the problems in the plant. I’ll skip that. The likelihood of a failure within the first 18 months is high, a failure that would prompt an evacuation out to ten miles. Fortunately, there is no city in that zone, but Detroit is only 180 miles downwind with Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Jackson, Ann Arbor, and me in between. Gundersen hopes that Congress (or the one that takes control in January) will take him more seriously than the NRC has and stop Holtec’s efforts to revive the Palisades plant. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos quoting Jon Stewart’s response to the vice nasty blaming the French riots on Muslim immigrants. Those riots began with students protesting conditions at their schools and expanded to include people protesting the cost of living. Stewart said:

I’m sorry, Vance, are you seriously suggesting that immigrants have brought a culture of revolution and protest to France??? Have you not been to the theater? Can you not hear the people sing? Do you know why Versailles is a museum? It used to be someone’s house, full of people with heads! Do you want to know how French these protests were? They stormed the Bastille! Other than adultery, it’s the most French thing you can do.

This is a good Marine, why wouldn’t we retain him?

No Sunday movie this weekend because I did a two-day trip to the Stratford Festival in Ontario. The journey allowed me to drive over the new Gordie Howe bridge, though that route included construction traffic near London. Eight years ago I saw the show Something Rotten! in Detroit. It is a spoof and love letter to Shakespeare and musicals. I wrote about it here. Two years ago I went to the Stratford Festival when Something Rotten! was one of the shows, though I told myself and others I had seen it and didn’t need to see it again. I did see four other shows over two days for an enjoyable trip. When Something Rotten! was announced for the Stratford Festival season this year I felt this time I needed to see it again. So I did on Friday evening. And I very much enjoyed it again, smiling and laughing throughout, from the opening “Welcome to the Renaissance” – aren’t we glad the Middle Ages are over? – to the closing number (telling you that could be considered a spoiler). The singing was excellent, the dancing high energy (the cast must be exhausted by the end of the show), the one-liners just as funny, and the whole thing still overmiked. The substantial crowd did standing ovations for two of the songs in addition to the show as a whole at the end. My friend and debate partner has told me over the years he enjoys interesting theater, but not spectacle. Then, my friend, you would not have enjoyed this one. While the numerous quotes of Shakespeare plays used in unexpected ways would amuse you, this show is about spectacle. Though if the rest of you are a fan of the Bard’s plays or of musicals or both this show would be a delight. Also while at the Festival I saw the show Saturday, Sunday, Monday, a new translation of a 1959 Italian play. The story is about a large Neapolitan family (husband, wife, three adult kids, spouses, fiancee, siblings, and father, plus a few friends). Saturday is spent preparing for Sunday dinner, including Mama’s legendary ragu. Sunday is the dinner and all that happens during it, and Monday morning is dealing with the consequences. The marriage of the senior couple is not healthy, Father has gone almost silent. That is compounded by the friendly attentions of one of the friends. The Sunday meal makes the jealousies worse. And on Monday Father sees the errors of his ways. The program booklet says the Italian author wrote it during a troubled time in his own marriage, hoping for a better outcome. Of course, the production is quite well done and the show enjoyable. Oliver Willis of Daily Kos reported on how well the military is following the nasty guy’s demand to remove transgender people from their ranks. Willis worked from a New York Times report that says the military set up review boards to consider individual transgender personnel.

In 12 cases that have come before the Navy and the Marines, boards have voted to retain troops nine times. The Trump purge has been more successful in the Air Force and Army, where troops are more likely to be removed. Former Air Force lawyer Rachel VanLandingham explained the quiet rebellion to the Times, “We are seeing them nullify a process they see as unjust.”

An example is Marine Staff Sgt. Damien Contreras. He was designated for removal but his board said he “remains qualified.”

“They see I’ve always done my job, I’ve deployed, I’ve mentored other Marines, followed the rules. They say, ‘Hey, this is a good Marine, why wouldn’t we retain him?’” he said.

Yes, this shows the administration’s stance is destructive and contrary to their claim of wanting the most powerful fighting force. Yeah, political appointees can overrule the boards. But this quiet defiance shows the conservative movement does not have unified support of the military. On to something completely different and not at all fun. Back in July (yeah, it’s been sitting in my browser tabs since then) Muriel Vieux of the Kos community wrote about the ever returning topic of men abusing women. Nearly all of the abusers are men these women know. Vieux concluded:

So, guys, when you say “not all men” “I’m not like that” “it’s only a small percentage of men”, how can women tell which men are safe, this is not snark but a serious question. What do we look for, what’s a clue that “this good presenting man” will not turn on us? Because every time we share our stories, it seems a lot of men here don’t understand the underlying issue, trust. They seem to miss the common thread that most of us have been raped by men we knew, loved and trusted.

Most Kos posts start with a photo or image. For this one Vieux reproduced a poem she wrote in 2023 in response to the MAGA movement, though she says it has nothing to do with the subject in the body of her post. She starts the poem with “You call yourselves ‘good people’” and ends with:

You call yourselves moral and virtuous Claim to value all human life It’s so easy to “call” yourself good It’s so easy to wear the make up of morals It’s so easy to cover yourself in pretend virtue What you call yourselves is immaterial What you are screams through the lies What you are shouts out loud piercing the facade What you are comes out in your actions You are vile, cruel, petty, and mean.

Their power is in broad daylight with total opacity

I’ve heard the term “redpill” before but didn’t really know what it meant. It comes from the 1999 movie The Matrix which I haven’t seen. At some point Neo, a main character, must choose between a red pill and confront reality or a blue pill and remain ignorant of reality. Kos of Daily Kos says there is now a black pill, though he doesn’t say where the term originated.

Unlike the blue pill, which means choosing ignorance, or the red pill, which means confronting reality, the black pill means giving up entirely. The problems are too big, the system is too broken, and nothing anyone does will make a difference.

The people who are figuratively taking the black pill are young men. The manosphere got these men to vote for the nasty guy in 2024. But the nasty guy hasn’t tried to keep them happy. Sure, he’s ranted against the supposed discrimination of white men and he and his team have posted racist memes, but that doesn’t pay the rent.

Bloomberg reports that more than 700,000 women have entered the workforce since Trump returned to office, compared with just 65,000 men. Construction employment has grown, but other male-dominated industries—including manufacturing, mining, transportation, and warehousing—have shed jobs. Meanwhile, inflation continues to squeeze household budgets, mortgage rates have pushed homeownership further out of reach, and gasoline prices remain roughly 37% higher than when Trump returned to office.

When they do get a job their economic mobility is lower. These young men are questioning their future. The MAGA movement was never about improving people’s lives – except himself, his family, and his cronies. MAGA was about hating others but with terms so vague the vice nasty can’t define them. These young men are discovering the nasty guy never intended to help them and he’s not delivering the revenge they want. What’s left is “living in their parents’ basements, gambling on sports, playing video games, vaping, and watching porn.” Kos will be happy if they don’t commit violence and don’t vote. I have a bit more compassion than that and will vote for people who have a goal of making life better for everyone, including those young men who have taken the black pill. Alix Breeden of Kos also wrote about young people, those trying to make the world better by running for office. Many face a problem – their online pasts are being put on display as campaign fodder. Breeden is a Millennial and is sure there is something in nearly young person’s social media that is worth talking about. That means some young people will decide they can never run for office. Others, such as Chris Gallant, 37 and running for Congress, are advocating for leniency. If the comments aren’t illegal, the writer should acknowledge that was in their history and doesn’t represent who they are now and should receive grace. Maybe this can be a breakthrough moment in understanding we’re all human and messing up is relatable. And a young candidate can refuse to be ashamed of their past. Lisa Needham of Kos reported we used to have a functioning Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to work with state election officials to secure voting infrastructure form attacks. But, like a lot of government, it’s been gutted. But it still asked to do a few things. CISA was supposed to secretly hack election machines and report findings to the White House. The purpose wasn’t to warn the voting machine companies, but to give the nasty guy a way to manipulate elections for Republicans. The command is in the past tense because the employees capable of this sort of hacking were laid off by DOGE.

Where CISA used to work in collaboration with the states, advising them on cybersecurity needs, it’s now just another part of Trump’s push to wreck elections. “Our number one risk at this point is the federal government,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told Politico.

In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Marta Peirano of El País in English talking about how AI could disrupt our election. They could manipulate vote counts, though this remains least likely. They could cyberattack election facilities. And the most likely scenario is a deluge of disinformation campaigns where AI agents try to convince us that voting systems have been compromised and a large-scale fraud operation is underway. Already AI has been used to create fake document alleging fraud and to create videos of people tampering with ballot boxes, of the FBI inspecting boxes, of investigating voter registration groups, of corroborating conspiracy theories. Major AI companies say they have appropriate safeguards. But...

Big tech platforms concentrate unprecedented influence and access because they have replaced much of the traditional political infrastructure. They fund candidates and distribute their campaigns opaquely and selectively, but they are also the public square and the private communications system. They monitor all the public spaces where citizens debate, complain and express support or outrage. They are the main tool of power but also the means by which civil movements and the opposition coordinate and communicate. They distribute propaganda and journalism alike. Their alliance with the Trump administration in the age of artificial intelligence expands their power as surely as their large data centers do—broad daylight and total opacity.

In the comments exlrrp posted a meme that fits with I wrote about yesterday. It shows Lt. Uhura of Star Trek saying, “Captain, it’s just a message on repeat asking if we disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.” Another meme posted by exlrrp is based on the nasty guy wanting to rename New Mexico as “New America.” Officials in New Mexico expressed their displeasure with that request, though they are pleased it is something he can’t do. The meme references MapQuest, the map company that did not rename Lake Ontario (who knew wearing a tourist shirt with that name would be an act of resistance?). Here’s the meme:

Instead of renaming New Mexico to “New America”, maybe we should rename Washington DC to “New Moscow.” Are you listening MapQuest?