SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2026
...after the world lost a week: We hit the ground running, admittedly at a rather slow speed, after yesterday's medical summit.
Results from the summit were several:
One pharmaceutical was kicked to the curb. Another was replaced by a substitute. We returned to our sprawling campus, fell into a deep sleep.
These pharmaceuticals today! At any rate, "Doc" assured us we'd be back on track—and our current reports will (we hope) resume on Monday morning.
Where we left off:
"Who talks like that," David Remnick had said, speaking to Jen Psaki. For the sake of clarity, we'll highlight that excellent question:
Who talks like that?
Also, Megyn Kelly has asked several similar questions, including these:
Can’t he just behave like a normal human? What does that say about him?
One possible answer to all those questions is stunningly obvious. The fact that no one knows how to provide it—or the fact that no one is willing to do so—is anthropology all the way down concerning our bodies, ourselves.
One possible answer is blindingly obvious. With a bit of luck, we'll return to this topic at the start of the week.
Almost surely, the president isn't "a normal human." But what's the excuse, or the explanation, for the conduct of everyone else?
"One possible answer to all those questions is stunningly obvious. The fact that no one knows how to provide it—or the fact that no one is willing to do so—is anthropology all the way down concerning our bodies, ourselves."
ReplyDeleteThis is Somerby's strawman, the idea that no one "knows how" or "is willing" to state what is wrong with Trump. Several commenters have taken the time to supply quotes showing that this accusation is false.
Politics has little to do with "anthropology". Anthropology is: "(1) the study of human societies and cultures and their development, and (2) the study of human biological and physiological characteristics and their evolution." These are legitimate scientific fields that have nothing whatsoever to do with Somerby's complaints that supposedly no one will admit that there is something very wrong with Trump (despite this ongoing complaint by the left, former Trump supports, and never-Trump Republicans). What does Somerby gain by claiming that no one will speak about Trump's abnormal behavior? Somerby gets to bash the press and liberals for not speaking out, when we have been the main ones doing so since 2015, when Trump declared his candidacy.
The "everyone else" who Somerby needs to be discussing are not Trump's critics, but his supports, and they are falling away from Trump in droves as each Trump act is more horrifying than the last. That is something Somerby does not acknowledge.
Then Somerby thows in the phrase "...concerning our bodies, ourselves." This hearkens back to a famous book in the 1970s, during the early days of Women's Lib and the feminist movement. Wikipedia says:
"Our Bodies, Ourselves is a landmark book on women's health, sexuality, and reproductive rights, created by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective (now known as Our Bodies Ourselves) starting with a 1970 booklet, Women and Their Bodies. It became a feminist classic, providing comprehensive, empowering information on topics like contraception, childbirth, and sexual health, and has been continuously updated through multiple editions, with the most recent print version published in 2011. The book's goal is to give women the knowledge to take control of their health, viewing it as a political issue beyond just biology."
This reference is way out of place in Somerby's essay today. It has nothing to do with anything he is discussing. Why would he throw it into that sentence? His tendency to type whatever pops into his brain at any given moment does not produce coherent argument. Beyond that it is offensive to do this, given that Somerby is antagonistic to feminism, feminists in particular, and does not support women's issues, including contraception and choice. His lack of support for such things is a major reason why Somerby's ongoing claim to be liberal is unlikely to be true. Liberals support women's issues and have included them in every Democratic Party Platform since they became visible via the women's movement. Not Somerby though.
I am sorry that Somerby had problems adjusting to new meds this week, but that doesn't excuse the crap he writes here. A lot happened while he was under the weather. It might be better for him to deal with that instead of rehashing the stupidities he wrote before his doctor's visits.
"supports" = supporters (autocorrect problem)
DeleteHere is why Somerby's odd reference to women's health (Our Bodies, Ourselves) is problematic:
ReplyDelete"Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, condemned the teen birth rate having declined in a recent post on X.
Miller shared a screenshot of a graph charting the birth rate decline in the U.S. by age group, that used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was published in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
Pointing to the decline in the teen birth rate, Miller said that hormonal birth control is "killing population growth," and that "our biological destiny is to have babies." [Newsweek]
This push to encourage teen girls to procreate is bad for the girls because there are more physical complications among younger women (the younger, the more risks in childbirth). Further, if they are closer to 15 than 19, getting pregnant interferes with finishing school and establishing independence as an adult, severely limiting their ability to find employment and making them dependent on parents and the men who impregnated them. It reduce their life options, which is perhaps what Miller and his ilk want. If these young girls are pushed to marry their impregnators, the divorce rate for women who marry under 20 yo is the highest of any age group except those in their 50s who split up when their kids leave the home. That is because the younger girls do not yet know who they are as adults, are coerced by their lack of means to support themselves or a child, and become very different people as they mature and realize they do not belong with whoever they were forced to marry.
Those in strongly religious communities may or may not be exceptions, but note that Miller is urging this on all women, not just Amish or Fundamentalist/Orthodox groups.
So why did Somerby throw that phrase into today's essay? And why is he once again throwing out dog whistles, hinting and not directly saying what he means on even the topic of Trump's ongoing misbehavior? He says "One possible answer is blindingly obvious." without bothering to state what he is referring to. Yes, we can guess, but why the mystery?
The time for hinting that Trump has a bad personality is long past. We are in the days when calls for Trump's removal are increasing on both sides of aisle and people appear to be just waiting for the House/Senate to change majorities so that something can be done about Trump. Somerby could point that out, but he prefers to be vague and mumble. We don't need him to do that, especially if he doesn't have the courage to following his own hints to their obvious conclusion himself.
Somerby is correct. It's blindingly obvious that every Republican voter is a bigot.
DeleteGood luck to anyone who wants to counter that fact.
"Anyone who isn't a bigot, or isn't perfectly fine with bigotry, left the Republican Party over a quarter of a century ago."
DeleteJD Vance
From Thom Hartmann today:
ReplyDelete" Carlos Hernandez, 36, is the father of a two-year-old daughter and works rehabbing houses that have been damaged in fires; ICE thugs pumped 6 bullets into his body, including one into his face. He survived, but is hospitalized. ICE is claiming he tried to “weaponize” his car, a common lie they tell (see: Renee Good), and refusing to name the agents who shot him. They also now claim he’s a member of a notorious gang, which he, his attorney, and his family deny. Another day, another ICE outrage. How many brutal incidents and murders is it going to take to get this rogue agency shut down or at least to start operating under the rule of law and the Constitution?"
Somerby never discusses these atrocities. Why is he even here? If I were feeling an adverse drug reaction, I would rush back to the keyboard. I would take some days to feel better. That Somerby rushes back is another clue that perhaps he gets paid write right-supporting crap and needs the income to maintain his lifestyle. Those of us close to 80 otherwise tend to rest when we need to, without the pressures of job or trolling obligations.
Inquiring lefties are following this story too, again from Thom Hartmann (a liberal/progressive MVP in the independent press):
ReplyDelete"— When will the other Melania shoe drop? The great mystery this week, at least across cable news and social media, is why Melania Trump would go on TV from the White House and pull a Richard Nixon “I am not a crook” for no apparent reason. That didn’t work out well for Nixon, and it’s unlikely her demand that “The false smears about me … must stop” will do anything other than fuel more speculation and a faster circulation of her nudie pictures and photos of her with Jeffrey Epstein. Speculations about what provoked her run from a woman close to her threatening to “expose” her “pedophile husband,” to the possibility a new book is about to come out claiming Melania and Epstein were once involved, to weird theories that Trump asked her to do it (he claims he didn’t even know she was going to, but he constantly lies) to distract from the Iran debacle. Something very, very weird is going on with this couple (if you could call two people who live and sleep separately a couple). But then, if you were married to Trump, wouldn’t you be a bit on the edge, too?"
The obvious question is not what's wrong with Trump, but what is our nation going to do about him?
ReplyDelete