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
It is time to ask why a supposed liberal such as Somerby would waste time trolling feminists when there is so much Trump misbehavior to discuss.
DeleteWeirdly Katie Miller went on Fox News a while back and mocked her husband’s lack of charisma and sexual prowess, she and Watters had a big laugh about it, and this was during rumors swirling she was having an affair with Musk (the fat slob with hair plugs, cold sore herpes, and a botched penile implant).
DeleteGhouls, all of them.
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.
Doctors determined Somerby suffers from xenophobia, a disease without a cure, so they’re pumping him full of placebos - Wednesday’s at the golf resort don’t pay for themselves.
DeleteGolf fans are watching the Masters tournament this weekend.
DeleteInquiring 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?
ReplyDeleteMelania is trying to rewrite the past and help sell her failed movie to streaming services (so Amazon can recoup its overblown investment). Here are some of the complexities not found in her film:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.wonkette.com/p/melania-did-not-have-sexual-relations
There is a great deal more to what happened between Epstein, Trump, Melania and a model agent named Zampolli who was friends with both Trump and Epstein:
"Milanese model agent Paolo Zampolli also sponsored Melania in 1996 for that genius Einstein visa for her extraordinary modeling ability, an episode that has always been rather mysterious! Trump later gifted Zampolli many cushy jobs, starting in 2004 when he made him Director of International Development for the Trump Org selling apartments, and eventually promoted him all the way up to an Ambassador for Global Partnerships in the current administration, where he was just hanging out with JD Vance in Hungary this very week! Zampolli allegedly used his connections last year to try to get ICE to deport his (ex-) girlfriend of two decades to Brazil so he could get full custody of their child. What a guy!"
Heather Cox Richardson (who Somerby should read) describes the actions of prominent Democrats who are calling for a cognitive evaluation by Trump's White House physician, with a report to Congress, including Jamie Raskin and Pete Buttigieg. Somerby claims no one is doing anything, but that is untrue of the left.
ReplyDeletehttps://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-10-2026
Somerby can only claim that no one is doing anything or talking about Trump's insanity, by ignoring the press where such activities are reported.
Is something wrong with Somerby's health? Of course. But he only hints about it, never stating explicitly what his problems are. Trump doesn't even do that. He pretends he is strong and has no health issues when it is obvious he is decaying and no longer functioning as a president is expected to do.
ReplyDeleteWhy do right wingers tolerate these obviously incompetent people in postions of high responsibility. The right accepted Pete Hegseth (a known alcoholic and rapist) and Brett Kavanaugh, another excessive drinker, despite hearings on their fitness. So the problem is with the right wingers who voted to accept these defective incompetents, not solely with Trump. I am encouraged the the right wing voters are finally recognizing that they need to hold their own guys accountable for something besides grifting.
Meanwhile, Somerby never discusses the problem of right wing acceptance of incompetence, in exchange for promises of financial gain that never materializes for anyone except Trump's billionaire cronies, those who engage in insider trading and rig the betting markets.
Why does Melania get a new jet (with a bed in the back) when she doesn't fulfill the responsibilities of First Lady and has no office in the White House any more -- Trump tore it down because it was obviously in the way of building an underground hospital on the premises (so his health problems will be less obvious as they progress).
We right-wingers judge workers on how effectively they do the job. We're not prejudiced. We don't pre-judge people.
DeleteBased on his background, Hegseth looked like a dubious choice for Secretary of War. But, under his leadership the military has performed superlatively. The recruitment problem was solved. Getting Maduro out inside a military complex was a incredible feat. Ditto for rescuing a airman trapped in Iran. Iran's rapid military destruction was superb. We didn't have disasters like the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
When some one charged Gen. Grant, in the President Lincoln’s hearing, with drinking too much liquor, Mr. Lincoln, recalling Gen. Grant’s successes, said that if he could find out what brand of whisky Grant drank, he would send a barrel of it to all the other commanders.
And that makes it OK for the Secretary of Defense to be an alcoholic who has attacked women? It isn't just that Hegseth is unqualified, but he is a fuck up. He bombed a girls' school, killing 170 little girls. Neither you nor Hegseth nor Trump may care about that, but the rest of us (many of whom are parents) do care. Hegseth lies about his military accomplishments, both in the previous bombing and the current invasion.
DeleteDavid, please don't leave all that empty space at the end of your comments. It is annoying to readers.
DeleteWhen you say Hegseth lies, obsequious lickspittles like DiC find that to be an attractive trait
DeleteWhat kind of attitude is focused particularly the bombing of that school? We all know that was not intentional. Compare the two sides. One US bomb accidentally hit a school. OTOH thousands and thousands of Irani missiles intentionally hit civilian targets. Give me a break.
DeleteMeanwhile Israel is committing war crimes in Lebanon every day
DeleteThe point is that it was NOT intentional but incompetent. The bomb hit a 15 year old target that hadn't been verified by Hegseth's military carrying out the bombing. That is incompetence. I'm not inclined to forgive the loss of 170 children because Hegseth doesn't know how to do his job.
DeleteDemocrats don't believe two wrongs make a right, the way you Republicans seem to do. Grant drank so it is OK for Hegseth to get blitzed. Republicans just don't seem to care what happens to little girls.
No one says the US military can’t execute plans effectively, DiC. A baboon could issue orders and the military would carry it out. Do you think for a minute hegseth actually scoped out the Venezuela mission himself? He’s relying on experts within the military, at the least the few remaining that he hasn’t fired. The problem obviously is the lack of strategy in Iran. And your criticism of the Afghanistan withdrawal: well, things sometimes happen, as witness the school that was bombed. The withdrawal from Afghanistan, as you have repeatedly been told, overall went as well as could be expected, and we are now longer in that forever war, thanks to Biden.
Delete@12:17 - You seem to be judging overall competence based on one single accidental bombing? Do you believe that in a war, if someone makes a single mistake, that proves that the entire war was conducted incompetently?
DeleteThe obscenity is DiC comparing hegseth to Grant. Grant was a commanding general, planning battles, eventually winning the civil war for the Union. Hegseth was a TV host.
DeleteI seem to remember right wingers hauling Hillary Clinton to Congress multiple times, calling her a murderer, because 4 people were killed in Libya.
DeleteNo David, there is a pattern of incompetence. Hegseth doesn't have accurate data on the results of his campaign, but has lied repeatedly about outcomes. It is his job to have that data and tell the truth about it. Today there is battleship in harm's way in the Straits of Hormuz, being threatened with destruction. Does Hegseth not know where he can send his ships, especially during peace negotiations?
DeleteThat bombing of the girls' school was not "accidental." The coordinates specified were those that were hit. The problem is that no one on Hegseth's staff knew the target was no longer military but had been decommissioned and turned into a school -- 15 years ago. That is incompetence, not an accident.
Hegseth lies to the president and makes false statements to the press. He is too busy eliminating minorities and women from the military promotion lists to actively supervise the activities of his staff.
It is major incompetence that Hegseth does not recognize that his job is to defend the nation and ensure peace, not play with weapons against designated enemy nations. I have met some generals in my past career and they, to a person, saw their role as avoiding war. There was none of Hegseth's blood lust, eagerness for MMA-style combat, posturing and gloating over nonexistent victories while both US and Iranian (and others in the broader theater) were dying. Hegseth reflects ICE attitudes, toxic masculinity, not a seasoned military attitude and sense of responsibility in his job. That's why Secretaries of Defense have previously been people with experience in that field, not talk-show hosts.
Trump wants to redesign battleships to look sleeker, more like Italian ships, because he has no clue what functionality a ship should have. Hegseth doesn't talk him out of it, which is incompetent on Hegseth's part. If you have a crazy boss, it is your job to manage him and keep him out of trouble. Hegseth sucks at that.
Delete"One of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's main defenses of the U.S. decision to negotiate a controversial ceasefire with Iran is that its ballistic missile program has been "functionally destroyed."
DeleteBut that claim has now been shot down by U.S. intelligence assessments, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday."
Hegseth is just another liar.
Does Somerby not understand that even MAGAs and Trump supporters abhor what Trump has been doing? Here is some evidence, via Tiedrich:
ReplyDelete"pour one out for the proprietor of the now-shuttered Trump Truth Store in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
apparently,
sales plummeted when conflict with Iran began, with the owner saying business went “dead as a door nail”
He also has a collection of anti-Trump gifs and memes from X:
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/this-week-in-stupid-april-11-edition
I'll bet Somerby has no idea this has been happening:
ReplyDelete"We have a brand-new lawsuit against the Trump regime to tell you about.
In a nutshell, the Trump regime has told over two dozen countries in Africa and Latin America that if they want even the barest health assistance from the United States, they have to sign exploitative “agreements” to give us access to valuable assets, including sensitive data and natural resources.
Here’s more:
For generations, the United States has devoted a modest amount of taxpayer dollars to foreign aid. (Polls show that many Americans think foreign aid accounts for as much as half of all federal spending. In reality, only about 1% of the federal budget — just one penny out of every dollar — goes to foreign aid.)
There are many reasons why our government does this, including:
No nation lives in a vacuum. The security of the United States and the health of the American people are affected by challenges like famine, disease, and disasters in other countries.
Relatively small amounts of aid can make an enormous difference, saving and improving literally millions of lives all around the world.
Many consider it the moral duty of the richest nation on Earth to provide at least a modicum of help to poorer countries. (Especially given the historical reality that some countries, including ours, are as rich as they are in part because they exploited the people and natural resources of other countries for decades or even centuries.)
Despite these and other reasons, both noble and self-serving, to maintain at least a minimal foreign aid program, the Trump regime has — notoriously, arbitrarily, and recklessly — taken a sledgehammer to foreign aid.
This assault on foreign aid is literally killing people. But that, apparently, is not sinister enough for the Trump regime. In recent months, the Trump administration has used foreign aid to essentially bully other countries into giving the regime access to their data and natural resources.
For example, as reported in The New York Times, the Trump regime is considering withholding lifesaving aid for over 1,000,000 HIV patients in Zambia unless the country grants the United States even more access to its mineral resources than it already has.
In other nations, the Trump administration is seeking direct access to health data and viral samples without any guarantees that resulting medical breakthroughs would then be shared with those countries..."
Public Citizen (https://www.citizen.org/)
Everyone knows the country made Captain Queeg president so he could let RFK Jr. experiment with the health and lives of all of us including our children. No use complaining about it now, we'll just have endure the crazy shit.
DeleteLet’s Just Repeal the 25th Amendment Already
ReplyDeleteEven if it were invoked to remove our openly insane president, its ridiculous set of stipulations would probably put him back in office anyway.
By Charles P. PiercePublished: Apr 06, 2026 11:27 AM EDT
Why is Trump referring to Allah again? Is he rubbing it in that Iran is losing (he thinks), by suggesting that ther Iranian God is not on their side? Has Trump suddenly become Muslim?
ReplyDelete"... and, most importantly, their longtime ‘Leaders’ are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!” Trump said this morning.
Of course Trump is rubbing it in. He's a witty person. He's a skillful stand-up comedian who just landed a clever one-liner.
DeleteHe may be trying to mock the Iranians, in his stupid way. There are over 2 billion muslims in the world making it the second largest religion. It is also the fastest growing religion. Muslims will be 30% of the world population by 2050 due to that growth. Christianity has 2.3-2.4 billion, nearly equal with Islam but not growing at the same rate.
DeleteWhy would Trump deliberately antagonize Muslims, especially those living in countries that are not enemies of the USA (India, Indonesia for example)? Do Christian supporters of Trump like such gratuitous mocking remarks? Trump is not much of a Christian but no one thinks he is Muslim.
Clever is not a word anyone can apply to Trump and be taken seriously.
DeleteDavid is an ass. He said he comes to this blog to prove that magas and Trump are not monsters, yet every day he proves the opposite
DeleteDIC — in what alternate universe you inhabit has Trump ever been described as witty?
DeleteAsking for a friend. 😎
Psst David, even Alex Jones, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, Joe Rogan, Tim Pool, Nick Fuentes, etc have jumped ship, you’re sinking, bro.
DeleteLooks like the White House is dropping its attempt to persuade Iran to become a tourist destination in favor of "negotiations" with a near-human private equity grifter.
ReplyDelete