One of the detriments to the internet is how much we assume facts not in evidence. You probably heard a child died of measles in Texas today. (Fact.) This child was unvaccinated. (Fact.) Beyond that, we don’t know much, and it will likely stay that way. We can speculate that the child’s parents were anti-vax nuts, but we can’t know that. But I predict that soon someone will sing out that the poor dead kid had a crazy mother who prayed to RFK Jr. every night, and that will become the story that gets passed around. It’s entirely possible the child’s family was poor, or ignorant, and maybe didn’t know there was a vaccination event taking place at the local health department. It’s useful to remember Sherri’s comment some days back, that the people who will suffer most under the new regime are the most powerless.
Our new HHS secretary is a liar and an exaggerator; he sticks to the 72-doses bullshit, which is simply untrue, among many other outright lies about vaccine safety. At the first cabinet meeting today, he downplayed the Texas outbreak as no biggie, just one of many that happen every year, ignoring the fact as recently as 2000, we considered measles on the brink of extinction.
It’s pretty clear now: We’re all going to be on our own for at least the next four years. Birds are dropping out of the sky from bird flu. There’s a new bleeding-from-the-eyeballs disease in Africa. Influenza A is ripping through my community, as is norovirus. I look forward to Croaky telling us to double up on the Vitamin D.
God, what a pig.
Speaking of pigs, I can’t even talk about Jeff Bezos right now.
I mentioned we have a mini-break coming, and as usual, I have a bunch of work to do before that. So I’m afraid this will be the last entry of the week, but! We’ll have some fun pix starting over the weekend, as the Derringers decamp for…New Orleans. And Mardi Gras.
Sherri said on February 26, 2025 at 8:22 pm
I posted late on the last thread that the FDA has just cancelled the meeting where next year’s flu vaccine would be selected.
I hate wearing masks as much as everyone else, but I suggest making sure you have a supply of N95s that are reasonably comfortable to wear.
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FDChief said on February 26, 2025 at 8:44 pm
It’s worth considering how the Project 2025 objective isn’t overt Naziism.
(I mean…we’re going that way, but mostly because Fatso and his clownshow are kind of “evil, totalitarian, and vindictive” which kinda codes “Nazi”)
But the actual playbook is “New Gilded Age”. A scummy froth of plutocracy on top with a bathtub ring of servants, thugs, flunkies, and courtesans to service them, and then the seething mass of peasants to provide grunt labor, and cannon fodder and then die in miserable poverty and preventable disease.
So RFK the Lesser fits right in; he can be both Dr. Mengele and the physicians of the first Gilded Age, caring for the wealthy while the proles spread cholera and syphilis.
What a complete disaster these people are.
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Peter said on February 26, 2025 at 9:11 pm
I was in New Orleans a few months ago for my niece’s wedding, and I have to recommend Croissant D’Or Patisserie on Ursulines in the French Quarter. It’s in a former Italian ice cream shop, and has a little garden area in back.
This part of the French Quarter is EMPTY. When we were at the patisserie, Canal and Bourbon were wall to wall people; by us it was quieter than a Sunday morning.
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alex said on February 26, 2025 at 10:05 pm
Was Megyn Kelly on assignment in Mogadishu or something? Just asking for our President.
That bitch fell into line years before Jeff Bezos, and even got briefly hired by NBC to woo the MAGA crowd that was no longer watching NBC anyway, but today’s entry by Sarah Kendzior is making me bleed outta my eyes (and my “whatever”):
https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/your-questions-answered-were-already?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1175745&post_id=157988203&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=43a8hi&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
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Ann said on February 26, 2025 at 10:37 pm
My understanding is that they’re Mennonites. Poor decision-making all the same.
A near miss of what would have been another deadly plane crash in Chicago today. I’ve never been afraid of flying but now find myself hesitant. My daughter is coming in to keep an eye on my husband while a friend and I go visit my son in…..New Orleans. Flying, of course. Oh well, maybe at least airfares will come down as a result of the increased anxiety.
Son and his wife discovered they could both work 100% remotely during the pandemic so they sold their Chicago house and decamped to NOLA. There’s a lot not to like about that town, but the crazy enthusiastic arts community may make it all worth it–at least for a visit. Enjoy.
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Suzanne said on February 26, 2025 at 10:48 pm
As much as I fear reading Kendzior, she has yet to be wrong. I discovered her during Trump’s first run, so I have been reading her for a while. If only more people had listened to her…
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Heather said on February 26, 2025 at 11:37 pm
I’m headed to New Orleans myself in early April for a few days. I’m also nervous about flying, but will just have to remind myself that it’s still safer than driving. At least for now. I’m also going to Florida and planning to bring some anti-Elon and Trump stickers to spread around.
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basset said on February 27, 2025 at 6:55 am
We’ve been to New Orleans several times, starting with our honeymoon in 1981, redirected to accommodate a job interview in Jackson, MS. Decided a few years ago that we’d seen enough of the city PJ O’Rourke described as a “high-crime drainage ditch,” but then the National WWII Museum opened and I’ve been wanting to see it.
Flights can be pretty cheap from Nashville, been thinking about driving just to see what we might see though… have any of you made the drive from Pensacola to NO or from NO up to Memphis, spending, of course, minimal time and tourist dollars in Florida? The naval aviation museum in P’cola would be an exception.
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Jeff Gill said on February 27, 2025 at 7:29 am
From all indications so far in Santa Fe: if you have heaters for damp cold mornings, make sure you have a CO2 detector, too.
Full disclosure: I was in a scene with Gene Hackman, which he discusses in this interview. So was Joyce, and the youth group from Centenary in Indianapolis. It was in Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse for “Hoosiers,” and as Gene says, there’s not as many of us as it looks in the film! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DRd9umfhM/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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Deborah said on February 27, 2025 at 9:17 am
According to NPR Hackman and his wife committed suicide together, the dog was found dead too. He was 95, she was 64.
We saw him once buying paints at an art supply store in Santa Fe. My husband told him how much he enjoyed his work. What a great actor. The Conversation is one of my all time favorite movies.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/27/711970232/gene-hackman-who-thrived-playing-the-tough-guy-dies-at-95
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Deborah said on February 27, 2025 at 9:22 am
That’s weird that NPR article was edited from the time I first read it, now it says cause of death is unknown.
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Dorothy said on February 27, 2025 at 9:41 am
*tricked into doing this program*. Classic Letterman introduction.
I would not put a lot of stock in reports about how they died at this point. Seems likely it could just as easily be an accidental death due to carbon monoxide poisoning as it could be suicide.
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alex said on February 27, 2025 at 9:51 am
Well, I cancelled my Washington Post subscription, however I’m paid up through the end of the year so I’ll still have access until then. They don’t do refunds.
If the NYT goes Pravda on us I’ll cancel it too.
My inbox is deluged with invitations to subscribe to Substacks. Who would have thought people like Bill Kristol and Mona Charen would be recasting themselves as liberals? Too late, fuckers. It’s partly your fault that we’re in this fix.
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Dexter Friend said on February 27, 2025 at 10:29 am
I have seen many stories, heard much conversation about Hackman’s best films, and through it all, no mention of “Scarecrow”, though Gene proclaimed it his favorite. It was my dad’s favorite, and mine, edging “Hoosiers”.
The most haunting: “The Conversation”. One of the creepiest films ever. I remember when my ex-father-in-law asked me who my favorite actor was, I never hesitated: Gene Hackman. This was in 1973.
Bezos has really hurt and upset those who relied on that formerly fine paper. Now, abandon ship. I quit when they refused to endorse our Kamala Harris.
Kennedy is so out of touch, a mind corrupted by more than a brain worm. He states outright , obvious lies that just plainly offend us who follow news in even the least degree.
It was reported by Dr. Peter Hotez that hundreds of children have been exposed by now in the Mennonite community in Texas and many more cases will appear in the next 2 weeks.
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Jeff Borden said on February 27, 2025 at 11:48 am
Brain Worm Bobby has canceled the annual meeting of doctors, researchers and scientists to discuss which vaccine is likely most effective for 2025. I guess that means no flu shots this year and a sizable increase in elderly deaths associated with flu. So much winning!
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Suzanne said on February 27, 2025 at 12:39 pm
What we used to call eugenics is now called Republican policy.
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David C said on February 27, 2025 at 12:40 pm
I got the flu a couple of weeks ago. I feel fine now but I still have a lingering cough. I had the flu vaccine a last fall, but my doctor told me that there’s a strain floating around that they didn’t anticipate. It’s the first flu I’ve had in over 30 years, so vaccination hasn’t been in vain. But now that I’m over 65 the thought of having to go without a vaccination gets pretty goddamned scary. One or more of the vaccine makers is working on a universal flu vaccine, but it uses mRNA so it’ll probably not be approved here. Someone needs to open a speakeasy for vaccinations. Knock with the secret code and tell them Lefty sent you and get your jab. I don’t know if I need a measles booster or not. It’s something I need to look into and make sure I’m up to date on everything else.
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tajalli said on February 27, 2025 at 12:45 pm
Brain worm Jr grew up when measles mumps and chicken pox roared through the kindergartens and early grades, so of course he thinks outbreaks are normal.
I remember how worried parents were for their children when they had measles, and rightly so. Anti-vaxxers live in a bubble of herd immunity that they refuse to recognize.
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Julie Robinson said on February 27, 2025 at 12:58 pm
Suzanne, exactly. I would bet a lot of us here are old enough to have experienced some of the diseases as kids. I had measles, mumps, and chicken pox, and they were all pretty miserable.
Very sad about the Hackman family, and I will prefer to remember Gene as an incredible actor and artist.
I’ll be cancelling WaPo when it comes up for renewal this fall. I hesitate only because I know it will hurt people like Dorothy’s daughter, and the book editor, Ron Charles. He’s one of the good gys, fighting book banning through his volunteer work at PEN America, and writing perceptive book reviews. He and his wife also support a daughter with major disabilities who needs too much care to live at home. I don’t think they can afford to lose an income.
Just got done getting gas and food, etc, from Costco, who still practices DEI. We’re joining the Buy Nothing boycott tomorrow.
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Deborah said on February 27, 2025 at 2:19 pm
So the Gene Hackman incident gets curiouser and curiouser. The bodies were found in different places in the house. His was found on the ground in the mudroom with his cane next to him. She was found on the floor of a bathroom with orange pills spilled out on the counter, she was next to a space heater that was on, there was a live dog lying next to her, a dead dog in a closet and another dog running around on the property, an outside door was ajar. But the police suspected no foul play?? They didn’t say how long it was before the bodies were found. Id doesn’t seem like suicides to me, but what do I know.
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Sherri said on February 27, 2025 at 2:53 pm
If you were born before 1957, you are presumed to be immune to measles, because you were likely exposed to measles. The first measles vaccine was in 1962. If you were vaccinated before 1968, you may have been vaccinated with an inactivated form of the virus, and that vaccine is not as effective. From 1968 on, only the activated virus was used, and your immunity should be good.
I think I was vaccinated with the activated vaccine, but I don’t know, and who has their vaccine records from back then? I debated getting a measles titer to check, but finally decided that getting an MMR vaccine was the better choice, and I’m scheduled for the poke in a week.
I would have been originally vaccinated for measles in 1967.
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David C said on February 27, 2025 at 3:07 pm
I have $7000 worth of hearing aids in my ears because I had measles. Beyond the one dead kid, there are plenty more who will end up with hearing loss. I hope they enjoy laying out thousands so their kids can hear some approximation of normal if they can hear at all.
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tajalli said on February 27, 2025 at 4:34 pm
Regarding the Hackman deaths and CO2 poisoning: CO2 is heavier than air so settles to the ground.
Unlike CO and smoke detectors, CO2 detectors have to be at knee level and as a result beds should be higher than knee level.
Hackman could have fallen and then succumbed, likewise the dogs being at nose level.
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Julie Robinson said on February 27, 2025 at 4:48 pm
Sherri, incredibly, I have all of mine. Incredibly, because my family moved frequently when I was young, and Mom’s packing method was throwing everything in a box and labeling it miscellaneous.
My shot record also had a space to mark dates of childhood diseases, and mine says measles in June of 1962. But when we got married I had a titer done and it showed questionable measles protection, so I got an additional MMR. The front of my record says “For the protection of Iowans against disease”, and the inside says “boosters are renewals of your child’s health insurance”. Apparently there was a time when Iowans were enlightened.
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Peter said on February 27, 2025 at 4:57 pm
Jeff @ 15 “Brain Worm Bobby” – that’s a keeper.
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Deborah said on February 27, 2025 at 5:28 pm
I hadn’t heard of hearing loss because of measles, that’s interesting.
I had the mumps pretty severely as a kid, I was in the 5th grade, I remember having hallucinations from high fever and being extremely weakened. I was already underweight and the Dr told my parents to feed me anything I might eat because I had lost even more weight. They let me have Hershey bars and whipped cream for a meal just to get something in me and I couldn’t even manage that. Those were the days when Drs actually made house calls. I was down and out for well over a week as I recall and when I was supposedly over it I went to a department store with my dad to buy a dress for my sister’s graduation from 6th grade and I had to sit down on the floor from time to time because I was so weak I couldn’t walk or stand for very long. It’s funny how that stands out in my memory from lo those many years ago. I think that was the sickest I have ever been in my life.
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Colleen Condron said on February 27, 2025 at 5:52 pm
We visited New Orleans a while back…..the WWII museum is definitely worth seeing.
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David C said on February 27, 2025 at 6:34 pm
Hearing loss is a common effect of measles. It can infect the nervous system. I lost 75% of the hearing in my right ear when my older brother brought it home from kindergarten in 1963. Like he couldn’t have waited a year for the vaccine. Thanks, Steve. My aunt contracted measles as a young adult and lost 90% of the hearing in both ears.
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Julie Robinson said on February 27, 2025 at 6:43 pm
And mumps has the well-known side effect of infertility in males, with a greater chance the later in life it’s contracted. Look for that one to come roaring back soon!
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Dorothy said on February 27, 2025 at 9:32 pm
This scene in New Mexico just gets more and more strange. Mummification of Betsy’s hands and feet?! Did the space heater cause that to happen extra fast? We have theories in our house – primarily that she had some kind of health emergency, maybe a stroke. And Gene was going to try to summon help but took a fall in the mud room. And both of them succumbed to their medical emergencies. It’s all very sad and will be mostly speculation but the autopsies will help, I hope.
My husband’s aunt fell in her condo in Pittsburgh about a dozen years ago. She was on the ground in her living room for four days. She could not reach her land line phone to call for help. No food or water, and the building supervisor had to enter because she hadn’t answered her door, and her car was in the garage. She was severely dehydrated and was hospitalized, and then entered assisted living. She had a stroke within a few months of moving in there. She was in her early 80’s when this happened.
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Deborah said on February 27, 2025 at 10:46 pm
We had our neighbors over tonight and the husband is an artist who has lived in Santa Fe for decades. He spoke with a friend of his earlier this evening who was a friend of the Hackmans and she said that they probably had been dead for at least 2 weeks before they were found because the maintenance workers came only periodically and they were the ones who found them. Our neighbor also said that according to the friend there’s a lot of disinformation about it at this time which seems like an accurate statement to me. Maybe we’ll never know but apparently there will be an autopsy at some point.
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Dexter Friend said on February 28, 2025 at 4:33 am
Deborah, the memories. I was 12 when I had mumps and measles back-to back. One day I was so sick I hallucinated and felt myself rising up from my body, totally wacked-out. I recovered but what a trip those diseases were.
I am now into a Prednisone dose-pack for inflammation so painful my arms were so stiff I was in constant pain. First dose, I was able to sleep 5 straight hours for the first time in 2 weeks.
I have medical issues, labs OK, but I am scheduled for a CT scan in 3 weeks as my back is out of alignment and they want to see what the Xray revealed about my lungs in greater definition. Also, I am having bone loss.
I am too old to worry myself sick over possibilities. What they gonna do? Send me to ‘Nam? (old veterans saying)
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