Vertigo

Another Hitchcock movie...

I had a pretty good visit to the dread dermatology clinic this morning. A few months ago  I was determined to switch to another place, but ran out of motivation to make the necessary phone calls and do the  necessary pleading to be taken in as a patient. I never did it and went back to the woman I've seen a few times now. The clinic has the feel of an assembly line with a packed waiting room of people waiting to see a number of practitioners. They also have a smaller set-up in a different building with friendlier receptionists and fewer people and the doctor I saw this morning is in there.

She accepts my desire not to have open surgery (no stitches) and agrees that although the pathology report on three biopsies showed squamous cells on the margins of the biopsies, she agrees that there is no outward sign of any of them being there now, and that we could monitor them. She told me that she has just finished a course on the administration of chemotherapy shots and said they were for people who couldn't have surgery or refused it. (That would be me!) She did only one biopsy today and said that if it didn't clear up, or if any of the others came back I would be a good candidate for the shots. All in all an acceptable visit.

In another world, and the incompetents who claim to be running it, I marvel at the latest scandal emanating from Washington which is taking up most of the media bandwidth at the moment. Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the esteemed Atlantic magazine, was 'inadvertently' included on a participation chain of high level national defense advisors discussing an imminent air attack on Houthis in Yemen who are attacking ships in the Suez. The 'meeting' took place on a commercially available encrypted app called Signal, generally used for scheduling meetings. Goldberg acted responsibly, didn't report anything he had heard until the attack actually happened two hours later, and withheld the tape of the meeting. When everyone involved tried to brush it off, claiming it wasn't classified material. The would-be monarch even denied knowing anything about it...an astonishing claim in itself. They have people literally following them around with fully secure means of communication. Why didn't they use it?

I'm sure everyone knows all this as it has become, among two or three scandals a day, THE scandal which seems to be getting the attention of even some Republicans and is taking up all the oxygen in the media. I admit that putting a bunch of bozos in a meeting taking place on an unsecure app with a journalist in attendance (unbeknownst to them) is pretty scandalous and could have endangered American lives. 

Fortunately the journalist was responsible and no American lives were lost (although Yemeni women and children were killed or injured) and I suppose this is the first event where Congress feels they can get some traction on opposing this administration. My only question is what about all the Americans in this country who are already being hurt as Musk rampages around with his chainsaw?