I would like to share an anecdote here.
We are living in a nation in which an elderly man, apparently loaded up on cold medicine [and if so, perhaps in defiance of the Beers List], flubs a debate with a [figuratively] demon-possessed [literal] sociopath.
Whereupon some of the elderly man’s alleged supporters [hat tip to wilderness voice for an excellent editorial note] react by demanding, hysterically, at length, for days, that he effectively concede the election, the nation, World War III and the destruction of life on Earth to the sociopath, immediately. As does the Oligarch-Owned Sociopath-Sympathizing Press.
Oddly enough, the perfect agreement between the defectors from the candidate’s political party and his enemies in the media seems to have passed almost unremarked.
Even more oddly, nobody seemed to have tiddly-boo to say about the fitness for office of the [figuratively] demon-possessed [literal] sociopath.
While I like Baal-Moloch as much as the next gal, I think perhaps a bit of perspective is in order. And so I bring you a tiny little amuse-bouche, pun VERY much intended as you will shortly see. This is squarely in the category of What Have U.S. Presidents Done That Was WAY Worse Than That?
Allow me to share the story of George H. W. Bush vomiting on the Prime Minister of Japan. Then I will spend a minute on the Beers List.
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This happened in early 1992. I was 37 and living overseas. And President George H.W. Bush was in Japan.
And at a state dinner, where he and First Lady Barbara Bush were sitting with the Prime Minister of Japan, Kiichi Miyazawa, President Bush vomited. Into the lap of the Prime Minister. And then passed out.
He was revived, assisted out, and given medical attention while the PM took care of his wardrobe emergency and the First Lady held the fort for the USA, which included providing an after-dinner speech on behalf of her husband.
The reverse peristalsis incident was captured on video and shown over and over again, and comedians went on about it at length, and my foreign colleagues, while sympathetic, also managed to clearly convey that this was just the sort of thing one would expect from American table manners… ahem… [no, mine were honestly pretty good]. My response was that I was glad to be already outside the US because I would have fled the country to escape the disgrace. [This was, I hasten to add, all teasing; I was liked there, and I miss those people to this day.]
There were all kinds of downstream effects, including a fresh American contribution to Japanese slang: Busshu-suru, meaning “to do that thing Bush did”.
He had a stomach virus, is what he did. And acted accordingly. And was in one of the worst possible places at the worst possible time.
Here’s a link to Wikipedia’s coverage; they include a hoaxer who posed as Bush’s physician and informed a major news outlet that Bush had died, and other interesting tidbits, including the slang.
en.wikipedia.org/...
Oddly enough, despite that incredible breach of international etiquette, there was no groundswell of hysterical or outraged calls for Bush’s resignation, nor was war declared, even briefly.
But wait, I forgot, Bush was a Republican.
but but but what if he did it again?
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Now, about the Beers List. This is a reference list of medications that, while generally prescribed to most adults, can carry heightened risks when given to the elderly. You will not be unbearably surprised to learn that damn near everything Americans take to get through the day if they’re feeling off happens to be on this list. Hurrah for old age.
Aspirin is on it. Ibuprofen is on it. Chlorpheniramine and hydroxyzine are on it. Many many other things are on it; unfortunately I don’t have a link to the full current list, I have a downloaded older one, and I check any med that isn’t on it just to see what the perceived hazards are.
Pain medication and antihistamines are widely featured. Oddly enough, Acetaminophen, Destroyer Of Livers, is not on it. Nor are several second generation “non-sedating” antihistamines which knock me to my knees because the primary metabolite is the real active drug — and also sedating as hell, yay marketing. So it has its limitations.
But if Biden was on any cold meds that are on the Beers List — and whaddayaknow, most of them are — or even on those “safe” second generation antihistamines — he was effectively sedated going in.
And elderly adults using medications as prescribed have indeed been mistakenly thought to have dementia. Don’t believe me? Read this harrowing account from the CBC of a woman who was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had her drivers’ license pulled, when she merely needed to ditch the polypharmacy to achieve a miraculous recovery. www.cbc.ca/…
This, by the way, does not only happen in Canada. Physicians here are routinely cautioned about it, and it was a frequent topic even when I was in the pharmaceutical industry in the 1980s and 90s.
Here, you can see what another practitioner has to say — and check his sampling of the Beers List as well. www.brightfocus.org/…
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Let’s stop playing doctor when we don’t know a damn thing about it, in an area where even doctors sometimes mess up.
And let’s not insist that our politicians toss the country into the dumpster fire of history just because we can’t bear to sit still long enough to find out what’s really going on with someone, even if they are important.
By the way, here’s Beau. I saw a member of the Hysteria fan club posting “selected” information about this event in the comments to another diary... let’s listen to the sane adult.
And here are some doctors being candid about exactly what I have been discussing: The deleterious effects of cold medicines in the elderly, with specific reference to The Biden Affair, and the rather dangerous tendency to write off “impairment by medication” as dementia without serious, or often any, investigation.
www.medpagetoday.com/…
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OK, I think this is out of my system now. I have shared what I know / have remembered that may be of benefit.
I will check on this sporadically. Sorry, but the sea-lions will be waiting yet one more day. Siab, if you have thought of anything else that could be useful drop me a line, you’re getting a shared byline on it when it publishes.
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Update: “Just a thought”.
Seems to me that our acronym, MSM, for mainstream media, lacks a bit of punch and doesn’t quite tell the story. Here and now I suggest that we stop calling them the MSM and start calling them the OOSSP, for Oligarch-Owned Sociopath-Sympathizing Press, which, after all, is what they are.
Besides being accurate for a change, it’s a dandy reply to their unending assertions of “liberal bias”.