Len Zwelling

It’s more than the elephant in the room. It’s the whale in the stadium.

Like all popular conspiracy theories, until they are officially and conclusively debunked, they linger. Such is the case with the Kennedy Assassination in 1963. Such is the case with the origins of the coronavirus that has caused a worldwide pandemic.

Two consecutive editorials in The New England Journal of Medicine of March 11 address an issue I have long contemplated. In effect, is medicine the exclusive province of the seemingly whole or is there room for the disabled and mentally imperfect? The editorials make a strong case for inclusivity and for changes in the medical training system to adopt it for those with physical disabilities and mental illness.

Lesley Gore was singing for most of the members of Congress. A member of one party would sooner die than cross the aisle and vote for a popular bill sponsored by the other side. The Covid Relief package is a great example. Almost three-fourths of the public favors the bill. Even half of Republicans like it. Yet, not a single Republican in the House or Senate would lift a finger to assist the President in getting it passed. This is as bad as ObamaCare which also passed with no GOP support.

There has been a great deal written about this Chloe Zhao film. It won the Golden Globe award for best drama and the director won as well. It is an Oscar favorite.

President Biden has called those governors who have lifted covid restrictions such as mask mandates as using “Neanderthal thinking.” Why give our ancestors a bad rap? From what I have read, Neanderthals were pretty clever and what’s more there’s a fair amount of Neanderthal DNA in our genes. Calling Governor Greg Abbott Neanderthal gives Neanderthals a bad name.

I am not at all opposed to wokeness if it causes people to realize that there are offensive behaviors and discriminatory language to which we all ought to be sensitive and not use. But that’s now. Not in 1950.

That was Mr. Trump’s question to the gathered loyalists in Orlando on February 28. “Do you miss me yet?”

It’s now official. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia green lit the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. As if there was ever a doubt that such an event could occur in a Saudi Embassy without his knowledge. And President Biden’s response to this latest, non-surprising information is—nothing!

I got to know Scott Gottlieb when we were both working on Capitol Hill in 2009. Scott was then a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a prominent think tank. He was also a real practicing hospitalist. He still is at AEI but since 2009 he has served as President Trump’s first FDA Commissioner (2017-2019) and before 2009 he was a government official at both the FDA and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) which runs those two large government programs. Scott was a frequent witness at congressional hearings during the run up to the Affordable Care Act representing the Republican point of view.

Both conservatives and liberals have distorted views of government. The conservatives aspire to Ronald Reagan’s view that “government is the problem.” Really? The essential roles for the United States government as laid out in the Preamble to the Constitution suggest otherwise.