Free

You know, now and then I get to put out good news here too. 

An NYT notification popped up on my phone yesterday about a billion dollar donation to a medical school in the Bronx. I was intrigued of course, so I clicked the link. 

A professor of disabilities and literacy programs made the donation. The money - mostly unknown to her - came from her husband's estate, as he had done well in his career. 

As having worked in healthcare and been on the business end of administering donor requests, almost all donations come with some kind of parameters on what the givers want it to go towards. Some are extremely specific and I've seen some funds never touched, as sometimes they are tough to spend, believe it or not. 

Ruth Gottesman had only one request:  use the money so medical students do not have to pay for medical school. 

Boom. Period. That's it. 

The money is enough to have this go on in perpetuity. 

The money is enough that the medical school could have been renamed for her. Most donations have levels ($1.5 million to have a Chair named for you, etc). As this is Albert Einstein Medical School, Ms. Gottesman figured that they can't do better than Albert Einstein and declined the offer. 

It is horribly generous - though maybe her kids think differently? - and will be a huge help to those who come out riddled with debt. 

Personally, I would have attached a few caveats to this gift. For instance, the forseeable future, fewer and fewer students are selecting certain specialties - neurology, for one. Even fewer (read: almost none) are going into brain health and memory. That is going to be a HUGE issue and very soon, as the population ages and dementia and Alzheimers cases continues to rise. There will be even fewer people to care of these patients. 

I'm sure there are others too that need bolstering. Along with nursing programs. 

I say keep the tuition free, IF someone chooses a certain speciality path. As the needs of medical circumstances changes over time, so can the need on how those funds get dispersed.  Just my $0.02. 

Either way, it might get people into medicine who wanted that career but couldn't take on the debt. 

Good for Ms. Gottesman. Good for Albert Einstein.  The college......not the man. 

Song by: Florence + the Machine

Sound of Silence

If I have to see that fucking video clip of "Dr." Brix listening to BLOTUS talk about bleach, I am going to lose my shit (well, more than I already do).  ....especially, the "I feel your pain" portion.

I do NOT feel her pain.

I'd like to add to it, should she have any at all, but I don't feel it.  To paraphrase Melanoma's jacket, I don't care; do u?  (that might be a direct quote, actually.)

That twat (and I'm being kind) in all her scarfy badness (honestly, another GOP leaning woman who doesn't have a gay friend to just tell her, "no!"?), has a medical degree (allegedly) and a voice. In whatever role she has, she uses neither of these.

It is my personal opinion that the AMA should revoke her medical license.

She is complicit in the BLOTUS web of lies, deceit and continual medical information he puts forth - up to and including the injecting bleach bullshit. Her silence is nothing more than a free pass to this gasbag of a president. No, he doesn't get that uppercased, he hasn't earned it.

But Brix has stood there, day after day after day, listening to this dick ramble on about it will be like a miracle and one day it will just disappear, or that it wasn't a thing at all, or that warmer weather in April will kill it.

She is allegedly an infectious disease doc. I have yet to hear any ID doc who doesn't quite toe the line in terms of medical data and science. So, she's just as guilty as BLOTUS with her silence. It's almost like lying by omission.

So spare me the, "oh look at the look on her face" bullshit.

If keeping her job of standing on the podium behind BLOTUS is more important to her than, oh you know, her 'first do no harm' job, her Hippocratic Oath has already become a Hypocratic one.

Fuck her.


Song by: Simon & Garfunkle

Time

It has to just burn in BLOTUS' craw that almost no matter what happens the rest of 2020, that in April of this year, Anthony Fauci has already secured Time's Person of the Year.

I would think even a Biden landslide wouldn't sway Dr. Fauci from this position.  .....and rightfully so

I am not 100% sure BLOTUS can even fire Fauci. He's twated he should be canned, but if he were the one to do it, why wouldn't he just do it?

Should the National Institutes for Health and / or the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease terminate Dr. Fauci, I think there would be hell to pay.

But I don't put it past BLOTUS to withhold NIH funding should he not get his way.

Fauci could and would be a martyr should any firing transpire. On another note, he'd also be off the hook to how much he's probably been holding back. I can only imagine the tv appearances he can do - telling tales of White House incompetence.  In theory, that show could last longer than the 30 year run of the Simpsons.

I did not watch BLOTUS' meeting yesterday. I almost never do, as I get so upset.  Someone said it was 'off the rails'.  Yeah - I've heard that1.032 times since he's taken office. I don't believe there is a 'rock bottom' for this guy anymore. And even IF off the rails, no one is stopping him - nor does it look like they're even trying to. I did see that FINALLY, both MSNBC and CNN used the word 'propaganda' in their headlines.

Maybe this administration (read: president) will finally just completely melt down.


But congratulations to Dr. Anthony Fauci for his future success.



Song by: Alan Parsons Project