Losing My Perspicacity March 7, 2025

Good morning and Happy Free Friday! Thanks for starting your day with me.

Let’s start the day with a couple of bits of good news:

• On Wednesday, a federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration from drastically cutting NIH funds earmarked for medical research. Trump sought to revoke hundreds of millions of dollars set aside to research cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases. While the NIH was already blocked from cutting the funds, Wednesday’s ruling was a preliminary injunction, which extends the block for a longer period while the case winds its way through the courts.

• A federal judge also found yesterday that Trump’s firing of the National Labor Relations Board chairwoman was “a blatant violation of the law” and ordered her reinstated. As part of her ruling, Judge Beryl Howell wrote, “An American president is not a king.” The DOJ, of course, has appealed.

• Lawyers scrambled to file supplemental documents this week, after Trump told the entire world during his SOTU that Elon Musk was in charge of DOGE. The problem? Because Musk was never confirmed by Congress, DOJ lawyers have been insisting to federal judges in cases suing DOGE that Amy Gleason, not Musk, is the one in charge. Whoops.

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Today: RFK Jr wants to send me to a farm; Dems have tried nothing, and they’re all out of ideas; Google News tips into propaganda; And the good news and bad news about the WTA getting paid maternity leave.

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On RFK Jr, depression, and farms

Today, I read Anna Hamilton’s piece on RFK Jr.’s idea that “wellness farms” will “cure” those of us with mental illness and wean us off medications like SRRIs and Ritalin. If this is the first you’re hearing of this plan, I swear I’m not making this up.

That got me thinking about the well-meaning(?) people who post a pastoral picture of a mountain next to a picture of gel caps, then write something like, “One of these is an anti-depressant, the other is poison. “This exact post once caused me to unfollow and block someone I’ve known since childhood. Here’s another, which took me 20 seconds to find on social media.

Aside from the people who post these memes being flat-out wrong, their hubris is staggering. I would never presume to tell someone with diabetes or lupus what medications they should take. Yet, when it comes to mental illness, a significant segment of society is convinced that the cure is just “sucking it up.”

I take medication for both depression and ADHD. Looking back, my constant cart-wheeling and flipping through the house (often kicking family members in the face in the process) should have tipped my parents off, but girls weren’t diagnosed with ADHD back then, especially girls who behaved in school and got good grades. All my hyperactivity takes place inside my brain. Like millions of other women around the globe, I didn’t get my ADHD diagnosis until much later in life. While I don’t necessarily understand the science of taking a stimulant to calm my mind, I can tell you that every aspect of my life is better when I’m on my medication, which allows me to move through tasks one at a time in a way that makes sense to me, rather than sitting, paralyzed, because too many thoughts at once have immobilized me.

I was diagnosed with depression when I was in law school. I’m sure plenty of people don’t believe I’m actually depressed — I’m generally very social and outgoing when I’m with people, and I’m loud and like to make people laugh. What people don’t see are the days when I can’t even get out the door, the days when all I can do is sleep, or the times when I don’t want anyone else around — including those I love — for days or weeks. They don’t see the way my mind lies to me, telling me everyone hates me, that I’m worthless, that everyone is whispering about me. That every time a friend is out of touch for a few days, I’m certain they’ve left me for good because I’m not worth having as a friend. They didn’t see all the times, when speeding down a 4-lane Chicago highway, my depression told me that, with a slight turn of the wheel into the barrier, I could finally have peace.

Above all, depression is a liar.

I’m lucky that I have a great therapist and have found medications that work for me. Others who came before me, on both sides of my family, weren’t so lucky. Alcoholics abound, as does the odd suicide and those with mood disorders who made the lives of everyone around them miserable.

The idea that spending time in a beautiful outdoor setting would cure my depression is laughable. I’ve been in many gorgeous settings, including living in rural France, in Geneva, Switzerland, and at the foot of Pike’s Peak in Colorado Springs — all of which feature mountains, none of which cured my mental illness. If RFK Jr. wants to send me on an all-expenses paid trip to a wellness farm, I’m all in. I would love the break. Just don’t try to take away my meds. Also, there should be miniature baby cows.

Neurotypical people, I think, sometimes make the mistake of thinking that mental illness medication is a “cheat code” or something people like me use to make our problems go away. This is ridiculous. SSRIs don’t make my life perfect, but they do get me back to 0, so I don’t mentally start every day at a -10. I still get sad, angry, depressed, disconsolate. I still have the full range of emotions of a “normal” human. I just no longer think about yeeting myself off a cliff because @BigBall97 called me “fat” on social media. I’m able to regulate my emotions like everybody else.

There’s a weird connection these days between “wellness” influencers and right-wing fascism, which I first heard someone say around the time of January 6, 2021, and has been borne out since. While I’d love to believe that there’s no way Congress/the American people would allow RFK Jr. to limit access to medications and send the mentally ill to “wellness farms,” I also never thought I’d see the end of the Department of Education or Social Security, both of which are becoming more likely by the day.

Please trust that those of us who take these medications do so in constant conversation with doctors who have studied mental illness for decades. The meds can be expensive, come with side effects, and are a pain in the ass to remember to take. No one is doing this just for the hell of it. And we’re definitely not taking medical advice from a former heroin addict who thinks cod liver oil is an effective treatment for measles.

The Dems are flailing

By now, I think it’s safe to say that Congressional Democrats were in no way prepared for Trump’s second Presidency. Rather than starting off from a posture of harm reduction and stopping Trump from burning down the federal government/democracy, too many Dems approached Trump and their Republican counterparts from a position of bipartisan collegiality.

It took weeks before Dems were able to mount any pushback to Elon Musk and DOGE, who gained access to all of our private information in the meantime. Even during Tuesday’s SOTU, the party couldn't mount a coordinated protest, with some members walking out, some wearing pink, and some holding up little auction signs. The only Democrat who showed any evidence of a spine was Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who was summarily shown the door while his colleagues sat silently by and watched.

Today, 10 Democrats joined Republicans in censuring Green for shouting down Trump’s falsehoods.

It’s certainly a choice to sit by silently while the President of the United States repeatedly lies to the nation and then vote to discipline the one person who had the guts to try to shout him down. Was this country not founded by people who tarred and feathered the opposition? When did we become concerned about decorum and politeness above truth, justice, and democracy?

If you have a moment, listen to what Jamie Raskin, who is nearly always on the right side of the issue, had to say.

I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that, after the vote, House Democrats sang We Shall Overcome in a circle around Green. Then they posted this:

What are we doing here, people? More to the point, why can’t Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer get control of their party members? Not only did 10 Dems vote to censure their colleague for daring to call out the truth, but 15 Dems voted to advance Trump’s anti-union nominee for Secretary of Labor. I can’t wait to see how the “yay” votes justify that when union leadership demands an explanation.

After everything that’s happened in the last two months, after watching the DOJ go after trans service members, after watching Trump’s administration call every person who isn’t a cishet white male a “DEI hire,” after Trump is dismantled every program Biden put in place to pull American out of the COVID pandemic, and after America has sided with Russia and against our NATO allies, Democrats are still voting with the GOP in some misguided “bipartisan” delusion.

Of course Trump, DOGE, and the GOP are running roughshod over America — there are zero consequences to them doing so. What do they have to lose?

It’s long past time for the old guard to step aside and let those who are willing to stand and fight do so. Let’s set up some primaries. Just tell me where to send my money.

I guess “Don’t Be Evil” no longer applies

For many years, the motto and guiding principle at Google was “Don’t Be Evil.” I’m presuming that is no longer the case, as Google News is running White House Press Statements, which are rife with misinformation and flat-out lies, alongside legitimate news stories. Take a look:

I grabbed that screenshot yesterday, but I see these every single day. It’s naked propaganda from the White House, and I have no explanation for why Google is taking part in this, other than the obvious bending of the knee to fascism.

The good news is there is something we can do! If you head over to Google News and click on your profile, you can “Submit Feedback” and let Google know exactly how you feel about this turn, as we did with the Gulf of America nonsense.

I promise you’ll feel better afterward.

The WTA gets paid maternity leave

This is a case of “I don’t know how to feel.”

The Good News: The WTA is getting paid maternity leave. Yay!

The Bad News: The maternity leave is being paid by the Saudi Wealth Fund, which is controlled by the Saudi Arabian Government.

On one hand, this is great news for the women of the WTA, and women’s sports in general. On the other, the money is coming from a regime that is currently imprisoning women as “terrorists” for the crime of feminism. I’ve written multiple times about Manahel al-Ohaibi, who is currently serving 11 years in a Saudi prison for promoting women’s rights and dressing “immodestly.” Al-Otaibi claims she was tortured by Saudi officials, who refused to disclose her whereabouts until the UN got involved, which resulted in a broken leg and other injuries. In 2024, she was stabbed in the face in prison. Let’s not forget her.

I’m not keen on getting rights for some women at the expense of the rights of others.

The High Note

Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.

Because there’s never a bad time for Joni Mitchell, please enjoy Amanda Seyfried playing the dulcimer and singing “California.”

Have a great weekend.

Survive and advance. Don’t let the bastards get you down.