"When the well is dry, they know the worth of water."

"When the well is dry, they know the worth of water." -- Benjamin Franklin

So. The whole water thing.

Motor difficulties can also accompany neurological disease, such as dementia. I noted in my April 24 post about dementia that the only motor symptom I had noted in Cheeto McFrogFace was his fear in going down stairs. This is a long time behavior of his. I told you then that I'd be on the lookout for new motor symptoms. That time is now.

We do now have a new impaired functional motor act that has raised eyebrows around the globe, including mine. It's the water thing.

Several times in recent weeks, SCROTUS has been observed to drink water in a very infantile way. He uses both hands, and sometimes he tips his head forward and back in an awkward way instead of tipping the cup or bottle like most folks. 

Here he is in action.

In February, 2017:





On November 15, 2017:

And just a couple weeks ago, December 18, 2017:

Why would someone hold a cup with two (tiny) hands? Tremor, incoordination, or spasms, perhaps. 

Does 45 have a neurological disorder that is contributing to all of his symptoms, from his speech and language problems, to his cognitive problems, to his behavior problems, to his motor difficulties? 

There are several possibilities besides the dementias, which have motor difficulties as a prominent feature. Consider Parkinson's Disease. He may have a tremor, and thus uses both hands to steady his sippy cup. Parkinson's disease often has a concomitant dementia. One common type of dementia that often accompanies Parkinson's disease is Lewy Body dementia. It is particularly nasty. But neither his motor patterns nor his speech patterns scream PD to me. 

Perhaps multiple sclerosis? There can be cognitive difficulties with this disease as well. But motor difficulties are the primary feature, and I suspect it would be more obvious before now.

Myasthenia Gravis? There are studies that suggest that this muscle-weakening disease can also have a cognitive component. I don't see the tell-tale ptosis of the eyes,  do you? No, his beady little rat-eyes look the same as ever.

Drug Use?  Now, this one is worth considering. Have you noticed how he sniff - sniff - sniffs through his speeches? He could be snuffing something. Drug use could account for all of his assorted bizarre behaviors. 

I'll consider ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) only briefly.  A horrible progressive motor neuron disease, ALS typically does not have a cognitive component. An in fact, over the years I have found, as have many in the medical community I have recently learned, that patients with ALS are the nicest people you ever hope to meet. "Niceness" in these patients is so prevalent that some physicians can practically use the characteristic as part of their differential diagnosis process! No, SCROTUS decidedly does NOT have ALS. 

After doing some reading and thinking, I am liking the diagnosis Frontotemporal Dementia. It accounts for his lack of empathy (hell, being a Republican accounts for that! -- to be explored in a future post); his forgetfulness; his inappropriate actions; his lack of judgment; his speech and language difficulties; his getting lost; his lack of insight into his difficulties; as well as his motor difficulties.

Read up on FTD here at UC San Francisco's site or here at the Mayo Clinic's page. Go read, and tell me that these descriptions don't fit 45 to a T.

I'd love to know if his golf cronies have noticed any anomalies on the links, besides his cheating, that is. 

Sarah Sanders has said that Boss Tweet is going to get a physical exam and results will be released publicly. I'll believe that when I see it. And I'd like to see a full neurological work-up as well. Stay tuned. And keep resisting. 

The President's* Speech

"Oh, folks but lately I have been spotted
With a Big Mac on my breath
Stumbling into a Colonel Sanders
With a face as white as death
I'm aftraid someday they'll find me
Just stretched out on my bed
With a handful of Pringles potato chips
And a Ding Dong by my head"  - Larry Groce





I'm following up on my post about the Rabid Yam's slurring a week ago. When I wrote my post, I only knew he that had had difficulties during his Jerusalem speech and that the Whitewash House's official explanation was "dry throat." I suggested that he may have had a transient ischemic attack and, further, that small, mostly imperceptible brain infarcts have caused the dementia which accounts for his behaviors. Now I visit others' analyses.

Many writers suggested that perhaps the orange scourge has ill-fitting dentures.  I didn't address this in my thoughts, because frankly, I didn't think of it!  I don't believe I've seen ill-fitting dentures cause speech problems quite like that. I tried to find if anyone knows if he wears dentures. I found this article from The Atlanta Center for Cosmetic Dentistry which pegged his smile as porcelain veneers, not dentures.

Others have weighed in, treating the issue rather mildly, to my surprise. CNN's article does quote both a Physician and a Speech-Language Pathologist. It's a good write up of the possibilities, but of course, being more restrained than me, they don't offer a diagnosis. ;-)  See the article here.

Andy Borowitz has an excellent explanation, as explained in his New Yorker column:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J.Trump slurred his speech during his announcement about Jerusalem on Wednesday because of “low-battery issues” with Vladimir Putin’s remote, the White House said on Friday. 

Speaking to the White House press corps, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said that Trump’s slurred speech was “a case of what happens when President Putin doesn’t change the batteries in his remote frequently enough.” 

“President Trump makes public appearances several times a day,” Sanders said. “In the course of those appearances, President Putin’s remote can drain its battery very quickly.” 

Calling Putin’s remote-control operation of Trump “far from glitch-free,” Sanders said that there have also been problems with the Russian leader’s attempts to control Trump’s thumbs when he tweets in the early-morning hours. 

“Sometimes President Putin has tried to operate President Trump’s thumbs and there has been the same low-battery issue,” she said. “This has resulted in random capital letters, misspellings, and, in some cases, gibberish.” 

Sanders scolded the press for speculating that Trump’s slurred speech was the result of problems with dentures or his brain. “We are working with tech support to resolve the issue,” she said.

And I include these, because truly, we gotta laugh to keep from crying.







The day after his speech, the Whitewash house announced that he will have a "full physical" at Walter Reed next month. Maybe even by a real doctor!  I've referenced it before, but his pre-election medical report is quite an entertaining document. If you have read any one single physician report, you know that this was ghost-written by Donnie himself. The letter, signed by his personal gastroenterologist, is below.  Here is an excellent analysis from The Atlantic about how bizarre and far-fetched this "medical report" is. I encourage you to read it.

In my early, woefully inaccurate prediction as to the End of his Days, I acknowledged that "death" could be the cause of the end of his Presidency.  Yanno, it may be close to reality.  It's common knowledge -- even Faux News reports -- that his diet consists of Big Macs and buckets of KFC. But come on, he balances all that!  He drinks 12 diet Cokes a day. **Diet!**  Give him credit!

As for exercise, Donnie himself has stated to Dr. Oz (full interview here) that his exercise consists of making speeches while "making a lot of motion" in a room that "is like a sauna." Oh, I can hear you now. "Be fair, Little Sister! He also drives those golf carts around the links!" Ok, ok, that's true. He also has a brilliant theory that exercise depletes one's energy, which is finite. So, he's just storing it up! He'll live forever.

Or not. He may have a stroke tomorrow. He gets Doug Jones in his Senate! (Thank you, Alabama! You did the right thing.)


Thanks for reading, and keep up the resistance! We're doing it!

Strong Women are not Red or Blue

"A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars."  -- Carly Simon

I wrote a few weeks ago about the #MeToo movement, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Men across the land have been held accountable for their actions. Men in the entertainment and media businesses have been shown to the door in quick order. Action against politicians has been slower, but last week we had several lawmakers resign after allegations of sexual misconduct, most notably Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Representative Al Conyers (D-MI).  Their own Democrats, with perhaps a motive made of political high-ground-taking as well as doing the absolute Right Thing, forced them out. The Republican Party seems to be rife with sexual predators, and not only have the pervs been tolerated, they have been lauded -- and elected. But perhaps the momentum is turning.

I was moved with positivity today with more women speaking out, including some Republican women, about sexual misconduct charges.

I have had mixed feelings about Republican Nikky Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations. My esteem of her notched up a tad when she said to CBS's Face the Nation, in talking about her boss's accusers, "They should be heard, and they should be dealt with. And I think we heard from them prior to the election. And I think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up."






Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State under George W Bush and strong woman extraordinaire, without directly mentioning Roy Moore, came out against him, stating to AL.com:

This week's special election will be one of the most significant in Alabama's history. As a native daughter, I remain - at heart - an Alabaman who loves our state and its devotion to faith, family, and country. 

I encourage you to take a stand for our core principles and for what is right. These critical times require us to come together to reject bigotry, sexism, and intolerance.
It is imperative for Americans to remain focused on our priorities and not give way to side shows and antics. 

I know that Alabamans need an independent voice in Washington. But we must also insist that our representatives are dignified, decent, and respectful of the values we hold dear.

Tomorrow Alabamians vote on whether to elect a pedophile to represent them in the 115th Senate of the United States of America. Do the right thing, Alabama.

Since my last post, Time Magazine announced their Persons of the Year: The Silence Breakers.  It was a good choice. The #MeToo movement defined 2017.  Thank you for acknowledging them, Time Magazine, and thank you to the brave women who have broken the silence.

Some of 45's accusers made another appearance with their stories today and called on Congress to step up and investigate their and others' charges of sexual misconduct and ask the Groper-in-Chief to resign. Because it's the right thing to do. Men across the land have been held accountable, and the Odious Orange One should not be immune. Perhaps the time is coming. I don't think there is anything to stop this train of empowerment.  The resistance is working. Keep it up!

"God Bless the United Shashe"

Yesterday SCROTUS gave a speech announcing that he is recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  I'll let others discuss the prudence of that move in context of the greater community (i.e., the WORLD).

No, I'm here to discuss his speech. Not the content of the words, but the quality of his articulation. I'm a Speech Pathologist with <mumble> years of experience (it's a lot of years). The "pathologist" part of me awakens. So, let me weigh in.

Here is a portion of the speech.



L

The Whitewash House's official explanation is that he had a dry throat.  I call "Nonsense!"

A "dry throat" may impact the voice, but he did not exhibit a voice disorder. His voice has normal quality.  His speech is disordered.  He is definitely demonstrating dysarthria.  His productions of /s/ and /z/ particularly are quite distorted, as you can hear in the words "assumptions," "hearts" and "minds".  You can hear the /l/  distorted in "political" and "religious.". And OhEmGee my brain hurts listening to him say, "United Shashe."

Dry throat -- or even a dry mouth for that matter -- does not cause the weakness necessary for such distortions. To hear imprecise speech sounds like that makes me think that there is something neurological going on.  In a previous post, I wrote about the patterns of his language leading me to believe there is a neurrological disorder, and I pegged it as dementia.

An acute, transient dysarthria can be caused by a transient ischemic attack (TIA), a "mini-stroke." My new (disclaimer: completely speculative, not official, and by no means definitive) idea for a diagnosis is multi-infarct dementia. He may be having frequent mini-strokes. This may account for his off-and-on difficulties and the seeming slow, insidious progression of his difficulties. The infarcts associated with multi-infarct dementia can be sub-clinical; that is, not every episode will show symptoms. There can be tiny events throughout the brain, which, when added up, start to become expressed as symptoms or behaviors.

But let's entertain the Whitewash House's whitewash explanation. To have a dry mouth sufficient to interfere with articulation to that degree and of that quality, I'd say might happen with the kind that you get with extreme anxiety. You know the feeling. For that, I'm doubtful. This looks like weakness, pure and simple. And who are we kidding? Has the orange cheeto ever experienced that kind of anxiety talking in public?  And think of it this way: if he has had such extreme dry mouth to cause articulation problems to that extent, there must be an underlying medical problem, even if it's not something so dire as a TIA.

He's not fit. There's something wrong with him. And to keep him in the Rectangle Office (remember, lies are truth and ovals are rectangles) is to tread in dangerous waters, with sharks and Man o' War havin' a party.  Let's keep pushing our lawmakers to remove him from office. The world is getting scary.


Side note: I wanted to add: I have not seen others' interpretations of his speech problems, nor the fun that I'm sure must've been had on Twitter. I wanted to keep my thoughts pure. All I knew was the video and the official explanation. I'll revisit this with another post about the scuttlebutt around the interwebs.

"O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that." -- King Lear

"Laughingstock" and "collusion" were #1 and #3 looked-up words today, according to Merriam-Webster. Yep. Welcome to the USA, 2017 edition.


Here we look at the last week-plus in the Mad, Mad World of the Orange Stain. It's been said before, by me and by many others. Just when you think our situation cannot get more bizarre, it gets more bizarre.

Has anyone else noticed that while we are being smothered by vines in the Upside Down, time seems to warp and meld? Events that occurred five days ago feel like five years ago. Every day, more crazy and concerning incidents pop up. Our brains can only absorb so much at one time. Like in a nightmare, time gets squished.

In just the past week to 10 days, we have witnessed several more "last straws," including:

A President* who retweeted hateful, racist, anti-Muslim videos from Britain First, a racist, fascist British hate group akin to the US's KKK.

Five days ago (or a year ago, take your pick) SCROTUS retweeted anti-Muslim videos posted by a British woman who has been convicted of hate speech. British leaders, most notably Prime Minister Theresa May, became quite upset (welcome to our world) and immediately and soundly rebuked him. Some of them called for the complete ban on Trump setting foot in their country, such as lawmaker David Lammy, who tweeted:

Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no ally or friend of ours. @realDonaldTrump you are not welcome in my country and my city.

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) November 29, 2017

US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were also outraged at the tweets. For example, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who by the way is earning my respect in these dark days, told The Guardian:

“I thought that was particularly unhelpful.” Reporter: In what way? Graham: “I think, one, it legitimizes this group in England. She’s being prosecuted for religious harassment. You don’t want to take a fringe group and elevate its content. I think it also is not the message we need to be sending right now when we need Muslim allies”

Was there anyone in the world who applauded his tweets? Yes! The maker of those extremist, hateful, fascist videos, responded with "GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP" and David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, also applauded, tweeting, "Thank God for Trump! That's why we love him!"

Hate cannot become the new normal. We must resist. 


Last week we also saw a President* doubt Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore's accusers, accept his denials, and go ahead and endorse the pedophile because "we don't need a Liberal in there (the Senate), a Democrat."

Shortly after, it came out that SCROTUS had had the audacity to deny that it was him on the Access Hollywood tape. This, after his acknowledgement nearly 14 months ago that, "I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize" and his continued shrugs that it was "locker room talk," justifying his odious behavior as only a predator can. Yesterday, Billy Bush wrote an editorial in the New York Times, affirming, yes, it was you, you sotted blot.

Misogyny cannot become the new normal. We must resist. 


Last week we also saw.....

A President* who, at a somber ceremony to honor hero Navajo Code Talkers, by means of insulting Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA), used the racial slur "Pocahontas."  By the way, it was a bizarre statement, true to SCROTUS's standards.  He said, "You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.”

****cringe****




Racism cannot become the new normal. We must resist. 



This weekend SCROTUS angrily took aim at his own agencies, the Department of Justice and the FBI, in a series of blistering tweets. He brought up Hillary's emails again (will you please give it a rest?), criticizing the DOJ's handling of the Clinton investigation, and also said the FBI's reputation is "the worst in history" and the agency is "in tatters."

Bullying cannot become the new normal. We must resist.


Recently we also had a President* who lied with this tweet:

Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named “Man (Person) of the Year,” like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2017

Gawd, yes, those interviews and photo shoots are incredibly tiresome! And "PROBABLY"?!  Give me a break. That's not good enough. He won bigly last year. It was a great honer! He deserves it again this year, not some lightweight chocker!

Time denied his account, responding with:

The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6.

— TIME (@TIME) November 25, 2017

Inexplicably, this week he also continued to harp on another of his lies, the whole Obama birth certificate doo-doo, in a private conversation with a Senator, according to the New York Times. Give. It. Up.

Deception and Lies cannot become the new normal. We must resist.



But...but...but...  this week was GREAT for Americans working toward resistance and justice. On Friday we were informed that former National Security Adviser General Mike Flynn flipped and plead guilty to lying to the FBI.  Oh, rejoice was heard across the land! This instigated SCROTUS to implicate himself further in an obstruction of justice charge when he tweeted, "I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!"  Uh-oh...... he knew more than he said he knew then.... his firing of Mr. Comey just got a little more interesting!

Just now, as I'm writing this, it came to light that SCROTUS's attorney admitted to composing that tweet, a day (or a lifetime, in the Upside Down) after it went out and caused a ruckus. One had to surmise it was ghost-written, given it's intelligibility.  So now his lawyer is laying himself on the tracks to try to protect he-who-cannot-be-protected?  <eye roll>  Whoever the source, it is obvious the storm clouds are gathering and panic is settling into the Whitewash House.

Perhaps, just perhaps, we'll ring in the New Year with a Presidential Indictment! Let Freedom ring!






Truth, Love, and Right are winning. Keep up the resistance!