Wrong, wrong, wrong! Prognoses – Trump and Ukraine.

It was not strep throat. The home test was negative. Equally significant to me, whereas strep use to linger forever, this sore throat went away after four (agonizing) days.

The nebulizer did nothing to prevent it. Because I used the same saline solution for three months, it might have gone bad and exacerbated the problem. I will keep it around, but it is not a magic bullet and I will definitely keep the water fresh.

The family was wonderful. Women never outgrow the little girl urge to play nurse. You know I’m sick when I’m weak enough to put up with it.

I was delighted to let Oksana wash the dishes, get the kids ready and take them to school.  I tolerated medications that I knew would not do me any good, confident that they probably wouldn’t hurt me, either. 

I slept and read.  “Butchered by Healthcare,” by Robert Yoho, is a sweeping analysis of what is wrong with every aspect of the healthcare system: doctors, hospitals, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, insurance… the whole works.  Every person and entity, top to bottom, is exposed to conflicts of interest.  Relatively few have the integrity to do what they purport to do, put the patient’s interests first.

Nearing retirement age, Yoho was ushered out of the medical community for being a little too truthy.  The book’s greatest virtue is that he recognizes the vast power disparity between a sick person and the system that he is asked to trust to cure him, and gives practical advice.  I was hearing the same thing from my retirement-age family doctor and dentist when I left the US two decades ago.  I do not think they are any better educated here in Ukraine – probably worse.  On the other hand, the system is not nearly as distorted by greed.  My operating assumption is that our doctors are usually well-meaning, but not terribly well prepared and not privy to useful, unbiased information on treatments.  They might kill me, but they won’t leave my widow broke.

“Immune,” by Phillip Dettner, is an anomaly. Dettner runs a 40-person company providing graphics to describe medical processes, presumably for government and the medical establishment. He asks the reader to accept what seems like extreme condescension, childish descriptions of the various elements of the immune system. However, after accepting being talked down to, I have to concede that his descriptions give me a better understanding than those of scholars Jessica Rose and others that I have been reading on Substack. He has accomplished his objective.

Dettner, with a company to run, doesn’t court any controversy. He talks about T cells without venturing into AIDS. His treatment of vaccines is totally mainstream. He is an advocate, the kind I was seeking when I recently reviewed Paul Offit’s “Deadly Choices.” Those of you looking for an authoritative advocate of vaccines should read this book.  I will pay close attention as I finish the book, looking to point out discrepancies between his account and what I have read in other books such as “Dissolving Illusions.”

More on these two books when and if I get around to writing reviews. This is been an eventful week in other ways.

First of all, Kamala Harris has collapsed. Her interview with Brett Baier was a disaster. The entire Internet community is laughing viciously at the ineptitude of her commercials aimed at white men. Donald Trump absolutely dismembered both Kamala and Tim Walz at the Al Smith dinner. Joe Biden, Barack Obama, the Clintons and other Democrat heavyweights are keeping their distance, not being much help. At this point it looks like Trump will win. What then?

I don’t know that it will make much difference in Ukraine. I am in a minority expecting that since both Ukraine and Russia are exhausted, and our European and American supporters are likewise exhausted and on the brink of bankruptcy, that there will be some uncomfortable negotiated settlement sooner rather than later. It will be hard to achieve – there are not any obvious borders to be chosen, and nobody will be happy with the way that it ends.

My prediction, informed by a lot of posts on the admittedly pro-Russian YouTube, is that Russia will suffer some sort of an internal collapse. In the news right now is the flap in Chechnya and Dagestan over Wildberries Internet store. Read about it on Wikipedia and the Moscow Times. It's a very convoluted story of depravity and corruption. Probably not enough in itself to shake the regime to the core, but it is one of so many that portend badly for Putin's reign.

The markets seem quite excited about Trump’s probable win. Precious metals and Bitcoin have been on a tear. That’s half the equation. The other half is the stock market collapse, which has felt to like it was impending for months on end, as the indices kept on bulling to new all-time highs. We may be in a fool’s paradise, the lull before the storm, but I’m not going to object.

That’s enough for today from Lake WeBeGone. I’ll write more often now that I’m feeling better.

Graham