Common Senselessness

Trump doesn’t need to invalidate the 22nd Amendment to make the next four years seem like eight.

“I have common sense, OK?” Trump said when pressed what evidence he had to give credence to the blame he piled on the Biden and Obama administrations. “Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/30/politics/donald-trump-dc-plane-crash/index.html

A Cancer Story

I’m originally from the Midwest. My big sister returned there to attend university, and she’s lived there ever since. When her best friend passed away, I was surprised to learn that the woman’s sister lived a thousand miles away, just half a mile from me. After my cancer diagnosis last year, I was further surprised to hear that the nearby sister had exactly the same cancer I did.

We met four times for long talks. First, after my diagnosis; second, after the surgery; third, in the middle of my treatments; finally, while I was recovering. Her cancer was more advanced than mine, and she had been undergoing treatments for eleven years. In between visits we texted words of encouragement.

Her last message was on January 3. She passed away yesterday.

Perhaps my cancer will return and the same fate awaits me. There’s no point in worrying about that now. I’m mourning the death of my new friend.

HIT Me!

If I weren’t retired from my former, longtime place of employment, I would be keeping a close watch on the government’s Healthcare Information Technology site. Maybe I should do that anyway, considering the possibility that RFK, Jr. will have control of the Dept. of HHS.

https://www.healthit.gov/

There’s skuttlebutt that this Texas organization of small and rural hospitals wants to negotiate as a single entity with Epic Systems.

https://www.torchnet.org/

Community hospitals and critical access hospitals are the one remaining American market for software that Epic doesn’t dominate. Or, should I say, doesn’t yet dominate.

Epic manages up to 80% of non-military American medical records. If Epic makes a significant gain into the remaining 20%, that will squeeze out my former employer, which has been struggling to regain its footing for almost fifteen years, since the HITECH Act within ARRA went into effect. It’s a bitter irony that Epic runs on software technology created by my former employer, and Epic was a customer of ours during its formative years.

Update: RFK, Jr. is now head of the Department of HHS. If the bird flu becomes communicable between humans, with a fatality rate of up to 50%, say buh-bye to civilization.