…to Democrats and Republicans
“A plague on both (political) houses” appears to be the dominant sentiment in the US key swing voters’ section that calls the shots in presidential elections in the US. Trump has been anointed by the Republicans and Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) will soon get the treatment by the Democrats. But apart from the diehard faithfuls in both camps, there’s something more than ennui operating in what we may call “independents”.
However, while there’s some residual rancour against Trump from some of the old-line Republican establishment, at a rank outsider leading the charge for another stab at the White House, their ranks might be augmented from the fallout from some of the non-Republican stands Trump took at the convention. Praising the LGBTQ demographic to the yahoos in the Deep South – who still believe in “men should be men” and women should be their little helpers – didn’t earn Trump any kudos from that quarter.
But Trump’s biggest gamble was not just to present himself as an outsider who can clean up Washington – but to do so by erasing most of the pro-business gains under the Clinton, Bush and Obama Administrations. Now some businessmen might take his promise to clean up corruption, cronyism and nepotism in Government dealings with business – because he’s played the system as an insider – with a grain of salt.
But when he talks about repealing the Glass-Steagall Act that permits commercial banks to play the market with depositors’ funds, Wall Street businessmen won’t roll over and play dead. And ditto to his proposal to scuttle the new mega trade pacts like TPP that give business the upper hand in allowing them to take sovereign nations to court. You can be sure they’re getting together to decide how to put a spoke into Trump’s spokes. But then how many votes can they muster?
But over in the Democratic camp, things are even worse for HRC. The revelation that Debbie Schultz of the Democratic National Committee bent the rules during the primaries to torpedo Rodham’s rival Bernie Sanders isn’t going to be assuaged his partisans’ anger by her resignation. Especially when she announced immediately Schultz will be joining her team!! That’s just rubbing salt into Bernie’s substantial base of young, idealistic progressives.
What all of this adds up to is that the unthinkable might just happen, come November: Trump might just squeeze ahead of HRC into the White House. While he’s dragging the Republican Party in a new direction and alienating some party members, he doesn’t elicit the visceral hatred Rodham does in Democrats and independents.
And hatred is the catalyst for mono-digital salutes!
…by nurses to Doctors
The slow burn that nurses usually nurse for doctors because of their suspicion that the latter see them as doormats, finally spilled out into the open. And as usual, when “mout’ open, story jump out”. It appears that at the GPHC, the nurses had long moved from the passive-aggressive behaviour they usually exhibit to doctors. You know…like pretending not to understand instructions and taking their sweet time in responding to calls.
The nurses have actually declared they know more about medicine than the doctors…who commit all sorts of medical blunders resulting even in deaths of patients! This is a most serious charge…and with the Minister of Health himself being a doctor who practised at GPHC, an indictment of his own abilities.
The nurses’ charges must be examined by a Commission of Inquiry immediately. Unlike the usual hyperbole, lives are actually at stake here.
Not to mention the reputation of doctors who’ve spent half-a-decade just to START practising medicine.
…to the WICB
The innings+ drubbing of the West Indies Test Team by India is more of a mono-digital salute to the WICB than the cricket team they selected by a process than’s more opaque than octopus’ ink.
When will Caricom reciprocate?
