Comey: Another day, another indictment. Bye, Bye Dr. Makary. The Reflecting Pool.

Comey: Another day, another indictment. Bye, Bye Dr. Makary. The Reflecting Pool.

Comey: Another day, another indictment

The former FBI director, one of many on the president’s hit list, has been hit with another indictment. This time for the silly “86-47” seashell photo from a trip to the beach. I haven’t heard the argument that the shells just randomly arranged themselves that way, but I wouldn’t be shocked if that were not forthcoming. The seashell photo appeared over a year ago but I guess Trump’s acting attorney general Todd Blanche knows that if he wants to get the job then he must aggressively pursue Trump’s enemies, no matter how flimsy or absurd the charges. Comey, you may recall, was the FBI director who as had overseen the early investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign had coordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the presidential election – aka the Russia hoax.

The number “86” may be interpreted as “eliminate” and “47” refers to Trump – the 47^th president. The indictment charges Comey with “knowingly and willfully” making a threat to “take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the president and with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.” I predict the outcome will be Comey 2 Trump 0.

Bye bye Dr. Marty Makary

The president professes to hate the Wall Street Journal. He sued the paper and its owner Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion over an article saying that he sent a letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 that featured the drawing of a nude woman. The president said “We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal.” The suit – not surprisingly – was dismissed.

Well if the president hates the Journal then why did he fire Homeland Secretary Kristi (ex-border Barbie) soon after it ran a hit piece on her relationship with Corey Lewandowski and her excessive spending on self-promotion? Not to mention the disaster that unfolded with ICE in Minneapolis. One day he was praising her. The next day she was gone.

Well it has happened again. The Journal does not like Dr. Marty Makary, the FDA commissioner – take a number. It has been relentless in attacking him in a series of articles. The articles, mention that first the president was angry at Makary for moving slowly to authorize the approval of flavored vapes and nicotine products. Makary was reluctant to do so because of the impact on young people and refused to approve menthol, mango and blueberry vape flavors from Los Angeles manufacturer Glas. The president, on the other hand, wanted the flavors approved precisely to help gain the favor (flavor?) of young MAGA voters. Makary folded and the flavors were approved. Don’t you think that an inquiring press would have looked into the relationship between Glas and the Trump family? Where are the headlines “TRUMP WANT YOUTH HOOKED ON NICOTINE”?

Once upon a time the administration was full of praise for Makary releasing a statement saying “The only factor guiding the Trump administration’s health policymaking is Gold Standard Science, and the FDA under Commissioner Makary’s trailblazing leadership will continue to make evidence-based decisions that rectify the Biden administration’s missteps and that are in the best interest of the American people.” A White House official said the president had confidence in Makary and was “thrilled with his accomplishments.”

But then came the critical articles. I reported on Dr. Makary’s rejection of rare disease drugs. He and the FDA’s former biologics chief Dr. Vinay Prasad rejected a promising melanoma drug among others. The Journal said “The rejection will have a chilling effect on drug development by signaling that the FDA is slamming the door on accelerated approvals and requiring a level of evidence of efficacy that fewer cancer drugs could meet. Congress ought to haul in Drs. Makary and Prasad for questioning. And President Trump might ask why his choice for FDA Commissioner and the mess with Dr. Prasad have undermined his desire for faster cures.”

Makary has also been roundly criticized on personnel decisions with firings and leavings of key personnel. The latest piece in the Journal appeared on May 3 entitled “President’s Trump Marty Makary problem” by Allysia Finley. In it she asks “Has any Trump administration official caused more political headaches for the president than Marty Makary? His Food and Drug Administration has turned into a soap opera, with real lives hanging in the balance.” She mentions the melanoma therapy rejection and says “Dr. Makary decided patients shouldn’t have the right to try the drug. Ditto a gene therapy by UniQure for the brutal neurodegenerative Huntington’s Disease, which slowed progression by 75% in a clinical trial.” Congress has started investigating complaints from FDA staff and Makary is making the president’s life more difficult as the midterms are approaching. After listing complaint after complain Finley concludes “It’s time for Mr. Trump to pull the plug on the Makary show.”

And it seems that he has. The leader of this disaster at the FDA (and the CDC) is the MAHA guru Robert Kennedy jr. I really don’t know how Kennedy has somehow avoided the wrath of the president. But it is only a matter of time.

Trump’s reflecting pool

Its probably no big deal but Washington’s reflecting pool is being painted blue. The firm Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a no-bid $6.8 million contract to do the job. Just coincidentally, the company renovated a pool at the president’s Virginia golf course. The president said “You’re going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool, the way it’s supposed to be. Much better than it ever was actually.” The president said “I know a guy.” Actually he said “I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools. He looked at it. He

called me up. He said, ‘Sir, we can do something on it.’” One critic said that under Trump he renovations and changes had “become a secretive project where the friends and business associates of the president are being rewarded with no public scrutiny”.

No kidding. I just wonder if the reflecting pool will still reflect? Well some group instantly appeared to sue to stop the blue paint job. The complaint filed by the Cultural Landscape Foundation says “The vivid blue coating will fundamentally alter the visual and experiential character of the pool and the broader Lincoln Memorial Grounds landscape, The new coloration will cause the pool to resemble a large swimming pool rather than the reflective civic landscape it was designed to be, distorting the experience of the site for the millions of visitors who come to it each year.”

Yep, I think that says that the Reflecting Pool won’t reflect.