Althouse

"And if you are Donald Trump and you pull off such spectacular military successes and then get the reinforcement of the praise and the fear, it's self-reinforcing. And that's why you see him now saying, well what about Greenland? What about Cuba? What about regime change in Iran? Is he just going to continue to get lucky in all these circumstances? We don't know, we're still very early in the presidency... [I]t's true that the Europeans are now spending more on their defense. Donald Trump has managed to get them to do something that other presidents have not. And he should be credited for that. But... America's traditional allies will not go back to the way they were in terms of trusting America.... Even if we do get some restorationist type figure who's saying... you know, everyone needs to hold hands. They've now had this lived experience of an American president that says, we're gonna take this territory. And you know, to hell with you, you're just gonna have to live with it...."

The NYT reports.

"...to disarming police because street violence was usually down to 'some trigger-happy cop in a fear frenzy.' He also cut his hair off so he could refer to his Democratic rival in debates as 'my long-haired opponent.' This might have seemed a satire of politics, populism as a joke, but Thompson was very serious. 'There is common sense in the apparent madness of my campaign,' he told an audience ahead of polling day. 'I am not running for sheriff in the traditional sense, but to help get hold of our destiny and begin controlling development.' He wouldn’t try to force changes, but encourage referendums and create a legal advisory board of lawyers to sit with select citizens to consult with the sheriff’s department. 'We either have a participating democracy or a police state.'... To Thompson, a 'freak' was 'not a beast roaming the streets chewing drugs, but someone who is spiritually disenfranchised, who has not wanted to participate in government.'... Thompson’s individualism... feels at odds with the community spirit and citizen participation required to realise the ascendancy of the collective good.... 'Unfortunately,' Thompson said in his 1970 concession speech, 'I proved what I set out to prove… that the American Dream really is fucked.'..."

From "Hunter S Thompson’s freaks have overrun America/The pioneer of gonzo chronicled his people’s wild descent – and saw what his country has now become" by. Barney Horner (New Statesman).The boldface is my nudging to tell you that I see what maybe you see: "We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism."

FLASHBACK: 1989 JOE BIDEN would love what President Trump just did:

"Let's go after the drug lords where they LIVE! With an international strike force. NO safe haven for narco-terrorists."
pic.twitter.com/XlrSGiHnoZ

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 5, 2026

Said a man who's wife lost a lot of weight on Ozempic, in "Marriage and Sex in the Age of Ozempic: An Update," today's episode of the NYT podcast "The Daily." (Link goes to audio and transcript at Podscribe.)

"... how his daughter went from being sectioned for anorexia to being affirmed in her trans identity by all the adults in her life except him, how she was given a prescription for testosterone after one online session with a counsellor, and how this was injected by her local NHS GP with no blood tests or clinical evaluation.... J was diagnosed with autism aged 13. At 14 she was sectioned because she had become severely malnourished.... Before she was sectioned, J had told her parents that she was a lesbian, and then she and her best friend said that they were in fact boys in a gay relationship. 'These are two autistic girls who were ostracised in school,' says [the father]. After J came out of hospital, she ate nothing for a week. Then her mother made a deal with her: if you start eating, I will let you take the gender drugs.... He remembers the last time he saw her.... 'When she said goodbye, her smile was the same girly shy smile she had as a little girl. Somewhere in there is my daughter.'"

From "Father’s anger at girl’s potentially fatal testosterone dose/The child, who was 15 at the time, was given the prescription by the private GenderGP clinic after one online counselling session" (London Times).

"That drug has healing properties, but it also has other properties that they celebrate that are not just medicine. I think what you might be seeing from mainstream blue communities is concern about looking like weirdo, hippie lefties if they support psychedelics. It also might be a commitment to mainstream medicine. It also could be, politically speaking, skepticism if conservatives like it...."

Said Kyrsten Sinema, quoted in "Kyrsten Sinema Is Ready for Her MAHA Turn/In a new interview, the one-time Democrat says the movement for psychedelic medicine should capitalize on the Trump administration" (Politico).

There's also this about her "ibogaine treatment" to deal with her mental distress over her grandmother’s dementia:

From "Kennedy Walks a Tightrope on Trump Deal for Obesity Drugs/The weight loss medicines are proving to be a test case for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, in straddling divisions between his supporters and the president" (NYT).

I'm reading "Texas AG Paxton files Tylenol lawsuit, taking cues from Trump, Kennedy" (WaPo)(free-access link).

"They’re often talking fast and intensely; they’re amped up; they’re describing what they clearly consider a miracle drug; and they have no intention of lowering their dose, despite the unknown risks or some problems with facial hair. After all, how can they worry about facial hair when they feel so alive?"

From "'I’m on Fire': Testosterone Is Giving Women Back Their Sex Drive — and Then Some/There is no F.D.A.-approved testosterone product for women. Insurance won’t cover it. Many doctors won’t prescribe it. It’s become a cultural phenomenon" (NYT)(free-access link).

Good headline... for a piece in the London Times by James Ball.

"... without Tylenol. He claimed that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, could be a cause of autism, even though doctors say it is safe in moderation. Ms. Martinez immediately contacted her doctor, asking whether she should continue taking pain medication. After hearing that it was OK, she still called her mother in tears, overwhelmed by the fear of being blamed for whatever might go wrong.... In interviews with pregnant women and doctors, they described how Mr. Trump’s announcement added a new wrinkle of worry. As it is, pregnant women do not need to look very far for advice and admonishment; it comes from all directions, even from strangers on the street...."

From "A President’s ‘Surreal’ Advice Worries Pregnant Women/The administration’s guidance to avoid Tylenol and 'tough it out' prompted anxiety, especially for expectant women who face pain" (NYT).

"Why not 'explore all the modes of consciousness available to us'? What might they tell us about 'the relationship between mind and world?'... A specialist in the history and philosophy of science whose next book is a scholarly study of Leibniz, he stressed that he wrote 'On Drugs' stone sober and broke no laws to obtain the substances he ingested for his research.... On a dose 'far more than is recommended,' he experienced an intense 'interpersonal exchange' with Marilyn Monroe, who loomed from a poster on his hotel room wall, and, via YouTube clips... 'Mama Cass suddenly appeared to me as "Mama" in the fullest sense: the fount of my being and the origin of my world.' On yet another trip, he understood that he was no longer any kind of being at all."

From "Psychedelics Blew His Mind. He Wants Other Philosophers to Open Theirs. An intense exchange with Marilyn Monroe sounds silly. But in a new book, Justin Smith-Ruiu is dead serious about what we might learn from altered states" (NYT).

From "Hikers on Psychedelic Mushrooms Are Rescued From New York Wilderness/The hikers, who were in the Catskill Mountains, told officials that they had consumed the hallucinogen and one was experiencing a 'debilitating high.' It was the second such episode in recent months" (NYT).

From "'We've never seen this before': Trump's drug war looks like a real war" (Axios).

The attack marked the first time a suspected "go-fast" drug-running boat was destroyed by a military missile, according to officials and drug-war experts. "There's more where that came from," Trump said in announcing the strike. All other details of the shocking, caught-on-video missile attack are classified, officials said....

What happened Tuesday was "a murder anywhere in the world," Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, wrote on X. "We have been capturing civilians who transport drugs for decades without killing them. Those who transport drugs are not the big narcos, but the very poor, young people from the Caribbean and the Pacific."...

ADDED: "Trump Claims the Power to Summarily Kill Suspected Drug Smugglers/The move to treat criminals as if they were wartime combatants escalated an administration pattern of using military force for law enforcement tasks at home and abroad" (NYT). 

"It is not happening in other countries. It's happening here and we need to look at all of the potential culprits that might be contributing to that."

"The decision to bring the American military into the fight is the most aggressive step so far in the administration’s escalating campaign against the cartels.... The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels.... [D]irecting the military to crack down on the illicit trade also raises legal issues, including whether it would count as 'murder' if U.S. forces acting outside of a congressionally authorized armed conflict were to kill civilians — even criminal suspects — who pose no imminent threat...."

"The order... instructs agencies to prioritize funding for mental health and drug courts — and to not fund 'harm reduction' programs that the administration said facilitate illegal drug use. It also called for agencies to prioritize funding states and cities that to the 'maximum extent' enforce laws on open-air drug use, prohibitions on urban camping, loitering and squatting.... Dozens of states have added to or expanded involuntary commitment laws during the past decade. That includes states controlled by Democrats, an illustration that political momentum has shifted toward a more aggressive approach to dealing with the inextricably intertwined crises of mental health and addiction...."

I'm reading "Trump order pushes forcible hospitalization of homeless people/Trump’s executive order could increase hospitalization of homeless individuals with mental health and substance use disorders" (WaPo).

"... [Dr. Kristen B. Silvia tells meth addicts], an individual’s dopamine levels could rise to, say, 50. 'If you have the best meal ever, the best sex ever, the best day of your life, you can get your levels up to 100.' When someone uses crack... within seconds their levels rise to 300, she continues, 'or three times the best day of your life. 'But on meth, dopamine levels skyrocket to 1,000 and can remain there for hours: 'No medication can safely compete with that.'..."

From "Upended by Meth, Some Communities Are Paying Users to Quit/Unlike with opioids, there is no medication to suppress cravings for meth and other stimulants. As use soars, hundreds of clinics are trying a radically different approach" (NYT).
"[A]ddiction experts worry that under the Trump administration, CM programs will be difficult to sustain, much less expand to meet the need. Many believe that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, who overcame his heroin addiction with a 12-step program and has praised approaches that threaten to jail people who refuse treatment, would be unlikely to endorse a financial rewards-based strategy...."

"... and I have begun to wonder why I’d liked it in the first place. It’s extraordinary. I used to spend all day thinking about what to buy and what to cook and how much everyone would love it and how much I would love it, and now I can’t even get a flatbread down me. If I were living on my own, that would be fine. I would have virtually nothing in my fridge except a bit of smoked salmon and some vegetables and fruit. But I’m still living with three out of my four children and there has always been this coming together as a family to eat delicious food prepared by me — it has always felt very bonding. So they were rather taken aback when it got to the first Sunday of my weight-loss journey and no roast appeared. 'Oh, are we having a roast today?' my daughter asked, because she loves a Sunday roast...."