Ask Dr. Frist

Ask Dr. Frist

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Last month, with the Terri Schiavo case at its most hyped, two physicians, who also happen to be Republican legislators, offered free medical advice in an extraordinary melding of their legal and political vocations.

With nothing but a short videotape to aid them, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), a heart and lung surgeon, and Representative Dave Weldon (R-FL), an internist, felt able to rebut the diagnoses of numerous neurological specialists who had examined Schiavo. The reps contended from their film viewing that she “[seemed] to respond to visual stimuli,” cleverly suggesting, without actually asserting so, that the doctors on the case were wrong. Saying he “spoke more as a doctor than a senator,” Frist went further, adding that “there seems to be insufficient information to conclude” that Schiavo was in a “persistent vegetative state” that would justify allowing her to die.

But maybe Frist and Weldon are on to something and this diagnoses-by-videotape is the wave of the future. And since these doctor-legislators seem so willing to help out needy citizens, why not consider clicking here to ask if they’d be willing to diagnose your ailment as well. With fifty million Americans currently uninsured, many folks could really use their pro bono expertise.

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No to Bolton

John Bolton’s nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations took a hit on Tuesday when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unexpectedly decided to spend three more weeks investigating allegations against the nominee. Please take this short reprieve to click here and ask your rep to vote no to Bolton. (For info on why Bolton is a terrible choice, read recent pieces by The Nation‘s UN correspondent Ian Willams and the magazine’s Washington editor David Corn.)

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

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Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

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Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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