Why I really want to ask minor party 2024 presidential candidates to drop out, but am not doing so.

 I want to write a “letter” (really just this blog post), asking Jill Stein and Chase Oliver to drop out and endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, … but that’s unAmerican and not democratic of me. 

Image credit. This is a screen shot from ballotpedia.org

The full list of 2024 Presidential candidates is crazy long, just look at this dear American registered voter, click this and scroll “FOREVER”!!! Actually 1,212 people!

The reason, I really want to ask the minor party candidates to drop out and endorse Kamala Harris has two parts. 

FEDERAL ELECTIONS 2016: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives

1. The 2016 official final vote count. 

A screen shot of the final numbers from Page 6. Of the US Federal Elections Commission report from 2016. The link to the full .pdf to Read and weep.

The second reason, is not because of who won, but the real reason why I’m writing this blog post is because the US Electoral College is broken and working against the will of the majority of Americans. As evidenced by the 2016 election and 2000 US Presidential Elections where the majority of the American people voted for the candidate who did not win. 

Personally, I’ve never recovered my disillusionment with the failure of our presidential election system Al Gore versus W. Bush in 2000. My ears still sting with “that” News broadcaster calling the election for W. Bush BEFORE the votes were counted!!! I can still see him in my mind’s eye committing treason against the American people pointing at a chart while votes were still rolling in. Haunting my memories I can still hear the lame stream news, in the final days leading up to the that election saying over and over how the candidates were the same?! It was so surreal, it was so obvious (esp. In retrospect) one was for climate change (An Inconvenient Truth … https://algore.com/library/an-inconvenient-truth ) and the other was for drill baby drill. And here we are 24 years later. And for me, THAT election is IMHO is the one that may have destroyed us. The what-ifs are the red line drawn in blood in the sand. 

Could 9/11 been prevented with a different Administration in the White House? Would we be in a more competitive era via technology and renewable energy with a more tech savvy, globally conscious president fighting for us instead of sending us to war in the Middle East? (because 9/11 didn’t happen in this imaginary time-line). But, reality.. You know, deal with it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_in_which_the_winner_lost_the_popular_vote

Soooooooooooo? “Sigh” instead of writing a blog post about why Jill and Chase should drop out and endorse Kamala, it would be better if ALL OF THE CANDIDATES instead endorsed the vote of the American people! 

How? The news media could ask all of the candidates running in the 2024 election if they support a congressional amendment to update the electoral college for free and fair elections. 

The US Electoral College needs to be an issue in this 2024 election. The fact that this process is working against the will of the majority of the American people needs to be addressed and amended. 

The candidates themselves need to make a promise to the American people, that if elected as POTUS they would have a national discussion to prepare an amendment before congress to repair the out of balance electoral college system to fairly represent the vote of the American people to support free and fair elections and the peaceful transition of power. 

And for obvious reasons, we the people can’t get this done during the last less than 50 days of this year’s US presidential election. All we can do as voters is vote for the candidate who promises to support free and fair elections. 

And sorry, Jill and Chase and all the other candidates “running” for POTUS in this joke of a broken system. You too have no option but to cast your vote and either throw it away as a protest, or vote for someone who has a chance in hell of winning in the system as it currently is. 

P.S. Just in case anyone wondered. It’s my personal policy to research all the candidates in the primary, and vote for whomever I like best IN THE PRIMARY. But, when it’s down to the wire, in the actual November or midterm elections. I vote for the candidate who has the greatest odds for winning (even if I only kinda sorta like them).

And in the 2020 primary, researching everybody on my ballot, watching the debates over four years ago now, I voted for someone else in the 2020 primary, but, Kamala Harris was in my top 5 list out of all those super candidates we had to choose from before their was only two old white men running. 

Putting Social Media into Perspective

Feb 2026 Update 

This post originated in 2024, with my 3rd personal social media test, but started to take shape in question form around 2018.

old desktop monitor set on books and boards

Not using AI doesn’t stop it from using your share of the world’s energy, it uses your phone, it uses your larger than phone computers. If it isn’t “it”/an AI, then it’s a webcrawling bitcoin “miner”. For example, web bots “hit” my writing blog at a rate of 20 to 1, when compared to the clicks inside the ‘blog-posts-read-analytics’. 

My point is, if we are going to fight back, we must get organized and do it together. 

I have a why, point a. and point b.

Here’s point a.:

Just FYI this is written by me, not AI. 

Four types of mob mentality? 
1. Deadly mob mentality.
2. Audience mentality.
3. The collective intelligence.
4. Social media memes.

The classic old as dirt, deadly mob mentality type 1, with pitch forks and fire, burning witches at the stake, the biblical stoning of adulters, people who were adored as part of their tribe before, the screaming and trampling of people fleeing from a burning theater, trampling people to death at a concert or a stampede at a sports event. 

The second type is active but not deadly, the audience mentality, sports and music fans screaming and yelling, they can turn into the deadly mob, but if not afraid (fleeing for their lives) or drunk, they will silence to a murmur at the raise of the umpire’s hand or when a person on the stages calls for the attention of the crowd. 

The third type is the collective intelligence. The collective intelligence works together, sorts the data and does the math to figure out how many emergency exits, and what type of signage can prevent a stampede to help allow people to exit the stadium or theater without fear, preventing deadly mob mentality. 

On a national scale the collective intelligence takes form in democracy, when people work together to maintain liberty and justice for everyone. 

The collective intelligence is whenever thousands (or even hundreds) of people work together as a united team, to win, make a movie, or to get to the moon. Or for a famous historical example, the multinational simultaneous development of the automobile. 

The hive mind works together. When you ask many people a complex question, and then combine the answers on a data point cloud chart, you can find the most accurate answer to even unanswerable questions. Like what are emotions, how to best mitigate climate change damage, or how to best plan farm land. The intelligent answers will line up, the not so smart answers will sort of spread and sink, or sometimes clump to the bottom (people who were making jokes etc… like “Boaty McBoatFace” for a collective naming example that went to the jokes, not to the intelligence area of the point cloud). 

This brings me to the fourth type of human mob mentality – the meme. It’s only possible because of the internet and social media. Before the internet, there were physical on the streets fads or trends. Some patterns of imitated behaviour, like cat calling by groups of men etc…Sort of similar to social media trolls.  

But, the on the street of a city this collective action isn’t to the extent of a mob (unless it is an actual mob, like a riot), because people physically on the side walks are scattering, going to where they intend to go, thinking about work, food, their loved ones, the dog they are walking etc… 

But, meme mentality is something else. Destructive when the meme is based on fear or hate, but usually it’s about recursive self examination. Memes are mobs because masses of people are focused on something all together as a shared experience. And like screaming in a crowd, it sort of takes over our collective sanity for a bit. 

Pause and think about each of the four types of mob mentality, when in your life have you experienced. 

1. Have you been a witness to or worse part of a dangerous mob? 

2. Think about how it felt to part of a large audience in the moment together. If you haven’t done this, pick a crowd event that you would enjoy, it’s really worth it and has to be experienced to understand. 

3. Have you experienced working with others to be part of the collective intelligence? For me it was working on a few indie movie crews, and some large college and high school projects that involved over a hundred people.

4. Have you participated in a viral meme conversation? How did that feel, everyone sharing how they saw some seemingly trivial details of media on a large scale, together. 
Of course reply in comments with interesting thoughts totally welcome. But, we shall see if the 7 social media apps I post on let anyone in my home feeds see this. 
Why? Because of this. 

Point b. Is best described by a question I asked Google search Ai a couple of days ago. 

Me: Is it possible or just coincidence that the social media apps only let one person see your posts in their home feed and shuffle all the rest with their profit algorithm?

AI: It is definitely possible and highly likely that this is happening, and it is almost certainly not a coincidence.

What you are describing is the core function of modern social media algorithms—a, “profit algorithm,” as you put it, which prioritizes engagement to keep users scrolling and, ultimately, to sell ads. 

Here is why you only see that one person:

The "Relationship Strength" Factor: The algorithm tracks who you talk to, whose posts you like, and who you visit. If you, or the other person, engage frequently, the platform deems that relationship “strong” and constantly prioritizes them at the top of your feed.
The "Relevance" Score: The algorithm predicts what you want to see based on past behavior. If you have clicked on similar posts before, the algorithm will show you more of that, even if it ignores 95% of your other friends.

The "Profit" Mechanism: Social media platforms want you to stay on the app. They show you content that makes you engage (like, comment, or share) because that keeps you on the platform longer. The “shuffle” of other posts is actually a curated, ranked feed designed to maximize your time-on-platform, not to show you everything in chronological order. 

Why does this happen?

Too Much Content: You are probably connected to more people than you can keep up with. The algorithm filters this for you, but it filters for engagement, not necessarily for importance.
Echo Chamber Effect: Once the algorithm decides you like that one person, it keeps showing them to you, creating a self-reinforcing loop.
Active Engagement Required: To see more diverse posts, you need to actively engage with other friends' posts. 

How to Bypass It

Check the "Feeds" or "Following" Tab: Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms often have a "Feeds" tab that shows you posts in chronological order (or at least, less heavily ranked).
Use "Favorites": Mark the friends you actually want to see as "Favorites."
"See First": On Facebook, you can select "See First" on specific friends. 
So, while it feels like a conspiracy to restrict your social circle, it is a deliberate, personalized,, and profit-driven curation strategy.

Me, to myself after I copy and paste this. Well, shit. And once again, what are you going to do about it?

Hey, one person who sees this post in my home feed. Any ideas? 

Here's to all the voices of the "little" people on the interwebs.

Really? Seriously, asking. ... Am I THE cat lady?

 

Extraterrestrial Dog-person, speaking, while Cat-person types notes.

Lately I’ve been spending a bit more time on Facebook, since the decline of Twitter and the eventual transition into X. 

A couple of days ago after getting very disturbed by something I observed on Threads, that I couldn’t (still can’t) wrap my mind around. I found myself on Facebook strolling the videos. Something I DO NOT DO… I can’t stand 97% of videos on the interwebs. Personally, I’d rather read instructions. Yeah, I’m’ one of those people. I’m also (perhaps ironically?) a film person, as in used to use actual film, as an art form, because it was beautiful stuff. 

I’m not against digital images, at all. They are just another art form, like oil painting versus clay and fired glazes used to make ceramic art, for tens of, thousands of years. They just aren’t the same thing. They are each their own stuff. 

Get to my point already? The types of videos most commonly shared on social media are… very slow, never seem to get to their promised punch line (click bait), apparently, on purpose? Are they keeping you there, because of adds on the side of the page or other area of your phone, if you are using FB on a phone, are there adds chosen for you, with your meta-data there, based on the length of the videos? 

Duh? So what? Your point? I know artists animators and filmmakers can and do make better short videos. Why aren’t we (the collective we) watching those? 

Yes, I do look at statistics and of course, Facebook is competing for the masses time/attention with YouTube. Etc… So, as the money goes, I have again, answered my own question. – Just not the quality question of why we spend our time, watching these, psychology based anger-equals-clicks,  slow, boring IMO, -- why these videos?! … #question. 

Again and again, I answer my own questions. The lizard brain (if you let it) will watch cute animals, and things that make us angry (like hurt animals) or people being mean to other people – apparently for hours. 

Soooooooooooo? (my favorite word lately, is so with too many ‘o’s as a question, to release stress. Like a good exhale. 

Soooooooooo, ... -- I am asking, because that is what I do. Question and triple-fact-check everything, ...

sincerely, and (I suspect) possibly one of THE original childless “cat” ladies, 

☮+💚(peace and love), @Uva_Be 

change and stay the same

UBD's 1990's art

 

Some things stay the same ...

June 21st 2024

As I work away from this story, (Un-Un-Cat, the unfinished past replaced by the next project). Sanity slowly creeps in, in waves, like the tide. The mental conflict leveling over time like a heaping pile of compost turning slowly into rich soil. Yes, I implied it, it was shit, politics gobbled up all that it could and shat it out. 

But, plants and interesting critters remain waiting for me to feed them, some of them growing like weeds and feeding themselves, other habits gone wild and feral as a grumpy mood. It takes time to tame them. All things in their place in the chaotic garden that is a human mind.

☮+💚 @Uva Be

too much internet self-help mantra

 

digital marshmallows (search marshmallow test)

It is natural to construct a mental defense when bombarded by too much emotional stuff. 

It can become a challenge to accept yourself and your surroundings as is, when desensitized and bombarded by too much screen data. 

Today’s entire world view has been shattered by social media, it is not just you.

Who are you? 

Where are you? 

What is important in your life?

Breathe. Deep breathe, exhale. 

Repeat as needed. 

The long version.

Social Media and Lame Stream News, self-help mantra

What’s really upsetting me is – my entire world view and our collective consciousness has been shattered by irreconcilable data. 

I constructed a mental defense, what Jung calls a projection of identity. If I can work my thoughts out of these mental habits with better thoughts it would be good to do so. And if I need help, seek guidance.

The reasons why I constructed this mental identity projection are vast and complex, because life is not simple. And any who have lived know that life is not easy.

What is most important today is to diligently try to accept myself and my situation as I am, and to observe the actual reality around me as it is.

The extended world via the internet, while it is connects our lives via the time we live in, only specific threads are actually impacting my personal day to day life.

Yes, I acknowledge that I have an honest emotional response, but for my sanity I can only process a specific measure of the negative channel. Too much negative or even too much “world cake” the cute, and attractive, even the good things that are more than I can deal with on a personal level = less is better. 

2024 election for POTUS is about getting over the boomer generation

Partisan politics, killing Americans ... since? Reagan and W. Bush, actually. I could site examples, but the deaths that were a results from US States where governors reduced voting locations and refused to allow people to not wait in line for hours, to safely vote by mail in the Nov 2020 election, you can chart the death spikes in December, district by district. Isn't that enough already? 

P.s. Just FYI Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US. And the young cancer mortality rate (under 49) was 15% in the 90s, and in the 2000s was around 13.4%. YOUNG Americans, cancer. A death rate 100 times that of COVID19. And THIS is the moonshot partisan politics in Congress just had a pissing contest with, and the cost? ... Congress, please explain your vote to an American young cancer patient's family. 

The 2nd World War had ended 1945-ish, and those who survived celebrated by having sex, giving birth to the boomer generation. And now the boomers are 80-ish. When they were young they changed history. But, the world has never gotten over World War II because it changed the trajectory of the oil age. Fossil fuels have changed the world. 

For the first time since the 60s, another generation old enough to vote, finally outnumbers the boomers. But, Congress. The boomers dominate Congress. So here we are 2024.

We lucky survivors of the pandemic and the opioid crisis get to "choose" between a "Federation Admiral" (Star Trek) and a Thunderdome Old-Father, who treats women like cattle, (Mad Max). 

IMO, the State of the Union, the old man did good. I heard about a lot of things that I didn't know were going on in the US. 

All I heard from the "lame stream" media was the constant lies (their POV) and repetitive talking points that I personally consider brainwashing. 

And now? We just have to survive the next four years, and work on replacing Congress and POTUS with younger Americans by 2028. 

If the 2024 Washington State Primary is a good indicator for the Nov election for POTUS. ... There are some VERY scary and sad numbers weighing in.

January blog Post for the US 2024 Primary

February is not worth a new blog post. So, I'll add a note to the top here and probably write a new blurb in June, because March will matter, many big population states weigh in then.  

Okay, just gotta stay sane for a few months and then this will be over. This year is about processing and getting over THAT man. 

Sorry America, it seems like none will get what we want in #2024. #vote2024

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ELECTION/PRIMARIES/gkplxymmwpb/dem/

So far, “many Americans”, (as in those I’ve talked with here and there over the past couple of months), are totally dreading the 2024 presidential election. 

And it’s only January!  

The Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary… Are all that has happened so far this year, and personally, I found I was already irritated to cussing in all caps. No not, in a social media post, but in my Google searches. 

Why? Because Biden was a write-in in New Hampshire. 

It upset me that the people of New Hampshire, their primary votes are diminished by a snit between the State Republican leaders and the DNC. AND it bothered me that the Biden campaign would be so arrogant to assume our POTUS didn’t need to be on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary. 

The all caps specifically happened when the only results I could find in search where for the Republican candidates. As if the Democrat and Third party candidates don’t exist. The news media reporting with zero balance about the ratio of Red versus Blue, with no data on any 3rd party votes. 

Instead the lame stream news media mooned us with repeating loops of close-ups of Trump’s orange pores, the text saying only that he had won? 

Excuse me?! What the… won what?! The Democrat and 3rd party votes are not in yet!

Won 15% to 20% of the voters? What percentage of the total Iowa Caucus did that man win? Oh M beeping G!!! Zero beeping info about how the Democrat’s Iowa Caucus was mail-in, accepting ballots until mid Feb, and no result would be reported until March 5th. 

Do you *beep* *Beep!* *beeping-beeps!* in the lame stream news even Beeping think, at all?! Do you get how *beeping* terrible that actually is to the voting public?! *beep, beeeeeeeep Beeeep. I’m so mad there are not enough cuss words in the verse and it’s only Beeping January!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election#2024

All I want for Christmas is a mental health break from cancer

How do you take a "breather" (give yourself a break) when it's mental health? 

A two and a half word answer. You don't. 

Cussing warning, there's F-bombs in this blog post.

As a few people know, my Mom is going through chemo for Christmas. As I type this she is pulling her hair out into huge piles onto the arms of her reading chair. "There's enough for three birds nests. All my life the hairdresser admired how thick my hair is..." She goes on in a creepy way that is VERY not in-line with my memories of her. My Mom is intelligent, examples: she remembers all the names in biology, can still identify many plants when out walking and all the parts of a human from nursing school. And unlike me and my Dad, she can spell. When questioned she can recall more grammar and spelling rules then I ever learned; yet understands creative prose and writer's style being valued over what is technically correct English. And my Mom’s handwriting used to be the neatest cursive I've ever seen.

 … And now? Her handwriting is jagged and scrolling all over the place, she’s crossing out words and grumbling about messing up Christmas cards. "Chemo brain is real." She says to me glancing up in frustration. “I’m not sending a reply Christmas card right now.”... Maybe she will try again later?

What surprises me (should have know better), I'm more upset about her suffering than I expected. Having gone through chemo myself, as we are a BRCA1 family, I was mistaken when I imagined I would handle it and be helpful because I could relate to what she is going through. Instead the actual helplessness of reality, watching it physically drain her, is? ... I'm having to work very hard to not be angry at cancer, and worse the health team administering the chemo. Okay, I yelled once over the phone. I’d never do that in person. Never. I don’t do well with the disconnect of voices over the phone, sorry to whomever wasn’t able to answer our questions. 

No doctor or nurse who is able to answer our questions has done so, they just let her ramble incoherently and checked a box, as if they did something. And we have not yet met this latest oncologist. There is zero survivorship care, palliative or mental health care as an option for my Mom from this care team.

Soooooo...? Mental health huh? Walking, reading, art therapy, writing therapy and playing video games, there's no mental health care professional in this story for me either. I've been attempting to get survivorship mental health care since 2018, actually before that, but that's when I knew I was losing it, and really needed help. I'm embarrassed by how crappy our access to mental health care is in America. Even guidelines for people to help deal with other folks who are not doing well mentally, is a bad joke that makes the situation worse. Don't. Just don't feed my your crap about this site or that, the latest trend or meme in mental health care. If you haven't been through 24 years and three rounds of being butchered alive by cancer starting at age 26,... (you can't know). I need someone who understands/works with young cancer survivors before I'm dead, thank you very much. And I know I'm a rarified demographic. So, I haven't given up, I'm just looking for the correct doctor. Also, it's too late now. 

When I really needed help, I didn't get it. I'm already turning into an old dog that refuses to learn new tricks. Huh what am I saying? When I was young I remember seeing some middle aged lady ranting, very unhappy (more than once). When I was a teenager she was an old lady. I remember wondering then, what happened in her life to make her that way. And now, I'm her, still middle aged according to my folks. My Dad says he thinks middle age is the most difficult mentally. When you are young, you are young. When you are old there’s no expectations for you. When you are middle aged, then it’s what have you done with your life, and you better hurry up and do it before you are really old and start to decline physically so much that you are no longer able to do it, whatever it is that you are going to do with your life. 

Neurotransmitters. I believe more in those chemicals and neurology than I do in psychology. Psychology is not a science. Tho, after the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM; latest edition gets done “cancelling” vague and broad and wrong mental diagnosis(s), and the field stops poisoning people by throwing prescriptions without care at people. Medicines that have the opposite drug reaction bidirectional from the expected outcome, or too much of a delicate combination that needed to be prescribed in a lesser dose, for a shorter time, in combination with therapy, and appropriate physical therapy (as our minds are attaches to our bodies), and nutritional science, please. Psychology may get there, into the realm of scientific possibility, some day. 

Why, if I am so down on the entire field of psychology am I complaining about lack of access to mental health care? Deep sigh and a long pause. My life experience, the one time I was sent to a mental health specialist after several major cancer surgeries, I was prescribed one of the mildest "mood" medications on the market. And I tried it, let him convince me to try it for a recommended time, to see if it helped. And I HATED it, I had a paradoxical reaction, and quit cold turkey. Yeah great. How many of the tragedies we hear about in the news are the result of someone who is mentally troubled, being off of their meds? Or worse, being over prescribed so that they feel nothing at all, as they do horrible things. 

Luckily in my case it was only the depression/anxiety "voltmeter" reading being wrong. The what? The voltmeter is in quotes because it is not science. Many people have told me that I have depression. And the evidence, again and again, proves that the primary symptom of depression is the entire signaling system (including your immune system) shutting down, while the primary symptom for anxiety is worry, and high blood pressure, etc... at the other end of the "voltmeter". Wah la, you give someone, even a mild drug for depression, when they are actually sad about something real, (like cancer destroying their life) but they have anxiety, then you get a bidirectional reaction opposite of the expected outcome. To be fair, it's not physically possible for any drug to act on only one symptom, there are over 100 known neurotransmitters, and the actual number is unknown. All these neurochemicals work together in "chains", and in cycles day and night, with other body chemicals, like the gut mind connection. Pour that on top of my favorite self-medication that is a very mild downer with other herbal relaxants, like hops, a.k.a. beer, and you get a mess, that's the opposite of helpful. 

Yes, I am a very mild case. Like one or two good beers is my chemo "tested" liver's limit. Even my cussing is specifically directed at cancer and the American healthcare billing system 83% of the time ... and because of added suffering because of medical errors over the course of my 24 years of “surviving”, medical records upsets me 10% of the time. 

Medical records is a real trigger for me. That lack of important medical information is what is troubling me about my Mom’s situation right now. To sum up my rant, Cancer, medical records and healthcare billing earn a total of 93% of my rage. Not the care givers of any specialty, not the doctors. Not even the psychologists! And certainly not the therapists and nurses in the trenches. 

Sooooo...? No mental health breaks for any of us for Christmas. Just sit around being jolly and merry, "Ho, Ho, Ho!" while pumped full of sugar (the number one "drug" problem in the USA is sugar IMHO). Nothing makes my mood swing more than a sugar crash. But, this year? There's not much sugar in the house. Last week's peanut butter cookies are long gone. And the focus for cooking and snacking is on healthy small meals to deal with chemo. I just gotta stay sane, don’t worry (don’t spiral things all out of proportion) and remember to breathe. 

P.s. Note to self, blog post is too long again, it won’t relate to a lot of people, does the title imply this? The real mental health “break” is to forgive yourself for being human. You are you. Know yourself to learn how to respect who you are, so you are able to get to love and peace. 

And to fellow cancer survivors. It’s okay to think “Fuck gratitude and pink ribbons and all that crap”, when it’s honestly how you feel. Get it all out, and then get back to living for what’s given in each moment, one day at a time.

☮🧠s (peace brains) Uva Be 

“Happy” New Years. 

January 3rd, 2024

My Mom is in pain. She is exactly the type of patient that the pain meds would work the best for, for her body, for what is happening to her because of cancer, cancer surgeries and chemo. She is exactly who the pain meds were designed for. Yes, I repeated my point a lot there. 

BUT,... "evil" people, like the ones who messed with my medical bills, in 2019 and 2020, adding thousands of dollars of retail pharmacy where there was none. In my case, when scheduling pre-op called I requested alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen. I took zero prescription pain meds after my last major cancer surgery in 2020. 

But, the VERY messed up medical bills, the ones that required multiple reports to the state insurance commissioner to be filed. Wasting everybody's time, medical records to billing and back again, wasting more money and time, the State's money, insurance money, oh and my time. Time that IMO, should have been focused on healing or making art or writing. 

Now, years later, my Mom is dealing with weird alternatives (okay drugs for nausea and for her comfort that I don’t understand) because of other people, because of the opioid epidemic, and all the other pain pills I personally don't even care enough about to know the names of. 

And this is in addition to an adjusted rate the chemo is given from every week, to every three weeks. Five years ago, in 2018, my Mom's chemo was every/7 days. This time in 2023 the chemo infusion is every three weeks/21 days. They told us it was a National trend in the US. effectively tripling the dose they infuse at one time. 

And I’m angry about mental health? When as far as I have witnessed there isn’t even enough oncologists and other members of the chemo infusion teams to treat all the cancer patients at the same rate as they have been doing in past years? 

Yes. That is a question. I have had no confirmation of if this is a National trend to infuse the same amount of chemo, or treat 3 times more patients with 1/3rd of the infusion team work days, or not. Because I'm a writer who looks at these things I've looked at population demographics. And hey, that's why I wrote Un-Un-Cat.  The M in HUMAN. Trying to imagine a way to start working a way out of this mess for all of us in the USA. Not that I solved it, or anything. But, just like this blog post, I figure it's better to try, even if no one reads it, then it's just catharsis for my own sanity.