Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalChicago hospitals funnel patients into long-lasting guardianships, angering friends and family
As Gary Ellis lay dying in August 2023, no one at the facility caring for him called his son.
Instead, staffers called Ellis’ court-appointed state guardian, who had recently taken charge of all decisions related to the 69-year-old man’s care. Not until it was too late did Gary Brown learn his father had been at death’s door, Brown told the Tribune.
“When I went there the nurse was like, ‘We’ve been trying to call someone all night but nobody answered the phone,’” Brown said. “All I got was ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t do nothing to help me or my dad.”
The scenario was exactly what Brown feared when he learned, to his surprise, that Northwestern Memorial Hospital had moved to appoint a guardian for his father. The family said Northwestern had been treating the retired CTA bus driver for months, except for a brief stint at a rehabilitation facility, after he suffered a fall in April 2023.
Ellis’ family told the Tribune that by mid-May the hospital began pressuring them to approve a transfer to a nursing facility, saying his insurance coverage had stopped. Brown said he was still trying to navigate his best option when a judge signed off on the temporary guardianship petition, taking away Brown’s ability to decide anything on his father’s behalf.
(snip)
In many cases, guardianship eased the way for hospitals to discharge patients to subpar nursing homes, sometimes bypassing family members who disagreed with the hospital’s choice or were slow to make other arrangements.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/23/guardianship-chicago-hospitals/
Trust me, this doesn't happen only in Chicago. It's a nationwide problem and will happen so long as we have privatized healthcare.
Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
A three-year-old boy has astounded doctors with his progress after becoming the first person in the world with his devastating disease to receive a ground-breaking gene therapy.
Oliver Chu has a rare, inherited condition called Hunter syndrome - or MPSII - which causes progressive damage to the body and brain.
In the most severe cases, patients with the disease usually die before the age of 20. The effects are sometimes described as a type of childhood dementia.
Due to a faulty gene, before the treatment Oliver was unable to produce an enzyme crucial for keeping cells healthy.
In a world first, medical staff in Manchester have tried to halt the disease by altering Oliver's cells using gene therapy.
(snip)
A year after starting the treatment, Oliver now appears to be developing normally.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0y56x6veo
This kind of thing would not be possible right now in the US, thanks to RFK Jr.
Astrophysicist's latest 3I/ATLAS theory: It's interested in Jupiter
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who still insists 3I/ATLAS could be an alien vessel instead of a comet, is now pointing to the interstellar object’s expected rendezvous with the solar system’s largest planet early next year.
He said 3I/ATLAS is expected to come closest to Jupiter on March 16, 2026, as it leaves our planetary system. At that time the object is estimated to be 33 million miles from Jupiter, compared with the wider berth of 170 million miles the Earth will have with 3I/ATLAS on Dec. 19.
“It comes exactly at the right distance from Jupiter for Jupiter’s gravity to dominate. So, if it wants to release some probes near Jupiter, that’s where it needs to be,” Loeb told “NewsNation Prime” on Saturday.
“Jupiter is easy to recognize, the biggest planet in the solar system, and perhaps that’s what attracted their visit,” he added. “We tend to think that it’s all about us.”
NASA on Wednesday said the latest government images of 3I/ATLAS indicate the object is a comet, as suspected, albeit one with unusual features. But Loeb says there are still many anomalies left unexplained, ranging from the object’s size to its chemical signatures to the “jets” that appear to be emanating from the surface. In his view, he said, the latest NASA material doesn’t solve these riddles.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/prime/3i-atlas-jupiter-probes/
Not everything in the universe is about us! Now there's a novel theory. 
What will a ban on most US hemp products mean?
The US hemp industry is preparing for a ban on most hemp products that Senator Mitch McConnell slipped into the spending bill just before the Senate voted to pass it and end the government shutdown.
Many in the industry have criticized the last-minute change, arguing that it should have been subject to open hearings rather than added at the last minute to a bill whose passage was essential for the government reopening. The ban, which goes into effect 12 months after the law’s passage, forbids all products that contain more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per package – a trace amount that is present in most CBD products, not just those whose primary component is THC.
The US hemp industry generates $28bn a year in revenue and employs 300,000 people, according to Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable.
It is not yet clear exactly what the ban will mean. Jasmine Johnson, CEO of GŪD Essence, a Florida based company that sells CBD-infused products, said she is preparing for several different possible scenarios “so our customers experience little to no disruption”.
One option would be a partial ban where states maintain autonomy, similar to the current framework around state-legal cannabis. Currently, state-legal recreational and medical cannabis does not have an upper limit on THC. But these products are heavily regulated, highly taxed and only available in licensed dispensaries. Hemp products, on the other hand, are often available for purchase in liquor stores, grocery stores and online.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/22/what-will-hemp-ban-mean
I get mine online, but depend on them to help with chronic pain. They beat hell out of prescription Rxs.
trying to get my Mexican divorce certificate
I divorced my (abusive) first husband in Mexico in 1970 and married my second husband shortly thereafter in 1970 in the US. I had my Mexican divorce papers but now I can't find them, and I'm trying to figure out how to get a copy so I can get my damn Real ID in order to fly anywhere (and that's a pain in itself) let alone a passport. The most helpful outfit i could find wanted $$ for a family lawyer so no thank you very much. Anyone have any suggestions for someone whose Spanish is rocky? And yes, I have the address and phone # as well as email for the Mesican consulate in VA, but can't call them until Monday. Any further advice?
Senator whose wife was shot fears for safety after Trump sedition accusation
Senator Mark Kelly – whose wife, Gabrielle Giffords, narrowly survived an attempted assassination while she was in Congress in 2011 – says he is worried about “increased threats” to his family’s safety after Donald Trump accused him and other Democratic lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH”.
“This kind of language is dangerous, and it’s wrong,” Kelly said on Friday on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, with political violence one of the top topics in the US’s public discourse. He continued: “I’m not going to get into my specific security arrangements, but it would be irresponsible for me not to consider that [Trump’s] words result in increased threats to myself, even to my staff, to my family.
“It would be a rather irresponsible thing for us not to consider this seriously.”
The Arizona senator’s remarks came after he appeared in a video on Tuesday alongside five other federal Democratic lawmakers who have previously served in the military or in intelligence roles – and who all told active US service members that they should refuse illegal orders.
“Our laws are clear,” the senators and US House members in question say in the video. “You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.”
Trump reacted furiously to the video, writing on his Truth Social platform that Kelly and the others had engaged in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH”. The president also reposted another Truth Social user who wrote, in part, “HANG THEM”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/mark-kelly-gabby-giffords-threats-safety-trump
But it's Stephen Miller and ICE Barbie and their ilk who are so "frightened for their safety" that they're taking up space in military base housing 
The American Revolution, Part 4
After watching this chapter, ihave one buring question: HOW THE HELL DID WE WIN THIS WAR, ANYWAY? The whole chapter seemed to be a chronicle of American missteps and mistakes, with the odd victory (hurray for John Paul Jones!) stuck in there. But it sure looked like the British were winning by the end of it.
Stuff I did not know or was not taught in 1959-61 American history classes: I didn't know about Washington's horrible crusade against Native Americans in New York, or that George Rogers Clark was such a horrid racist. I was never taught that the reason Charleston fell was basically that white men refused to arm their Black slaves against the British for fear the slaves would revolt and turn their guns on them .Or that Washington wasn't the perfect strategist he was supposed to be, he was just a pretty good leader of men. And the list goes on...
Injunction ruling provides new look at 'Operation Midway Blitz,' tear gas to agent using ChatGPT to help write report
A federal judge on Thursday issued a scathing opinion that takes a deep dive into the use of force by immigration agents during “Operation Midway Blitz,” revealing new information gleaned from body-worn cameras and other evidence showing how agents used tear gas and flash bang grenades on fleeing protesters, shot a praying minister in the face with pepper balls, and even used ChatGPT to help write a report.
The 233-page written ruling by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, which memorializes her findings in issuing a preliminary injunction earlier this month, takes readers methodically through many of the more high-profile melees between immigration agents and protesters during the two-month operation, including incidents in Albany Park, Old Irving Park, Evanston and the Far East Side.
Ellis wrote in the opinion that, over and over, body-worn camera footage from the agents undermined what was eventually put in their use-of-force reports, rendering their statements unreliable.
The reports also misidentified “neighborhood moms and dads, Chicago Bears fans, people dressed in Halloween costumes, and the lawyer who lives on the block” as professional agitators, Ellis wrote, while the body cameras at times captured the agents’ apparent glee in deploying tear gas and other munitions on residential streets.
“Just start throwing s—” one agent told another during an incident on the East Side in October, according to Ellis’ report.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/20/injunction-scathing-ruling-midway-blitz/
She let them have it with all six!
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found.
The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement.
Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar.
Once limited to policing the nation’s boundaries, the Border Patrol has built a surveillance system stretching into the country’s interior that can monitor ordinary Americans’ daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects. Started about a decade ago to fight illegal border-related activities and the trafficking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past five years.
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-patrol-surveillance-drivers-ice-trump-9f5d05469ce8c629d6fecf32d32098cd
When the Border atrol is in places like Chicago and Charlotte, nobody is safe. I put a Mexican flag decal on my car just to confuse them (along with my Ukrainian one). Let them sort it out. I daresay my family has been here longer than most of theirs.
The American Revolution, Part 2
There certainly are more parallels in this chapter. The biggest one was this, and I swear it could have been written directly at the Orange Slime, except maybe the last three points:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
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Gender: Do not displayHome country: USA currently
Current location: Virginia
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