Weekend Report: An update

I write you from the hospital. All is fine now and I'll be discharged tomorrow

To say it’s been an eventful weekend is an understatement.

Yesterday, those of you who are paid subscribers received a very short post explaining there would be no Weekend Report because I’d “come down with something” and needed to sort it out and likely would be posting today.

Little did I know that that “something” was E. coli poisoning. I thought I had the flu—again!—since I had a fever. But I also had gastrointestinal issues. I went to urgent care in the morning, and they found my blood pressure was way too low. They sent me to the ER, where I had scans and got lots of antibiotics in case it was a bacterial  infection. Scans found nothing like appendicitis—which was initially one candidate—and found my colon inflamed.

So they thought I should be admitted pending further test results coming back, so they could monitor the blood pressure, fever, and other vitals. This morning, the tests came back and confirmed E. coli. I also felt a lot better by then because the antibiotics were working, and by this afternoon, my gastrointestinal tract had settled down, and I’m doing great. I’ll be discharged tomorrow, and we’ll likely discuss this more further in the week.

Thanks for all the well wishes!

I’ve obviously been out of it all weekend, now plugging back in and seeing some interesting news, just jotting down a few thoughts here.

Chuck Todd, of all people, bashed NBC News for pursuing “access” journalism by hiring former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor. A woman who's been implicated in overturning the 2020 election. Apparently tensions are high at NBC, and Todd, former host of Meet the Press and now NBC chief political analyst, just aired those tensions across the media and the country. Amazingly, Kristen Welker had scheduled an interview with McDaniel before she was given the job, so now Welker was interviewing a paid contributor. You can watch the clip here if you like. From the NYT:

“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Mr. Todd said. “Because I don’t know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News, so I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract.”

Mr. Todd said that Ms. McDaniel “has credibility issues” and went on, “There’s a reason why there are a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this, because many of our professional dealings with the R.N.C. over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination.”

He added: “So when NBC made the decision to give her NBC News’s credibility, you got to ask yourself, ‘What does she bring NBC News?’”

Tammy Murphy, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s wife and former Republican, is dropping out of the New Jersey Senate race to replace embattled Bob Menendez. It’s time to say hello to Senator Andy Kim!

And GOP Senator Liza Murkowski of Alaska said in an interview she won’t be supporting or voting for Donald Trump and didn’t rule out leaving the Republican Party. I’ll believe that last part when I see it. But I’m loving the GOP disunity.

That’s it for now. I’ll be checking in during the week.