Sorry for the late posting. Must be lethargy from too much festivities yesterday.

Thanksgiving and the day after have always been my favorite holidays. A series of days - clean the house, cook, bake, prep for a crowd, then the house filled to capacity with gratitude for those present and those who live in our memories, and to complete the holiday a quiet reflective day. Then normal life continues.

Venezuela background the first 17 minutes

Why the U.S. Really Wants Maduro Gone 11/27/2025 (25:53 min)

Japan - China Update

Jeffrey Sachs warns: Japan militarism back 11/27/2025 (18:13 min)

Interesting slant - human rights violations by Japan and United States

The Undetermined Status Of Ryukyu 11/28/2025 (11:37 min)

Back to an old theme - drugs that should be avoided, used with caution and have the potential of increases adverse reactions as we age.

First - drugs with anticholinergic activity. There effect is accumulative so a single drug with high anticholinergic activity has the same potential of causing a problem as multiple drugs of low activity taken within the same time frame.

I found an easy to use calculator. Check the meds in your medicine cabinet prescription and non-prescription. If at high risk or experiencing potential issues discuss with your prescribing health professional for a plan of action.

Many of the medications that we commonly prescribe have anticholinergic properties. In patients over 65 years of age these can cause adverse events, such as confusion, dizziness and falls. These have been shown to increase patient mortality.

You can use this calculator to work out the Anticholinergic Burden for your patients; a score of 3+ is associated with an increased cognitive impairment and mortality.

Seeing this article Wednesday prompted bringing up the subject of drugs once again. I was encouraged to see the problem of some heavy duty mental drugs used way too much being discussed in the lay press. Worth reading the complete article even if you do not agree with the politics of the site or author.

The No‑Exit Mental Health System: The Federal Government Puts You on Psychiatric Drugs and Never Lets You Off Joe Hoft 11/26/2025

The Federal Government is the largest funder of mental health services and psychiatric drugs, yet these same federal agencies that provide mental health services do not provide any information for safely getting off the drugs. AbleChild believes that as the largest supplier of psychiatric drugs, the federal government should also provide an “Exit plan” for deprescribing psychiatric drugs.

Medicaid and Medicare Part D treat psychiatric drugs as “must-cover” commodities: federal rules require drug plans to cover all or nearly all antidepressants and antipsychotics as protected classes, ensuring easy access and steady revenue for manufacturers. With Medicaid alone, antipsychotics generated more than 73 million prescription claims and more than 6 billion dollars in one year, accounting for roughly 9% of all Medicaid drug spending and 10% of prescriptions.
...
Yet despite clear evidence that stopping psychiatric drugs can be medically complex and dangerous, U.S. law does not guarantee access to slow tapers, compounding, or close follow-up, when patients want to come off the drugs. A few specialty guidelines now outline careful benzodiazepine tapers and warn against abrupt cessation, but they are advisory documents, not enforceable rights. In practice, patients are routinely placed on medications with known withdrawal syndromes, while being left to navigate the exit alone or with minimal support when they try to stop.

Because coverage rules privilege pills, they tilt the entire system toward chronic drug dependence instead of time-limited, skill-building care.