Kevin Drum

Frustrating times for me. I'm just starting to recover enough energy to read the news, but not really deeply. On the surface, though, everything seems to be going bonkers.

In New York we have this dude Daniel Penny who killed an annoying subway rider—and the entire right wing is backing him up. This comes a week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promised to pardon a convicted murderer because the guy had only killed a BLM protester, after all.

The Durham Report is out, and it appears to be the usual Durham farrago of innuendo and speculation but without any real evidence of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Tommy Tuberville says people need to go to jail or we might as well cancel elections in this country. What?

Joe Biden has given up on his "no negotiations" position on the debt ceiling, producing a growing mountain of crackpot demands from Republicans.

Elon Musk's latest is to compare George Soros to X-Men supervillain Magneto.

And AI might wreck everything, but Congress appears to have no idea how or if to regulate it—which seems close to impossible anyway.

Oh, and I almost forgot about Rudy. He's being sued for what? Sexual assault and selling off pardons? Do I have that right?

This seems like just the tip of the iceberg. Are things really crazier than usual, or is it just that I'm only reading headlines so far but not really diving much deeper? Help me out.

A communications tower at Chiriaco Summit at dawn near Joshua Tree. I often stop here for gas or snacks on my way to the desert for astrophotography sessions.

Today's news was relatively good—with an emphasis on the relative. They've confirmed that my face droopiness wasn't caused by a stroke. There were no ischemic problems on the MRI.

So what is it? A neurologist just came by and was generally pleased with everything, including the fact that my droopiness extended all the way up my face. He says the cause is almost certainly a virus that inflamed a facial nerve, and it will probably take about three weeks to resolve. Yuck. In the meantime, I have trouble pronouncing b's and p's, and lots of trouble drinking water. The treatment for this, sadly, is plenty of dexamethasone, and you can imagine what that's doing to my sleep.

My counts are slowly increasing back to normal, and I can walk fine with no balance problems. I also have no fevers and no signs of neurotoxicity. So that's all good. I'm still very tired all the time, though.

Bottom line: this is Day 20 and it's all very unexpected, but getting better.

UPDATE: The latest diagnosis is Bell's palsy. No change in symptoms or treatment, though.

A Southwest jet landing at John Wayne Airport.

It's been quite a week. On Monday everything seemed fine: no fevers, no neurological symptoms, no nothing. So I was discharged from the hospital. The next day I had my last visit to the day hospital, with no problems.

After that I had a final consult on Friday, so we hung around the hotel for the next couple of days. But then things went south. On Friday morning I noticed some weakness on the right side of my face, and I was so tired I could barely get out of bed. I had to be wheelchaired around, and when the doctor saw me he immediately re-admitted me to the hospital.

The good news is that an MRI came up clear, so the face weakness isn't due to a stroke or anything like that. And today I'm still weak but I feel better. Overall, though, I gotta say this CAR-T treatment has been a real kick in the ass.

This is Hilbert, sitting in his box but peering out very suspiciously indeed. Why he feels the need to be suspicious, I couldn't tell you.

This is the mural at the entrance to the MacArthur/Westlake metro station across from MacArthur Park.

Here are the latest CPI inflation rates. As usual, they are month-over-month, recalculated to an annual rate:

The headline rate was up in April, but basically still declining on a trendline basis. Core inflation is worse: It's at 5.0% and has been flat for the past six months.

Overall, it was a so-so inflation report. Stubborn core inflation continues to be the big problem.

This is the Los Angeles skyline at dusk taken from Angeles Crest Highway. The bright star at the upper right is Venus. Downtown LA is between the two low peaks toward the right.

This is Werner, the bus driver during our tour of the battlefields and cemeteries of Normandy.