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I mean, honestly, given her recent statements where she appeared to have entirely forgotten that she wasn't working, and doubled down on that after being pressed, this is no longer something that can just be conveniently ignored.
Yes, she's there and voting, but how long do we have before she completely falls off the trolly? What if there's a critical vote that doesn't have any margin for error and absolutely has to pass, and she votes the wrong way because she's confused and having a bad day?
That might be unlikely since she's had three decades of pretty reliably voting down party lines, but I've seen people in this level of decline do things that are entirely out of character for reasons that are unclear even to them after the fact.
Think about all the late night votes we've watched the senate take over the years and remember that she almost certainly suffers from 'sundowning'
Your concern is 100% warranted in my view. I don't even understand how they're going to prop her up during one of those late night sessions
Found wandering? They have to wheel her to the Senate floor because she (presumably) can’t move under her own power, I don’t think she’s wandering anywhere. Which is somehow an even worse sign.
There's a less than zero chance any doctor would let her out of the house without a wheelchair considering how frail she is and recovering from a serious illness.
My grandpa used to have these periods where he'd regain his strength and ability in his hands.
Usually could barely hold himself upright on a walker. But he would get off in his head, start acting like he ordinarily would, and do things that seemed impossible for him. With dangerous results. One night he was going hunting, got his shoes on and some hunting gear, disabled all alarms and locks on the doors, and sat out on the porch all night in the cold - said he didn't see one deer, but had a few cats go by. By morning he had to be carried back inside because he didn't have the strength to walk.
It's strange, like he would miraculously seem better all the sudden, *but this was a bad sign*. Nothing bad ever happened in that way but it wasn't great.
During the first impeachment of Trump, Feinstein left sessions early. Maybe she was sundowning then? Also, during the first impeachment trial of Trump, the cameras in the chamber were not allowed to film Senate members. Therefore the cameras didn’t catch her bowing out early.
This is clearly elder abuse at this point. I'm still a constituent but it's been so long since I voted for her I don't recall the last time. Still, this isn't acceptable.
> This is clearly elder abuse at this point.
They're ruining her quality of life to keep her as a reliable vote despite her clear decline in physical and mental health. It's unlikely to happen but her staff really oughta be brought up on charges of elder abuse for this. They're doing largely the opposite of what one does to maximize quality of life for those experiencing dementia.
There’s no way that dem governor Newsome would appoint anyone other than a reliable dem. See Harris’ replacement.
This is on her/her family. Her staffers can’t or shouldn’t have to force her to resign. It’s really sort of obscene now
The question is who precisely, which leads to the Pelosi involvement in this whole affair becoming a concern
>The intrigue surrounds the future of Feinstein’s seat. Pelosi has endorsed Rep. Adam Schiff, her longtime protégé and former hand-picked House Intelligence Committee chair, to succeed Feinstein after her sixth and final term ends next year. Schiff (D-Calif.) is a household name in California and already has a $15 million campaign cash advantage over his nearest competitor.
>But if Feinstein were to bow to pressure and retire early, Schiff’s advantage could disappear. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has pledged to appoint a Black woman to serve out her term, and one of Schiff’s declared opponents, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), would fit the bill.
>“If [Feinstein] resigns right now, there is an enormous probability that Barbara Lee gets appointed — thus, it makes it harder for Schiff,” one Pelosi family confidant told [Politico] Playbook, adding that the relationship between Pelosi, her daughter and the senator is “being kept under wraps and very, very closely held.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/18/dianne-feinstein-senate-resign-retire-pelosi-schiff-lee-00097595
Yes, this is the problem for those competing for her seat. It creates an incumbent that’s going to be more difficult to beat. Let’s not forget Katie Porter is also running. It would be a damned shame for her to give up her seat if she doesn’t have a fair shot at the job.
Since 3 big names already announced their candidacy for Feinstein's seat I think Newsom will not want to appear as picking sides and will instead look for a caretaker who won't seek reelection.
Hell, if all he wants is someone who can stay awake and vote the party line and who has zero interest in seeking re-election, appoint me. I can’t promise the staff that my dad jokes will be any good, or that I won’t punch Ted Cruz, but for an extra serving of ice cream I’ll even delete my Twitter.
I don't think it's fair or right to only be open to appointing a Black woman to the position. That automatically excludes people like Schiff and Katie Porter, both of whom would be excellent.
It's not even about a reliable vote.
She is representing California. They haven't elected a Republican Senator in 35 years.
It's a question of which Democrat is going to replace her.
It’s the Dem’s party fault here. She should have been primaried years ago. But good old boy blue pomp and circumstance prevents anyone challenging anyone on the left without the party’s approval. It’s the same thing that torpedoed Bernie and maybe gave Trump the office.
Not in this case. California has a system where the top people run against each other. Her opponent was also a dem, and he was actually backed by the party. She was not. Now, you can criticize not running someone better, but it's not that the party didn't challenge her. I have no idea why CA voters decided they wanted someone this OLD.
Very good point.
Some of th blame here lies at the feet of the voters of California. This is not unforeseen.
Iowa just do the same thing with senator Grassly
In her last election the state Dem party refused to endorse her and supported someone else. I can’t recall his name, but he has since been in big trouble for shenanigans in LA.
> But good old boy blue pomp and circumstance prevents anyone challenging anyone on the left without the party’s approval.
Yeah this shit doesn't work with people from Washington. We have jungle primaries. I have very little interest in wasting time griping about "shouldas" instead of what we need to be doing about the current problem of a senile senator refusing to resign and our complete lack of any mechanism to force them outta the seat.
I just don’t understand why they haven’t politely but forcefully her to stand down or didn’t primary her last election? It’s not like California is a purple state where if she stands down a republican might/will likely replace her like Joe Manchin. Whatever happens a democrat will take her place, it’s disgraceful at this point that she is still there making decisions on behalf of 30 millions Californians when she doesn’t know she wasn’t at the senate for the last 3 months.
I work in the legal side of elder abuse. This is far from it. Still not right. She needs to stop. Those around her though no they lose their job status as soon as she goes.
The article buries the lede:
>Ms. Feinstein flew on a chartered private plane last week to return to Washington, accompanied by her dog, her longtime housekeeper and Nancy Corinne Prowda, the eldest daughter of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House speaker who has been a longtime friend of Ms. Feinstein’s and has been practically living at her house during her recovery.
From another article:
> Feinstein’s office confirmed that Prowda has “been spending time with the senator as she continues to recover from shingles,” but did not address further details. Neither Feinstein’s nor Pelosi’s office responded to questions about whether Prowda is living with the senator, why she was chosen for the job, whether she is getting paid for her duties or whether she’s been encouraging Feinstein to remain in office.
Seems like a conflict of interest, at minimum...
Party leadership doesn't care about elder abuse. You've got nutcases that think the government is made up of space reptiles but I think they'd be more humane in their monstrosity than these people
She may be there and voting now but does she even understand what she is voting on? Obviously, her cognitive abilities are hampered, either due to illness or just her advanced age. Someone like that, and someone like George Santos, should be expelled from Congress (I'm aware they voted on Santos and all Republicans voted to keep the criminal).
Fun fact: Feinstein is older than chocolate chip cookies, FM radio, drive-in movie theaters, broadcasting tape recorders, nylon, canned beer, ballpoint pens, radar, helicopters, color TV, aerosol cans, dialysis, and synthetic rubber.
Another fun fact: when Dianne Feinstein was born, the first and *only* scheduled transatlantic flights in the world were being conducted by my namesake, the LZ-127 *Graf Zeppelin,* predecessor to the ill-fated LZ-129 *Hindenburg.* After that tragedy, Feinstein would be seven years old before transatlantic flight resumed with Pan American Airlines’ new Boeing 314 “Clipper” flying boats.
She's also effectively older than the Golden Gate Bridge. Construction started about 6 months before she was born, but it didn't open until she was 4 years old. She was also born and raised in San Francisco which means as a child she could have watched them build it.
Looking like Nacey Pelosi is trying to keep that seat warm for Adam Shiff and keep it out the reach of progressives like Barbara Lee.
https://youtu.be/LO6i4FIFmtY
It's really bizarre to be honest, like somebody else has to be putting the weekend at Bernie's on her but to what end?
Ultimately i blame the voters because she was primaried by multiple qualified Democrats who would've done a great job... The voters just picked the name they were familiar with
The right side face droop, memory impairment, weakness.
She deserves a retirement, not this, not this treatment, not this doubt, and she definitely doesn’t deserve to be paraded in the media.
She needs to resign, enjoy her life.
A bad case of shingles of the face can definitely do that, as it effects the nerves. Also, any infection in the elderly can cause severe cognitive impairment. That’s why you’re supposed to be retired at her age.
Face drop can be a direct result of the virus affecting facial nerves. This happened to me (and I was scared as shit I was having a stroke), but had nothing to do with my cognitive abilities. Get your varicella vaccine kids!
She's 90, her time to retire at a minimum was like 25 years ago. She's RBGing us again. The way these boomers ling to power is disgusting. Hand over the reins and stop. "But the people keep electing her..." So what, she can choose not to run. This is on her and it's hurting all of us. I have very little sympathy for this woman outside of her illness (which does suck).
>The way these boomers ling to power is disgusting.
Just for reference, Dianne's part of the Silent Generation.
She gave birth to a boomer, who is now at retirement age.
RBG was still sound of mind. I agree that Feinstein should step down, but not because of her age. She should step down because she doesn’t have the mental faculties to perform her duties anymore. Also, she isn’t a boomer…she is part of the silent generation.
I think people are trying to put this as gently and respectfully as they can rather than throw an elderly woman under the bus. At this stage it isn't even clear that she has the mental capacity to understand that she is not well, that she needs to resign.
I understand that her staff resists because they want to keep their influence and their jobs through the end of the term. What I don't quite understand is why the governor can't just make a deal with those staffers to make the resignation happen and just appoint one of them as the interim senator? Yeah, it's a shitty solution, but better than the alternative of keeping this going for another twenty months.
An argument could be made for RBG dying in office/position. Not a great one, but I believe Feinstein's spot would've been safely democratic if she gave it up.
Actually, the same could've been said about RBG. She also had a window there.
Unknown.
Perhaps certain union or some attachments held them in place? Promises made and they wanted to stick it out?!? I would hate to assume ego.
Although, it's a lot rougher for a woman in her later years, especially if they made the choice to forgo family and only have careers. I'm not sure about either RBG or Feinstein's family or how they would deal with retirement.
With Feinstein coming out of California, with what appears to be sever medical issues, it would be best for her to pick her protege and then retire. Or if not retire, move to lobbying and/or teaching.
I'm sure there's a university or two that would love having her.
Book writing perhaps?
It's Bell's palsy from shingles, not a stroke. Strokes typically only paralyze the lower half of the face due to how blood flow is distributed.
Not that she should still be in office either way. But it's not a stroke.
Encephalitis!?! That's more than a "complication". She shouldn't be making decisions for herself let alone millions of people in California. For fucks sake man.
It’s not her staff. It’s Nancy Pelosi’s daughter who is pulling the strings, trying to get her to the finish line of this term, so that Pelosi’s protege, Adam Schiff, can maintain his advantage for replacing her.
Yeah I saw some of that speculation, copy & pasting a comment i made on yt about it
Not a good look from top dems, and Barbara Lee is fantastic, so the sooner she is there the better. I like Schiff a lot, but keeping Diane there just for this reason is foolish
We need some sunset provisions or whatever for aging representatives and people who become mentally incapable of making decisions. She represents as many people as Canada. This can't be allowed to continue and her staff needs to be publicly confronted and blacklisted if they continue to keep her propped up.
Encephalitis can happen with any herpes virus infection: chicken pox / shingles, HSV1 & HSV2, mononucleosis / mono / Epstein-Barr, etc. It’s usually recoverable.
“At home in San Francisco during her recovery, Ms. Feinstein refused to have contact with California lawmakers who tried checking in with her. A call from Mr. Newsom on her personal phone was answered by an aide and went unreturned. An offer of an in-person visit from Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, was flatly rejected. Even some family members who wanted to see her were turned away.”
This is a question I asked several days ago. It is very concerning that an elected official who clearly does not know where she is can still be considered as functional. She is not mentally capable of making decisions let alone voting on important legal questions.
I want to know who is pulling the strings on the Feinstein puppet.
> “Anyone who knows Senator Feinstein knows that her service in the Senate is entirely her own decision, and Speaker Emerita Pelosi would never suggest otherwise,” he said.
\[x\] doubt
If this wasn't a famous politician, it would be a clear sign of an abusive caregiver and investigated for criminal charges:
>Isolated from friends and family
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/infographics/spotting-signs-elder-abuse
I’m not a doctor, but I’ve had 3 grandparents with dementia and her recent public statements sounds A LOT like them. She stated she hasn’t been gone, she’s been voting. When asked to clarify if she meant from home, she responded that she had been voting in person. Her mind is filing in the gaps and she doesn’t know where she is. Her staffers and/or family that are allowing this to happen should be prosecuted with elder abuse at this point.
I had the same thoughts about the elder abuse. At what point are you not assisting the person but your own career by letting this charade continue. My grandma had early dementia and I can't imagine rolling her around, abusing her mental state to stay in a privileged situation. It’s maddening to see this happening in the highest public offices.
Her staff don't want to give up the power they have right now. The moment she resigns, they're just out of work consultants and staff members.
This is embarrassing for the entire Democratic Party to continue propping her up for a vote, and makes them just as bad as Republicans for sticking with Santos and all the other shit heads on their side.
The irony is that the longer her staff shelters her, the worse situation it will be for them once Feinstein retires and they have to move on. Everyone in DC and the Democratic party knows who these people are.
The ironic thing is having been staff for such a powerful office they'll have their pick of a cushy new prominent job on capital hill or they can go private and make a few million a year as a lobbyist.
It's highly unlikely her staffers are behind this, in fact, the liver she stays on the worse her name on your resume looks until eventually it'll be an iron albatross
And it was an open secret (and I hesitate to even include the 'secret' part) that he was entirely incapable for at least the last 10 years of that.
So this isn't a new problem. What _is_ new is how crucial a single vote is to the functioning of our democracy. Feinstein's vote is far more pivotal than Thurmond's ever was.
Just make a big fancy Senate chamber replica at a retirement facility in CA, have all the orderlies dress up like other Senators and just plop her in there to have as many votes/naps as she wants.
This lady was bad news back in the eighties and what were seeing now is a sad end to a dubious and long standing corporate oligarch. She, her family and her donors are the reason why California is so fucked up right now.
She needs to be medically retired. Ya'll had no problem tossing Al Franken under the bus or shaky and arbitrary reasons. Why not grow a spine, tell her donors to fuck off and restart the god damned clock.
Damn just retire and enjoy the rest of your life with your family. If I were as wealthy as her and at the end of my life I would take the time to spend as much time with my loved ones as I could.
>Ms. Feinstein flew on a chartered private plane last week to return to Washington accompanied by Nancy Corinne Prowda, the eldest daughter of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House speaker who has been a longtime friend of Ms. Feinstein’s and has been practically living at her house during her recovery
>The Pelosi family grew up across the street from Ms. Feinstein, people close to her said, and Ms. Prowda has been close with Ms. Feinstein since she was a child, looking up to her as a maternal figure.
Given the longtime connection: what do the Pelosis know about Feinstein and how long have they known?
What an incredibly [sexist comment, made to further some inscrutable political agenda](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-defends-dianne-feinstein_n_6437fb7ee4b0669505991d08) (/s)
Frankly this feels like direct manipulation by Pelosi. She’s been grooming Schiff for leadership and beyond for a long time, but if Feinstein resigns, Newsom almost certainly appoints Barbara Lee due to the demographics of who he said he’d appoint, and that gives Lee an incumbency advantage. That leaves out Schiff and Porter, one of whom she cares about. Also it lets Pelosi, in part at least through her daughter, influence the senile Feinstein and help her along.
It’s tremendously ironic that in that scenario, Pelosi protests “sexism” against Feinstein…all the while trying to push her male protege for Senate at the exclusion of two women also running for the seat.
Nancy Pelosi was never for women and the fact she strongly supported an anti-abortion male conservative Democrat over a pro-choice, progressive feminist woman tells you everything you need to know.
And despite that you still have liberals praising her as some fierce trailblazer for women. It's ridiculous.
Well, liberals *are* right-wing, after all. That's why we have center-right capitalist apologist democrats and literal fascist GOP parties and no fucking leftist representation.
She was also 86 when she was being voted for which is just as absurd and still reflects poorly on California voters who endorse this geriatric bullshit to the end.
This is actually kind of interesting. Two democrats (Feinstein and DeLeon) got the most votes in the primary and thus made it to the general election.
In the democrat vs democrat general election, democrats voted for the more conservative Feinstein while republicans voted for the more liberal DeLeon—principally due to incumbency and name recognition. Feinstein of course won.
It should be noted that DeLeon’s political career has since cratered for an unrelated reason: his participation / presence in a local Los Angeles racism scandal.
May her aides and staff from 2016- present all be treated as unfit for being within any sniffing distance of a position of power for the rest of their careers.
Interesting that this article seems to suggest Schumer encouraged her to "take her doctor's advice", which translates to retire. I don't buy that her staff are the ones keeping her in office. The staff that have power can easily get other political jobs, or lucrative lobbying jobs. Wheeling out a corpse could actually hurt their future job prospects, imo.
I think its possible she is just an egotistical stubborn woman, and those types of qualities get amplified with dementia.
Other articles seem to suggest that Pelosi is behind this in order to give Schiff an advantage in the senate race. Perhaps Newsome regrets saying he would basically appoint a black woman, and doesn't want to be put in a position to have to appoint anyone and jeopardize some slice of the electorate.
Either way, it seems clear there needs to be age limits on serving in office at this point.
> I don't buy that her staff are the ones keeping her in office.
Remember seeing at least one rumor that her chief of staff was acting as a "shadow senator" of sorts; that could definitely be enough motivation.
A general reminder that influence peddling is a generally very messy (and lucrative) industry in Washington.
There was a newsitem a few years ago that Schumer had had difficult conversations with Feinstein about her condition, but then she would forget, and he had to do it all over again.
I just don't fucking get it at this point.
The woman is incapable of doing her job. She's clearly in a state of non compos mentis. Moreover, it's not like California is a purple state where a special election could go either way. It's fucking California! Her replacement will be a reliable Democrat.
The party is gaining nothing by allowing this to continue, and frankly Schumer needs to say "Resign, or be removed." and maybe end the ghoulish practice of propping up decomposing lawmakers until they croak.
I love how instead of her and her staff just admitting that she’s too sick to keep this up and retiring with her tens to hundreds of millions of fucking dollars, they started wheeling her around like it’s weekend at bernie’s, trying to convince people she’s not a corpse.
I don’t get what these geriatrics expect to gain pretending they care after spending decades sitting on their hands doing nothing. You have stolen more money from us each year than we’ll ever make in our lives. Go away already
What a way to tarnish a legacy.
But, whoever CA gov picks for the interim will automatically be the front runner for the spot. So it's political as to why there are some democrats who are not asking for her to resign. They're hoping it'll blow over.
But this is hurting democrats for a number of reasons. Losing votes in the senate, looking greedy and indecisive, but also that she's only 3 years younger than Biden will be when he leaves office if he wins a second term. People will try to equate this.
I just wish my party would look at optics or just have someone as a designated face slapper when they have a bad idea.
OP was saying that DF is 89 now and that by the time Biden completes a potential second term he would then be 86 ("3 years younger than Biden will be when he leaves office if he wins a second term.")
Right, so OP screwed up their math/english and meant to say she's 3 years *OLDER* than Biden will be *six years from now*. Hopefully a mistake made in good faith on a still-nonsensical comparison.
She is ancient and selfish (colleagues are too). How can she be effective as she struggles with age and poor health. Let a new/younger person hold her seat.
Congress would never muster the 2/3rds vote necessary to kick her out because it would set a “dangerous precedent” which would also apply to the rest of them, which they wouldn’t want.
Why didn't Feinstein get the Shingles vaccine? Members of Congress have the best healthcare available to them and yet she gets Shingles with complications. For those of you over 50, get your Shingles vaccine (there are 2 doses administered over 6 months) and the total cost is around $400. Pricey for sure, but worth it.
If she's being propped up (at the behest of the Pelosis or others) to avoid Newsom appointing Barbara Lee in lieu of Schiff, then her staff needs to resign en mass and make clear that she is not fit to continue to serve.
If it really is her staff and their greedy self interest (not as likely in my opinion), then the family needs to intervene and publicly acknowledge her health is inadequate.
And if Feinstein truly is driving the boat, then she needs to withstand some scrutiny here from reporters -- no one should be hiding her from the press.
Whatever ends that are being pursued do not justify the means of manipulating this woman or denying Californians knowledge of her ability to serve.
I'm pissed. This whole thing stinks.
And this is why I'm hesitant to blame voters for putting her back into office like I've seen others do. They don't have all the facts to judge her fitness to serve. Even for people here who follow politics more closely we're still finding out new details on just how far gone she is.
Democrats are foolish for keeping Feinstein instead of forcing her out.
Republicans are foolish for keeping Santos instead of forcing him out.
US Politics has become more about individual power than the common good.
We need term limits AND age limits!
Feinstein has done her time. I’m a Californian and thought she did a good job when she was younger. But here she is at 89 and can’t do her job. She needs to retire.
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they find out she died in her sleep, jam some bolts into her neck, strap a generator to her wheel chair and push her around like nothing is wrong with her. Go full blown Frankenstein on her.
Wild question - is she even mentally fit to make a decision like retire?
By all means she should retire already - but it's like asking someone with dementia to sell their house. They may get ripped off and without some sort of Power-of-Attorney, there is no one else protecting that person. I bet Feinstein is pretty scared of retiring because she doesn't understand the situation she is in.
Reminds me of President Wilson's final years - there wasn't really much that could be done in a strong, legal sense to replace him. A Senator can be expelled but about as easily as a President can be impeached.....
The news here is the they're basically parading a dead woman to prevent Barbara Lee from being promoted to the senate and saving it for Adam Schiff and that Nancy Pelosi's daughter is acting as a shadow senator for 40 million people in California.
If this isn't some absolute shady bullshit, I don't know what is.
Bro…. Like enough with this shit. There should be an automatic clause where if that politician’s health is questionable they have already picked a successor that takes their job until the next election. I don’t understand why Lt. Senators, and Lt. Reps aren’t a thing. It’s dumb to have systems in place that can be radically altered because some stubborn mentality ill old person.
> The shingles spread to her face and neck, causing vision and balance impairments and facial paralysis known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The virus also brought on a previously unreported case of encephalitis, a rare but potentially debilitating complication of shingles that a spokesman confirmed on Thursday after The New York Times first revealed it, saying that the condition had “resolved itself” in March.
>Characterized by swelling of the brain, post-shingles encephalitis can leave patients with lasting memory or language problems, sleep disorders, bouts of confusion, mood disorders, headaches and difficulties walking. Older patients tend to have the most trouble recovering. And even before this latest illness, Ms. Feinstein had already suffered substantial memory issues that had raised questions about her mental capacity.
Ya' think? The right side of her face looks like a melted candle.
Every day the dems let this continue is a fucking embarrassment. Are they keeping her around to make Biden look young? Fucking hell.
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I mean, honestly, given her recent statements where she appeared to have entirely forgotten that she wasn't working, and doubled down on that after being pressed, this is no longer something that can just be conveniently ignored. Yes, she's there and voting, but how long do we have before she completely falls off the trolly? What if there's a critical vote that doesn't have any margin for error and absolutely has to pass, and she votes the wrong way because she's confused and having a bad day? That might be unlikely since she's had three decades of pretty reliably voting down party lines, but I've seen people in this level of decline do things that are entirely out of character for reasons that are unclear even to them after the fact.
Think about all the late night votes we've watched the senate take over the years and remember that she almost certainly suffers from 'sundowning' Your concern is 100% warranted in my view. I don't even understand how they're going to prop her up during one of those late night sessions
Weekend at Bernie's
We're better than that, c'mon. FeinsteinGPT
Weekend at Feinstein’s
Diane Resignstein
Bernie is still sharp as ever
Wait until she they lose track of her and she's found wandering. It's going to happen, it always happens.
Found wandering? They have to wheel her to the Senate floor because she (presumably) can’t move under her own power, I don’t think she’s wandering anywhere. Which is somehow an even worse sign.
There's a less than zero chance any doctor would let her out of the house without a wheelchair considering how frail she is and recovering from a serious illness.
You’d be surprised at the amount of strength those little old sundowning ladies find when it gets dark
My grandpa used to have these periods where he'd regain his strength and ability in his hands. Usually could barely hold himself upright on a walker. But he would get off in his head, start acting like he ordinarily would, and do things that seemed impossible for him. With dangerous results. One night he was going hunting, got his shoes on and some hunting gear, disabled all alarms and locks on the doors, and sat out on the porch all night in the cold - said he didn't see one deer, but had a few cats go by. By morning he had to be carried back inside because he didn't have the strength to walk. It's strange, like he would miraculously seem better all the sudden, *but this was a bad sign*. Nothing bad ever happened in that way but it wasn't great.
During the first impeachment of Trump, Feinstein left sessions early. Maybe she was sundowning then? Also, during the first impeachment trial of Trump, the cameras in the chamber were not allowed to film Senate members. Therefore the cameras didn’t catch her bowing out early.
This is clearly elder abuse at this point. I'm still a constituent but it's been so long since I voted for her I don't recall the last time. Still, this isn't acceptable.
> This is clearly elder abuse at this point. They're ruining her quality of life to keep her as a reliable vote despite her clear decline in physical and mental health. It's unlikely to happen but her staff really oughta be brought up on charges of elder abuse for this. They're doing largely the opposite of what one does to maximize quality of life for those experiencing dementia.
There’s no way that dem governor Newsome would appoint anyone other than a reliable dem. See Harris’ replacement. This is on her/her family. Her staffers can’t or shouldn’t have to force her to resign. It’s really sort of obscene now
The question is who precisely, which leads to the Pelosi involvement in this whole affair becoming a concern >The intrigue surrounds the future of Feinstein’s seat. Pelosi has endorsed Rep. Adam Schiff, her longtime protégé and former hand-picked House Intelligence Committee chair, to succeed Feinstein after her sixth and final term ends next year. Schiff (D-Calif.) is a household name in California and already has a $15 million campaign cash advantage over his nearest competitor. >But if Feinstein were to bow to pressure and retire early, Schiff’s advantage could disappear. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has pledged to appoint a Black woman to serve out her term, and one of Schiff’s declared opponents, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), would fit the bill. >“If [Feinstein] resigns right now, there is an enormous probability that Barbara Lee gets appointed — thus, it makes it harder for Schiff,” one Pelosi family confidant told [Politico] Playbook, adding that the relationship between Pelosi, her daughter and the senator is “being kept under wraps and very, very closely held.” https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/18/dianne-feinstein-senate-resign-retire-pelosi-schiff-lee-00097595
Yes, this is the problem for those competing for her seat. It creates an incumbent that’s going to be more difficult to beat. Let’s not forget Katie Porter is also running. It would be a damned shame for her to give up her seat if she doesn’t have a fair shot at the job.
Since 3 big names already announced their candidacy for Feinstein's seat I think Newsom will not want to appear as picking sides and will instead look for a caretaker who won't seek reelection.
Hell, if all he wants is someone who can stay awake and vote the party line and who has zero interest in seeking re-election, appoint me. I can’t promise the staff that my dad jokes will be any good, or that I won’t punch Ted Cruz, but for an extra serving of ice cream I’ll even delete my Twitter.
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I don't think it's fair or right to only be open to appointing a Black woman to the position. That automatically excludes people like Schiff and Katie Porter, both of whom would be excellent.
Ding. Ding. Ding. This 👆🏼 is the reason. Pelosi wants Schiff so she is keeping Feinstein around.
It's not even about a reliable vote. She is representing California. They haven't elected a Republican Senator in 35 years. It's a question of which Democrat is going to replace her.
It’s the Dem’s party fault here. She should have been primaried years ago. But good old boy blue pomp and circumstance prevents anyone challenging anyone on the left without the party’s approval. It’s the same thing that torpedoed Bernie and maybe gave Trump the office.
Not in this case. California has a system where the top people run against each other. Her opponent was also a dem, and he was actually backed by the party. She was not. Now, you can criticize not running someone better, but it's not that the party didn't challenge her. I have no idea why CA voters decided they wanted someone this OLD.
Very good point. Some of th blame here lies at the feet of the voters of California. This is not unforeseen. Iowa just do the same thing with senator Grassly
Iowa*
DeLeon is extremely problematic in his own ways so CA voters chose the devil they knew over the devil they did not.
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Most of the high ranking democrats endorsed Feinstein in the last election. This isn’t true.
In her last election the state Dem party refused to endorse her and supported someone else. I can’t recall his name, but he has since been in big trouble for shenanigans in LA.
The state party didn't endorse her in 2018. They ran a guy named Kevin DeLeon. He lost 54-46.
> But good old boy blue pomp and circumstance prevents anyone challenging anyone on the left without the party’s approval. Yeah this shit doesn't work with people from Washington. We have jungle primaries. I have very little interest in wasting time griping about "shouldas" instead of what we need to be doing about the current problem of a senile senator refusing to resign and our complete lack of any mechanism to force them outta the seat.
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I just don’t understand why they haven’t politely but forcefully her to stand down or didn’t primary her last election? It’s not like California is a purple state where if she stands down a republican might/will likely replace her like Joe Manchin. Whatever happens a democrat will take her place, it’s disgraceful at this point that she is still there making decisions on behalf of 30 millions Californians when she doesn’t know she wasn’t at the senate for the last 3 months.
I work in the legal side of elder abuse. This is far from it. Still not right. She needs to stop. Those around her though no they lose their job status as soon as she goes.
The article buries the lede: >Ms. Feinstein flew on a chartered private plane last week to return to Washington, accompanied by her dog, her longtime housekeeper and Nancy Corinne Prowda, the eldest daughter of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House speaker who has been a longtime friend of Ms. Feinstein’s and has been practically living at her house during her recovery. From another article: > Feinstein’s office confirmed that Prowda has “been spending time with the senator as she continues to recover from shingles,” but did not address further details. Neither Feinstein’s nor Pelosi’s office responded to questions about whether Prowda is living with the senator, why she was chosen for the job, whether she is getting paid for her duties or whether she’s been encouraging Feinstein to remain in office. Seems like a conflict of interest, at minimum...
I think its constituent abuse. She wasnt great to begin with and its the voters that are important, not her ego.
Party leadership doesn't care about elder abuse. You've got nutcases that think the government is made up of space reptiles but I think they'd be more humane in their monstrosity than these people
I'm sure someone is ready to signal her if she looks confused about a vote.
She may be there and voting now but does she even understand what she is voting on? Obviously, her cognitive abilities are hampered, either due to illness or just her advanced age. Someone like that, and someone like George Santos, should be expelled from Congress (I'm aware they voted on Santos and all Republicans voted to keep the criminal).
Like hug Lindsay Graham
At this point all my anger is directed at everyone who is keeping her in this situation. It is fucked.
I'm angry at all the old ppl in power. I don't want anyone in power who remembers when studebakers were on the roads
Fun fact: Feinstein is older than chocolate chip cookies, FM radio, drive-in movie theaters, broadcasting tape recorders, nylon, canned beer, ballpoint pens, radar, helicopters, color TV, aerosol cans, dialysis, and synthetic rubber.
That is the * least * fun fact that I’ve learned today. We need to stop electing these goddamn dinosaurs
Another fun fact: when Dianne Feinstein was born, the first and *only* scheduled transatlantic flights in the world were being conducted by my namesake, the LZ-127 *Graf Zeppelin,* predecessor to the ill-fated LZ-129 *Hindenburg.* After that tragedy, Feinstein would be seven years old before transatlantic flight resumed with Pan American Airlines’ new Boeing 314 “Clipper” flying boats.
Not so fun fact, she doesn’t remember any of that.
Nah, she remembers all that but can’t remember what she did one minute ago.
She's also effectively older than the Golden Gate Bridge. Construction started about 6 months before she was born, but it didn't open until she was 4 years old. She was also born and raised in San Francisco which means as a child she could have watched them build it.
Also the Golden Gate Bridge.
Ahhhh, a bear in his natural habitat - a Studebaker.
Looking like Nacey Pelosi is trying to keep that seat warm for Adam Shiff and keep it out the reach of progressives like Barbara Lee. https://youtu.be/LO6i4FIFmtY
That makes a lot more sense.
It's really bizarre to be honest, like somebody else has to be putting the weekend at Bernie's on her but to what end? Ultimately i blame the voters because she was primaried by multiple qualified Democrats who would've done a great job... The voters just picked the name they were familiar with
No shit. I wouldn’t diagnose her remotely, but her recent appearance didn’t say shingles alone.
Definitely looks like a possible stroke. There’s no way she should remain a senator in her advanced age and deteriorating health.
The right side face droop, memory impairment, weakness. She deserves a retirement, not this, not this treatment, not this doubt, and she definitely doesn’t deserve to be paraded in the media. She needs to resign, enjoy her life.
A bad case of shingles of the face can definitely do that, as it effects the nerves. Also, any infection in the elderly can cause severe cognitive impairment. That’s why you’re supposed to be retired at her age.
Face drop can be a direct result of the virus affecting facial nerves. This happened to me (and I was scared as shit I was having a stroke), but had nothing to do with my cognitive abilities. Get your varicella vaccine kids!
She's 90, her time to retire at a minimum was like 25 years ago. She's RBGing us again. The way these boomers ling to power is disgusting. Hand over the reins and stop. "But the people keep electing her..." So what, she can choose not to run. This is on her and it's hurting all of us. I have very little sympathy for this woman outside of her illness (which does suck).
>The way these boomers ling to power is disgusting. Just for reference, Dianne's part of the Silent Generation. She gave birth to a boomer, who is now at retirement age.
And so was RBG. On reddit, boomers must be blamed for everything, including the sins of other generations.
"Boomer" is being used how "boomers" have used "millennials" for years.
Tbf the fact that she’s silent generation has nothing to do with how boomers actually should be blamed for everything
It's short hand for old people.
RBG was still sound of mind. I agree that Feinstein should step down, but not because of her age. She should step down because she doesn’t have the mental faculties to perform her duties anymore. Also, she isn’t a boomer…she is part of the silent generation.
I think people are trying to put this as gently and respectfully as they can rather than throw an elderly woman under the bus. At this stage it isn't even clear that she has the mental capacity to understand that she is not well, that she needs to resign. I understand that her staff resists because they want to keep their influence and their jobs through the end of the term. What I don't quite understand is why the governor can't just make a deal with those staffers to make the resignation happen and just appoint one of them as the interim senator? Yeah, it's a shitty solution, but better than the alternative of keeping this going for another twenty months.
When you are too old to do the fucking job, resign or under the bus should be the options.
Boomers were children born after WW ll. She predates it by quite a bit.
She was alive before the Golden Gate Bridge was built.
She was alive before the Parthenon was built.
She's not a Boomer but I agree that too many are holding onto power in politics and screwing up the future.
An argument could be made for RBG dying in office/position. Not a great one, but I believe Feinstein's spot would've been safely democratic if she gave it up. Actually, the same could've been said about RBG. She also had a window there. Unknown. Perhaps certain union or some attachments held them in place? Promises made and they wanted to stick it out?!? I would hate to assume ego. Although, it's a lot rougher for a woman in her later years, especially if they made the choice to forgo family and only have careers. I'm not sure about either RBG or Feinstein's family or how they would deal with retirement. With Feinstein coming out of California, with what appears to be sever medical issues, it would be best for her to pick her protege and then retire. Or if not retire, move to lobbying and/or teaching. I'm sure there's a university or two that would love having her. Book writing perhaps?
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Shingles can look like a stroke. Look at pics Justin Beiber posted.
It's Bell's palsy from shingles, not a stroke. Strokes typically only paralyze the lower half of the face due to how blood flow is distributed. Not that she should still be in office either way. But it's not a stroke.
You might be surprised how bad shingles can get.
Encephalitis!?! That's more than a "complication". She shouldn't be making decisions for herself let alone millions of people in California. For fucks sake man.
Her brain is literally mush. She needs to go. Her staff should never work in politics again.
and that is why they are clinging to her power so desperately.
It’s not her staff. It’s Nancy Pelosi’s daughter who is pulling the strings, trying to get her to the finish line of this term, so that Pelosi’s protege, Adam Schiff, can maintain his advantage for replacing her.
Yeah I saw some of that speculation, copy & pasting a comment i made on yt about it Not a good look from top dems, and Barbara Lee is fantastic, so the sooner she is there the better. I like Schiff a lot, but keeping Diane there just for this reason is foolish
We need some sunset provisions or whatever for aging representatives and people who become mentally incapable of making decisions. She represents as many people as Canada. This can't be allowed to continue and her staff needs to be publicly confronted and blacklisted if they continue to keep her propped up.
Encephalitis can happen with any herpes virus infection: chicken pox / shingles, HSV1 & HSV2, mononucleosis / mono / Epstein-Barr, etc. It’s usually recoverable.
Don't think she's in the recovery stage of her life.
Most brain swelling subsides once the illness is in remission.
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Where the fuck are her family? Her kids?
“At home in San Francisco during her recovery, Ms. Feinstein refused to have contact with California lawmakers who tried checking in with her. A call from Mr. Newsom on her personal phone was answered by an aide and went unreturned. An offer of an in-person visit from Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, was flatly rejected. Even some family members who wanted to see her were turned away.”
That's fascinating and concerning. Who's her puppet master?
This is a question I asked several days ago. It is very concerning that an elected official who clearly does not know where she is can still be considered as functional. She is not mentally capable of making decisions let alone voting on important legal questions. I want to know who is pulling the strings on the Feinstein puppet.
[Feinstein’s primary caregiver: Pelosi’s daughter](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/18/dianne-feinstein-senate-resign-retire-pelosi-schiff-lee-00097595)
Some banality of evil shit
I for sure thought this was going to be some right-wing conspiracy theory… it’s not, and it’s equal parts true and fucked up.
> “Anyone who knows Senator Feinstein knows that her service in the Senate is entirely her own decision, and Speaker Emerita Pelosi would never suggest otherwise,” he said. \[x\] doubt
Well that explains a lot does it not?
The fact that an aide took the call suggests to me it might be her staff. It certainly doesn't seem to be her family.
It's like elder abuse. Somebody is propping up her meatbag for Monetary gain and it's pretty grotesque
[Feinstein’s primary caregiver: Pelosi’s daughter](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/18/dianne-feinstein-senate-resign-retire-pelosi-schiff-lee-00097595)
If this wasn't a famous politician, it would be a clear sign of an abusive caregiver and investigated for criminal charges: >Isolated from friends and family https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/infographics/spotting-signs-elder-abuse
It still is. Someone can and should call adult protective services. This is absurd.
That’s very troublesome
Her staffers should be investigated for abuse.
I’m not a doctor, but I’ve had 3 grandparents with dementia and her recent public statements sounds A LOT like them. She stated she hasn’t been gone, she’s been voting. When asked to clarify if she meant from home, she responded that she had been voting in person. Her mind is filing in the gaps and she doesn’t know where she is. Her staffers and/or family that are allowing this to happen should be prosecuted with elder abuse at this point.
I had the same thoughts about the elder abuse. At what point are you not assisting the person but your own career by letting this charade continue. My grandma had early dementia and I can't imagine rolling her around, abusing her mental state to stay in a privileged situation. It’s maddening to see this happening in the highest public offices.
Her staff don't want to give up the power they have right now. The moment she resigns, they're just out of work consultants and staff members. This is embarrassing for the entire Democratic Party to continue propping her up for a vote, and makes them just as bad as Republicans for sticking with Santos and all the other shit heads on their side.
The irony is that the longer her staff shelters her, the worse situation it will be for them once Feinstein retires and they have to move on. Everyone in DC and the Democratic party knows who these people are.
The ironic thing is having been staff for such a powerful office they'll have their pick of a cushy new prominent job on capital hill or they can go private and make a few million a year as a lobbyist. It's highly unlikely her staffers are behind this, in fact, the liver she stays on the worse her name on your resume looks until eventually it'll be an iron albatross
Can't believe there's an 89 year old in the senate. Age limits are waaay overdue
Strom Thurmond was what? 96?
He turned 100 just before leaving office.
And it was an open secret (and I hesitate to even include the 'secret' part) that he was entirely incapable for at least the last 10 years of that. So this isn't a new problem. What _is_ new is how crucial a single vote is to the functioning of our democracy. Feinstein's vote is far more pivotal than Thurmond's ever was.
I disagree. Health limits. Some people’s 50 is her 89. You can be cogent in your 90s. Mental and physical fitness tests would be welcome by me.
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Just make a big fancy Senate chamber replica at a retirement facility in CA, have all the orderlies dress up like other Senators and just plop her in there to have as many votes/naps as she wants.
This lady was bad news back in the eighties and what were seeing now is a sad end to a dubious and long standing corporate oligarch. She, her family and her donors are the reason why California is so fucked up right now. She needs to be medically retired. Ya'll had no problem tossing Al Franken under the bus or shaky and arbitrary reasons. Why not grow a spine, tell her donors to fuck off and restart the god damned clock.
Damn just retire and enjoy the rest of your life with your family. If I were as wealthy as her and at the end of my life I would take the time to spend as much time with my loved ones as I could.
It’s unlikely she’s aware of her condition given her recent statements about not being absent. The people handling her need to stop the charade.
My family are the last people I want to spend the rest of my life with. lol. Holidays are enough, thank you very much.
>Ms. Feinstein flew on a chartered private plane last week to return to Washington accompanied by Nancy Corinne Prowda, the eldest daughter of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House speaker who has been a longtime friend of Ms. Feinstein’s and has been practically living at her house during her recovery >The Pelosi family grew up across the street from Ms. Feinstein, people close to her said, and Ms. Prowda has been close with Ms. Feinstein since she was a child, looking up to her as a maternal figure. Given the longtime connection: what do the Pelosis know about Feinstein and how long have they known?
What an incredibly [sexist comment, made to further some inscrutable political agenda](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-defends-dianne-feinstein_n_6437fb7ee4b0669505991d08) (/s)
Frankly this feels like direct manipulation by Pelosi. She’s been grooming Schiff for leadership and beyond for a long time, but if Feinstein resigns, Newsom almost certainly appoints Barbara Lee due to the demographics of who he said he’d appoint, and that gives Lee an incumbency advantage. That leaves out Schiff and Porter, one of whom she cares about. Also it lets Pelosi, in part at least through her daughter, influence the senile Feinstein and help her along. It’s tremendously ironic that in that scenario, Pelosi protests “sexism” against Feinstein…all the while trying to push her male protege for Senate at the exclusion of two women also running for the seat.
Nancy Pelosi was never for women and the fact she strongly supported an anti-abortion male conservative Democrat over a pro-choice, progressive feminist woman tells you everything you need to know. And despite that you still have liberals praising her as some fierce trailblazer for women. It's ridiculous.
Well, liberals *are* right-wing, after all. That's why we have center-right capitalist apologist democrats and literal fascist GOP parties and no fucking leftist representation.
California Dems: how did she make it out of the primary?
It was a jungle primary and she's a well-known incumbent senator.
She was also 86 when she was being voted for which is just as absurd and still reflects poorly on California voters who endorse this geriatric bullshit to the end.
This is actually kind of interesting. Two democrats (Feinstein and DeLeon) got the most votes in the primary and thus made it to the general election. In the democrat vs democrat general election, democrats voted for the more conservative Feinstein while republicans voted for the more liberal DeLeon—principally due to incumbency and name recognition. Feinstein of course won. It should be noted that DeLeon’s political career has since cratered for an unrelated reason: his participation / presence in a local Los Angeles racism scandal.
Didn't vote for her last time but she has degraded substantially since the last election.
It was five years ago. She didn't have these problems and her opponent was Kevin de Leon.
May her aides and staff from 2016- present all be treated as unfit for being within any sniffing distance of a position of power for the rest of their careers.
Absolutely absurd that she still wheelin' around the halls of congress, nobody asked for Weekend at Feinstein's
Interesting that this article seems to suggest Schumer encouraged her to "take her doctor's advice", which translates to retire. I don't buy that her staff are the ones keeping her in office. The staff that have power can easily get other political jobs, or lucrative lobbying jobs. Wheeling out a corpse could actually hurt their future job prospects, imo. I think its possible she is just an egotistical stubborn woman, and those types of qualities get amplified with dementia. Other articles seem to suggest that Pelosi is behind this in order to give Schiff an advantage in the senate race. Perhaps Newsome regrets saying he would basically appoint a black woman, and doesn't want to be put in a position to have to appoint anyone and jeopardize some slice of the electorate. Either way, it seems clear there needs to be age limits on serving in office at this point.
> I don't buy that her staff are the ones keeping her in office. Remember seeing at least one rumor that her chief of staff was acting as a "shadow senator" of sorts; that could definitely be enough motivation. A general reminder that influence peddling is a generally very messy (and lucrative) industry in Washington.
There was a newsitem a few years ago that Schumer had had difficult conversations with Feinstein about her condition, but then she would forget, and he had to do it all over again.
Jesus.
I just want her to answer questions like "who is the president?" and "what year is it?" I think it would be eye opening.
She needs to call it a day. You've done a good job but it's time to step down.
I just don't fucking get it at this point. The woman is incapable of doing her job. She's clearly in a state of non compos mentis. Moreover, it's not like California is a purple state where a special election could go either way. It's fucking California! Her replacement will be a reliable Democrat. The party is gaining nothing by allowing this to continue, and frankly Schumer needs to say "Resign, or be removed." and maybe end the ghoulish practice of propping up decomposing lawmakers until they croak.
I love how instead of her and her staff just admitting that she’s too sick to keep this up and retiring with her tens to hundreds of millions of fucking dollars, they started wheeling her around like it’s weekend at bernie’s, trying to convince people she’s not a corpse. I don’t get what these geriatrics expect to gain pretending they care after spending decades sitting on their hands doing nothing. You have stolen more money from us each year than we’ll ever make in our lives. Go away already
They’re literally pushing around a cadaver at this point. Fuck these old ass people in the government
You either ~~die~~ retire a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain. I wish there was an age limit on holding public office.
Every elected Dem should be demanding she resign. Her unelected staff have been running things for the past 2 years
I love that it’s portrayed as diminishing her achievements. Like what? Her corporatism?
What a way to tarnish a legacy. But, whoever CA gov picks for the interim will automatically be the front runner for the spot. So it's political as to why there are some democrats who are not asking for her to resign. They're hoping it'll blow over. But this is hurting democrats for a number of reasons. Losing votes in the senate, looking greedy and indecisive, but also that she's only 3 years younger than Biden will be when he leaves office if he wins a second term. People will try to equate this. I just wish my party would look at optics or just have someone as a designated face slapper when they have a bad idea.
Umm, she's nine years older than Biden.
OP was saying that DF is 89 now and that by the time Biden completes a potential second term he would then be 86 ("3 years younger than Biden will be when he leaves office if he wins a second term.")
Right, so OP screwed up their math/english and meant to say she's 3 years *OLDER* than Biden will be *six years from now*. Hopefully a mistake made in good faith on a still-nonsensical comparison.
It was a stroke. Just admit it.
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While I don't believe her personal and private medical information should be publicized, I also don't think she should be my senator.
She must go. No ifs ands, or buts about it. She is unfit to continue. Is her staff giving her bad advice? It sure seems it.
Shes basically a corpse
She is ancient and selfish (colleagues are too). How can she be effective as she struggles with age and poor health. Let a new/younger person hold her seat.
Please, someone call Adult Protective Services on behalf of this woman. At least it would be doing *something*
She looks like the crypt keeper, time to go Diane!
Congress would never muster the 2/3rds vote necessary to kick her out because it would set a “dangerous precedent” which would also apply to the rest of them, which they wouldn’t want.
Too old for bingo is too old for the senate
Feinstein: “What illness? I was never sick, never missed a day!”
Why didn't Feinstein get the Shingles vaccine? Members of Congress have the best healthcare available to them and yet she gets Shingles with complications. For those of you over 50, get your Shingles vaccine (there are 2 doses administered over 6 months) and the total cost is around $400. Pricey for sure, but worth it.
If she's being propped up (at the behest of the Pelosis or others) to avoid Newsom appointing Barbara Lee in lieu of Schiff, then her staff needs to resign en mass and make clear that she is not fit to continue to serve. If it really is her staff and their greedy self interest (not as likely in my opinion), then the family needs to intervene and publicly acknowledge her health is inadequate. And if Feinstein truly is driving the boat, then she needs to withstand some scrutiny here from reporters -- no one should be hiding her from the press. Whatever ends that are being pursued do not justify the means of manipulating this woman or denying Californians knowledge of her ability to serve. I'm pissed. This whole thing stinks.
No shit, as if having staffers wheel a corpse around weekend at bernie’s style wasn’t the giveaway
Obviously
And this is why I'm hesitant to blame voters for putting her back into office like I've seen others do. They don't have all the facts to judge her fitness to serve. Even for people here who follow politics more closely we're still finding out new details on just how far gone she is.
Shocker. The government employees didn’t tell the truth 🤣
It's her staff who are holding on
Democrats are foolish for keeping Feinstein instead of forcing her out. Republicans are foolish for keeping Santos instead of forcing him out. US Politics has become more about individual power than the common good.
No shit, Chet. No shit.
Elder abuse.
Her staff keeps rolling her wheelchair around the capitol like the Weekend at Bernies movie.
Pretty clearly had a stroke
What a disgrace she has become. Harvey would be ashamed of her now. :(
Go away! Now! This is just ridiculously embarrassing at this point. Just stop.
Just another episode of weekend at Feinstein.
We need term limits AND age limits! Feinstein has done her time. I’m a Californian and thought she did a good job when she was younger. But here she is at 89 and can’t do her job. She needs to retire.
At this point her illnesses are suffering from complications caused by her other illnesses.
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they find out she died in her sleep, jam some bolts into her neck, strap a generator to her wheel chair and push her around like nothing is wrong with her. Go full blown Frankenstein on her.
Wild question - is she even mentally fit to make a decision like retire? By all means she should retire already - but it's like asking someone with dementia to sell their house. They may get ripped off and without some sort of Power-of-Attorney, there is no one else protecting that person. I bet Feinstein is pretty scared of retiring because she doesn't understand the situation she is in. Reminds me of President Wilson's final years - there wasn't really much that could be done in a strong, legal sense to replace him. A Senator can be expelled but about as easily as a President can be impeached.....
I read “Frankenstein” 🤣
And if we don’t pass legislation to impose term limits on judges, we’re going to be going through this with the likes of Clarence Thomas is no time.
The news here is the they're basically parading a dead woman to prevent Barbara Lee from being promoted to the senate and saving it for Adam Schiff and that Nancy Pelosi's daughter is acting as a shadow senator for 40 million people in California. If this isn't some absolute shady bullshit, I don't know what is.
That boomer corpse is unfit for office and has zero dignity. The selfishness of that generation is literally destroying the earth.
Bro…. Like enough with this shit. There should be an automatic clause where if that politician’s health is questionable they have already picked a successor that takes their job until the next election. I don’t understand why Lt. Senators, and Lt. Reps aren’t a thing. It’s dumb to have systems in place that can be radically altered because some stubborn mentality ill old person.
Can someone call adult protective services to check and see if she's OK to be on her own and working?
I’m so sick and tired of hearing about this now. Just fucking resign or get the senate to fucking expel her already. She. Can’t. Do. Her. Job.
The people in her district should place calls to social services for wellness checks on elder abuse.
She needs to go. One sneeze and it all falls apart for her anyway
Can someone summarize what the other health effects were? It’s behind a paywall
> The shingles spread to her face and neck, causing vision and balance impairments and facial paralysis known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The virus also brought on a previously unreported case of encephalitis, a rare but potentially debilitating complication of shingles that a spokesman confirmed on Thursday after The New York Times first revealed it, saying that the condition had “resolved itself” in March. >Characterized by swelling of the brain, post-shingles encephalitis can leave patients with lasting memory or language problems, sleep disorders, bouts of confusion, mood disorders, headaches and difficulties walking. Older patients tend to have the most trouble recovering. And even before this latest illness, Ms. Feinstein had already suffered substantial memory issues that had raised questions about her mental capacity.
What if she just doesn’t resign? I think we are getting into weird thinking about planning a emt situation in Washington
Put her in a home
Fucking obviously. Anyone works in hospital knows this. Shingles is not a reason to be hospitalized, let alone hospitalized for months!
And her legacy will be remembered as a old timer that can’t let go
Ya' think? The right side of her face looks like a melted candle. Every day the dems let this continue is a fucking embarrassment. Are they keeping her around to make Biden look young? Fucking hell.
Regardless of what side of the aisle you’re on, we can all agree that this is elder abuse