Dead Cats, Fecal Floods, and a Real-World Example of What's Going On

In my daily early morning conversation with my daughter the other day, she used an expression I hadn't heard before - "throwing a dead cat on the table." It turns out that this refers to something called the Dead Cat Strategy, or deadcatting, defined as

"the political strategy of deliberately making a shocking announcement to divert media attention away from problems or failures in other areas."

This is, of course, a subset of the strategy professional political cat-thrower Steve Bannon called "flooding the zone with shit" (overwhelming opponents with outrageous and malodorous hogwash to keep them distracted and unable to focus on any one issue).

The zone nowadays is full of ... feces ... and all the tables are covered with dead cats. This is the modus operandi of the present administration: keep your opposition off balance by coming up with something newer and more insane every day. How do you triage the crazy when it's coming at you so fast there's no time to address one item of buffoonery before the next hundred hit you?

Ask yourself: in this vast, all-encompassing fecal perfect storm, what's really important? What are "they" trying to hide? What's the real agenda? Here's a current, real-world example:

On January 13th, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a proposed rule titled "Special Registrations for Telemedicine and Limited State Telemedicine Registrations" for public comment, with the comment period to end on March 18th. In its pdf form, the proposed rule is 58 three-column pages of dense legalese in tiny print. On the very last page, §1306.46, titled "State Laws Applicable to Special Registration Prescriptions," says,

When issuing a special registration prescription, a special registrant must comply with the laws and regulations of:

(a) The state in which the special registrant is located during the telemedicine encounter resulting in the special registration prescription;

(b) The state in which the patient is located during the telemedicine encounter resulting in the special registration prescription; and

(c) Any state or states in which the special registrant maintains a DEA registration to dispense controlled substances or a medical license, to the extent that the law or regulation applies to telemedicine encounters between practitioners and patients located in the states described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.

There are multiple layers of information and regulation to unpack here. What this means, once you reach the bottom of the rabbit hole of cascading and confusing definitions and translate the legalese into plain English, is that a doctor issuing a prescription online or via a telemedicine portal must comply not only with the laws of his or her state, but also those of the state where the patient is located. It is clearly intended to prevent women in red states where birth control or abortifacient drugs are illegal from obtaining them from doctors in states where their prescription is allowed.

Would you have known about this if my daughter hadn't pointed it out to me and I hadn't investigated it and pointed it out to you? 

What other rules are being quietly crafted by an administration that claims to hate rules crafted by "unelected bureaucrats" while your attention is being diverted by dead cats floating through the zone on tsunamis of shit?

It's hard to deal with dead cats and fecal floods, but we've got to do it. Don't let Der Furor and his minions get away with the gaslighting and sleight of hand they use to keep us distracted and helpless. Turn anger into action in the ways recommended by Mike in this important post. Do pay attention to the man behind the curtain ... 

... because he's counting on you not doing it. 

Have a good day. Move the dead cats out of the way, shovel the shit away, and keep an eye on the men behind the curtain who would rob you of your freedoms.

Bilbo