Trump Declares War...on Chicago? Doctors Using AI: Becoming Less Skillful
September 12, 2025
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: NFL Coach Vince Lombardi has something to say about winning that might apply to the rest of our lives.
Donald Trump Threatens ‘WAR’ on Chicago in Wild AI Post: Didn’t King George III do something like this which resulted in the Revolutionary War?
Florida Moves to End Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren: Another anti-science act that makes Florida’s government one of the most dangerous in the country toward its own people.
Trump says he doesn't know 'anything' about reported violent, failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea: This is massively disturbing on at least four levels.
Kvetching Korner: The Danger of Self-Loathing Politicians: Nothing disgusts me more than seeing members of a marginalized group willfully being used as props by their oppressors just so they can dine in the Big House.
Notes from the Sidelines: What Are the Odds of Going Pro?: Going pro is a long shot, even for the best athletes. Keep your dream, but don’t shut yourself off from other possible passions.
Kareem the Science Guy: New Study Suggests Using AI Made Doctors Less Skilled at Spotting Cancer: AI has improved medical care in numerous ways, but the reliance on it can make doctors lazier and less proficient.
Video Timeout: How to handle a cobra attached to a goat? Simple.
Magical Moments in Sports: A dive so high it requires a parachute?
Jeremy Siskind Plays “Misty”: A lively and moving interpretation of this jazz classic.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), Green Bay Packers coach, won the first two Super Bowls
Lombardi’s most famous quote, though he didn’t originate it, is the ominous, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” However, Lombardi later said that he was misquoted. What he really meant was “Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.” [FYI: UCLA Bruins football coach Red Sanders is credited with first saying “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” in the 1930s. Lombardi is recorded having used it in 1959.]
Like many people, I think of sports as a microcosm of real life. Yes, I’m aware that this may seem like I’m romanticizing sports the way Dorothy romanticizes Oz. But I’ve been around professional sports for more than 50 years, so I’m well aware of the stark realities that it’s a multibillion-dollar industry and that kind of money—along with the prestige of owning, managing, or playing for a pro team—attracts a lot of people who only want whatever riches they can extract. The same can be said for the movie, TV, and publishing businesses, which I also have a lot of experience with.
Nevertheless, when it comes to sports, movies, TV, and books, I still have a place inside me that recognizes how important they all are to our culture, not just as forms of entertainment, but also as teaching tools that give us insight into our struggles as humans and provide moral guidance. Sports are especially important because we use them to teach our children about fair play, sportsmanship, teamwork, discipline, enduring loss, and much more. Studies have consistently shown that sports figures are the second most important role model—after parents—to young children. That’s why we have to be diligent in making sure our sports and our sports figures are held to a high standard—whether they like it or not.
I like this revised Lombardi quote because it doesn’t focus on the outcome but on the effort. One of the reasons sports is so fascinating is because, on any given day, the worst team in a league can defeat the best team. I’ve seen it; I’ve experienced it. In such cases, the lesson is, “What can I do differently next time?” How can I strive to be better prepared, more skilled, more focused? Those are good lessons for people in life as well as sports. Most of the joy in basketball for me wasn’t in the Big Game, it was in the hours of training, thinking about how to improve, seeing my hard work pay off in improved playing. The same in writing: The joy isn’t in seeing the book on the bookshelves or autographing it; it’s the long, arduous hours of writing, cutting, polishing—and finally seeing the story come into focus. This attitude can be applied to everything in my life, from parenting to jobs to friendships.
“Wanting to win” means wanting to become the person I imagine myself to be. I always fail to “win” at that, but I’ll never stop training. That’s winning.
News of Shame
#1. Donald Trump Threatens ‘WAR’ on Chicago in Wild AI Post (Daily Beast): You might want to chant your calming mantra a few times before reading this. Ready? The President of the United States just threatened an American city with war. Along with an AI-generated poster of himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall) from the film Apocalypse Now, he posted this threat to American citizens: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
A lot to unpack, but we’ll try:
Trump seems completely clueless that the character he wants to emulate is portrayed as a war-mongering psychopath (the name Kilgore should have been a clue for this “very stable genius”). Kilgore is a villain in the movie!
Declaring “war”—even implied or sarcastic—simply because the city has a Black, Democratic mayor, reveals his intent isn’t protection of people but intimidation.
Trump’s justification for this armed invasion of an American city is that Chicago is “the world’s most dangerous city.” However, Trump is factually wrong (no surprise): The top “most dangerous cities” (by homicide rate) are in Mexico and Latin America. As for Chicago, in the last year there’s been “a 22 percent reduction in overall violent crime, including a 32 percent reduction in homicides, a 32 percent reduction in robberies, a 49 percent reduction in vehicular hijackings, and an 18 percent reduction in aggravated assaults.”
Trump said: “I have an obligation. This isn’t a political thing.” Then why is he targeting only cities run by Democrats? “The murder rates in cities targeted by Trump are significantly lower that the murder rate in red-state cities.” (“Trump claims Chicago is ‘world’s most dangerous city’. The four most violent ones are all in red states.”) Reports The Guardian, “The four cities of populations larger than 100,000 with the highest murder rates in 2024 are in Republican states: Jackson, Mississippi (78.7 per 100,000 residents), Birmingham, Alabama (58.8), St Louis, Missouri (54.1) and Memphis, Tennessee (40.6).” In fact, the red states that sent National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., all had cities with higher or comparable crime rates as D.C. including “Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.; Birmingham, Ala.; Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo, Ohio; Tulsa, Okla.; Memphis and Nashville; Houston; Little Rock, Ark.; Salt Lake City; and Shreveport, La.” (“Crime Festers in Republican States While Their Troops Patrol Washington.”)
When will the GOP politicians in Congress, sworn to preserve America and the Constitution, finally put the country over their own career ambitions and protect the people who put them in office?
#2. Florida Moves to End Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren (The New York Times): “Florida plans to become the first state to end all vaccine mandates, including for schoolchildren, rejecting a practice that public health experts have credited for decades with limiting the spread of infectious diseases… ‘Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body?’ Dr. Ladapo, a vocal denigrator of vaccines, said to applause during an event on Wednesday in Valrico, Fla., near Tampa. ‘Your body is a gift from God.’”
I’m not sure when America decided to assign the dumbest kids in class as guardians of their own health and their families’. But Florida’s Surgeon General Ladapo (I can’t bring myself to call him “doctor) is certainly one of the best examples of child abuse once-removed, because his policies will inevitably make kids sick and may even cause deaths.
You know you’ve gone beyond the pale when even Fox News’ senior medical analyst, Dr. Marc Siegel, thinks you’re wrong. He went on Fox Business to explain why these vaccines are necessary to protect our children: “Why do we want you to have it? Because of something called herd immunity. Because measles, if you go into a room where measles was and you’re not vaccinated, within two hours there’s a 90 percent chance you’re gonna get it. And so for immunocompromised kids, the only way to protect them is to have 95 percent of the population vaccinated. When you’re joining a community when you go to kindergarten, you’re not only thinking about yourself, you’re thinking about others.” Every legitimate doctor knows this, but remember that Ladapo encouraged parents to choose for themselves whether to send their unvaccinated kids to school during a measles outbreak, thereby putting every child in danger? Ladapo’s attitude: “Herd immunity? Fake news!”
Let’s take a moment to look at his scientific reasoning: “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? Your body is a gift from God.” Aren’t you the guy who wanted fluoride removed from the public water supply; posted on social media “I support the decision to consume raw milk,” even though it was linked to an e. coli outbreak in Florida that killed people; encouraged the consumption of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 (even though it’s ineffective)? Aren’t you blocking transgender people from receiving medication? (And, though you claim that parents should make the decisions about their child’s body, you aren’t allowing parents to make the decisions about their transgender children’s bodies.) Aren’t you preventing women from making choices about their “gift from God”—their own bodies? Who are you? You’re a quack.
Even some Republicans refute this dangerous move. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who chairs the U.S. Senate’s health committee, described the decision by DeSantis and Ladapo as “a terrible thing for public health.” “We’re going to start having vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks at schools,” he said, adding that “you’re going to have children who come to school with measles and infect other people who either have not been vaccinated or have some sort of disease, like cancer.”
MAHA’s Brave New World openly admits to policies that will make people sicker. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for electing the people who are trying to kill us.
#3. Trump says he doesn't know 'anything' about reported violent, failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea (ABC News): “President Donald Trump said Friday he didn't know ‘anything’ about what The New York Times reported was a classified 2019 SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea in which unarmed North Korean civilians were killed during an aborted operation.”
In 2019, SEAL Team 6 commandos were secretly sent into North Korea to plant a device that would “let the United States intercept the communications of North Korea’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-un, amid high-level nuclear talks with President Trump.” Things went wrong and the team, fearing discovery, opened fire on a boat, killing everyone aboard. Later, they discovered the people were unarmed civilians diving for shellfish.
The scariest issue here has nothing to do with what happened on that mission. What is truly frightening here is that Trump, who was president at that time, just said last week, “I don't know anything about it. I'm hearing it now for the first time.”
There are only a few options regarding his statement, none of them reassuring:
Trump was not informed of the mission. The military conducted a secret mission into North Korea to gather information for Trump to give him an advantage during his talks, yet no one told Trump about it. That is difficult to believe, given that it had the potential to create a serious international incident.
Trump is incompetent for not knowing. If he didn’t know, then either the military didn’t want to brief him, which means he had no control over them, or no one in the military or in the White House trusted him with the information. Either way, that makes him a terrible leader.
Trump forgot he knew. A major mission into a hostile country that resulted in civilian deaths isn’t easily forgotten. Dementia?
Trump is lying about knowing. This seems the most likely, given his track record of never taking responsibility for anything, blaming others, and openly lying to the public.
Frankly, I was stunned that he made this admission because none of the options make him look like a competent leader. The fact that he doesn’t realize that tells us just how bad a thinker he is.
Video Timeout
A cobra wraps around a goat and this guy has an ingenious, non-tech method to remove it.
Kvetching Korner: The Danger of Self-Loathing Politicians
Self-loathing is a common phenomenon among marginalized people. They have lived their lives in a society that shows them on a daily basis that they aren’t valued. They are the recipients of hate speech and hate behavior. They are the butt of nasty jokes and stereotypical characterizations. Yet, they forge ahead every single day, knowing they will never be accepted, embraced, appreciated, or loved by their own society, no matter what they achieve or how much they contribute to that society. In fact, exceptional achievements by members of that group only make them more hated because they’re proving people wrong who aren’t logical, humiliating the haters. Which makes those who are biased increase their level of hatred, cranking it up to 11.
For those enduring this systemic marginalization—Blacks, Jews, Asians, women, LGBTQ+, etc.—the daily onslaught over years creates a fissure inside them that makes them wonder if maybe they aren’t deserving of all this public scorn. Of course, that’s not their rational selves, but some slimy, tumorous growth that makes them hate themselves for causing others to hate them.
There are two main paths for people suffering from self-loathing. They accept that this is an inevitable result of their social status—like a construction worker getting thick callouses. But they don’t let that awareness define who they are. They acknowledge its existence but overwhelm it through reason, pride in who they are, and interacting with people who are rational rather than reactive.
However, the other path is to try to endear oneself to those who oppress them, thereby getting validation from those who hate them. Of course, that validation isn’t real. It’s part of a show of being tolerant, and self-loathers who join them are merely props in that performance.
Particularly loathsome are those politicians of color and women who have joined the GOP to support the most racist and misogynistic administration in my lifetime. (“‘Racist as hell’: Trump’s cabinet is almost all white, and he keeps firing Black officials.”) People like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) are among the prominent Black politicians supporting the party that is attempting to take away voting power and basic human rights from Blacks, Hispanics, and other marginalized people. Sometimes self-loathing manifests into blaming everyone in their group for being outcasts. They think by punishing their own group, they will be welcomed into the mainstream of society as heroes.
But the truth is—despite the power and wealth and prestige that their masters will heap upon them for their betrayal—they will always be snickered at behind their backs. They are props to be put on display as proof of GOP tolerance, even though Republicans are dedicated to a scorched-earth policy as they march through the rights of the marginalized the way Sherman marched to Atlanta. They are collaborators with the enemy, selling out their heritage for a little power and money. Every time I see a Black elected official or a woman go on TV to sing the praises of Trump, my disgust rises in me at their betrayal of themselves, the Constitution, and the country. All for 30 pieces of silver. They deserve their self-loathing.
Come this next election, all marginalized groups need to band together to vote out of office every turncoat politician who chose standing with their oppressors over supporting their own people.
Notes from the Sidelines: What Are the Odds of Going Pro?
If a child has a dream of becoming a pro athlete, the parents should support that dream. The same is true if that child wants to become an artist, an actor, a writer, or anything else that may look like a hopeless fantasy. I know that parents think they have their child’s best interests at heart when they try to make them put down the paint brush and pick up a business book, but that’s not the case.
But that doesn’t mean the parent shouldn’t make the child aware of the practicalities of their long-shot dream profession. Nor does it mean they shouldn’t encourage back-up plans in case the dream career never materializes.
Let’s start with the dream of becoming a pro athlete. What worries me is that this might be the dream of more parents than children. About 70% of kids quit organized sports by the age of 13, mainly because parents and coaches drive them so hard to win. Explains Dr. Kody Moffatt, the division chief of pediatric sports medicine at Children’s Nebraska, “For a lot of kids, it comes down to the fact that sports become less fun and more about the concept of what success is from more of an adult’s eyes than a child’s eyes. Kids want to stay active, play and have fun with their friends, and winning and losing is something that they care less about.”
Here’s a harsh reality about sports: The odds of making it to the pros are minuscule:
1 in 610 (0.16%) will get drafted by a Major League Baseball team
1 in 10,399 (0.0096%) will get picked by an NBA team
1 in 12,873 (0.0077%) will be chosen by a WNBA team
1 in 3,960 (0.025%) will get picked by an NFL team
Sadly, according to a recent study, 11% of parents believe their child could be a pro (compare that to the 0.0096% of joining the NBA). The parents need a reality check as much as the children.
“Never tell me the odds,” says Harrison Ford as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and that’s not a bad motto for those who are driven, disciplined, and relentless. Even then, that doesn’t guarantee success. The cliché that everyone who works hard and never gives up can achieve their dreams is just not true and it’s destructive to keep preaching this. Mostly, it’s those who have been successful who insist it’s true. In reality, luck has a lot to do with success.
So, how do we support a child’s dream but prepare them for harsh realities in case they fail? We don’t force them to have a single dream. Maybe they can play baseball like a champ, but given the chance, maybe they could also play piano or program computers or build bridges. The child should be exposed to as many paths as possible so they can develop parallel interests. Injuries can sideline a child’s sports ambitions at any time, so they need to be prepared with other equal interests.
Just because the odds are long doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue our dreams. The odds of becoming an artist who makes over $100,000 a year is 4%. Only 3% of people who start a novel, finish it. And the odds of getting a novel traditionally published is 1-2%. Most worthwhile things are difficult to accomplish, which is why we admire those who are successful. But I also admire those who strive and fail because at least they tried. And having not succeeded, they didn’t melt into a heap—they found the next passion to pursue.
Kareem the Science Guy
New Study Suggests Using AI Made Doctors Less Skilled at Spotting Cancer (Time)
SUMMARY: Health practitioners, companies, and others have for years hailed the potential benefits of AI in medicine, from improving medical imaging to outperforming doctors at diagnostic assessments. The transformative technology has even been predicted by AI enthusiasts to one day help find a “cure for cancer.”
But a new study has found that doctors who regularly used AI actually became less skilled within months.
The study, which was published on Wednesday in the Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology journal, found that over the course of six months, clinicians became over-reliant on AI recommendations and became themselves “less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without AI assistance.”
MY TAKE: I am an avid supporter of new technology as a tool for the improvement of humanity. AI-related tech has certainly proven itself to be a tremendous boon to so many aspects of life. But, as this new study shows, the issue is sometimes not with the technology, but with the people who use it.
There’s a famous saying, “God created men, Samuel Colt made them equal.” The idea is that the revolver eliminated size and physical strength as main attributes in controlling others. Now the smallest person could defend themselves just as lethally as the biggest person. Technology has always been treated as a way to level the playing field, with AI technology being eagerly embraced by those who want to use it as a substitute for the discipline of actually learning, using critical thinking, and developing insight through intelligent observation. In other words, lazy thinkers and the uninformed think AI is like a magic pill that will make them seem smarter. In fact, their misuse of it reveals the exact opposite. That they don’t realize this exposes their ignorance to everyone but themselves.
A recent study from MIT concluded that ChatGPT harms users’ ability to use critical thinking. (“ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills, According to a New MIT Study.”) The study’s authors were especially concerned how the use of ChatGPT was harming young students’ long-term brain development. Other studies have found that, in general, “the more time users spend talking to ChatGPT, the lonelier they feel.”
Regarding the medical study, researchers determined that the problem was partially due to “the natural human tendency to over-rely” on technology. The reliance on AI tech “weakened doctors’ visual search habits and alerting gaze patterns, which are critical for detecting polyps.” Also of concern is that when AI was removed, doctors became less confident in their own skills.
This is a classic case of, “which is the tool and which is the tool user?” AI should be a tool to enhance one’s own skills and thinking, but when it’s used in place of thinking and developing skills, the user becomes the tool of AI.
Magical Moments in Sports
I can’t quite get into the mindset where someone thinks, “Hey, this will be fun.”
Jukebox Playlist
Jeremy Siskind: "Misty"
Jeremy Siskind is jazz and classical pianist and composer who is an accomplished performer as well as teacher (he is he author of Jazz Band Pianist and First Lessons in Piano Improv). His versatility was demonstrated in his 2012 debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall when he performed Debussy’s Etudes in the first half of the program and jazz compositions in the second half.
I chose this video of “Misty” for two reasons. First, I love “Misty,” the jazz standard written in 1954 by pianist Erroll Garner. I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth repeating. Garner wrote “Misty” on a flight from Chicago to San Francisco. The plane passed through a thunderstorm and, as they descended into O’Hare, Garner saw a rainbow through the mist. He began “playing” the song on his knees, prompting a passenger to ask the flight attendant to check on Garner’s health.
The other reason I chose this video is because I love Siskind’s joyful passion as he plays. Whether or not you love jazz—as he clearly does—you’ll be transfixed by his lively and moving performance. He’s definitely worth seeking out.
Kareem, you just have to wonder about the psyche of someone who inserts himself into everyone else’s accomplishments: the artwork of Mt. Rushmore, the hogging of championship belts and trophies, the acceptance and retainment of a Vet’s Purple Heart. He knows nothing of what he should, and jumps in where he shouldn’t. But this time, he may have gotten it right, with Kilgore, a war-mongering psychopath.
Kareem,
Thank you for your calm voice of reason and compassion. I quit Little League because my father would scream at me during and after games. He made it clear I was a huge disappointment to him. Later in life, I refereed ball games and swim meets (I went on to become a collegiate swimmer. My father never attended a single meet.) I was never touched by a father, but had them in my face more than once.
Sigh. I felt for the kids, because I saw myself in them.
Let kids be kids. They'll be grinding out a living soon enough.
As for medicine by AI. I'm a retired doctor. Medicine is an art based on science. Like a musician, you've got to maintain your skills, or they atrophy. I'm not surprised to learn that reliance on AI causes a clinician's skills to atrophy.
As for our political mess, I'm a student of history and once lived in Turkey, where I was surrounded by the ruins of the Greek and Roman civilizations. I fear I'm witnessing the end of our country's period as a world leader. The saddest thing? We're not losing our position; we're ceding it to those who want to win while we're coasting on what we thought would be a permanent victory lap. The GOP in Congress that abet our president's destruction of our democracy are worthy of our disdain. As a physician, I wonder how they can stand erect minus a spine. I pray the damage is not irreparable, but I see little reason to hope. Not everyone is as thoughtful as you are.