“My Son Beau is Fine.”   I’m sorry, I need more than that.

“My Son Beau is Fine.” I’m sorry, I need more than that.

So last Thursday, upon the Vice President returning home to Delaware with his son, the Attorney General, Beau Biden, the White House released a statement on his behalf, stating as follows:
Yesterday our son Beau underwent a successful procedure. He is in great shape and is going to be discharged [Thursday] and heading home to Delaware. He will follow up with his local physicians in the coming weeks.
I said at the time that I thought, based on earlier reporting, that this successful procedure was in fact the biopsy, and thus until we hear the results, this health crisis for the junior Biden was not concluded. Commenter Puck disagreed, saying:
It’s possible the “successful procedure” was in fact the treatment. There are minimally invasive radiosurgery procedures that could have been done in that timespan in Texas, and conceivably would have constituted full treatment. It’s also possible there is no issue of cancer, but rather some type of abnormal cluster of blood vessels which might require the same kind of treatment. I know this is just speculation, but I’m willing to indulge a little.
Could be. It would explain the very vague yet optimistic statement from the Vice President above and his statements on Friday in Scranton, PA:
“And I just want you all to know, since so many of you have asked me about my son, things are – it’s not only good to be here, but things are good at home in Delaware. My son Beau is fine,” he said, eliciting applause and cheers from a crowd of approximately 2,500 in the Lackawanna College student union.
The problem is though, with these vague statements and no further comment, is that Beau's recent medical crisis and his overall medical state remains unclear at best. You don't travel from Indiana to Chicago and then to Philly and then to the best cancer center in the country in Houston for a minor issue.
Beau Biden has a mass in his brain.

Beau Biden has a mass in his brain.

From Allen Loudell:
Multiple sources say the 44-year-old Biden is undergoing tests at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, which U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT has consistently ranked as the nation's best hospital for cancer treatment. Usually, people are evaluated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for particularly daunting conditions. We already know the Attorney General was evaluated at hospitals in Chicago and Philadelphia. That raises this question: Is Beau Biden being evaluated at M.D. Anderson primarily as a precaution (and it doesn't hurt to be the son of the Vice President of the United States), or does he really have chronic, complicated issues?
Indeed. This morning, NBC News and the New York Daily News are reporting Beau Biden has a mass in his brain. He is in Houston to figure out whether the mass is malignant.

Deputy Treasurer and the Abuse of a State Credit Card

By request of commenter Nuttingham, this topic now has its own thread. The NJ reported on Sunday about the Deputy Treasurer's misuse of her state-issued credit card. They document about $2100 in personal charges on the card, that were -- eventually -- reimbursed. The key part of this article (for me, at any rate) was the fact that the Finance Department flagged this pattern of misuse and couldn't get the attention of anyone in the Treasurer's Office. Yesterday, the Deputy Treasurer resigned and his morning, the NJ expands the report on her resignation: