When you put together this important piece with the last several you have done re tariffs, affordability, destruction of key alliances, acting as "useful idiots" for Putin, etc etc etc,
it's almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Trump regime is, almost without doubt,
the most subversive, anti-American "administration" in US history.
They don't want to make America great -- they want to DESTROY AMERICA & everything that has made it exceptional.
By the time these blackguards are finished, the US will be a poor, sick, middle-level "power" that the Trump gang will have made sure to block any possible route to recovery.
The self deluding followers of MAGA and tRump will eventually get their just rewards as did the anti-COVID followers of the right. Just look at the death statistics from COVID related to political party.
This is why the majority of countries and people outside the USA now don't want to do business with the USA; they/we (I'm English) view your country as being run by a group of Kleptomaniacs (aka criminals).
The awakening of businesses round the world is speeding up - take Europe as an example; the European Government is making plans to do as little business with the USA as possible, as it works with other countries and groups of countries to build new liaisons, like The Mercosur group, India, China et al.
Problem is the USA will be floundering many years after Trump and his cronies have either died or been locked up, because the ramifications of Trump et al will continue in the USA for many decades.
Most of us here in the U.S. are, at this point, looking to Europe (and Canada) to preserve/save democracy as we struggle to restore ours. Best of luck to all of us. This could prove to be the entry point to human extinction.
I share your view that we may be approaching the end for homo sapiens as well as millions of other species who cannot survive the changes we have wrought to the planet. It is very, very sad. My little grandson who will turn three in a couple of weeks is going to be facing a reality that may as well be "hell" as the interesting world I was lucky to live in for most of my 64 years.
I think our species will survive, but not necessarily without massive reduction of population and living standards. Think of how the average human lived thousands of years ago.
Please please please find another term besides "human extinction" to describe catastrophic climate change or the AI apocalypse or Global Thermonuclear War or some other source of societal collapse.
At a population of 8,300,000,000, we could wipe out >99.99% of humans and still have more than enough of our species to maintain a more than viable gene pool. If anything, extreme reduction of our population would result in a relative increase of our food supply (no giant trawlers stripping the seas, plenty of viable vegetation we can live off, etc.).
Considering the human predilection for self-destructive behavior, a surviving population of 83,000,000 scattered around a damaged world is of questionable viability. Global warming alone would reduce critical resources, such as fresh water, to a level that many survivors will kill each other for it. Antibiotic [strikeout] impervious [/strikeout] resistant bacteria will knock off a significant percentage of that population - as will the next viral pandemic - and we won't have the capability to produce new antibiotics or vaccines. And that's just for staters. Our odds are pretty poor.
It's the nature of populations that they tend to survive in pockets.
Yes, the people without water will fight (Mad Max, et al), and globally connected communities will still have exposure to contagions without vaccines (smallpox 2.0, zombie apocalypse), but large portions of the Arctic and the very many mountain ranges provide cooler temps and lasting sources of water. And, as with the wildlife around Chernobyl, even radiation wouldn't prevent a quickly breeding population from growing.
This is not about ·civilization·, but about a species of adaptive apes that has survived everywhere from frozen hellscapes to open plains to desert fringes. With the help of domesticated dogs and horses and camels, and with all of us soft-handed online pontificators culled from the population, they'll do just fine, thankyouverymuch.
So far. In our present form, we've only been around a little over a quarter million years. As you point out, as clever as we are, we might just be a bit too big for our breeches.
We're facing simultaneous self-inflicted threats on multiple fronts: catastrophic global warming, antibiotic [strikeout] impervious [/strikeout] resistant bacteria, another novel viral pandemic, the thrill of mushroom clouds has returned, and last but not least, AI displacement.
Oh, mass starvation is already built into even the somewhat mitigated forecasts for climate change. Increasingly overlapping crop failures means that only the richest countries can get the food on the global market, so most of us here won't see anything for a decade at least.
Here's the prognosis for the (very wealthy) UK from last November's National Emergency Briefing (NB: "corn" in the UK refers to cereal crops):
What can you do about hubris? Following Limits To Growth (1972), Paul Erhlich, James Lovelock and others argued that ecological sustainability implies a limit to human population of about 2-3 billion [roughly the level in 1960]. I immediately agreed with it, this was just common sense - resources are finite so there are ultimately limits to population growth and I hated what unlimited growth was achieving, but Erhlich and others have been more than ignored.
There is plenty of food out there that is wasted and with intelligent planting and growing, plenty more could exist. The issue is more in distribution and unequal wealth to buy food than in a dearth of food. But we can do better. I almost never throw out anything, no matter what. The last few crumbs from whole grain crackers, for example, add an interesting note to my breakfast oatmeal. I only toss food that is rotten.
When I was growing up in the rural South, there were no A&Ps or Krogers, etc. We lived in a community that raised food and what we in towns didn't raise, we bought from local farmers. My mother spent a month every summer canning. Nothing I eat today is locally grown. I could list the problems with that, but you surely know them. No, we can't go back - barring a planet-wide wipe out of humans. But we should at least be aware. I didn't say we had a "dearth" of food. We no longer control our food supply, nor can we.
Those who wish to control their food supply can do so through farmers' markets and CSAs. I grow most of my own organic greens every summer in pots. Ditto several useful herbs. I cook dried beans and freeze what I am not using immediately, ditto grains. Not everyone has the time or energy to do this, but it helps keep prices down and quality of meals up. (Obviously, this supposes that one does not live in an urban "food desert.")
I have no idea what "overran our food supply" means if it doesn't mean having too little. FWIW, I also grew up a small Southern town. We had an A & P and a Piggly Wiggly. My parents both worked full time, so we didn't grow our food, but we ate well.
No redactions oversees...looks like they want "another glimpse at the "Madman Across the Water". They want to kow, "Are the windows black or are they all just painted?"
Be vigilant. The same forces that brought us Trump are working in Europe and Canada to do the same in those places. The USA is NOT exceptional in this ability to fall to facism and it can and has happened elsewhere!
I worry because I read the news from other countries (like Germany) that the ultra-right wing is making inroads there as well. Humanity needs Europe especially to hold the line while we in the US try to save our democracy. Without that and the world is basically run by three oligarchs and the 'little guy' has no hope of something better!
Yes the AFD - Alternative fur Deutsche - are basically the Nazi party whom Trump & Musk are supporting; but there is big opposition against them of course. Most countries have some extreme right wing party - we do in the UK called Reform run by Nigel Farage
Before the last election, the German parliament removed a constitutional restriction on deficits, which permits more deficits on defense spending. Even though the AFD managed to get enough votes to now block future constitutional changes, the 25% support can't do much for regular laws. AFD support is strongest in eastern Germany, which was controled by Russia after WW2. Makes sense, Russia is the today's nazis.
Canada, like most of Europe, has organisation that prevents the rise of another Trump.
1) Limits to election spending
2) Parliamentary system, without veto powers. Nominally the prime minister has a lot of power with a majority government, but he/she is constrained by requiring the support of elected members of parliament. As well, if a minority govt (which often occurs), it requires the support of another party.
In Europe only France has a presidential system, and it has problems with the right, but whenever there is a choice, the extreme right is rejected.
3) In Canada and Europe, the elected govts never try to act outside the law, including respecting their respective constitutions. Europe learned its' lesson from Hitler.
I admire your optimism but Hungary is in Europe. As is Belarus. And Poland. As are Russia and Turkey as least in part. "whenever there is a choice, the extreme right is rejected" So far. As it had been mostly for the last 250 years in the US too. And up until ten years ago, most Americans (including most learned experts) would have thought the US incapable of being taken over like this because of our checks and balances and sharing of power between fed and state gov. Pride goeth before the fall.
Hungary is an exception, but Orban is due to be defeated this spring. Poland is clearly democratic. The somewhat right wing president is only symbolic; the popular centrist prime minister heads the govt. Belarus is dominated by Russia, and Russia has never been really democratic, nor really European. Turkey has never been strongly democratic. When Erdogan is gone, who knows.
The US, since Reagan, has been trending toward a Trump-like president, with intervening Democrat administrations. The structure of the US political system, with a powerful president not directly answerable to elected representatives like a parliamentary system, is a considerable weakness of the US.
I'm not saying that it is impossible elsewhere, but it is much less probable.
But that's just it, it was not like that just a decade ago and things have moved incredibly fast. That is my point that you are missing as you just dismiss my concerns. I get what you are saying about the parliamentary system but our Congress could stop Trump in a minute but they do not. It was the Republicans, his own Party, who stopped Nixon after he committed a crime that looks petty in comparison. Why aren't they doing this? Turns out it is our Supreme Court that destroyed our democracy only 16 years ago with Citizens United. Which is why no Republican is afraid of 'the people' so long as they do what they rich want, they will get reelected. The case that gave Trump absolute immunity was only in 2024 with the only real stop on presidential power being the Supreme Court.
And why is this sharp turn towards a king President and nine unelected gods deciding how things will go happening? There are many factors, of course, and it is complex but it mostly boils down to RACE. The USA has struggled with race from the very beginning because of slavery and native americans, we have never been homogeneous (unlike most of the Europe you speak of). But since the 'white people' learned they would soon be a minority, they lost their minds and voted for this obviously corrupt immoral monster because he echoed their fear and hatred. It is the same hatred and fear I hear in interviews of people from the UK and Germany and even Sweden when they talk about immigration as they know what it coming and are freaking out just like the majority of white people here. If you think those same strong emotions cannot change laws, and twist the law and governments in Europe in the coming decades when it WILL become darker and more diverse, I think you are forgetting about the lessons learned from Nazi Germany. My hope is that Europe *sees* what is happening in the US and continues to adjust accordingly instead of just dismissing it with a 'it can't happen here' as it has already happened there (and is happening there) and not just in Nazi Germany. If Trump has taught us anything, it's that it takes constant vigilance and it is NEVER done or safe.
I for one American was saying 4 years ago when Biden was elected that Europe still ought to forge its own way away from the US. I knew this thing wasn't over, Trump or no Trump, and that Europe should build their own economic and military fortress while they had plenty of runway. I can't imagine how much better off the world would be if Europe had done this wise thing.
Having wasted four years, best of luck with it all now xxxxx.
Europe has been building its economic fortress as you call it. It has been integrating its different economies for the last 30 years (longer if you look at the whole history). And excuse us for thinking we were together in NATO.
Anyway… obviously, I was referring to a focus on economic security away from integration with the US, not internal economic integration.
Yes, I saw that you thought we were in NATO together, and I felt bad for you and sad for both sides of the Atlantic that Americans were not committed to it.
"Economic security away from integration with the US". What does that mean? My homecountry has been and still is a big investor in the US. "The Netherlands ranks among the top investors, with significant Foreign Direct Investment positions. Top sectors for Dutch FDI in the US include software/IT services, industrial equipment, business services, food & beverages, chemicals, and financial services."
A Dutch co. (ASML) designs and builds machines the US needs to manufacture chips. We are often involved in projects relating to protection against floods - as we are rather experienced on that subject. Etc.
So you propose we take our monies out, you'll have Lays produce all US chips, and we will not tell you anymore how to keep your feet dry. Sounds like a plan.
You are certainly right that there will be no magic recovery from this sacking by the maga hordes. There will still be many true believer among the Maga who will stop at nothing to hamstring any recovery, including foremost those in the Supreme Court.
Trump is too stupid to be a Russian agent. He is merely a puppet, "dancing on the strings" of his ego. Remember Epstein told Putin how to "push Trump's buttons" years ago.
Usefuli diots play there part too. Look at Leninism/Stalinist and NAZIism both rife with examples of useful idiots assisting the rise of totalitarian regimes. See the Hohenzollerns and Hitler Hindenberg etc etc
Philip, he is basically illiterate and is obviously ignorant and offensive on so many dimensions... (a 1930's psychologist might have classified him as a legitimate "moron".) However, he also has a brilliant sense of what moves people's emotions and knows to whom he owes allegiance. I suspect he has been laundering money (etc) for the oligarchs (Russian, Kazakhstani, Saudis, and yes, US, et al) for decades. He knows his job well.
For. Sure. It was always the intention to enslave the population by making us too poor and stupid to fight back. What is that quote? “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven”? As long as they retain their money and power, to hell with this country and it’s gen pop.
The modicum of hope lies in the fact that Milton put that quotation in the mouth of Satan, and the story did not end well for him, despite a lot of storm and strife along the way.
Too poor? Look at how many others in the world live. Stupid? You have schools, colleges, adult education, libraries, internet, and now also the Substacks!
I would add they want to turn the clock back to when straight white men ruled the world and everyone else-women, people of color, gays, transgender, anyone who doesn’t agree with their project 1880-is rendered a non-person, except insofar as their ability to serve the straight white man. How they till the ground for that outcome is to destroy our ecosystem of rational, science based thinking and methodology. Progress toward a better and more just world is inconsistent with their goals. Hence, climate change is a hoax so renewable energy is not only unnecessary, it’s also part of a leftist plot to undermine their concept of the natural order. Vaccines infringe upon their right to unfettered power and help the people they want to marginalize, hence the science must be undermined. As for the kakistocracy, that is straight out of the unquestioned strong man’s playbook. Only we, the straight white male, are entitled to all the rights and privilege of full agency and citizenship because we know better and all those non-persons are trying to steal our wealth. Heather Cox Richardson is a scholar of the reconstruction era and the backlash to it. She is especially good at drawing parallels between that era and what Trump and his not so merry band of courtiers are trying to do now.
Hasn't the ship sailed already? Nearly half - roughly 46% - of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children, driving trillions in revenue and dominating tech, retail, and AI. Key examples include Google (Sergey Brin), Apple (Steve Jobs’ father), and Amazon (Jeff Bezos’ stepdad), alongside 55% of US billion-dollar startups having immigrant founders.
(However yes, US males designed the H-4 visa especially to ruin the lives of as many female non-immigrants as possible, and kept it in place when those in power realized that H-1Bs and H-4s now mostly come from India.)
Correction - they want to turn the clock back to the time when they thought only married, "christian" white straight males without any disabilities ruled the world. I put christian in lower case & quotes because they see a specific brand of christian - one that I don't recognize. Whatever bible they're reading, it's not the bible I'm reading.
Also, they're not looking to turn the clock back to what it really was, but what the THINK it was. I'm all in favor of 1950's tax policy - top rate 91%, top 1% pay 42% of their income in taxes (whereas today the top RATE is 37%). Also, the time they dream of was the time when people died in large numbers of polio, smallpox, influenza, etc. FDR had polio and was crippled (but still led our country to recover from the Great Depression and to fight and win WWII for the US, with us being the arsenal of the Allies.
I can't imagine why you would write "almost without doubt." If you know American history there is no doubt at all. None at all. NONE. "Almost without doubt" is weak language that hugely under-represents how bad Trump and his GOP enablers are.
I don't think they want to destroy America. They simply want to USE it in order to enrich and empower themselves in ways that the founders never intended. Trump is so stupid and ignorant that no one should expect him to be able to discern what destroys this country versus what simply makes it subservient to his purposes.
Trump has no power to block future American from recovering, but he and his minions can damage it so much that recovery is extremely difficult and takes many years to decades. In the end, however, our recovery will depend largely on the weakest link in our democracy -- a poorly informed, none-too-bright, selfish, and fickle electorate. A better electorate would demand better candidates and stop giving power to the GOP. What I expect to happen in 2029-32 is for the electorate to send enough Republicans to D.C. to prevent the Democrats, assuming they get their act together (questionable), from accomplishing enough to guarantee their continued control of Washington. If that happens we will return to the pattern of recent decades where voters ensure gridlock by splitting power is such a way that the Democrats cannot possibly make enough progress to convince voters to extend their majorities. That isn't to say that even if the Democrats were to have sufficient power that they would use it wisely. That is not their recent history.
"I don't think they want to destroy America. They simply want to USE it in order to enrich and empower themselves in ways that the founders never intended".
That >is< to destroy America. That's what DOGE was for - and what it succeeded at. Divide, conquer, plunder and pillage the ruins.
Yes AND our system. Two party, electoral college, campaign finance, varied voting laws state to state, and so on. Neither party is terribly interested in change because it would mean their own decline, but Republicans are especially hostile to it. Even if two party remained but other things were updated, Republicans would start to lose ground quickly. They especially need things as they are which is also why they are working to chip away more and more.
“ Destruction of the environment, denying climate change is just part of the strategy. Destroy do not build. Destroy the EU, destroy NATO, destroy your country's health. They are now offering financial support ie. your taxes that should be spent on your welfare, to support pro Russia, pro Putin, Orban for the forthcoming elections. All is in plain sight. They are declaring war on humanity.”
The banana republic is already there : corruption at all levels, Tonton Makouts (= ICE THUGS) everywhere, intimidations, threats, insults, chaos. The only step missing yet is a coup d’état, which they are working on very seriously.
This is why the system should be changed to one man one vote to the presidential election like in France or a two tier election (both Chambers of Congress) like in Germany in order to avoid that a mere 11 000 votes could flip the result of a 180 million votes ….
The coup d'état has already taken place -- and succeeded.
The chaotic January 6th insurrection failed but was continued by something for which I'm aware of no historical precedents: the permaputsch of round-the-clock-all-the-year-round falsification of the 2020 election results... continued until the Big Lie delivered the desired results for the criminal usurper and the conspiracy that backed and financed him.
Perhaps the world might ultimately benefit from a significant decline in U.S. global dominance, even though such a shift would likely bring considerable hardship along the way.
I don’t think so : look how quickly the countries that had been invaded and submitted to Soviet Rule hastily applied for membership in the EU and /or NATO. The same applies to territories invaded or recaptured by China : do you really believe that Hong Kong or Taiwan like the CCP rule?
Here the drama is that the Administration wants to turn the US into these models.
I agree 100% and I'm frightened for the future of every American!! I'm reminded of the lyrics sung by Joni Mitchell in "Big Yellow Taxi." "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone ..." Back in the 70s when I lived in the Mohave, I would never have guessed that those words could apply to our democracy!!
Well, I wouldn't say they *want* to destroy America, it's just that they don't care if anything they do in order to accomplish the power and money they want has the effect of destroying the country. I don't think it's a conspiracy, I think it's much more banal.
The bank robber doesn't *want* to murder the bank teller per se, but if one is in the way, they will do whatever they need to do.
RFK's goal is money from the snake oil industry. Trump and the GOP's interest is money from the snake oil industry and votes from its followers. So they do what they do. Whether this is good or bad for the country doesn't enter in to their calculations. And there is certainly no long-term plan or goal besides immediate money and power.
Actually, I don't think Trump & his minions are bent on destroying the US. Trump is a meglanomatic front, who's reward, besides the grifting, is pretending to be important because he can hurt others with impunity. If that is bad for the US, Trump couldn't care less.
Many behind Trump have various motivations. Racism, shared with Trump, is one. A free range for the oligarchs, without restraints, is another. For Trump, their financing is enabling.
The net effect hurts the average citizen as well as democracy, but for the trumpkins, that is an unimportant side effect.
That is worse than if it were all intentional, since they don't see the folly of their actions.
Today there isn’t even that veneer. The US has been the engine of medical innovation for decades. Now, Trump is instituting pay-to-play for drug approval while undermining predictability for legitimate drug development. Eliminating the requirement for replicate adequate and well-controlled trials means some drugs will be approved based on statistical fluke.
In 5 years I’ll be writing about the American lives lost to the subversion of science and medicine.
Tracy, it was not just a matter of naive, there is a significant lack of intelligence and historical knowledge that makes voters susceptible to being manipulated. An intelligent person, when confronted with an issue, can do research and answer questions for themselves. When there are major changes made to policies, it is necessary for people to seek out answers for themselves that rely on dependable information. That does not describe most American voters.
We won't have to wait five years. The initial assault on life came in the form of destroying the USAID, which is already responsible for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Admittedly, that was not from undermining science, but it was a product of ignoring reality and benefits that our aid provided to poor people in other countries.
I am positive this is why the Republican party cut school budgets year after year. Make America Dumb. Now there is a large part of the electorate with no critical thinking skills. What better time to release the kraken.
I think that is a side effect, or collateral damage.
They don't see the point of paying for education for everyone when they can save on taxes if they only pay it for themselves. They do appreciate the side effect, it gave them MAGA.
I grew up (sort of) in the fifties. I saw the films of rows of iron lungs before Salk came along. I attended school with a girl who had a high squeaky voice because a bout of measles made her deaf. When I was a boy, people would bring their boy children over to play with any other child who caught the mumps, hoping that their children would get it; that was the only method of vaccination at the time. Diphtheria was still a real problem, and every child got vaccinated for that, for typhoid fever, and for smallpox before they were allowed in the school systems. There was no shot for whooping cough.
I pity the stupid people who are allowing a return to that and have a strong hatred for those who (like Kennedy) are enabling it.
During the covid shutdown, my mother, aged 97, told me about her experience as a child in the 1930's being quarantined for measles and having to social distance to prevent catching polio. I find it interesting that the only reason the people who complained about the constraints on their freedom during COVID were experiencing these constraints as something new, was because public health had vaccinated so many for so long.
For those who aren't old enough to remember, parents wanted their boys to get mumps far enough before puberty to keep it from, as my mother said, "settling in their testicles", which is what happened to my older brother, leaving him effectively castrated.
My brother was rendered infertile due to mumps the year before the MMR vaccine was distributed, but of course it didn't show up for over a decade when he tried to have children.
Yeah. Also, I would have liked for the author to provide information on the number and percentage of children who attended that party that became infected. I don’t know if you read the story, but it included significant brain involvement. (I’m avoiding giving a spoiler.)
I think one had to be a lot more than naive to believe all the quack therapies that flooded the mediasphere during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was disgusting the nonsense that flooded out....all to make a buck, no doubt.
This right wing quackery is now in all areas of life, I have a MAGA relative who has kidney disease, his doctor wants him to limit his protein, so he decides he needs more protein.
Quackery combined with extreme religious beliefs is now in education. Texas is an example there.
Another example is Florida, where HB 29 proposes the Sale and Purchase of Ivermectin for over-the-counter use, no consultation with any medical professional needed.
Ivermectin??? “A horse is a horse of course of course and no one can talk to horse of course unless his name is Mr. Ed”. “Wilbur, bring me some ivermectin.”
Ivermectin is available for sale over the counter anywhere they have horses. I bought some at Tractor Supply a couple years ago to treat a fox with mange. They >did< have a sign up warning that it's not FDA approved.
To be fair, the protein craze is not just a MAGA thing--it's turned into a mass marketing thing where everything edible is now "fortified with EXTRA protein!!!" I notice there are now even cookies that proclaim how much protein they contain because America has, as usual, taken One Weird Trick completely out of context and decided that we're all deprived of protein despite eating more meat per capita than any civilization in human history.
Mushrooms are recommended to support immune function. Cancer patients also are advised to eat broccoli sprouts and to eat broccoli and other members of the brassica group. They are advised to reduce meat and maybe replace that with beans. One ounce of nuts per day. No sugar!
Would you be so kind as to link peer reviewed research showing the clinical efficacy of any of that? While there is certainly a case to be made for limiting meat protein in some instances, the rest of that to the best of my knowledge is wishful thinking leavened with ignorance.
A good source for information that goes through peer-reviewed research on plant-based diets is https://nutritionfacts.org. It is notoriously difficult to do good quality studies on the effects of diet in humans because it is so hard to control the variables and distinguish correlation and causation. But there is a lot of good research.
The top cancer doctor addressing cancer and food is Dr. William Li, whose area of expertise is angiogenesis. His book Eat To Beat Disease covers all this ground.
LOOK IT UP: The anti-cancer chemical in broccoli sprouts and other brassicas is SULFORAPHANE. The heaviest natural dose is released when broccoli sprouts are chewed in the mouth. It's commonly available as a supplement. This info is broadly available.
Mushroom gurus include Dr. Joel Furhman and Paul Stammets.
You and I have different approaches to scientific evidence. Dr. Li has exactly 1 paper in an indexed journal relating to cancer and food and that is not a scientific study, it is essentially a plea for research funding. He is very active in the study of angiogenesis but that is an entirely different thing.
Sulforaphane has a much more interesting scientific trail. PubMed lists about 1500 journal articles. In fact many isothiocyanates have interesting properties vis-a-vis various cancers. Unfortunately, while there are some hints there is little actual translational (turning basic research into clinically useful treatment) work. So yes, eating brassicas is great. Delicious too.
Strange. I have never seen any reputable source that said mushrooms supported immune function. Did the MAHA person mean "magic mushrooms"; so that you just do not care any more?
Many mushrooms contain beta‑glucans and other polysaccharides that bind to receptors on immune cells (such as macrophages, dendritic cells, NK cells), altering their activity and signaling.
These compounds appear to modulate immune responses rather than simply stimulate them, sometimes enhancing surveillance against pathogens or abnormal cells while helping limit excessive inflammation.
I personally think of nutrition as *adjunctive therapy.
- My daughter had only surgery for cancer, then treated it via homeopathy, had recurrence & died … which she may have even if she went the full chemo course … but I cdnt help but feel the homeopathy was equiv to fly- swatter when a much more aggressive & scientifically-proven MO was required.
Yes. Ivermectin is an amazing drug. Two scientists involved in its discovery won a Nobel Prize in 2015. But it is for treating certain parasitic diseases - not Covid.
Health is a personal responsibility which includes self-education and research. Checking with your doctor is futile when it takes months to get an appointment. An alternative is to find sources that have a long history of accuracy such as websites such as Mayo Brothers and Cleveland Clinic. Taking the advice of corporations is reckless as your relative will find out.
They are deliberately killing us, with unrestricted guns and incitements to violence, with environmental destruction and pollution, with uninspected food and fouled water, with the denial of health care and the ruin of scientific research, with the throttling of news and free speech and trampling on our civil rights, and with the dismantling of our international alliances and nuclear treaties. The oligarchs, the Epstein class, explicitly imagine themselves the survivors of our civilizational collapse. They’re that stupid.
2025 was the tenth anniversary of the mass shooting in the Bataclan theatre in Paris by Islamic terrorists. One friend of mine commented that such a massacre would not happen in the US because the Islamic extremists can sell the guns legally in the US at a profit and watch American shoot each other.
I'm old enough to remember Orrin Hatch pounding the table in the Senate as he jammed through legislation exempting supplements from oversight beyond "doesn't kill you in two doses or less." Not only was hatch personally profiting from the supplement industry, but even back then a HUGE part of Mormon culture was multi-level marketing schemes--and one of the biggest and best parts of most of those schemes was supplements.
Three more years of Bobby Brainworm and Dr. Oz's Compound Cures should start to significantly reduce America's surplus population.
And Amway, pyramid schemes (crypto), mid-level marketing schemes, extractive industries of all kinds including gambling.
Meanwhile electric buses have begun to appear in my city. They are so quiet and no diesel smell. There is another possible future, especially if there is a real plan to address the corruption and make the system work as it was intended.
"Meanwhile electric buses have begun to appear in my city". Take that Charles Koch! The Koch brothers put so much time, energy and money to prevent electric buses from going into service. This will make Charlie weep.
I hope so! They really are life altering. We used to live on a bus route in another city. It was convenient for catching a bus, but the noise was terrible for people living on the street. These buses will make streets so much more pleasant.and liveable. Air quality improved and noise pollution reduced just like that.
The goal is to have no one but billionaires. And when there's nobody left, they'll turn on each other - because that's their nature.
Then, when there's only one man left alive, he'll stand on top of his hill, pumping his fist in the air declaring "I'm the last man standing! I win!" before he too croaks and we go completely extinct.
The billionaires are already turning on each other. The Death Race competition to dominate AI involves insane amounts of speculative investments into those resource-guzzling data centers. It can't all pan out in anything like a respectable ROI, because AI is still really prone to hallucinations and regurgitating misinformation. And since it's hoovering up content indiscriminately, ever more sophisticated algorithms will still encounter GIGO.
What happens when the bills come due, the profits don't realize, the grid is cracking up from demand stress, and they realize that the holy grail of AGI is just a dragon chase?
"Three more years of Bobby Brainworm and Dr. Oz's Compound Cures should start to significantly reduce America's surplus population". That's the whole idea. Mass murder is what psychopaths dream about. Now they control the levers of power.
Thank you. I’ve been looking here for someone to point out the central role Hatch played in legitimizing and promulgating untested supplements. Still unmentioned is the very prominent place that Mormons had, and still have, in this “industry.”
Out here in the San Juan Islands we have a new bronchial pneumonia like virus running rampant through the schools and community at large (especially the elderly). There is no vaccine as RFK shut off that life line. It is about the worst disease we’ve had since Covid. It’s not Covid or flu A or B (there are tests for those). As there is no vaccine or definition of the disease some of us have taken to calling it “flu RFK”. That seems about right.
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.--Wendell Berry
Reminder Kristi Noem was Gov of S Dakota during Covid. She okayed Sturgis bike rally that the then functioning CDC tracked the horrific spread across US from that event.
Education, qualifications are good things, being malevolently stupid is bad.
Yup. I’d love for the original poster to add a couple more verses in the same vein to match the original. Maybe Grace Slick could come out of retirement just long enough to record it.
I don't think so. Paying the trademark duties would make them cost too much. I just read that the family filed for trademarks on "Donald J Trump International Airport", "DJT", and a few other things. Right after that news hit, Floriduh announced plans to build a Donald J Trump International Airport.
On January 20, 2025, I made note of the following ten metrics. I looked forward to America becoming “great” all of them. Instead, baby boy Chance has been in NICU for a year, after an emergency C-section on his brain dead mother who was kept on life support because, at 9 weeks pregnant, she was past the deadline to terminate the pregnancy. Here’s where we stood a year ago. It’s only gotten worse. 1.Best in Life Expectancy: Monaco/Current US ranking: 49th in the world 2.Best public school system: Iceland/Current US ranking: 13th in the world 3.Best healthcare: Singapore/Current US ranking: 69th in the world 4.Best infant survival rate: Monaco/Current US ranking: 54th in the world 5.Best maternal survival rate: Estonia/Current US ranking: 55th, worst among developed nations 6.Best trust in government: Switzerland/Current US ranking: 23rd in the world 7.Best hope for the future: Indonesia/Current US ranking: 23rd in the world 8.Best math education: China/Current US ranking: 28th (out of 37) in the world 9.Best food security: Finland/Current US ranking: 13th in the world 10.Best housing security:Japan/Current US ranking: 78th (out of 100) in the world. We’re the richest country in the history of the planet but can’t answer this question: Is little Chance suffering? How would we know? https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/billboards-go-up-1-year-mark-nears-case-of-woman-who-carried-her-baby-while-brain-dead-sparked-debate-over-georgia-abortion-law/85-ee8c4c0d-7c29-48d1-ae11-bba644dd72b1.
I found that in early December last year (2025) baby Chance, now weighing about 11 pounds, remained in the NICU with underdeveloped lungs. Soon to be transferred to another hospital for continued specialized care.
“The headline on a 2023 article in The Guardian captured this perfectly: “ ‘Everything you’ve been told is a lie’: Inside the wellness-to-fascism pipeline.”
Kakistocracy, Indeed! What do you expect when the head of HHS says:
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has frequently stated that "trusting the experts" is a feature of "totalitarianism" and "religion," rather than a feature of science or democracy.”
RFK JR., would even leave George Orwell green with envy since this is straight out of his book 1984: DOUBLESPEAK!
Bottom line, is anyone wondering whether all this scientific misinformation isn’t these fascist’s insidious attempt at Eugenics?
Perhaps DOGE has concluded that our healthcare system is broken and this is their way of ridding our country of all the poor, old and indigent who can’t afford to pay their own way. Just saying!…;)
The 2012 Perlstein article -- which begins with a recounting of how dishonest Mitt Romney was in his Presidential campaign -- is well worth a look just for the purpose of re-calibrating an understanding of how dishonest the Republican Party was even before elevating its current Dear Leader.
That some Republicans, or in some cases former Republicans, have turned against Trump and his over-the-top dishonesty and evil tends to give the impression that the Republican Party very recently was an honest political party with goodwill toward all.
Unless Americans build a very large dome over the US and stay in it, the American idiocy will have ill effects well beyond its border. Air and water pollution, climate change and disease causing viruses all travel globally.
And this article points to the kids here and the world over who never get to choose. They must rely on adults, and so many are failing them at an epic level. It’s no wonder that they are feeling hopeless about the climate and starting their own families someday. Adults in power have repeatedly shown that they do not care. And voting adults have repeatedly put those people into power. I look at my own lovely state where so far out of whack. They are more concerned with transgender bathroom bills, Charlie Kirk Day, and adding more paperwork to prove your family qualifies for free lunch. Meanwhile, no Medicaid expansion, barely funded schools, and chronically underfunded special education.
Adults should know better. I know a lot of people are tired and overworked, but a fair amount, especially in places like MAHA, are just lazy and entitled. They won’t question anything, won’t seek the facts. They want what is easy, popular, and what “feels” right regardless of truth or consequences. People use the internet to drink the kool aid but never to actually look into the kool aid’s ingredients. It’s asinine and insane.
ETA: Too many also seem to have an addiction to drama. It’s more “exciting” to read crazy stories about a “newly discovered miracle herb” that saved a cancer patient than “the same old same old” from science that took decades to hone. Too many people are too bored with their own lives. They want something to shake things up, never mind the impact of the lies and intentional misleading, never mind the real world consequences. Sensation sells, especially in America.
Today is the 5th anniversary of the death of the slimy incorrigible Rush Limbaugh and the good thing is nobody knows or gives a shit, may it be the same for all these others when they finally leave us be
When my grandfather was a boy the average life expectancy in America was about 50. That wasn't because no one reached old age, many did. It was because a huge fraction of children never survived childhood. Pertussis. Measels. Polio. What made America safe for children was vaccines. And now they're under attack because ... ?
One might forgive Trump and Kennedy. Both are idiots. Without their families' money and connections one wonders if either could score a job at Wal-Mart. But Oz, Prasad, and the other physicians in Trumpland know better. They have all taken classes in immunology. They all understand the scientific method. They have all broken the Hippocratic Oath. No punishment is too harsh for them.
They are in part under attack because of social media. One woman (yes she exists) who saw her beautiful, healthy boy turn into a demented creature after a vaccination and writes about her experience, has a lot of influence.
"One woman (yes she exists) who saw her beautiful, healthy boy turn into a demented creature after a vaccination"
This is called a post hoc fallacy: event A preceded event B, therefore event A caused event B. Did the boy eat, say, strained carrots before he turned into a "demented creature?" Was it the carrots or the vaccination?
The notional link between vaccination and autism has been explored ad nauseum. The woman you mention may believe with her entire being that the vaccination caused the change in her son. That doesn't mean that it actually did.
I am not going to debate the validity of her claim. And neither should you. Vaccine injuries happen. And "seldomly" does not mean "never". Let us be honest about that. She describes not autism but severe brain injury, confirmed by doctors.
As vaccinations are in the interest of us all, those injured by them and needing special care should be compensated. The child and the parents it happens to should not be fobbed off - like you do here. ("Maybe it was caused by strained carrots!")
The point that I was making apparently eluded you. In the past only family, friends, neighbors, would have heard about this event. But thanks to "social media" the story reaches many more, as it is read, reposted, etc. and has a lot more impact.
My post was an answer to your question why vaccines are under attack.
Absent clear evidence that a vaccine caused an injury (which vaccine? What is the clinical diagnosis of the injury?) I will question the validity. Assertions without evidence are simply shouts in the darkness.
That said, vaccine injuries while rare do occur. Those injured by vaccines certainly should be compensated. In the US there is a clear and straightforward way to make a claim through VAERS and to have that claim adjudicated and compensated.
Your point about social media didn't elude me. But social media in and of itself is not the problem. The poor to absent critical thinking skills of a great many social media users is the problem. The medium simply spreads ignorance farther and faster. It's sad.
At four months old, Porter Bridges went in for his well-baby checkup and received an array of vaccines. That night he spiked a 105-degree fever and had a two-hour grand mal seizure. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors struggled to stabilize him. Porter’s hospitalization marked the start of a terrifying and tragic decline in his health. It also impacted his family. While the effects of Porter’s reaction would take years to fully develop, the cause was never in doubt. The hospital record reads "brain injury from pertussis vaccine".
His mother, Sarah Bridges, had to fight seven years to get the federal government to recognize her son’s disability as a vaccine injury. She shared her story and it had a lot of impact.
When you put together this important piece with the last several you have done re tariffs, affordability, destruction of key alliances, acting as "useful idiots" for Putin, etc etc etc,
it's almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Trump regime is, almost without doubt,
the most subversive, anti-American "administration" in US history.
They don't want to make America great -- they want to DESTROY AMERICA & everything that has made it exceptional.
By the time these blackguards are finished, the US will be a poor, sick, middle-level "power" that the Trump gang will have made sure to block any possible route to recovery.
But not before they have extracted every possible dollar from its desiccated corpse.
Absolutely -- and ripped off especially their self-deluded followers in the MAGA / Destroy America movement ...
The self deluding followers of MAGA and tRump will eventually get their just rewards as did the anti-COVID followers of the right. Just look at the death statistics from COVID related to political party.
Well said!
This is why the majority of countries and people outside the USA now don't want to do business with the USA; they/we (I'm English) view your country as being run by a group of Kleptomaniacs (aka criminals).
The awakening of businesses round the world is speeding up - take Europe as an example; the European Government is making plans to do as little business with the USA as possible, as it works with other countries and groups of countries to build new liaisons, like The Mercosur group, India, China et al.
Problem is the USA will be floundering many years after Trump and his cronies have either died or been locked up, because the ramifications of Trump et al will continue in the USA for many decades.
Best of luck with it all xxxxx
Most of us here in the U.S. are, at this point, looking to Europe (and Canada) to preserve/save democracy as we struggle to restore ours. Best of luck to all of us. This could prove to be the entry point to human extinction.
I share your view that we may be approaching the end for homo sapiens as well as millions of other species who cannot survive the changes we have wrought to the planet. It is very, very sad. My little grandson who will turn three in a couple of weeks is going to be facing a reality that may as well be "hell" as the interesting world I was lucky to live in for most of my 64 years.
I think our species will survive, but not necessarily without massive reduction of population and living standards. Think of how the average human lived thousands of years ago.
"...the entry point to human extinction."
----
Please please please find another term besides "human extinction" to describe catastrophic climate change or the AI apocalypse or Global Thermonuclear War or some other source of societal collapse.
At a population of 8,300,000,000, we could wipe out >99.99% of humans and still have more than enough of our species to maintain a more than viable gene pool. If anything, extreme reduction of our population would result in a relative increase of our food supply (no giant trawlers stripping the seas, plenty of viable vegetation we can live off, etc.).
Considering the human predilection for self-destructive behavior, a surviving population of 83,000,000 scattered around a damaged world is of questionable viability. Global warming alone would reduce critical resources, such as fresh water, to a level that many survivors will kill each other for it. Antibiotic [strikeout] impervious [/strikeout] resistant bacteria will knock off a significant percentage of that population - as will the next viral pandemic - and we won't have the capability to produce new antibiotics or vaccines. And that's just for staters. Our odds are pretty poor.
It's the nature of populations that they tend to survive in pockets.
Yes, the people without water will fight (Mad Max, et al), and globally connected communities will still have exposure to contagions without vaccines (smallpox 2.0, zombie apocalypse), but large portions of the Arctic and the very many mountain ranges provide cooler temps and lasting sources of water. And, as with the wildlife around Chernobyl, even radiation wouldn't prevent a quickly breeding population from growing.
This is not about ·civilization·, but about a species of adaptive apes that has survived everywhere from frozen hellscapes to open plains to desert fringes. With the help of domesticated dogs and horses and camels, and with all of us soft-handed online pontificators culled from the population, they'll do just fine, thankyouverymuch.
I wish I could be as sanguine about it as you are, but I'm not.
Despite everything, humans are the smartest (if not wisest) of the apes, who have managed to survive around the world.
So far. In our present form, we've only been around a little over a quarter million years. As you point out, as clever as we are, we might just be a bit too big for our breeches.
We're facing simultaneous self-inflicted threats on multiple fronts: catastrophic global warming, antibiotic [strikeout] impervious [/strikeout] resistant bacteria, another novel viral pandemic, the thrill of mushroom clouds has returned, and last but not least, AI displacement.
We seem to be hellbent on self-extermination.
Gee thanks.
We're human. We'll forget the dire consequences soon enough.
😛
Of course that scenario will mean mass starvation. Maybe even canibalism, as happened in Leningrad in WW2.
Oh, mass starvation is already built into even the somewhat mitigated forecasts for climate change. Increasingly overlapping crop failures means that only the richest countries can get the food on the global market, so most of us here won't see anything for a decade at least.
Here's the prognosis for the (very wealthy) UK from last November's National Emergency Briefing (NB: "corn" in the UK refers to cereal crops):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvjJ8Ag0-z0#t=15s
The entry point to human extinction was when we overran our food supply, long ago.
What can you do about hubris? Following Limits To Growth (1972), Paul Erhlich, James Lovelock and others argued that ecological sustainability implies a limit to human population of about 2-3 billion [roughly the level in 1960]. I immediately agreed with it, this was just common sense - resources are finite so there are ultimately limits to population growth and I hated what unlimited growth was achieving, but Erhlich and others have been more than ignored.
There is plenty of food out there that is wasted and with intelligent planting and growing, plenty more could exist. The issue is more in distribution and unequal wealth to buy food than in a dearth of food. But we can do better. I almost never throw out anything, no matter what. The last few crumbs from whole grain crackers, for example, add an interesting note to my breakfast oatmeal. I only toss food that is rotten.
When I was growing up in the rural South, there were no A&Ps or Krogers, etc. We lived in a community that raised food and what we in towns didn't raise, we bought from local farmers. My mother spent a month every summer canning. Nothing I eat today is locally grown. I could list the problems with that, but you surely know them. No, we can't go back - barring a planet-wide wipe out of humans. But we should at least be aware. I didn't say we had a "dearth" of food. We no longer control our food supply, nor can we.
Those who wish to control their food supply can do so through farmers' markets and CSAs. I grow most of my own organic greens every summer in pots. Ditto several useful herbs. I cook dried beans and freeze what I am not using immediately, ditto grains. Not everyone has the time or energy to do this, but it helps keep prices down and quality of meals up. (Obviously, this supposes that one does not live in an urban "food desert.")
I have no idea what "overran our food supply" means if it doesn't mean having too little. FWIW, I also grew up a small Southern town. We had an A & P and a Piggly Wiggly. My parents both worked full time, so we didn't grow our food, but we ate well.
No redactions oversees...looks like they want "another glimpse at the "Madman Across the Water". They want to kow, "Are the windows black or are they all just painted?"
The Wkrld is Our Oyster...well the oysters are now talkin back.
Its now Pepto and not Crypto...not so cryptic anymore?
Be vigilant. The same forces that brought us Trump are working in Europe and Canada to do the same in those places. The USA is NOT exceptional in this ability to fall to facism and it can and has happened elsewhere!
It did to Hitler about 90 years ago and we have mostly learnt the lessons; what you people certainly haven’t - yet!!!!!
I worry because I read the news from other countries (like Germany) that the ultra-right wing is making inroads there as well. Humanity needs Europe especially to hold the line while we in the US try to save our democracy. Without that and the world is basically run by three oligarchs and the 'little guy' has no hope of something better!
Yes the AFD - Alternative fur Deutsche - are basically the Nazi party whom Trump & Musk are supporting; but there is big opposition against them of course. Most countries have some extreme right wing party - we do in the UK called Reform run by Nigel Farage
Before the last election, the German parliament removed a constitutional restriction on deficits, which permits more deficits on defense spending. Even though the AFD managed to get enough votes to now block future constitutional changes, the 25% support can't do much for regular laws. AFD support is strongest in eastern Germany, which was controled by Russia after WW2. Makes sense, Russia is the today's nazis.
Oh, really?
https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-iron-lady-giorgia-meloni-down-law-order-security-decree/
Canada, like most of Europe, has organisation that prevents the rise of another Trump.
1) Limits to election spending
2) Parliamentary system, without veto powers. Nominally the prime minister has a lot of power with a majority government, but he/she is constrained by requiring the support of elected members of parliament. As well, if a minority govt (which often occurs), it requires the support of another party.
In Europe only France has a presidential system, and it has problems with the right, but whenever there is a choice, the extreme right is rejected.
3) In Canada and Europe, the elected govts never try to act outside the law, including respecting their respective constitutions. Europe learned its' lesson from Hitler.
I admire your optimism but Hungary is in Europe. As is Belarus. And Poland. As are Russia and Turkey as least in part. "whenever there is a choice, the extreme right is rejected" So far. As it had been mostly for the last 250 years in the US too. And up until ten years ago, most Americans (including most learned experts) would have thought the US incapable of being taken over like this because of our checks and balances and sharing of power between fed and state gov. Pride goeth before the fall.
Hungary is an exception, but Orban is due to be defeated this spring. Poland is clearly democratic. The somewhat right wing president is only symbolic; the popular centrist prime minister heads the govt. Belarus is dominated by Russia, and Russia has never been really democratic, nor really European. Turkey has never been strongly democratic. When Erdogan is gone, who knows.
The US, since Reagan, has been trending toward a Trump-like president, with intervening Democrat administrations. The structure of the US political system, with a powerful president not directly answerable to elected representatives like a parliamentary system, is a considerable weakness of the US.
I'm not saying that it is impossible elsewhere, but it is much less probable.
But that's just it, it was not like that just a decade ago and things have moved incredibly fast. That is my point that you are missing as you just dismiss my concerns. I get what you are saying about the parliamentary system but our Congress could stop Trump in a minute but they do not. It was the Republicans, his own Party, who stopped Nixon after he committed a crime that looks petty in comparison. Why aren't they doing this? Turns out it is our Supreme Court that destroyed our democracy only 16 years ago with Citizens United. Which is why no Republican is afraid of 'the people' so long as they do what they rich want, they will get reelected. The case that gave Trump absolute immunity was only in 2024 with the only real stop on presidential power being the Supreme Court.
And why is this sharp turn towards a king President and nine unelected gods deciding how things will go happening? There are many factors, of course, and it is complex but it mostly boils down to RACE. The USA has struggled with race from the very beginning because of slavery and native americans, we have never been homogeneous (unlike most of the Europe you speak of). But since the 'white people' learned they would soon be a minority, they lost their minds and voted for this obviously corrupt immoral monster because he echoed their fear and hatred. It is the same hatred and fear I hear in interviews of people from the UK and Germany and even Sweden when they talk about immigration as they know what it coming and are freaking out just like the majority of white people here. If you think those same strong emotions cannot change laws, and twist the law and governments in Europe in the coming decades when it WILL become darker and more diverse, I think you are forgetting about the lessons learned from Nazi Germany. My hope is that Europe *sees* what is happening in the US and continues to adjust accordingly instead of just dismissing it with a 'it can't happen here' as it has already happened there (and is happening there) and not just in Nazi Germany. If Trump has taught us anything, it's that it takes constant vigilance and it is NEVER done or safe.
I for one American was saying 4 years ago when Biden was elected that Europe still ought to forge its own way away from the US. I knew this thing wasn't over, Trump or no Trump, and that Europe should build their own economic and military fortress while they had plenty of runway. I can't imagine how much better off the world would be if Europe had done this wise thing.
Having wasted four years, best of luck with it all now xxxxx.
Europe has been building its economic fortress as you call it. It has been integrating its different economies for the last 30 years (longer if you look at the whole history). And excuse us for thinking we were together in NATO.
It was? I didn’t know that. Derp.
Anyway… obviously, I was referring to a focus on economic security away from integration with the US, not internal economic integration.
Yes, I saw that you thought we were in NATO together, and I felt bad for you and sad for both sides of the Atlantic that Americans were not committed to it.
"Economic security away from integration with the US". What does that mean? My homecountry has been and still is a big investor in the US. "The Netherlands ranks among the top investors, with significant Foreign Direct Investment positions. Top sectors for Dutch FDI in the US include software/IT services, industrial equipment, business services, food & beverages, chemicals, and financial services."
A Dutch co. (ASML) designs and builds machines the US needs to manufacture chips. We are often involved in projects relating to protection against floods - as we are rather experienced on that subject. Etc.
So you propose we take our monies out, you'll have Lays produce all US chips, and we will not tell you anymore how to keep your feet dry. Sounds like a plan.
Yes, more or less. Although it wouldn’t have had to be total to be enough.
The head of US forces for NATO says that Europe's naval forces are already adequate.
One big weakness is no intergrated military transport system across Europe, as well as few European satelites.
So Europe is still dependant on coordination with the US, and US arms supplies.
You do realize this faint praise is revealing by what it leaves out. What about all the other factors of defense??
You are certainly right that there will be no magic recovery from this sacking by the maga hordes. There will still be many true believer among the Maga who will stop at nothing to hamstring any recovery, including foremost those in the Supreme Court.
Which always leads me to the conclusion that Comrade Trump is simply Putin's agent.
Trump is too stupid to be a Russian agent. He is merely a puppet, "dancing on the strings" of his ego. Remember Epstein told Putin how to "push Trump's buttons" years ago.
Usefuli diots play there part too. Look at Leninism/Stalinist and NAZIism both rife with examples of useful idiots assisting the rise of totalitarian regimes. See the Hohenzollerns and Hitler Hindenberg etc etc
Philip, he is basically illiterate and is obviously ignorant and offensive on so many dimensions... (a 1930's psychologist might have classified him as a legitimate "moron".) However, he also has a brilliant sense of what moves people's emotions and knows to whom he owes allegiance. I suspect he has been laundering money (etc) for the oligarchs (Russian, Kazakhstani, Saudis, and yes, US, et al) for decades. He knows his job well.
Putin is but one of numerous oligarchs with fingers in the pie. The Epstein Files name many, if not most, of the others.
Yes of course he is - has been for years; Americans are just wakening to the truth that the rest of the world has known for years.
Only that Putin is more reliable and trustworthy than Trump!!!
there is no other plausible explanation, is there?
Can't think of one
For. Sure. It was always the intention to enslave the population by making us too poor and stupid to fight back. What is that quote? “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven”? As long as they retain their money and power, to hell with this country and it’s gen pop.
The modicum of hope lies in the fact that Milton put that quotation in the mouth of Satan, and the story did not end well for him, despite a lot of storm and strife along the way.
Too poor? Look at how many others in the world live. Stupid? You have schools, colleges, adult education, libraries, internet, and now also the Substacks!
I would add they want to turn the clock back to when straight white men ruled the world and everyone else-women, people of color, gays, transgender, anyone who doesn’t agree with their project 1880-is rendered a non-person, except insofar as their ability to serve the straight white man. How they till the ground for that outcome is to destroy our ecosystem of rational, science based thinking and methodology. Progress toward a better and more just world is inconsistent with their goals. Hence, climate change is a hoax so renewable energy is not only unnecessary, it’s also part of a leftist plot to undermine their concept of the natural order. Vaccines infringe upon their right to unfettered power and help the people they want to marginalize, hence the science must be undermined. As for the kakistocracy, that is straight out of the unquestioned strong man’s playbook. Only we, the straight white male, are entitled to all the rights and privilege of full agency and citizenship because we know better and all those non-persons are trying to steal our wealth. Heather Cox Richardson is a scholar of the reconstruction era and the backlash to it. She is especially good at drawing parallels between that era and what Trump and his not so merry band of courtiers are trying to do now.
Hasn't the ship sailed already? Nearly half - roughly 46% - of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children, driving trillions in revenue and dominating tech, retail, and AI. Key examples include Google (Sergey Brin), Apple (Steve Jobs’ father), and Amazon (Jeff Bezos’ stepdad), alongside 55% of US billion-dollar startups having immigrant founders.
(However yes, US males designed the H-4 visa especially to ruin the lives of as many female non-immigrants as possible, and kept it in place when those in power realized that H-1Bs and H-4s now mostly come from India.)
Correction - they want to turn the clock back to the time when they thought only married, "christian" white straight males without any disabilities ruled the world. I put christian in lower case & quotes because they see a specific brand of christian - one that I don't recognize. Whatever bible they're reading, it's not the bible I'm reading.
Also, they're not looking to turn the clock back to what it really was, but what the THINK it was. I'm all in favor of 1950's tax policy - top rate 91%, top 1% pay 42% of their income in taxes (whereas today the top RATE is 37%). Also, the time they dream of was the time when people died in large numbers of polio, smallpox, influenza, etc. FDR had polio and was crippled (but still led our country to recover from the Great Depression and to fight and win WWII for the US, with us being the arsenal of the Allies.
I can't imagine why you would write "almost without doubt." If you know American history there is no doubt at all. None at all. NONE. "Almost without doubt" is weak language that hugely under-represents how bad Trump and his GOP enablers are.
I don't think they want to destroy America. They simply want to USE it in order to enrich and empower themselves in ways that the founders never intended. Trump is so stupid and ignorant that no one should expect him to be able to discern what destroys this country versus what simply makes it subservient to his purposes.
Trump has no power to block future American from recovering, but he and his minions can damage it so much that recovery is extremely difficult and takes many years to decades. In the end, however, our recovery will depend largely on the weakest link in our democracy -- a poorly informed, none-too-bright, selfish, and fickle electorate. A better electorate would demand better candidates and stop giving power to the GOP. What I expect to happen in 2029-32 is for the electorate to send enough Republicans to D.C. to prevent the Democrats, assuming they get their act together (questionable), from accomplishing enough to guarantee their continued control of Washington. If that happens we will return to the pattern of recent decades where voters ensure gridlock by splitting power is such a way that the Democrats cannot possibly make enough progress to convince voters to extend their majorities. That isn't to say that even if the Democrats were to have sufficient power that they would use it wisely. That is not their recent history.
"I don't think they want to destroy America. They simply want to USE it in order to enrich and empower themselves in ways that the founders never intended".
That >is< to destroy America. That's what DOGE was for - and what it succeeded at. Divide, conquer, plunder and pillage the ruins.
No matter how unwisely the Democrats use power; they will be orders of magnitude better than the Republicans.
It will take at least one election cycle in which the Democrats rule just to reverse all of DonnyJon's executive orders.
Yes AND our system. Two party, electoral college, campaign finance, varied voting laws state to state, and so on. Neither party is terribly interested in change because it would mean their own decline, but Republicans are especially hostile to it. Even if two party remained but other things were updated, Republicans would start to lose ground quickly. They especially need things as they are which is also why they are working to chip away more and more.
Not just America. I commented here yesterday,
“ Destruction of the environment, denying climate change is just part of the strategy. Destroy do not build. Destroy the EU, destroy NATO, destroy your country's health. They are now offering financial support ie. your taxes that should be spent on your welfare, to support pro Russia, pro Putin, Orban for the forthcoming elections. All is in plain sight. They are declaring war on humanity.”
Not almost. Absolutely without a doubt. They're aiming not merely to render us a middle power but a downright banana republic.
The banana republic is already there : corruption at all levels, Tonton Makouts (= ICE THUGS) everywhere, intimidations, threats, insults, chaos. The only step missing yet is a coup d’état, which they are working on very seriously.
The coup d’état has already happened. The 2024 election was rigged, Kamala won.
This is why the system should be changed to one man one vote to the presidential election like in France or a two tier election (both Chambers of Congress) like in Germany in order to avoid that a mere 11 000 votes could flip the result of a 180 million votes ….
Yeah, we need an amendment to ditch the electoral college. I personally prefer the French approach.
The coup d'état has already taken place -- and succeeded.
The chaotic January 6th insurrection failed but was continued by something for which I'm aware of no historical precedents: the permaputsch of round-the-clock-all-the-year-round falsification of the 2020 election results... continued until the Big Lie delivered the desired results for the criminal usurper and the conspiracy that backed and financed him.
Perhaps the world might ultimately benefit from a significant decline in U.S. global dominance, even though such a shift would likely bring considerable hardship along the way.
I don’t think so : look how quickly the countries that had been invaded and submitted to Soviet Rule hastily applied for membership in the EU and /or NATO. The same applies to territories invaded or recaptured by China : do you really believe that Hong Kong or Taiwan like the CCP rule?
Here the drama is that the Administration wants to turn the US into these models.
We can only hope.
It's standard vulture capitalism: take over break it down to sell of the best parts for profit then burn the rest for the insurnce money.
Putin is smiling.
He’s breaking out the champagne. 🥂
I agree 100% and I'm frightened for the future of every American!! I'm reminded of the lyrics sung by Joni Mitchell in "Big Yellow Taxi." "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone ..." Back in the 70s when I lived in the Mohave, I would never have guessed that those words could apply to our democracy!!
MAGA = "Make America Garbage Again"
Well, I wouldn't say they *want* to destroy America, it's just that they don't care if anything they do in order to accomplish the power and money they want has the effect of destroying the country. I don't think it's a conspiracy, I think it's much more banal.
The bank robber doesn't *want* to murder the bank teller per se, but if one is in the way, they will do whatever they need to do.
RFK's goal is money from the snake oil industry. Trump and the GOP's interest is money from the snake oil industry and votes from its followers. So they do what they do. Whether this is good or bad for the country doesn't enter in to their calculations. And there is certainly no long-term plan or goal besides immediate money and power.
You are so right — and doesn’t it make you wonder why the Turd Reich is so close to Putin? And Orban?
Actually, I don't think Trump & his minions are bent on destroying the US. Trump is a meglanomatic front, who's reward, besides the grifting, is pretending to be important because he can hurt others with impunity. If that is bad for the US, Trump couldn't care less.
Many behind Trump have various motivations. Racism, shared with Trump, is one. A free range for the oligarchs, without restraints, is another. For Trump, their financing is enabling.
The net effect hurts the average citizen as well as democracy, but for the trumpkins, that is an unimportant side effect.
That is worse than if it were all intentional, since they don't see the folly of their actions.
During COVID, there was quack science that in the surface looked real to a naive reader (see https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/503047-our-lockdowns-are-not-deadlier-than-the-disease/amp/).
Today there isn’t even that veneer. The US has been the engine of medical innovation for decades. Now, Trump is instituting pay-to-play for drug approval while undermining predictability for legitimate drug development. Eliminating the requirement for replicate adequate and well-controlled trials means some drugs will be approved based on statistical fluke.
In 5 years I’ll be writing about the American lives lost to the subversion of science and medicine.
Tracy, it was not just a matter of naive, there is a significant lack of intelligence and historical knowledge that makes voters susceptible to being manipulated. An intelligent person, when confronted with an issue, can do research and answer questions for themselves. When there are major changes made to policies, it is necessary for people to seek out answers for themselves that rely on dependable information. That does not describe most American voters.
We won't have to wait five years. The initial assault on life came in the form of destroying the USAID, which is already responsible for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Admittedly, that was not from undermining science, but it was a product of ignoring reality and benefits that our aid provided to poor people in other countries.
I am positive this is why the Republican party cut school budgets year after year. Make America Dumb. Now there is a large part of the electorate with no critical thinking skills. What better time to release the kraken.
I think that is a side effect, or collateral damage.
They don't see the point of paying for education for everyone when they can save on taxes if they only pay it for themselves. They do appreciate the side effect, it gave them MAGA.
For more info on this bs MAHA scam, check out Timothy Snyder’s column Thinking About by Sara Silverstein.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/consumptive-capitalism?r=5g6yty&utm_medium=ios
One need only walk through a cemetery with graves from the 1800s to see all the children who died from what now are preventable and curable diseases.
I grew up (sort of) in the fifties. I saw the films of rows of iron lungs before Salk came along. I attended school with a girl who had a high squeaky voice because a bout of measles made her deaf. When I was a boy, people would bring their boy children over to play with any other child who caught the mumps, hoping that their children would get it; that was the only method of vaccination at the time. Diphtheria was still a real problem, and every child got vaccinated for that, for typhoid fever, and for smallpox before they were allowed in the school systems. There was no shot for whooping cough.
I pity the stupid people who are allowing a return to that and have a strong hatred for those who (like Kennedy) are enabling it.
During the covid shutdown, my mother, aged 97, told me about her experience as a child in the 1930's being quarantined for measles and having to social distance to prevent catching polio. I find it interesting that the only reason the people who complained about the constraints on their freedom during COVID were experiencing these constraints as something new, was because public health had vaccinated so many for so long.
For those who aren't old enough to remember, parents wanted their boys to get mumps far enough before puberty to keep it from, as my mother said, "settling in their testicles", which is what happened to my older brother, leaving him effectively castrated.
My brother was rendered infertile due to mumps the year before the MMR vaccine was distributed, but of course it didn't show up for over a decade when he tried to have children.
While strolling through that cemetery, also take note of the number of wives buried alongside each man.
One clearly sees a lot of women dying in child birth. It was a large mortality risk.
The Atlantic published a heart wrenching story recently, “This is How a Child Dies of Measles.” Gift link: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/child-dies-measles-vaccines/685969/?gift=w7_m2RN97tMsT527p4a2LRmt2_1yDuqm5kAJ6oIe5RU
The important metric with measles is presented as death but it can come with life-long neurological impairments, loss of previous immunities.
Yeah. Also, I would have liked for the author to provide information on the number and percentage of children who attended that party that became infected. I don’t know if you read the story, but it included significant brain involvement. (I’m avoiding giving a spoiler.)
Unfortunately, I doubt you will have to wait 5 years.
"In 5 years I’ll be writing about the American lives lost to the subversion of science and medicine." Assuming we're not extinct by then.
I’ve restocked and left a comment there
Thalidomide time.
Only in today's America is the slogan "Make Polio Great Again" not a comedian's one-liner, but established government policy...oy vey!
If you survive. This is pretty existential for most people.
I think one had to be a lot more than naive to believe all the quack therapies that flooded the mediasphere during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was disgusting the nonsense that flooded out....all to make a buck, no doubt.
This right wing quackery is now in all areas of life, I have a MAGA relative who has kidney disease, his doctor wants him to limit his protein, so he decides he needs more protein.
Quackery combined with extreme religious beliefs is now in education. Texas is an example there.
Another example is Florida, where HB 29 proposes the Sale and Purchase of Ivermectin for over-the-counter use, no consultation with any medical professional needed.
Beyond insane.
Actually, I'm all for it. That's a herd that needs culling.
You're just one of those neigh-sayers!
🤣
Cynical, yes, but also makes sense, unfortunately.
Ivermectin??? “A horse is a horse of course of course and no one can talk to horse of course unless his name is Mr. Ed”. “Wilbur, bring me some ivermectin.”
Ivermectin is available for sale over the counter anywhere they have horses. I bought some at Tractor Supply a couple years ago to treat a fox with mange. They >did< have a sign up warning that it's not FDA approved.
Good. Maybe the price of horse de-wormer will go down.
Ivermectin interacts with caffeine in a dangerous way.
To be fair, the protein craze is not just a MAGA thing--it's turned into a mass marketing thing where everything edible is now "fortified with EXTRA protein!!!" I notice there are now even cookies that proclaim how much protein they contain because America has, as usual, taken One Weird Trick completely out of context and decided that we're all deprived of protein despite eating more meat per capita than any civilization in human history.
Next week it will be less protein and more duck fat
After that, they'll tell us to duck off?
Oh! Are you going to France?
Does anyone else remember people killing themselves on the liquid protein diet? Late 1970s early 80s?
A lot of people and their will be harmed by ivermectin. The MAGA/MAJA. cure for everything .
My niece may have cancer (tests ongoing), my MAHA cousin told her to eat mushrooms.
Mushrooms are recommended to support immune function. Cancer patients also are advised to eat broccoli sprouts and to eat broccoli and other members of the brassica group. They are advised to reduce meat and maybe replace that with beans. One ounce of nuts per day. No sugar!
Would you be so kind as to link peer reviewed research showing the clinical efficacy of any of that? While there is certainly a case to be made for limiting meat protein in some instances, the rest of that to the best of my knowledge is wishful thinking leavened with ignorance.
A good source for information that goes through peer-reviewed research on plant-based diets is https://nutritionfacts.org. It is notoriously difficult to do good quality studies on the effects of diet in humans because it is so hard to control the variables and distinguish correlation and causation. But there is a lot of good research.
The top cancer doctor addressing cancer and food is Dr. William Li, whose area of expertise is angiogenesis. His book Eat To Beat Disease covers all this ground.
LOOK IT UP: The anti-cancer chemical in broccoli sprouts and other brassicas is SULFORAPHANE. The heaviest natural dose is released when broccoli sprouts are chewed in the mouth. It's commonly available as a supplement. This info is broadly available.
Mushroom gurus include Dr. Joel Furhman and Paul Stammets.
You and I have different approaches to scientific evidence. Dr. Li has exactly 1 paper in an indexed journal relating to cancer and food and that is not a scientific study, it is essentially a plea for research funding. He is very active in the study of angiogenesis but that is an entirely different thing.
Sulforaphane has a much more interesting scientific trail. PubMed lists about 1500 journal articles. In fact many isothiocyanates have interesting properties vis-a-vis various cancers. Unfortunately, while there are some hints there is little actual translational (turning basic research into clinically useful treatment) work. So yes, eating brassicas is great. Delicious too.
Strange. I have never seen any reputable source that said mushrooms supported immune function. Did the MAHA person mean "magic mushrooms"; so that you just do not care any more?
Many mushrooms contain beta‑glucans and other polysaccharides that bind to receptors on immune cells (such as macrophages, dendritic cells, NK cells), altering their activity and signaling.
These compounds appear to modulate immune responses rather than simply stimulate them, sometimes enhancing surveillance against pathogens or abnormal cells while helping limit excessive inflammation.
(Perplexity told me this.)
The National Institutes of Health do deep dives … #8 summarizes:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7712035/
I personally think of nutrition as *adjunctive therapy.
- My daughter had only surgery for cancer, then treated it via homeopathy, had recurrence & died … which she may have even if she went the full chemo course … but I cdnt help but feel the homeopathy was equiv to fly- swatter when a much more aggressive & scientifically-proven MO was required.
Mushrooms work for Mu卐kRat, especially combined with Ketamine and Ecstasy.
Yes. Ivermectin is an amazing drug. Two scientists involved in its discovery won a Nobel Prize in 2015. But it is for treating certain parasitic diseases - not Covid.
I remember it as a flea medicine for pets.
Protein popcorn. I won’t be surprised when there is protein water.
There is. You can find almost any consumable touting added protein now. In some cases, it’s getting harder to find something that doesn’t have it. 😒
To be combined with pro-biotic sodas.
Health is a personal responsibility which includes self-education and research. Checking with your doctor is futile when it takes months to get an appointment. An alternative is to find sources that have a long history of accuracy such as websites such as Mayo Brothers and Cleveland Clinic. Taking the advice of corporations is reckless as your relative will find out.
They are deliberately killing us, with unrestricted guns and incitements to violence, with environmental destruction and pollution, with uninspected food and fouled water, with the denial of health care and the ruin of scientific research, with the throttling of news and free speech and trampling on our civil rights, and with the dismantling of our international alliances and nuclear treaties. The oligarchs, the Epstein class, explicitly imagine themselves the survivors of our civilizational collapse. They’re that stupid.
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. Napoleon Bonaparte
2025 was the tenth anniversary of the mass shooting in the Bataclan theatre in Paris by Islamic terrorists. One friend of mine commented that such a massacre would not happen in the US because the Islamic extremists can sell the guns legally in the US at a profit and watch American shoot each other.
The funny thing is that they are very stupid people who will be unable to do almost any of the work that would enable them to survive.
That's why they need us slaves.
I'm old enough to remember Orrin Hatch pounding the table in the Senate as he jammed through legislation exempting supplements from oversight beyond "doesn't kill you in two doses or less." Not only was hatch personally profiting from the supplement industry, but even back then a HUGE part of Mormon culture was multi-level marketing schemes--and one of the biggest and best parts of most of those schemes was supplements.
Three more years of Bobby Brainworm and Dr. Oz's Compound Cures should start to significantly reduce America's surplus population.
Don't forget Alex Jones!
And Amway, pyramid schemes (crypto), mid-level marketing schemes, extractive industries of all kinds including gambling.
Meanwhile electric buses have begun to appear in my city. They are so quiet and no diesel smell. There is another possible future, especially if there is a real plan to address the corruption and make the system work as it was intended.
"Meanwhile electric buses have begun to appear in my city". Take that Charles Koch! The Koch brothers put so much time, energy and money to prevent electric buses from going into service. This will make Charlie weep.
I hope so! They really are life altering. We used to live on a bus route in another city. It was convenient for catching a bus, but the noise was terrible for people living on the street. These buses will make streets so much more pleasant.and liveable. Air quality improved and noise pollution reduced just like that.
Damn. Just when I'd managed to forget him.
Yes Yes Yes. I read about this paranoid culture in Tara Westover’s book, “Educated”
“Three more years of Bobby Brainworm and Dr. Oz's Compound Cures should start to significantly reduce America's surplus population.”
I was thinking Covid was taking care of that but apparently not well enough.
The goal is to have no one but billionaires. And when there's nobody left, they'll turn on each other - because that's their nature.
Then, when there's only one man left alive, he'll stand on top of his hill, pumping his fist in the air declaring "I'm the last man standing! I win!" before he too croaks and we go completely extinct.
The billionaires are already turning on each other. The Death Race competition to dominate AI involves insane amounts of speculative investments into those resource-guzzling data centers. It can't all pan out in anything like a respectable ROI, because AI is still really prone to hallucinations and regurgitating misinformation. And since it's hoovering up content indiscriminately, ever more sophisticated algorithms will still encounter GIGO.
What happens when the bills come due, the profits don't realize, the grid is cracking up from demand stress, and they realize that the holy grail of AGI is just a dragon chase?
WS Reminds me of Dr. Strangelove, who instinctively gave the Hitler salute. Birds of a feather?
Just like Mu卐kRat did.
"Three more years of Bobby Brainworm and Dr. Oz's Compound Cures should start to significantly reduce America's surplus population". That's the whole idea. Mass murder is what psychopaths dream about. Now they control the levers of power.
Thank you. I’ve been looking here for someone to point out the central role Hatch played in legitimizing and promulgating untested supplements. Still unmentioned is the very prominent place that Mormons had, and still have, in this “industry.”
Out here in the San Juan Islands we have a new bronchial pneumonia like virus running rampant through the schools and community at large (especially the elderly). There is no vaccine as RFK shut off that life line. It is about the worst disease we’ve had since Covid. It’s not Covid or flu A or B (there are tests for those). As there is no vaccine or definition of the disease some of us have taken to calling it “flu RFK”. That seems about right.
That is horrible. Hopefully someone in Europe or China can help because we’re not.
I had viral pneumonia once back in '85. I wouldn't wish that on anyone outside of the current administration.
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.--Wendell Berry
Reminder Kristi Noem was Gov of S Dakota during Covid. She okayed Sturgis bike rally that the then functioning CDC tracked the horrific spread across US from that event.
Education, qualifications are good things, being malevolently stupid is bad.
And she’s also a poster adult for maralago cosmetic surgery and tootsie award
So are we to anticipate Trump vitamins to replace our daily Flintstones? Fred and Barney to be replaced with Don and JD?
I shudder to think of what their flavor profiles would be ... poop and rotten eggs?
One pill looks like Donnie
And one pill looks like Vance
But the one that looks like Miller
Will make you shit your pants.
Go ask Kristi, if you get the chance!
Brilliant!
Love this.
Iambic pentameter it’s not, but it’s still a great effort!!
Sing to Jefferson Airplane.
Yup. I’d love for the original poster to add a couple more verses in the same vein to match the original. Maybe Grace Slick could come out of retirement just long enough to record it.
I don't think so. Paying the trademark duties would make them cost too much. I just read that the family filed for trademarks on "Donald J Trump International Airport", "DJT", and a few other things. Right after that news hit, Floriduh announced plans to build a Donald J Trump International Airport.
On January 20, 2025, I made note of the following ten metrics. I looked forward to America becoming “great” all of them. Instead, baby boy Chance has been in NICU for a year, after an emergency C-section on his brain dead mother who was kept on life support because, at 9 weeks pregnant, she was past the deadline to terminate the pregnancy. Here’s where we stood a year ago. It’s only gotten worse. 1.Best in Life Expectancy: Monaco/Current US ranking: 49th in the world 2.Best public school system: Iceland/Current US ranking: 13th in the world 3.Best healthcare: Singapore/Current US ranking: 69th in the world 4.Best infant survival rate: Monaco/Current US ranking: 54th in the world 5.Best maternal survival rate: Estonia/Current US ranking: 55th, worst among developed nations 6.Best trust in government: Switzerland/Current US ranking: 23rd in the world 7.Best hope for the future: Indonesia/Current US ranking: 23rd in the world 8.Best math education: China/Current US ranking: 28th (out of 37) in the world 9.Best food security: Finland/Current US ranking: 13th in the world 10.Best housing security:Japan/Current US ranking: 78th (out of 100) in the world. We’re the richest country in the history of the planet but can’t answer this question: Is little Chance suffering? How would we know? https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/billboards-go-up-1-year-mark-nears-case-of-woman-who-carried-her-baby-while-brain-dead-sparked-debate-over-georgia-abortion-law/85-ee8c4c0d-7c29-48d1-ae11-bba644dd72b1.
I get an 404 error when I try that link.
I found that in early December last year (2025) baby Chance, now weighing about 11 pounds, remained in the NICU with underdeveloped lungs. Soon to be transferred to another hospital for continued specialized care.
Thanks for the heads up. Try this? https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/billboards-go-up-1-year-mark-nears-case-of-woman-who-carried-her-baby-while-brain-dead-sparked-debate-over-georgia-abortion-law/85-ee8c4c0d-7c29-48d1-ae11-bba644dd72b1
That link works. Thanks!
“The headline on a 2023 article in The Guardian captured this perfectly: “ ‘Everything you’ve been told is a lie’: Inside the wellness-to-fascism pipeline.”
Kakistocracy, Indeed! What do you expect when the head of HHS says:
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has frequently stated that "trusting the experts" is a feature of "totalitarianism" and "religion," rather than a feature of science or democracy.”
RFK JR., would even leave George Orwell green with envy since this is straight out of his book 1984: DOUBLESPEAK!
Bottom line, is anyone wondering whether all this scientific misinformation isn’t these fascist’s insidious attempt at Eugenics?
Perhaps DOGE has concluded that our healthcare system is broken and this is their way of ridding our country of all the poor, old and indigent who can’t afford to pay their own way. Just saying!…;)
From useless eaters to useless starvers in one simple step.
Well said..:)
The 2012 Perlstein article -- which begins with a recounting of how dishonest Mitt Romney was in his Presidential campaign -- is well worth a look just for the purpose of re-calibrating an understanding of how dishonest the Republican Party was even before elevating its current Dear Leader.
That some Republicans, or in some cases former Republicans, have turned against Trump and his over-the-top dishonesty and evil tends to give the impression that the Republican Party very recently was an honest political party with goodwill toward all.
It wasn't.
They have disguised their racism for decades
But they used to use dog whistles. Now Trump is very open about it.
Unless Americans build a very large dome over the US and stay in it, the American idiocy will have ill effects well beyond its border. Air and water pollution, climate change and disease causing viruses all travel globally.
And the rest of us didn't even get a vote.
And this article points to the kids here and the world over who never get to choose. They must rely on adults, and so many are failing them at an epic level. It’s no wonder that they are feeling hopeless about the climate and starting their own families someday. Adults in power have repeatedly shown that they do not care. And voting adults have repeatedly put those people into power. I look at my own lovely state where so far out of whack. They are more concerned with transgender bathroom bills, Charlie Kirk Day, and adding more paperwork to prove your family qualifies for free lunch. Meanwhile, no Medicaid expansion, barely funded schools, and chronically underfunded special education.
Adults should know better. I know a lot of people are tired and overworked, but a fair amount, especially in places like MAHA, are just lazy and entitled. They won’t question anything, won’t seek the facts. They want what is easy, popular, and what “feels” right regardless of truth or consequences. People use the internet to drink the kool aid but never to actually look into the kool aid’s ingredients. It’s asinine and insane.
ETA: Too many also seem to have an addiction to drama. It’s more “exciting” to read crazy stories about a “newly discovered miracle herb” that saved a cancer patient than “the same old same old” from science that took decades to hone. Too many people are too bored with their own lives. They want something to shake things up, never mind the impact of the lies and intentional misleading, never mind the real world consequences. Sensation sells, especially in America.
Today is the 5th anniversary of the death of the slimy incorrigible Rush Limbaugh and the good thing is nobody knows or gives a shit, may it be the same for all these others when they finally leave us be
I hope Rush is gargling Beelzebub's balls in eternity.
I like the term quackistocracy.
When my grandfather was a boy the average life expectancy in America was about 50. That wasn't because no one reached old age, many did. It was because a huge fraction of children never survived childhood. Pertussis. Measels. Polio. What made America safe for children was vaccines. And now they're under attack because ... ?
One might forgive Trump and Kennedy. Both are idiots. Without their families' money and connections one wonders if either could score a job at Wal-Mart. But Oz, Prasad, and the other physicians in Trumpland know better. They have all taken classes in immunology. They all understand the scientific method. They have all broken the Hippocratic Oath. No punishment is too harsh for them.
They are in part under attack because of social media. One woman (yes she exists) who saw her beautiful, healthy boy turn into a demented creature after a vaccination and writes about her experience, has a lot of influence.
"One woman (yes she exists) who saw her beautiful, healthy boy turn into a demented creature after a vaccination"
This is called a post hoc fallacy: event A preceded event B, therefore event A caused event B. Did the boy eat, say, strained carrots before he turned into a "demented creature?" Was it the carrots or the vaccination?
The notional link between vaccination and autism has been explored ad nauseum. The woman you mention may believe with her entire being that the vaccination caused the change in her son. That doesn't mean that it actually did.
I am not going to debate the validity of her claim. And neither should you. Vaccine injuries happen. And "seldomly" does not mean "never". Let us be honest about that. She describes not autism but severe brain injury, confirmed by doctors.
As vaccinations are in the interest of us all, those injured by them and needing special care should be compensated. The child and the parents it happens to should not be fobbed off - like you do here. ("Maybe it was caused by strained carrots!")
The point that I was making apparently eluded you. In the past only family, friends, neighbors, would have heard about this event. But thanks to "social media" the story reaches many more, as it is read, reposted, etc. and has a lot more impact.
My post was an answer to your question why vaccines are under attack.
Absent clear evidence that a vaccine caused an injury (which vaccine? What is the clinical diagnosis of the injury?) I will question the validity. Assertions without evidence are simply shouts in the darkness.
That said, vaccine injuries while rare do occur. Those injured by vaccines certainly should be compensated. In the US there is a clear and straightforward way to make a claim through VAERS and to have that claim adjudicated and compensated.
Your point about social media didn't elude me. But social media in and of itself is not the problem. The poor to absent critical thinking skills of a great many social media users is the problem. The medium simply spreads ignorance farther and faster. It's sad.
At four months old, Porter Bridges went in for his well-baby checkup and received an array of vaccines. That night he spiked a 105-degree fever and had a two-hour grand mal seizure. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors struggled to stabilize him. Porter’s hospitalization marked the start of a terrifying and tragic decline in his health. It also impacted his family. While the effects of Porter’s reaction would take years to fully develop, the cause was never in doubt. The hospital record reads "brain injury from pertussis vaccine".
His mother, Sarah Bridges, had to fight seven years to get the federal government to recognize her son’s disability as a vaccine injury. She shared her story and it had a lot of impact.