Crabs are chomping salt marshes down to Florida Futurity (resilc)
Microbiologists at Caltech discovered a bacteria that feeds on manganese metal Slashgear (David L)
An invisible hand: Patients aren’t being told about the AI systems advising their care StatNews (David L)
Summers could become ‘too hot for humans’ BBC
The Scandal of Our Drug Supply New York Review of Books (Kevin C). Important.
#COVID-19
Americans watching other countries that have gotten Covid under control. pic.twitter.com/6dGIqYlnIG
— Duchess of Wakanda @HRComedy (@hadiyah) July 16, 2020
Arturo Tedeschi redesigns historic ATM Class 1500 tram for a post-Covid world Dezeen (resilc)
Why governments have the right to require masks in public ScienceBlog (Dr. Kevin)
The New Must-Have Museum Souvenir: Face Masks New York Times (resilc)
Science/Medicine
COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool Georgia Tech (ChiGal)
Coronavirus: no easy way out of pandemic, even with a vaccine, experts say South China Morning Post
New Yorkers Advised to Avoid LabCorp, Quest Coronavirus Tests Bloomberg. Wonder why other states aren’t following suit….any place with a med school, a large outpatient clinic, or a hospital system has labs. Why aren’t they being asked/ordered to process Covid-19 tests?
NEW—Speed of testing is most critical factor in success of contact tracing strategies to slow #COVID19; a delay of 3 days or more between symptom onset & testing will not reduce onward transmission of virus sufficiently: a modelling study @TheLancetPH https://t.co/fMuK523UzM pic.twitter.com/Nf2aEU0NIG
— The Lancet (@TheLancet) July 17, 2020
Baby Was Infected With Coronavirus In Womb, Study Reports New York Times. So a friend’s pregnant MD daughter was not nuts to be in extreme avoidance of people mode.
Mosquitoes flying free as health departments focus on virus ABC (ma)
Reopening K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Press release here.
US
Teachers Are Panicking About Schools Reopening in the Fall Vice
Political Responses
How HHS’s new hospital data reporting system will actually affect the U.S. Covid-19 response StatNews. Consistent with Lambert’s post yesterday.
Masks win political momentum despite GOP holdouts The Hill
Trump Is Donating Ventilators to Countries That Don’t Need or Can’t Use Them ProPublica
Laura Brown: “We honor Dr Anthony Fauci with this special cover of @instylemagazine.” Instagram (Dr. Kevin)
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Sues Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Over Face Mask Order NPR (David L)
Senate GOP Aims to Funnel Covid Liability Cases to Federal Courts Wall Street Journal
Why America needs a national innovation plan right now The Hill
Finance/Economy
Why Won’t Trump Spend What Is Needed to Save His Presidency? New York Magazine
Federal Aid Helped Wide Swath of Small Businesses, Needy or Not Wall Street Journal
Recovering fully from the coronavirus shock will require large increases in federal debt—and there’s nothing wrong with that Economic Policy Institute. “Debt”. Sigh.
Investor group lambasts ‘earnings before coronavirus’ Financial Times. Investors who agreed to idiocy like cov-lite can hardly complain when it comes back to bite them.
A potential wave of mass evictions could make this year’s turbulent hurricane season even worse Popular Science
Virus surges. Work hours plateau. U.S. may be flattening the wrong curve Reuters
China?
World splitting into pro and anti-Huawei camps Asia Times (Kevin W)
China Will Sanction Lockheed Martin Over Arms Sales To Taiwan CNN
EU regulators to probe Alexa, Siri and other voice assistants Reuters
New Cold War
Intelligence Illargi
American spies: “Those sneaky Russians want to get their grubby asiatic fingers on our patriotic COVID cure!” Yasha Levine
Syraqistan
The man who drove the US out of Afghanistan Asia Times (Kevin W)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Deepfake used to attack activist couple shows new disinformation frontier Reuters (Dan K)
Tech Firms Like Facebook Must Restrict Data Sent From EU To US, Court Rules Guardian
Who’s Behind Wednesday’s Epic Twitter Hack? Brian Krebs
Imperial Collapse Watch
Isoliert, auf hoher See – plötzlich ist die Crew Corona-positiv Die Welt (guurst). Google translate: Isolated, on the high seas – suddenly the crew is Corona positive
Trump Transition
The CIA, Covert Action and Operations in Cyberspace LawFare
Trump Administration Discussing Travel Ban on China’s Communist Party Members Wall Street Journal
Donald J. Trump, or Osama bin Laden’s Revenge Tom Engelhardt
2020
Silicon Valley pours money into Biden’s campaign — and snubs Trump’s Recode
Black Injustice Tipping Point
Berkeley moves toward removing police from traffic stops ABC (ma)
Hawley calls for civil rights probe of prosecutor investigating gun-wielding St. Louis couple The Hill. Help me. The basis for prosecution is not having a gun, but threatening people engaged in lawful activity. And the “private road” business has been misconstrued. It means the road is closed to cars but open to pedestrians.
Hundreds of Hyperpartisan Sites Are Masquerading as Local News NiemanLab
Largest California Oil Driller Files for Bankruptcy OilPrice
Troy Harlow has always made sure to pay his mortgage on time. Wells Fargo had other plans for him. Gretchen Morgenson, NBC (Jim B). Wells just can’t control itself….
Economists on the Run Foreign Policy (David L). From last year but still of interest.
Guillotine Watch
Woman who refused to wear mask wants half of $100K donated to Starbucks barista WGNTV (Kevin W)
The true story of the heartthrob prince of Qatar and his time at USC Los Angeles Times
Class Warfare
On June 19, the Fed bought $4,000,000 worth of $AMZN bonds with a .4% coupon, maturing in 3 years.
On June 18, the Fed bought $4,000,000 worth of $AAPL bonds with a .75% coupon, maturing in 3 years
Another $8,000,000 on June 24th
Your $600 PUA runs out in a few weeks, Amerika
— SheepleAnalytics (@SheepleAnalytic) July 16, 2020
At this point 3.3 million people have viewed this video but @NYCMayor says he's not one of them https://t.co/Us27Gky6p5
— Yoav Gonen (@yoavgonen) July 16, 2020
Explainable AI under contract and tort law: legal incentives and technical challenges Artificial Intelligence and Law (David L)
Antidote du jour (Leroy R):
And a bonus (Kevin W). This ‘roo looks like a juvenile or maybe a wallaby. And it barely put up a fight, which means either it is tame or not feeling so hot.
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
224 comments
Comments are closed.
Amfortas the Hippie,
In yesterday’s water cooler, you wrote “This is American Legion country…not VFW.
there’s a difference.”
What is the difference?
Thank you for your posts. They are very educational.
What you said about your interlocutors willingness to discuss domestic policy (a bit) versus their unwillingness to discuss foreign policy is how I made sense of Bernie Sanders’ emphasis on domestic over foreign policy.
American Legion has a long history of being a pseudofascist organisation, since at least the 50’s…and that certainly holds true out here. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_American_Legion#The_Cold_War)(https://jacobinmag.com/2019/08/american-legion-history-world-war-veterans-socialists-red-scare)
VFW is a kinder gentler Veteran’s organisation, in my experience.
this latter is due to anecdata, of course…and it’s been a long time since i’ve been to a VFW hall. We only have AL out here.
I quit the American Legion a long time ago for precisely those reasons. Also, just to make the distinction more clear, eligibility for the VFW and the American Legion differs. In the former, you have to have served during a period of war, but not necessarily in a danger zone. For the VFW, I think eligibility is limited to those who served in a combat role (determined by receiving combat pay, I believe.)
You experience jibes with mine, Amfortas, and I think that the main reason for this is that those who have been in danger tend to be more understanding and forgiving, whereas there seemed to be a lot of wannabe pretention among Legion members.
Just my two-bits.
It seems to be a universal human trait that last bit. In his book “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, Gregory “Pappy” Boyington relates his experiences as a POW in Japan at the end of the war. He found that those Japanese guards that had seen combat were more relaxed and reasonable whereas those that had seen no combat were more cruel, vindictive and arbitrary.
GI cartoonist Bill Mauldin referred to tough guy rear echelon types as “garritroopers”.
Whoops, I meant “latter” not “former.” To clarify, the Legion has the broader eligibility requirements while the VFW is more restricted.
“those who have been in danger tend to be more understanding and forgiving,”
Interesting point.
Made me think of mask/non-mask issue. As someone who fought cancer and spent months in a hospital – I will do all I can to not repeat that experience, therefore, I wear a mask and take this seriously. I wonder how many non-maskers have “experience” in a hospital previously…and simply posture because they have no comprehension of the consequences?
Apologies for hi-jacking
When I got back from Vietnam and mustered out finally in 1969, I went down to the local American Legion. That Post had sponsored the Boy Scout troop I belonged to and which helped fill my head with “do my duty to God and my country” crap that helped me enlist in 1966. The members were all people whose kids I had gone to school with, whose newspapers I delivered, whose patriotic parades I had marched in every Fourth of July. I thought maybe there would be a little camaraderie with these veterans who, as observed above, mostly had not actually “gone off to war.” Being a supply sergeant at Ft. Leonard Wood ain’t the thing.
It was a bit of a surprise to find that they had no interest in me as a member, because, I guess, Vietnam vets already had a taint as crazy losers in the Great War Against Commyanism. War wimps and chicken hawks are all over the landscape, and just think how many of them have gunz… Of course there are a lot of Empire-manufactured damaged people from the Global War on Terra also carrying gunz, lots of them, as we are finding out, are police officers…
I really hate posting this, but maybe the Donald ain’t so bad. https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/LEGION-Act-opens-doors-for-wartime-vets-14963039.php
Bi-partisan bill introduced by Dem Senator 2/2019 with multiple D and R co-sponsors. Passed Senate by unanimous consent 6/2019. House by voice vote 7/2019. Signed 2019. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/504/actions
I’m a Legionnaire because the guys I know are Legionnaires and not VFW members. The membership requirements are not very dissimilar. A friend of mine didn’t qualify for the Legion despite being a “Coastie”. He served in a post-Korea pre-Vietnam period where we were not in some official armed conflict. We never could figure it out.
I consider the monthly Legion magazine to be quite good and surprisingly moderate. It has Congresspeople debate current issues each month, publishes articles critical of defense spending and strongly supports improvements in veterans’ assistance. Its origins have more than an elitist whiff to them but it appears to me to have outgrown them.
A quick check shows almost a dozen Legion/VFW halls, split evenly, within a 12 mile radius on my home in New Jersey. I would be remiss in not mentioning that low cost alcoholic beverages are a prime attraction.
In my youth I played American Legion baseball. Thought many of them were ‘unpleasant’. My dad was a heavy colonel and he was much happier at the VFW, although I’m not sure they were always happy to see him. He like to bartend. While I’m currently active and have served oversees and in a few shooting engagements, I too favor the VFW.
Not jumping in to say what Amfortas means…
But historically…
The american legion and “the liberty league”
Were the muscle for strike breaking.
They were fascists.They were the guys who went to a strike to bust heads.
in the thirties when bankers like mellon and dupont were trying to get gen. smedley butler to lead a fascist coup to over throw US democracy and roosevelt in 1934…. they were the fascists. The plan was to copy an attempted fascist coup in france….. Before /during and after WWII… “the right”… protects big money and big corporations…(and white people)
the liberty league and the american legion were some 3 million strong..in the thirties.. and they were …. all sorts of wrong. But the leaders were “on board” with the coup.
It is an irony that these people are actually “un-american” yet they claim to be “more american” than everyone else. Just like the people who proclaim the confederate flag…. which is actually an enemy of “the union” flag.. claim to be “real ” americans… And the overlap of these groups is extremely high…. throw the klan in there… and you have the elders of todays “alt-right”… the “real” americans…BARF…. trumps and hitlers, “kind of people”
the fascists were anti labor… they were muscle for the industrialists who couched their struggle as a “right” vs. left…. BS. the “right” being fascist…..just like today.
the left being organizing labor… as the right called them socialists…. just like today…
and in the cold war… the capitalists(fascists) called any leader world wide who was looking to protect their citizens against corporate abuses and control by western/US capitalists, or resource theft by nationalizing the resources for the good of the people born there… a communist or socialist…. thereby justifying the crimes against humanity carried out by western actors, the world over, for profit…
Same old, same old
yup. that’s what i meant,lol.
my paternal grandad was VFW, but rarely went to functions.
He loathed the AL..called them thugs. This was well before i had learned much about politics in america, but he was a pro-union, FDR Dem, and a kind man to almost everyone, in spite of his course and often small-r racist language.
(he was an Army Air Force airplane mechanic on b-25’s(?) who had to be a bomber pilot b/c his actual pilot was a drunk. Pacific Theater.all the way to Tokyo. Said Pappy B. was an insufferable ass, and lucky he didn’t get fragged—that show was the reason for him speaking thus. he didn’t like talking about the war)
Thank you Amfortas and thank all of the other commenters. Now I get it.
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/investigations/13-investigates/13-investigates-anti-mask-protestors-turn-to-mesh-yarn-crochet-masks-covid-coronavirus/531-5350260c-d6b1-4bd8-857e-860fe84e0f52
As more communities and businesses adopt mandatory mask orders, supporters of an “anti-mask” movement are looking to make a statement. They are wearing masks that cover their nose and mouth but provide no ability to slow the spread of disease.
…..
Other social media posts show anti-mask advocates wearing mesh masks intended to comply with the letter – but not the spirit – of municipal and corporate rules mandating face coverings.
And masks made of mesh, crochet (yarn) or lace are now popular items being offered by internet retailers. Most include warnings stating the items “are NOT intended for protection or COVID use.” But protection is not what anti-mask protesters are looking for.
====================================================
In other news, people are leaping off 30 story buildings, saying gravity isn’t the boss of them…
Are people really getting stupider, or just less bashful about broadcasting it?
Now, I would hope this is a very small number of people, but the truth of the matter is that screwballs can find succor and support that prior to the internet would not have existed. If the anti smoking regulations were just beginning now, would they enjoy the widespread compliance they do, or would a pro smoking movement have taken hold?
Not stupider. Selfish and cruel. They enjoy scaring, deceiving, and intimidating people and possibly spreading disease. It’s a celebration of cruelty. The cruelty is the point
They need to replace cancel culture with class solidarity.
“They enjoy scaring, deceiving, and intimidating people and possibly spreading disease.”
The evening news?
Got it in one.
That’s why I say eat the pundits. The rich will have nobody left to speak coherently for them and they’ll be left with nothing but their facades of assertiveness and their entitlements.
In any discussion of people acting against the common good there’s plenty of criticism to go around. Sometimes it’s helpful to whatabout the “other” side, the power structure, etc., sometimes not.
Not that there aren’t just plain old jerks in the world but I think the anti-not dying folks are getting more and more desperate. When you’ve been brought up being told that this squalling nightmare of a society is as good as it gets and then that somehow gets worse, you grab for any advantage, any leverage over your life you can find. Even if that consists of flying in the face of death.
Years ago I worked with a woman in an enormous catering kitchen, a poor and low info person. I noticed one morning at the coffee station that she was pouring boiling hot coffee into a plastic quart container, the ones you get Chinese soup in, soft and cheap. As the container warped and nearly buckled from the heat, I gently mentioned that drinking from plastic like that was extremely unhealthy, that it’s been linked to chemicals leeching out into the body.
The woman immediately turned, grabbed the dairy, and dumped it into the coffee to cool it. Then she drank the entire thing with a triumphant look in her eye. No one tells her not to raise her risk of stomach cancer! Then she marched off to have a cigarette.
For a week or two afterwards she made a point of guzzling her poly-coffee in front of me with a self satisfied, sneering smile on her face. She had won one. She was free.
It’s important not to be bottom person in the hierarchy. I recall a volunteer in a youth organization who was authoritarian and seemed to want to play drill sergeant. He had no subordinates at work and his wife clearly ran the household. This tendency was noted in this space a few days ago, in literature designed to convince poor whites to support Jim Crow laws, which gave them a group beneath them.
Agreed. Years ago, a man was shot to death in Philly for something like 1.86$. All over the news. Philly news loves to cover the ridiculous and extreme murders because they sell and it helps to maintain the comforting illusion that communities of color are wild and crazy.
When the man who called in the hit was asked why he had hired someone, probably for something around 1K$, to shoot the guy his response made perfect sense. Of course it was his fear of losing status, appearing weak and therefore inviting challenges to his authority in his territory.
This whole mask issue is forcing me to reassess what I think the word “stupid” means. The photo of that Utah group sitting together as if at a PTA meeting really amazed me. You combine this behavior with anti-vax behavior and you (meaning me) despair.
Now, I would hope this is a very small number of people
And getting smaller, by a rolling average of 724 per day. If it were only the “Ah got mah rights!’ types. Whereas: http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/ (not sure if my preferences will show up for you, but please, compare and contrast USA vs Canada.
Re American spies: “Those sneaky Russians want to get their grubby asiatic fingers on our patriotic COVID cure!”
Yesterday, British government ministers claimed they were ‘almost certain that Russia tried to hack…”
Today they are saying they are ‘95% certain that Russia tried to hack…”
Is ‘Almost’ more or less than 95%? One has to wonder.
Russian spies: Bought to you by the same people who invented Iraqi WMD
Boris and Natasha must be pretty old by now. Does Moose chase them around the nursing home in his scooter?
Scooter was hacked, only turns left now. Moose on NASCAR circuit.
The snark is powerful in this one! I had never contemplated the fact that the NASCAR race tracks all turn left, all the time! Ahat subtle propaganda skills these ‘Rummies’ (Russians + Commies,) possess! I’ll wager that if the GRU American Elections Directorate had been given the extra $50,000 budget they asked for, America would be ruled by a puppet of Vlad Vladimirovitch today! (Oh, wait! Now that I think about it…..)
Onion classic on NASCAR tactics
Truly amazing… and goes to show the low opinion these people must have of the regular folk: “Yeah, they’ll believe any crap we decide to feed them, day in and day out… for as long as it takes to get everyone brainwashed.
My experience has been that the “..for as long as it takes..” part is key.
Constant. Repetition. Wins.
Otherwise, why the continuance of the “RussiaRussiaRussia” psyops program, which has been debunked among the “progressive” populations?
Constant(Russia,) Repetition(Russia,) Wins(Russia.)
ambrit and all of the above:
I simply assumed, after this report first came out, that it was in fact overwhelming evidence that the US intel services–all 17 of them, like keystone kops getting in each others’ way–were working overtime to steal everybody else’s research so that, no matter whose research led to some progress in a possible vaccine, the US would be ready to take it to the patent office claiming that it was developed in the US and therefore the US ought to get all the benefits, including exclusive use for USites FIRST.
What depresses me about this latest ‘scandal’ is that the USA and its closest allies are treating vaccine research like it’s a state secret. Which implies that if they do develop an effective vaccine, they won’t share it (not with their ‘enemies’, anyway). Even during Cold War 1, the US and USSR cooperated on things like polio and smallpox eradication. I guess Cold War 2, like most sequels, will be worse than the original version.
An Empire run by people who know they are losing their influence, increasingly becomes desperate. Thus leading to increasingly extreme responses to conserve and/or preserve power. Which naturally results in an erosion of power. Wielded through finance.
Our leaders look to financial warfare (one of the 3 forms of warfare, the other two being social and military) to enforce their power. If that does not work? Engineer a coup (where possible, when necessary) against recalcitrant countries.
Meanwhile, our leaders have hollowed out the economy, selling off assets to foreign competition. Fewer and fewer special interests take up more and more of the economic pie.
The power of The United States is built on reputation and belief. People came to the U.S. based on perception of freedom and security (when compared to their own immediate circumstances). The U.S. financial system was seen as the most trustworthy. Our industrial might was absolute.
All of that has been frittered away in useless wars and mal-investment and selling off (and out) the country. For a few, by the few.
+100
Covid-19 consequences
Unfuckingbelievable!!!
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/doctors-lawyers-condemn-shocking-treatment-childbirth-covid/
https://wgntv.com/news/woman-who-refused-to-wear-mask-wants-half-of-100k-donated-to-starbucks-barista/
Gilles claims she has medical problems preventing her from wearing a mask and that she was discriminated against. She also said she thinks masks are not effective.
“I get shortness of breath, dizziness and it messes with the heartbeat,” Gilles said. “And I do have asthma as well, and I do get ‘maskne’. So there’s several things going on and not only that but it doesn’t even work.”
She shared two pieces of paperwork to show what she calls a medical exemption. A 2015 doctors report she shared shows analysis of her uterus and an ovarian cyst.
And a handwritten note with a San Diego chiropractor’s letterhead that she asked not to be shown on camera says she has “underlying health conditions that prevent her from wearing a mask.”
======================================================
Now, I am not using this as evidence of my hypothesis stated in my previous post that people are getting stupider. Its just anecdotal evidence and no general conclusion can be drawn. Nope, just a post about the state of mask wearing…
Ah, if only the outrage on display whenever I trawl the depths of social media now and again was about mask-wearing (or not wearing masks, as the case may be).
Unfortunately it’s more complex than that. The outrage is about the outrage about mask-wearing. I’ve looked back as much as I can in the annals of social history and mass psychology. But I can’t find any obvious parallels. This is, as far as I am aware, the first documented meta outrage.
Where it goes from here, it’s impossible to say. There’s no parallels to draw on. Social historians will have a field day looking back at what happens in the next six months or so.
Nah, happens all the time.
The right are outraged that the left are outraged that the right are outraged. Or maybe the left are outraged that the right are outraged that the left are outraged? [left/right can be replaced here by a number of other groups]
I suggest Twitter changes its name to “Rager”.
I suppose that is why we have politics, it’s a repository for these kinds of fundamental disagreements. Is that the point we’ve reached now though — where everything is political?
(imagining now a society where there’s a constant insta-entrenchment on just about every darned thing, like a perpetual Korean Peninsula demilitarised zone, with everyone sending over propaganda Tweet-balloons at each other and banal invective slogans broadcast from massive loudspeakers… how long before it is, like North and South Korea, merely done out of habit and a reluctance to be seen to stop doing something, no matter how ineffective it might be nor how few pay any attention to any of it, because that would look like giving in…)
Everything IS political, that’s why it’s called “political economy”
But I think Clive’s point is that we are in a period of hyper awareness of political choice and belief.
I heard someone say, “We all wear a toga now.” Proclamations of political belief are required in many spaces. I, for one, working in non profits, have had to do the equivalent of a loyalty oath on issues of race, class, gender. Nevermind that I am maintaining donor databases and writing press releases, internal politics has dictated that I make proclamations in meetings.
It’s not only stupid, does not move the needle on social justice, but it’s immensely impractical.
We don’t need loyalty oaths from entry level workers, we need people producing a surplus.
Unfortunately, the current generation of leadership is across-the-board weak. I hate to lean on Strauss and Howe, but I don’t see a better explanation for the current crop of bad leadership other than age: the generation in management positions are flawed in their character. We are in a crisis and they are unable to handle a crisis responsibly.
True. Look at Ferguson. Mostly Minority community run by mostly-White council.
A council who voted to allow the police to use their own poor people as a piggy-bank.
Politics touches every aspect of life.
I always love people who say, “The Government doesn’t care about me.”
The Government cares very much.
Minor quibble: The Ferguson City Council (or whatever its real name is) did not “allow” the police to arrest people to generate revenue, it “ordered” them to do it because they couldn’t raise taxes to support such a large police force or pay the judges and Council members.
Law enforcement for profit is a very important part of the Ferguson story. Ferguson, IIRC, got in trouble with its municipal bonds after the previous Crash. Further, its tax base was destroyed when an auto plant left (IIRC it manufactured some sort of muscle car). Sorry I’m too lazy to find the links, but we are looking at a deindustrialization and finance tragedy here, not simple corruption by municipal officials.
Not to say that the St Louis metropolis didn’t have its own problems as a result of, shall we say, its Border State heritage. Many, many tiny municipalities that do not really have the means to support themselves are also a problem (and I’m forgetting the detail; the weirdness that allowed the McCloskey’s to have a private street is part of it, I’m guessing).
All a pie fight? You may be right.
Stanley Kubrick wanted to end Dr. Strangelove with a pie fight but got talked out of it.
Seem our politicians are looking more and more like Kubrick’s sex crazed, gun humpers than ever before.
“The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely preferred to those who think they’ve found it.” – Terry Pratchett
Someone should donate a few neurons to her, it might make a difference. I guess right now all her neurons are too busy getting her to breathe.
The “maskne” is a real thing, FWIW, my GF has sensitive skin and get pimples and rashes in a distinct circle around her mouth and nose. This is a big deal when you work in luxury publishing because image is waaay beyond everything…it will literally lose you a job. She used to work for that monster Wintour who would summarily dismiss other people’s interns for being overweight or wearing something she didn’t approve of…
You think that a layer of silk inside the mask might help your girlfriend out with her reaction to the mask material? If it works, tell her you thought of it. :)
The other option is to look for a new GF. The one who doesn’t wear a mask probably won’t make it through the pandemic anyway
Yeah, and such a GF who doesn’t wear masks may just take you with her. Pass!
yeah , defintiely get rid of your girlfriend. no chance anyone could survive this viurs.
Thanks RK,I will pass that along! It’s a serious issue for her.
And I never said she doesn’t wear a mask, guys…
Synthetic materials may change the electrical conductivity and other properties of skin. Which in turn may result in “maskne”.
Synthetic materials are also more likely to trap bacteria in sensitive areas. Hence synthetic materials treated with anti-microbial substances being advertised.
Very interesting and valuable info, I’m going to make her some silk masks!
Or buy her some silk scarves. Probably for the best…
From the article:
I can’t imagine a faster way to get Gutierrez another boatload of cash than Gilles suing him on who-knows-what-basis—it’s like the loony sense of entitlement, outrage, and persecution that gave rise to the initial incident raised to the nth degree.
She commented lawyers to sue for the money are expensive. I am not a lawyer, but I would guess every one she’s contacted realizes there is no chance of winning, so no reason to take it on contingency. She should try to locate Orly Taitz.
Holy, this lady needs a note from her psychiatrist, not her chiropractor.
Funny that 64 year old white guy drove into a cop TWICE, refused to present ID, resisted being handcuffed, and is still alive.
satterle
July 17, 2020 at 8:01 am
from the article:
The records say that after Taylor refused to give his driver’s license to the officer, the officer followed Taylor outside and was reporting his license plate to dispatch.
Then, “Taylor backed his vehicle up and struck him two different times,” the arrest report said. The officer did not fall but lost his balance.
A different officer arrived on scene, asked Taylor to exit and attempted to handcuff him. A struggle allegedly broke out as Taylor pulled his arms away, fell to the ground and resisted arrest.
========================================
1st, whatever happened to “I was in fear for my life” and in this case, doubly in fear…
2nd, how do you “accidentally” back into someone twice? If you don’t see them you keep backing up.
3rd, if your the cop, how do you get backed over twice? Isn’t once enough? – get out of the way.
4th, if this guy thinks wearing a mask making breathing difficult, he should try it with a cop’s knee on his throat…
Probably reminds the cops of their fathers.
AG Bill Barr attacks Disney, Google, Microsoft and Apple for doing business with China and says Hollywood ‘censors movies to appease the Communist Party’ Daily Mail
Mr. Barr, Hollywood is not trying to appease communists – they are greedy, hypocritical cutthroat capitalists that would run over their grandmother, mother, mistresses and children to make a buck. No, I am not going to say this is the final piece of evidence that Americans or American Attorney Generals are getting stupider, but it is the final piece that I am going to post.
So last night, on the TV was the movie The Martian (I’d seen it before). Made in 2015 back when commerce with China was still a wonderful thing.
Spoiler Alert – don’t read anymore if you haven’t seen the movie. I mean it.
So Matt Damon is stranded on Mars. And China supplies a rocket so that he can be fed, or something, and actually isn’t needed, but the important thing is that the Chinese are portrayed as wonderful world team players. Did Hollywood put that in to support communism? LOL! Mr. Barr, Hollywood is addicted to…MOVIEGOERS
Of course, Barr knows the problem isn’t communism, but greedy capitalism, but Barr can’t say that….
As Lenin said, capitalists will sell us the fantastically entertaining movies that we will watch and with which we will hang them by something something….
Hollywood always makes films with a view to which way the wind is blowing. You’ll notice that in “The Martian” that the Russian space program never gets a mention. At times, Hollywood goes full mental playing to what is fashionable at the moment. Like when they did the new version of “Red Dawn” in 2012 and it was North Korean forces that had invaded America. North Korea. A country that has less people than Texas. Invading a country of 335 million. Sigh!
As far as Barr is concerned, this just amounts to a severe finger-wagging and I am surprised that he did not get severe repetitive strain injury doing so. If he thinks that Hollywood, Disney, Google, Microsoft and Apple are all going to give up tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars in present and future profits then he does not know what capitalism is. Tell you what though, you should read his Wikipedia entry as it is very illuminating. He worked for the CIA for four years and is a believer in the “unitary executive theory” of nearly unfettered presidential authority over the executive branch of the U.S. government-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barr
I believe the change in Red Dawn 2012 was Hollywood’s revenue model which is to make movies that come close to breaking even in the US and sell distribution rights and not to worry to much about eyeballs on screens. The myth of the Chinese audience alone is worth how much. One appeal to Russia as an official enemy is its large land mass and memory of anti-Soviet propaganda gives it a menacing appeal, but its not a huge market. No one outside of John Bolton and Hillary really believes Russia (est. population 135 million) is a threat to the EU (almost 600 million people).
In this case, I think Hollywood is shaping foreign policy more than DC in regards to China until recently. Obama’s pivot to Asia was big at first and obviously about China, but gosh, it risked so many revenue streams.
Something else the movie forgot to mention: the DNA searing levels of radiation the astronauts had to endure coming and going.
https://www.space.com/32273-the-martian-movie-astronaut-radiation-risk.html
Disagree, Hollywood is recruited to make the wind blow a certain way. Zero Dark Thirty, with its “torture is OK when we do it” was agitprop of the highest. And Woody Wilson got the war he but almost nobody else wanted after he got the help of Hollywood manufacturing the “evil Hun” myths
The movie “Martian” closely follows the book “Martian” by Andy Weir — although removing some of the story to fit a movie format. [Primarily — the problems he has after shorting out his makeshift communications system while modifying his rover for the long trip to Ares 4 MAV at Schiaparelli, and the dust storm he must avoid on that trip.] The movie glamorizes the Chinese help with the beautiful actress replacing the male functionary who proposes offering the help and it does not mention the full loss the Chinese incur to their program by offering their rocket to help save the Martian.
Good points. But regardless, anyone highlighting in any way the China threat gets some credit. Lamentably, there’s good reason to think that Biden will resume our full throttle sellout — not that Trump has done very much.
Silly me — and here I was thinking it’s the Pentagon Hollywood’s been appeasing all these years. . . .
RE: Microbiologists at Caltech discovered a bacteria that feeds on manganese metal
I have a friend down here in NC who lived in a house with water supplied by a private well company. We assumes the black rings in his toilet were from manganese but now I see it was from the bacteria destroying it.
I am wondering if this bacteria, wen ingested, might cause manganese deficiency in humans.
This is a very interesting point since as a someone with a chemistry background, I have been intrigued by the role of transition metals (Mn, Mo, Cr etc) in health and well being. Given the complexity of their chemistry and the fact that they are needed only in trace amounts, it must be a challenge to properly intervene in the health of individuals with deficiencies or inability of to bio-assimilate. Can you suggest a general/accessible reference as a starting point?
Nickels are a bit of a misnomer as the composition is 75% copper & 25% nickel, but appearance is everything.
Pearl Harbor happens and nickel is needed, so from 1942 to 1945, they were made from a curious combination of 56% copper, 35% silver & 9% manganese.
Since 2000, all Dollar coins have 5% manganese in them.
I can’t think of any other coins made from manganese, and it’s one of those words such as Winnebago, that just rolls off your tongue.
Although with the transitive metals they only deal with zinc so far, I find the ‘topics’ papers in the foundmyfitness website to be very interesting and informative. Dr. Rhonda Patrick is what you might describe as at the far edge of the overton window of mainstream nutrition and sport science.
Thank you for that Zinc website. I am pretty sure I have jejunoileitis (Crohn’s) so it would make sense why my zinc was so low even with how much I take.
And I agree, I used to have conversation with Dr. Patrick on Twitter when she was first starting out and more accessible, she is right on with a majority of what she says.
A few things might be at play here. If the bacteria have overgrown in the gut more manganese my cause and issue since it would feed and over populate that one bacteria.
I have taken rather high doses in the past for very short periods but it is very high in some foods; mussels are super high as is black tea. Oatmeal is a good source as well. I just try to eat these foods more often now instead of supplements. I wish they would start doing enzymatic tests for these deficiencies (SOD2. Arginase?) but I know that is a big ask.
As an aside, molybdenum is crucial for me. I could not take a drink of alcohol without feeling like I immediately had a hangover. Now it is no problem. I am assuming it was because of the high aldehydes.
Remind me next time I am in the US and about to get arrested by the cops for some reason to impersonate a kangaroo rather than a homeless person on train. Much gentler…
Apropos the U.S. injustice system and incarceration, Jimmy Dore covers a nightmare Kafkaesque encounter with police in made possible by Biden in today’s clip below.
JD is focused on the real problems instead of what other “Lefty” alternative sites have pivoted to, helping the Dems oust Trump.
https://youtu.be/FQMneGmjZxM
That story is unbelievably sad. What a system. As JD says it’s Biden’s system.
My response was along the same lines…
So… can someone riddle me this? Why aren’t human suspects treated with similar care? Those back legs could rip them open (not that they know that).
Also, FWIW, that’s not a wallaby but a male red from the looks of it. Likely a juvenile or otherwise a smaller breed as some reds get over 6′ tall. And he’s not injured, they lick their forearms as a means of cooling down. Considering it’s Florida, I’d argue he’s tame.
Many businesses have no shirt no shoes no service signs (FL for example) …with no outrage from citizens. But add a mask to that and people are ready to revolt.
It wont be long before everybody falls in line and dons a vizard, and the acceptance here in California’s bible belt has gone from where when I wore an N-95 a few months ago, people looked at me funny from afar I felt, now at least 95% have a mask on.
It reminds me of skiing in a way. Before Sonny Bono* & a Kennedy had their last runs ever within a fortnight of one another, nobody and I mean no one wore a helmet, to the point now where they are worn by 98% of all boarders & skiers.
* What was the weather forecast the day of Bono’s demise?
Cloudy in the morning, Sonny in the trees in the afternoon.
“i ain’t gettin no vaccine, because they put a microchip in ya that tracks ya everywhere ya go”—-said the guy with the latest fondleslab, chock full of tracking and surveillance abilities…
or alexa, siri, onstar or that internet connected doorbell thing.
At which point you might, as I do, have to wonder — it is really about mask wearing at all? And if it isn’t, what is it about?
It’s about “you’re not the boss of me.”
In fairness walking around with a mask on is pretty strange. It’s not that surprising that many people resist.
Yes, I wonder what Power is doing right now, watching us all ripping at each others’ throats, tearing chunks out of each other. It’s like the ultimate psyops: find an endless list of things which will divide the people over and play them out, one after the other, in a perpetual doom loop to trap any meaningful opposition within its inescapable grasp.
(inner Donald Trump subliminal narrator) And you know what the best part is? We’re going to going to supply the labour for them! They don’t need to do anything! We’re willing — eager, even — participants in our own subjugation. We subjugate and are subjugated by each other, in turn.
For clever people, as most if not all are who read Naked Capitalism, I’ve never seen such a mass outpouring of utter stupidity.
“Yes, I wonder what Power is doing right now, watching us all ripping at each others’ throats, tearing chunks out of each other.”
Laughing, they’re laughing at us. I think everything is proceeding as they have foreseen
On first read, after refreshing this page, I thought you were referencing the indomitable Samantha Power. I scrolled up to catch the thread and I see what your point is; but I think my initial read is still accurate.
I suspect those most adamant about refusing to wear a mask to go shopping are the most docile in their acquiescence to wearing a mask if demanded by their employer. If so, I believe the problem may arise from how little autonomy these people feel at their workplace. This leads to their irrational response to the demand that they wear a mask in public when shopping. They are protecting what they view as the last small space of autonomy remaining in their lives.
Well it does deny the advocates of facial recognition their orwellian dream quest to know what everyone is doing every second in every toilet in the world. We can remind the maroons that they will be denying the gubment the ability to identify them if they just wear their masks. That should spark their liberty response more than their disdain of masks.
I can’t figure out why that hasn’t become the rallying cry. It seems so simple.
My son used to say that to me all the time “you’re not the boss of my body”…..of course he was 3 at the time.
Some of it may be a response to cognitive dissonance. Tony Fauci, who admits to having lied about masks in February, and Andrew Cuomo, who knowingly sent covid-19 patients into nursing homes, resulting in thousands of deaths, are held up as heroes rather than being held accountable. The WHO spoke against cutting off international travel when that would have meant quarantining China, came out for it once that changed. We are months into an existential crisis, but neither the government nor the private sector can secure adequate supplies of PPEs or testing materials. Especially if one is skeptical of mainstream narratives to start with, it just doesn’t add up.
If one experiences it all as a WTF, FU is a possible reaction.
The virtue signaling and shaming may be exacerbating factors as well.
At this point. with our leaders having failed, masking up and social distancing are the only lines of defense we have left. But the often incoherent resistance to these measures, as unwise as it often is, reflects the amount of unacknowledged realities, the social unconscious or societal shadow, if you will.
I’d venture to say that the CDC lying about masks probably has a lot to do with it. It was one of the worst PR mistakes I think I’ve ever seen.
They lied in order to preserve mask supplies when they should have just pleaded with people not to hog masks.
Second place goes to my home state of PA, where the governor made Covid response a red-yellow-green light. Except that Green does not mean back to normal, it means ‘new normal’ so you then have to add another light to the stoplight and… ahhh, PR disaster!
Ah, PA. Tried to contact the State Health agency and ended up being directed to?
The Economic Development Board, when I called the Covid-19 hotline.
Which tells you Wolf’s true concern.
This was after attempting to call the county and regional health agencies. All of which never picked up the phone and one of which actually had a voice recording faking “This number is out of service”.
It’s really a joke at this point in PA. The open close/closed open, no stat matters approach is just driving people nuts.
Authorities’ instructions about Covid-19, portrayed as traffic-light signals …
https://xkcd.com/1116/
Yikes. That made me dizzy!
“And if it isn’t, what is it about?” Strategy of Tension, perhaps?
Today I saw on the news a meeting at a school in Utah with parents who were concerned about having their kids wearing masks in school. No, not concerned – demented. Hardly any of the people that crowded into that small hall had masks on and the members of the Utah County Commission were appalled. The parents were worried that it was all a “hoax” and wearing masks could “rewire” kid’s brains. I do not understand people like that. It is like their ideology has suppressed their parental duty to protect their kids. The link below has a whole gallery of images and I invite you to look at the first one at least showing these people all crowded together. Simply amazing-
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2020/07/15/packed-meeting-utah/
“People like that” are not all that hard to “understand,” and pretending not to is a large part of the problem.
The “covid response” is falling largely on their shoulders–they’re losing jobs, businesses, income, medical insurance, they can’t pay their rent and their kids are falling further behind in school–while their government makes sure that wall street, big corporations and banks stay, not just flush, but get wealthier. Their churches are closed while “protesters” and looters are celebrated and protected. They’re relentlessly lectured to and vilified for not “caring” about their neighbors while it becomes increasingly evident that their “betters” couldn’t care less about them.
“People like that” are always expected to bear the brunt of bullshit dictates and “policies” designed to ultimately benefit someone else, and unapologetically abandoned and even blamed when they’re forced to suffer as a result. During this current crisis, the sanctimonious proselytizing about keeping people “safe” and “healthy” by self-aggrandizing big mouths who feel no need to give those same people “healthcare” in calmer times, and who have absolutely no dog in this current fight has been insufferable.
While this may seem too serious an issue on which to take a defiant stand, it’s just as likely to be a demonstration of the very real desperation of “people like that,” and their refusal to be jammed one inch further. The breaking point was always going to be reached. How better to communicate that their situation is a matter of life and death than when they’re told that it’s actually a matter of life and death?
+100
Nevertheless, “people like that” vote for the “self-aggrandizing big mouths who feel no need to give those same people ‘healthcare’ in calmer times” [think Trump]. That’s what’s hard to understand/accept/sympathize with.
Last time I looked, Trump was not a tall, skinny black guy with abnormally large teeth and a medical insurance company giveaway program named after him.
I forgot that Obama (and the people like that who voted for them) passed meaningful health-care reform. Or didn’t bail out wall street at the expense of main street. Or turn brown people to red mist in unjust wars. Etc., etc.
Everybody wants to talk about how stupid the people who won’t wear masks are being. Fair enough. But I think we should also talk more about how stupid the people that think there’s been any difference in the overall aims of the last three administrations are being.
Ha! Yes! “People like that” voted for Obama as well.
So you hope they will and will criticize them for not voting for the alternative who also will vote against providing them with M4A and meaningful ecomonic reform? Think Biden?
Vote for Howie Hawkins and the Green Party candidates.
Just whatever you do, vote against the system.
Wow, Katniss, you absolutely nailed it.
The people who seem to be most at odds with masks don’t have work from home jobs, within my circle. In fact, the one family I’m thinking about is a nurse and a car mechanic and their son, also a mechanic. The nurse wears the mask at work but doesn’t seem too concerned about it, and the two mechanics shrug and aren’t worried at all.
While I agree that the pandemic response has been abysmal to put it mildly, that doesn’t absolve the anti-mask crowd from their own endangering jackass behavior. Protesting the shut-downs is completely understandable because essentially it’s a referendum on the pandemic response. But protesting masks? Be a little civic minded and grow up, ffs.
Civic mindedness is a two way street, you give something and get something back. For decades “people like that” have received less than nothing back. They know they pay taxes but they also know that a man named Bezos does not, on his fortune of one hundred ninety-five *thousand* million dollars. The aristocracy has a simple two part plan: 1. Steal from the poor; 2. Make sure everyone is poor. They richly deserve the outcome they will receive when the final threads of the social contract are severed. To have “civic mindedness” you first need a functioning “civis”, which we no longer have.
Attributing the blame of a fringe conspiracy-minded group who actually threaten the lives of others and themselves due to their recklessness to income inequality is just asinine. I am all for breaking out the guillotines, but how do we get from wearing masks, which is in everyone’s interest, to Jeff Bezos?
You can do whatever you want with the information: forgive, not forgive. But expecting purity out of everyone will not get you far. The more you press on these people, the less they will comply. It’s part of American culture. People like this get shot in China.
You have a laughable standard for purity. If you can’t expect people to comply with a simple life-saving rule that has been implemented just about everywhere else in the developed world, how could you possibly expect us to deal with climate change, the economic inequality that was decried earlier, the military industrial complex, or any of the other myriad and complex challenges that we face, some of which threaten our very existence? And were you this cosseting toward the BLM protestors?
The post I was responding to mentioned “civic mindedness”. I happen to believe that in order to have such a thing the prerequisite is a “civis” that does not simply siphon all wealth to a chosen handful. If people have absolutely no stake in the system then you can’t expect them to do what the system needs. You’ve trained them that their own individual situation is the only thing that matters.
That’s still quite the mental contortion to assume away any agency for “people like that”. What could explain the rest of us, the vast majority that is, willing to adopt slightly inconvenient measures that are better for us as a community?
And, by your standard, wouldn’t the elect like Bezos have no culpability in perpetuating the cult of the self if that’s simply the way they were trained to begin with?
I can see some logic in your response, KE, and – certainly- you’re right about the poor folk having to bear the brunt of govt’s bad decisions (though I thought that county is more affluent). But I think the missing link is that – unlike in some other countries – Us-ians have very little trust in their govt. The US govt lies so frequently to its citizenry that all trust evaporated long time ago. Not perhaps consciously, but as a result of many lies accumulating over the years. Add to it Reagan’s mantra that govt is the problem, not the solution, and you get a toxic mix of (illogical) defiance and stubborn disregard.
I’d be interested in learning how you know that stuff about those folks.
What stuff?
I am continually staggered by the attitudes of so many who would no doubt consider themselves in all genuineness to be progressives and for the working class but nevertheless have seemed to want to become fully paid up members of the petit bourgeoisie with respect to COVID-19. I fear they simply have no idea what working — really working, in today’s world of work — for a living is like.
YouTube is chock full of real-world examples. Such as this one https://youtu.be/F3wdstC9NWw (you only have to watch the first 60 seconds) — I’m presuming there’s an ordinance in Washington mandating mask wearing at all times, the guy alludes to it anyway. So you have this poor chap roll up at a house in a well-to-do looking neighbourhood. Unfortunately his sat nav gives him the wrong directions and so he rings on the doorbell of the wrong house. He edited out what exactly happened but clearly it wasn’t exactly pleasant for either him or, maybe, for a homeowner worried about their safety, either.
I know this guy from following his YouTube channel. He is conscientious and diligent. He was trying to follow the mask rules as prescribed. As he said, he ain’t never doing that (walking up to a house and calling while in a mask) ev-ah again. I can show you a dozen varieties of this theme from people trying to actually work — and it is essential real work — as opposed to talking about what you imagine it’s like for people who do real work (which isn’t the same thing at all).
Yet day in, day out, I see the same hand waving “oh, I just don’t get it, everyone can simply wear a mask, there’s no problem, you have to be stoopid and one of those people to not understand it” tropes.
And then people are mystified that the working class won’t touch self-styled “progressive advocates” with a 10-ft pole? And don’t see why a good proportion of the working class think they are entirely justified in ignoring the berating that’s meted out to them by their so-called “supporters”?
Katniss – not wearing a mask seems to be some sort of statement and all manner of justifications are rolled out why such as the fear that it will “rewire” kid’s brains but this is the safety of their kids at stake here and you know it. Last night I saw a tweet that might put in perspective-
In WW2, Londoners were asked to black out their homes at night so the enemy bombers wouldn’t see the lights & know where to target. No Londoner said,”It’s my right to have lights on”. Cuz others would say,”your light on endangers us.”
And you know as well as I that people masked up a century ago in face of exactly the same type of threat. People were shot for not wearing masks. Putting your own life at risk is one thing. Putting your kid’s life and their teachers because ‘reasons’ just does not cut it for me so yes, I will label them as ‘those people.’
I’ve seen the meme about the Blitz too.
I have to say “citation needed.”
Did ALL Londoners comply? No Londoners refused to comply? I find that pretty hard to believe. There were no individuals, heck, entire blocks, who said “the chances of me being bombed are small therefore I’m not going to obsess over this”?
Ahh, and a few seconds of google searching turns up an answer: of course there were people who didn’t comply. https://www.quora.com/During-the-Blitz-in-1940-41-were-there-people-who-defied-blackout-orders-thought-it-was-a-hoax-shined-flashlights-up-at-the-sky-etc They also were fined.
Back during the American Revolution, plenty of people supported the Crown, too.
Light discipline was very good and you did not need the Warden from “Dad’s Army” shouting “Put that light out!” to help. They had useful reminders why to keep lights out. I was watching an interview with a bunch of survivors from the London Blitz in a London pub and one was saying that the bombers dropped a whole stick of bombs at a time. I forget how many but call it six.
So he was saying that you would hear the first explosion and if you were unlucky, would hear the second go off towards your direction. You would then count each bomb in that stick (Three! Four! Five!…) and hoping that one of them would not land on you and could not relax until you heard the last explosion. That is why that during this time when you said goodbye to friends and family in the evening, that you would say “Good Night, and Good Luck!” which the American reporter Ed Murrow used in his reporting segments.
People are protesting masks by abusing retail workers directly, or demanding people be able to go back to work without also demanding workplace protections and healthcare. It’s no more reasonable than people advocating masks without advocating workplace protections or healthcare.
Utah County is the rapidly growing suburbs south of Salt Lake City. It feels very conservative.
When I lived in Salt Lake City, gay friends told me “it’s actually safe around here, not like you think”, “except Utah County, they’re really like that”.
In some New Jersey shore towns I’ve seen the opposite:
No Mask, No Service!
No Shirt? No Shoes? No Problem!
I’m a Jersey guy who is in stores frequently. No maskless shoppers. None. Also a Jersey shore guy so the “No shoes…”thing is part of the lifestyle.
Did no shirt and no shoes used to mean “hippie”? And if it did, would no shirt no shoes no service have been a hippie-exclusion filter at the time?
But since no mask probably means MAGAtard, and possibly a potentially violent MAGAtard, perhaps some bussinesses are afraid to confront potentially violent MAGAtards on the issue?
“Reopening K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic”
It will not only school teachers that will be worried but school cleaners as well. The risk will be similar for them as well. My wife used to be a school cleaner and she was visiting the school she cleaned down here in Oz. Talking to the Principal, she was told that a lot of the teachers that she knew no longer were there. That after the pandemic reached here, a lot of teachers had some thoughts on the subject and retired early as the risks were far too great considering their health and/or their age. I would not be surprised if a lot of older teachers were planning on retiring early to on the US.
The following appears to be the pivotal argument for the National Academy of Science’s recommendation to re-open schools despite COVID:
“The risks of not having face-to-face learning are especially high for young children, who may suffer long-term consequences academically if they fall behind in the early grades.”
Call me a Maoist, but conceptualizing education as a race is everything that is wrong with American education.
You can quibble about the language, but the little ones are soaking up all kinds of stuff at those ages. Not only do you have the kids coming back after a huge gap, there will be all kinds of barriers in place, and besides the cleaning, the teachers will only have the option to lecture to little ones. Then of course, there is everything lost because teachers aren’t interacting. Abuse won’t be reported because no one will pick up on it. This gap alone will be a multiyear crisis if cover just disappears in December.
Oh, ffs! We famously didn’t progress until public education. What nonsense.
Yep, its part of the fluoride in the water scam too.
To be fair, there’s a lot more Disney neoliberalism saturating a child’s “down time” these days. I’d give NAS the half point.
“The science must not get in the way” lol.
It’s critically important to understand that education is no longer a competition between us Americans. It’s global now. We’re in an international competition with other countries and we’re falling behind. It’s this way because of the Internet. I can hire Americans or I can hire Singaporeans. Unfortunately, it’s a race; it’s a competition.
Funny, they were trying to hire Singaporeans to work at my grocery store, the fire department, the police, at the local school, hardware store, every place in town.
They must be very good. Especially with that commute to work.
Mods, is Droopy the Neolib back with another new name?
“I heard he was dead.”
When the President made it a priority recently that schools must reopen and then kinda forgets about it and goes on to the next cockamamie scheme in a couple of weeks, imagine the damage done not so much by my friend the 7th grade science teacher who frankly had been talking about calling it quits for years now and finally up & did it, but more of the teacher who found their calling and love the profession, but not enough to allow it to kill them.
Not only are there fewer teachers coming back to classrooms but also fewer counselors and support staff and there’s very little discussion in the linked article or elsewhere about how frightened many children are about going back to classrooms that look and function so differently. How much learning is actually going be taking place?
And btw, are children still being educated for the pre-pandemic world?
we’ve seen a rash of retiring teachers out here…and no one in the pipeline to replace them.
Machine is using this to Post Office Public Education, and move it all into their privatised platform world.
The top topic this morning needs to be what federal officers with no identification on their uniforms are doing in Portland. Governor Kate Brown is speaking out, but it’s terrifying. As is the justification that the federal government has to respond to “violent graffiti.”
Just another step on the way to Cascadia.
The more the feds are seen as an occupying force, the better.
A thousand times YES to this post! I was just about to ask if anyone knew more about this than the few tweets I see here and there. This topic deserves a separate discussion.
https://www.opb.org/news/article/federal-law-enforcement-unmarked-vehicles-portland-protesters/
The article I read said the Federal Protective Service (think I got that right) has been assigned by Trump to guard USG buildings in Portland and can use non lethal weapons not approved by the city for its own police. They are only supposed to be guarding Federal couthouses and the like. They have made some arrests.
It seems the local Rose City folks have set up their own autonomous zone near or adjacent to a courthouse. Also news reports of constant “protests” by the group in the downtown area, prompting a visit from the acting DHS Secretary. Or was, seems police stepped in:
https://www.rt.com/usa/494940-clat-portland-chop-protesters/
Another instance of Portland being used as a political stunt gone awry (as they always do). There was no reason to send federal troops in the first place, the protests only had one night of real violence in the last month, and now the feds have gone awol. Shot a guy in the head from across the street. As pointed out the the FAIR link yesterday, Trump doesn’t even have the power to “defend” statues like that and PPD can make the arrests if it goes too far. There needs to be an investigation both locally and federally (bleh they won’t do Sh*t) to get this sorted out. Seems the whole lose a war abroad win one against your own civilians is catching on.
oh please, “it was only one night o freal violence”. That is nonsense. And one night is too many. The local police should stop the violence or expect the state and if they wont then get the FEDs to stop it.
What happens when the police are the source of the violence? Do we end up with local coppers battling with state coppers mixing it up with federal coppers?
I don’t think so. What Trump did in Portland is a clumsier version of what Obama did to the Occupy Movement all across America one fell night.
The Police State is here.
I don’t buy the “police are the source of the violence” narrative. As far as comparison between trump and Obama. I remember Obama being much more accommodating to the protests in Occupy and with the protest/riots in Ferguson. Trump would like to stop the rioting and violence but Obama was indifferent to it. And the local politicians, where it is happening now, are indifferent to it. And they are indifferent to it because they think they will score political points.
Someone should do a very detailed day-by-day study of all aspects of protest and counter-protest in Portland just lately.
How many protesters and demonstrators were out each day? At each time of day?
I wonder about this because I have read/heard that the Portland protesters were wearing out and giving up and in the last day before the arrival of Federal Trumpolice, there were only a few hundred protesters out.
The Trumpolice’s job was to enrage Portlandians and get the number of protesters back way up in hopes of generating good TV for the Trump to use in its election campaign.
That’s what I have read. What do the numbers say?
I was wrong here. Did not research it enough/talk to locals. Definitely far more serious and concerning than my comment said. The Feds are creating violence for political gain.
“Little Green Men” and hybrid warfare is coming to a town near you!
Seriously, this is a scary development. Namely, should unidentified officers seek to abduct armed civilians, it could turn into a bloodbath. Those civilians may be within their rights to claim self defense against physical attack by unknown armed men. This is an incredibly dangerous situation for all involved.
The Wall Street Cops are legaly allowed to arrest anyone in the US without a warrant if they are observed to be a threat to the US or US interests.
Kinetics still gets a word for both sides, though.
Would the Trumpolice try this in a heavily MAGAtard city? The MAGAtard cities would be the high-percentage-gun-owning cities. But those are pro-Trump cities. So Trump would see no reason to send the Trumpolice to the MAGAtard cities.
And the Liberal cities are mainly inhabited by pacificentric hoplophobes, right? If so, then the Trumpolice have nothing to fear by shooting down some pacificentric hoplophobes. It is not as if the liberal pacificentric hoplophobes have any guns to shoot back with.
But no word on the violence occurring every night in Portland? The destruction of pubic property? The rights of the other non violent people and protesters of Portland. BTW they had DHS patches on.
So why is the governor and the mayor publicly calling for these federal forces to stay in the buildings they are “defending” or leave? They are refusing the “help provided”. This is by the federal govt admission, to prevent people from doing graffiti
Straight from the (acting, of course) secretary of DHS:
Acting Secretary Wolf Condemns The Rampant Long-Lasting Violence In Portland
Many of the arrests (if that’s what they are) are reported to be happening far away
from any Federal facilities. The 10th Amendment for me but not for thee.
The purpose of the invasion is pretty clearly to provoke a reaction,
and then ride the escalator of action-reaction all the way to re-election.
That it’s being done to a state with a female governor is not a surprise.
Graffiti as the new Reichstag fire? Who is the new Van Der Lubbe?
‘Left’ Banksy?
“This siege can end if state and local officials decide to take appropriate action instead of refusing to enforce the law.’
I have absolutely no idea what is happening in Portland or why, but the above statement sets all sorts of alarm bells ringing for me. The “state and local officials” are not it seems simply failing to enforce the law (whatever it is), through laziness or incompetence, they are “refusing” to do so. Given that they are local and thus answerable to the community if not actually elected by it, why are they ‘refusing’ to enforce ‘the law’ against it?
Whatever ‘the law’ is that isn’t being enforced here is, this suggests to me that it was imposed from above against an unwilling population, and the refusal of the population to accept it is necessitating ‘firm action’ being taken ‘from above’ to bring it into line.
I seem to remember Soviet Russia was very good at this kind of thing, as is China today.
Politics, and the employment of useful idiots on the front lines to battle it out while the leaders push their narrative.
Minitrue and Miniluv at work
In todays times, it seems the right to vandalize and destroy others’ property is more important that ownership and a civil society. Hopefully, after the election, the local and state govts in OR will have incentive to put a stop to this nonsense.
Clearly, some in our state don’t believe it is “nonsense”. It is called the 1st Amendment to the constitution. They view their government as being part of the problem in not following the law of our nation allowing people to voice their grievances in public.
The president sent in an army, outlawed under the Posse Comitatus statutes to violate US law as if it didn’t exist.
Yes, some people think this is okay. Are they the criminals? Do you think the riots likely to commence at the beginning of August are going to be illegal? The money runs out and they have no jobs to return to. What would you do?
the fist ammendment guarantees right to free speach and for peaceful assembly (among others)… not graffiti and private and public property destruction. rioting is not protected assembly.
If the concern of spray painting statues and lighting a few fires in the road takes importance over federal agents unlawfully kidnapping their own citizens, there needs to be a serious assessment of priority. It’s a natural function of a failing state to have social unrest and failure to accept it in the absence of political and economic change as part of life leads to killing of civilians and suspensions of rights very quickly.
How much of the graffiti and vandalism is being done by undercover policemen and stormtrumpers in false flag antifa disguise? To fake up a reason for Trumpolice violence against citizens?
I wonder what percent of antifa are actually undercover police and stormtrumpers? If every single antifa were killed in an extremely detailed and thorough killoff, how many of the dead antifas would really be dead undercover stormtrumpers and undercover policemen?
Vandalism ≠ violence.
+1
does that make it acceptable?
No, but you (and many in the law enforcement community) seem to have no idea of the notion of “proportionality” in the administration of justice or enforcement of laws. Furthermore, the engagement of “secret stormtroopers” to terrorize demonstrators has no place in a society that calls itself democratic. This is something straight out of Orwell..or Late Weimar Germany.
Ownership has always been the problem. It creates ranks that are not mutually accountable.
“The destruction of pubic property” — Hmmm, that certainly does sound serious, though why it requires the intervention of the Feds is unclear to me. Things don’t get much more ‘local’ than that. :)
What do local news report? That is often the best way to have a clearer picture of what is going on
Glad the kangaroo was not homeless or black.
MH-17.
Apologies if this is a re-post, or if the photo has been previously posted, but I didn’t even get a moderation notice on my last attempt. I’ll leave the links out on this one…
Drilling down through Yasha Levine through Ilargi, I came to Eric Zuess’ story on MH-17 on the Saker. “Netherlands ‘Justice’ Is Totally Corrupt: MH17 Case as Example”. Zuess links to a photo repositioning the blown-out side panel of MH-17. IMHO, the picture totally invalidates the missile-attack claims.
Yeah, Netherlands justice. Even though you have Russian citizens accused of destroying MH-17, the Russians themselves are not allowed to present any evidence to the court. The US claims that they have images showing that the missile came from rebel-held territory. However, they refuse to show them in court but want the court to take their word for it that that is what is shown. It is for reasons like this which explains why it is not being held by the International Criminal Court instead. In that court you actually have to produce evidence.
Oz is completely in on the little anti-Russian game. John Helmer is all over this deceitfulness.
Damn right on that. It is disgusting how they use this incident to hammer the Russians with and use the relatives of those killed to push the message. And of course you see the media going for it as well which makes it far harder to establish just exactly what happened that day. It has even corrupted some decisions in our courts.
Ok, so I hope we can now agree that western “justice” has now become thoroughly corrupted. They do not even pretend to be impartial. Lies and deceit have become the norm – whether it is the Venezuelan gold, Assange, MH17, kidnapping people, etc.
Congress to the states: Drop dead.
https://nathantankus.substack.com/p/state-and-local-austerity-is-a-death
Contains this little gem:
“Of the 225 governmental entities eligible for the Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facility, 97% are functionally excluded due to costly and restrictive loan terms. Thus far only one state government and no local governments have used the facility. “
flora
July 17, 2020 at 9:26 am
Thank you! Great link – adding to the almost infinite evidence that George Carlin was extremely correct when he said its a club and your not in it.
On the question of mobilizing laboratory resources from hospital and academic labs: this could be an important way to relieve pressure while we do what we really need. The real solution is to invest in some very expensive equipment and set up labs to process very high sample volumes. Only the feds (or maybe a consortium of states?) have the resources for that with state budgets cratering. Also need to switch to less invasive sample collection requiring less PPE and supplies, and ramp up production of swabs, reagents, etc. Meanwhile, let’s say you are an academic lab and you actually have been able to get the right certification and validate your test. How do you connect to people who need testing? You don’t have nurses on staff Or a place to set up a testing site. So you need to connect to a health department or hospital or clinic. But they have never heard of you, and they are overwhelmed, and they are being bombarded by scammers. Do you have the software you’d need to be compatible with their electronic health records? Can you bill insurance? Are you in network? Who will be in charge of reporting to the health department? How many swabs have you been able to get?
Which is not to say it’s not possible— what I’m saying is doing this at scale requires government coordination to identify capacity, streamline certification, get supplies, match providers with reputable labs, and make sure labs get paid.
I think the point is (to use some hyperbole) that there are no hospital and academic labs to mobilize. They all outsourced to Quest and LabCorp. And if you think “oh man, it’s awful that these huge, centralized, outsourced testing labs are over capacity and delaying COVID-19 tests with disastrous consequences,” imagine the state of the healthcare industry: it was accepting these delays for every other kind of test before the pandemic.
I saw something about this in the local seattle paper yesterday and thought it was weird…I had some minor symptoms and being around old people and in a place with few cases I was worried, so I went over to Skagit Valley College where the state has a free testing site. Super easy, took 5 minutes to go through the registration tent then the test tent. I was negative, results texted to me less than 24 hours later. I point this out because as I was searching the google for test sites, LabCorp was the first listed google choice. I saw that and decided that SVC, although kind a journey, was definitely the place to go. Recommended to anyone in the area.
Re testing delays …, I think I thought i was replying oops
“Americans watching other countries that have gotten Covid under control.”
God, that’s hilarious that. Got just the music to go along with it-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ODcC5z6Ca0
RE: Who’s Behind Wednesday’s Epic Twitter Hack? Brian Krebs
I can’t believe this is being made out to be such a big deal. Is there anyone who believes that twitter is somehow supernaturally immune to “hacking?” It practically walks around with a sign saying “hack me” taped to its back.
The real story here IMNSHO is that jeff bezos has 1.5 million twitter “followers.” That there are so many fools who give a shit what that creep “tweets” is the real mind-blower.
The amazing part to me is that the FBI got involved in a Twitter hack. Don’t these people have memos to send to each other and political campaigns to infiltrate? It’s an election year, dammit.
The amazing part for me is that Bitcoin and its imitators are even allowed to exist. I don’t do tweet/face. So, I am only a semi-interested observer to all the continual strum und drang concerning “social apps.”
OTOH Bitcoin seems to me to be a cancer that everyone tolerates and nobody appears to be concerned with. However, when some big-time scam occurs there is Bitcoin in the middle of it. Help me here, but the only thing Bitcoin appears useful for is fraud and blackmail. “Send Bitcoins to this account…or else!” Just call me old fashioned.
apropos of nothing…here’s why Biden is going to lose https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/progressphiles-big-sister-democrats-david-shor/
and here’s an example of why this “cancel culture” thing is, indeed, important.
what began 30 years ago in a few proverbial ivory towers, has moved into big tech…including that portion of big tech that lives in the basement of modern “political parties”(i remember the lawsuit,lol).
Prolly doesn’t change things for most of us….I doubt such idiocy will have much heft in my feed store…and i reckon the demparty is already moribund, as far as being amenable to reform, or doing anything useful to the majority of americans. If, by some miracle, this “movement” gets any legs outside of essentially PMC Land, then yes, it would be pretty bad.
Only path to that situation is maybe the coming universal corporate/hedge fund takeover of all the now dead small businesses, and imposing these sorts of ideological tests and grievance porn on their serfs.All the more reason to be evangelising for actual leftyness, and keeping “general strike” somewhere towards the front of the brains of people you interact with.
For now…and in this instance…it reminds me, mostly, of the hijacking of the original ron paul tea party by GOP operators(and a whole lot of money). GOP did this when they were flat on their back after the idiotic Bush2 presidency….with stupid hypocritical wars still ongoing, and the economy in the toilet, and obama with both houses of congress…
GOP had a major legitimacy problem, and attempted to solve it by saddling up it’s ready herd of wild pigs, shooting them full of meth, and hopping into the saddle. I remember the shock from a few mainstream GOP-ers when their ravening steeds began turning on their riders a couple of years later(see: david brat).
This smells like the same thing…trying to double down on the Bernie Bro tactic, and finally rid the party of “those people”…hence the repeated attacks of late on “Class Analysis” and “economics” as the reason Hillary Lost to Orange Badman.
It’s the centrist version of a DINO Hunt, but where they…the Centrists…are the “Real Democrats”>and Democratic Socialists and New New Dealers, are not.
But I expect that at some point these rather intolerant and unpleasant zealots will turn on Steny, Chuck, Chris Hayes et al….and then the rest of us, probably.
Cuz that’s how totalitarianism rolls, on any scale.
I had really hoped that the Big Center portion of the Demparty could be defeated based on ideas and policy,lol.
But I guess we’ll hafta settle for it being eaten from within by creatures of their own making.
Oh, well.
Plan for the Rubble and Ashes Phase.
The argument against Shor’s focus on Dem behavior remaining un-frightening has nothing to do with the reasons of the list members or those given by the source. It’s that it’s been the campaign and governing policy of the Democratic Party since 1972 or 1980 (take your pick), has produced chronic regular electoral failure, and when it eeks out a win, a n amorphous blob of me-too do-nothing paralyzed by the fear of offending people who don’t vote for you (and overwhelmingly aren’t even eligible to) empty suit ‘representatives’. He may be very good at getting one hack nebbish elected versus another of the same, after destroying a meaningful alternative in the primary, but his advice has a decades long track record of failure because it doesn’t ‘scale’, it vitiates.
Meh, Rod Dreher is extremely monomaniacal when it comes to what he perceives to be the depredations of the “left,” which to him seems to be anyone who’s to the left of, say, the last Pope. While I do appreciate (though don’t necessarily agree with) some of the things that Dreher writes, I don’t think his viewpoint is widely held, certainly not to the extend to look at him as some sort of bellwether for the electorate.
So, is this so-called cancel culture going to cost the election for Biden? For the culture warriors, sure, but they’re not going to vote for him anyway. The single most important issue in this election is COVID19, and as the incumbent, it’ll be Trump that’s going to be judged on it. Maybe it’s just my opinion, but I don’t think a culture war will have nearly has much salience this year as in elections past. After all, it’s the culture warriors and their allies in the Republican Party that have been mostly wrong about this pandemic, so I don’t see how they’re going to get people to forget that, and focus on something that doesn’t have nearly as much important to the lives of so many people.
>Biden will end Trump’s suspension of H1-B Visas.
Historically, the H1B Visa program has harmed some domestic workers.
At one point, the UC partnered with HCL, a global contractor headquartered in India, which places workers in IT positions. UC signed a five-year contract to cut costs by outsourcing IT services and management.
https://dailybruin.com/2016/11/22/new-it-contract-at-ucsf-to-lay-off-current-workers
Disney also found a way to exploit loopholes in the program. Not sure if they’ve been addressed.
>Biden will end Trump’s suspension of H1-B Visas.
But, as he somberly promises in his campaign ads, he will take “responsibility” for it, so it’s all good.
A golden, hilarious takedown of dem leaders.
https://twitter.com/RubinReport/status/1283901086374309889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1283901086374309889%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theautomaticearth.com%2F2020%2F07%2Fdebt-rattle-july-17-2020%2F
Priceless, thanks!
LOL. Thanks.
Jerry Sandusky as Joe Biden. Perfect! Who’s Corn Pop? Beavis as Beto. Alex Jones as a cannibal. What no Limbaugh? Make this.
That was so good! I would kick in a few bucks to jump start such a movie. Use this video as a crowdfunder money magnet.
Especially Tyler Perry as Michelle! That is one of the most ‘obscure’ alt-right conspiracy theories, and funny as H— too!
RE: The Scandal of Our Drug Supply New York Review of Books (Kevin C). Important.
I can highly recommend Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom
Unless, of course, you’re one of those millions of americans who swallows handfuls of pills every day to stay “healthy,” and goes for generics to stay financially solvent. In that case, I’d skip it.
Those interested in generic drugs and also notorious unsolved crimes might be interested in the article linked below regarding the mysterious murders of Barry and Honey Sherman. Sherman was a billionaire Canadian who made his fortune in the generic drug business.
https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/who-killed-barry-and-honey-sherman-a-new-book-offers-fascinating-insights/
It has been suggested by some that Sherman may have stepped on the wrong toes in the Drug business. Hard to believe that the murders of a billionaire and his wife are still unsolved.
I wish somebody would explain to me why an ad hoc combination of anonymous federal law enforcement can kidnap leftists off the street for “violent graffiti”, when on the same day next door in Boise, a RW mormon with a history of armed takeover and trashing of a federal building is allowed to force his way into a public health meeting with no consequences.
sounds anectdotaly like uneven application of the law. Which would almost be as bad as deliberately making laws and polices that unevenly apply to people… like say in nyc or NJ where you can’t have large public gatherings unless it is a BLM rally…which the mayor of NYC and govenor of NJ have both explicity encouraged. The rule of law has been trounced… and it is being done by the local governments. And with the rule of law being desroyed so goes the trust in public officials.
New Yorkers Advised to Avoid LabCorp, Quest Coronavirus Tests
Qwest labs is a race to the bottom outfit. One is required to check in on a touch screen, sit around in their waiting room flooded with the sound off an obnoxious paid advertisement TV, then deal with a stressed out, underpaid clerk, who invariably loses faxed in doctor’s orders, if the machine actually works, then sit around some more unable to escape the soundtrack of the TV blaring about how great Qwest is, then finally, get called back to the cubicle where an overworked, underpaid lab tech draws your blood, hands you a urine cup, etc. Results often lost and lots of redos.
Meanwhile, President and Chief Executive Officer at QUEST DIAGNOSTICS INC, Stephen H. Rusckowski made $9,953,287 in total compensation. Of this total $1,100,000 was received as a salary, $788,700 was received as a bonus, $3,099,916 was received in stock options, $4,650,086 was awarded as stock and $314,585 came from other types of compensation. This information is according to proxy statements filed for the 2018 fiscal year.
https://www.salary.com/tools/executive-compensation-calculator/stephen-h-rusckowski-salary-bonus-stock-options-for-quest-diagnostics-inc
All part of the Pandemic For Profit sickcare system in our country.
I know the folks at TESA Collective who created the STRIKE! boardgame, mentioned in the Mike Elk article on Payday Report. They’re good eggs. If you’re looking for a way to pass the time whilst quarantining, you could do a lot worse than picking up this game, or any of their others. And yes, of course, they are a worker co-op.
Wanted to thank all of you who provided your insights and compassion for my cat and myself yesterday in the comments.
She’s still fighting and even ate a full can of tuna last night (more than she’d eaten all week!)
Going to get a second opinion today. If I’d listened to the vet I’d have euthanized her on Monday. And, researched the meds/painkillers he sold me and all of them say they should not be given to animals with Kidney problems. So, lost all trust in him.
She chased a butterfly this morning for a moment and is currently sprawled in the sunlight. Still slow and seemingly struggling, but also giving me signs she isn’t giving up just yet.
So, again, thanks for all your advice and support.
Geo
July 17, 2020 at 12:55 pm
First of all, my deepest condolences.
Second, a cat is not a human and you will have to judge the distress your cat is in. But from everything I have read about it, kidney disease is one of the less painful ways to die.
https://www.kidney.org/sites/default/files/11-10-0330_ifyouchoose.pdf
Thank you for the link! Been doing some reading but hadn’t seen that one yet! Really helpful and greatly appreciated. :)
Geo, I have a lot of experience with dog kidney disease. But I have no idea if it carries over to cats. The thing is, it really can help to seek out a knowledgeable support group. There is a Google “dog kidney group”; I turned to it to get advice to help my neighbor’s dog and they were enormously helpful. Those sorts of groups can get you up to speed pretty quickly, and provide a lot of hand holding. I found this with a google search: https://feline-crf-support.groups.io/g/Feline-CRF-Support; I don’t know if it is a good group, but it seems to be; on their first page they link to a YouTube video by Cornell that gives an intro to cat kidney disease: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf8tGKj10zyCRWZxajz_d3E62HgDCi8g. It is part of a series on youtube on the topic of kidney disease in cats, put up by Cornell.
I also found a facebook group for cat kidney disease: https://www.facebook.com/groups/felinecrf/. I don’t use facebook, so I don’t know if it is a good group.
I hope you keep trying at least for a while. I’m so glad you’re getting a second opinion, but also really find an online group on the topic. Best wishes to your companion.
Thanks for your research. Helpful for my aging cat.
Re economists backtracking on globalization and this quote from the article: “And a newly humbled Krugman must consider an even more disturbing idea: Did he and other mainstream economists help put a protectionist populist, Donald Trump, in the White House with a lot of bad advice about free markets?”
Yes, Trump no doubt is the most disturbing outcome by Krugman’s estimation. Tens of thousands of deaths annually due to flyover despair as a result of globalization is nothing to lament at all. In fact, as Lambert notes, it fits nicely with the PMC’s plans.
I have, quite literally and for many a year, failed to even begin to understand the case made in favor of offshoring manufacturing to low-cost slave-labor countries. And I’ve read at length the economists’ arguments — to no avail. How could anyone even imagine globalization on any scale would benefit, or at least not harm, US workers?
they didn’t care about all that, silly.
american worker=chinese worker= just a worker, an input, much like raw ore or electricity.
from fdr to 1970, the former flavor of worker became corrupted, and no longer functioned properly(happy slaves), so management had to shift to the latter worker, the chinese peasants, who were all to happy to work for rice.
Those latter workers, Chinese peasants, are now malfunctioning… demanding higher pay, etc, and have stopped being peasants.
lucky, with abundant foresight, management had been endeavoring, since 1970, to re-peasantize the american worker…to repair him, as it were.
this repair will be considered complete, when the american worker is desperate enough to accept peasant wages and conditions.
this will be repeated until the robots improve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpyaKWY9HOc
Just wait until manufacturing comes back to the US, not because of the right reasons, but because its cheaper and labor laws are looser. It’s already happening with the pros industry where the env and labor regulations are so lax that Chinese companies have moved pork production to North Carolina. A full circle
A quible: T ran on some populist issues during his campaign, but T is not a populist. Far from it. Tax cuts for billionaires, zillions for Wall St. ? No, he’s not a populist. In elite parlance “populist = dangerous demagogue”. Of course, they also called FDR “a g*d d*mned dictator”. T is no FDR. ha.
I dunno… my understanding is that ‘harming US workers’ would have been the least of their worries. Who cares… But what should have occurred to them (provided there was some semblance of strategic thinking), though, was that off-shoring would seriously undermine – and eventually, undo – the US hegemonic pretensions. A country that has to rely on others to produce its military eqpt. spare parts gradually ceases to be its own master, much less master over others.
Another, quite insidious effect, is the loss of educational attainment. With no manufacturing, gradually the impulse to innovate goes away… and the need for educated people. That Khrushchev’s comment about a rope suddenly gains validity – and in a much broader context.