Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Trump's Tariffs

Yesterday Trump threatened

"'On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,' he wrote on social media, complaining that 'thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,' even though violent crime is down from pandemic highs. He said the new tariffs would remain in place 'until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!'"

Lots of people are starting to understand how these tariffs will play out for them. Six years ago, Ben Stein revised his Ferris Bueller bit to teach more of the lesson. Tariffs imposed in the 1930s made the depression worse for the US.

Some people, like Anonymous, think,

"Mexico and Canada are the biggest trading partners for the US. Starting a trade war with the people who provide nearly half the food or water you consume is suicidal."

Then, six hours later, they added, 

"Trump and Musk have already stated that their plan is to crash the economy. Picking a trade war with China, Mexico, and Canada will do that. They have no plan to restore the economy. This is how they plan to cull part of the population and pummel the rest into subservience."

I can't help but wonder if it's a provocation to get just enough of a reaction that would enable him to justify (weakly and likely illegally) taking measures against Mexico and Canada in some throwback to Manifest Destiny. He's already looking at a "soft invasion" of Mexico. The fact that he is also demonizing Canada points to the start of a movement towards, I believe, coming for our water and other resources. Is that what Musk meant when he said a Trump win would bring temporary hardship?? Trudeau is hoping the premiers stick with him in a united front, but several of them might be more interested in the IDU than Canadian interests, in a shift to "authoritarian populism," a weird kind of oxymoron.

I have no concrete ideas about any of this, but I do believe greedy people don't like when anyone has something they don't have. They have to have all the things. The rest of us are collateral damage.

Friday, November 22, 2024

CAN-PCC Survey

CAN-PCC has put out a survey on its draft of recommendations for Long Covid (PCC = Post Covid Condition) that anyone can comment on. They're asking us for evidence of any claims we have, and it closes Wednesday night (Nov. 27).

Their recommendations are a whole lot of diet, exercise, and CBT and virtually nothing promoting any type of tests to help determine if someone has Long Covid, not even a d-dimer test, or any kind of medications to try. It explicitly says NOT Taurine based on a study that tests hand strength with and without use, completely ignoring studies that show a significant improvement in tinnitus, with some implications for neurological improvements after Long Covid. It's a curious inclusion in the survey. Nothing about Metformin or Paxlovid. And definitely nothing about prevention with N95s or cleaner air.  

I commented that offering CBT to someone with a physical illness is patronizing. Would they suggest it to heal a broken leg, too?? Long Covid is a PHYSICAL illness. The body is invaded by a virus wreaking havoc in so many different places that it will take a concerted effort to create a simple and effective test for it. So, apparently, they're just going to skip that initiative.

Brian Hughes posted his comments - and some of the questions - in The Science Bit. Check it out, then craft your own responses. They're asking for feedback, so we should chime in. BUT isn't it curious that an official body financed by the Public Health Agency of Canada is seeking out random public comments through Cochrane Reviews instead of, you know, getting the best scientific advice possible from teams of scientists?? Public policy on health initiatives for a serious illness shouldn't be determined by a majority rule by the public, but, if it is, then we have a duty to comment.

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Only When It is Darkest Out Can You See the Stars

These are my summary notes from this excellent podcast from Andrea Pitzer on Next Comes What, "How We Survive This Mess." 

Pitzer previous wrote a history of concentration camps, One Long Night, and she relates much of this new US admin regime to historical cases. Some similarities: first, Hitler rose to power through legitimate means, but laws were stretched to allow him to run. Pinochet's coup used similar rhetoric, and we need to be aware of the similar tactics already on display: terror, shock, making a show of force, and trying to seize more power than they have. And Putin, who was brought in as a useful stooge, then stepped out only to return to be more powerful by removing moderates. 

The benefits to the current situation include that we have a date. It's not coming unexpectedly, but in a couple months, which provides a window to play in. The US military is officially non-partisan, so won't necessarily follow Trump's orders. Governors in key states are standing up, and it's important to build that out of the gate. There's still a partially functional court system and civil bureaucracy that can slow down any legislation. And the odds of Congress being up for grabs in 2026 are still good as there will likely be a massive backlash. She also claims that "these people are not that bright" which can help anyone trying to subvert their agenda. They got in only because it's really easy to generate hate; "it's not a sign of genius but of money and the willingness to do tremendous harm," which provides an opening for resistance and a likelihood of infighting that could decimate their control. They ran on ideas, not on governance.

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

A Tale of Two Studies

I was confronted yesterday with the ubiquitous claim, "Lockdowns destroyed kid's ability to socialize. Now they're committing suicide because of it!!" Let's have a closer look again:

I posted this mini-thread a couple weeks ago that helps to understand the role media plays in propping up this claim:

"A tale of two studies: One study (October 2024 in School Psychology), picked up by the Toronto Star, gauged classroom incivility from anecdotal reports by teachers pre- and post-covid (handy they had data form Fall 2019) to conclude that lockdowns for three months in 2020 destroyed kids' socialization skills in 2022. The other study (October 2024 in an international medical journal), NOT picked up by the Star, assessed kids pre- and post-INFECTION, and against a control to find, 'more severe symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, opposition, a wide range of emotional and behavioural problems, and poor school function.' Many studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 affects the prefrontal cortex, which affects behaviour. Until mainstream media starts reporting on better studies, our children will suffer. A timeline of some studies on Covid's effects on the brain are here." 

Monday, November 18, 2024

On Trust and Justified Disgust

Pete Buttigieg gave a great interview last week. He believes that "in moments like this, salvation really will come from the local and state levels. . . that aren't captive to some wacky ideological project. They're just focused on getting things done." Then at 1:05, he addresses the issue of trust when asked what more he would add to his 2020 book

"One theme that was in the book that I think we need to spend a lot more time thinking about is how we get information. I wrote up a little about these studies on vaccine misinformation and the fact that Russia didn't just push anti-vax messages. Often what they would do is to push an anti-vax message and a pro-vax message at the same people because the point was just to get you at each other's throats. I think a lot of that's happened recently. Yes, they had a preferred presidential candidate, but their biggest objective wasn't to have for one side to win, it was to break down our trust. It turns out all the nuclear weapons in the world are not capable of doing what this information vector into our society did with shocking efficiency. And we're behind. I don't just mean those who are on my side of the political spectrum are behind. I think America's behind. 

Saturday, November 16, 2024

New and Improved Propaganda Machines

We carry propaganda machines in our pockets. Propaganda isn't just to misinform, but to distract us and exhaust the capacity for critical thinking. When you're struggling to decide between 25 types of cereal or what colour to paint the kitchen, you can miss the bigger picture. Chomsky's been saying that for years. Propaganda destroys the quest for truth, and it's worse than ever.

Pat Loller has a quick explainer about how we're ignoring the huge shift in how propaganda operates now:

"Go make a new account or reset your algorithm on any app and see how many swipes it takes to get right-wing propaganda. . . . There are all these studies coming out saying Americans are functionally illiterate . . . you don't read, you don't get critical thinking skills, and then the propaganda that you're consuming, you don't think about. You just go, 'Oh, okay, I guess that's true,' especially if you've been consuming it since you were 15 years old. . . . These kids congregate around these figures and they play video games together. Go and look at any popular video game, and Control F search for 'woke' or 'DEI', and you'll see that the gaming sphere has been a cesspool for decades. . . .  There's all these angry young men with no critical thinking skills who are being fed a constant diet of propaganda that is literally dished up to them on their phones the moment they open an account. Is it any wonder that they're going to fall Pied Piper behind this guy who's just like, 'Hey, all of those complex challenges in your life? It's this guy's fault. Stop centering you as the protagonist in every single video game and every single movie and TV show ever made?? Girls say they'd rather meet a bear in the woods than you?? Get mad and vote for the guy who is going to hurt those people.' 

Thursday, November 14, 2024

The Pandemicene

 Bird Flu is still not officially a pandemic concern, but there are some convincing arguments that it should be:

Lazarus Long wrote about the teenager who contracted H5N1:

"The Canadian BC teenager is in a hospital that barely uses surgical masks, under Bonnie Henry who screwed up SARS1, then COVID. She thinks aerosols only come in cans. Trigger warning: I am going to lay out the worst case for you. Going to get dark. 

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Roundup of Election Views

There are tons of explanations for it. Here's a roundup of a few perspectives that helped me wrap my head around it all. 

Last January, British journalist George Monbiot predicted this possibility as a result of the American culture:

"People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world. People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likey to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration , dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour. 

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Everyone Seems Fine ≠ Long Covid is a Myth

Lots of people still really don't believe that some people have had their lives destroyed by Long Covid, and that they might too. And their loved ones. And sooner than they think!

Someone online posted this exchange

"I met a woman today. She started talking about Covid and how glad she is it's all behind us. I said, but it's not. Well it's mostly gone. No. She said it's not serious anymore. I said Long Covid is serious. She doesn't know anyone with Long Covid."

Me: "This is almost every single real life conversation I've had about Covid in the last two years."

Random dude popping in to argue: "I know no one with LC not in my crew, not with my wing. I work directly with nearly 1000 people. The way you all go on about 10-40% of society with long covid only makes you look more stupid."

Me: "There's an inability to understand science and stats. People look around to make an assessment of risk anecdotally instead of looking at the overall rate of Long Covid cases relative to the number of acute infections, which is pretty consistently showing that over 30% get Long Covid after three infections."