I thought COVID was the end of the world as we knew it. I didn't know the actual end of the world was actually going to be perpetuated by my own government! Absolutely TERRIFYING!
I'm not Chinese. My ancestors got here between 1633 (Plymouth) and 1754 (Pennsylvania). My husband and I got covid in January 2021. My husband has scarring on his lungs, and I ended up with long covid. We do not believe our government should perpetuate evil. It protects us and we pay taxes for that. We live in California, where Gavin Newsom is our chief executive, in Alameda County. At least at the state level, we have a government that does good. At the county level, our Board of Supervisors is excellent. We like it here. And as someone who studied Latin for five years, what is the meaning of your name??? Law King???
I live in FL now, but was working in a County clinic in Santa Cruz for many years. We provided care for homeless, low income, migrants and ran the County free vaccination program. We did a LOT of good work! You are correct, government CAN do good. But the leaders have to have good intentions,,, the Trumpers do not.
I had trouble understanding your Chinese reference, but I get it now. When I said COVID was started by “your country” I didn’t mean China. It was American money and an American virus in a Chinese lab.
That was an internet lie that rolled around to make the Chinese look bad. One the the US scientists who worked in that lab said absolutely no way to have a "leak" of the virus, she was there to set up the safety protocols.
Seems some don't like our DEMOCRACY and reject it when they lose. You sound like tRump. Stop and think about "the actual end of the world", you are projecting your suffering from unrealized fear. Living in such fear means that you are being manipulated. Premature moaning is telling. Everyone wants a lean and efficient government and we are FINALLY learning that ours is pouring money down the drain in foreign nations. Blame the truthtellers?!? A life lived in fear is half-lived.
I want my money working for ME. We can help other people; but, not with weapons, war and hate ... which is what both tribes (R and D) have been doing throughout my lifetime. We've spent our wealth on 60+ regime change operations that failed us from Vietnam to Ukraine. Maybe we should go back to John F. Kennedy and "give peace a chance" - as opposed to driving hate and dividing the nation and creating havoc around the world. Study Chase Hughes for examples of how the manipulation works.
(Many voters are unaware that the USA and Brittan intervened to prevent the signing of a peace plan in Ukraine in 2014 that would have solved the issue peacefully.)
USAID helped 75 million people before it abruptly stopped (food, water, training, research, AIDS, EBOLA and many other things we will never know). Myanmar just had an earthquake that has killed at least 3000 people, the US used to be on the ground with a 200 person search and rescue team within hours. This time we sent no search and rescue.
We just forced major law firms to stop working on Democrats cases and instead work on Trump cases for free. Extortion plain and simple.
We just sent 200 people to an el Salvadorian prison, including one admittedly innocent person with no due process and no way to get them back.
We defied court orders and then defied them again.
We approved power plants to start emitting mercury again.
We threatened to use military force to take over Greenland.
The list goes on and on. This isn't about losing an election, its about losing democracy as we knew it. This is really happening.
(Not to mention all the 401k money just lost in the market.)
USAID also started several regime-change wars that killed millions of middle eastern and African people. Look at the entire project, not just the window display.
Did you get those numbers from the NGO in their quest to get more money? They have not been audited! Did you know that that money could save American lives? Yet we in the USA have the 33rd best healthcare in the world. Maybe that money should be spend here in America so that we are NOT on the bottom of the chart.
Joe does NOT know (or at least he wants to pretend that he doesn't know) that right here in America, we have people dying because they have no access to healthcare or medicine. Work locally, instead of sending your money to a NGO "Clinton Foundation" that gives out almost 5% of their fumding for (food, water, training, research, AIDS, EBOLA and many other things we will never know). The Clintons went from Broke to now having $100,000,000 today. USAID helps people awarded the money more than those at the bottom.
We are the wealthiest country in the world. We can do both. We literally, spend twice as much as other countries for healthcare and get worse outcomes and cover fewer people. The problem with healthcare isn't an issue money. It's a really bad healthcare system.
The average insurance provider has a 20 - 30% overhead. Medicare has a 4% or less overhead (at least until now). Democrats have tried to change this and have had some success with the ACA, adding 30 million more covered, but there is strong opposition to changing by many others.
The US isn't the wealthiest country because it closes its doors to everyone else. It is the wealthiest because it opens its doors. People want to be like the US, until now. They invest in the US. They want to immigrate to the US (Musk is an immigrant along with many others). It's the openness that attracts. Who wants to immigrate to Russia?
It is interesting you point out EBOLA as something we should not fund. It is better to contain it in Africa instead of having EBOLA come to the US and then address it. In doing good for others, we do good for ourselves.
BTW, all the food purchased is from US farmers. It would be better if it wasn't but that is the way the USAID law was written.
To whom much is given, much is expected.
I haven't a clue where the Clintons got their millions. I suspect it was from many sources, but if they are scamming USAID, then stop the scamming and send them to jail but don't stop the AID.
_Lex, Rex_ is a 1644 English book making the argument that a king ought to serve the people’s interests, not they his … but that is rarely the case. The author was a Scottish Presbyterian and Commissioner to Parliament. As you may recall, Charles I was beheaded at about this time. This book sowed the seeds for the Hobbesian and Lockean political theories which more directly influenced the creation of the original American systems. In reward for his work and advancements of democracy over monarchy, Rutherford was hunted for treason and marked for death by Charles II, but died before the new king could draw and quarter him.
The link below is as fine/fair brief write up of the book I’ve ever seen:
i am a physician in Chicago. You are spot on with your example of ‘Snoo Z’. Yes the side effects start to turn up and with our existing FDA and research review safety nets. We need to take down some regulations, but with extreme care. I could give examples for both serious side effects and sometimes just lack of efficacy. Great review.
Dr Nicola, I don't know your specialty, but mine is psychiatry. In the 1980s, Prozac was released in this country. It was said to treat mild to moderate depression, which I took to mean it didn't work. If you were really depressed, you needed a real antidepressant. It was also said to be uniquely activating (to be taken in the AM, not at HS), and part of its activating effect was that it reduced appetite, and thus led to weight loss. As you can imagine, if you don't know this, it was prescribed like water. Who wouldn't want a medication that made them happier, peppier, and led to weight reduction? Well... a McLean Hospital (Harvard system) psychiatrist named Martin Teicher sent a letter to the editor of the NEJM to talk about six patients who were hospitalized with suicide ideation. They were all taking Prozac, reported the dysphoria to their psychiatrists, and were told either to keep taking it, or to increase the dose. Teicher's purpose was to warn doctors of something Eli Lilly either did or didn't know, which was that activation was not well tolerated and ego syntonic by some patients, and that Prozac caused suicide ideation in them. Lilly hired Teicher, who suddenly stopped complaining, and said Prozac did not cause suicide ideation. Years later, Prozac, which was activating to the point of causing suicide ideation, got recommended for anxiety (it doesn't treat anxiety; it causes it), and a meta-analysis of studies showed that SSRIs caused sexual dysfunction more than 50% of the time. So the drug companies apparently didn't detect a side effect that happens most of the time. Even later, Prozac and SSRIs were found to cause weight GAIN, not weight loss.
And I haven't even mentioned the Peter Kramer idiotic nonsense.
And this is all with the benefit of the government departments Elon and Donnie are impulsively and without any thought process dismantling.
My specialty is board certification in physical medicine rehabilitation, sports medicine, electrodiagnostic medicine (EMG/NCS). Prozac is a great example. The examples are multiple, the NSAIDs and heart disease, cold remedies as stimulants, narcotics, etc. We can only hope to repair the damage.
Yup, loads of examples. In this country, with the at least partial benefit of the relevant government agencies. Hmm, I wonder how we'll do without them.
I'd love to have a list of some more examples with which to arm myself, provide examples when I am talking with certain people who seem not to respond to facts anyway but I keep trying, and also to keep myself safe, since this kind of info might go the way of pages of our history that seem to be getting scrubbed by the administration. Can you perhaps list a few more common examples ?
The side effects of corticosteroid pills and injections, are another example research to help with benefits and risks of these drugs. Also government research is the one counter weight showing the side effects and serious precautions in regard to narcotics. Also Epocrates, and other references show the side effects of overdosing on supplements, Vitamin A (joints), Vitamin E (heart). It is a big topic. Become adept at using NIH and CDC websites when enquiring about these medications and the side effects and precautions.
Another example is that for medications that are helpful like Humira, still the companies are promoting ads that make them look like a miracle, but carry side effects and reasons to discuss with a trusted physician best options. The app called Epocrates is an app that we use and you can download.
I'd love to have a list of some more examples with which to arm myself, provide examples when I am talking with certain people who seem not to respond to facts anyway but I keep trying, and also to keep myself safe, since this kind of info might go the way of pages of our history that seem to be getting scrubbed by the administration. Can you perhaps list a few more common examples ?
I just wrote you a response which has suddenly disappeared. And I'm annoyed and not in the mood to reconstruct it.
I did say that studies are corruptible, and that not every study a drug company does has to be reported to the FDA and CDC. The drug companies can report the favorable-sounding ones, and not the unfavorable ones. They can also manipulate doses (I see this a lot), so that the study/new drug is at possibly adequate strength, and the reference or older/established drug is limited to inadequate strength.
As an unrelated matter, over the decades, it has been found that some operations shouldn't be done, because they're not effective, but the doctors do them anyway, because it's something to do for a patient with a complaint, and it produces income. Coronary artery bypass for pain only and spinal disc surgery for pain only are examples.
The scrub might be your paranoia. The Hunter Biden laptop story was suppressed because the deep state called the story "misinformation" when they had the actual laptop!!! THAT was a lie and manipulation. Russiagate, WMDs, McCarthyism, etc....
Could it be that we turn a blind eye to our tribe while yowlling in the wind against the other tribe? It's the game our owners want us to play to avoid the real problem: the system is designed of, by, and for the wealthy. Our Constitution did NOT give the political parties ownership of government. In fact, the founding fathers warned against them - just what we have now.
Sadly, if FOTUS (FELON of the United States) were to die tomorrow, all his Cabinet Criminals are in place. I do not fully credit the Orange DonOLD with all that's taken place. His entire Administration is at hard work here: Voght, Bondi, etc.
If I had 2 for 1 dreams it would be DogElon and #47!
Lex Rex, Esq. will be pleased to learn I am the third cousin eight times removed of JD Vance. Fortunately that side of my family stayed in Pennsylvania, while his mosied off to North Carolina and did not turn out so well.
Unfortunately, this administration really doesn't believe in science. Engineering, yes, but not science. Starting at the top, where Trump has little concept of objective truth. His world is a lot like astronomy before Kepler and Galileo--everything revolves around him. As a malignant narcissist, truth or falsity depends on how the item affects him (narcissistic personality disorder requires meeting 5 of 9 criteria, he meets at least 8; malignant adds some sociopathy.
Oh, Mr Kunce, how very, very right you are. And it's more complicated than that.
Suffice it to say that the public sector's (government's) constituency is the public. The private sector's constituency is itself. If government fails, or doesn't protect, the public, it has done wrong. If the private sector fails, or doesn't protect, the public (but makes a lot of money), it has done right.
The best these right wingers can tell themselves is that government, and all its oversight and regulation, is somehow self-serving, and not really relevant. This is an interesting complaint, because it means that these critics have the same complaint about government that the rest of us have about the private sector. But they somehow conclude that if the public sector lies to, abuses, and damages, the public, it's a terrible thing. But if the private sector lies to, abuses, and damages the public, it's fine.
I'm having trouble finding the clipping, but a few years ago an economist at George Mason University set out to measure how much govt regulations cost the economy, expecting to find an impressive amount. He was shocked to find that that was not at all the case.
Oh! Nope…I was agreeing that some surgical precision cuts in some areas might be necessary…but not things that are life saving or that benefit the working class or everyone at large!
The new book out “Abundance” by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson & recently interviews of the author, have been extremely eye-opening about how regulations, when overdone, by well intentioned people, can also be harmful.
Look for the Ezra Klein interview on Jon Stewart’s podcast on YT. It explains why the bill to put broadband into all rural spaces, still hasn’t been implemented yet. It will have you banging your head on the wall & pulling your hair out. They discuss in depth why we can’t seem to get affordable housing built, to get our in houses people off the streets.
I agree that we should reevaluate some regulations, but just cutting them without surgery is ill advised and dangerous. The broadband hasn’t fully been rolled out because some of the states are rejecting it…but it needs to happen. I will most definitely listen to it! Thanks for the suggestion!
I'm a retired physician who spent the last part of my career as a Division Director at the FDA. I don't have your answer but it is not a simple question. The FDA consists of many different disciplines including physicians, toxicologists, chemists, clinical pharmacologists, statisticians, manufacturing site and clinical record inspectors to name a few. Most disciplines could probably find jobs in the pharmaceutical industry but probably wouldn't like them because it's a totally different mindset. Some physicians may need to update their clinical skills but should ultimately have no problem finding a job given our current nationwide shortage. I know you probably didn't want to know all of that but to most people the FDA is a black box so hopefully it will help others.
Thank you Dr. Justice. I suppose my question was overly broad. It simply angers me to think that there are few (if any) gatekeepers when pharmaceutical companies are try to force untested, new drugs on unsuspecting American consumers. I hope the FDA hasn’t lost its veto powers for dubious new drugs.
First of all, I was being what I imagined was very obviously sarcastic. Second, I'm 75 and a lifelong Democrat, pretty much on the progressive end of the scale.
Ah, we 75 year olds. Born when the United States was the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen at the time it was the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world. Sadly, we've gone downhill since 1980... We've seen the stock market/economy collapse three times since then, 1987, 2001, and 2008, and 2025??? How old are you, Mr. McElroy?
Excellent! This is the kind of information I wish I had seen from your campaign text messages last year. Real meat, instead of daily requests for money when I was already giving.
I wish you great success now that you are using your platform!
Those constant texts just get worse & worse & are maddening. The more candidates that you give to, the more that pile on. Candidates really should rein that in because it eventually has an opposite effect & just turns folks against you.
So well said!! This really needs to be published time and again because we know it's going to happen again w/o these people! Same deal - new Vax products for the new weird pandemic that's sure to happen. . . . Or wait - how about the old Measles!!! That there's already a Vax for that the current guy is downplaying and telling us to use.castor oil!!!
Good article Lucas! Things are looking very bad. But, I believe & I sense, the tide is changing. And I believe it will occur much faster than anyone thought possible. The Felon & the drug addict have just made very clear to very wealthy people around the world that both of them are insane. This WILL NOT stand. Action is about to be implemented. Not for common working people, but by the rich to stop the bleeding. All now realize this must & will stop! And by any means necessary. Action will be taken. Not to save normal folks, but to ensure all the greedy bastards in this world keep their money. That’s all they are interested in!!!
These people are our only line of defense against profiteers who don't care who they hurt. That's the exact reason the capitalists are getting rid of them. They want only enough government to work for them...swipe up our money in social security and taxes so they have a steady source of undeserved riches to tap. Tying capitalism falsely with democracy is the fatal flaw in our society.
I thought COVID was the end of the world as we knew it. I didn't know the actual end of the world was actually going to be perpetuated by my own government! Absolutely TERRIFYING!
Wait’ll you find out COVID was perpetrated by your own county and perpetuated by the regulatory agencies the profited off the vaccines …
The Author lives in a fantasy world where governments “do good.” Nice to dream, but time to wake up. Power corrupts … and they have a lot of power.
I'm not Chinese. My ancestors got here between 1633 (Plymouth) and 1754 (Pennsylvania). My husband and I got covid in January 2021. My husband has scarring on his lungs, and I ended up with long covid. We do not believe our government should perpetuate evil. It protects us and we pay taxes for that. We live in California, where Gavin Newsom is our chief executive, in Alameda County. At least at the state level, we have a government that does good. At the county level, our Board of Supervisors is excellent. We like it here. And as someone who studied Latin for five years, what is the meaning of your name??? Law King???
I live in FL now, but was working in a County clinic in Santa Cruz for many years. We provided care for homeless, low income, migrants and ran the County free vaccination program. We did a LOT of good work! You are correct, government CAN do good. But the leaders have to have good intentions,,, the Trumpers do not.
I had trouble understanding your Chinese reference, but I get it now. When I said COVID was started by “your country” I didn’t mean China. It was American money and an American virus in a Chinese lab.
That was an internet lie that rolled around to make the Chinese look bad. One the the US scientists who worked in that lab said absolutely no way to have a "leak" of the virus, she was there to set up the safety protocols.
Seems some don't like our DEMOCRACY and reject it when they lose. You sound like tRump. Stop and think about "the actual end of the world", you are projecting your suffering from unrealized fear. Living in such fear means that you are being manipulated. Premature moaning is telling. Everyone wants a lean and efficient government and we are FINALLY learning that ours is pouring money down the drain in foreign nations. Blame the truthtellers?!? A life lived in fear is half-lived.
I want my money working for ME. We can help other people; but, not with weapons, war and hate ... which is what both tribes (R and D) have been doing throughout my lifetime. We've spent our wealth on 60+ regime change operations that failed us from Vietnam to Ukraine. Maybe we should go back to John F. Kennedy and "give peace a chance" - as opposed to driving hate and dividing the nation and creating havoc around the world. Study Chase Hughes for examples of how the manipulation works.
(Many voters are unaware that the USA and Brittan intervened to prevent the signing of a peace plan in Ukraine in 2014 that would have solved the issue peacefully.)
USAID helped 75 million people before it abruptly stopped (food, water, training, research, AIDS, EBOLA and many other things we will never know). Myanmar just had an earthquake that has killed at least 3000 people, the US used to be on the ground with a 200 person search and rescue team within hours. This time we sent no search and rescue.
We just forced major law firms to stop working on Democrats cases and instead work on Trump cases for free. Extortion plain and simple.
We just sent 200 people to an el Salvadorian prison, including one admittedly innocent person with no due process and no way to get them back.
We defied court orders and then defied them again.
We approved power plants to start emitting mercury again.
We threatened to use military force to take over Greenland.
The list goes on and on. This isn't about losing an election, its about losing democracy as we knew it. This is really happening.
(Not to mention all the 401k money just lost in the market.)
USAID also started several regime-change wars that killed millions of middle eastern and African people. Look at the entire project, not just the window display.
Hopefully you don't think aid to 75 million people is window display. Hopefully you don't think search and rescue teams are window display.
If there is a problem with USAID, fix it, as you would do with anything or any organization.
Did you get those numbers from the NGO in their quest to get more money? They have not been audited! Did you know that that money could save American lives? Yet we in the USA have the 33rd best healthcare in the world. Maybe that money should be spend here in America so that we are NOT on the bottom of the chart.
Joe does NOT know (or at least he wants to pretend that he doesn't know) that right here in America, we have people dying because they have no access to healthcare or medicine. Work locally, instead of sending your money to a NGO "Clinton Foundation" that gives out almost 5% of their fumding for (food, water, training, research, AIDS, EBOLA and many other things we will never know). The Clintons went from Broke to now having $100,000,000 today. USAID helps people awarded the money more than those at the bottom.
We are the wealthiest country in the world. We can do both. We literally, spend twice as much as other countries for healthcare and get worse outcomes and cover fewer people. The problem with healthcare isn't an issue money. It's a really bad healthcare system.
The average insurance provider has a 20 - 30% overhead. Medicare has a 4% or less overhead (at least until now). Democrats have tried to change this and have had some success with the ACA, adding 30 million more covered, but there is strong opposition to changing by many others.
The US isn't the wealthiest country because it closes its doors to everyone else. It is the wealthiest because it opens its doors. People want to be like the US, until now. They invest in the US. They want to immigrate to the US (Musk is an immigrant along with many others). It's the openness that attracts. Who wants to immigrate to Russia?
It is interesting you point out EBOLA as something we should not fund. It is better to contain it in Africa instead of having EBOLA come to the US and then address it. In doing good for others, we do good for ourselves.
BTW, all the food purchased is from US farmers. It would be better if it wasn't but that is the way the USAID law was written.
To whom much is given, much is expected.
I haven't a clue where the Clintons got their millions. I suspect it was from many sources, but if they are scamming USAID, then stop the scamming and send them to jail but don't stop the AID.
_Lex, Rex_ is a 1644 English book making the argument that a king ought to serve the people’s interests, not they his … but that is rarely the case. The author was a Scottish Presbyterian and Commissioner to Parliament. As you may recall, Charles I was beheaded at about this time. This book sowed the seeds for the Hobbesian and Lockean political theories which more directly influenced the creation of the original American systems. In reward for his work and advancements of democracy over monarchy, Rutherford was hunted for treason and marked for death by Charles II, but died before the new king could draw and quarter him.
The link below is as fine/fair brief write up of the book I’ve ever seen:
https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-news/subversive-book-asserts-rule-law-not-king
i am a physician in Chicago. You are spot on with your example of ‘Snoo Z’. Yes the side effects start to turn up and with our existing FDA and research review safety nets. We need to take down some regulations, but with extreme care. I could give examples for both serious side effects and sometimes just lack of efficacy. Great review.
Dr Nicola, I don't know your specialty, but mine is psychiatry. In the 1980s, Prozac was released in this country. It was said to treat mild to moderate depression, which I took to mean it didn't work. If you were really depressed, you needed a real antidepressant. It was also said to be uniquely activating (to be taken in the AM, not at HS), and part of its activating effect was that it reduced appetite, and thus led to weight loss. As you can imagine, if you don't know this, it was prescribed like water. Who wouldn't want a medication that made them happier, peppier, and led to weight reduction? Well... a McLean Hospital (Harvard system) psychiatrist named Martin Teicher sent a letter to the editor of the NEJM to talk about six patients who were hospitalized with suicide ideation. They were all taking Prozac, reported the dysphoria to their psychiatrists, and were told either to keep taking it, or to increase the dose. Teicher's purpose was to warn doctors of something Eli Lilly either did or didn't know, which was that activation was not well tolerated and ego syntonic by some patients, and that Prozac caused suicide ideation in them. Lilly hired Teicher, who suddenly stopped complaining, and said Prozac did not cause suicide ideation. Years later, Prozac, which was activating to the point of causing suicide ideation, got recommended for anxiety (it doesn't treat anxiety; it causes it), and a meta-analysis of studies showed that SSRIs caused sexual dysfunction more than 50% of the time. So the drug companies apparently didn't detect a side effect that happens most of the time. Even later, Prozac and SSRIs were found to cause weight GAIN, not weight loss.
And I haven't even mentioned the Peter Kramer idiotic nonsense.
And this is all with the benefit of the government departments Elon and Donnie are impulsively and without any thought process dismantling.
My specialty is board certification in physical medicine rehabilitation, sports medicine, electrodiagnostic medicine (EMG/NCS). Prozac is a great example. The examples are multiple, the NSAIDs and heart disease, cold remedies as stimulants, narcotics, etc. We can only hope to repair the damage.
Yup, loads of examples. In this country, with the at least partial benefit of the relevant government agencies. Hmm, I wonder how we'll do without them.
I'd love to have a list of some more examples with which to arm myself, provide examples when I am talking with certain people who seem not to respond to facts anyway but I keep trying, and also to keep myself safe, since this kind of info might go the way of pages of our history that seem to be getting scrubbed by the administration. Can you perhaps list a few more common examples ?
The side effects of corticosteroid pills and injections, are another example research to help with benefits and risks of these drugs. Also government research is the one counter weight showing the side effects and serious precautions in regard to narcotics. Also Epocrates, and other references show the side effects of overdosing on supplements, Vitamin A (joints), Vitamin E (heart). It is a big topic. Become adept at using NIH and CDC websites when enquiring about these medications and the side effects and precautions.
Another example is that for medications that are helpful like Humira, still the companies are promoting ads that make them look like a miracle, but carry side effects and reasons to discuss with a trusted physician best options. The app called Epocrates is an app that we use and you can download.
A recent example is the funding and research on debunked treatments for COVID. People as grasping for anything and will chase a lot of things that don’t work. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-myths/art-20485720
I'd love to have a list of some more examples with which to arm myself, provide examples when I am talking with certain people who seem not to respond to facts anyway but I keep trying, and also to keep myself safe, since this kind of info might go the way of pages of our history that seem to be getting scrubbed by the administration. Can you perhaps list a few more common examples ?
I just wrote you a response which has suddenly disappeared. And I'm annoyed and not in the mood to reconstruct it.
I did say that studies are corruptible, and that not every study a drug company does has to be reported to the FDA and CDC. The drug companies can report the favorable-sounding ones, and not the unfavorable ones. They can also manipulate doses (I see this a lot), so that the study/new drug is at possibly adequate strength, and the reference or older/established drug is limited to inadequate strength.
As an unrelated matter, over the decades, it has been found that some operations shouldn't be done, because they're not effective, but the doctors do them anyway, because it's something to do for a patient with a complaint, and it produces income. Coronary artery bypass for pain only and spinal disc surgery for pain only are examples.
The scrub might be your paranoia. The Hunter Biden laptop story was suppressed because the deep state called the story "misinformation" when they had the actual laptop!!! THAT was a lie and manipulation. Russiagate, WMDs, McCarthyism, etc....
Could it be that we turn a blind eye to our tribe while yowlling in the wind against the other tribe? It's the game our owners want us to play to avoid the real problem: the system is designed of, by, and for the wealthy. Our Constitution did NOT give the political parties ownership of government. In fact, the founding fathers warned against them - just what we have now.
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️. Someone needs to impeach BOTH the Pres And VP…Vance would be Worse.
Have to agree with you. Can we get a two for one deal?But, then if recall, we get Mikey Johnson.
Impeach lil snake oil Mike Johnson too.
tribe, tribe, tribe. Repeat Repeat Repeat
Sadly, if FOTUS (FELON of the United States) were to die tomorrow, all his Cabinet Criminals are in place. I do not fully credit the Orange DonOLD with all that's taken place. His entire Administration is at hard work here: Voght, Bondi, etc.
If I had 2 for 1 dreams it would be DogElon and #47!
A long overdue Revolution disrupting both $$$ shill parties is the only alternative, and it will get much worse before it ever gets better.
Sorry, but that's the inconvenient truth.
Yes. Tribe members can't even acknowledge that Russigate was fake, Saddam did NOT have WMDs, not a lone gunman, etc....
Hate is not a family value.
OH NO! Nope that would not work at all!
Johnson is a varmint.
Your post sounds anti-democratic or supportive of lawfare. Do you also support assassination attempts as we've seen lately?
Lex Rex, Esq. will be pleased to learn I am the third cousin eight times removed of JD Vance. Fortunately that side of my family stayed in Pennsylvania, while his mosied off to North Carolina and did not turn out so well.
They have tried that and found that the impeachment/censorship is not what the people want. Removing politicians is repugnant censorship.
A very impressive description of how government functions to protect us. Thank you for your expertise, Lucas. Everything is pretty FUBARed right now.
With a large capital A.
Yes, it so interesting your remembering Dr. Kelsey. Thank you.
Impeach Kennedy
Yes. He is awful, just as his family tried to tell us.
Understanding the side-effects of medications is so “awful”. Look at the hate on your mirror. SMH
I wish you were in Congress. This is the kind of understanding and ethic we so desperately need.
Unfortunately, this administration really doesn't believe in science. Engineering, yes, but not science. Starting at the top, where Trump has little concept of objective truth. His world is a lot like astronomy before Kepler and Galileo--everything revolves around him. As a malignant narcissist, truth or falsity depends on how the item affects him (narcissistic personality disorder requires meeting 5 of 9 criteria, he meets at least 8; malignant adds some sociopathy.
This administration definitely does not understand Engineering. Engineers understand the mechanics of global warming.
Oh, Mr Kunce, how very, very right you are. And it's more complicated than that.
Suffice it to say that the public sector's (government's) constituency is the public. The private sector's constituency is itself. If government fails, or doesn't protect, the public, it has done wrong. If the private sector fails, or doesn't protect, the public (but makes a lot of money), it has done right.
The best these right wingers can tell themselves is that government, and all its oversight and regulation, is somehow self-serving, and not really relevant. This is an interesting complaint, because it means that these critics have the same complaint about government that the rest of us have about the private sector. But they somehow conclude that if the public sector lies to, abuses, and damages, the public, it's a terrible thing. But if the private sector lies to, abuses, and damages the public, it's fine.
I'm having trouble finding the clipping, but a few years ago an economist at George Mason University set out to measure how much govt regulations cost the economy, expecting to find an impressive amount. He was shocked to find that that was not at all the case.
Please post that if you find it - I try to share as many facts as I can to the right side of the isle that are helpful. :)
Well, let's see. Requiring vaccinations saves money on healthcare for sick people.
Oh absolutely agree with that…I was referring to the broadband issue
I thought you were referring to how much government regulations cost the economy!
Oh! Nope…I was agreeing that some surgical precision cuts in some areas might be necessary…but not things that are life saving or that benefit the working class or everyone at large!
The new book out “Abundance” by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson & recently interviews of the author, have been extremely eye-opening about how regulations, when overdone, by well intentioned people, can also be harmful.
Look for the Ezra Klein interview on Jon Stewart’s podcast on YT. It explains why the bill to put broadband into all rural spaces, still hasn’t been implemented yet. It will have you banging your head on the wall & pulling your hair out. They discuss in depth why we can’t seem to get affordable housing built, to get our in houses people off the streets.
This explains how it was republicans added the extra regulations.
https://youtu.be/Xi8IBAEpAd4?si=2GFFaV_RLyCGotQ1
I agree that we should reevaluate some regulations, but just cutting them without surgery is ill advised and dangerous. The broadband hasn’t fully been rolled out because some of the states are rejecting it…but it needs to happen. I will most definitely listen to it! Thanks for the suggestion!
At the risk of sounding painfully
naive, does anyone know if any scientists remain in the FDA or the CDC? This governmental negligence worries the heck out of me.
I'm a retired physician who spent the last part of my career as a Division Director at the FDA. I don't have your answer but it is not a simple question. The FDA consists of many different disciplines including physicians, toxicologists, chemists, clinical pharmacologists, statisticians, manufacturing site and clinical record inspectors to name a few. Most disciplines could probably find jobs in the pharmaceutical industry but probably wouldn't like them because it's a totally different mindset. Some physicians may need to update their clinical skills but should ultimately have no problem finding a job given our current nationwide shortage. I know you probably didn't want to know all of that but to most people the FDA is a black box so hopefully it will help others.
Thank you Dr. Justice. I suppose my question was overly broad. It simply angers me to think that there are few (if any) gatekeepers when pharmaceutical companies are try to force untested, new drugs on unsuspecting American consumers. I hope the FDA hasn’t lost its veto powers for dubious new drugs.
Why would the FDA or CDC need scientists? They have a lawyer who was a drug addict. That's sort of the whole point.
Judgmentalism is a Replublican trait. Has the Democratic party captured their process?
Fred is a "new Democrat", we used to call them Republicans.
First of all, I was being what I imagined was very obviously sarcastic. Second, I'm 75 and a lifelong Democrat, pretty much on the progressive end of the scale.
Ah, we 75 year olds. Born when the United States was the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen at the time it was the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world. Sadly, we've gone downhill since 1980... We've seen the stock market/economy collapse three times since then, 1987, 2001, and 2008, and 2025??? How old are you, Mr. McElroy?
I’m sure a few remain as of today, but I also believe they will continue to slash & burn until there are none left.
When I have the resources, I will subscribe. Meanwhile I amplify your messages. This one is close to my heart..
Excellent! This is the kind of information I wish I had seen from your campaign text messages last year. Real meat, instead of daily requests for money when I was already giving.
I wish you great success now that you are using your platform!
Those constant texts just get worse & worse & are maddening. The more candidates that you give to, the more that pile on. Candidates really should rein that in because it eventually has an opposite effect & just turns folks against you.
So well said!! This really needs to be published time and again because we know it's going to happen again w/o these people! Same deal - new Vax products for the new weird pandemic that's sure to happen. . . . Or wait - how about the old Measles!!! That there's already a Vax for that the current guy is downplaying and telling us to use.castor oil!!!
Good article Lucas! Things are looking very bad. But, I believe & I sense, the tide is changing. And I believe it will occur much faster than anyone thought possible. The Felon & the drug addict have just made very clear to very wealthy people around the world that both of them are insane. This WILL NOT stand. Action is about to be implemented. Not for common working people, but by the rich to stop the bleeding. All now realize this must & will stop! And by any means necessary. Action will be taken. Not to save normal folks, but to ensure all the greedy bastards in this world keep their money. That’s all they are interested in!!!
These people are our only line of defense against profiteers who don't care who they hurt. That's the exact reason the capitalists are getting rid of them. They want only enough government to work for them...swipe up our money in social security and taxes so they have a steady source of undeserved riches to tap. Tying capitalism falsely with democracy is the fatal flaw in our society.
So, so dead on, Lucas. I’ll share to educate. Peter Marks will be missed as will his staff.