Some of us have been watching the warning signs of looming fascism for years and trying to warn y'all that it's coming.
And now it's here and you're looking at us like it's our fault that we were right all along that a bunch of these folks are honest-to-God fascists. You can trace this shit back to Gamergate. You can trace it back to the Dept of Homeland Security. You can trace it back to Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, a whole political faction hell bent on turning "the American People" against their own government for the enrichment of the rich. Cannibalize the "surplus population," the "parasite class." You know, those people who can't afford to pay for themselves without a little public support, single mothers, etc. The usual targets. This rhetoric goes back to my early childhood.
Hating queers was always an early warning sign.
And I don't protect queer folks to "virtue signal" or out of some abstract sense of ideological purity. Those are my fucking friends. I know parents who are trying to raise trans kids and are sick and tired of watching their own elected state government try to interfere with their actual medical care. They sure as fuck didn't ask for any of this abuse from any self righteous jerkface fundagelicals. They'd be very very happy of y'all would just leave them the hell alone without their mere existence be turned into a political fucking question.
If you lack the humanity to understand that, kindly fuck off.
[I'm not usually this flagrant with the f-bombs but current events affecting people I know...you may understand.]
Twenty five years ago, measles in the United States was declared eradicated. A number of childhood maladies that had been considered under control are resurging. A big reason is people have not vaccinated their kids, mainly because they have not seen how bad the diseases can be for two generations.
On the other hand, there has been a reported increase in neurodivergent problems in children--not that there is any real increase, but people are hearing about it more and the spectrum has widened.
Are the two related? Some people think so regardless that science has found no link. Fear reigns, though. Kennedy feeds on fear.
I just hope our whole vaccine program will survive the next four years.
The two are not related. The main reason for the "reported increase" is that people pay a lot more attention to kids now.
Hell, I'm pretty sure I'd have gotten diagnosed as a kid and might well have been better off for it, but people just didn't care in those days.
Autism has jack shit to do with vaccination, except - per a joke - that autistic folks tend to make good scientists and scientists tend to make good vaccines.
By something I read, one big outbreak in Texas is specifically tied to a "we don't want to participate in society" branch of Anabaptist Christianity that decided vaccines mean participating in society.
There's a reason some of these things should be straight up mandatory and people should stop acting like they can just pull out of society with "me first" theology. It only serves to get people injured.
Some of us have been watching the warning signs of looming fascism for years and trying to warn y'all that it's coming.
And now it's here and you're looking at us like it's our fault that we were right all along that a bunch of these folks are honest-to-God fascists. You can trace this shit back to Gamergate. You can trace it back to the Dept of Homeland Security. You can trace it back to Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, a whole political faction hell bent on turning "the American People" against their own government for the enrichment of the rich. Cannibalize the "surplus population," the "parasite class." You know, those people who can't afford to pay for themselves without a little public support, single mothers, etc. The usual targets. This rhetoric goes back to my early childhood.
Hating queers was always an early warning sign.
And I don't protect queer folks to "virtue signal" or out of some abstract sense of ideological purity. Those are my fucking friends. I know parents who are trying to raise trans kids and are sick and tired of watching their own elected state government try to interfere with their actual medical care. They sure as fuck didn't ask for any of this abuse from any self righteous jerkface fundagelicals. They'd be very very happy of y'all would just leave them the hell alone without their mere existence be turned into a political fucking question.
If you lack the humanity to understand that, kindly fuck off.
[I'm not usually this flagrant with the f-bombs but current events affecting people I know...you may understand.]
Whenever I hear accusations of "virtue signalling", what I actually infer is "I can't actually comprehend someone having sufficient empathy to care about another group to which they don't belong because I personally have a massive empathy deficit so it must be faked".
Some of us have been watching the warning signs of looming fascism for years and trying to warn y'all that it's coming.
And now it's here and you're looking at us like it's our fault that we were right all along that a bunch of these folks are honest-to-God fascists. You can trace this shit back to Gamergate. You can trace it back to the Dept of Homeland Security. You can trace it back to Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, a whole political faction hell bent on turning "the American People" against their own government for the enrichment of the rich. Cannibalize the "surplus population," the "parasite class." You know, those people who can't afford to pay for themselves without a little public support, single mothers, etc. The usual targets. This rhetoric goes back to my early childhood.
Hating queers was always an early warning sign.
And I don't protect queer folks to "virtue signal" or out of some abstract sense of ideological purity. Those are my fucking friends. I know parents who are trying to raise trans kids and are sick and tired of watching their own elected state government try to interfere with their actual medical care. They sure as fuck didn't ask for any of this abuse from any self righteous jerkface fundagelicals. They'd be very very happy of y'all would just leave them the hell alone without their mere existence be turned into a political fucking question.
If you lack the humanity to understand that, kindly fuck off.
[I'm not usually this flagrant with the f-bombs but current events affecting people I know...you may understand.]
Whenever I hear accusations of "virtue signalling", what I actually infer is "I can't actually comprehend someone having sufficient empathy to care about another group to which they don't belong because I personally have a massive empathy deficit so it must be faked".
I think there are people who do that kind of signaling to visibly align with the group they’re in (I’m half tempted to call what the far right cruelty crowd says and does “vice signaling,” especially online). Technically as well, or even especially, what companies and corporations do—the rainbow-washing during Pride month when a company is generally not ethical in the first place*, and even more now to see a whole lot of companies rush to see who can get rid of DEI initiatives and rules first. There’s a lot of “which way is the wind blowing right now?” I think. Whether one calls certain things “virtue signaling” or just “performative,” I think that definitely happens. But that doesn’t mean all or most instances, especially by individuals, are hypocritical. (I’m really disappointed in a whole lot of companies I thought were taking a moral high road till the last few weeks ago, though.)
* There’s a meme that goes around every Pride month with horrible fictional corporations, like SkyNet and Weyland-Utani and LexCorp and Roxxon, with rainbow-colored logos.
(From Terminator, Alien, Lex Luthor, and a generally really evil oil company in Marvel Comics, respectively.)
'Virtue signalling' was popularised as a term by the hard right media over here to sneer at anyone fighting racism, sexism, homophobia, climate destruction etc. so it carries some unpleasant baggage.
On an ironic note, with "DEI" and widespread bans on particular words that might have "woke" connotations, I think we are now seeing the opposite where well meaning people are having to publicly construct discreet euphemisms to get past the digital thought-police who don't like the words "diverse" to be spoken in public. It's like the diametric opposite of greenwashing, etc. Polish your intent while camouflaging the exterior. And get really creative with your figures of speech.
Measles is exceedingly contagious. I'll be very surprised if they can easily and quickly contain this mess. They're sending 2,000 MMR vaccines to Texas. A state with a population of 29 million people where 10% of the population isn't vaccinated.
Measles is exceedingly contagious. I'll be very surprised if they can easily and quickly contain this mess. They're sending 2,000 MMR vaccines to Texas. A state with a population of 29 million people where 10% of the population isn't vaccinated.
Those 2000 doses will really make a difference. My arse. I wonder how many kids will die or be permanently affected as a result if RFK's stupidtwattery?
The awful thing about measles is that it wipes your immune system - it makes your body "forget" diseases you're already immune to.
Probably the places affected by the measles outbreak will also see higher rates of flu, covid, etc. for the next few years, and heightened death rates, while people's immune systems "relearn" how to recognize various germs.
Not to mention activation of tuberculosis especially in under-fives with immature immune systems. Uncommon in our ( First) world but TB meningitis used to knock off a lot of kids early this century and is one reason why TB vaccination of infants is commonplace in Third World countries.
Next thing you don’t need is a polio epidemic.
Anti-vaxxers (whether they know it or not) rely on the 90% vaccinated for “herd immunity” to protect themselves and their offspring. However they can ( and do) get unlucky.
Not all that long since an unvaccinated young Hasidic Jewish man ended up permanently paralysed after polio ( I think contracted while overseas but I could be wrong.
I wonder how many kids will die or be permanently affected as a result if RFK's stupidtwattery?
Not just kids. My doctor recently had me tested for measles, mumps and rubella antibodies, as the vaccine they were giving in the US in the early to mid 60s doesn't always last your whole life. The test results are all good, fortunately, but this isn't the case for everyone.
The Kennedy Department of Health has cancelled to key meetings which determine next fall's influenza and Covid vaccines. This concerns me because about 20 years ago I nearly died because of influenza. Ever since I received the annual shot and have avoided contracting. Of course, there are now more effective treatments for severe cases, but I just do not want to take the risk if I can help it, If the United States will not provide it, I just may have to go to Canada to receive the updated versions.
There has been a faint trace of sanity from rfk today. He wants to ban some of the worst artificial colouring materials from breakfast cereals, conceding that they are a danger to health. But who buys them? Millions do, I suppose, but I'd never contemplate putting that stuff in my body. He'll probably be overruled by trump.
Only if Trump has shares in the companies that make them.
Trump's money is more in bonds than stocks, which is one of the reasons he freaked out and backed off on the tariffs when the bond market started to tank.
RFK Jr is cutting the HHS agency that coordinates and funds a lot of services for disabled people and old people. Lots of local Meals on Wheels outfits get a bunch of funding from the federal government; for those unfamiliar with it, Meals on Wheels delivers meals to poor people over 60 who have a hard time getting out and/or cooking for themselves.
Only if Trump has shares in the companies that make them.
Trump's money is more in bonds than stocks, which is one of the reasons he freaked out and backed off on the tariffs when the bond market started to tank.
RFK Jr is cutting the HHS agency that coordinates and funds a lot of services for disabled people and old people. Lots of local Meals on Wheels outfits get a bunch of funding from the federal government; for those unfamiliar with it, Meals on Wheels delivers meals to poor people over 60 who have a hard time getting out and/or cooking for themselves.
It is the same over here but the service has been cut to the bone.
There has been a faint trace of sanity from rfk today. He wants to ban some of the worst artificial colouring materials from breakfast cereals, conceding that they are a danger to health. But who buys them? Millions do, I suppose, but I'd never contemplate putting that stuff in my body. He'll probably be overruled by trump.
So the cereal will be less unhealthy because of the dyes, but more unhealthy if you pour milk over it.
he Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
The suspension is another disruption to the nation's food safety programs after the termination and departure of 20,000 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, as part of President Donald Trump's effort to shrink the federal workforce.
The FDA this month also suspended existing and developing programs that ensured accurate testing for bird flu in milk and cheese and pathogens like the parasite Cyclospora in other food products.
Effective Monday, the agency suspended its proficiency testing program for Grade "A" raw milk and finished products, according to the email sent in the morning from the FDA's Division of Dairy Safety and addressed to "Network Laboratories."
I'm not sure this counts as a net win, nor do I think raw milk enthusiast RFK, Jr. will be too worried about this development.
For those who may not be familiar with the history involved, tainted milk is why the U.S. has an FDA to begin with.
As a medical research scientist (now retired) I find this deeply distressing. Where are these guys coming from? What can be done to mitigate the harm they are doing?
You and me both, @RockyRoger. WTF has the world come to?
It seems to me that reactionaries have discovered that liberal democracies rely heavily on experts in regulatory and advisory functions and so you don't need to spend political capital on passing or repealing legislation. You just have to appoint unqualified and/or ideologically committed individuals to those roles and not only have them do the dirty work for you but give it a veneer of respectability. We've seen it with SCOTUS most obviously, but also in the UK with the Cass report and the capture of the EHRC, and now with this vaccine panel.
Comments
Some of us have been watching the warning signs of looming fascism for years and trying to warn y'all that it's coming.
And now it's here and you're looking at us like it's our fault that we were right all along that a bunch of these folks are honest-to-God fascists. You can trace this shit back to Gamergate. You can trace it back to the Dept of Homeland Security. You can trace it back to Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, a whole political faction hell bent on turning "the American People" against their own government for the enrichment of the rich. Cannibalize the "surplus population," the "parasite class." You know, those people who can't afford to pay for themselves without a little public support, single mothers, etc. The usual targets. This rhetoric goes back to my early childhood.
Hating queers was always an early warning sign.
And I don't protect queer folks to "virtue signal" or out of some abstract sense of ideological purity. Those are my fucking friends. I know parents who are trying to raise trans kids and are sick and tired of watching their own elected state government try to interfere with their actual medical care. They sure as fuck didn't ask for any of this abuse from any self righteous jerkface fundagelicals. They'd be very very happy of y'all would just leave them the hell alone without their mere existence be turned into a political fucking question.
If you lack the humanity to understand that, kindly fuck off.
[I'm not usually this flagrant with the f-bombs but current events affecting people I know...you may understand.]
On the other hand, there has been a reported increase in neurodivergent problems in children--not that there is any real increase, but people are hearing about it more and the spectrum has widened.
Are the two related? Some people think so regardless that science has found no link. Fear reigns, though. Kennedy feeds on fear.
I just hope our whole vaccine program will survive the next four years.
Hell, I'm pretty sure I'd have gotten diagnosed as a kid and might well have been better off for it, but people just didn't care in those days.
Autism has jack shit to do with vaccination, except - per a joke - that autistic folks tend to make good scientists and scientists tend to make good vaccines.
By something I read, one big outbreak in Texas is specifically tied to a "we don't want to participate in society" branch of Anabaptist Christianity that decided vaccines mean participating in society.
There's a reason some of these things should be straight up mandatory and people should stop acting like they can just pull out of society with "me first" theology. It only serves to get people injured.
Whenever I hear accusations of "virtue signalling", what I actually infer is "I can't actually comprehend someone having sufficient empathy to care about another group to which they don't belong because I personally have a massive empathy deficit so it must be faked".
I think there are people who do that kind of signaling to visibly align with the group they’re in (I’m half tempted to call what the far right cruelty crowd says and does “vice signaling,” especially online). Technically as well, or even especially, what companies and corporations do—the rainbow-washing during Pride month when a company is generally not ethical in the first place*, and even more now to see a whole lot of companies rush to see who can get rid of DEI initiatives and rules first. There’s a lot of “which way is the wind blowing right now?” I think.
* There’s a meme that goes around every Pride month with horrible fictional corporations, like SkyNet and Weyland-Utani and LexCorp and Roxxon, with rainbow-colored logos.
(From Terminator, Alien, Lex Luthor, and a generally really evil oil company in Marvel Comics, respectively.)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkwashing_(LGBTQ)
'Virtue signalling' was popularised as a term by the hard right media over here to sneer at anyone fighting racism, sexism, homophobia, climate destruction etc. so it carries some unpleasant baggage.
Seriously, vaccine scepticism has now caused the death of a child. And if this outbreak is not contained there may be more fatalities.
Those 2000 doses will really make a difference. My arse. I wonder how many kids will die or be permanently affected as a result if RFK's stupidtwattery?
Probably the places affected by the measles outbreak will also see higher rates of flu, covid, etc. for the next few years, and heightened death rates, while people's immune systems "relearn" how to recognize various germs.
There's no place in hell hot enough for RFK Jr.
Next thing you don’t need is a polio epidemic.
Anti-vaxxers (whether they know it or not) rely on the 90% vaccinated for “herd immunity” to protect themselves and their offspring. However they can ( and do) get unlucky.
Not all that long since an unvaccinated young Hasidic Jewish man ended up permanently paralysed after polio ( I think contracted while overseas but I could be wrong.
RFK Jr is not only a fool but a nasty, evil fool.
Not just kids. My doctor recently had me tested for measles, mumps and rubella antibodies, as the vaccine they were giving in the US in the early to mid 60s doesn't always last your whole life. The test results are all good, fortunately, but this isn't the case for everyone.
To state the obvious, that's not how biology works.
Or they donated to his reelection campaign?
Trump's money is more in bonds than stocks, which is one of the reasons he freaked out and backed off on the tariffs when the bond market started to tank.
RFK Jr is cutting the HHS agency that coordinates and funds a lot of services for disabled people and old people. Lots of local Meals on Wheels outfits get a bunch of funding from the federal government; for those unfamiliar with it, Meals on Wheels delivers meals to poor people over 60 who have a hard time getting out and/or cooking for themselves.
It is the same over here but the service has been cut to the bone.
So the cereal will be less unhealthy because of the dyes, but more unhealthy if you pour milk over it.
I'm not sure this counts as a net win, nor do I think raw milk enthusiast RFK, Jr. will be too worried about this development.
For those who may not be familiar with the history involved, tainted milk is why the U.S. has an FDA to begin with.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyge27y2g9o
As a medical research scientist (now retired) I find this deeply distressing. Where are these guys coming from? What can be done to mitigate the harm they are doing?
It seems to me that reactionaries have discovered that liberal democracies rely heavily on experts in regulatory and advisory functions and so you don't need to spend political capital on passing or repealing legislation. You just have to appoint unqualified and/or ideologically committed individuals to those roles and not only have them do the dirty work for you but give it a veneer of respectability. We've seen it with SCOTUS most obviously, but also in the UK with the Cass report and the capture of the EHRC, and now with this vaccine panel.