Low-carbohydrate diet and climate change – The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.
Interesting theory.
…From someone known to selectively reference ‘facts’ in order to support his own theories (and book sales.)
Gobsmacked by germ theory denialism. Again. | ScienceBlogs
Fassa first misrepresents the Pasteur model of disease. …Germ theory denialists …tend to assume that germ theory states that pathogenic microbes are 100% infectious and always cause disease. Consequently, when people are exposed to pathogenic microbes and don’t become ill, people like Fassa point to that as evidence that germ theory is invalid. …Even most teenagers can understand that catching an infectious disease is dependent not just on the microbe but each person’s resistance to that microbe.
…In many cases big pharma deserves a lot of mistrust; its record in many areas demands it. What distinguishes many of these germ theory denialists is that they take healthy skepticism and take it to a pathological extreme. They also seem to think that the reason that antibiotics ultimately fail is because germ theory is invalid, which reveals an incredible ignorance of how antibiotics work. … Bacteria are incredibly good at evolving under the selective pressure of antibiotics. That’s what creates superbugs, that and our tendency to overuse antibiotics.
…The condition of the body and a person’s immune system does matter. …Debilitated people do not resist the invasion of microorganisms as well as strong, healthy people.
…Although their rhetoric against vaccines is often cloaked in appeals to “strengthening the immune system” or similar words, much of it, when you strip away the obfuscation and come right down to it, often denies germ theory. Second, germ theory tells us that there are some things we cannot control, and alt-med is all about the illusion of control. Germs, after all, are scary. You can be perfectly healthy, and an infectious disease can strike you down–possibly even kill you–through no fault of your own. By denying that the germs are the cause of disease, germ theory denialists can tell themselves that if they just eat the right diet, do the right exercise regimen, take the right supplements, germs can’t hurt them. Righteous living triumphs!
Too bad the real world isn’t like that and infectious diseases can kill.
Gobsmacked by germ theory denialism. Again. | ScienceBlogs
sigh….
Mike Luckovich: Wall protecting America
12/12 Mike Luckovich: Wall protecting America
Heh, true story. (Another reason to sit down and shut the fuck up, Seth.)
With police diversion, student arrests plummet
“It’s astonishing,” said Bethel.
With police diversion, student arrests plummet | The notebook
It’s not at all astonishing. It is simply closer to how society should treat young people if we want them to succeed. Police officers do not belong in schools. Discipline in schools should be carried out by the school, and not the local police force.
Donald Trump Hilariously Fucks Up The Army/Navy Coin Toss
Donald Trump Hilariously Fucks Up The Army/Navy Coin Toss
What, had he never seen a coin toss before?! Moron.
New reports detail sophistication of Russian influence efforts in U.S.
Some content that was initiated by the Russian government, operating through the Internet Research Agency (IRA), still lives on social media platforms here and the Kremlin’s interference operations are likely to continue – now and through 2020, experts found.
…The Oxford report, which also drew from data provided to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said IRA’s activities began on Twitter in 2013, before evolving into a “multi-platform strategy” that included Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other platforms.
“The scale of their operation was massive,” New Knowledge’s authors wrote, citing the 126 million Facebook users and 20 million Instagram users whom they estimated were reached by IRA content. The IRA’s efforts also included posting more than 10.4 million tweets and 1,000 YouTube videos, as well as targeting other, less prominent platforms, including Tumblr, Reddit and Pinterest.
…”The most prolific IRA efforts on Facebook and Instagram specifically targeted Black American communities,” New Knowledge’s report said, “and appear to have been focused on developing Black audiences and recruiting Black Americans as assets.”
The report included new details on the ways in which IRA operatives engaged in direct outreach and recruitment of American citizens, coaxing them to protest or perform specific jobs or tasks, and even attempting to forge personal connections around difficult personal struggles like sex addiction.
…Facebook and Instagram posts targeting right-wing users and mocking the idea of Russian interference as well as the media outlets that covered it sprouted up in the election’s immediate aftermath.
“What we’ve seen here is a sophisticated operation that does not hesitate to reach out to individual Americans, that does not hesitate to turn them into unwitting tools of the Russian government,” said Renee DiResta, one of the principal authors of New Knowledge’s report. “We believe they are going to spend less time creating their own, easily-detectable pages in bad English, and begin engaging in even more targeted outreach, including by infiltrating political fringe groups to opportunistically exploit divisions.”
New reports detail sophistication of Russian influence efforts in U.S. – CBS News
hmmmm
Instagram Called Bigger Russia Influence Tool Than Facebook
Instagram played a much bigger role in Russia’s manipulation of U.S. voters than the company has previously discussed, and will be a key Russian tool in the 2020 elections, according to a report commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Russian Internet Research Agency, the troll farm that has sought to divide Americans with misinformation and meme content around the 2016 election, received more engagement on Instagram than it did on any other social media platform, including Facebook, according to a joint report by three groups of researchers.
…There were 187 million interactions with Instagram content, compared with 77 million on Facebook and 73 million on Twitter, according to a data set of posts between 2015 and 2018, analyzed by New Knowledge, Columbia University and Canfield Research.
…It could also mean the IRA used click farms to boost their numbers.
…Content that the IRA posted sparked conversation, with the overall goal of emboldening followers of Donald Trump and criticizing Hillary Clinton, sometimes in subtle ways. About 40 percent of the Instagram accounts achieved more than 10,000 followers, and 12 had over 100,000 followers. The biggest account, @blackstagram__, attracted 303,663 followers, and may have used e-commerce to make money or gather information about U.S. voters. Another account, @femenism_tag, promoted feminist ideas and the idea that Clinton was a bad feminist.
Instagram Called Bigger Russia Influence Tool Than Facebook – Bloomberg
hmmm
Michael Flynn’s Business Partner Indicted Ahead of Trump Aide’s Sentencing
Former Flynn business partner Bijan Rafiekian ― aka Bijan Kian ― and Turkish businessman Kamil Alptekin were named in a Dec. 12 indictment alleging illegal work in the United States on behalf of the government of Turkey. Kian appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, according to the Washington Post, while Alptekin remains overseas.
Flynn, President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, and Kian were involved in a scheme to attempt to extradite Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the Turkish government blamed for instigating a failed coup in 2016, back to Turkey, according to the indictment. Trump reportedly told the Turkish foreign minister recently that they were “working on” Gulen’s extradition.
Michael Flynn’s Business Partner Indicted Ahead of Trump Aide’s Sentencing | HuffPost
hmmm
Michael Flynn’s criticism of FBI interview slammed by special counsel
Mueller on Friday also released memos written by the FBI agents, and emphasized that when Flynn lied to them on January 24, 2017, about the substance of his policy conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he had already lied to several members of Trump’s team and was “committed to his false story” that he and Kislyak did not discuss sanctions.
The FBI memos make clear that top Justice Department and bureau officials knew that Flynn’s public story about his calls with Kislyak differed from what he actually said to the ambassador on the phone during the presidential transition — and the agents who spoke with him at the White House about it were prepared to confront him.
…It’s widely believed that at that time, the FBI was aware of the conversations Flynn had with Kislyak because the intelligence community had listened in on the foreign diplomat’s calls. On the calls, Flynn discussed Russian sanctions and a UN Security Council vote with Kislyak.
Michael Flynn’s criticism of FBI interview slammed by special counsel – CNNPolitics
hmmm
Trump was in the room during hush money discussions with tabloid publisher
Donald Trump was the third person in the room in August 2015 when his lawyer Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker discussed ways Pecker could help counter negative stories about Trump’s relationships with women, NBC News has confirmed.
…The “statement of admitted facts” says that AMI admitted making a $150,000 payment “in concert with the campaign.”
…The statement of admitted facts says that AMI’s “principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.”
Trump was in the room during hush money discussions with tabloid publisher
hmmm
Michael Flynn: Judge suggests ex-Trump aide ‘sold out’ US
“A high-ranking senior official of the government making false statements to the FBI while on the physical premises of the White House.”
At one point, Judge Sullivan asked the prosecutor whether the special counsel’s office had ever considered charging Flynn with treason.
The judge told Flynn: “Arguably, you sold your country out.”
Judge Sullivan also said he “can’t hide my disgust, my disdain” for the offence.
Flynn reaffirmed his guilt in court and said he “was aware” at the time of his FBI interview that lying to them was a crime.
…The retired US Army three-star lieutenant general lied to FBI agents about his conversations with the Russian ex-ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak.
He falsely told investigators in January 2017 that he had not discussed US sanctions against Moscow with Mr Kislyak before Mr Trump had taken office, according to his plea agreement.
Flynn also lied about his request to Mr Kislyak that Russia delay or block a vote at the United Nations on a resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
…Given the district court judge’s stern words, it appeared entirely possible Flynn would receive some sort of prison sentence.
That was enough to leave Flynn and his [defense] team scrambling – and perhaps wondering whether there are other ways he could co-operate, such as in the upcoming trial of two of his business partners accused of acting as unregistered agents of the Turkish government.
…In addition to the possible collusion line of inquiry, the special counsel is understood to be [scrutinizing] whether Mr Trump or aides sought to obstruct justice by blocking scrutiny of Flynn.
Michael Flynn: Judge suggests ex-Trump aide ‘sold out’ US – BBC News
hmmm
Donald Trump Moves to Deport Vietnam War Refugees
In essence, the administration has now decided that Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in the country before the establishment of diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam are subject to standard immigration law—meaning they are all eligible for deportation.
…Many pre-1995 arrivals, all of whom were previously protected under the 2008 agreement by both the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, were refugees from the Vietnam War. Some are the children of those who once allied with American and South Vietnamese forces, an attribute that renders them undesirable to the current regime in Hanoi, which imputes anti-regime beliefs to the children of those who opposed North Vietnam. This anti-Communist constituency includes minorities such as the children of the American-allied Montagnards, who are persecuted in Vietnam for both their ethnicity and Christian religion.
…“Forty-three years ago, a lot of the Southeast Asian communities and Vietnamese communities fled their countries and their homeland due to the war, which the U.S. was involved in, fleeing for their safety and the safety of their families,” said Kevin Lam, the organizing director of the Asian American Resource Workshop, an advocacy group. “The U.S. would do well to remember that.”
Donald Trump Moves to Deport Vietnam War Refugees – The Atlantic
WTF?! Unamerican son-of-a-festering-putrid-asshat
140-year-old pics show Native Americans before and after “Forced assimilation”
White Wolf : 140-year-old pics show Native Americans before and after “Forced assimilation”
Sigh…
The expressions on the children’s faces in the “after” pictures are so heart-breaking
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