SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2025
Inquiring minds ought to ask: Kevin Drum, a rational person, is puzzled by Donald J. Trump.
In the current instance, he's puzzled by an executive order from Trump which could or would have the effect of wiping out medical research.
He voices his puzzlement in the post excerpted below. In turn, some of Kevin's commenters are puzzled by Kevin's puzzlement:
Trump wants to wipe out medical research
[...]
This may or may not happen, or the draft [executive order] might get watered down. But the possibility that anybody is even thinking this is alarming as hell.
And why? What grudge does Trump hold against the entire medical research community? Is this just part of the whole "Fauci is a murderer" thing? Or the more general "tyrants forced us to wear masks" thing? Or the FDA approving the deadliest vaccine ever created?
Or is this a personal Trump vendetta that I'm not up to speed on?
Kevin doesn't exactly know. We don't exactly know either!
At any rate, Kevin seems to be puzzled by the commander's latest action. As we've noted, Kevin's a highly rational person—in general, a good thing to be.
Kevin is a rational person, but no one's fully rational. Also, some people are caught up in "mental disorders" which may make them much less "rational" than most others are.
To wit:
As we've often noted, the largest study of its kind found that something like 6.5% of adult men can be diagnosed as sociopaths. Or at least, that's what it said in a report in Psychology Today about that largest study.
(Elsewhere, the leading authority on "mental disorder" generally agrees with that number.)
Of course, we all know there's no such thing as a "sociopath!" We all know there's no such thing because there's no such clinical term!
That said, there are accepted clinical terms which are said to (generally) correlate with that colloquial term. Also, there are endless lists of the symptoms and behaviors associated with this alleged "mental disorder."
(Please don't say "mental illness!")
Within our highly limited discourse, our journalists speak freely about "mental illness" when they're dealing with certain types of "street crime." By virtually universal agreement, they never speak about "mental illness" when discussing actions taken by major political figures.
That said, is it possible that some of the people within our political and pseudo-journalistic elites are "sociopaths?" For the record, we know that isn't possible, for the reason already stated. But is it possibly possible in the less persnickety sense?
Starting tomorrow, we're going to spend the week discussing that general question. We're going to focus on the astonishing things we saw Greg Gutfeld say on Friday night's Gutfeld! TV show.
As Gutfeld made his astounding remarks, four of the standard stooges gazed silently off into space. But the journalistic lunacy of what this undisguised nutcase said calls for detailed attention.
As it says in an old book, Attention must be paid! It's a type of attention the New York Times and MSNBC have agreed they will never provide.
Is something "wrong" with Donald J. Trump, or perhaps with someone like Gutfeld? Could that possibly explain the behaviors Kevin seems to find puzzling?
Starting tomorrow: The astonishing things said on "cable news" this past Friday night
As described by Rhymin' Simon: Paul Simon once described a person who couldn't stop lashing out.
In the famous song, the songwriter is plainly sympathetic to the person in question. The lyrics which eventually explain the unfortunate behavior go like this:
The Boxer
[...]
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains
In our view, it's one of the greatest, and most beautiful, of the era's popular songs.
Does the current version of Donald J. Trump "carry the reminder / Of every glove that laid him down / Or cut him," from his (apparently troubled) childhood on?
We can't tell you that. That said, it seems that some people can't stop lashing out "in their anger and their shame." Songwriters have described the syndrome—mental health specialists too.
Power should be withheld from such people. After that, as with Simon's song, we'd recommend pity for the loss of human potential in the person so afflicted.
Don't worry about it, Bob.
ReplyDeleteRepublican voters didn't elect Trump because he's a sociopath. They elected him because he gives them the bigotry they crave.
Don't overthink it.
On the nose. Every time.
Delete"On the nose every time." He says the same thing over and over ad nauseum. Even if it wasn't utterly stupid, he's made his point. Republican voters voted for Trump because "he gives them the bigotry they crave" apparently even all the black and Hispanic voters who voted for him. I have to wonder if you, anon 11:32, are the same person as anon 9:16.
DeleteIt’s true ad nauseum. Anyone can be bigoted.
DeleteFalsehoods Fuel the Right-Wing Crusade Against U.S.A.I.D.
DeleteAs the Trump administration works to dismantle the aid agency, right-wing influencers have flooded the internet with falsehoods about its work.
The video falsely claiming that the United States Agency for International Development paid Ben Stiller, Angelina Jolie and other actors millions of dollars to travel to Ukraine appeared to be a clip from E!News, though it never appeared on the entertainment channel.
In fact, the video first surfaced on X in a post from an account that researchers have said spreads Russian disinformation.
Within hours it drew the attention of Elon Musk, who reposted it. So did President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.
They amplified the false video as Mr. Musk pressed a crusade to shut down U.S.A.I.D., the agency that has distributed much of the government’s foreign aid since 1961. Working with Mr. Trump’s blessing as the head of a government efficiency campaign, Mr. Musk and others in the administration have taken over the agency’s headquarters, frozen grants and notified employees that nearly all of them will be laid off.
The dismantling of the agency has been accompanied by a torrent of anger online from right-wing influencers and accounts that are promoting false claims and conspiratorial thinking.
While some politicians and voters have long questioned the value of foreign aid, those attacking the agency have often distorted facts and, wittingly or unwittingly, embraced as true anything that could help justify targeting U.S.A.I.D.
That includes Mr. Musk himself, who has used the platform he took over in 2022 as a megaphone for the effort to slash the federal bureaucracy. On Sunday Mr. Musk called it “a criminal organization,” without explaining the basis for such an accusation.
“He’s exploiting ignorance about the way government works, and the lack of oversight over anything he’s doing,” said Mike Rothschild, a disinformation researcher and author of “Jewish Space Lasers,” a book about conspiracy theories. “All of it is incredibly dangerous, and happening right in front of us.”
The flurry of attacks also underscored once again how much Republican views have increasingly converged with propaganda emanating from the Kremlin or with narratives aligned with its international goals, especially on Mr. Musk’s platform. The false video about the celebrities appeared to be the work of an influence campaign that has produced dozens of similar fakes about Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub.
“Russian anti-Ukraine propaganda has thoroughly infiltrated certain communities on X,” said Darren L. Linvill, a researcher there, who traced the spread of the faked clip from its origin on X through a network of accounts that has distributed Russian fakes before.
Delete“Given how much time Musk spends on his platform,” Dr. Linvill said, “it was probably inevitable that some fabricated Russian message would resonate with him, and this one seemed almost designed to do just that.”
Neither Mr. Musk nor Donald Trump Jr. responded immediately to requests for comment.
X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the spread of misinformation about U.S.A.I.D. on the platform, though it has added a note to posts sharing the video about the actors, noting that it is not real.
Much of the frenzy online this week has centered on U.S.A.I.D.’s many grants, information about which has been publicly available for years.
One viral claim, for example, started after an account on X with more than half a million followers suggested that Politico, the Washington news website, had received more than $8 million from U.S.A.I.D.
That wasn’t true. The website had received about $44,000 from U.S.A.I.D. for subscriptions to its premium environmental and energy publication over two years, and more than $8 million in subscription revenue from a variety of agencies, including the Department of Energy.
Even so, the claim shot rapidly across social media, as influencers and politicians with even more followers amplified the idea.
That set off a round of other misleading claims about U.S.A.I.D. granting money to the BBC and The New York Times. (The agency has instead granted money to an independent charity that shares a name with the BBC. The most viral claim about The New York Times was based on an inaccurate search of government records that included grants to unrelated, but similar-sounding groups, like New York University. In a statement, The Times said that the payments it had received were for subscriptions; government data shows it has also received some advertising revenue from the government. In a memo to staff, Politico’s leaders said the publication had “never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies.”)
The facts failed to reach a significant audience online, but the misinformation was elevated by prominent podcasters, politicians and Trump allies within hours.
By Wednesday afternoon, Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister and authoritarian leader, echoed the claims swirling in the United States, writing on X that payments to Politico somehow financed “basically the entire left-wing media in Hungary” — a viral post that received more than 26 million views.
Soon the idea spread to the Oval Office, where Mr. Trump used his Truth Social account to criticize the government’s news subscriptions — payments that had occurred during his first presidency as well — as “payoffs” for “creating good stories about the Democrats.”
“This could be the biggest scandal of them all, perhaps the biggest in history!” he wrote in all-caps on Thursday morning as other users demanded criminal investigations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/business/usaid-conspiracy-theories-disinformation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vk4.gwyP.Po1zcZUlH2Np&smid=url-share
AC/ MA,
DeleteThere's no reason to get upset because you can't make it seem like every Republican voter isn't a bigot. Nobody can make it seem like that.
AC/MA "even all the black and Hispanic voters"
DeleteThis is just braindead nonsense.
Only a small minority of Blacks vote for Republicans, and the majority of Hispanics vote for Dems.
People vote against their interest all the time.
And here is the kicker: the whole concept of race and blood purities - like White Supremacy, emerged from the Catholicism in Spain (Hispanics).
Putting the word "obviously" into a sentence, is all the proof AC/MA needs.
DeleteLike when he argued that not all Republican voters are bigots, because obviously not all Republican voters are bigots.
Don't kid yourself.
ReplyDeleteIf the NY Times and MSNBC discussed the bigotry of Republican voters, Bob would be first in line to blame them for Trump being elected President.
Anonymouse 9:22am, MSNBC and the NYT does air such claims and look how Somerby’s prediction worked out for you.
DeleteExamples?
DeleteSomerby made the same fear mongering based predictions in 2018, 2020, and 2022, wrong every time.
DeleteRepublicans gamed the system, that is a major factor in how they won, but instead Somerby focuses on his personal bugaboo of denying racism and sexism, his failed attempt at relevancy, and his jealousy of others that succeeded where he failed.
In reality, Trump's cognitive decline and mental impairment is covered extensively, even by corporate media, even on Fox News.
In reality, a majority of people that closely or even moderately follow news media, voted for Harris.
Corporate media is garbage, it enjoys an outsized influence among politicians and pundits, but it has little significant influence over the electorate, and is not significantly determinative in elections.
TDH dos not "deny" racism and sexism - he just doesn't go off the rails over it like dems like you seem to have done, paving the way for Trump.
DeleteAC/ MA,
DeleteCan you point me to Somerby admitting that racism and sexism exist?
TDH has a long history of handwaving concerns over racism and sexism, in great detail.
DeleteThere is no evidence that Dems have gone "off the rails" on racism and sexism, nor that it cost them the election; in fact, the evidence points to the opposite, considering the way the Harris campaign largely avoided those issues.
The blatant racism and sexism of the Trump administration and of the current Republican Party is pretty clear evidence that liberals were correct.
DeleteAC/ MA,
DeleteWould you be happier if Dems didn't "go off" every time the Right treats women as second-class citizens under the law?
The fiercely competitive world of medical research that at its best offers little security and less income for the academic than the private sector generally would be devastated by the actions of Trump here, and there is no guarantee of an advocate in the person of RFK Jr.. Bright students making career choices will be affected.
ReplyDeleteThe academic community has no doubt been blindsided by Trump's recklessness. The science community in general has done itself no favors by its lack of public push back against the wackos that have been assaulting them from the right wing for years. Trump is an angry demented old man with a legion of followers who will accept virtually anything he does. They will doubtless make excuses for him as Fox talking heads line up a study or two that they deem ludicrous and convince their viewers that such casts doubt on the value of funding research in general. It's how the game is played.
NIH grants fund the trainng of interns and residents at teaching hospitals helping med school grads learn medical specialties. It isn’t just about research.
DeleteAgree.
DeleteReducing staff doesn’t mean. Reducing grants. The NIH funds enormous amounts of research. But they can give out just as much money with half the staff.
ReplyDeleteNIH IS reducing grant money in one respect. “…the NIH says the agency is limiting funding for "indirect costs" to 15% of grants. That's far below what many institutions have been getting.” “Indirect costs” is money going to the institution rather than in support of the actual research.
David, yes reducing staff DOES mean reducing grants because reducing staff means cutting the ability of NIH to evaluate, review and deliberate on the grant proposals submitted for funding. It also reduces the oversight on grant performance which is included in every grant awarded and the ability to administer those grants. You don't just give people money and say "have fun spending this" but there is monitoring of how the money is used.
DeleteMoney going to the institution for indirect costs is money used in support of the actual research. It pays for the "release time" substitute teachers hired to replace the faculty in the classroom while they are spending their time on the grant research. It pays for the lab space allocated to the grant by the institution, which maintains that space. A professor doesn't need a lab unless he or she is doing research. That space is owned and allocated by the institution, whether used or not, and thus there are costs associated with it. A university also has a grants office that does the financial accounting of the receipt of funds from the agency and its use to support the grant. That accounting staff has salaries and office space and is paid out of the overhead of the grants received. There are costs accrued by university faculty as they research and write grant proposals and a grants office that assist them in doing that by finding grant opportunities, helping faculty prepare the grant request in the proper format, meet deadlines, prepare the overhead certifications that are a required part of the grant (including evidence that the institution can support the research) and those full-time staff who work on many grant proposals (including those not funded) are paid from grant overhead on the grants that are successful and funded. All of this supports the actual research just as much as the direct costs do. Sometimes the overhead funds pay for faculty to do preliminary research (unfunded otherwise) needed to demonstrate the likelihood that a grant proposal will produce viable and useful results, speculative research. In my department, overhead funds from grants paid for travel funds for all faculty, including those who did not have their own grant funding.
It is hard to separate what supports specific research from what supports the overall professional development of researchers, the future ability to gain grant funding and the lab activities that benefit student researchers and ongoing publication of research (funded or not). This idea that a strict line can be drawn between what supports "actual research" and what supports the professional development of researchers is not as clear as David suggests.
Without indirect costs, the government will be strangling the ability of institutions to support research as one of its activities, impoverishing the research community by starving the institutions. That will not benefit American science but it will also hurt our business and industry because new developments emerge from the government funded research grants conducted at universities. A not insignificant aspect of that collaboration is the training of knowledge workers who will migrate to private companies and apply the skills and expertise gained by working on research as undergrads and grad students.
Reducing staff and reducing overhead amount to killing the goose that has been laying golden eggs for American industry by making us leaders in technology, health sciences and other fields of enterprise contributing to our wealth as a nation. Trump may be too ignorant to understand this, but appears that David in Cal is too.
“NIH noted that when research institutions receive grants from private foundations, the private foundations don’t pay nearly as much for indirect costs as NIH does. “A recent study found that the most common rate of indirect rate reimbursement by foundations was 0 percent, meaning many foundations do not fund indirect costs whatsoever,” NIH wrote. “In addition, many of the nation’s largest funders of research — such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — have a maximum indirect rate of 15 percent. And in the case of the Gates Foundation, the maximum indirect costs rate is 10 percent for institutions of higher education.”
DeleteAren't you the same Dickhead that assured us that orange Mussolini had nothing to do with Project 2025?
DeleteThis is what happens when you elect an ignorant sociopath with delusions of grandeur. He just made himself King of the Kennedy Center also.
*******
“These resources go toward things like construction, utility costs, and lab operation — if NIH cuts off this support, the research will come to a halt,” Murray said in a statement. “This funding helps produce breakthroughs that change patients’ lives, prepare us for pandemics and other health threats, and ensure the U.S. continues to be the global leader in biomedical research.”
In a statement, the heads of the Association of American Medical Colleges called the decision “harmful and counterproductive,” warned that it would “diminish the nation’s research capacity” and urged the Trump administration to rescind it.
“Lights in labs nationwide will literally go out,” they wrote. “Researchers and staff will lose their jobs.”
*************
Or should we trust Dickhead in Cal, who lives with his head up trump's ass?
Those foundations are charities with limited resources. Why should they pay the same as the government, which is directing the collective resources of the American people to benefit our country by addressing larger questions. Foundation just means it is a tax-free charitable giving organization, not that it has the resources to do things like cure cancer or stop covid. We need both kinds of institutions.
DeleteMy cousin works at NIH and she says Trump and those in his admin are anti science, they view science as a tool of the Left.
DeleteDefunding the NIH is a way to promote their Christian Nationalism.
@10:22 — reducing NIH overhead reimbursement may be a questionable move, but its not insane. My wife worked on many NIH research projects at a NJ medical school. It’s true that any extra money given to her institution helps support medical education in NJ. That has value, but that’s not NIH’s function. Her school is mainly supported by tuition and by NJ taxpayers. Medical students and NJ residents are the main beneficiaries of the education provided at her medical school.
DeleteCutting NIH funding affects that training not just research projects.
DeleteLGM says this:
Delete“Trump’s announcement to cap NIH (and I am sure NSF soon) overhead expenditures at 15% of grants is a shot in the face to higher education around the nation. Whatever you want to say about the state of higher education–and I assure you that there is plenty to criticize, the reality is that universities are surviving today in part because of their cuts of these grants. Trump and King Musk framed this as a shot at baddies like Harvard and Yale, but this absolutely destroys public schools and every state has those and they all are doing scientific research. The question is what if any backlash will this bring from red state politicians.“
DeleteScientific research (unless defense-related) is not a federal responsibility, Soros-bot.
Almost all the extra money going to universities isn't going to education; it's going to bloated administrations. E.g. "The ratio of non-faculty to faculty is also alarming. At Johns Hopkins University, where I direct two graduate programs, there are 7.5 more non-faculty than faculty. These numbers are even worse at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which had almost nine times more non-faculty employees than faculty, followed by Caltech at eight times."
Deletehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/paulweinstein/2023/08/28/administrative-bloat-at-us-colleges-is-skyrocketing/
“ Scientific research (unless defense-related) is not a federal responsibility”
DeleteWhy not?
Dickhead, ain't it a funny coincidence that this level of cut comes directly out the The Project 2025 report, led by the Heritage Foundation? Remember when you called Kamala a liar for campaigning on the notion that orange chickenshit will be implementing everything in the document, you fucking fascist liar.
Delete
DeleteRead the Constitution, USAID-bot. All the responsibilities of the federal government are listed there. And all the rest, including scientific research, is none of their business.
@1:22 please re-read my comment. I said educating medical students in NJ is not a federal responsibility.
Delete1:29: a lot of things aren’t mentioned in the constitution. That doesn’t mean the federal government has no interest in supporting them. Interstate highways, disaster recovery, etc. scientific research clearly benefits the country.
Delete
DeleteAnything 'interstate' is federal, USAID-bot.
And no, scientific research ain't. Apart from defense, scientific research is supposed to be done by private businesses, in the US of A. Once the government gets involved, it's all bullshit and corruption, and nothing else. See Fauci.
NIH IS reducing grant money in one respect. “…the NIH says the agency is limiting funding for "indirect costs" to 15% of grants. That's far below what many institutions have been getting.” “Indirect costs” is money going to the institution rather than in support of the actual research.
DeleteThis is something I happen to know a little about, since my girlfriend works at OHSU, her department financed by NIH grants. Cutting that overhead would essentially mean that the parent institution wouldn't be able to keep the lights on for the departments that rely on NIH grants.
David in Cal,
DeleteStick to denying the obvious bigotry of the Republican Party, and leave the heavy work of understanding how the world works to the grown-ups.
@11:32 correctly writes “ Those foundations are charities with limited resources.” But, the government also has limited resources. And its current level of spending is not sustainable.
DeleteDickhead, have you just totally abandoned any pretense of belief in a Constitutional democracy? Allocation of government resources is a function of our representative congress, isn't it? I call you a fascist because that is what you are.
DeleteDavid's wife never worked on NIH projects, nor at a NJ med school.
DeleteDavid makes this stuff up because he is lonely and has no life.
1:29 that is not how the constitution works, you dope. What a faceplant, you moron fascistard!
David has a point. We can’t afford tax cuts for the wealthy when we need the money to trains doctors, fight fires, and feed/house the poor.
DeleteDavid's a Right-winger. If the USA has to become a shit hole country for him get the bigotry he craves, so be it.
Delete2:26,
DeletePrivate businesses should do the research, get taxed, and be regulated by the government. Any requests for government handouts (or the ear of a Congressperson, for that matter) should be denied.
Being a sociopath has nothing to do with rationality (or irrationality). It is about seeing people not as people but as instruments or objects to be used for one's personal gain. It is about lack of empathy for others, which allows someone to commit anti-social acts that harm other people, to break laws with impunity when they get in the way of one's personal interest.
ReplyDeleteSomerby throws such words around without looking them up. Sociopath is not a synonym for crazy or madman (his latest favorite word). It is not a word you apply to some president because you don't like or understand his actions. Trump may be a sociopath, but destroying our system of medical research isn't what shows that personal trait.
Anonymouse 9:58am: “Trump may be a sociopath, but destroying our system of medical research isn't what shows that personal trait.”
DeleteOh, you’ve tied yourself into a pretzel over this asinine quibble. Somerby didn’t give the correct example in his suggestion that Trump is a sociopath, because blithely “destroying our system of medical research” is…wait for it…NOT an antisocial act that harms people.
Cecelia, whether you know it or not, words have meanings. Using the right words matters in communication. When Somerby calls Trump a sociopath instead of a moron, he provides a loophole for defending Trump. It is like calling a greedy landlord who evicts a tenant in order to jack up the rent, a "glutton". Yes, that too is a negative term but it doesn't describe what is motivating the landlord or what he is doing to his tenants. Similarly, the word sociopath does not describe what is wrong with Trump or his actions in this situation. It would be the right word if he were torturing cats for pleasure though.
DeleteTrump's motive for destroying American research is unclear, but whatever it is, he isn't doing it because he lacks the ability to see people as like himself, with humanity about their needs and concerns (which are like his own).
Somerby says he doesn't know why Trump is doing this. If he doesn't know the motive, he cannot choose the right word to describe Trump's psychological problems. So he is just throwing around negative terms, name-calling Trump. And psychiatric terms do not exist to name-call people but to help doctors treat patients.
What if Trump is doing this because Putin asked him to, as part of Putin's long-term plan to undermine the power of the USA as a global enemy? The right word for Trump would then be traitor, not sociopath. What if Putin has promised Trump to make him a co-dictator of a world empire? The right word for Trump would then be power-hungry or megalomaniac, not sociopath. There are sociopaths who are not criminals, not traitors, not dictators, not even anything wrong but fine lawyers or businessmen. They are just people who don't care about other people's feelings. That describes Trump in such a minor and trivial way that it seems not to fit his behavior and personality at all. There is no much more that is wrong with what Trump is doing.
"When Somerby calls Trump a sociopath instead of a moron, he provides a loophole for defending Trump."
DeleteIn regard to moral culpability, yes. But in regard to who should hold power/be voted in or out of office, no.
It is the second sense that matters most.
It is a distraction, so you'll less notice Trump is a corrupt criminal turning our country over to a handful of billionaires.
DeleteSomerby is your typical Republican pushing a pernicious right wing agenda.
Somerby is a disgrace.
We need to be donating money to the organizations that are bringing lawsuits against the illegal acts committed by Trump and Musk.
Deleteanon 10:37 - calling trump a "sociopath" does not provide a loophole for defending Trump. If words matter to you so much, how is it that you feel you can constantly distort whatever the guy says, obsessively? calling someone a "sociopath" is far more severe than calling them a "moron," it connotes that he is evil. You are bizarre. And if Trump is such a "moron", I wonder how he managed to be elected and now seems to be exercising almost absolute power leaving the dems befuddled and impotent.
DeleteI wonder how he managed to be elected and now seems to be exercising almost absolute power leaving the dems befuddled and impotent.
DeleteBecause the SC said he is allowed to break the law with impunity. There are no institutions remaining that can check him. How many times do I have to say it. We are no longer a constitutional republic.
We need to stop calling bigots "rubes."
DeleteAC/MA, that’s the point. Most sociopaths are not evil. Somerby’s abuse of the term feeds public perception that sociopaths are serial killers. Empathy is a liability to a surgeon or prosecutor.
Delete"And if Trump is such a "moron", I wonder how he managed to be elected and now seems to be exercising almost absolute power leaving the dems befuddled and impotent."
DeleteEasy, AC/ MA. Republican voters will give complete power to anyone who feeds them the bigotry they crave like children crave sweets.
I've got another 5 minutes to spare, what other existential question can I address for you?
What does the song The Boxer have to do with anything happening or being discussed these days? Somerby doesn't bother relating the song back to his own essay, much less anything else worth talking about. Yes, it is a good song. It doesn't describe Gutfeld or "lashing out" because it is about a professional who engages in a sport that requires skill and competitive spirit. It might be applied to the efforts to stop Trump from hurting this country, but that doesn't really fit the lyrics. Nor does anything about Gutfeld who isn't really fighting anything. He is earning a living by spreading right wing propaganda, much as Somerby may be doing with this random nonsense he has posted today.
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 10:01am, who, oh who, could Bob be referencing via that song? Such a puzzle. Why it doesn’t fit anyone that you can think of… Anonymices are some pieces of work.
DeleteWho do you think it fits? Please be explicit.
DeleteYesterday Somerby said it is bred in the bone, today he suggests it is shaped by experiences; Somerby has no coherent argument to make, his stances blow in the wind, whichever one he feels like will work better for his agenda on that day, that's what he runs with.
DeleteAnything genetic is affected by environment in the way those genes are expressed. Somerby doesn't know anything about science either. He doesn't think much when he writes his "reports".
DeleteYou're so right Cecelia, the Circe of this comment world. But admit it. I know you must be a big enough person to admit: aren't we ALL pieces of work?
DeleteKevin and Bob are HELPING Trump. Trump WANTS lots of attention given to his shocking proposals. That will help him achieve the more moderate cuts that he is really aiming for.
ReplyDeleteThis is what it is really about:
Delete“President Trump is doing away with Liberal DEI Deans’ slush fund,” Katie Miller, who directs communications at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and is married to Stephen Miller, a top White House official, wrote on X.
Ain't she and her husband Herr Goebbels lovely people? Any opportunity to spread a little hate for the blah's and the ladies. Go fuck yourself, Dickhead.
More moderate cuts would be easier to accomplish than draconian ones. The idea that a president must first try to destroy before he can suggest less harmful cuts is ridiculous. It isn't how anyone operates in business or government. And there are procedures for enacting cuts that do not involve usurpation of illegal powers from Congress, ignoring the budget process, disrupting the lives of employees (many of whom would be difficult to replace).
Delete10:13 is correct in one aspect, Kevin and Bob are working to help Republicans.
DeleteFunny quote, and pretty rich, since Trump and Musk are fairly openly working to create a slush fund by "monetizing" (selling off) US assets, mostly to China, with which they and their cronies can use to fund their market speculations and manipulations that continue the largest wealth transfer in history - $50+ TRILLION since 1981 going from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.
DeleteThe transfer that Biden temporarily reversed, which is why he was so demonized in corporate media.
11:21, yes, every rightwing accusation is a confession. There are no exceptions.
Delete"A thief believes everyone steals"
Dickhead - you are 100% correct.
Delete"Trump WANTS lots of attention given to his shocking proposals."
DeleteBut if they're ignored, they might get passed into law. Did you think that far ahead, Dickbrain?
David in Cal,
DeleteIn your opinion, how should the media be reacting to longtime failed businessman, adjudicated rapist, and self-admitted sexual predator, Donald J. Trump's shocking proposals?
The goals of the Trump/Musk administration:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/02/curtis-yarvins-lunatic-fantasies-are-being-used-as-a-blueprint-by-president-musk
ReplyDelete"Is there some such thing as a "sociopath?""
Yes, there is. It's synonymous with "Democrat".
OK, cold sore.
Delete"A sociopath is a term used to describe a person with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). ASPD is a mental health condition characterized by:
DeletePersistent disregard for social norms and laws, Lack of remorse or guilt, Deceitfulness and manipulation, Impulsivity and aggressiveness, and Inability to form meaningful relationships.
It's important to note that the term "sociopath" is not currently used in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). "
Even AI knows more than 11:20 about pseudo-psychiatric terms.
Interesting that Somerby is now quoting Paul Simon, who is possibly a bigger narcissist than Trump and Musk.
Simon got to hook up with Princess Leia, there is that.
DeleteNot a fan of Simon's bland, white bread, anodyne music, but it is interesting to note that Simon wrote/recorded a typically boring Simon song Take Me to the Mardi Gras, that then was covered by a smooth jazz artist Bob James who added an intro of bells and drum that went on to be one of the most sampled cues in hip hop, and the intro itself samples other songs, one of the earliest examples of sampling.
It seems too mild for describing people who think it's OK to slash up children's bodies and drug them with chemicals that change their entire personality after telling them they're victims of being born in the wrong body.
DeleteLeia must have mistake Paul for R2D2.
DeleteSometimes this stuff is done to cure cancer in children. Is that wrong?
Delete12:49 No it’s not wrong to cure cancer with those treatments. Is that your idea of an argument defending physical destruction of healthy bodies and personalities?
DeleteI am pointing out that surgery sounds horrific but it matters what the purpose is. The idea that parents, much less medical staff would perform procedures for no goodd reason is an assault on both and shows no concern for the well-being of kids. Decisions need to be made by parents and doctors without political interference by the govt.
Deleteanon 2:04, gender dysphoria is a mental disease. When their child has it, it must put the parents in a very tough position. The cure , somewhat Orwellianly called "gender confirming care" consists of injecting kids with hormones, As I understand it, surgical "care' is not generally provided to minors except for breast removal for girls,, they need to wait until adulthood. The surgeries, castration of males and creation of an artificial vagina, and for girls, creating an artificial penis, seems pretty gruesome - they must really want to change their gender to go through with it. Apparently, it causes sterilization. It's not a good thing that this is happening, just like it's not good for someone to have any other disease.
DeleteGender affirming surgery occurs for less than 25% of transgender individuals, who account for maybe 1% of the population. Please keep that in mind. I also hope that you would support the right of adults to be what they please and not be demonized by the most powerful forces in society. Otherwise, you don’t deserve to consider yourself progressive. Somerby either. Either you speak up in support of transgender, or you join the demonization and scapegoating and watch it advance to other groups.
DeleteThere is no single treatment or “cure”. Some teens are suicidal and need help to keep their dysphoria from being fatal. Others are seeking acceptance for who they are. Some are resisting puberty because they detest the changes to their bodies. Delaying puberty might give them a chance to adjust. These may be complex situations. That’s why choices should be made by parents and doctors, not Trump. Banning all surgical options can make a person feel so trapped and hopeless that they do something desperate. And then there are the parents who throw their kids out on the street. That is not a “cure” either. We should trust individuals, with their parents, doctors and other resources to work things out. Persecuting kids for political gain is despicable.
Delete12:49 Ha, pretty good!
Delete4:03,
DeleteYou forgot to put #freedom at the end of your post.
From Jeff Tiedrich:
ReplyDelete"“I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work. BACK TO PLASTIC!”
you’re welcome, America.
isn’t it heartwarming to know that — even as unchecked (and mutating) bird flu is driving the price of eggs ever skyward — this is the silly-ass bullshit that Mad King Donny is fixating on? who gives a shit about straws? you promised us cheap eggs, fuck-o.
but this is where Wingnut Grievance Culture has taken us. no bit of quote-unquote wokeness is too insignificant to undo. Sleepy Brandon wanted paper straws? well fuck your paper straws, Donny’s gonna make microplastics building up in your brain great again."
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/mad-king-donny-is-freeing-us-from
That whole Mad King conceit that Somerby has been touting is perhaps so obvious that even people who wouldn't waste time reading Somerby's blog are using it.
Trump also just took credit for a completely MADE UP deal with Japan concerning natural gas, in reality Trump is trying to take credit for a deal Biden did in permitting exports from a proposed LNG pipeline in Alaska (this pipeline may never even be built).
Deletehttps://www.reuters.com/business/energy/biden-admin-greenlights-lng-exports-alaska-project-document-2023-04-14/
There is no Trump/Japan LNG deal, it is completely made up.
Trump will continue to try to take credit for things Biden did.
CBS Poll: President Trump Approval
ReplyDelete🟢 Approve: 53% (+6)
🔴 Disapprove: 47%
The highest approval rating for President Trump in CBS polling history
——
• Ages 18-29: 55-45 (+10)
• Ages 30-44: 52-48 (+4)
• Ages 45-64: 56-44 (+12)
• Ages 65+: 50-50 (=)
---
• White: 61-39 (+22)
• Black: 33-67 (-34)
• Hispanic: 49-51 (-2)
---
• Male: 60-40 (+20)
• Female: 47-53 (-6)
---
• Dem: 15-85 (-70)
• GOP: 94-6 (+88)
• Indie: 49-51 (-2)
(Feb 5-8)
Pew Trump poll 2/6:
DeleteApprove 47
Disapprove 51
Economist/You Gov poll 2/4:
Wrong Track 50
Right Direction 40
And these numbers are getting worse for Trump, not better, over time.
Poll numbers for both Musk and Vance are also in the toilet.
Right track wrong track numbers have greatly improved under Trump.
DeleteNBC September 2024
Two in 3 voters say the country is on the “wrong track” as voters weigh whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump would be better able to change that less than two months from Election Day.
The latest NBC News national poll finds 65% of registered voters surveyed this month say the country is on the wrong track, while 28% say it’s on the right track.
Trump can capitalize on people's disgust with institutions - especially the media. He's much smarter about understanding people's angst and how far he can push back against these institutions without losing public support.
DeleteMisuse of “angst” suggests the troll otherwise known as Cecelia wrote this comment without using a nym.
DeleteHi, I am not them.
DeleteYou aren’t you either.
DeleteAnd I ain't an anonymouse. No reason to be one.
Delete1:47,
DeleteI'm not going to make Trump out to be smart, just because he figured out he can do anything and Republicans will still love him, as long as he's a bigot.
Even morons like Cecelia, David in Cal, and AC/ MA know that.
12:19 that's misleading enough to call false.
DeleteSince Trump has been elected and then inaugurated, the "Wrong Track" has been increasing.
"Withhold medical treatment from the unvaccinated" showed us everything we needed to know about where the sociopathy is located in our political landscape. Some would argue Democrats aren't sociopaths just good old fashioned hateful.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats didn't do that.
Delete
DeleteThey are hateful sociopaths.
11:35 is demonstrating what a sociopath looks like.
Delete
DeleteIt's understandable: their uncles were eaten by cannibals. And they are flunkeys for people like Mykola Zlochevsky and George Soros.
11:50 so you are saying it is bad to hand the country over to un elected billionaires, good on you.
DeleteInteresting to note that Putin cronies are dropping like flies, getting assassinated in all kinds of creative ways, sometimes mirroring the way Putin assassinates his critics.
North Koreans are getting wiped out in the Ukraine war, and the Baltic states have just disconnected from Russia's power grid, further pushing Kaliningrad towards the EU.
DeleteYour absurd fantasies are funny, Mr. Soros.
I guess it's common for sociopaths to have fantasies like that.
More troll anti-semitism.
Delete
DeleteWow. A truly sociopathic confession, Soros-bot.
"Putin cronies are dropping like flies"
DeleteOr more accurately, dropping like things that don't fly.
You don't have to be a Democrat, to hate Republicans because they are nothing but a shit pile of bigots.
DeleteStop pretending.
Paul Simon was obviously not writing about Trump because Trump was not president back then. Why does Somerby see Trump like that fighter and what makes Somerby attach such an image to someone so undeserving of encouragement much less praise?
ReplyDeleteA better analogy would be to compare Trump to a domestic terrorist like Timothy McVeigh who didn't care that a childcare center was collateral damage when he blew up the OK City government building, accomplishing nothing.
“ Power should be withheld from such people. ”
ReplyDeleteClassic nebulous use of the passive voice.
“ President Donald Trump's decision to freeze federal hiring is impacting life-saving firefighting efforts, according to a new report.
ReplyDeleteCNN over the weekend reported that Trump's hiring freeze "comes at a critical time, when fire departments across the country would typically onboard thousands of seasonal federal firefighters in preparation for wildfires in the spring and summer."
Dear Leader flooded a dry desert lake with reservoir water meant for the central valley irrigation system during growing season. Therefore to wit, there will be no more fires so who needs more firemen you dumb libtards.
DeleteNo, I meant the real President, Musk!
DeleteTrump is not seeking to wipe out medical research. The headline by the Drumster is not correct.
ReplyDeleteTrump is reducing the amount of indirect costs (administrative expenses, salaries, facilities, etc.) federal grants will cover. His argument is too much money was going to "overhead" than the research itself.
Trump is a pathological liar.
DeleteThat doesn't excuse the exaggerated headline which misinforms readers and distracts from the real issue.
DeleteDrum is correct. The effect will be to wipe out medical research.
DeleteTrump doesn't have a fucking "argument". Don't dignify that ignoramus with a sixth-grade vocabulary and who has never read a book in his life with the claim that he thought this through. This cut comes directly from Project 2025, and did not pass through Trump's brain on the way out.
DeleteIf the "effect" will be to wipe out medical research, Drumster should have said so and shown why. The headline "Trump is seeking to wipe out medical research" is false.
DeleteOverstating and not fully scrutinizing these stories in a spasm of partisanship and confirmation bias has proved to be detrimental to opposing Trump successfully.
I do not trust Trump to have anyone’s interests in mind other than his own.
Delete"Trump is not seeking to wipe out medical research."
DeleteAgree. There's no way in hell Trump knows what the words "medical research" mean. Don't let his rape conviction distract you from the fact he's a fucking moron.
What is the measure of success supposed to be as a result of everything Musk is doing? I mean, not counting the lies we will be told by Trump, musk, and Fox News.
ReplyDeleteI think the metric will be lies per word spoken and they're shooting for a 1 to 1 ratio.
DeleteThe first measure is how much money he saves. Shutting down the inappropriate payments from AID saves up to $70 billion. Shutting down affirmative and switching to merit must save a great deal. It will also result in more capable government workers.
DeleteThe second measure is how well government works. Time will tell how much better or worse the government operates.
"Shutting down the inappropriate payments from AID saves up to $70 billion."
Delete...or, in short, their entire budget.
Sorry, David.
DeleteTrump and Musk don't want a merit-based country, any more than you do.
Let me know when you find a Right-winger who wants the Estate Tax rate to be 100%.
Shutting down USAID is a gift to China, it is un American, foolhardy, and cruel to those in need.
DeleteDavid is anti America.
David in Cal,
DeleteEveryone knows Trump can find more waste with what we give to Israel.
"Elon Musk is calling for the impeachment of the federal judge who made a decision early Saturday morning that the Treasury Department should block access to anyone “other than civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties” from its payment systems."
ReplyDeleteHow to put a price on Elon's wisdom and expertise?
That decision is unbelievably ridiculous. The judge ruled that the President is not allowed to hire some top accounting firm to audit a government agency.
DeleteDo you support the judge being impeached, DiC?
DeleteI just watched Trump look the American people in the eye and assert that the Democrats tried to break in to the Dept. of Education because he sent people in there to go through the books. That is what he said. This is something meant to appeal to Dickhead fascists like DiC. I am wondering how long it will be before he disbands the Reichstag - I mean Congress. What do you think, DiC, you fascist apologist?
Delete@1:43 I don't think there are sufficient grounds for impeachment, but he should not be a judge. I'm OK with Musk calling for his impeachment. That's a common way of saying he shouldn't be in that position.
DeleteMusk apparently doesn't know how impeachment works.
Delete3:26,
DeleteWhat if the judge's wife tried to overthrow the United States of America? Asking for people who know Ginnie Thomas hates America.
Mirrors hate Ginni more than she hates America. Just sayin'.
DeleteNo one hates America more than Republican voters, obviously.
DeleteWait a minute, Dickhead. Are you claiming Elon Mush is an approved auditing firm and has gone through the full review and approval by congress? Why would he need my SS #, fuckface? Who is paying him, fascist prick?
ReplyDelete@1:46 - The judge ruled that only a civil servant could do such an audit. Under his ridiculous ruling, an independent accounting firm would be barred from doing an audit, no matter how reviewed, vetted, and approved they were, because they're not civil servants.
DeleteThe judge's decision was even worse than I thought. The injunction applies to all political appointees, which includes the Secretary of the Treasury. It was issued ex parte, which means the government was not even heard in opposition.
DeleteThe sec of treasury isn’t qualified to do an audit either.
DeleteWhy do you fucking fascist maggots keep referring to whatever the fuck mush is doing with my personal records an "audit"?
Delete***********
The order restrains the defendants from granting access to Treasury Department records containing personally identifiable or confidential information to special government employees, political appointees, and other employees from outside the department.
The injunction restricts anyone else from accessing those records other than civil servants who need to do so for their work at the Bureau of Fiscal Services and have passed background checks.
The judge further ordered any person among those restricted to immediately destroy copies of records.
The conditions will remain in place until the next court hearing on 14 February
**********
Why would the Secretary of the Treasury who is being audited question this?
Congressman Jamie Raskin said he has been studying the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, which Reagan pushed after he saw “War Games” at Camp David and grew concerned about the security of government computers. Reagan wanted it to be a crime to have unauthorized access to obtain and distribute other people’s information. The act allows a citizen whose private data has been compromised through a breach of government computers to sue for damages, Raskin said Sunday on MSNBC.
Who audits the Department of Treasury?
Office of Inspector General (OIG)
The OIG conducts independent audits, investigations and reviews to help the Treasury Department accomplish its mission; improve its programs and operations; promote economy, efficiency and effectiveness; and prevent and detect fraud and abuse.
Oh, that's right. The 34 count felon and business fraud decided to fire all the IGs.
audit - 2: a methodical examination and review
Delete"The injunction applies to all political appointees, which includes the Secretary of the Treasury. It was issued ex parte, which means the government was not even heard in opposition."
DeleteIt's a temporary restraining order. It only lays out what can (or can't) be done until the government gets its turn to be heard.
And that restraining order was in response to a suit brought by the AGs of nineteen states. If you don't like the tactic, you should have been whining about it long before now.
David in Cal,
DeleteDo you believe its Trump's bravery that keeps him from making accusations against the Left in a courtroom, while he is under oath?
7:12, They don't call him Donald J Chickenshit for nothing you know.
Delete“Much of the data also points to how the United States continues to be the runaway world leader in high-quality clinical research. “
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/nature-index-research-leaders-standout-performers-health-sciences#:~:text=High%20performance,in%20high%2Dquality%20clinical%20research.
This article is from June of 2024. There appears to be no problem with clinical research in the US. However, the article notes that “China is recording rapid growth in the subject and although clinical medicine is an area where it still trails the United States by some distance, it is catching up fast.”
Trump’s actions, a solution in search of a problem, will have the effect of strengthening china’s hand in this area.
Everything Trump is doing is to benefit China, per Musk's orders; Musk's future is heavily dependent on China and other fascist leaders around the world.
DeleteBack to the Future With Professor von Blunderbutt
ReplyDelete‘Elon Musk said on Saturday DOGE is changing coding requirements for all government payments. All payments will have a “payment categorization code” added.
Musk also said payments must provide a rationale in a comment field.’
I’ve had experience with this kind of system. It’s been around for at least 25 years. It does nothing except add to administrative time and expense.
Take Social Security payments for example. Under Musk’s system, you will have lines and lines of data representing payment made to SS recipients and these lines will now be coded with the ‘categorization code’ of ‘SS payments’ and in the comment field it will say something like ‘payment for social security’.
Since the government already has existing coding to track how much it pays out for social security, or for Medicare, Medicaid, soldiers’ salaries, etc., Musk’s additional codes will be purely duplicative.
But there could be an enormous amount of work to add the additional fields to the existing database(s). And unless it’s possible to write into comment fields automatically, there could be an enormous increase in manpower to enter comments individually. You could end up having someone whose job is to copy and paste, over and over again, ‘payment for Social Security’.
Musk called the proposed changes ‘super obvious’ and ‘necessary’. He is a world class moron.
Some things you missed slightly:
Delete- The changes are agreed to and implemented by the Treasury, not DOGE or Elon Musk himself ("Musk" isn't changing coding requirements for all government payments.)
- Musk claims some payments currently lack any categorization codes (they may exist but they are not being used)
- A categorization code is a broad classification that tracks spending categories at a high level, a rationale is for specific context. eg, Categorization Code: SS-PAY, Rationale: Back payment for underpaid benefits from Jan-March 2023 due to calculation error.
- re. a job of cutting and pasting: if it's literally purely duplicative, an automation could be set up to insert the duplicated value into the rationale field. (But it's not purely duplicative.)
Well, 6:23, I certainly feel better now that my sensitive personal data is being accessed by the richest man in the world with probable ulterior motives and zero vetting. Surely, my social security and Medicare will be fully available. If not, there will be hell to pay.
DeleteGood, I'm glad you feel better.
Delete8:02,
DeleteHunter Biden's penis isn't involved, so Republicans aren't infatuated with looking into Musk's self-dealing.
Anything happens to social security or Medicare, all bets are off, piece of shit 8:12.
DeleteHi 8:24, yes, anything happens to social security or Medicare, all bets are off.
DeleteMost likely Musk is inserting code that will siphon off a small cut for himself and his cronies.
DeleteHaving worked with Musk going back to the Paypal days, this is something he has been working on for years.
That does seem most likely.
DeleteWhatever happened to all those "conservatives" who used to holler so much about "unelected billionaires"? Are they all OK with Musk because he's not Jewish?
ReplyDeleteThe agencies Musk is fixing are entirely (wo)manned by unelected people.
DeleteMaybe they all went online to troll comment sections with loaded rhetorical questions that avoid good faith discussions.
Delete6;!8,
DeletePerhaps they are hiding under their beds, shaking in fear, like the gun owners who told us they'd use the 2nd Amendment to fight government tyranny, instead of selling guns to criminals on the black market.
Which is the better word to use: (wo)manned or managed (supervised, headed, controlled)? Someone who says wo(mannrd) is mocking woke.
DeleteWhat's Somerby's endgame?
ReplyDeleteDoes he think if the media describes the current President as "Long-time business failure, adjudicated rapist, and self-admitted sexual predator, Donald J Trump" EVERY time they report on him, it will become so tedious they limit the number of times they report on him at all?
I can see how that will be helpful to the country, but I'm not sure it will work.
If they had done that all along, Trump wouldn’t be president.
DeleteAnd they wouldn't get their corporate tax breaks.
DeletePlease explain, Cecelia and DiC, how Trump is not currently functioning as a dictator.
ReplyDeleteHow do you define dictator?
DeleteSomeone whose will is unchecked. He can do what he wants with no pushback.
DeleteBut I asked Cecelia and DiC.
DeleteIf a dictator is someone whose will is unchecked and who faces no pushback, then by definition, Trump is not a dictator.
DeleteYes, of course. Sorry to butt in.
DeleteI have seen no pushback from the Republican congress. Democrats have no power. The Supreme Court has held that he cannot be prosecuted. He is preparing to ignore court rulings. But please explain what meaningful pushback he is receiving.
DeleteTrump is enduring terrible pushback: liberals don’t like him.
DeleteThe liberals in this comment section are total pussies.
Delete"liberals don’t like him."
DeleteNobody likes hum. The Right likes his bigotry, not him.
Well, liberals don’t like me, and I cry myself to sleep every night.
DeleteI'm a little late, are we still discussing longtime failed businessman, adjudicated rapist, and self-admitted sexual predator, Donald J. Trump?
DeleteI am a sociopath. I vote for Republicans.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Republican, and even I support statues of Micah X. Johnson in every town square.
ReplyDeleteOne doctor’s opinion:
ReplyDeleteVinay Prasad MD MPH
“I have no sympathy for academic researchers and their staff who do shit science and live off NIH grants. I am sorry. Never have. Never will. They do work that cannot be reproduced, just say the same empty slogans that are in vogue. During the pandemic they failed society and lied about the impact of school closure and the viral origins. I can't believe we tax plumbers and bus drivers who do real work to fund this bullshit. It's a welfare program for upper middle class kids. Recently they were saying even a single drink of wine kills you. They should be completely defunded for using low quality science to insert themselves in debates they don't understand, or appreciate. It's not even science. It's propaganda that's government-funded masquerading as science”
"Recently they were saying even a single glass of wine kills you."
DeleteQuoting a crackpot's bullshit doesn't earn you points around here. How fucking dumb.
It is entirely possible that this quote has a much larger context insofar as the attributed author has no doubt been the recipient of grant money as an academic researcher in oncology at UC Berkley. Nonetheless stating in earnest that anyone has argued a glass of wine is lethal is laughable.
DeleteExposure to x radiation carries a statistically significant risk of cancer in a dose dependent manner due to DNA mutation. There is no amount of x radiation exposure that does not carry an increased risk of such cancer, however miniscule. You cannot say, for example, that a simple chest x ray does not increase risk, although that increase may so small that it can be disregarded in risk/benefit terms. Alcohol is likewise a mutagen. To say that it increases the risk of cancer is verifiable. To state that there is no lower limits to the amount of a mutagen that does not increase risk, however tiny, is a statistically sound statement based upon its mechanism of action. To state publicly that "they were even saying a single glass of wine kills you" is the kind of ridiculous claptrap that begs the question "who are they?" or more to the point, who would generalize such a ridiculous statement to reflect on the scientific community receiving NIH grants?
DeleteWhat is your fucking point, Dickhead?
DeleteThe point being that "One doctor's opinion " is bullshit, asshole. It's the equivalent of saying " I have no respect for accountants who I think misstate their company earnings". DiC would like somehow to use it to justify the assault on the scientific community here. It is nonsense as such. The guy quoted is comically exaggerating based on his prejudices. The sentence about wine is a good example. The larger point here is that you can cherry pick the activities of small groups within a large organization for instances you think are dumb, stupid, whatever, but that does not justify the extrapolation going on here by DiC to try to normalize the actions of a demented old man.
DeleteLet me guess. The doctor who said a glass of wine was lethal, was a man, right?
Delete
ReplyDeleteThank God for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rest of the team! Away with shithead Democrats. Hallelujah!
If the longtime failed businessman, adjudicated rapist, and self-admitted sexual predator, Donald J. Trump, knew you were so grateful, he might refrain from calling you "a loser", like he does the other Republican voters.
DeleteThe reason Trump isn't getting grief for inflation from economically economically anxious Republican voters, is that no Republican voter knows anything about economics.
ReplyDeleteI take some comfort in the fact that Ivanka ratted out her old man to the FBI for stealing classified documents. However, I'm thrilled that longtime failed businessman, adjudicated rapist, and self-admitted sexual predator, Donald J. Trump, is just figuring out now that he's never going to get to fuck her.
ReplyDeleteThey say that Trump only raped that pre-teen because she reminded him of his pre-teen daughter.
ReplyDeleteMoral of the story: Reminding Trump of his pre-teen daughter, is a sure way to get raped by Donald J. Trump.