Thought for the Day

[broncofan]

once people start to believe in government/corporate/media conspiracies they reject the idea of any authoritative source of knowledge.

I agree with you that this is a big problem but I think an additional problem is that people don't understand that experts provide a benefit because they can condense a complex subject but what they say is verifiable. They are choosing to "trust" or "take the word" of people with no expertise over people with expertise but with even a little bit of concern trust is not necessary.

A layperson can go to the cdc website and see the statistics on foodborne disease in those drinking unpasteurized milk. They can learn how a controlled trial works and even if they can't calculate confidence intervals can look at treatment arm v placebo for side effects and effectiveness. They don't want to because they're hooked on believing that the establishment is lying to them.

As for masks one reason they get away with that is because testing them has not been easy. The attempts at controlled studies I've seen have showed them to be effective, though imperfectly.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

It's too late for the Republicans to denounce the MAGA King Donald Trump now,because for over 6 years they enabled his eradicate and despicable behavior,and let him abused his power and do whatever he wanted,and let him get away with it. And had two opportunities move on from him,by impeaching and indicting him,but didn't do it because they were afraid of losing their seats in the House Of Representatives and Senate.

[Fitzcarraldo]

It's too late for the Republicans to denounce the MAGA King Donald Trump now,because for over 6 years they enabled his eradicate and despicable behavior,and let him abused his power and do whatever he wanted,and let him get away with it. And had two opportunities move on from him,by impeaching and indicting him,but didn't do it because they were afraid of losing their seats in the House Of Representatives and Senate.

They won't bother denouncing him, because that would require admitting fault. They'll just start backing DeSantis and ignore him. (But they'll still block attempts to hold Trump accountable as much as they can.)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

They won't bother denouncing him, because that would require admitting fault. They'll just start backing DeSantis and ignore him. (But they'll still block attempts to hold Trump accountable as much as they can.)

Completely agree the Republicans won't bother to denounce the MAGA King Donald Trump,because they'll be admitting that they are at fault for enabling his eradicate behavior,and also agree they'll start backing Ron DeSantis,while blocking attempts to hold Donald Trump accountable.

[Stavros]

Completely agree the Republicans won't bother to denounce the MAGA King Donald Trump,because they'll be admitting that they are at fault for enabling his eradicate behavior,and also agree they'll start backing Ron DeSantis,while blocking attempts to hold Donald Trump accountable.

Exactly, because it is not about policies, or principles, only power. All those Republicans who loathe and detest Trump had the opportunity to get rid of him in the second Impeachment trial, and chose power over principle, because they don't have any. They can at one and the same time dismiss Trump and embrace DeSantis, or Haley, or anyone if they think they will win. And what do they do with this power when they get it? Enrich themselves, take away citizen's rights, and fail at the key issues that concern people -crime, education, housing, the border, etc. Is it any wonder people become disillusioned with politicians?

[filghy2]

A few weeks ago someone in the Republican Party posted a tweet celebrating their three cultural heroes; "Kanye. Elon. Trump". That one doesn't look like it will age well.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Exactly, because it is not about policies, or principles, only power. All those Republicans who loathe and detest Trump had the opportunity to get rid of him in the second Impeachment trial, and chose power over principle, because they don't have any. They can at one and the same time dismiss Trump and embrace DeSantis, or Haley, or anyone if they think they will win. And what do they do with this power when they get it? Enrich themselves, take away citizen's rights, and fail at the key issues that concern people -crime, education, housing, the border, etc. Is it any wonder people become disillusioned with politicians?

Completely agree that it isn't about policies or principles,and the Republicans had another opportunity to move on from Donald Trump doing the Second Impeachment Trial by impeaching and convicting him,and prevent him from running for office. but chose party over country. No not at all,because politicians will say what people want to hear to get elected and go back on what they promised their constituents.

[broncofan]

I think it has been underestimated how much damage right-wing media has done to public health in the United States and around the world. Polio was nearly eradicated because of the efforts of Sabin, Salk, Koprowski, and many other great scientists. In the last couple of years we saw an unprecedented effort to create vaccines in this country, with unprecedented speed and success in such a short timeline and we've now seen an almost equally unprecedented effort to vilify vaccine makers, to vilify public health experts, and to spread lies about covid and vaccines. What will vaccination rates be for polio and measles in the future? What will they be for emergent diseases given this campaign of propaganda against the most effective tool we have for priming our immune systems against infectious diseases and saving lives?

It has taken several years to demonstrate to many of these folks that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin do not treat covid. How many studies did they demand be conducted? Republicans used up hours of airtime promoting ivermectin, a drug that was not better than placebo in clinical trials, when paxlovid, which had an 89% effectiveness against severe disease, was available. Ignorance kills. Their ignorance did kill tens of thousands of Americans and will continue to.

[Stavros]

I think it has been underestimated how much damage right-wing media has done to public health in the United States and around the world. Polio was nearly eradicated because of the efforts of Sabin, Salk, Koprowski, and many other great scientists. In the last couple of years we saw an unprecedented effort to create vaccines in this country, with unprecedented speed and success in such a short timeline and we've now seen an almost equally unprecedented effort to vilify vaccine makers, to vilify public health experts, and to spread lies about covid and vaccines. What will vaccination rates be for polio and measles in the future? What will they be for emergent diseases given this campaign of propaganda against the most effective tool we have for priming our immune systems against infectious diseases and saving lives?

It has taken several years to demonstrate to many of these folks that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin do not treat covid. How many studies did they demand be conducted? Republicans used up hours of airtime promoting ivermectin, a drug that was not better than placebo in clinical trials, when paxlovid, which had an 89% effectiveness against severe disease, was available. Ignorance kills. Their ignorance did kill tens of thousands of Americans and will continue to.

I came across a useful argument today -if one person says it is raining outside, and another says the sun is shining, can both be right? The solution is to look out of the window, but for some time now, allegedly for reasons of 'balance', climate change deniers are allowed to make claims which are the opposite of climate scientists. Do vaccines work, or do they not work? The answer is there, in recorded history, yet anti-vaxx voices can insist that they have the data to prove their point, or in some cases do not but 'are convinced' they are right. If someone tells you masks don't work, ask why doctors and nurses in an opeating theatre wear them- should they dispense with the masks and gowns and operate in jeans and a t-shirt?

To be contrary is fundamental to the agenda -Democrats are wrong, on taxes, welfare, immigration -indeed, wrong about everything, so whatever they say must be depicted as wrong, and it doesn't even matter if they are wrong, because there is no alternative other than to swing 100% the other way and say Republicans are right, when most people, even those who are a bit dumb, know the truth is never that easy.

Trump made it easy, because there is only one way of looking at things- his view is the only view. The tragedy is as you say it, in the actual experience of pregnant women denied an abortion they need, not want. The corollary of this is that those Republicans who insist on a woman carrying a pregnancy to full term, even if the foetus is not viable for medical reasons, are inflicting a form of cruelty on that woman that would be a crime in any other context, and I think this has repulsed a lot of people.

But consider who else has opposed Polio vaccines -the Taliban and the Haqqani Network in Pakistan, the same people who claim vaccines exist to sterilize their women, a plot by the evil West. If the media can stop fisting the truth by giving equal weight to right and wrong arguments, and clearly put the Republicans and anti-Vaxx campaigners in the arms of the Taliban, then I think, or hope, we can all move on from the damage you so identify as a genuine threat to life.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Not surprised at all by the MAGA King Donald Trump announcement that he's running for President in 2024 ,because he wants too prevent Ron DeSantis and other Republicans from challenging him in a primary,and thinks that it will prevent Attorney General Merrick Garland from pressing charges and prosecuting him for the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol and stealing classified documents that he took to Mar-a-largo and thinks he's above the law,and his enablers will defend him and actions. He and his enablers are going to be in for a very rude awakening. https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-whit...ry?id=92820500