Thursday, April 16, 2020
Shutdown Could Kill More Americans Than COVID-19
Thursday's unemployment update confirms that over the last three weeks, nearly 17 million Americans have been laid off because of the shutdown. That's one-tenth of the nation's workforce. It's not just an economic fact. It's a public health disaster. If the shutdown is dragged on, as many public health experts recommend, it is almost certain to kill more Americans than coronavirus.
The academics and public health officials who have concocted models of the virus's spread are telling us that we have to continue the shutdown to save thousands of lives. But none of their models considers the deaths that will be caused by unemployment.
Before the virus hit, America's unemployment rate was 3.5%, the lowest in 50 years. Now Goldman Sachs predicts unemployment could spike to 15% by midyear. A St. Louis Federal Reserve economist grimly predicts 32% unemployment — worse than during the Great Depression.
No model or guesswork is required to foresee the deadly impact. Job losses cause extreme suffering. Every 1% hike in the unemployment rate will likely produce a 3.3% increase in drug overdose deaths and a 0.99% increase in suicides according to data provided by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the medical journal Lancet. These are facts based on experience, not models. If unemployment hits 32%, some 77,000 Americans are likely to die from suicide and drug overdoses as a result of layoffs. Scientists call these fatalities deaths of despair.
Then add the predictable deaths from alcohol abuse caused by unemployment. Health economist Michael French from the University of Miami and a co-author found a "significant association between job loss" and binge drinking and alcoholism.
The impact of layoffs goes beyond suicide, drug overdosing and drinking. Overall, the death rate for an unemployed person is 63% higher than for someone with a job, according to findings in Social Science & Medicine.
Layoff-related deaths are likely to far outnumber the 60,400 coronavirus deaths predicted through August.
This comparison is not meant to understate the horror of coronavirus for those who get it and their families.
But heavy-handed state edicts to close all "nonessential businesses" need to be reassessed in light of the predictable harm to the lives and health of the uninfected.
The shutdown was originally explained as a way to "flatten the curve," allowing time to expand health care capacity, so lives would not be...
Hey Joe, Where You Going?
Hey Joe, Where You Going?
To The Pool With His Hairy Blonde Legs, Where He Learned About Roaches...And He Learned About Kids Jumping On His Lap...
I think his dendrites have received too much electrochemical stimulation.
"You'll Go to Jail!" Florida Doctors Arrested For Stealing Trump Flag As Young Son Begs Them to Stop
Florida physician-parents were caught on tape stealing an elderly man's Trump flag as their young son could be heard crying and begging them stop.
From WKRG
Geoffrey Michael Fraiche, 41, Laura Ann Webb-Fraiche, 38, were arrested and charged with criminal mischief, trespassing, larceny and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Fraiche and Webb-Fraiche are accused of stealing the man’s flag on April 7, according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office arrest report.
[...] The man said their actions caused about $500 in damage to the base of the flagpole and the flag itself cost $200. He wished to pursue charges.
Fraiche's arrest report says he is a gynecologist with at Sacred Heart Hospital. Webb-Fraiche’s arrest report says she is a gynecologist at West Florida Hospital.
WATCH:
SHOCKING VIDEO!— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 14, 2020
Physician-Parents possessed w @realDonaldTrump hatred so much that they steal a senior citizen's Trump flag w kids in tow.
The little boy is begging them to stop.
Apparently two medical degrees lack the decency & common sense of a child.
Despicable parenting! pic.twitter.com/nZsLA09ob6
Joe Biden Has Yet to Face Single Question on Sexual Assault Allegations
Biden has sat for 10 interviews with major news outlets since March 24, when his former aide, Tara Reade, accused him of pinning her against a wall and penetrating her with his fingers in 1993 when she was a staff assistant in his office.
None of Biden's 10 interlocutors have asked him to comment on the allegation. On Sunday March 29, for example, Biden sat for a wide-ranging nine-minute interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press during which he was asked about the coronavirus response, sanctions on Iran, whether Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) should drop out of the Democratic primary, and President Donald Trump's approval rating—but not Reade's allegation. He also managed to avoid questions about Reade's allegation from George Stephanopoulos the following Sunday, a primetime interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, an appearance on NBC's Today Show with Craig Melvin, and two interviews with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the allegation or the media's decision not to press the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee about it. The networks who interviewed him also did not respond to requests for comment.
Biden himself has yet to address the accusation from Reade, who formally filed a criminal complaint with the Washington, D.C., police last Thursday. Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in a statement that Reade's allegations are false and the incident never happened.
"What is clear about this claim: It is untrue," Bedingfield said in a statement. "This absolutely did not happen."
Democrats have made clear that the the sexual assault allegation against Biden will not affect their willingness to rally around him. In the weeks since Reade's allegation, Biden has cemented his status as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and secured the endorsements of his fiercest primary opponents and...
How ‘Grievance Studies’ Corrupt Academic Scholarship
America’s colleges are rife with corruption. The financial squeeze resulting from the new coronavirus offers opportunities for a bit of remediation.
Let’s first examine what might be the root of academic corruption, suggested by the title of a recent study, “Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship.”
The study was done by Areo, an opinion and analysis digital magazine. By the way, Areo is short for “Areopagitica,” a speech delivered by John Milton to the British Parliament in 1644 in defense of free speech.
Authors Helen Pluckrose, James A. Lindsay, and Peter Boghossian say that something has gone drastically wrong in academia, especially within certain fields within the humanities.
In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>
They call these fields “grievance studies,” where scholarship is not so much based upon finding truth, but upon attending to social grievances. Grievance scholars bully students, administrators, and other departments into adhering to their worldview.
The worldview they promote is neither scientific nor rigorous. Grievance studies consist of disciplines such as sociology; anthropology; gender studies; and queer, sexuality, and critical race studies.
In 2017 and 2018, authors Pluckrose, Lindsay, and Boghossian started submitting bogus academic papers to academic journals in cultural, queer, race, gender, fat, and sexuality studies to determine if they would pass peer review and be accepted for publication.
Acceptance of dubious research that journal editors found sympathetic to their intersectional or postmodern leftist vision of the world proves the problem of low academic standards.
Several of the fake research papers were accepted for publication. The Fat Studies journal published a hoax paper that argued the term bodybuilding was exclusionary and should be replaced with “fat bodybuilding, as a fat-inclusive politicized performance.”
One reviewer said, “I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article, and believe it has an important contribution to make to the field and this journal.”
“Our Struggle Is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism” was accepted for publication by Affilia, a feminist journal for social workers.
The paper consisted in part of a rewritten passage from “Mein Kampf.”
Two other hoax papers were published, including “Rape Culture and Queer Performativity at Urban Dog Parks.” This paper’s subject was dog-on-dog rape.
But the dog rape paper eventually forced Boghossian, Pluckrose, and Lindsay to prematurely “out” themselves. A Wall Street Journal writer had figured out what they were...
The 90 Miles Mystery Video: Nyctophilia Edition #261
Before You Click On The "Read More" Link,
Please Only Do So If You Are Over 21 Years Old.
If You are Easily Upset, Triggered Or Offended, This Is Not The Place For You.
Please Leave Silently Into The Night......
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #959
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
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