Daily news digest

Rut rho! Conservatism kills people

A group of sociologists at the Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, wrote this in a recently published research paper:

The rise in working-age mortality rates in the United States in recent decades largely reflects stalled declines in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality alongside rising mortality from alcohol-induced causes, suicide, and drug poisoning; and it has been especially severe in some U.S. states. .... More conservative marijuana policies and more liberal policies on the environment, gun safety, labor, economic taxes, and tobacco taxes in a state were associated with lower mortality in that state. Especially strong associations were observed between certain domains and specific causes of death: between the gun safety domain and suicide mortality among men, between the labor domain and alcohol-induced mortality, and between both the economic tax and tobacco tax domains and CVD mortality. Simulations indicate that changing all policy domains in all states to a fully liberal orientation might have saved 171,030 lives in 2019, while changing them to a fully conservative orientation might have cost 217,635 lives.

Factors considered in the research

(Note: All existing firearm safety laws are

likely to be held unconstitutional in view of

a recent radical right Supreme Court ruling) 

There you have it. Those darned sociologists are once again caught red-handed tossing sand in the finely honed gears of morally superior, God-endorsed conservative capitalist politics. (sarcasm)

But rest assured, America’s fire breathing radical right knows well how to respond to inconvenient truth. Radical right ideologues, Christian fundamentalists and brass knuckles capitalists will, as usual, reject the data and attack the researchers. For example, they will claim the data is based on flawed simulations, and/or is a pack of socialist lies from pedophile socialist liars. 

Or, better yet, they will just ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. That KYMS propaganda tactic (keep your mouth shut) is 100% effective in preventing FIMPI (foot in mouth public inconvenience). In the face of inconvenient truth, KYMS is the single most effective dark free speech tool the radical right has to minimize its impact on the public. That is why it’s so incredibly common and popular with radical right elites.

Rut roh! Guns kill people

In 1993, researchers studied the question of whether gun ownership was a factor in mortality. The data they generated indicated that gun ownership was a risk factor for mortality. The risk was being shot dead in the home. They wrote in their paper, Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor for Homicide in the Home:

The use of illicit drugs and a history of physical fights in the home are important risk factors for homicide in the home. Rather than confer protection, guns kept in the home are associated with an increase in the risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance. .... Our data indicate that keeping a gun in the home is independently associated with an increase in the risk of homicide in the home. The use of illicit drugs and a history of physical fights in the home are also important risk factors.

The reaction by the NRA, gun nuts, gun makers and the Republican Party was intense. In 1996, congress passed a ban of federal funding for gun violence research. That ban to this day continues to limit research on gun violence. 

The radical right reaction to that research paper exemplifies another popular propaganda tactic that radical right ideologues, Christian fundamentalists and brass knuckles capitalists enjoy using, specifically the BRBCMRIN technique (block research but claim more research is needed). By claiming more research into sources of inconvenient truth, e.g., gun violence, the radical right has discovered it can block and delay effective legislation for at least decades, maybe forever if they get full power. 

BRBCMRIN was and still effectively used by the cigarette industry to ward off second hand smoke regulations. Use of BRBCMRIN by the carbon energy sector has also been highly effective for warding off legislation to deal with climate change. Ronald Reagan was a big fan of BRBCMRIN. He used it to limit federal research into areas the radical right knew would generate inconvenient truth, e.g., climate change research.

So, when radical right flamers attack inconvenient research and data, claiming it is not enough, it is fair and reasonable to tell them they are full of crap. In view of its history of hiding and blocking inconvenient truth, the burden of proof is on the radical right, not anyone or anything else.