I'm afraid politicians and the media across the ideological spectrum lie routinely about really important matters. Right now our major policies come from the Biden Admin and Dem Party. 2 areas of concern for me are the official stories we get from politicians and media outlets like NYT on Covid and Ukraine. These are extremely important, and unlike Q-anon conspiracy theories, the lies we're told are believable because most people aren't going to spend a lot of time searching for evidence that contradicts them.
A NYT article, "Covid Masking: The Last Holdouts" quotes "expert" Trevor Bedford-- a virologist who works at a Cancer Institute in Seattle-- saying
[T]he risk of Covid is similar to that of the flu, with one death in
2,000 infections, about one tenth of what it was originally, with one death in 200 infections.
The actual data (fr Johns Hopkins) shows it is ~1 fatality per 138 infections. No corrections so far.
https://twitter.com/danalud...
The article is clearly written to discourage mask wearing, with sentences like:
While many [experts] recommend masking indoors, they also say individual risk calculations should take into account that the virus is almost certainly here to stay and people need to ask: Do I want to mask, perhaps for decades?
and
On social media, many of the Covid risk-averse have reported entreaties to attend holiday gatherings they fear would expose them to unacceptable health risks. Many declined to speak on the record, for fear of reprisal or ridicule from employers or social groups. Others say the shift in attitudes has sometimes made them question themselves...[One mask wearer said] "Now it's like I'm one of the crazy people."
[And] Sometimes family members and friends can get a little exasperated by the hyper concern. Rafael Oro, 64, a business analyst in Union, N.J., said he has chafed at his wife’s continuing caution. While he is ready to return to prepandemic routines, “we have yet to see a play,” he noted.
The thing is, many epidemiologists are far more inclined to criticize the Biden Admin and CDC for all but giving up on accurate and consistent safety messaging. And though the media doesn't cover it, a new spate of CDC PSAs warn that anyone over 50 or with chronic illnesses should see a doctor immediately if they feel any symptoms as it can be "deadly" in those demographic groups.
UKRAINE:
On Ukraine, there have been so many lies I don't know where to begin. Just this week the head of the private American Mozart Group (which is on the front lines training the Ukrainians got a bit tipsy in an interview and let slip descriptions of Ukrainian atrocities, corruption, false media narratives in the Western papers et al. For example,
It's a very dirty war and Ukrainians are committing plenty of violations including killing Russian prisoners. As soon as we see videos of Ukrainians killing POW's we say 'Dudes, we're going to a different unit. We're very professional. I mean, everybody knows you shouldn't kill dudes that have already surrendered. And there was plenty of that. There's all kinds of atrocities...We need to tell them,'you don't do shit like this, and if you do you're just like the Russians.'
Col. Andrew Milburn on the gov't there:
I happen to have a Ukrainian flag in my bag, but it's not like I'm all 'Ukraine is SO awesome.' Because I understand there are all kinds of fucked up people running Ukraine. It's not about Ukraine. It's about global norms. It's about Putin. It's about dudes in the 21st century running around like Putin doing what they want.'
And this from a guy who is helping Ukraine, though he also says the loss of Ukrainian life is not sustainable, and the "Ukraine is winning" media coverage is "horseshit." It's a war of attrition, he says, and it is the Ukrainians that are bleeding as well as the Russians.
Newsweek ran a sanitized version of some of these comments from Andrew Milburn here: https://www.newsweek.com/us... I watched the entire 2 1/4 hr. interview on youtube here (which is where I got the quotes I used): https://www.youtube.com/wat... Few if any other outlets have reported the story and allegations. Milburn, in a comment to Newsweek said the statements need to be understood in context of a "balanced discussion of the Ukrainian war effort." Whatever his intentions, the statements he made as one of the few Americans on the front lines-- someone working with Zelensky-- are totally incriminating, and yet passed over by the jingoistic reporting about good Ukrainians who practice democracy and value the rule of law. And this is just reaching from this weeks news. I could go on and on, as economist and diplomat Jeffrey Sachs has done on both these issues (as chair of The Lancet Committee on Covid, and as someone who knows-- and worked with-- many of the key players in post-Soviet Ukraine, Poland, Russia and other East European nations). The big policies of our time are being made by Democrats, and they are often very troubling and misrepresented by the media. This is worth pointing out, and not just the outrageous and obvious lies of election deniers, Q-addicts, Christian Nationalists, and sleazy Trump loyalists.
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