Blog note: COVID

A couple of days ago I felt crappy. 🤒 I tested twice for COVID. Was positive twice. Still feel crappy. My blogging might be limited for the next couple of days or until the crappiness significantly lifts.

A couple of days ago the fed govt stopped monitoring new cases of COVID. Now we are flying blind in the pandemic. Yes, it is still a pandemic. So far in 2024, ~24,000 people have died of COVID in the US. This isn't over and it won't be for a long time.

Two Fox News stories for your amusement.

 YES.......................... Amusement.  

Trump Loses It At Fox News, Says No One Can Trust It

The former president is once again lashing out at the network for letting a guest speak critically of him.

“Nobody can ever trust Fox News, and I am one of them, with the weak and ineffective RINO, Paul Ryan, on its Board of Directors,” the presumed GOP nominee for president wrote, using the acronym for “Republican in name only.”

“He’s a total lightweight, a failed and pathetic Speaker of the House, and a very disloyal person,” the former president continued.

A representative for Fox News didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the former president’s remarks. (No, what a surprise!!)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-fox-news-paul-ryan_n_66733658e4b0a1f905bb17c9

Fox News poll finds Biden ahead of Trump by two points

President Biden leads former President Trump by two points in a national poll of the presidential election published by Fox News on Wednesday, taking a lead for the first time since last October.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4730684-fox-news-poll-finds-biden-ahead-trump/

WOW, two whole points, break out the champagne!!

Jewish senators are getting nervous

The Hill reports:

Jewish senators alarmed by Alito’s pro-Christian agenda

Jewish Democratic senators are alarmed by conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s sympathy for basing government on Christian principles — something he expressed at a Supreme Court gala when he endorsed the idea of returning the nation to a place of “godliness.”

Democratic senators, including several Jewish lawmakers, fear Alito’s majority opinions in several high-profile cases, such as the Dobbs decision, which overturned the right to abortion, were driven by his religious views.

And they are not buying Alito’s claim that he had nothing to do with and couldn’t prevent the flying of an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol of the Christian nationalist movement, at his New Jersey beach house.

Senate Democrats say members of the Supreme Court have a right to religious freedom but warn that when they try to impose their religious views on others, it crosses a line.

A Jewish Democratic senator who requested anonymity to comment on Alito said he is pushing a sectarian religious agenda on the court.

“I don’t think there’s really any doubt. I don’t think Alito and [conservative Justice Clarence] Thomas are being shy. They have a view of the world, and they’re trying to establish an official religion, and a specific denomination,” the lawmaker said.

One has to wonder if Christian Democratic senators are alarmed about radical authoritarian Christian nationalism (CN), if they are part of the CN movement, or if they don't care about anything other than re-election. If they are alarmed, they are not vocal about it as far as I can tell. The Democratic Party is pathetic. 

Improvement in diagnosing depression; Global cooling biomolecule discovery

Researchers at Stanford have published a study that has (1) uncovered six different types of depression, and (2) found that some of the different types respond to standard anti-depression treatments better than others:

A Stanford Medicine study reveals six subtypes of depression, identified through brain imaging and machine learning. These subtypes exhibit unique brain activity patterns, helping predict which patients will benefit from specific antidepressants or behavioral therapies. This approach aims to personalize and improve depression treatment efficacy.

Better methods for matching patients with treatments are desperately needed, said the study’s senior author, Leanne Williams, PhD, the Vincent V.C. Woo Professor, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and the director of Stanford Medicine’s Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness.

Brain imaging combined with a type of AI called machine learning can reveal subtypes of depression and anxiety. The study, to be published today (June 17) in the journal Nature Medicine, sorts depression into six biological subtypes, or “biotypes,” and identifies treatments that are more likely or less likely to work for three of these subtypes.

Around 30% of people with depression have what’s known as treatment-resistant depression, meaning multiple kinds of medication or therapy have failed to improve their symptoms. And for up to two-thirds of people with depression, treatment fails to fully reverse their symptoms to healthy levels.

That’s in part because there’s no good way to know which antidepressant or type of therapy could help a given patient. Medications are prescribed through a trial-and-error method, so it can take months or years to land on a drug that works — if it ever happens. And spending so long trying treatment after treatment, only to experience no relief, can worsen depression symptoms.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time we’ve been able to demonstrate that depression can be explained by different disruptions to the functioning of the brain,” Williams said. “In essence, it’s a demonstration of a personalized medicine approach for mental health based on objective measures of brain function.”

Given how primitive and ineffective depression treatments generally are, this seems like an important and promising avenue of research to pursue further. For new patients who present with depression, an initial brain scan could point to treatments that have a better chance of offering some relief sooner. This research starts to debunk the idea of one size fits all, trial and error for treating depression. I hope this pans out and turns out to be the start of a major advance in treating depression.  

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STD reports about ocean a climate-cooling compound that some ocean algae make:

Global Cooling Breakthrough: Scientists Discover 

Ocean Algae’s Crucial Climate Impact

Researchers have identified Pelagophyceae algae as significant producers of DMSP, a compound crucial for climate regulation. This discovery suggests higher than expected levels of DMSP and its byproduct DMS, impacting global climate cooling.

The researchers identified the bloom-forming Pelagophyceae algae as potentially abundant and important producers of a compound called dimethylsulfoniopropionate, or DMSP.

Co-lead author Professor Jonathan Todd, of UEA’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “The Pelagophyceae are amongst the most abundant algae on Earth, yet they were not previously known as important producers of DMSP.

“This discovery is exciting because DMSP is an abundant antistress compound, food source for other microorganisms, and major source of climate-cooling gases.”

Every year, billions of tonnes of DMSP are produced in the Earth’s oceans by marine microorganisms, helping them to survive by protecting against various stresses like changes in salinity, cold, high pressure, and oxidative stress.

Importantly, DMSP is the main source of a climate active gas called dimethylsulfide (DMS), which is known as the smell of the seaside.

When DMS is released into the atmosphere, DMS oxidation products help form clouds that reflect sunlight away from the Earth, effectively cooling the planet.

This natural process is essential for regulating the Earth’s climate and is also hugely important for the global sulfur cycle, representing the main route by which sulfur from the oceans is returned to land.

Interesting. The smell of the ocean comes from DMS. 

If more DMSP and DMS can be coaxed out of the oceans, this might turn out to be an important bit of knowledge for dealing with global warming.

News: Christians against CN make a noise; FA resource page on CN; A MSM criticism

Newsweek reports that some real Christians are starting to get vexed with faux Christian theocrats (Christian nationalists) stinking up the church and giving their religion a bad name:

Thousands Sign Christian Petition Demanding 

Samuel Alito Resign: 'Unfit'

A petition created by Faithful America is nearing its goal of signatures on Sunday as they demand Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to resign amid his recent controversies.

In its petition from Wednesday, with a goal of 15,000 signatures, Faithful America, an organization of Christians supporting social justice causes while opposing "Christian nationalism," is demanding the conservative justice resign after he was heard in a secret recording agreeing that the United States should return "to a place of godliness" as well as for two flags that were previously flown outside the justice's home.

"You are unfit to serve on our nation's highest court, and we demand that you immediately resign...This man is far from impartial and cannot remain a justice on our nation's highest court. As a grassroots movement of Christians, let's join together to demand that Justice Alito immediately resign," the petition states.

You can sign the petition here. They are going to need a heck of a lot more than 15,000 signatures.

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The Faithful America website has a really great page devoted to describing and fighting against CN (Christian nationalism). Here are two snippets of info:

What is Christian nationalism, and why is it a threat?

As defined by multiple sociologists and academic researchers, Christian nationalism is a political ideology and cultural framework that claims America was founded to be a "Christian nation" where Christians should receive special legal treatment not available to non-Christians. This merges the previously separate Christian and American identities, proclaiming that the only true Americans are the country's Christians (and a specific subset of conservative Christians, at that). This means that Christian nationalism is antisemitic and Islamophobic, and poses a threat to the religious freedom of America's Jews, Muslims, Indigenous peoples, mainline Protestant Christians, and more.

Is Christian nationalism Christian?

No, Christian nationalism is a political ideology and a form of nationalism, not a religion or a form of Christianity. It directly contradicts the Gospel in multiple ways, and is therefore considered by many Christian leaders to be a heresy. While Jesus taught love, peace, and truth, Christian nationalism leads to hatred, political violence, and QAnon misinformation. While Jesus resisted the devil's temptations of authority in the wilderness, Christian nationalism seeks to seize power for its followers at all costs. And while Christianity is a 2,000-year-old global tradition that transcends all borders, Christian nationalism seeks to merge faith with a single, 247-year-old, pluralistic nation.

Woof! Those Christians are getting to be a feisty lot!

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From the Milquetoast MSM Files: 

A retired federal judge says Judge Cannon 

appears to show 'favoritism' toward Trump

Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, continues to make decisions that puzzle many legal observers.

Last month, Cannon delayed the start of the trial indefinitely. She's taken months to make routine procedural decisions.

Retired judge Shira Scheindlin: The main thing that stood out to me is how she has constantly caused delay in the case instead of moving it forward. She's done that in, I would say, two ways. One is her inability to rule in an efficient manner. She holds onto motions. She keeps them pending. She can't seem to decide things. Most experienced judges, which of course I considered myself after 27 years, try to know which motions really require further consideration and argument and which, you know, instinctively you could say frankly, one word: denied. And you can rule from the bench.

The second thing that stands out to me is what appears to me to be her dislike of the government and her favoritism toward the defense. I'm not saying that that's going to, in the end, determine how she rules on everything, but she seems to have a visceral dislike of Jack Smith and his team. She's constantly criticizing them. She's constantly being sharp and sarcastic with them, and she almost never treats the defense that way.

Appears to show favoritism? Legal observers are puzzled? For real? Geez, what planet are we on here?

If something walks, talks, looks, smells and acts like a judge showing blatant favoritism to a party in a trial in their courtroom, it is the judge showing blatant favoritism. What planet do the elites in the MSM live on? It sure isn't Earth.

Q1: What the hell is wrong with the MSM, e.g., is it corrupted, co-opted, inept, biased, clueless, and/or something else? (this dreary news reporting is from NPR) 

Q2: Do you believe the following sentiment is mostly true, false or ambiguous?

(FWIW, I believe it is usually mostly true 

and in the case of DJT, completely true)

Thinking about DJT; Dem messaging; Misc.

Lately the news has been pretty much the same. Trump lies. Trump slanders. Trump is corrupt. Trump hates the rule of law applied to himself. Trump hates democracy, but lies about it. Trump has dementia, but Biden is old. Trump says something outrageous and the MSM gives him free air time and support by reporting his nonsense. Trump etc. 

It does not seem worth it to post about it much any more. By now, either people see the gravity and depth of America’s very real, very corrupt, authoritarian radical right anti-democracy threat or they don’t or can’t. Either they can see the rise of kleptocratic plutocracy, Christian fundamentalist theocracy and Trump-style autocracy or they cannot or will not. People know Trump or they do not.

Maybe a lot of Americans knowingly support the fall of their democracy, rule of law and civil liberties. I bet that very few of them would say that, maybe ~2%, while vehemently asserting (i) they are doing the opposite of what they are doing, while (ii) the Dems are doing mostly the opposite of what they are doing.

These are strange, unpleasant days. Like the very real reality of Trump, the very real power of decades of radical right dark free speech, planning and quiet, focused work against democracy and civil liberties cannot be denied. American authoritarianism has crystallized around its leader. He means to use all of his power and cause as much damage to democracy pro-public interest government as he possibly can, while serving himself and elites as much as possible with government on serving them.

To some non-trivial extent, the leadership of the Democratic Party does not appear to fully understand what America faces from the authoritarian radical right. That seems to be especially true of Joe Biden. But maybe his milquetoast style of politics masks a deeper understanding of the threat than his behavior conveys. Regardless of what he might know, we are stuck with Joe and his rather inept, probably partly subverted center to center-right Democratic Party.

Among the polling intelligentsia, there is a bit of evidence of a recent shift of sentiment away from the election being a coin toss to Trump probably being the winner if the election were to be held today. This far out, it is not clear whether that means anything or not. That may be just a minority view. Maybe it could vanish in the wake of a gigantic October surprise like Trump dropping dead from old age.

Q: Is it more useful than not to keep posting bad stuff that we already know about Trump?

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Vox reports about a common complaint about weak or ineffective Democratic Party messaging:

Biden’s overlooked campaign to protect Americans from Big Business

Many Americans are focused on inflation, but from Big Tech to junk fees, Biden is advancing a pro-consumer agenda

Through his executive authority, Biden has taken steps to combat “junk fees” — hidden fees that make everything from airline bookings to concert tickets more expensive than their sticker price, but also just feel like shady corporate attempts to get the better of consumers. He has also required companies to provide more transparency in their pricing.

His administration has also tackled monopolies like it’s the Roosevelt era, filing a flurry of sweeping lawsuits against major companies, including four Big Tech companies, on the grounds that they are harming competition in their industries and, therefore, American consumers.

Though those lawsuits have yet to be decided, they have already put companies on watch and, if successful, could create new legal precedents that would protect consumers well after Biden leaves office.  

In both its use of executive action and litigation, the Biden administration has been “more aggressive on antitrust than any previous administration in at least the last 50 to 75 years,” said Andre Delattre, who directs national campaign programs at the Public Interest Network, a public interest advocacy group.

It is fair to say that if Trump is put back in power and he moves to implement Project 2025 with authoritarian radical right Republicans in control of the US Senate, everything Biden has done will be attacked and reversed as much as possible, as fast as possible.

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Trump threatens to cut US aid to Ukraine quickly if reelected -- Ukraine’s allies are scrambling to secure long-term aid for Kyiv amid fears about a second Trump term -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted the scale of U.S. support for Ukraine and said that if he is reelected in November he would immediately “have that settled.”

There, that foreign policy issue is settled.

Trump challenges Biden to a cognitive test but confuses the name of the doctor who tested him -- Donald Trump has suggested President Joe Biden “should have to take a cognitive test,” only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence

Lara Trump is building an army of ‘100,000 poll watchers and over 500 lawyers’ to ‘deploy’ across America in November -- These volunteers will have three missions: Watch people vote, watch people count votes, and sue anybody who gets in the way. “I believe if we have a free, fair and transparent election that there’s no question we’ll all be going to bed early on November 5,” she said. Following her remarks — which were full of militaristic language such as “deploy” and “battleground” — the assembled volunteers (around 75 in total) began “training” as potential poll watchers. The press was not allowed to view the training, The Post’s request to view training materials was declined.

Actually, those poll watchers have a fourth mission: Intimidate as many Democratic voters as possible. Notice the secrecy? The radical right has always worked in as much secrecy as possible. It has lied as much as possible about its agenda and tactics, e.g., FTZWS (flood the zone with shit).

Neo-Nazi who protested drag shows has been arrested on child porn charges -- The Nationalist Social Club-131, a neo-Nazi group, is known for harassing drag queen story hours and calling queens “pedo scum.” Now one of its members has been charged with possessing child pornography. The Nationalist Social Club-131, a neo-Nazi group, is known for harassing drag queen story hours and calling queens “pedo scum.” Now one of its members has been charged with possessing child pornography.

Some of those Trump supporters are feisty little stinkers. Hypocrites too! 🤨

Bannon vows Trump’s opponents will be prosecuted in a second term -- Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, vowed investigations and prosecutions of those who have probed the former president and his political allies, declaring at a conservative gathering Saturday that Inauguration Day in 2025 will be “accountability day.” “You are going to be investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated,” he said. “This has nothing to do with retribution. It has nothing to do with revenge. Because retribution and revenge might be another order of magnitude. This has to do with justice.” Bannon was referring to recent comments by Trump vowing to be his supporters’ “retribution” and saying that “sometimes revenge can be justified.”

Geez, all of that sounds like it has everything to do with retribution and revenge and little or nothing to do with justice. Whatever, that is just standard authoritarian radical right messaging.