Crisis and Cure: Writing Both Political and Personal

GOP Gets In. Babies Die. End Of Story. Here’s an interesting little informational tidbit. A recent study has shown that there is a direct link between Republican-dominated state legislatures and higher infant mortality rates.(1) When the GOP runs the state house, more babies die. (2) That’s it. That’s the whole story in a nutshell. We can get a little bit more detailed. Basically what happens is that Republican-dominated state legislatures are economically conservative, or, if you like, more libertarian. That means they don’t spend as much on public health. If they can help it, they don’t spend anything at all because, of course, the whole idea of “public spending” is offensive to them.   So…and this is like no freaking surprise at all…with fewer medical resources available to those who may not be able to afford the best of care in the first place…infants start dying.   The question, of course, is whether economic conservatives/libertarians are aware of this fact. If not, then they may

  by Luke Haines J'accuse! Call me a radical, but I'm starting to think that Fox News and its ilk might not be 100% healthy for people.     I'm kidding, of course, because sarcasm is sometimes the only way to face the awful truth of things. The internet is rife with stories and support groups dealing with those who have "lost" parents to Fox News, or One America.   One that really stayed with me was the cable repair lady who was called to a home where the signal was out, and who eventually botched together a repair because the wife had pulled her to one side and explained, tearfully, that her husband needed to have Fox so that he could vent his rage at the screen instead of taking it out on her. [ https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5c0ea571e4b06484c9fd4c21/amp ]   Clearly, Fox News and its steroidal siblings in the social media conspiracy sphere, are doing monumental damage to people's minds. This usually leads to someone asking "How did we end up here?!&

Oops. They did it again... So a while back I wrote about how China’s new found aggressiveness has driven the US, the UK, and Australia into a de facto   alliance. I noted that it looked a little like the old Anglosphere concept.   Well, guess what, now Japan and Vietnam have gotten into the act. Asia Times is reporting that the two countries have very quietly established a new relationship where-by Vietnam will be able to buy Japanese military and other technology (including ships!). Moreover, the two countries have agreed to joint military exercises and new ties between the countries’ Armed Forces. Ah, China… Or, to put it another way… President Xi, did you think the title of the book was How To Lose Friends and Alienate People ? Just asking. ~mjt * Source: “Japan, Vietnam gently coming together against China, Landmark military deal allows Tokyo for first time to sell military wares and share sensitive defense technology with Hanoi,”   by Nate Fischler, Asia Times, September 21, 2021,

Who's on first? Ain't you, Gov. Greg... So I’m no fan of actors in politics (can you say “Ronald Reagan?”), and I never take opinion polls seriously (you’ll recall that Hillary Clinton was supposed to be a shoo-in).   But, that said, I saw an interesting piece of news the other day. It involves my present state of residence, Texas, and its governor, the abysmal Greg Abbott (R), he of the no-mask mandates and the abortion ban. It seems that according to one poll by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas, Abbott may be getting into a spot of trouble.* His approval rating has dropped to 45%, mostly because of his mishandling of Covid (and man! He has mishandled it. We are at over 60 thousand deaths so far.) And, to make matters more interesting still, Matthew McConaughey, the actor, has hinted he might like to run for governor, and he is now leading Abbott by about nine points. In a word, interesting. Personally, I’d rather not see McConaughey in the governor’s mansio

  Let's Read! Just some articles and other things you might like to read when you have a moment: *I wrote a while back about how Al Franken might consider a run for Senate. Meanwhile, t he Washington Post is doing an article about his new comedy routine , which roasts a lot of his former colleagues. Go for it, Al. They deserve a lot worse. *The Week is reporting that China’s Xi seems to want to move his country to a system that is much more Maoist and socialist. The article quotes a China Expert as saying that Xi’s system would be a government directed economy and would be like nothing in the world. To which I have to object. Directed economies of one form or another have tried all over the world. They’ve ranged from benevolent to Fascist. In Xi’s case, I fear it will closer to Mussolini than not. *In a recent interview on the Today show, Britain’s PM, Boris Johnson, has said that dealing with Joe Biden is “like a breath of fresh air” after Trump. I’m not a big Johnson fan, but, I

Are You Putin Me On? So there are elections in Russia as I write this (on Sep 19, 2021). Reports indicate that Putin’s party is winning.(1). And, there are also reports that Putin’s party is cheating.(2) In a word, or rather two words, no kidding. Of course the reality is that Putin cheated his way into power in the first place. And some people got mysteriously killed along the way. Nothing serious, you understand. It was just that anyone who annoyed Putin seemed to get, gosh, a touch of food poisoning. Usually involving polonium 210. Or large caliber firearms. Purely accidental, of course. Could happen to anyone. Now he’s cheating his way into keeping that aforesaid power. And nobody is in the least bit surprised. Oh, one curious development. One of the parties which is running against Putin’s people, and the party which has been among the most vocal about the electoral irregularities along the way has been…wait for it… the old Russian Communist Party. Yes, folks, the good old Marxist

Deplorables, Doctors, and Vitamin D So I saw something interesting the other day. Apparently, there are a few, very limited studies which show that vitamin D could…might…maybe…help you not get Covid, and/or reduce the severity of the disease if you do get it.(1)   Ah, but there’s the rub. You’ll notice all the conditionals in that paragraph above. It could work. Or, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe the study was too small. Maybe something else was at play. Researchers definitely don’t want to give anybody false hope and are simply sending their findings out into the world so other scientists can do more studies to discover whether there is something really useful here. But, I also wonder if the researchers’ shyness reflects a deeper and more fundamental problem. To wit, we’ve already got multiple false cures being touted by the Right. That’s how we got people taking hydroxychloroquine and horse dewormers, not to mention drinking bleach.   The last thing we need right now is for the same Right-w

  A warning to the world... Note: This originally appeared on my personal blog on Sep 16, 2021. I am reproducing here because I feel, alas, that it remains far too relevant. If you wish to see the original, it is here: https://www.michaeljaytucker.com/post/india-covid-the-delta-of-death So I’ve just gotten an email from one of my medical service providers on the Delta variant of Covid-19. It makes for pretty scary reading. Seems that Delta is easier to communicate than the original, hits its victims harder, and may be somewhat resistant to vaccines. All scary. Of course, I should be quick to add that people who are vaccinated are much, much, much safer than those who aren’t. In fact, according to the CDC, the vaccines themselves seem to be pretty effective against Delta, which is a welcome bit of news for us all.(1) But, still, there is an awfully good chance we’ll be back to masks and social distancing by the Fall, and already there’s a race to develop a Delta-booster shot. But here’s