Republicans Are Willing To Use the Science They Claim To Hate
By Thom Hartmann A...
Donald Trump was on television this morning sounding manic but not coughing. It seems he's gotten another steroid shot and is feeling better.He attributes his recovery, or has in the last week, to the new monoclonal antibody cocktail from Regeneron that he took early in the course of his disease. And it may well be a wonder drug.
What is almost never discussed in news reports about this, however, is that Regeneron developed this drug the same way most monoclonal antibodies are developed and tested: using tissue from abortions.
Meanwhile, Trump is trying to put on the Supreme Court a woman who would not only end all abortions, but would outlaw in-vitro fertilization and possibly even birth-control.
The war on science that Republicans have been waging for the past 40 years has two foundations.
First, Republicans have opposed any sort of science that would expose how destructive fossil fuels are to our planet or that would hold industry and big agriculture to any liability for the poisons they are spreading throughout our environment.
The second foundation of their opposition to science is religious fanaticism. Big business and the millionaires and billionaires it creates are not a large enough voting block to gain political power, so back in the 1980s the Republican Party reached out to hard-core fanatics in the religious right and brought them into their coalition of billionaires, bigots and bullies.
Now the GOP is more and more resembling a softer American version of the Taliban: embrace the religious fanatics, openly oppose public education and science, and do everything possible to disempower women.
As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted this morning, "There is nothing 'pro-life' about denying people comprehensive sexual education, making birth control harder to access, forcing others to give birth against their will, and stripping them of healthcare and food assistance afterwards."
Now Trump is calling Kamala Harris a "monster." Like so many men in the Republican Party, he has complete disdain for women and people of color.
They're doing everything they can to drag us back to the feudal 15th century, with Senator Mike Lee even arguing that America is not a democracy.
The world is facing a cascading series of crises, from climate change to overpopulation to the destruction of life on earth that has become so extensive scientists are now referring to the "insect apocalypse."
Science is increasingly critical to saving human civilization, at the same time these people are embracing positions that date back to beliefs that emerged during the Bronze Age.
America must rejoin the rest of the civilized world and reject anti-science religious fanaticism and the domination of society by oligarchs and kleptocrats. The fate and future of the world is at stake.
-Thom
Comments
#2
Kamala is not a monster, but she knows exactly what kind of monster is running around the White House grounds infecting innocent staffers. Prump proves everyday that whatever common decency he was born with, Fred and Mary Ann destroyed.
I said before, what goes up, must come down. Jesus, Mary & Joseph! What is that going to be like?! I guess we will see soon. Please please please let us just get through the election. After that he and the Grim Reaper can meet on any battlefield. My money is still on the Reaper. The Wolverine Watchmen won't be there to help Donald, and a bunch of his other confederates will be home fighting Covid-19.
Theoretically the fetal tissue testing should drive the "christian" righties crazy. They think everything is cut and dry, so let's see if they have a crisis of conscience, or skip that part and go back to worshipping their dear leader instead of their god.
#3
*IRONIC* the science denier king would get the latest and greatest scientific advancements on COVID-19 treatment.
*IRONIC* it was a treatment developed with stem cell research, that Republicans are steadfastly against.
*IRONIC* if these treatment end up saving his life after he was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people by blocking pandemic procedures.
*IRONIC* Democrats primary election cheating put Trump in the White House and they somehow blame the Green party.
*PAINFUL* Our dysfunctional (corrupt) government.
#4
The mainstream media put Trump in office. Trump got massive TV coverage for free. Bernie was taken out because he wants to get money out of politics. The Media makes billions off of the election process. So they took Bernie out in both elections. 2016 was lack of coverage. 2020 was blowing up 1 comment that Castro had improved the education level in Cuba. That turned him into the Socialist of the Century. The media is a very strong force. Especially Fox News which uses brainwashing techniques of driving its opinion (and acting like it is news) and constantly repeating it.
#5
A train wreck every day, but today it got him 1 free hour on Fox Business "News" with Maria Bartiromo. He will keep pushing the arrest Biden talk. Repeating it enough that his gullible base buys into it. Fox will also repeat it and repeat it. They will call for more investigations even though it has been investigated. The weak minded Trump supporters love it. Did Biden get a free hour? Yesterday Deepspace posted about Nancy Pelosi giving a Barn burner speech, it got very little coverage. Trump tweets to stop negotiations on relief and it burns up the media time and drives the Dow down 600 points. Trump tweets get massive coverage and they are free. They are selling Trump signs in town. Big ones. His base loves to advertise their lack of IQ. Biden signs are free. Trump has turned his virus into major media. Now he is claiming that he saved 2 million lives and the media repeats it and does not report it as a lie.
"The medium is the message"
A statement by Marshall McLuhan in 1964, meaning that the form of a message (print, visual, musical, etc.) determines the ways in which that message will be perceived. McLuhan argued that modern electronic communications (including radio, television, films, and computers) would have far-reaching sociological, aesthetic, and philosophical consequences, to the point of actually altering the ways in which we experience the world.
#6
Republicans have ignored the sciences of Mathematics and Economics for years in policies and proposals for Social Security, the economy, taxes, national debt, deficits, savings, risk... Instead their policies operate by emotions, and deceptive sound bite platitudes: Fear - of gigantic deficits, hyper inflation, and bankruptcy - VS - Greed in the possibility of acquiring massive wealth when risk is taken. "Personal Responsibilty" is required for each American to provide for their retirement on their own.
But, Republicans do not have a specific plan for what happens after their proposals take effect. For example, their "plan" to eliminate Social Security really means the privitization of retirement savings for all Americans. Apply Math and Economic Science to their "solution", and you will see the Republicans' instead offer a guaranteed epic failure for American's retirement plans:
In order for each American to have just today's meager average $31,000 annual retirement income as provided by Social Security plus other sources in today's world, one must be able to save $800,000* during 35 working years, for retirement starting at 65. At today's 1% interest rates, saving 10% of one's income for 35 years to set aside $19,203 each year to grow to $800,000, each person needs to earn $192,030 salary per year! American businesses have never come close to offering each and every worker $192,030 per year. Furthermore, the 50 years and older worker and their higher salaries are considered too expensive by businesses, so laid off, older workers will have greater rates of failure in saving for retirement.
This example reveals the real world, science based result of accepting the Republican desire to erase Social Security from our country, and require each person to do all of their own retirement savings.
*800,000 as a 30 year annuity at 1% will pay out $31,000 per year, and be fully depleted for those who live beyond 95.
#7
The two key drugs that were given to Trump made use of fetal tissue for their development, something that would be banned with the addition of a right wing religious fanatic to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was also given dexamethasone and the common side effects of this super steroid include aggression, agitation, anxiety, irritability, mental depression, mood changes, nervousness, trouble thinking, speaking, or walking - so one has to wonder how long he has been on this drug or other steroids.
#8
To alis volat:
To make record straight, it is not Jesus, Mary & Joseph. It is originally written/known as Iesus, Maria and Ioseph. And yes, Eve supposed to be Chauwha, David supposed to be Dauid, John supposed to be Iohn, Jericho supposed to be Iericho, Jordan supposed to be Iordan, Jerusalem supposed to be Ierusalem, Joshua supposed to be Ioshua. And for Jesus Christ, it is actually Iesus Cristo. And the list goes on and on.
Why am I mentioning this to you? it is because Christianity didn't start from "America" or "Europe." It started northeastern tip/corner of Africa!!! Therefore, it won't have any English names to begin with. Because of this fact, christianity is not "white people's religion" like many people in this country believes and been told. You know why they (white evangelical people in this country) still do it? it is all because of "Freedom of Religion." In other words, WHO CARES OF THE FACTS.
From Mark 7:6
He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
I'm sure that you know what our Lord said about giving back to poor:
From Deuteronomy 15:7
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.
From Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
But today's "white evalengicals" are not even close to giving back or help them, as you can see what is happening through COVID-19.
Check out these books:
Homewreckers: How a gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnites, Crooked Banks, Vulture Capitalists suckered millions out of their homes and demolished the American Dream (Aaron Glantz)
The Color of Money: Black Banks and the racial wealth gap (Mehrsa Baradaran)
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities (Jessica Trounstine)
The Birth Dearth: What Happens When People in Free Countries Don't Have Enough Babies? (Ben J. Wattenberg)
Since "The Birth Dearth" book is way too expansive, here is the summary from latimes:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-02-bk-722-story.html
#9
@ # 8; Good post, thanks for the dose of reaility..
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Ahem. Henceforth from this day forward, it is hereby decreed that every subject's toilet throughout the Kingdom shall be called a "trump."
I gotta take a trump.