Red, White, and Code Blue

Health Nuts, Scotus Targets Voting Rights

There have been plenty of articles and books noting the consistency with which some people vote against their own economic interest. But today, there’s another even more invasive phenomenon: People are voting, and acting, against their own personal health and well being. Conspiracy theories, quack health leaders, and craven politicians doling out medical advice they’d never follow themselves have created a new era of self-harm in America. That’s bad for patients. And it’s increasingly bad for doctors. “When Dr. Banu Symington first moved to Rock Springs, Wyo., 30 years ago, she appreciated its empty desert landscapes and small-town respect for physicians like herself. Fast-forward to today. Some of Symington’s cancer patients curse at her for suggesting they vaccinate or wear masks to protect their weakened immune systems while undergoing chemotherapy. ‘I actually had a patient’s husband say, ‘You only want me to mask because you’re a liberal bitch.’” NPR: In rural America, scarce doctors battle misinformation as they practice medicine. And the prognosis isn’t good. There’s already a doctor shortage in many rural areas, it’s getting harder (if not impossible) to recruit doctors to areas where the pay is low and the patients are difficult, and “for many decades, the U.S. has relied heavily on foreign-born doctors; half the country’s oncology workforce, for example, comes from overseas. Now, in large part because of the Trump administration’s cuts to science, medicine and research funding, as well as new immigration policies, fewer physicians can — or want to — come to the U.S.” Millions of Americans are cutting off their noses to spite their face (and then refusing to get their noses re-attached because they’d rather do their own research than trust their otolaryngologist).

+ NYT (Gift Article): Most Americans Who Rely on Obamacare Live in Republican Areas. A political movement is asking voters, “Your money or your life?” And its followers are answering, “Actually, why don’t you just take both?”

2

Another Notice from Scotus

“A major redistricting case returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday could not only determine the fate of the federal Voting Rights Act, but also unlock a path for Republicans to pick up a slew of additional congressional seats.” A Supreme Court ruling on voting rights could boost Republicans’ redistricting efforts.

+ “The Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled deep skepticism today over a second majority Black district drawn in Louisiana, despite a lower court ruling that found the district was likely necessary to respect the landmark Voting Rights Act.” Here’s the latest from CNN.

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Manufacturing Descent

“Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.” Politico: ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat.

4

Bigger Phish to Fry

“Your highway toll payment is now past due, one text warns. You have U.S. Postal Service fees to pay, another threatens. You owe the New York City Department of Finance for unpaid traffic violations.” All those text messages you get are irritating. But for many people, they’re also costly. WSJ (Gift Article): Chinese Criminals Made More Than $1 Billion From Those Annoying Texts. (Luckily, spending half my day responding Stop to political texts leaves me too distracted to respond to phishing scams.)

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Extra, Extra

Chicago Bulls---: “As the agents left, they released tear gas, apparently without warning, sending people coughing and running for cover. Among those affected by the gas were 13 Chicago Police Department officers.” NYT (Gift Article) on America’s war on Chicago. ICE Is Cracking Down on Chicago. Some Chicagoans Are Fighting Back.

+ School Bully: “The Trump administration has hailed the career and technical training that community colleges provide, emphasizing the need for greater investment in skilled trades. Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, have expanded the use of the federal Pell Grant to more short-term programs, which policy experts say could be a boon for community colleges in coming years.” So community colleges are looking good, right? Well... Community colleges are losing millions in funding under Trump.

+ Powder Keg: Consumer Reports: Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead. This is especially troubling as we are living in a Protein Age Wasteland.

+ Wag the Dogma: “The curriculum was created as several states, including Oklahoma and Louisiana, fought to bring prayer or religious texts like the Ten Commandments into public school classrooms, blurring the line between church and state.” NYT(Gift Article): Inside a New Bible-Infused Texas English Curriculum.

+ Setting the Midterms: Trump threatens to cut aid to Argentina if Milei loses in midterms. (We used to export democracy. Now we export election interference.)

+ Face the Face: “An estimated 100 million people live with facial differences. As face recognition tech becomes widespread, some say they’re getting blocked from accessing essential systems and services.” Wired: When Face Recognition Doesn’t Know Your Face Is a Face.

+ Is That an Anthropomorphized Super Computer in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me? OpenAI will bring ‘erotica’ to ChatGPT once it rolls out age verification in December.

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Bottom of the News

“Academy coach Brendan King told the network: ‘As soon as I walked out of the locker room, my stomach kind of turned into knots. And I said: ‘I’m going to need to know if we really won this game or not.’ King went home that night and watched a recording of the game. He meticulously watched each play and recounted every basket – eventually discovering his team had actually lost.” Oklahoma girls’ basketball team returns championship after realizing they lost.

+ “The photographer was filming the landscape of Kolyuchin Island during a cruise in the Chukchi Sea in September, when he noticed polar bears using one of the abandoned buildings as a shelter.” That was lucky for him. And now it’s lucky for us. Photos show polar bears chilling at home in abandoned Russian research station.