Because, America

[Ivanhoe]

Yeah, remember this scene the next time some female supremacist talks about how women are better leaders.

 

[rmgill]

Almost entertaining....I'll give it a 3 out of 10. 

[Der Zeitgeist]

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

He will be roasting his nuts before long.

[Ivanhoe]

https://reason.com/volokh/2024/05/19/indiana-court-rules-burritos-and-tacos-qualify-as-sandwiches/

Quote

An Indiana court recently touched off a firestorm of media attention and online debate by ruling that burritos and tacos are sandwiches. The decision exemplifies a longstanding issue in legal interpretation: how to figure out the "ordinary meaning" of words in a statute or regulation. It also highlights the absurdity of zoning rules restricting the development and use of property.

Had he been given the opportunity to sample a taco, I have no doubt that John Montagu would have approved.

[alejandro_]

U.S. Overdose Deaths Decline for First Time Since 2018
Fentanyl deaths ease but remain near historic highs

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/u-s-overdose-deaths-decline-for-first-time-since-2018-eef56ade

To put the data into perspective, the US lost <60,000 men during the Vietnam War.

[Rick]

46 minutes ago, alejandro_ said:

U.S. Overdose Deaths Decline for First Time Since 2018
Fentanyl deaths ease but remain near historic highs

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/u-s-overdose-deaths-decline-for-first-time-since-2018-eef56ade

To put the data into perspective, the US lost <60,000 men during the Vietnam War.

Poor choices can have great consequences. 

[bojan]

It is not just poor choices, it is also straight out scams by pharma like Oxytocin .

Edited May 22, 2024 by bojan

[NickM]

11 minutes ago, bojan said:

It is not just poor choices, it is also straight out scams by pharma like Oxytocin .

While I ain't sure fentanyl is related to big pharma, I am disturbed by the corruption in the medical profession, the issues these meds. 

 

[alejandro_]

2 hours ago, NickM said:

While I ain't sure fentanyl is related to big pharma, I am disturbed by the corruption in the medical profession, the issues these meds. 

I am not sure about the US but in the UK these medicines are heavily regulated and not easy to access. In some countries you can buy Diazepan as you buy lollypops (Mexico one of them).

[NickM]

1 hour ago, alejandro_ said:

I am not sure about the US but in the UK these medicines are heavily regulated and not easy to access. In some countries you can buy Diazepan as you buy lollypops (Mexico one of them).

I'm more concerned about fentanyl smuggled by the cartels, via China 

Edited May 22, 2024 by NickM

[Ivanhoe]

Yeah, two different problems.

In terms of sheer numbers, street fentanyl is an order of magnitude bigger problem than Rx opiates.

A year or two ago, I read an article wherein the journalist looked at the assertion that over-prescription of opiates was a driver for fentanyl abuse. He or she found very little connection. Another conclusion was that the FDA's narrative about over-prescription of opiates wasn't overly accurate.

 

[rmgill]

Two things can be true. 
 

Opiates were prescribed in ways that ignored the risk factors and fentanyl precursors are shipped to Mexico from China and smuggled into to the US at an alarming rate and are causing an extraordinary problem in the illegal drug use and other adjacent sectors (ie EMS responding to a call can suffer serious life threatening exposure). 

[Murph]

[NickM]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:32 AM, Ivanhoe said:

Yeah, two different problems.

In terms of sheer numbers, street fentanyl is an order of magnitude bigger problem than Rx opiates.

A year or two ago, I read an article wherein the journalist looked at the assertion that over-prescription of opiates was a driver for fentanyl abuse. He or she found very little connection. Another conclusion was that the FDA's narrative about over-prescription of opiates wasn't overly accurate.

 

Well, you can shake down the big pharma but you can't shake down the zetas or Sinaloa 

[bojan]

Could be because Balkans also.

Only place in Serbia that has Dr.Pepper always available is Russian totally not Russian owned local subsiduary of  Gazprom gas station chain.

There is a cheap chain of "Russian" supermarkets (subsidiary of the Russian Svetafor hard discount supermarket chain). Other than things that are exotic in Serbia (various Russian sweets) it also has decent discount to walnuts, pistachios, almonds etc. Those are imported from the USA. So cheapest almonds, walnuts and pistachios in Serbia are imported from the US (Iranian pistachios are more expensive!) and sold in the Russian supermarket.

Sanctions? New Cold War? Bullshit I say.

Edited June 8, 2024 by bojan

[DB]

On 4/15/2024 at 2:59 PM, Ivanhoe said:

Developed before, but manufactured after.

I was already avoiding airline flight like the plague, due to the inconveniences and discomfort involved. Boeing ain't helping.

Neither of the two vanilla (-200 and -300) aircraft are in production at the moment. Without investigating deeply, I'd suggest that everything up to the -900 is "safe" and the 777X appears to be entirely post-culture fail and with the folding wingtips I'd call that a sufficiently significant design change to warrant a raised eyebrow.

[sunday]

Truth? Lies?

Full interview:

 

Edited June 9, 2024 by sunday

[Ivanhoe]

When it comes to the topic of Jews, one should take Massie with the same size grain of salt that one would use when parsing statements by Louis Farrakhan.

 

[sunday]

1 hour ago, Ivanhoe said:

When it comes to the topic of Jews, one should take Massie with the same size grain of salt that one would use when parsing statements by Louis Farrakhan.

 

Why? His behaviour during the covid madness seems eminently balanced, for instance.

Quote

COVID-19 pandemic response

On March 27, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massie forced the return to Washington of members of the House who were "sheltering in place" in their districts by threatening a quorum call that would have required an in-person vote on the $2.2 trillion aid package that had passed the Senate by a 96–0 vote.[77] Before Massie arrived on the House floor, just two representatives were present to pass the bill by voice vote. On the House floor, Massie said he was trying to "make sure our republic doesn't die by unanimous consent in an empty chamber." His actions caused widespread concern about endangering members of Congress by requiring them to gather amid a pandemic.[78][79][80]

After Massie's unsuccessful push, Trump said Massie should be removed from the Republican Party, calling him a "third rate [g]randstander"; John Kerry quipped that he "tested positive for being an asshole"; Representative Sean Patrick Maloney tweeted, "@RepThomasMassie is indeed a dumbass"; Representative Dean Phillips called his actions a "principled but terribly misguided stunt". When Massie was confronted by a hostile press outside the House chamber, he said he was insulted by Trump's assertion: "I am at least second-rate."[citation needed] Some Republicans defended Massie: Paul Gosar called him a "good man and a solid conservative" and Chip Roy said Massie was "defending the Constitution today by requiring a quorum".[81]

In an interview with Politico, Massie said that "the fact that they brought all of these congressmen here in order to get a quorum shows you that I was right. The Constitution requires a quorum to pass a bill, and they were planning to subvert the Constitution". He also questioned why people such as grocery store employees or truck drivers should be expected to work during the pandemic, but not members of Congress, who "make $174,000 a year" and have "the best health care in the world".[79]

In April 2020, Massie was one of five House members to vote against the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, which added $320 billion of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program.[82][83] Trump signed the bill into law the next day.[84] In July 2020, he argued against face mask mandates and compulsory vaccinations.[85] He faced allegations of antisemitism after comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust (he later deleted the tweet).[86][87]

On January 30, 2022, Massie faced criticism for a Twitter attack on Anthony Fauci featuring a quote by neo-Nazi Kevin Alfred Strom, believing the quote to have originated from French writer and philosopher Voltaire.[88]

 

[Tim Sielbeck]

 

[JWB]

The coach and the cheerleader. 🤣

 

[sunday]

This could best go in a because Taiwan thread, but I was not able to find one.

https://restofworld.org/2024/tsmc-arizona-expansion/

Quote

TSMC's debacle in the American desert

Missed deadlines and tension among Taiwanese and American coworkers are plaguing the chip giant's Phoenix expansion.

By VIOLA ZHOU
23 APRIL 2024 • PHOENIX, UNITED STATES

Bruce thought he’d landed his dream job. The young American engineer had been eager for a stable, high-paying job in the semiconductor industry. Then, in late 2020, he received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Bruce read up on TSMC — the leading global manufacturer of advanced chips — and got excited. The job sounded like he’d be “pushing the boundaries of human technology,” he recalled to Rest of World.

Quote

But over the next two years, Bruce came to realize that the reality of working at TSMC wasn’t exactly what he had envisioned. While working on nanometer-level processes to make state-of-the-art chips, he struggled with language barriers, long hours, and a strict hierarchy. Bruce soon began second-guessing what he had signed up for. The plant, which was originally set to begin operating in 2024, fell woefully behind schedule; production at the facility is now set to start in 2025. Bruce, who said he signed a confidentiality agreement with TSMC, requested anonymity for this story.

Kind of a culture clash, both work culture and other.

[urbanoid]

Good to see that anything is happening at all. I remember reading an article according to which the TSMC was on the verge of dropping the matter of said expansion, as the US administration included so many 'DEI' requirements.

Edited June 18, 2024 by urbanoid

[sunday]

9 minutes ago, urbanoid said:

Good to see that anything is happening at all. I remember reading an article according to which the TSMC was on the verge of dropping the matter of said expansion, as the US administration included so many 'DEI' requirements.

Seems the problems mentioned in the article were from before the DEI things were even considered, so...