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Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

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Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#241

Post by lazyasciiart »

hilux wrote: post #194
SideQuark wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around 20% of Americans voted Trump, and from polls most don’t like him, but always vote R. Die hard Trumpers are at best 10% of Americans. Trump didn’t even get 50% of the vote. His views most certainly aren’t what a majority of people want, and he doesn’t try to expand by doing things the majority want. If anything he paints those not completely in his camp, which is the vast majority of Americans, as an enemy.

> His views most certainly aren’t what a majority of people want I'm not sure what you gain by telling yourself that. I could just as easily assert, without any evidence (i.e., like you), that every single person who didn't vote loves Trump and supports all his policies. > If anything he paints those not completely in his camp, which is the vast majority of Americans, as an enemy. That has nothing to do with whether…

Experiments consistently and repeatedly show that when given practical descriptions of policy actions and outcomes, the majority of Americans do not choose the ones that republicans promote. BUT when told that they are Republican policies, then about half of Americans do support those policies.

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#242

Post by lazyasciiart »

lynndotpy wrote: post #176
klipt wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the people have no power now There's always the midterms. Politicians shouldn't get too complacent if their party screws up.

For sure. What I meant to articulate was that the admin is the only one it makes sense to point to. Saying "the electorate is stupid!" has no utility other than catharsis, though.

What else are you trying to say with “not in a position to clearly anticipate the ramifications”?

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#243

Post by epistasis »

gosub100 wrote: post #188
wumeow wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Is Trump responsible for the executive orders he signs? Is he responsible for the consequences of those actions?

Or is does he never make a mistake, never cause problems, never harm the people he says he's ready to mess with?

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#244

Post by _DeadFred_ »

aliasxneo wrote: post #196
bayarearefugee wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that being rabidly apolitical while a dangerous threat to western democracy has been growing in America for years is the rough part. I'm an old person. I have a leftist bent. I used to get along with many conservatives, I just had different policy viewpoints than they did. What we are seeing now is a completely different political landscape where one of the parties is actively setting up a dynastic plut…

> I would argue that being rabidly apolitical while a dangerous threat to western democracy has been growing in America for years is the rough part. Some of us are just here as technology professionals looking to learn and keep current on the latest trends. There's nothing wrong with that.

Some yes, but maybe not you? Because you used the following language yesterday:

"Only a few short months ago, I was under constant attack from various public members of the Democratic party for being a white male with center-right views. The vitriol was quite unhinged, really." when asked for specifics you went to '...on CNN for example'.

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#245

Post by jncfhnb »

wat10000 wrote: post #191
lenerdenator wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to guess that the rationale is a combination of: 1) state's rights 2) anti-science 3) a number of people in the administration (very possibly including Trump himself) thinking that the CDC is an example of "the deep state" that conspired to keep him from winning in 2020 But, hey, Joe made groceries more expensive and the administration didn't kiss enough rear on the left side of the Dems to get Kamala elect…

[flagged]

Perhaps that’s because it was batshit insane

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#246

Post by aaronbrethorst »

I have a lot of disagreements with HL Mencken, but I’ve found myself thinking about this quote of his a lot lately…for whatever reason.

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#247

Post by BeetleB »

eth0up wrote: post #62
ceejayoz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is treatable with antibiotics. Treating it casually has led to widespread resistance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multidrug-resistant_tuberculos... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensively_drug-resistant_tub... > People with an active infection feel sick and can spread it to others, while people with a latent infection don't feel sick and can't spread it. https://www.who.int/teams/global-tuberculosis-programm…

>Treating it casually has led to widespread resistance. I have long suspected this as part of why the subject isn't much discussed, despite being more prevalent than most realize. The elephant here is (aside from latent infection) the atypically long duration of treatment, which can exceed 6 months and is harsh. Many, even otherwise responsible people, will founder before the proper end of treatment and this, I think…

> The elephant here is (aside from latent infection) the atypically long duration of treatment, which can exceed 6 months and is harsh. Many, even otherwise responsible people, will founder before the proper end of treatment and this, I think, is what terrifies health professionals - so much, that it almost seems to be avoided.

The fear is overblown. I've known multiple people do the 9 month treatment and none had issues. One person had tingling sensation and that was resolved by an increase in vitamin intake after consulting with a neurologist.

They were in their early to mid thirties. Most problems occur when older people take the medication.

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#248

Post by wahern »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #238
wahern wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The resurgence of TB has been the big story in infectious diseases for a while now. It's been a big story since the 1980s, IIRC. I remember in college in the 1990s a biologist friend explaining that TB was the greatest disease threat to public health and it was being completely ignored. Frankly, it's hard to get worked up about it. Notwithstanding that it is a serious public health threat, there's a strong politica…

Rubbish, on all counts. Public health discussion constantly gives rates and percentages, not just numbers. And “they’ve been warning us so many times” - well, I hope you’ve also given up on applying security updates to any software or hardware you manage, since those have been getting issued forever, they must be crying wolf too.

The 2023 incidence rate per 100k is 2.9. That's an increase from 2019, but also the same rate as 2014 and 2016. https://www.cdc.gov/tb-surveillance-report-2023/tables/table... (via https://www.cdc.gov/tb-surveillance-report-2023/summary/nati...)

My point isn't that agencies don't report incidence; my point is about when the discussion surfaces how it's discussed in the popular press, including editorializations in professional outlet. Were incidence rate flat or down between convenient points of comparison, but absolute numbers up, and an outbreak like Kansas happen, we'd be discussion absolute numbers. And even when incidence is up, the absolute numbers always headline. It's a subtle criticism I'm making, but I think an important one.

Nonetheless, while for 40 years TB has been discussed as a grace looming threat, note how absolute cases and incidence dropped steeply over most of that time. And while the drop has largely stopped, the US now has one of the lowest incidence rates in the world. But my takeaway is supposed to be that the US' TB measures are woefully broken because the drop has stopped?

Re: Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

#249

Post by khazhoux »

behringer wrote: post #236
khazhoux wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can someone who couldn't be bothered to vote possibly count in a discussion of how many people support this administration? Putting aside people who were unable to vote, everyone who chose not to, absolutely 100% gave up their relevance in terms of what the people want. They took themselves out of the equation.

It doesn't matter if they did or not. If they supported Trump they would have voted. Ergo the majority of people don't support him. Non voters are still people, last I checked.

No -- the people who chose not to vote supported the decision of the people who did.
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