January 11, 2019

Thanks, Trump voters. What a delicious mess you have put us in

Now the Democrats have a choice: Stand firm and let Trump and McConnell destroy the government and our country

OR

Give him money for his mirage, and lose the ability to ever stop him again, destroying democracy and our country

If he finds he can get anything he wants by shutting down the government, expect him to do that early and often.

January 8, 2019

Taxes on income dollars should roughly reflect the likelihood that they will sit in an account

and not be re-circulated in the economy.

poor/working people can't afford to save, and are living paycheck to paycheck. There is 0% chance that their income won't be spent. Therefore, taxes on low income earners should be next to nothing.

middle class workers earn that initial amount that is likely to be spent on surviving, but then earn additional income. They are likely to spend that additional income, but they may already have some savings socked away and may save some. A 20-30% tax might be about right for that income.

Affluent people who already have a great deal of wealth are unlikely to spend that high income money. After all, if there was something that they wanted, they would have already spent some of their wealth on it. No need to wait. Multimillion dollar earnings are likely to be banked, shipped out of the country, etc. and never re-emerge to help move the economy. Never flow. And for those kinds of dollars, a 70-80% tax makes perfect sense.


If it is part of tax policy to keep money moving, to keep it flowing, to get it out of the rich's hands and back into the lower economic levels so that it can be SPENT and re-circulated, then progressive tax brackets like these make perfect sense. Give poor people money (through minimum wage, welfare, food stamps, organized labor, progressive taxes), and the economy roars.

January 8, 2019

It could have been ANYTHING: Trump's shut down has nothing to do with "wall"

Think about this:

Trump runs completely fucking amok for two full years, as the GOP congress plays with itself and watches.

At the end of two years, the electorate rouses itself to put a serious check on this madman. Regains one house of Congress.

the GOP congress decides to fund the government with some kick-the-can-down-the-road legislation and go home for the holidays.

Trump, at the behest of Putin and the all-powerful Rush Coulter, as well as his Faux Friends, cuts the government's Achilles tendons.

He threatens to declare himself supreme dictator and refuses to bow to any checks on his power.


Everyone knows that the "wall" is a fiction, a dream, a hallucination. It's a mental bookmark for this imbecile. $5B is a drop in the federal bucket. What this really is is him refusing to bow to any oversight, any check, any pushback from reality. The wall is just his convenient excuse to create this showdown and try to set up the conditions for him never to be checked by anything. The Democrats want something? well, he'll just shutdown the government over it and the Dems will cave, just like last time.

We _can't_ give in to this. Even though it is so hurtful to so many people. My heart goes out to all of the federal workers and beneficiaries of government programs. But Trump has drawn the line in the sand. One side reads "dictator". We have to keep him on the other side.

January 5, 2019

A Russian agent is destroying our government and our nation. Putin is pleased, I'm sure

January 4, 2019

What leverage do we really have if both Trump and McConnell

decide they don't care how long the shut down lasts? They both work for Putin, who would love to see our government crumble.

It seems like the Democrats will have to cave, yet again, to save the worst from happening. In this game of chicken, the other side doesn't care about crashing.

What consequence would Trump and McConnell fear? That they'll be hated? Ha ha

January 2, 2019

Brexiteer Loving Trump's Work Can't Tell James O'Brien Why He's Loving Trump's Work

January 2, 2019

Would love to see an American deal with racism & idiocy like James O'Brien

I firmly believe that Brexit is like Trump - a Putin-funded information attack on western democracy, using racism as the wedge to damage our country.

I recently stumbled on this radio host from Britain who takes calls from moron Brexiters, and asks them to back up their claims. They completely fall apart.

It would be so great to see someone take apart MAGAts in a similar way. (first call is about Trump)

November 30, 2018

I know the "Arrested Development" Bluths were modeled after the Bushes, but the Trumps are

a much better fit.

Don is even tweeting about "light treason" this morning.

Plus Ivanka = Lindsey
Jared = Tobias
Don Jr = GOB
Eric = Michael
Baron = Buster

which makes Melania Lucille. Hmmm.

Plus, they get busted for international treason, money laundering, building things in enemy countries, etc. and all of them are useless. And Ivanka is daddy's girl. and Jared blue himself.

November 16, 2018

The American Tragicomedy of Racism and Submissive Gullibility: A Play in One Act

Scene 1

Somebody: Hey, let's do this thing that would make everyone's lives better.

Rich Person: Oh, but that would also make [minority group]'s lives better.

American Assholes: What? F**k those [minority group]! And fuck that thing that would make everyone's lives better!

Rich Person: Ha ha ha hee hee oh ho, oh my aching sides, they fell for it again! Ha ha, oh my fat wallet!

Scene 2

Rich Person: Give _me_ all of the money, and it will make everyone's lives better.

American Assholes: Sounds like a great plan!

Rich Person: Ha ha ha hee hee oh ho, oh my aching sides, they fell for it again! Ha ha, oh my fat wallet!


Curtain

November 15, 2018

Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolic Disease, Sugars, Aldehydes, and the American Diet

I am a researcher in drug discovery. I have a friend who works on diabetes and metabolic disease drugs, and he has spent a lot of time researching diet, sugars, and their effects on the body. After talking with him, I have a much better understanding of the chemistry of sugars and how they can be harmful. I thought I would share it here in case it helps anyone.

First, some facts about nerves and aldehydes. Aldehydes are quite reactive chemical compounds, and they are particularly toxic in our bodies. They can mark and damage proteins that they come in contact with, and are especially hard on nerves. For example, when people drink wood alcohol (methanol), it is converted to very reactive formaldehyde – which damages nerves, especially optic nerves, which is why drinking methanol often leads to blindness. It pickles the optic nerves. Regular alcohol (ethanol) is first converted to very reactive acetaldehyde in the liver, where it will eventually pickle your liver and do damage to other nerves. With that in mind, let’s look at sugars.

When talking about dietary sugars, we only have to worry about two of them. Fructose and glucose. Sucrose, or table sugar, is immediately converted to a 50:50 mix of glucose and fructose. High fructose corn syrup is essentially the same - it is roughly a 50:50 mix of glucose and fructose (sometimes slightly higher in fructose, like 55:45), but pre-split into its components already, unlike sucrose. High fructose corn syrup has a lot of properties that make it great for manufacturing that sucrose doesn’t, which is why it has been so (over)used in processed foods.

Fructose: The biggest natural sources of fructose are things like honey and ripe fruit. These were wonderful but rare and seasonal finds for our ancestors, and so our bodies convert fructose to fat. This conversion is essentially unregulated in our body. You eat fructose, it gets stored as fat. This is the body’s way of saving serendipitous calories for lean times.

Glucose: this comes from sucrose, corn syrups, and starches. It is _highly_ regulated in the body, which is why we have our complex system with insulin, glycogen storage, etc. that monitors and maintains the level of glucose in the bloodstream. And part of the reason for that is glucose is also an aldehyde. It has two forms, one cyclic and the other linear, and it interconverts between the two forms. In its linear form, it is an aldehyde, less reactive than formaldehyde or acetaldehyde, but it can still damage blood vessels, nerves, proteins, your kidneys, etc. This is why prolonged high levels of glucose in the blood stream damages peripheral nerves, kidneys, eyes, etc. and why diabetes sufferers often have damaged kidneys, eyes, and lose extremities like their feet. Glucose is essentially pickling their nerves and blood vessels, all over their bodies.

So, what does all of that mean for how you should think about food and eating? Here are my recommendations:

1. You want to keep your fructose intake down. This will keep you from getting damaged fatty liver and generally packing on fat everywhere else. This means cut down on sucrose, corn syrup, and other sources of straight fructose like honey and agave nectar. Don’t worry about raw fruit, though. Although it has fructose it comes in a matrix of fiber, vitamins, and other good stuff that both fills you up and provides other nutrients. However, also avoid fruit juices, as they don’t have this matrix.

2. You also want to keep your glucose intake low, so that they level of glucose isn’t so high that you are pickling your delicate insides with it. This means, again, lowering your intake of sucrose and corn syrup, and also all carbohydrates like starches, which are broken down into glucose. Eating more complex starches (whole grains, etc.) slows the entry of glucose into your system (again, it is a matter of having the starch delivered in a complex matrix) compared to simpler starches.

3. Eat lots of fiber and protein to keep yourself full. Lean meats, cheeses, vegetables, fruits, small amounts of nuts, etc. Don’t worry as much about fat, as although it is a source of calories, it also fills you up.

4. Sucrose and high fructose corn syrup are essentially exactly the same as far as your body is concerned. The problem with HFCS is simply that we eat a ton of it. And sucrose, too. Sugars and carbohydrates, in which the American diet is awash, are the culprits for diobesity and metabolic disease. We just eat way too much of them, much more than our nerves, livers, kidneys, and bodies can handle. I know it is really hard, inconvenient, and expensive – but try to cut way down on your carbohydrates, and stick to the more complex starches where you can.

This probably isn’t news to many of you. But if reading this helps even a few people from losing their kidneys or their feet, then it is worth it.