|
 |
Don’t let the clear, rounded walls fool you into thinking you’re still on the outside. Just reach out and you’ll feel the smooth edges of your new existence. You, along with 341 million of your friends and neighbors, are currently living inside a national petri dish. It sits in a lab in Washington DC, where RFK Jr and his band of mad pseudo-scientific, sorcerer’s apprentices—nostalgic for ailments of the past—are using glass stirring sticks to spin up beakers-full of once-defeated viruses, which they plan to tilt into our communal receptacle to see how we test subjects will react to, say, a few drops of the measles virus or, maybe for old time’s sake, a couple test tubes’ worth of polio.
You can try to avoid the toxic tonic, but the deadly brew doesn’t just attack directly; it spreads from one test subject to another. That’s the only way these inverted alchemists, determined to reverse the elixers of life their sane counterparts discovered long ago, can efficiently run tests measuring how much damage can be done and in how little time, as they move to achieve the Frankensteinization of human health.
Consider this idea from Kirk Milhoan, Head Quack of our Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, who recently opined on the upside of the downturn in those who get the measles vaccine. “What we’re going to have is a real-world experience of when unvaccinated people get measles. What is the new incidence of hospitalization? What’s the incidence of death?” (Uh, I’ll take Things That Dr. Mengele Might Ask for 2000, Alex.) You might argue that we experienced the incidences, and they are specifically what motivated the creation of a vaccine, but, sadly, you’re not holding the beaker. You’re stuck in the dish. NYT (Gift Article): Rejecting Decades of Science, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional. “He said there were emerging concerns that repeatedly stimulating the immune system with multiple vaccines might increase the risk of allergies, asthma and eczema. Large studies have dismissed that claim, but Dr. Milhoan said he trusted his own observations over what ‘established science’ might suggest about vaccines.” (Hey, you can’t make a do your own research death omelet without cracking a few observations from established science.)
+ Think any of this sounds like an exaggeration? Consider the recent plan RFK Jr. had to delay the introduction of the hepatitis B vaccine to babies in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, just to see how that would go. Kennedy Plan to Test a Vaccine in West African Babies Is Blocked. Maybe this is Jr’s way of easing the news that the U.S. Just Formally Withdrew From The World Health Organization. “Global health experts worry that a lack of international coordination will lead to death and disaster.” (Well, at least we’ll have some fresh data from a real-world experience on the incidence of death and disaster.)
2
Tok and Bull Story
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: when they come for us, they’ll be performing short, comedic, lip-synched dance videos. I first wrote that catchy line back in 2020, when the first calls to ban TikTok hit the mainstream. Well, the ban never happened. Ironically, TikTok actually banned Trump before he banned it. But we now know that the Trumpian battles of yore never really ended. Ultimately, there was no ban, just a sale of part of the American version of TikTok to new investors (at a very favorable price). Bloomberg (Gift Article): TikTok Seals Deal to Operate in the US After Years of Drama.
+ I’ve never heard a national security expert argue that there wasn’t a danger in having a massive social networking algorithm and data collection program being run from China. But do we really feel safer with those same tools in the hands of Trump allies? Do we feel safe with X in the hands of Elon or Facebook in the hands of Zuck? “Trump has already said that he’d like to see TikTok go ‘100 percent MAGA,’ and his allies will now be in charge of ‘deciding which posts to leave up and which to take down’ ... Anupam Chander, a law and technology professor at Georgetown University, told the NYT that the TikTok deal offered Trump and his allies ‘more theoretical room for one side’s views to get a greater airing. ‘My worry all along is that we may have traded fears of foreign propaganda for the reality of domestic propaganda.’” TikTok deal is done; Trump wants praise while users fear MAGA tweaks.
3
Stake Holders
“Gambling addiction is, in some sense, also especially vexing to treat. You can’t quit money cold turkey, and it looms especially large in recovery, with gobs of it needed to climb out of gambling debt and reclaim stability. These conditions threaten relapse, keeping alive the fantasy of a lucky roll in a high-stakes room. As one gambling-addiction specialist explained: ‘I’ve never had a late-stage alcoholic say, ‘If I get drunk just right, my liver will heal.’” From Harper’s, Jasper Craven on America’s new gambling epidemic. On Tilt. (I cover this topic a lot because it combines the incredibly addictive nature of smartphone tech and social media with the already extremely addictive nature of gambling.)
4
Weekend Whats
What to Watch: “A typical day at Lochmill Capital is upended when armed thieves burst in and force Zara (Sophie Turner) and her best friend Luke (Archie Madekwe) to execute their demands.” The show starts fast and seems to stay that way. On Prime: Steal.
+ What to Movie: “When a woman uncovers deadly biotech secrets, she turns to a secure accessibility service to reach a fixer known for helping whistleblowers in trouble.” Lily James and Riz Ahmed star in Relay, now on Netflix.
+ What to Doc: “Directors Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio explore the life and legacy of Mel Brooks, one of the most enduring comedic voices of our time.” On HBO Max: Mel Brooks. The 99 Year Old Man.
5
Extra, Extra
Squaring the Circle: The first internet bubble was all about companies that had massive valuations with limited revenue and an investor class with little experience with the new tech. AI is nothing like that. But there are risks. Chief among them, the circular deals driving the industry. Here’s a good, short video from Bloomberg on YouTube. How Circular Deals Are Driving the AI Boom.
+ Ice Invasion: “A potentially historic, massive winter storm will slam more than half of the United States today, moving east as it brings heavy snow, widespread ice accumulation and dangerous cold. At least 172 million people are under some form of winter weather warning through Sunday.” Here’s the latest from NBC.
+ Exposed: “The White House altered and posted to social media an image of an arrested Minnesota protester on Thursday to make it appear as if she was crying, a senior White House official confirmed to NBC News.” (Reason ten billion why I don’t feel safer with TikTok in its new owners’ hands.)
+ Peace of Work: “President Donald Trump has withdrawn his invitation for his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, to join his ‘Board of Peace,’ in an escalating feud between the two leaders.” Carney was never a good fit for this board. He runs a democracy. “Nearly all of the countries that agreed to work with Trump’s Board of Peace are ones that are rated relatively poorly on an important metric: adoption of democracy.”
+ Ice Storm: NYT (Gift Article): ‘Enough Is Enough’: Hundreds of Minnesota Businesses Take Stand Against ICE. Here’s a look at the scale of the resistance in Minnesota. Meanwhile, in Oregon, ICE detained a family seeking emergency care for a child at Portland hospital. As per usual, this administration is trying to live up to The Onion’s parodies: