Hannah Knowles, Reporter - Houston Chronicle/The Washington Post
Stephan: This is the largest and least intelligent gathering in the United States since the Coronavirus pandemic started. It will be interesting to see what kind of Covid case spike comes out of this. But, however ill-conceived this event is we should all still pay attention to what it is telling us about the country.
Bikers in Sturgis, South Dakota. Notice none of them are wearing masks. Credit: Jim Holland/AP
Health officials are still warning against even small gatherings, and states with relatively low spread are ordering visitors from hot spots to self-quarantine.
But come Friday, about 250,000 people from across the country are still expected to start descending on a roughly 7,000-person community in South Dakota for one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world, a 10-day extravaganza so deeply rooted that Sturgis calls itself the City of Riders.
The mayor of Sturgis says there’s not much to do but encourage “personal responsibility,” set up sanitation stations and give out masks – though face coverings won’t be required.
“We cannot stop people from coming,” Mayor Mark Carstensen said Thursday on CNN.
Worried residents, however, say officials should have canceled the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in a state where Republican Gov. Kristi Noem resisted stay-at-home orders and mask rules – and last month welcomed another mass event, President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July weekend speech at the foot of Mount Rushmore. A city survey found that more than 60 […]
Alan D. Blotcky, PhD David M. Reiss, MD, and John M. Talmadge, MD, Clinical Psychologist in Birmingham, Alabama | Psychiatrist in Rancho Santa Fe, California | Psychiatrist in Dallas, Texas. - Alter Net
Stephan: As I watched footage of thousands of bikers in Sturgis, South Dakota, packed together and, almost to a person, not wearing masks, and apparently overwhelmingly Trumpers, I thought: How do you get to that level of anti-science stupidity. How do you come to believe that wearing a mask is a political statement? Do you wear seat belts when you drive? Inevitably there will be a Covid-19 spike coming out of this assemblage. People will die. Well, here are three mental assessment specialists and their attempt to explain Trumpers, who they are, and why they are as they are. To me, they seem pathetic and sad, but also very dangerous to society as a whole.
A looming question in today’s political climate is: Why do Donald Trump’s devotees continue to support him despite the carnage of his well-documented failures? Although we are in the middle of a deadly pandemic that is surging and not contained, Trump seems to maintain a base support of 35% to 40%. What are the psychological factors that influence or underpin his supporters’ attraction to him? And might this provide some perspective on how to change these supporters’ minds?
Multiple psychological factors seem to influence and explain his supporters. We have divided these factors into four major categories: Rebelliousness and Chaos; Shared Irrationality; Fear; and Safety and Order.
Rebelliousness and Chaos
Some Trump supporters have a strong desire for rebelliousness and chaos, and view Trump as the perfect vehicle for achieving their personal goals. These supporters tend to become “anti-establishment and anti-government,” even when it is against their best interest. Many are unhappy with their station in life and believe chaos in the political system will bring them important gains. They seek immediate and sweeping changes and believe a […]
Stephan: On the medical websites and journals, I am seeing more and more reports that Covid-19 may have long term effects that are just now being recognized. If you need another reason to wear your mask, and social distance here it is.
Lingering neurological conditions from COVID-19 include brain fog, headaches, fatigue and trouble concentrating. Credit: Istock/Lusia599
Could the coronavirus lead to chronic illness?
While lung scarring, heart and kidney damage may result from COVID-19, doctors and researchers are starting to clock the potential long-term impact of the virus on the brain also.
And many “long-haulers,” or COVID-19 patients who have continued showing symptoms for months after the initial infection passed, report neurological problems such as confusion and difficulty concentrating (or brain fog), as well as headaches, extreme fatigue, mood changes, insomnia and loss of taste and/or smell.
Indeed, the CDC recently warned that it takes longer to recover from COVID-19 than the 10- to 14-day quarantine window that has been touted throughout the pandemic. In fact, one in five young adults under 34 was not back to their usual health up to three weeks after testing positive. And 35% of surveyed U.S. adults overall had not returned to their normal state of health […]
Stephan: Here is Sunday's Republican Scum Report. When I first saw this story I thought that it had to be a bad joke. Even Trump, so I thought, would not resurrect Elliott Abrams from whatever crypt he was in, and put him back into government at a senior level. I mean... Elliott Abrams. I was wrong. Trump would, and did appoint him. This is what your government has become.
Elliott Abrams Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Following the resignation Thursday of State Department Iran envoy Brian Hook, President Donald Trump named as his replacement current special representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, a notorious warmonger and supporter of Latin American death squads who was convicted in 1991 of withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal.
“Like most Trump appointees, he is not fit for the position, and will continue to hurt U.S. interests by enacting a failing strategy that will only succeed in spreading chaos and misery.” —Sina Toossi, National Iranian American Council
Abrams will now serve in both roles simultaneously, alarming anti-war groups who say someone with a record as blood-stained as his “should be barred for life from government positions and recognized as the war criminal that he is.”
“From El Salvador to Guatemala, Nicaragua to Panama, Elliott Abrams’ life’s work has been defined by the worst impulses of U.S. foreign policy: embracing war, ignoring gross human rights abuses, and supporting horrific authoritarian regimes,” said Stephen Miles, executive director of Win Without War.
Abrams’ appointment as special envoy to Iran comes days […]
Stephan: The religious anti-science bias in America, and the failure of public education to properly teach children why science is not just another ideology or argument, but a systematic way of establishing facts, have been brought into sharp relief by the Coronavirus. The results are tragic.
A Michigan library had to ask patrons to stop microwaving books to kill the coronavirus after noticing returned books with scorched pages. The Cleveland Clinic issued a public warning about the danger of using vodka concoctions as a hand sanitizer when recipes started to circulate.
Then came the surge of calls to poison control centers about bleach. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had to double-down on warnings not to drink it or rinse food in it.
Fear of covid-19 is exposing a lack of health literacy in this country that is not new. The confusion is amplified during a health emergency, however, by half-truths swirling in social media and misinformed statements by people in the public eye.
One in five people struggle with health information, says Michael S. Wolf, director of the Center for Applied Health Research on Aging at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.
“It’s easy to misunderstand [medical information],” says Wolf, who is also founding director of the medical school’s Health Literacy and Learning Program. Some will be too ashamed to say so while others won’t […]
