Bayard
Bayard's Journal"Man-Made Hell On Earth": A Canadian Doctor on His Medical Mission to Gaza
Note: This is from last year, and I know the numbers are much greater by now, but I just came across it--should be read by all, no matter your religion or proclivities.
“I saw scenes that were horrific and I never want to see again,” said Yasser Khan, a surgeon from Toronto."
Throughout the past five and a half months, Israel has waged a full-spectrum war against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. The United States and other Western nations have supplied not only the weapons for this war of annihilation against the Palestinians, but also key political and diplomatic support.
The results of the actions of this coalition of the killing have been devastating. Conservative estimates hold that more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 13,000 children. More than 8,000 people remain missing, many of them believed to have died in the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks. Famine conditions are now present in large swaths of the Gaza Strip. The fact that the International Court of Justice has found grounds to investigate Israel for plausible acts of genocide in Gaza has not deterred the U.S. and its allies from continuing to facilitate Israel’s war.
Throughout the past five and a half months, Israel has waged a full-spectrum war against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. The United States and other Western nations have supplied not only the weapons for this war of annihilation against the Palestinians, but also key political and diplomatic support.
The results of the actions of this coalition of the killing have been devastating. Conservative estimates hold that more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 13,000 children. More than 8,000 people remain missing, many of them believed to have died in the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks. Famine conditions are now present in large swaths of the Gaza Strip. The fact that the International Court of Justice has found grounds to investigate Israel for plausible acts of genocide in Gaza has not deterred the U.S. and its allies from continuing to facilitate Israel’s war.
The massive scale of human destruction caused by the attacks would pose grave challenges to well-equipped hospitals. In Gaza, however, many health care facilities have been decimated by Israeli attacks or evacuated, while a few remain open but severely limited in the care and services they offer. Israeli forces have repeatedly laid siege to hospital facilities, killing hundreds of medical workers and taking captive scores of others, despite thousands of internally displaced Palestinians sheltering in the health care complexes. This week, Israel again launched raids on Al-Shifa Hospital, reportedly killing more than 140 people.
For months, doctors across Gaza have performed amputations and other high-risk procedures without anesthetics or proper operating rooms. Antibiotics are in short supply and often unavailable. Communicable diseases are spreading, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are forced to live in makeshift shelters with little access to toilets or basic sanitary supplies. Many new mothers are unable to breastfeed and infant formula shortages are common. Israel has repeatedly blocked or delayed aid shipments of vital medical supplies to Gaza. Basic preventative medical care is nearly nonexistent, and medical experts predict that malnutrition will condemn a new generation of young Palestinians to a life of developmental struggles.
snip
"All these figures come in, 50 dead, 100 wounded. But what people don’t realize is, being wounded is a death sentence. Being wounded in this environment with no health care system, completely collapsed, is a death sentence. And the wounded often will lose everybody, like all family members, so they have no supports, especially children, have nobody left to take care of them, not even aunts and uncles."
Supporting Netanyahu is one thing I hold against President Biden. trump continues supporting him as a kindred malevolent spirit and felon. This stopped being about retaliation against Hamas a long time ago--its all genocide, and war crimes against civilians now. People, especially children, are starving (see, https://theintercept.com/2025/06/19/gaza-children-malnutrition-starvation-famine-health) This article made me weep for the human race and its atrocities.
Meet Russell Vought, the New Face of the DOGE Agenda
Though Elon Musk is leaving the White House, DOGE isn’t going anywhere.
It appears that Russell Vought — Trump’s budget hawk and one of the chief architects of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — is stepping in to become DOGE’s new power broker. With Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist, at the helm, the slash-and-burn effort against the federal government may be on the cusp of an even darker turn. In many ways, Vought is what Musk is not. After working at public policy organizations for nearly two decades, he has a far better understanding of how the government works — and how its weaknesses can be exploited. Despite advising Trump for almost 10 years, he’s also kept a fairly low profile, rarely giving interviews or speaking in public.
And Vought appears to be motivated first and foremost by creating a Christian nation controlled by an overtly Christian government. Last year, Vought told undercover journalists with the Centre for Climate Reporting that he wants “to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation.” “And my viewpoint is mostly that I would probably be Christian nation-ism,” Vought said. “That’s pretty close to Christian nationalism because I also believe in nationalism.”
To achieve that, Vought said in the interview he seeks to replace the non-partisan and merit-based federal civil service with a bureaucracy in which employment hinges on allegiance to Trump. He said he also seeks to impound congressionally approved funding, help coordinate mass deportations and find ways to let Trump use the military to put down protesters. As former Trump adviser Steve Bannon recently told The Atlantic, “Russ has got a vision. He’s not an anarchist. He’s a true believer.”
Federal agencies, in particular the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), have already implemented numerous policies that Vought drafted to achieve those goals. Earlier this year, OPM proposed new regulations that would formally revive Schedule F, a key tool developed by Vought to gut the federal government and replace career public servants with partisan ideologues. In another move championed by Vought, the personnel office last week also announced a s0-called “Merit Hiring Plan” that would, if implemented, ask prospective hires for the thousands of DOGE-induced vacancies across the federal government to write short essays explaining their levels of patriotism and support for the president’s policies.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-advisor-russell-vought-doge
Forty percent of kids in a U.S. study thought bacon was a plant
The majority believed that cows (77 percent), pigs (73 percent), and chickens (65 percent) are inedible.A study has found that a significant percentage of 4 to 7-year-old children from the United States believe hotdogs, hamburgers, and bacon come from plants. Spoiler: they're not.
Published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology in 2021, the study involved a team of psychologists who asked 176 children from a southeastern metropolitan area in the US to categorize a variety of foods, including cheese, French fries, bacon, popcorn, shrimp, almonds, and eggs. The responses threw up a number of surprises, including that 47 percent of the participants believed that French fries came from animals. Cheese was commonly misidentified as plant-based, with 44 percent incorrectly identifying its origin. Around 41 percent believed bacon came from a plant (we wish) and 40 percent said the same of hot dogs. Even chicken nuggets, which famously have chicken in their name, were misidentified as coming from plants 38 percent of the time. "Popcorn and almonds were also commonly misclassified [as animal-based], each by more than 30% of children," the team write in their report.
As well as assessing the children's knowledge of the origins of foods, the team looked at what animals and plants the kids believed could and couldn't be eaten. It appears that there is a lot of confusion about what is and isn't edible, with the majority believing that cows (77 percent), pigs (73 percent), and chicken (65 percent) are inedible. Sand was considered edible by 1 percent, five times less than the amount who believed cat to be a type of food. The study shows that there are a lot of misconceptions around food at this early age – but the team believes it could be an opportunity. "Most children in the United States eat animal products, but unlike adults who have built up an arsenal of strategies to justify the consumption of animals, children appear to be naïve meat eaters," the team wrote in their discussion.
"The current study suggests that children eat meat unknowingly, and perhaps in violation of a bias against animals as a food source. Childhood may therefore represent a unique window of opportunity during which lifelong plant-based diets can be more easily established compared to later in life," they added. The team believes that part of the poor knowledge could be due to parents withholding knowledge about where meat comes from, believing it to be too gruesome for children to learn at such a young age. "Rather than manage the inconvenience of cooking several meal options or confront the emotions that may come with the revelation that the bacon on their child's plate was once a living, breathing pig, some parents instead skirt the truth altogether through vague terminology that has potentially lasting impacts on children's eating habits."
By being more open about the source of foods (i.e. telling kids how the sausage was made), and providing more meat alternatives, the team believes children may gravitate naturally towards plant-based foods. "At the family level, youth climate activism may begin at the dinner table," the team writes. "By refraining from eating foods that violate their beliefs about the well-being of animals, children would also be acting in a manner consistent with their moral views of the environment. In addition to reducing their own carbon footprints, children's principled eating behaviors may also influence those of their parents."
https://www.iflscience.com/over-40-percent-of-kids-in-a-us-study-thought-bacon-was-a-plant-79344
4 to 7 yr old's also still believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy, but I would hope they get into a health class in grade school.
Over 40 Percent Of Kids In A US Study Thought Bacon Was A Plant
The majority believed that cows (77 percent), pigs (73 percent), and chickens (65 percent) are inedible.A study has found that a significant percentage of 4 to 7-year-old children from the United States believe hotdogs, hamburgers, and bacon come from plants. Spoiler: they're not.
Published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology in 2021, the study involved a team of psychologists who asked 176 children from a southeastern metropolitan area in the US to categorize a variety of foods, including cheese, French fries, bacon, popcorn, shrimp, almonds, and eggs. The responses threw up a number of surprises, including that 47 percent of the participants believed that French fries came from animals. Cheese was commonly misidentified as plant-based, with 44 percent incorrectly identifying its origin. Around 41 percent believed bacon came from a plant (we wish) and 40 percent said the same of hot dogs. Even chicken nuggets, which famously have chicken in their name, were misidentified as coming from plants 38 percent of the time. "Popcorn and almonds were also commonly misclassified [as animal-based], each by more than 30% of children," the team write in their report.
As well as assessing the children's knowledge of the origins of foods, the team looked at what animals and plants the kids believed could and couldn't be eaten. It appears that there is a lot of confusion about what is and isn't edible, with the majority believing that cows (77 percent), pigs (73 percent), and chicken (65 percent) are inedible. Sand was considered edible by 1 percent, five times less than the amount who believed cat to be a type of food. The study shows that there are a lot of misconceptions around food at this early age – but the team believes it could be an opportunity. "Most children in the United States eat animal products, but unlike adults who have built up an arsenal of strategies to justify the consumption of animals, children appear to be naïve meat eaters," the team wrote in their discussion.
"The current study suggests that children eat meat unknowingly, and perhaps in violation of a bias against animals as a food source. Childhood may therefore represent a unique window of opportunity during which lifelong plant-based diets can be more easily established compared to later in life," they added. The team believes that part of the poor knowledge could be due to parents withholding knowledge about where meat comes from, believing it to be too gruesome for children to learn at such a young age. "Rather than manage the inconvenience of cooking several meal options or confront the emotions that may come with the revelation that the bacon on their child's plate was once a living, breathing pig, some parents instead skirt the truth altogether through vague terminology that has potentially lasting impacts on children's eating habits."
By being more open about the source of foods (i.e. telling kids how the sausage was made), and providing more meat alternatives, the team believes children may gravitate naturally towards plant-based foods. "At the family level, youth climate activism may begin at the dinner table," the team writes. "By refraining from eating foods that violate their beliefs about the well-being of animals, children would also be acting in a manner consistent with their moral views of the environment. In addition to reducing their own carbon footprints, children's principled eating behaviors may also influence those of their parents."
https://www.iflscience.com/over-40-percent-of-kids-in-a-us-study-thought-bacon-was-a-plant-79344
4 to 7 yr old's also still believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy, but I would hope they get into a health class in grade school.
Does anyone use a TENS unit, and have a brand recommendation?
I've been using an AUVON, which worked well, until it stopped working. Lasted about six months. Granted, it was a cheap one.
I'm having a real problem with my right hip. I've had two cortisone injections in it now, and another appointment next week. Xrays show nothing but a little age related calcium buildup on both hip joints.
Its really cramping my style. I have stuff to do!
From Marc Elias: In memory of Bode: The best dog ever
Any time I've ever seen Marc Elias interviewed he always has pics of Bode all over his office.
May 25, 2025
I've written about many difficult topics over the years, but none compare to this.
My loyal companion Bode passed away on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, from canine lymphoma — just one month shy of his ninth birthday. I know everyone thinks their dog is the best but Bode truly was the best dog ever.
Bode bounded into my life in July 2016 and never left my side. During the final months of the 2016 campaign, he was my regular companion — from my office in Washington, D.C., to the Clinton headquarters in Brooklyn, where I would sneak him in by putting him in a bag, he was eager to go everywhere with me. I took him to meet Senators and presidential candidates.
He was with me through the heartbreak of 2016 election loss and celebrated with me the victories in 2018 and 2020. The morning after the 2024 election, he was ready to face the world as if nothing had gone wrong. He helped me do the same.
When my children left for college, Bode stayed. When I prepared to argue before the Supreme Court, Bode was at my feet. When I founded Democracy Docket, Bode was more than present — he was part of its DNA, making regular appearances in our newsletters.
He was everywhere in my life: the first to greet me each morning and the last to say goodnight. He was happy when I came home and was stoic when I left. For my birthday one year, my wife gave me the perfect gift — a life-size sculpture of Bode.
As my public profile grew, so did his. He became my social media avatar and the wallpaper on my phone and computer. His photos filled the background when I appeared on cable news. Once, a producer asked me to remove them — I refused and never returned to that show. By the time the 2024 election came around, he was a democracy icon in his own right.
Bode even had his own fans. They wanted to know how to say his name (BOH-dee), what breed he was (Portuguese Water Dog). But mostly, they just wanted to tell me how lucky I was that he was in my life. They were right.
I was hesitant to write this obituary. Struggle as I might, I don't have a grand life lesson of his life; nor I any clear meaning to make of his death. I'm just heartbroken that he's gone.
The one thing I'm grateful for is that his death wasn't sudden. Bode was diagnosed with canine leukemia last November. He began chemotherapy right away. Thanks to the extraordinary care of his veterinarians, we had six high quality months together.
We took advantage of every moment of that time to spoil him shamelessly. Every small act earned a treat: waking up, going out, coming back in, bedtime — treat, treat, treat. Whatever Bode wanted to do, is what I wanted as well. If he wanted a walk, so did I. If he wanted to rest, that was fine too.
Bode meeting Senator Cory Booker in 2019.
As the months passed, it was clear that the cancer was taking a toll. He lost hair, weight, and eventually, energy. Then, in April, the cancer returned with force. We tried a new chemo protocol, but within weeks, it was obvious the end was near.
We continued to focus on making every moment count. Soon, however, those moments dwindled. He stopped eating. He was tired. It became clear: Bode had given us everything he could.
Last week, he let us know he was ready. On Wednesday night, he was back at the emergency vet. His body had given out. There were few options left and none that were good. After hearing from the vet, my wife and I made the hardest decision.
Bode died peacefully on May 20, 2025.
He was, quite simply, the best dog ever.
Running techniques
I hate posting just a link, but this is too funny not to share!
https://v1.pinimg.com/videos/mc/720p/48/69/fa/4869fae9cca87f5511411f9c06173a77.mp4
U.S. Spy Agencies Are Getting a One-Stop Shop to Buy Your Most Sensitive Personal Data
The government wants to build a centralized platform where spy agencies can more easily buy private info about millions of people.The ever-growing market for personal data has been a boon for American spy agencies. The U.S. intelligence community is now buying up vast volumes of sensitive information that would have previously required a court order, essentially bypassing the Fourth Amendment. But the surveillance state has encountered a problem: There’s simply too much data on sale from too many corporations and brokers.
So the government has a plan for a one-stop shop.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is working on a system to centralize and “streamline” the use of commercially available information, or CAI, like location data derived from mobile ads, by American spy agencies, according to contract documents reviewed by The Intercept. The data portal will include information deemed by the ODNI as highly sensitive, that which can be “misused to cause substantial harm, embarrassment, and inconvenience to U.S. persons.” The documents state spy agencies will use the web portal not just to search through reams of private data, but also run them through artificial intelligence tools for further analysis.
Rather than each agency purchasing CAI individually, as has been the case until now, the “Intelligence Community Data Consortium” will provide a single convenient web-based storefront for searching and accessing this data, along with a “data marketplace” for purchasing “the best data at the best price,” faster than ever before, according to the documents. It will be designed for the 18 different federal agencies and offices that make up the U.S. intelligence community, including the National Security Agency, CIA, FBI Intelligence Branch, and Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis — though one document suggests the portal will also be used by agencies not directly related to intelligence or defense.
“In practice, the Data Consortium would provide a one-stop shop for agencies to cheaply purchase access to vast amounts of Americans’ sensitive information from commercial entities, sidestepping constitutional and statutory privacy protections,” said Emile Ayoub, a lawyer with the Brennan Center’s liberty and national security program.
https://theintercept.com/2025/05/22/intel-agencies-buying-data-portal-privacy
Long and scary article.
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayHome country: U.S.
Member since: Tue Dec 29, 2015, 03:16 PM
Number of posts: 25,815