science-criticaltheory

[science-criticaltheory]

Climate Science Science - Critical Theory

I have a community devoted to Climate Science. This includes Human Caused Climate Change and Global Warming, Science and Sociology/Psychology. It is also involved in political action that debunks science denial and supports non fossil fuel energy sources. "Green Energy Sources" are needed if humans will survive the 21st Century.

Anyone who follows Science-Critical Theory should consider joining this community. It needs more members.

NOAA’s 2025 hurricane forecast warns of a busy season – a storm scientist explains why and what meteorologists are watching

[science-criticaltheory]

A Message to Scientists.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Science is under attack. The NIH, the NSF, and our research universities. So today, I have a message for America's scientists.

[science-criticaltheory]

Sen. Whitehouse Makes the Case Against Russ Vought's Nomination to Lead OMB.

Senator Whitehouse discusses the corporate takeover of the US government.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

[science-criticaltheory]

The post-truth era and how science education keeps ignoring it

The term “post-truth” has been used to characterize the contemporary era. Designated as the word of the year in 2016 by the Oxford English Dictionary, “post-truth” refers to “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping political debate or public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Authors advocate that more needs to be done to address the adverse effects of post-truth, such as misinformation, and to help people cope with it. But what exactly needs to be done? Take the science education ecosystem, for example: What are the implications for science curricula in schools and universities? How should school science teachers and university lecturers teach? One way of dealing with post-truth is to focus on the nature and importance of scientific evidence to counter proliferation of misinformation. My own research group has been investigating strategies to support evidence-based reasoning in secondary school science lessons for more than 25 years. Our work has highlighted how students’ skills in evidence-based reasoning can be supported through resources and pedagogical strategies.

Supporting students’ learning of evidence-based reasoning in science is necessary for dealing with some aspects of the post-truth era, namely for differentiating true and false claims. But is it sufficient for having a substantial impact on coping with post-truth? Why do we continue to witness accounts of science denial even when scientific evidence is available, or worse, understood? In addressing such questions, the educators’ initial instinct is likely to involve designing new instructional approaches, reforming the curriculum, and changing the assessment regime to improve learning of scientific habits of mind. If only we could highlight better that science is a process of inquiry; if only we could enhance students’ critical thinking skills and scepticism about unfounded claims; if only we could improve students’ media and information literacy to distinguish facts from fake news; if only we could marry statistical and scientific literacy; if only we could get students to engage with scientists and participate in scientific projects to give them a sense of how science works. If only.

The issue is that even if such educational interventions are carried out, the bigger problem remains. The “post-truth condition” cannot be fully addressed through correcting occurrences of misinformation nor by cultivating an appreciation of the scientific process. It has been demonstrated that people may selectively credit or dismiss evidence depending on whether information affirms or threatens their identities and social groups. Furthermore, we live in times where there is loss of trust in expertise and institutions. There are broader political dynamics in place, such as deliberate engineering of doubt and misinformation to serve the interests of certain stakeholders. The scientific enterprise itself needs to bear some responsibility for the poor state of science-society relations and strive to be part of the political narrative without compromising its values.

[science-criticaltheory]

EGU2025 - Presentation about our translation activities

Posted on 25 April 2025 by BaerbelW

As mentioned in the recently published prolog to EGU2025 article, I submitted an abstract to talk about some of our translation activities and the challenges we have been facing with those. This blog post is a "companion article" to that presentation in session EOS4.3 Geoethics and Global Anthropogenic Change: Geoscience for Policy, Action and Education in Addressing the Climate and Ecological Crises and will go into somewhat greater details than is possible in the 8 minutes available during the oral session which will be happening on May 2. Please note that what follows is by no means meant as a crtiicism of the many volunteer translator teams, of whom we are very appreciative for the work they did over the years, creating the many translations available on our website!

Some statistics

When John Cook launched Skeptical Science in 2007, the website was only available in English. During 2009 some regular readers floated the idea to also offer translated versions of the rebuttals and John added those capabilities towards the end of the year. The first translations added were Finnish, Spanish and Czech. A while later, options to also translate blog posts and pages were added. People worked on their own or within small teams and many translations were added during the first few years as can be seen in the statistics of number of rebuttals added per language and year:

During 2010 - the first full year of rebuttal translations being possible - more than 430 rebuttal translations were created and 40 translators were active in the system tackling 19 languages. In 2011 those numbers went down to 250 rebuttals created by 25 translators in 15 languages and even further down in the following years:

The picture is similar for translations of blog posts but on a much lower level of activity than for rebuttals. These translations became possible in 2010 and 70 translations were created in 11 languages by 12 translators. Numbers fell to a bit over 20 translations in the 2 following years. The little spike of blog post translations in 2024 is due to 20 German fact brief translations created by a translator course at the University of Heidelberg - a successful collaboration mentioned in more details here:

For most languages, only one translator has created blog post translations during a year and at most there were two. There never were more than 12 translators of blog posts across languages in any given year.

Discussion

What do these numbers mean? There obviously was a big push to create rebuttal translations by many people in many languages shortly after the option to do so became available. The activity however apparently wasn't sustainable in the long run, as shown by the quick and deep drop after the first two or three years of activities. Most likely reasons are that the volunteer translators had to turn their activities towards other tasks on their plate and they just no longer had the time to work on translations.

Another thing, the statistics above show, is that many more rebuttal translations than blog post translations have been created over the years. The reason might be that creating translations for long-lived rebuttals is seen as more worth the effort than for transient blog posts (even though some of those are very often referred to from elsewhere).

What the data also show: once created, rebuttal translations are rarely - if ever - updated to reflect changes in the English original version. This holds true for tedious tasks like fixing broken links but also for much bigger changes in the English versions, like when we added the "At-a-glance" sections in 2023/24 to more than 70 rebuttals. Only a fraction of those saw updates in one or two languages:

Other translation projects

In addition to coordinating translation activities for our own website's content, I have the pleasure to coordinate translations for several other projects which at least have some connection to Skeptical Science. For each of these projects, we have dedicated pages or blog posts, so I'll only list them here briefly:

The Cranky Uncle game

Connection to Skeptical Science: John Cook is the creator of both. As of this writing, the game - available for Android, iOS and browser - can be played in 16 languages and more are in the works. In addition to the game, the accompanying Teachers' Guide has by now been translated into 6 languages.

The FLICC poster

Connection to Skeptical Science: the FLICC-poster is a collaboration between us and our German-language partner website klimafakten.de. Right now, the poster is available in 10 languages and most translations are created without direct involvement of translators active for our own content. How helpful these translations can be, became apparent in 2021 during the COVID-pandemic when #PLURV - the German #FLICC - became quite popular in Germany and the poster was circulated widely on social media. See also my blog post about our collaborations.

The Conspiracy Theory Handbook

Connection to Skeptical Science: John Cook co-authored this handbook with Stephan Lewandwosky. The Conspiracy Theory Handbook was first published in 2020 and has been translated into 20 languages since then.

The Debunking Handbook 2020

Connection to Skeptical Science: John Cook is one of the coordinating lead authors of The Debunking Handbook 2020 which was first published in 2020 and has also been translated into 20 languages since then.

We've seen in our statistics that the translated handbooks get downloaded thousands of times each year, indicating that creating the translations is really worth the effort and helps to get important information into the hands of many people across the globe. Last year's review article of our activities has some numbers.

Challenge(s) and Outlook

The biggest challenge as far as translations of our own content goes is to make translation activities more sustainable in the long run. Ideally, we'd have one team per language to create new rebuttal translations and - equally important - update existing rebuttal translations where the original English version was updated since the translation was first created. In addition, we plan to add the FLICC-fallacies as a new content type related to the rebuttals when we eventually re-launch our website. And while we already have some of these translated into a few other languages, there'll be a lot of texts which would really be "nice" to get translated as well!

Perhaps, the German translations created by a translator course at the University of Heidelberg could serve as a good example of how translations could turn into collaborative activities and a win:win situation for both the students and us? The students gained experience with tackling translations with varying complexity (short fact briefs vs. longer rebuttals) and specific topics (climate change and renewable energy myths) and we gained 20 "Kurze Faktenchecks" as well as 33 translated rebuttals.

Interested in helping us to tackle these challenges?

Is this something up your alley you’d like to help with? If your answer is 'Yes', then please let us know by filling out the short form below. I'll then be in touch to let you know about the next steps, depending on your preferences of where you'd like to get involved.

[science-criticaltheory]

More on GS Warriors and Houston Rockets

This is from NBCSports Bay Area

HOUSTON – The longer the Warriors and Houston Rockets duke it out in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the more this is going to turn into a war of attrition. After Wednesday night, each team has one battle won under their belt, with the Warriors taking Game 1 and the Rockets winning Game 2 wire to wire with a final score of 109-94. 

Desperation was felt from the start. The Rockets weren’t going to let the Warriors board a flight back home comfortably. That strategy reached the lengths of Warriors star Jimmy Butler’s night ending after eight minutes, limping back to the locker room with what was deemed a pelvis contusion from a frightening fall to the hardwood featuring him and Rockets forward Amen Thompson. 

No technical fouls or flagrant fouls were called Sunday in Game 1. That wasn’t the case two nights later. There were three technical fouls whistled on both teams, plus a flagrant foul on Rockets guard Jalen Green in the fourth quarter. None were from Butler’s injury.

Though no punches were thrown, it only became clearer what kind of series we’re in for. 

“It’s a f–kin’ war now,” one person within the Warriors’ locker room said to NBC Sports Bay Area. “All we can do is fight back.”

Pure fight could be the solution. The Warriors will get their rest Wednesday night, fly home Thursday and learn from the film before Friday’s practice ahead of Saturday’s Game 3 at Chase Center. They’re going to have to find a way to combat the Rockets’ physicality. Somehow, some way.

If the beginning of the playoffs between two franchises who shared a long history of bad blood under the bright lights was a rock fight, Rockets coach Ime Udoka must have wanted boulders thrown on the Toyota Center court in Game 2. 

[science-criticaltheory]

Ime Udoka - An Unremarkable Person

Ime Udoka is the coach of the Houston Rockets of the NBA. He is a Nigerian-American born in Portland Oregon. His career as a player is unremarkable. He played for many teams in college and professional basketball. He never seemed to find a home for more than a short span of time.

He has an interesting history which can be found on many sources. I’m not going to cover his biography in an unbiased manner. It should have been done some time ago.

In 2002 he was the coach of the Boston Celtics. They faced the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. The Warriors won their fourth NBA championship defeating the Celtics in 6 games. In 2022 the Warriors had their best team since 2017-2018. They had become a dynasty during that period.

This is their record for that timeframe:

• 2014-15 Golden State Warriors (67-15) Won NBA Finals (4-2) versus Cleveland Cavaliers • 2015-16 Golden State Warriors Record: 73-9, Best season record in NBA history. They blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. • 2016-17 Golden State Warriors ( 67-15) Won NBA Finals (4-1) versus Cleveland Cavaliers • 2017-18 Golden State Warriors (58-24) Won NBA Finals (4-0) versus Cleveland Cavaliers • 2021-22 Golden State Warriors (53-29) Won NBA Finals (4-2) versus Boston Celtics

Apparently losing the 2021-22 NBA Finals was a severe blow to his ego because after the Warriors defeated Udoka’s Boston Celtics in the 2021-2022 season the following happened:

Udoka was suspended as coach of the Boston Celtics for engaging in an improper intimate relationship with a female staff member. Although the Celtics initially believed the relationship was consensual, the woman later accused Udoka of making unwanted comments towards her. He issued an apology after being suspended, but Udoka chose not to resign from his position due to the violation. Assistant coach Joe Mazzulla replaced Udoka as interim head coach.

At this point in his life his career from a basketball perspective continued to be unremarkable. In 2023 he was hired as head coach of the Houston Rockets.

The Houston Rockets have a history of losing conference championships to Golden State. Their coach in 2016-2018 said they were designing a team for the specific purpose of defeating the Warriors. They never succeeded. One of the reasons they failed so dramatically could be found in their selection of players. James Harden filled that role very well. There is a YouTube video describing James Harden’s career as a player: Why James Harden will Never win a NBA Championship.

Udoka’s Houston Rockets resemble his personality. Their style of play is not aggressive, their style of basketball could correctly be labeled aggression.

Less than 10 minutes after tipoff Wednesday night, the Warriors saw their postseason dream land with a thud on the floor of Houston’s Toyota Center. Jimmy Butler III, grimacing in pain, eventually rose to his feet before splitting two free throws and limping into the locker room. In a game with hyperphysical overtones befitting a WWE event – without using folding chairs as weapons – Butler’s pelvic contusion took the worst of it and undoubtedly contributed to the Warriors' 109-94 loss in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series. It’s only one game, evening the series at 1-1, but it felt much bigger because Butler’s uncomfortable exit – he’ll undergo an MRI examination on Thursday – precipitates the forming of dark clouds reminiscent of those that drifted above the December-January Warriors.

As mentioned Udoka’s teams’ style of play follow his personality. His personality is perverted to put it mildly.

What he tries to do is push the limits of acceptable behavior. These limits are defined by group norms. This includes violence toward opponents which in many cases causes serious injury. One hopes and prays that the incident with Jimmy Butler III resulting in his injury has not reached this extent.

The problem is the "officiating" in the NBA. It is wretchedly bad. They simply don't enforce the rules of basketball as played in the NBA. There have been scandals with the officiating in the past. One hopes this is no longer the case. However they "miss" so many calls. Some players like Stephen Curry are assaulted on a regular basis and no fouls are called. It then gets ugly and violent. Players are undercut while in the air. They hit the floor on their back or head.

After the incident with the Boston Celtics, he should have been banned from any position in the NBA.

If the NBA officials continue to permit Udoka’s team to physically assault opposing players, it becomes an issue for law enforcement. Assault is a felony. That is not something a normal person would want on his resume.

In spite of this, unless something is done by law enforcement to prevent Udoka and his team's style of play which is intentional violent assault, his team could win.

[science-criticaltheory]

Trump's Hat - Made in China.

China's Answer to Trump - Price Increase on Imports.

[science-criticaltheory]

Republicans Push SAVE Act Vote, Potentially Disenfranchising Millions

House Speaker Mike Johnson at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 25, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore / CC via Flickr)

The bill is being applauded by the Heritage Foundation and “dark money”-funded groups tied to Leonard Leo.

House Republicans are teeing up a vote on the SAVE Act as soon as next week, a bill to change voter registration policies that voting-rights advocates warn could disenfranchise tens of millions of eligible voters—with one expert even calling it “one of the worst voting laws in congressional history.”

The bill is supported by the Heritage Foundation's advocacy arm and conservative groups led by former Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell that work to pass restrictive election laws in states. If passed again by the House—as it was last year in a July 2024 vote of 221-198, with no Republican dissenters—the bill would be sent to the now GOP-controlled Senate.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act (H.R. 22), would require that citizens registering to vote or updating their registration information appear in-person to present documentary proof of citizenship. For the vast majority of Americans, this would require presenting a passport or birth certificate, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice. A Brennan Center analysis found that more than 21 million citizens don’t have these documents available—more than 9 percent of eligible voters—and that tens of millions of voters would routinely run into the law’s restrictions when updating their address after moving, or re-registering between elections.

The bill would allow “Enhanced Drivers Licenses” that show proof of citizenship to be used for voter registration, but only five states—Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington—currently offer them. Most “Real ID”-compliant documents would not be accepted under the law, according to the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, because they generally do not state the holder is a citizen. Neither would most military or tribal IDs.

The nonprofit Campaign Legal Center and other groups flag that people of color, young people, elderly people, and married people who have changed their names are more likely to lack access to their passport or birth certificate. Around 69 million American women who changed their names in marriage do not have a birth certificate that could be used as proof, according to the Center for American Progress (CAP). Socioeconomic differences exacerbate the bill’s problems: only 1 in 5 Americans with income below $50,000 have a valid passport, CAP says.

[science-criticaltheory]

Elon Musk's Family History in South Africa Reveals Ties to Apartheid & Neo-Nazi Movements.

Elon Musk was born in 1971 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised in a wealthy family under the country's racist apartheid laws. Musk's family history reveals ties to apartheid and neo-Nazi politics. We speak with Chris McGreal, reporter for The Guardian, to understand how Musk's upbringing shaped his worldview, as well as that of his South African-raised colleague Peter Thiel, a right-wing billionaire who co-founded PayPal alongside Musk. "Musk lived what can only be described as a neocolonial life," said McGreal. "If you were a white South African in that period and you had any money at all, you lived with servants at your beck and call."

Democracy Now!

[science-criticaltheory]

Nixon (Film) - E Howard Hunt Scene.

Oliver Stone's Nixon starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role is a criminally underrated political drama that looks deep into the character of the disgraced former president. In this scene, E. Howard Hunt (Ed Harris), one of the Watergate plumbers, tells John Dean (David Hyde Pierce) about the true nature of Richard Nixon.

More:

NIXON (A Screen Play) by Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson and Oliver Stone.

Nixon (1995) Screenplay SCENE NINETY-TWO.

[science-criticaltheory]

Musk/Trump Sadism and Criminality by Barry Wright, BA, MA, PhD

Something has happened. I’ve never joined any social media groups like Facebook and Twitter. And yet out of nowhere I receive an email ostensibly from Twitter/X. I cannot understand how I could have received this email or how they got one of my email addresses. It is inserted below this primary post.

There is something terribly wrong with the political situation in this country. Musk/Trump are waging a War of Aggression against the people and citizens of the United States. They are committing Crimes Against Humanity. The Nuremburg Tribunal should be reconvened and Musk/Trump should be placed on trial there exactly as the Nazis were following WW II.

Nazis and Musk/Trump, there is no difference; they are exactly the same. Only technology has advanced since the 1940s.

Read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by the American historian  William L. Shirer and you will understand. It is available in audio book form in the 21st Century.

Musk/Trump are threatening individuals that have the courage to condemn their policies. They are attacking these individuals just like Adolf Hitler and his Barbarian sub-human followers perpetrated in the mid 20th Century. Over 20 million people died as victims of Nazism. Do not say It Could Not Happen Here. It is.

The Trump/Must party is suppressing free speech and attempting to install an authoritarian government. If this continues, the United States as we know it will cease to exist. Their plan is to negate the United States Constitution replacing it with the ideology of unaccountable psychopaths.

I am not going to stop what I am doing. I will continue what I have been performing for the past 20 years. However this should be a warning to everyone about the Musk/Trump plans for the planet and its life.

My friend in Sweden told me this was probably sent by a robot but I'm not so upset. Everything I said about them is true. =============================================

Hello Barry Wright, Your account, BarryWrigh49158, was detected by our systems and automatically suspended for violating the X Rules.

Specifically, for: Violating our rules against inauthentic behaviors.

You may not use our services to engage in inauthentic activity that undermines the integrity of X. Note that if you attempt to evade a suspension by creating new accounts, we will suspend your new accounts. If you wish to appeal this suspension, please contact our support team.

If you have an active X Premium subscription, it will not be automatically canceled by X. To cancel your X Premium subscription, follow these instructions.

[science-criticaltheory]

Democratic base’s anger puts some party leaders on shaky ground - JONATHAN J. COOPER

PHOENIX (AP) — The Democratic base is angry.

Not just at President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the “Make America Great Again” movement. Rank-and-file Democrats are mad at their own leaders and increasingly agitating to replace them. Arizona Democrats pushed out their party chair, and Georgia Democrats are on their way to doing the same. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York postponed a book tour in the face of protests amid calls from progressives that he face a primary challenge.

The losing party after a presidential election often spends time in the wilderness, but the visceral anger among Democrats toward their party leaders is reaching a level reminiscent of the tea party movement that swept out Republican incumbents 15 years ago. “They should absolutely be worried about holding onto power, because there’s a real energy right now against them,” Paco Fabián, deputy director of Our Revolution, a grassroots group allied with independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, said of Democratic incumbents. “And as soon as somebody figures out how to harness it, they’re going to be in deep trouble.”

Click here to read the rest

[science-criticaltheory]

Health Care in Red States – Unqualified by Barry Wright

You need to understand the issue here is not wanting new prescriptions for opioids. I don’t want them or need them. The issue is being denied medical care. “liz” is a sadistic, cruel psychotic individual who openly enjoys belittling others. She enjoys harming others. She would not be working in any health care facility other than the one she is in.

You should be very concerned about what I am saying here. My advice to Saint Alphonsus is to get her out of your corporation. She is really going to harm someone and that will have a profound negative effect on Saint Alphonsus and your community.

Saint Alphonsus is part of Trinity Health Corporation.

The non-opinion part of this document will be sent to the Medical Board of the state where it occurred and to an attorney. There are many other agencies or regulators that accept complaints.

I was born in California but went to elementary school through high school in a small town in Southwestern Idaho. After graduating from high school I entered college and received my BA degree in Los Angeles, my MA degree in New Jersey located about 30 miles south of Lower Manhattan. I received my PhD in Sociology in Chicago. I received the PhD degree when my dissertation was completed in 1983.

I was then employed as a Technical Architect from 1984 through 2007. I became disabled from an injury in my right hand and forearm from having to use a track ball computer mouse to program and document a disaster recovery system. In addition, I had to resolve a software problem that had existed for 10 years. I was able to do this through skills that I had acquired from employment before I started working with the company with the billing error. I have described this in previous documents such as AT&T: Too Big to Function.

After I was given Social Security and Medicare benefits due to the disability condition, I required medical care. I purchased a home in 1980 with the intention of completing my PhD dissertation and at the same time installing my amateur radio equipment and antennas. This became quite controversial in the small town and as soon as my tower was erected but before I was operating my transceiver, the small town was flooded with complaints that I was causing interference to their television reception. This was impossible because I hadn’t been on the air. What it does is display the quasi-feudal environment I was living in at the time.

To repeat, after completing the work required to obtain my graduate degrees, in 1984 I started working at multiple places along the Pacific Coast of North America. I would fly home while on vacation and on weekends. I operated my radio equipment then.

We will now fast forward to 2007 and required medical care. There was a medical doctor located in Caldwell Idaho that I saw for about 10 years. She was competent and correctly diagnosed my conditions and prescribed the prescription medication that in her judgement I required. Unfortunately she retired in 2013. She did write a letter for me detailing my medical history and concerns.

At this point I began to understand the quality and existence of health care in SE Oregon and SW Idaho. I saw a series of doctors. One had received a degree from a for profit medical school located somewhere in the Caribbean. I gave this person a copy of the letter obtained from the doctor in Caldwell Idaho shortly before she retired. Unfortunately this doctor didn’t understand what was written and diagnosed and profiled me in contradiction of the information contained in the letter previously mentioned. I gave my medical records from at least the last 10 years. Instead of looking at them to understand my medical history, she had them shredded.

I found this unbelievable and filed a complaint with the Oregon Medical Board. They did say that shredding medical records was not something a competent medical facility would do, they would return them to the patient. The medical facility in Caldwell Idaho had preserved medical records that existed when I was a patient there over 25 years ago.

After I filed the complaint, this individual left her practice in Eastern Oregon and relocated somewhere else. I was told that this location was somewhere members of her direct family lived.

After this procedure I started seeing the sports medicine Physician’s Assistant for follow up on the hip replacement as well as my severe arthritic right hand. Incidentally in 2009 I was granted disability and received Medicare and full Social Security. I am covered by the protections defined by the American with Disabilities Act.

At this point in time my blood pressure was low and I was losing consciousness and falling. I hit my head on concrete several times. I fell inside the house as well and was fortunate not to create a fractured skull.

It finally became apparent that the beta blocker I was taking was causing by blood pressure to drop so low that I was losing consciousness and falling. This was stopped. But it happened many times over about a year. I was finally given a CAT scan of my head and the results were unremarkable. This means that the radiologist didn’t find any problems. However I probably did suffer concussions.

However my arthritis was getting worse now located in sections in the spine, both hips and left ankle. It became very painful. I asked for pain medication. I was given Tramadol, which is an opioid but not as invasive as hydrocodone. The medical doctor that I saw, Dr. Krakaw, provided prescriptions. I was doing well until he suddenly decided to retire. This is questionable as he told me that he would be leaving a lot of patients without proper care. As possible the problem was that the facility where he worked couldn’t afford to pay him. It is equally possible that they didn’t approve the prescriptions he was giving to people with conditions like mine.

At this point I need to make another digression. At one point in time, pharmaceutical corporations began sending letters to Doctors ostensibly telling them that they shouldn’t leave their patients in pain.

In this letter, doctors were told that medication was available that would relieve pain. The name of the drug was Hydrocodone. Doctors not wanting to leave their patients in pain started prescribing Vicodin and hydrocodone to their patients. Well it turns out that while the drug relieved pain, it had other qualities that weren’t acceptable. For one, the drugs are highly addictive and the more it is prescribed, it becomes less effective. So long-term care using this method isn’t recommended. This let to the opioid crisis. However patients with long term pain from injuries, arthritis and other sources of pain were not pleased. In fact, they filed a class action lawsuit. It resulted in a judgement against the defendants and a $15,000,000 payment to the patients with pain.

After this was settled, the JAMA Health Forum published an article “Opioid Settlement Funds – Do Not Neglect Patients With Pain”

I now must return to my specific experience with the Saint Als Medical Clinic in Fruitland Idaho. Firstly I have been aware of the opioid crisis, the class action lawsuit and the JAMA publication. After Dr. Krakaw left this facility, he was replaced by a young PA. There is a history with this individual which I’m not going to cover here. At this meeting I asked her if she had any problems with my medications. She said no. I was still in a lot of pain at this point and needed pain therapy. The problem was that while I was receiving cortisone injections into my right hand, I still had to perform many things with it. Many of these were part of by disability assignment. I was also working with radio equipment and antennas. This requires the use of tools. You could not understand any of this. But I still needed treatment for pain.

But that really wasn’t the issue. The issue was the cruel and sadistic telephone calls and mail and email I received from “liz”. She was an office manager.

I was thinking about the class action lawsuit against the medical profession, I made an introductory comment that “I don’t want to threaten you…” meaning I don’t want to file complaints against you or bring you into a court of law and depose you under oath. That is what I was thinking. However their insecurity due to age, lack of medical knowledge and experience led them to a state of fright. “liz” was so scared that she told me that since I was no longer going to be a patient there, I should send for my medical records!?! I told her I have my medical records. I wrote her a one-page letter which I thought demolished her attempts to deny me medical care.

Now the time frame is February 2025. I sent an email to Bethany my sports medicine PA. I told her that all of the doctors I had seen here had suddenly gone somewhere else or retired completely. Bethany being a nice and highly professional person she began a search. She told me to call an Idaho phone number and ask for an appointment with Dr. Patee. When I did so, I was asked for my name by the switchboard operator. When I gave it I was transferred to “liz”. “liz” told me that I was banned from her facility. I said that I was told to call Dr. Petee by Bethany and Mary. “liz” said that “they hadn’t heard about you yet!?!” 'liz" is so retarded.

I saw Bethany today and briefly went over the situation I was facing. I received a cortisone injection and it helps.

She didn’t know “Liz” and I believe her as she is the total opposite of “liz” and really believes in the medical profession moto of First do no harm. For “liz” it is more like First do not harm to my portfolio. That Is how corporations operate, secure wealth for their members. Trinity Health Corporation is the one to look for.

To be continued...

Epilog:

Telephone Encounter liz Patient called requesting to schedule new patient appointment with Dr. Patee upon recommendation from the FHP Orthopedics team. Spoke with patient and reminded him that he has been discharged from our practice and that we would be unable to schedule him with a clinician in this office. Patient states "I assume you received my letter." I agreed that I received both letters he sent. He states "good, I won't say anything further then. But if my health is in danger, I won't forget you." Call was disconnected at this time.

There are a lot of reasons I won’t forget her. Every time I have to think about her is depressing. An additional note: Every time you speak to this kind of person on the telephone, the conversation is recorded. You should also have more than one copy of your document. The following is the response I gave to Saint Alphonsus medical group after I received a letter from them asking me to call various telephone numbers. I didn't see the purpose of my calling any of their telephones.

[science-criticaltheory]

Pictures don't lie.

[science-criticaltheory]

Trump invokes 18th century law to speed deportations, judge stalls it hours later -NICHOLAS RICCARDI and WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge barred the Trump administration Saturday from carrying out deportations under a sweeping 18th century law that the president invoked hours earlier to speed removal of Venezuelan gang members from the United States.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said he needed to issue his order immediately because the government already was flying migrants it claimed were newly deportable under President Donald Trump’s proclamation to be incarcerated in El Salvador and Honduras. El Salvador already agreed this week to take up to 300 migrants that the Trump administration designated as gang members.

“I do not believe I can wait any longer and am required to act,” Boasberg said during a Saturday evening hearing in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Democracy Forward. “A brief delay in their removal does not cause the government any harm,” he added, noting they remain in government custody but ordering that any planes in the air be turned around.

The ruling came hours after Trump claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was invading the United States and invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority that allows the president broader leeway on policy and executive action to speed up mass deportations.

[science-criticaltheory]

Fascist Idaho Sheriff ABUSES WOMEN AT TOWN HALL for Asking Questions!!!

Jesse talks about a fascist cast of characters at the heart of a sickening incident at a town hall in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where Sheriff Bob Norris violently removed a resident from the event and oversaw private security thugs illegally & forcefully detained her. Teresa Borrenpohl was mocked by a clown named Ed Bejarana, who was at the podium during her being abused, saying, "This little girl is afraid to leave. Just spoke up, and now she doesn't want to suffer the consequences. Isn't that the problem that we're struggling with… [intelligible] – So many people want to behave poorly and then not struggle with the consequences. That is shameful! Listen, I promise we'll come back. In the meantime, I know we just got to get a little aggressive with some of these folks here." The fascist private security thugs work for a company called Lear Asset Management, Inc.

Jesse Dollemore