As Virus Cases Spike in Arkansas, the Governor Backtracks on Masks:
Meanwhile, DeSantis in FLA is threatening any attempt by institutions and companies to demand a mask mandate. (and vaccinations). The triumph of politics over science. This is our version of Lysenkoism. (And Trump as Stalin rather than Mussolini?)
Gaba: "‘If you’ve gotten your first shot, make sure to get the second one when you’re supposed to do so (3 weeks later for Pfizer, 4 weeks later for Moderna)."
Power. It really depends on what sort of power you want. Military power between nations (or civil war) does emphasize armament production. hence the US was so successful even against Germany in WW2. But that doesn't always work as Vietnam and Afghanistan should have made quite obvious by now. Cultural power - Hollywood movies production was very successful. East Germans generally escaped to West Germany, not the reverse as consumer goods and intellectual freedom was far more attractive. Russian Jews left in droves after the USSR collapsed and they were allowed to leave. Religion also seemed to work well, although often with lots of historical military enforcement. Despite Noah's implied thinking, I would argue the Cold War was more about culture than armaments. The west, particularly Britain, spent a lot of effort courting nations in Africa and elsewhere, whilst the Russians and Chinese did similarly. It seems to me (biased, I know) that the West succeeded more often than the East in this regard. The irony is that the US tried military force in Vietnam, but today, Vietnam is quite prosperous with many foreign (but not the US) companies there, even with a communist government. I would argue consumerism won out there. If only the US had not been so paranoid about Communists pushing over capitalist "dominoes".
Enlightenment thinking seems to have changed much of the world quite well too and is certainly the cultural idea that I hold my allegiance to, irrespective of which nation espouses this as a core idea.
If we view the fight over response to global heating (or even the Covid pandemic), the pen (ideas) is clearly mightier than the sword, even if not effective enough.
“There’s an old expression that the best way to make people starve is to make food free. The best way to make people homeless is to make housing free"
I have never heard that before. But if it was true, then Victorian Britain would have had a very low homeless problem (obviously Charles Dickens was fomenting vicious lies about landlords) and post-war Britain's public housing program was a massive failure - except that homelessness is now very high due to lack of affordability. City homelessness in the US is on the rise because there is so very little support for public/low-cost housing.
Maybe Stein was confused and the saying was from the New testament - something about fish...and teaching a man to fish?
As Virus Cases Spike in Arkansas, the Governor Backtracks on Masks:
Meanwhile, DeSantis in FLA is threatening any attempt by institutions and companies to demand a mask mandate. (and vaccinations). The triumph of politics over science. This is our version of Lysenkoism. (And Trump as Stalin rather than Mussolini?)
Gaba: "‘If you’ve gotten your first shot, make sure to get the second one when you’re supposed to do so (3 weeks later for Pfizer, 4 weeks later for Moderna)."
And yet: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/23/pfizer-vaccine-second-dose-has-sweet-spot-after-eight-weeks-uk-scientists-say
Interesting...
Power. It really depends on what sort of power you want. Military power between nations (or civil war) does emphasize armament production. hence the US was so successful even against Germany in WW2. But that doesn't always work as Vietnam and Afghanistan should have made quite obvious by now. Cultural power - Hollywood movies production was very successful. East Germans generally escaped to West Germany, not the reverse as consumer goods and intellectual freedom was far more attractive. Russian Jews left in droves after the USSR collapsed and they were allowed to leave. Religion also seemed to work well, although often with lots of historical military enforcement. Despite Noah's implied thinking, I would argue the Cold War was more about culture than armaments. The west, particularly Britain, spent a lot of effort courting nations in Africa and elsewhere, whilst the Russians and Chinese did similarly. It seems to me (biased, I know) that the West succeeded more often than the East in this regard. The irony is that the US tried military force in Vietnam, but today, Vietnam is quite prosperous with many foreign (but not the US) companies there, even with a communist government. I would argue consumerism won out there. If only the US had not been so paranoid about Communists pushing over capitalist "dominoes".
Enlightenment thinking seems to have changed much of the world quite well too and is certainly the cultural idea that I hold my allegiance to, irrespective of which nation espouses this as a core idea.
If we view the fight over response to global heating (or even the Covid pandemic), the pen (ideas) is clearly mightier than the sword, even if not effective enough.
“There’s an old expression that the best way to make people starve is to make food free. The best way to make people homeless is to make housing free"
I have never heard that before. But if it was true, then Victorian Britain would have had a very low homeless problem (obviously Charles Dickens was fomenting vicious lies about landlords) and post-war Britain's public housing program was a massive failure - except that homelessness is now very high due to lack of affordability. City homelessness in the US is on the rise because there is so very little support for public/low-cost housing.
Maybe Stein was confused and the saying was from the New testament - something about fish...and teaching a man to fish?