unicorn

A new law in the US has required the covering up and closure of exhibits of Native American culture. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/arts/design/native-displays-museums-law.html?te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20240222 "When new federal regulations took effect last month requiring museums to get consent from tribes before exhibiting certain Native cultural items, museums across the country began to remove objects from cases, cover up displays and even close entire halls...". The New York Times gives an example, which I believe demonstrates the over-reach: Accession Year: 1893 Description: These oblong ear ornaments made of shell were part of the Field Museum’s exhibit on objects from the Hopewell mounds, a series of earthen structures in Ohio that were estimated to have been built between 1,600 and 2,000 years ago. In the early 1890s, the archaeologist Warren K. Moorehead excavated the site and displayed his findings at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The objects collected for the exposition became the foundation for the Field Museum’s collection. Why it’s off display: The federal repatriation law applies to funerary objects, or belongings that were buried with the dead, often as company on their spiritual journeys. Helen Robbins, the repatriation director at the Field Museum, said it was likely that these items and others in the Hopewell cases are funerary. I should note that the Hopewell people no longer exist, so there is no one from whom to obtain consent, nor is there anyone who could possibly take offense at the display of the ear ornaments. What's next? Should museums have to try to track down relatives of Egyptian mummies to obtain their consent? Here's another Hopewell example: Accession Year: 1893 Description: This pipe made from stone was also dug up from a Hopewell mound by Moorehead’s team. Why it’s off display: The pipe is likely funerary, and there is also the possibility that modern-day tribes could consider it sacred. In the past, museums considered objects as old as this pipe, which could be more than a thousand years old, difficult to repatriate because determining which modern-day tribe they should go to could be complicated. But the new regulations direct institutions to consult with federally recognized tribes connected to the geographical area, which in this case includes the Shawnee Tribe and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, among others. Why should one have to try to obtain consent from clearly unrelated tribes, whose language and customs are clearly vastly different? The New York Times link may be under a paywall, so if you can't access, here's another link to an article which describes the problem: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/01/29/us-museums-nagpra-native-american-displays-new-regulations

What you said is true, though Botox use is very common in LA, especially in the gay community. It costs him about $300 every 6 months, so not an huge expense.

I thought about this string today while walking my dog in the park. There was actually someone who was walking outside wearing an N95. The study which essentially ruled out outdoor transmission was published in August of 2020 (if I recall correctly, they researched over 30,000 infections, and of those, about 10 may have been contracted outdoors, but in those cases, there had always been prolonged face-to-face contact such as an outdoor dining situation). It also made me think of this tour I took of southern Lake Tahoe over 30 years ago. The tour guide pointed out Liberace's mansion near the lake, which sold for a pittance because people were afraid of contracting HIV, although the fact that the disease was sexually transmitted was well-known at the time of his death in the late 80s. I guess a lot of people get solace over taking "extra precautions" even when those precautions are scientifically known to be useless. Too bad I hadn't known about the sale (and had enough money--I was in residency at the time).

One can, and they did have observers in the RCT's. This included the Bangladeshi study, which had observers in the villages. In that study, there were other measures taken in addition to masking in the subject group, but the benefit was only 9.5%, obviously an irrelevant difference (the 95% confidence interval included no benefit). I just came back from a large medical conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida a couple of weeks ago (Pri-Med). There were over 2000 attendees, plus staff, speakers, and exhibitors. During the whole 3-day conference, I counted 3 people wearing masks (not one of them a speaker). I took a 777-300 to and from LAX (we flew into Miami), and I saw no passengers wearing masks on the way over and two on the way back. It seems that almost everyone, especially physicians, understands the reality at this point. Believe me, when the pandemic started, I was masked with N95's, goggles, and so on. As the studies came out, I changed my behavior on the basis of study results. I remember feeling shocked by governors who dropped mask mandates, before the studies came out. As it turned out, they guessed correctly, although it was a dangerous guess at the time. One can never, of course, prove a difference of zero. That being said, enough studies have been done, with relative risks adding up to the 0.98 to 1.02 range, that if there is a difference either way, the difference is functionally irrelevant. As much as I wish masks helped, science shows that, sadly, they do not. I know lots of people will believe in some crazy shit just because they wish it were true (look at all of those MAGA nut-heads). I'm not one of those people.

That reminds me of Mexico's prohibition of alcohol sales around election times. Though elections are on Sundays, some states ban alcohol sales for the entire week-end! Some people could go into DT's. 😉 At least it's done for secular reasons, not due to imposing religious values on others. https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/sundays-elections-will-mean-a-ban-on-alcohol-sales-in-many-locations/

She was detained on completely separate charges: contempt of court for failing to testify for the grand jury investigation into Assange's case. Although I can't read the link you provided, I suspect it fully explains the situation.

That's a lie, and you know it.

While not quite as completely asinine as Kostik's ridiculous argument of "the only truth comes from the land where we murder opposing reporters and politicians, and propaganda comes from places with freedom of the press," your post simply brings up completely false analogies and factual inaccuracies. First of all, Assange, Snowden, and Manning all released large quantities of classified documents which greatly harmed US national security, endangered lives, and ruined others' lives. Navalny did no such thing. What kind of a jackass would equate the release of classified documents with participating in marches? So no, I would not defend these self-deluded assholes. Manning was released in 2017, after having served some 7 years. Snowden has chosen not to face justice and is leading life as a free man. Very much unlike Navalny, none of these people were poisoned, tortured in the Arctic Circle, then murdered, with their bodies disappearing. Any attempt to compare these is outrageous.

I don't know why you continue to post the ridiculous BS you post. You're not convincing anyone--not even yourself.

Yes, you got it right, there.

Well, according to the article, none of the suggestions work well. So what was the point of providing that link? 🤨

Yes, because a day doesn't go by when we don't hear of journalists critical of Biden being shot at point-blank range in the elevators of their apartments, or thrown out of their 5th story windows, or poisoned by Aeroflot (or American Airlines) flight attendants. And the American government poisoned Navalny, then sent him to an icy prison north of the Arctic Circle, murdered him, then somehow convinced the prison officials to hide the body. You post some of the most ridiculous, stupid shit I've ever read. And you know it damned well, too.

Yes, it's pretty obvious to everyone that Putin likes to keep re-emphasizing the message that anyone who even speaks against him will be murdered (under his orders). Countless people have been victims to this nut-case's paranoia. He will go down in history as a brutal human butcher, along with Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn (and a coward as well). I have a strong feeling you do as well (either that, or you're the большой идиот/дурак). Surely no one could be so stupid as to believe Biden had any interest, much less the ability, to murder Navalny. At least Navalny had the courage to speak the truth, something you're too cowardly to do. Although I didn't agree with everything Solzhenitsyn said, at least I have to admire his courage to speak his mind against Stalin (who, unlike, Putin, had at least the sense to deport rather than murder him). It seems like few Russians share his courage.

The differences lie in the depth of the danger, and the hostility of the dictatorial government proper to the US. Belarus's Lukashenko could decide at any time to take a US citizen hostage on some ridiculous pretext (i.e. Griner's possession of less than a gram of cannabis oil), and put this person in prison, perhaps with hard labor, while trying to get concessions from the US government. While there are dangers from hostile countries around Israel, at least the Israeli government is not hostile to the US. Also, there are ways to minimize the dangers in Israel. The massacre at the Re-im Music Festival was horrific, atrocious, and completely inexcusable. That being said, you would never find or have found me at a music festival bordering the Gaza strip under any circumstances, much less on the 50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Strangely, when I was in Egypt last month, I was surprised to learn than October 6th has long been considered a holiday in Egypt. I suspect most Egyptians don't even know that they lost that war (which they started). https://www.britannica.com/topic/Armed-Forces-Day-Egyptian-holiday "Armed Forces Day, public holiday observed in Egypt on October 6, celebrating the day in 1973 when combined Egyptian and Syrian military forces launched a surprise attack on Israel and crossed into the Sinai Peninsula, which marked the beginning of the October (Yom Kippur) War." So the dangers of Israel are real, though somewhat manageable. I agree that this isn't the best time to visit Israel. I've only traveled to Level 3 countries rarely (maybe 2 or 3 times in my life). I've never traveled to a Level 4 country, though. I'm not sure if I ever will, even if it means that there will be one country in Europe I'll have never visited. Who knows when Lukashenko will die (or be killed).

Sorry, but that's factually incorrect. Israel is not in the "exercise increased caution" list (level 2), but rather on the "reconsider travel" list (level 3). I admit that I have visited countries listed in level 3 (Egypt recently), but have not and probably will not ever visit countries in the "Do not travel" list (level 4). The country I'm most tempted by is Burma, but I'll wait until things calm down there. Most of Southeast Asia is Level 1, except for the Golden Triangle region. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/israel-west-bank-and-gaza-travel-advisory.html

I'm shocked you didn't use his official title! 😄 It's "His Imperial Majesty Bokassa the First, Apostle of Peace and Servant of Jesus Christ, Emperor and Marshal of Central Africa." According to Wikipedia, "On 29 February 1988, Kolingba demonstrated his opposition to capital punishment by voiding the death penalty against Bokassa and commuted his sentence to life in prison in solitary confinement, and the following year reduced the sentence to twenty years. With the return of democracy to the CAR in 1993, Kolingba declared a general amnesty for all prisoners as one of his final acts as president, and Bokassa was released on 1 August 1993. Bokassa remained in the CAR for the rest of his life. In 1996, as his health declined, he proclaimed himself the Thirteenth Apostle and claimed to have secret meetings with the Pope John Paul II. Bokassa died of a heart attack on 3 November 1996 at his home in Bangui at the age of 75. He had seventeen wives, one of whom was Marie-Reine Hassen, and a reported fifty children, including Jean-Serge Bokassa, Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jr. and Kiki Bokassal." "...Tenacious rumors that Bokassa occasionally consumed human flesh were substantiated by several testimonies during his eventual trial, including the statement of his former chef that he had repeatedly cooked the flesh of human carcasses stored in the palace's walk-in freezers for Bokassa's table. At his coronation he is said to have told the French ambassador that he had unknowingly eaten human meat. This did not affect Bokassa's criminal record, however, since the consumption of human remains is considered a misdemeanor under CAR law and all previously committed misdemeanors had been forgiven by a general amnesty declared in 1981...". Well, at least cannibalism was nominally illegal, unlike in Russia, where it's celebrated. 😉

It's not a matter of "just checked." It's a matter of what the BP has been running. A valid BP has to be measured in a very specific way. In particular, most people don't follow the very important instruction of sitting quietly (no talking) for 5 minutes before taking the reading:

This link take one to the US State Department's map of which countries are no-nos: https://travelmaps.state.gov/TSGMap/?extent=17.826323538,49.296560829,40.848243629,56.555024853 Basically, don't go to Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Burma, Venezuela, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Empire (yes, I know it's Republic now), parts of Mexico, and North Korea. I don't long to go to those places, although it would be nice to be able to visit Iran one of these days.

I would not travel to Russia, North Korea, or Iran at this time, for sure, but it's silly to say it's not good to be American. There are also plenty of countries to which I wouldn't travel due to being gay, for instance (Uganda, Saudi Arabia). There are plenty of other lovely countries to explore. I'm not one of those people who obsesses with traveling to every country on the planet. I will focus on visiting every country in Europe, however. So far, I've yet to visit Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia, Malta, and Moldova. Only Belarus might get a little tricky, though, so far, I've not heard of them holding US citizens hostage.

Few people will dispute you when it comes to Cuba, including the US State Department, which assigns Cuba a Level 2 caution only (due to petty crime), comparable to most western European countries (UK, France, Germany, Spain, etc.): https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Cuba.html Travel restrictions to US citizens for Cuba are due to politico-economic reasons, not issues of safety or wrongful detention. Iran, Russia, and North Korea, however, have put Americans in prison with the only goal of using them as bargaining chips to gain concessions from the US. I have seen documentaries regarding many US citizens who were tortured and imprisoned in Iran with no evidence of any wrongdoing. In other cases, the alleged wrongdoing is so inconsequential as to be absurd. Almost everyone has heard of the case of Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to 9 years of hard labor for possession of less than one gram of hash oil used for joint pain, although the typical sentence in Russia for such an offense is 2 weeks' imprisonment: https://sports.yahoo.com/hashish-oil-did-land-brittney-114041136.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFB84SCkoRSJplumKLae6zaMJniMp2A8k-uaOidEkSjmo--g52tNQVixkmWDTHuvdcaNqwzVZsMtXz-lMA32rVEmGc_x27An2UFGwx76aRjo7duCQmNkdIIcdMpVPpwLTMCGlSDfwVGo9p0a7W9e9IvocFfNR6ry3Khq66S5ZqcA "...In Russia, cannabis is illegal. An individual possessing less than 6 grams of cannabis or two grams of hash can be fined or jailed for up to 15 days. Possessing any more than that becomes a more serious criminal offense...". To get her out, the US had to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a murderous illegal arms dealer. An unintentional slip-up led to an international horror story. As for North Korea, most people have heard the story of Otto Warmbier, who was literally tortured to death (murdered) for allegedly trying to steal a poster worth a few dollars at most. Here are the stories of some Americans wrongfully detained in Iran (including one who was there to support environmental efforts in Iran): Travel to countries which wrongfully detain US citizens should be allowed only if the citizens sign acknowledgement/release forms which state: (1) They are aware the country wrongfully detains citizens, and therefore travel to that country is strongly discouraged; and (2) In the event of wrongful detention, the US government will not negotiate a release, and will prosecute anyone who attempts to pay any sort of a ransom to secure release. I would blame any US citizen who attempts to travel to Russia, Iran, or North Korea, because they intentionally imperil themselves and their country. This is why a favor forcing any citizen who travels to such countries to acknowledge the danger and release their country from any peril they incur.

Propaganda only can take hold where there's no free press (such as the Russian Federation). Visa policy is obviously unrelated. Russia has a mostly "monkey-see, monkey-do" policy, wherein they simply reciprocate the other country's visa policy. FYI, few if any Western countries require so much as an e-visa for Mexico. Brazil may require visas for US citizens soon, so far wisely postponing that to take effect. Countries in green, including most Western countries, don't require a visa for Brazil.

You could have just left it at that, perhaps adding "Oh, yeah. You're right--I agree." See how simple it is to be succinct? 😉

No, it's not the same. Russians get all of their information from Putin. What do you think US opinion would be like if the only source of information we could access was Fox News? Intentionally putting out false information with no one to challenge it? Any reporter who dares challenge a false narrative murdered? No political challenges allowed? You don't understand what it's like to live in a dictatorship. Even just wearing a rainbow flag can get you thrown in jail. Yes, Putin is a despicable dictator. Most Russians are his victims, however. Any idea that they have choices is an illusion.

While I agree with you that at this point the evidence for Biden's dementia is convincing, it's pretty obvious that Trump has dementia as well. Trump may have fronto-temporal dementia, which could bode bigger danger. https://news.yahoo.com/5-times-trump-showed-signs-165136412.html Trump has mixed up President Biden and former President Obama so often that he even had to post a disclaimer on Truth Social explaining that these flubs were intentional. Just a few days ago, Trump mixed the two up during an appearance on Fox News. He was talking to Sean Hannity about the necessity of giving presidents immunity when he said, "Because when he leaves office, the opposing party, president, if it's the opposing party, will indict the president for doing something that should have been good, like Obama dropped missiles, and they ended up hitting a kindergarten or school or the apartment house, a lot of people were killed." Earlier this month, Trump made a similar mistake when he claimed he was ahead of Obama in the polls when he meant to say Biden. "As you know, crooked Joe Biden and the radical left thugs have weaponized law enforcement to arrest their leading political opponent, and leading by a lot, including Obama — I'll tell you what," he said during a Washington D.C. summit, Business Insider reports. In this same speech, he also mixed up Obama and his 2016 presidential election opponent, Hilary Clinton. "With Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn't be won," he said... Last September, at a speech at the Pray Vote Stand summit in Washington, D.C., Trump claimed that Biden is “cognitively impaired” before warning that the current president would lead up into WWII — you know, the war that our grandparents fought in... At a rally in South Carolina last year, Trump went on another rant about wind turbines, this time claiming that “windmills” were killing whales by “driving them crazy.”