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Death on the Prescription Plan The ‘White Plague’ of the 21st Century
James Petras
Introduction
Over the past two decades hundreds of thousands of Americans have died prematurely because of irresponsibly prescribed narcotic ‘pain killers’ and other central nervous system depressants, like tranquillizers and their deadly interactions. The undeniable fact is that they have been mostly from the white working and lower middle class from rural and deindustrialized regions. The governing elite and oligarch macro-decision makers have quietly dismissed this sector of the country as ‘surplus’. The victims or their surviving family members have no chance of redress for the widespread malpractice and greed that led to their addiction or death. The government as a whole and the oligarch-controlled mass media have deliberately failed to document and investigate the deep causes for the epidemic, except to spout the usual superficial ‘clichéd explanations’.
We will proceed to discuss the scope and depth of the epidemic and to identify the primary causes. We will then proceed to offer alternatives.
Comparative Data
The US can claim the dubious distinction of having highest rate of growth of premature deaths among its young and middle age working and lower middle class citizens among the the advanced countries of Europe and Asia. Even most not-so-advanced countries have been spared such an increase in pre-mature mortality, outside of war. This uniquely American devastation is concentrated among the poorer, less educated whites living in small cities, towns and rural areas.
The trends are no longer deniable: Over the last sixteen years (2000-2016), the death rate among US workers between ages 50 – 54 doubled from 40 to 80 per 100,000[1]. In contrast, the mortality rate in Germany among a similar demographic declined from 60 to 42/100,000 and in France from 55 to 40 per 100,000[2]. Moreover within the US, the mortality rate for marginalized white workers has increased compared to that of African Americans and Hispanics. This upward shift in pre-mature death indicates significant deterioration in living standards for a huge slice of the US population. The main causes of death include a dramatic increase in suicide, complications of obesity and diabetes, and especially ‘poisoning’ – a broad term to include alcohol, illegal drugs, and, especially, prescribed opioid pain medications and an array of mixed drug interactions.
Nikki Haley’s Historical Revisionism
Stephen Lendman
In March 29 remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations, Haley called America “the moral conscience of the world.”
Orwellian dystopia more accurately describes the horrors of US policies. Haley’s disinformation fell flat.
“(H)uman rights are at the heart of” America’s UN mission, she blustered, ignoring its rape, destruction and plunder of one nation after another, shifting blame for its high crimes on others.
US terror-bombing massacres civilians indiscriminately. It targets hospitals, schools, residential areas and other nonmilitary sites - flagrant international law violations.
Haley’s remarks ignored reality, blaming Assad for America’s crimes of war and against humanity.
US Phony War on Terror
Stephen Lendman
America seeks global conquest and dominance, a diabolical agenda threatening humanity’s survival.
Its so-called war on terror is a fabricated hoax - state-sponsored terror to advance its imperium by smashing one sovereign independent state after another.
Democracy and humanitarian intervention are Washington’s most destructive exports, aiming to be the world’s judge, jury, executioner and dominant power, a pure evil agenda.
Monied interests are served at the expense of popular ones. Washington rules replaced international laws, norms and standards.
Why Do Some Men Rape?
Robert J. Burrowes
A recent report from Equality Now titled 'The World's Shame: The Global Rape Epidemic' http://www.equalitynow.org/campaigns/rape-laws-report offered a series of recommendations for strengthened laws to deter and punish sexual violence against women and girls.
However, there is substantial evidence that legal approaches to dealing with violence in any context are ineffective. For example, the empirical evidence on threats of punishment (that is, violence) as deterrence and the infliction of punishment (that is, violence) as revenge reveals variable impact and context dependency, which is readily apparent through casual observation. There are simply too many different reasons why people break laws in different contexts. See, for example, 'Crime Despite Punishment'. https://undark.org/article/deterrence-punishments dont-reduce-crime/
Moreover, given the overwhelming evidence that violence is rampant in our world and that the violence of the legal system simply contributes to and reinforces this cycle of violence, it seems patently obvious that we would be better off identifying the cause of violence and then designing approaches to address this cause and its many symptoms effectively. And reallocating resources away from the legal and prison systems in support of approaches that actually work.
Hillary Unleashed
Stephen Lendman
She’s back. She never went away.
In a St. Patrick Day address, she suggested she’ll return to politics - despite a Suffolk University poll showing her popularity at 35%, an all-time low.
Asked after an earlier Wellesley College address (her alma mater) what she’d change about her disastrous 2016 campaign, she said: “I’d win.”
Anyone so widely reviled should realize she’s unwanted and back off. Not Hillary, perhaps as much focused on undermining Trump as pursing a political comeback.
On Tuesday, she spoke at a San Francisco diversity conference, hosted by Professional Business Women of California, invited as keynote speaker, likely for 6-figure remuneration.
Does the Washington Establishment Seek War with Russia?
Eric Zuesse
Which does the Washington’s Establishment prefer: a U.S. President who wants to reach new agreements with Russia, or a U.S. President who wants to replace all of Russia’s allies?
What we’ve been having recently is solely Presidents who want to replace all of Russia’s allies — and they’ve been succeeding at that, so far:
They replaced Saddam Hussein.
They replaced Muammar Gaddafi.
They replaced Viktor Yanukovych.
They’re still trying to replace Bashar al-Assad, and also Iran’s leadership.
There still is question, however, as to whether U.S. President Donald Trump will continue this string; and many in America’s ‘news’media consider him to be too favorable toward Russia. The aristocracy own the few ‘news’media that have substantial audiences in the U.S., and their advertisers are also overwhelmingly owned by them; and the politicians’ campaigns tend also to be receiving most of their money from them; so, generally, it’s considered political suicide to buck what the few billionaires are rather united on in America, and what they seem quite united on right now is that Mr. Trump isn’t sufficiently anti-Russian. For a government official in this country to view Russia as even potentially an ally instead of an enemy, is increasingly viewed as treasonous in America, and any contacts that Mr. Trump might have been trying to nurture so as to establish an alliance with Russia on anything — even merely an alliance against international jihadists — is being treated in America’s press as treasonous — as if Russia were still the entire U.S.S.R.; and communism were still a threat, and there still existed the Soviet Union’s military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, as being a counter-weight to America’s NATO alliance. But those assumptions about Russia are obviously false. So: do America’s billionaires still simply want to conquer Russia, instead of to be allied with it, even in that limited way, as a global alliance to crush jihadists?
The newsmedia pick up from the Democrats and the other neoconservatives, and therefore Trump is being pressed hard on his being ‘Putin’s stooge’ or even ‘Putin’s Manchurian candidate,’ though the presumption in those statements is that Russia is doomed to be America’s enemy unless America outright conquers it — and this is a war-mongering and arrogant presumption for the U.S. government to be making about Russia, and it’s also very far from being a realistic assumption about Russia. Will Russia tolerate having all of its allies overthrown by the U.S. (a project that the U.S. has already come close to completing)? How many more U.S. nuclear missiles will Russia accept being placed near and on its borders in formerly allied countries that now are in NATO — that are in the anti-Russia military club, but were formerly in the U.S.S.R., or else in its Warsaw Pact? If you were a Russian, would you now be scared?
Neocon Fury Over Trump’s Syria Policy
Stephen Lendman
Neocon senators John McCain (R. AR) and Lindsey Graham (R. SC) likely believe war is peace. Freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength - with attribution to George Orwell.
They’re furious about Secretary of State Tillerson, saying “the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.”
Separately, US UN envoy Nikki Haley said “(y)ou pick and choose your battles, and when we’re looking at this, it’s about changing up priorities and our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out.”
McCain said he’s “deeply disturbed” about their comments.
Diabolical Russia Bashing
Stephen Lendman
Russia is vilified for its sovereign independence, Putin’s multi-world polarity advocacy, his opposition to imperial wars, refusal to be subservient to US interests, and support for mutual cooperation among all nations.
Conservative senior Weekly Standard editor Christopher Caldwell said “he rescued (Russia), and gave it coherence and purpose.”
He “refused…to accept…a subservient role in an American-run world system drawn up by foreign politicians and business leaders.”
Russians “revere him.” He “restrained” oligarchs looting the country, colluding with Western interests. He “restored” Russia’s global standing, strengthened its military, saving the country from Western dominance.
WHICH WAS PROPAGANDA, WHICH WAS NEWS-REPORTING?
Eric Zuesse
Compare:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8_wRUlZ-c
Russian TV covered 1,000,000 Yemenese protesting U.S.-Saud's Bombs.
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versus:
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http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/327-jared-kushner-to-tell-senate-intel-committee-about-contacts-with-russian-bank-meet-leah-the-overcomer-a-young-girl-who-is-inspiring-the-world/ (at 11:11-13:11)
U.S. TV covered 8,000 Russians protesting Vladimir Putin’s government.
America’s Fraudulent Government
Eric Zuesse
Lee Fang at The Intercept revealed on March 31st, that the Republican Party were defrauding the American people with assertions that their Party has an alternative to Obamacare — the Affordable Care Act — and that they’ll pass it if and when they come to power. His headline summarized the considerable evidence for this, "GOP Lawmakers Now Admit Years of Obamacare Repeal Votes Were a Sham”, and his article made clear that the Republican Party has no desire to serve the public, in public office, but are total fraudsters, whose sole real goal is to gain power in order to do what their big billionaire donors want done.
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