Nelson Lowhim's Blog, page 67

BLM and Medicine

I'll be writing more stuff for the blog as well as other areas. No shorts out there to speak of. Trying a new style that has been driving me up a wall. You can catch a glimpse of the style here. Yeah, the price of entry is high, so don't sweat it if you can't. That being said, my long form will have to be worked on, right? So stay safe out there, people.

 

 

 

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

And Here in Seattle

 well, here in Seattle, there are some issues with the City Council, and police chief has resigned. But take a look at these videos. What could that possibly be for? Shit's getting out of hand, and been that way for some time. Then this video is a cop saying Seattle is dirty. Seems like many are willing to ratchet up the tensions. So once again I have to ask: what next?

 

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

Vote Early. Get others to Vote early.

And so the  Trump Regime is all in on stealing the election. So for most people, it's necessary to vote early and in a way that doesn't use the USPS. In that case, here are the ways to vote early in many states. 

 So make sure you do and get others you know to do the same. Especially if they live in swing states.

 

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

Sexual Harassment in Our Immigrant Detention Centers

You should read this brutal story. 

"Guards in an immigrant detention center in El Paso sexually assaulted and harassed inmates in a “pattern and practice” of abuse"

And it gets worse. Guess where the abuse was done?:

"often in areas of the detention center not visible to security cameras. The guards told victims that no one would believe them because footage did not exist and the harassment involved officers as high-ranking as a lieutenant."

And people want to leave, which is the stated reason for making these places living hell for most (enough that they want to risk their lives before staying any longer). 

"The woman said in a telephone interview that she would rather return to Mexico, even though she is in danger there. She said she worried about being targeted in the detention center for speaking up about the abuse.

“It’s going to get worse now,” she said. “I can’t handle this anymore.”"

All this is being done on our taxpayer money. Note that IG (the bare minimum oversight that Trump wishes to crush) rarely looks into these allegations anyways:

"About 14,700 complaints alleging sexual and physical abuse were lodged against ICE between 2010 and 2016, according to federal data obtained by the advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants. The group found that only a small fraction were investigated by the Office of Inspector General."

Oh, that that story isn't the worse:

"Most recently, in a May federal court filing in Houston, a Mexican woman said that she was in an ICE facility there in 2018 when she and two female detainees were moved to an isolated cell. Around midnight, three men wearing facial coverings entered the cell. They raped and beat them, according to the complaint. The immigrants were bused to Mexico hours later, where the woman eventually discovered she was pregnant from the assault."

Some of these places are run by private companies like "CoreCivic". Real Orwellian stuff to hear of your friendly neighborhood corporation with a name like that, but which really is running concentration camps.

Also remember that much of the same happens in camps (refugee or otherwise, but usually a forced affair) all over the world[1]. Power is a horrid thing, especially among humans:

"The Salvadoran woman told Corchado that she was detained in the El Paso facility for about three months where she was repeatedly harassed. A guard said that if she would “fool around” with him he would give her clean uniforms and soap. He told her that he would pay her “a lot of money” to meet him for sex in a spot not visible to cameras."

That being said, it's not just women:

"A male detainee, a legal permanent resident convicted of money laundering, said that an officer in the detention center stared at him while rubbing his genitals as he showered in July, according to the complaint. After he reported the incident to a captain, the detainee was placed in solitary confinement. He began a hunger strike and was transferred to another ICE facility. Lawyers said that he speaks English and is better able to advocate for himself than most of the female victims, who speak only Spanish."

Well, when it comes to this election (never mind the whole Trump trying to steal the entire election because he's just bat shit and can't stand the idea of losing) understand what's up for the vote. [2] Some people really just want to kill as many people who are unlike them as possible. 

It impresses me how so many people can just want to carry out evil. Wolf snouts appearing on faces indeed. That being said, I do remember that when I wrote When God's Fail, I had started out writing about some civilization to ashes to some form of civilization, but as I got into the character, ostensibly an average suburban guy, I couldn't see it. 

Couldn't see the phoenix from the ashes story (with a few bad guys) coming out of this. So my MC went evil. With power in his hands, and no one to look over his shoulder, he went all out.

I got quite a bit of hate for that. 

But now, looking at how it takes so little, and I mean little, in terms of power or not thinking you'll get caught because of that power [3] , to actually do evil, that I think I didn't go far enough. I think that story might be unrealistically too kind to suburban ideologies and that which creates evil. Your thoughts?

[1] I think you must remember the article I shared about the Sunni camps for refugees of the latest Iraqi Civil War. 

[2] And, again, this isn't to say that Obama wasn't bad on this, but he wasn't this bad and those degrees matter. Also, Trump and his regime seems to get off on this entire punching down thing. 

[3] And no need to look at this story at the detention center for that. Simply look into the #metoo movement. 
Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

Git Gud

First check out the Polin museum website, and when you get the time these are also worth reading through. 
In terms of trying to get good, I think I've been slacking recently. Sure, the pandemic has allowed me to read more, but that's not always the best, right?
Does that make sense? So, sure, my metronome is focused on things like what I did (chess etc etc) and on some level I can say I'm working my mind, but in all reality I'm just going with my own comfort food (and one that has a certain status of intellectual pursuits written all over... so status signaling), which I really don't like myself for doing.
So, in terms of what one needs to get done, well, I'll write and possibly rewrite that which the greats have written. Of course, I mean the likes of James Baldwin and others whom I really like. 
"Notes of a Native Son":

"On the 29th of July, in 1943, meh father died. On the same day, a few hours later, his last child was born. Over a month before this, while all our energies were concentrated in waiting for these events, there had been, in Detroit, one of the bloodiest race riots of the century. A few hours after my father's funeral, while he lay in state in the undertaker's chapel, a race riot broke out in Harlem. On the morning of the 3rd of August, we drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glass."

Beautiful start to this story that doesn't really speak to how powerful the coming words will be. 

"The day of my father's funeral had also been my nineteenth birthday. As we drove him to the graveyard, the spoils of injustice, anarchy, discontent, and hatred were all around us. It seemed to me that God himself had devised, to mark my father's end, the most sustained and brutally dissonant of codas. And it seemed to me, too, that the violence which rose all about us as my father left the world had been devised as a corrective for the pride of his eldest son. I had declined to believe in the apocalypse which had been central to my father's vision; very well, life seemed to be saying, here is something that will certainly pass for an apocalypse until the real thing comes along. I had inclined to be contemptuous of my father for the conditions of his life, for the conditions of our lives. When his life ended I began to wonder about that life and also, in a new way, to be apprehensive about my own."

That's something, isn't it? I don't think that any of my writing achieves the same level of intensity. I wonder why that is? Do I need to dig deeper? I sense that I do, but I always try to pull back. I'll write more soon. Be safe out there. 

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

You see the dumb keep going.

So, Mathew Yglesias has a tweet where he makes looting seem like it happens out of nowhere. No context, nothing. Then we have some real context  from (a non-blue check mark only showing how worthless that badge is, but also how it skews) someone in the community. The so called Center will be the death of the Republic as they side with our right wing morons on things like this. 

So be safe out there!

Finally, I read this good story on Portland. Worth a read, IMO. Here in Seattle, shit's still poppin off. Cops were out in force on Madison and 9th last night (heading towards downtown) while confronting protestors. There was a racist (full with nazi salutes, of course and not a mask in sight) and fundamentalist meeting of sorts yesterday (I didn't notice anything except for the cop faceoff with protestors). Of course, the SPD didn't arrest anyone for not wearing a mask. Funny how that works. 

Btw, ICE and the DHS are continuing their ethnic cleansing/genocide by making sure they keep kids who are Covid positive in camps while sending the negative ones back home, all the while claiming they don't want the positive ones here spreading covid. Yup. They really can't help themselves, can they?

 

And, finally, the deaths over expected is at 200,000. That's quite a bit higher than the official count and gives credence to how many states (some blue, mostly red) are undercounting the deaths. I'm not sure how this takes into account the lowering of deaths from the lockdown (less accidents) while the increase in deaths from overdoses and other (possibly lockdown related?) issues vs flu going down and people being counted as a flu death vs Covid or pneumonia.

 

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

Hiroshima: It's 100 seconds to doomsday.

In case you didn't know, it's the anniversary of the atom bomb massacres. I do believe the first one exploded right on top of a school. Though, tbf, it wasn't going to be spared much if it hit a few blocks this or that way, but it's something to consider.


Anyhow, I think I'll re-recommend Hersey's Hiroshima and the short story anthology of the Crazy Iris.

Would you add anything to this? Put it down below!
That being said, we should take this moment to know that we're in the midst of nuclear crisis in that the great powers that be have moved away from all the common sense agreements (and here Reagan tends to shine in this respect... though he has many faults, even on this issue) that could stave off nuclear war and the kinds of mistakes that we could easily make to create a war. [2]
The Doomsday Clock is 100 seconds to midnight.

If you want to read how easy it is for our world to essentially end (on a mistake.. take for example that missile warning in Hawaii) read Doomsday Machine.

More evidence for the "patients have the keys to this mental asylum we call life" theory.


Be safe out there.

[1] Most likely the USSR entering that front of the war made Japan realize they couldn't use Stalin (whom they rightfully saw as America's enemy after the war) to make American's see they could work together after the war... even if in the end the jingoistic elements of the Japanese government were indeed allowed to breathe, and mainly because of their opposition to communism. If you have good books for me to read on this matter, please share.

[2] And this is where the centric hate for Trump and calling him a Russian stooge (wtf does that mean?) is really worthless and sometimes harmful. Trump has removed us from a very important nuke agreements and Russia actually wants us to get back in them or at least talk, but he's instead ratcheting up tensions. Sigh.

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

Let them eat austerity and corruption

If you haven't seen the Beirut explosion yet, check it out. 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded and destroyed an entire area of a city (that death count is sure to rise in the coming days. It seems hard to believe that it didn't kill more). You can look here, at r/shockwaveporn for a whole bunch of angles (for those coming in the far future where the explosion is no longer front page news, search within that sub for "Beirut").  [1]


But, the funny thing is seeing the NYTimes pretend like this is some third world corruption when we have similar things here. No dockside explosions, of course, but we have a lot going on.

Take, for example, these georgia kids who were suspended for highlighting the idiocy of their admin (probable MAGAts) for starting school in crowded conditions during a pandemic. [2] Now, this isn't as explosive as the Beirut issue, (and the results will not be as bad as quickly as Beirut) but it shows how people who try to speak out against the corrupt powers that be are actually silenced [3] and also just the general corruption that leads to way worse lives and outcomes for poor people (see this article on Iraq).

Remember how before Covid I was talking about the world wide protests. From Iraq to Chile there were people furious at corruption or policies that were equal to corruption. The kind of thing that was forcing austerity upon the poor while the rich (in all these countries) continued to live it up).

Now, with Covid, we have another variable that has managed to stretch all societies to their max, and especially the ones with these kinds of lies holding up their hierarchies. Note, that in places like S.Korea, where there is inequality, they still aren't as bad as the US. Also since their gov has shown some modicum of actually caring for the people and decent administration in defeating the virus [4], I'm guessing that they will not only survive but be given some level of trust by their people.

I'm not saying it's a hard rule, but it's something.
Also, I have to say is that the US also has had such moments of corruption coming to the surface, but many people seem completely oblivious to the sources and instead blame the powerless (immigrants, minorities etc) for the outcomes.

The reaction to the COVID fiasco here in the US is one such example. Will the masses unite and apportion blame as needed, or will they fall for the powerful people's "pay one half to fight the other half" ruse? Time will tell.


[1] Funny how the conspiracies are pointing to a nuke (on the 75th ann of the real nuke massacres). but many are just that, blame games that allow the masses to fight each other while the rich get richer (in all nations).

[2] I hope there are no such idiots on this blog, but for those who are firmly in the  "it's just the flu" since even when people don't die there are plenty of other complications for the survivors... yes, even kids.

[3] And I'm sure we'll get absolutely nothing from the "reeee cancel culture" types who, for the most part, seem to habitually miss out when actual power does the silencing. To that end, see how Fauci and his family are getting death threats... and this for him actually just trying to do his job. Again, the only cancel culture is usually white supremacy in nature and it rarely gets the attention it deserves.

[4] for all on the right (seriously, has the right always been in such full scream mode?) who try to claim "well they're having outbreaks too"... I don't know, can you read a graph? Their outbreaks are usually in the 100s, while ours is in the 10,000s. You do see a difference, don't you?


Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

Med-types with a Interesting post here.

The internet is great for passing information. And when that's not weaponized it's absolutely great. So read this post if you can. It's well worth it.


answer:

[–]IntensiveNP - Hospitalist 439 points 6 hours ago 

None of them. The survivors would just declare the apocalypse a hoax and the billions of dead crisis actors.

Sorry bruh, I'm getting pretty burned out over here.

 

Sorry, we don’t need 90% of the tests specialists and hospitalist a have to have. We do them for you all for CYA. Take lawyers away, an apocalypse and things change a lot. Very few specialists deal with such a broad spectrum of disease from all walks of life like EM. There’s really no contest. And with ultrasound abilities of most EM docs they’re so far out in front in this arena particularly if no subspecialists and no hospital facilities anyway.

permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive awardreply

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.

NUTS!

Are apparently carbon negative. Good article on how nuts (grown on trees) are actually carbon negative. Who knew? So that's also part of a change in habits we all should undertake.

I'll be sharing more visual narratives (art) that I've been creating as well as short stories here and there. I was supposed to take this time to write something longer, but I've shot down all the false starts. I'm really trying hard to think of a new way to tell a story and doing it via shorts is the best way to experiment. Any feedback on that will be appreciated. Hope everyone is staying safe out there.

Enjoyed it? Share it via email, facebook, twitter, or one of the buttons below (or through some other method you prefer). Thank you! As always, here's the tip jar. paypal.me/nlowhim Throw some change in there & help cover the costs of running this thing. You can use paypal or a credit card.