4 ms·

A reminder that the US is, right now, functionally a cleptocracy and that the immense amounts of corruption we're currently witnessing has been put in place by

A reminder that the US is, right now, functionally a cleptocracy and that the immense amounts of corruption we're currently witnessing has been put in place by people saying "job creators" every two sentences.

rapsey 7y ago
Nothing has fundamentally changed in decades. Right now is nothing but business as usual.
- bosswipe 7y ago
  From the article: > a marked contrast to the Obama administration, which largely supported W.H.O.’s longstanding policy of encouraging breast-feeding.
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  Was it the Obama admin that worked to rip up the Paris agreement?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - lostlogin 7y ago
    Are you talking about breast feeding or CO2? If CO2, no. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/barack-obama-slams-donald-trump-paris-climate-239032 https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/barack-obama-slams...
- the_gastropod 7y ago
  One of the worst things of the Trump era is this nihilistic "both sides!" attitude. The EPA is being run by an oil lobbyist. The Dept of Education is run by someone who doesn't believe in public education. The Interior Department is pushing to sell public lands to private entities. These are all very much not "business as usual".
baybal2 7y ago
Man, I've for long been trying to have a "where the world is going" discussion with serious, moderately intellectual people. I think it's near impossible to have it on the open Internet these days, or on an informal "caucus talk." I would've very liked to hear somebody like Neil Fergusson, or another serious political historian on it, but people like these charge like $100k for a lunch small talk
- treis 7y ago
  >Man, I've for long been trying to have a "where the world is going" discussion with serious, moderately intellectual people. It's somewhat disappointing that there isn't more substantive discussion going on here. My experience is that the La Leche/Breastfeeding folks are a bit nuts and wildly exaggerate the evidence. The biggest problem with all of these studies is that formula vs breast milk is self selected. Meaning that they don't randomly assign one group to breast milk and the other to formula. In the West, that dramatically skews the groups. To exclusively breast feed you have to be wealthy enough for Mom not to work or have a job that allows her to pump. Then you have to have the knowledge that breastfeeding is optimal and the dedication to stick with it. And the baby has to be able to breast feed and gain an appropriate amount of weight (A baby not gaining weight would be switched to formula). All of this combines to significantly bias the breast feeding group towards wealthy and involved mothers physically able to breastfeed with healthy babies. The breast feeding folks have taken these flawed studies and run with them. The pressure on new mothers to breastfeed is enormous and the "if you don't breastfeed you're harming your baby" message is pretty thinly veiled. It's causing a lot of emotional toll for a pretty dubious benefit.
  - foogazi 7y ago
    > To exclusively breast feed you have to be wealthy enough for Mom not to work Yes, millions of years of evolution and now only rich women breastfeed their kids

rapsey 7y ago

Nothing has fundamentally changed in decades. Right now is nothing but business as usual.

bosswipe 7y ago
From the article: > a marked contrast to the Obama administration, which largely supported W.H.O.’s longstanding policy of encouraging breast-feeding.
ilikehurdles 7y ago
Was it the Obama admin that worked to rip up the Paris agreement?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- lostlogin 7y ago
  Are you talking about breast feeding or CO2? If CO2, no. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/barack-obama-slams-donald-trump-paris-climate-239032 https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/barack-obama-slams...
the_gastropod 7y ago
One of the worst things of the Trump era is this nihilistic "both sides!" attitude. The EPA is being run by an oil lobbyist. The Dept of Education is run by someone who doesn't believe in public education. The Interior Department is pushing to sell public lands to private entities. These are all very much not "business as usual".

baybal2 7y ago

Man, I've for long been trying to have a "where the world is going" discussion with serious, moderately intellectual people. I think it's near impossible to have it on the open Internet these days, or on an informal "caucus talk." I would've very liked to hear somebody like Neil Fergusson, or another serious political historian on it, but people like these charge like $100k for a lunch small talk

treis 7y ago
>Man, I've for long been trying to have a "where the world is going" discussion with serious, moderately intellectual people. It's somewhat disappointing that there isn't more substantive discussion going on here. My experience is that the La Leche/Breastfeeding folks are a bit nuts and wildly exaggerate the evidence. The biggest problem with all of these studies is that formula vs breast milk is self selected. Meaning that they don't randomly assign one group to breast milk and the other to formula. In the West, that dramatically skews the groups. To exclusively breast feed you have to be wealthy enough for Mom not to work or have a job that allows her to pump. Then you have to have the knowledge that breastfeeding is optimal and the dedication to stick with it. And the baby has to be able to breast feed and gain an appropriate amount of weight (A baby not gaining weight would be switched to formula). All of this combines to significantly bias the breast feeding group towards wealthy and involved mothers physically able to breastfeed with healthy babies. The breast feeding folks have taken these flawed studies and run with them. The pressure on new mothers to breastfeed is enormous and the "if you don't breastfeed you're harming your baby" message is pretty thinly veiled. It's causing a lot of emotional toll for a pretty dubious benefit.
- foogazi 7y ago
  > To exclusively breast feed you have to be wealthy enough for Mom not to work Yes, millions of years of evolution and now only rich women breastfeed their kids