Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Sunday, February 11, 2024
·
23 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on
Twitter
Florida’s got competition: Baby in Missouri dies after mother mistakenly puts her in oven for nap
Top that one, Bill.
eta: and no, something this horrifying is not funny.
A couple of weeks ago there was some comment about how drug dealers have no interest in killing their customers and I pointed out that there were different kinds of dealers. Today I came across this Drum piece that, if correct, really puts this in perspective. In an annual basis, 1 out of every 100 heroin users die directly from overdoses. This jibes with the impression that there is a population of heroin addicts that have been using for decades. Meth is more deadly, at 2 in 100. But Fentanyl is another level: 23 of 100 overdose and die each year. Given that the life of a fentanyl addict spirals down very quickly, I imagine there is a high death rate from other causes too.
US hospital treated 441 patients with severe injuries from border wall last year
I suspect this is a perk, not a problem for many Republicans.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Absolutely no doubt at all. They’d love to set up machine gun towers and mow down men, women, and children trying to cross.
@OzarkHillbilly:
So horrifying I can’t read it.
@CSK: Generally I don’t either but this time I made myself read it. I guess because it’s a little closer to home. All I can think is, “What kind of drugs was she on?”
I’ve noted here a few times that I’m puzzled by the NYT. Sometimes they are so good, but so often they’re FTFNYT. Atrios is less puzzled. While quoting a recent NYT news, not opinion, piece,
Atrios says,
So, if Trump wins and manages to do his worst and essentially erase the US Constitution, what’s the counter? Restoration, or a new paradigm?
@Michael Reynolds: There will be reformation all right.
New Apostolic Reformation
@CSK: The headline told more than everything I needed to know. Yikes!
@MarkedMan: Turns out that quality control for illicit substances are not up to FDA standards who would of thought? Illicit drugs go through a variety of hands before reaching the addict on the street (most cutting is done well above the street dealer). Overdoses tend to happen because product strength can vary wildly (along with cuts). Some are suicides but I would wager the vast majority are accidental. The amount of dealers intentionally killing their golden gooses would be incredibly slim…
@Michael Reynolds: “So, if Trump wins and manages to do his worst and essentially erase the US Constitution, what’s the counter? Restoration, or a new paradigm?”
Last time it took the Civil War, a changing and industrializing USA (breaking old patterns), massive immigration, the Great Depression and WWII.
@Matt: I wasn’t clear. I don’t think they are deliberately killing their customers, I just think they are indifferent.
Also, it occurred to me that the statistics are based on the overdosing drug. I wonder how many of those people were, say, heroin addicts who got fentanyl mixed in or substituted for their fix?
Here’s a very detailed look at why air crash investigations aren’t punitive, and how they work.
We had a bit of discussion here about bloated vehicles. Apparently there’s a rash of thefts of luxury SUVs in the UK, which has led to huge increases in insurance costs. This drove a piece in The Guardian , Pity SUV drivers fast being priced out of their badges of contempt for the planet. The author seems to have difficulty feeling any sympathy for them, as do I.
But dung beetle fiction is still safe
Amazon removes from sale books ‘written by AI’ about King Charles’ cancer
@MarkedMan:
That kind of information would be incredibly useful for crafting better drug related laws. The only way to try to figure that out would be to do detailed toxicology reports which costs money/time. Not worth spending on a dead addict in the vast majority of people’s opinion. You’re not likely to get any information out of anyone who accompanied the patient. Anything beyond that costs more time and money which people are not interested in spending on junkies and addicts.
So instead we get big chonky data that has no useful details which are used by partisans to argue that drug laws are too weak or whatever..
The wording you chose did give appear to me that you were implying some dealers were intentionally killing people. Re-reading your first post after your latest post makes it clear that was not your intent. So strike the last line for sure 😛
@MarkedMan:
@Matt:
Yet another reason for legalization/taxation of these pharmaceuticals? FDA/Quality testing? Purchasing known product/quality/purity?
Nah, too simple a solution, but what else can anyone expect from a Luddite?
While I don’t support vigilante action, I appreciate the measured response of these locals, and I’d like to join them in a nice cuppa.
ETA, Sorry, Sir Swayne, but entrails don’t have the physical strength to make an effective garrote, or so I am told. But in this case, hopefully the seizure of their vehicles and monetary fines, as well as the embarrassment of being busted by the villagers, does the trick.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fly-tippers-trapped-as-locals-block-their-vans-and-call-police/ar-BB1i7Bjp?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=5cfe0ca635f64b73850554462b4fee95&ei=14
@Michael Reynolds:
Most of the country’s economic output is in blue areas and the red areas depend on massive subsidy to remain functional. The blue areas currently acquiesce to this state of affairs because they see a strong central federal government as a net positive.
If that were to change, the red areas simply don’t have the logistics necessary to dominate the blue areas, so I suspect the end result is that if constitutionalism fails completely, blue areas basically just start ignoring the federal government at some point and start developing what amounts to regional governments.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
Definitely! Just what the world needs, more people who understand what a measured response is and how to go about getting to one. 😐
@Flat Earth Luddite: Sure, we regulate and control dosage, and then the junkies go for the better and more potent uncontrolled version