#dr. braunstein

[theobjectivemind]

A Balanced Perspective on Trump’s Bone Spurs and Draft Deferment

I've been vocal in my support for Kamala Harris and the Biden administration, but I also believe in discussing the facts, even when it comes to topics involving those I don’t support. One issue that's been circulating for years is Donald Trump’s Vietnam War draft deferment due to bone spurs.

To this day, no clear medical evidence has been released to substantiate Trump's claim of bone spurs. The doctor who diagnosed him, Dr. Larry Braunstein, is no longer alive, but his daughters have come forward, saying their father provided the diagnosis as a favor to Fred Trump, who was their landlord. Given this and Trump’s inconsistent recollections about which foot was affected, it's understandable why many question the legitimacy of the diagnosis.

While HIPAA laws protect medical records, it’s worth noting that if Trump had genuine evidence of this condition, releasing it could have significantly reduced the criticism he faces and potentially even gained him more supporters. The fact that he hasn’t released any such documentation only fuels the perception that he might have used his privilege to avoid the draft.

Based on my opinion and the information I’ve read, I don’t see a reason why Trump hasn’t come forward with evidence if he indeed had bone spurs. For that reason, my personal belief is that he is a draft dodger unless he provides this information. However, this is my opinion, and I encourage everyone to form their own views based on the available information. While I lean toward believing the allegations due to the family's statements and his unwillingness to release the documentation, I respect that others might see it differently. If more evidence were to come forward confirming that he dodged the draft, it would add to the list of reasons why I believe Donald Trump should not be president.

Sources:

[ilbioeconomista]

A double exclusive interview with Max Schuchardt and Elisabeth Saken-Braunstein. Stuttgart is the first city in Europe to launch its own bioeconomy strategy

Stuttgart, Germany, is the first city in Europe to launch its own bioeconomy strategy. Il Bioeconomista has interviewed Dr. Max Schuchardt, who developed the bioeconomy strategy of the City of Stuttgart, and Dr. Elisabeth Saken-Braunstein, who is leading the bioeconomy team at the Ministry of Environement, Climate and Energy and the strategic development of the urban and industrial bioeconomy…

[thevioletscout]

So it’s refreshing to see someone talk about debunking the Esther Jones inspired Betty Boop myth but also how it ironically is also a myth about Esther Jone’s own history herself. I do wanna correct that Betty Boop is supposed to have a more defined and canon race from those who research the character more. As a French poodle she was indeed white-coded and had white features for the world’s art style, if she was specifically Jewish coded then (which is unlikely because she was originally just a throwaway Helen Kane parody and they only added distinct traits to her as she developed) that is unknown and it’s unknown when exactly her being Jewish was canonized. At some point as a human Betty Boop was actually meant to be canonically Jewish and Fleischer Studios actually officially recognizes her as one ever since, just one who isn’t so “strict” in traditions, even though they don’t represent it greatly. For example one of her parodies, Toot Braunstein, is canonically Jewish and confirmed as being as such by those who work on the show, but is shown to not be so religiously strict or kosher and ironically for a sitcom parody Toot is a well researched one. I get people on Wikipedia wanting to come across as “neutral”, with how heated Betty Boop race and ethnicity discussions can get, and try and keep things “ambiguous” out of fear of “angering one side” but aside from the fact most people who edit that place aren’t really researchers but casual fans and viewers who just grab whatever they easily see and hear, I find the “ambiguous” route quite lazy and not the most genuine. It could even simply just be a result of casual viewers who only watch the cartoons but don’t research much else and A LOT of Betty information you have to find from external sources which unfortunately are super buried and hard to come by. There were occasional “swaps” to her race, one as a Native American as a dog and another as Samoan where she was actually based off a Samoan woman in that instance, which are very minor but important to mention in online discourse where it stems from. Do know in both instances Betty still looks like Betty yet the POC who were drawn up and imagined as such were all caricatures which is already telling on its own. All POC in the animations had distinct racist features from those that were white, you can tell a character’s race just by looking at them, something that also should be mentioned more in the debate. The film with Native Betty was lost media until recently so most people only saw Samoan Betty and used it as evidence she was “black” (without even researching this was not only a later episode for the character after she was developed but also a very rare depiction, people would go as far to spread the lie that it was even how she looked in her first episodes as if completely oblivious to her originally being a dog) and this is kinda where the lie of Betty not merely just being based on someone who is black but also “is” black stems from as many popular articles spreading lies used this Betty as “proof” that she was black even though she wasn’t even black. Kinda even iffier, but these race swaps probably weren’t even actual race swaps “proper” but “behind the scenes” were characters in brownface as shown in one episode and how the characters are actually meant to be cartoon actors taking on a role for each episode. So yeah TL;DR: Betty Boop was always canonically white coded and at some point made Jewish coded when they decided to change her from “Helen Kane parody” to “Betty Boop” her own character. Very minimal times was the character “swapped” into a POC, which actually may have just been brownface, and one “race swap” was lost to time and another that wasn’t confused uneducated people that she was actually another and that confusion lead to, or at least boosted, the idea that she was “canonically black” even though she wasn’t at all.

To add on, it should also be important to mention that antisemitism has actually played a huge and important role in Betty Boop’s race and ethnicity discourse and a lot of people on the net, or wherever, have deliberately labeled her as “ambiguous” or don’t bring up her Jewish-ness at all or seek to erase it out of bigotry and antisemitism. It is pretty fucked up but both/many sides ranging from “Betty Boop is white”, “Betty Boop is black” or even “Betty Boop can be anything or has no race” people have actually been shown to be disgustingly antisemitic and have had an impact on “information” and misinformation on trying to “tone down” or “get rid” of Betty Boop being Jewish out of bigotry, dehumanization and hate. A lot of people in this race discourse have actually been quite awful and a lot of “information” you see online is also the result of many racists and racial supremacy groups trying to deliberately fuck shit up for fucked up reasons. It’s awful and there is a big history of both fake/non-fans and actual fans of Betty Boop who had done this for such reasons. Betty Boop history is such a rabbit hole you really just can’t go off the most surface level things. And unfortunately some places that discussed or shown these important bits and pieces aren’t around anymore or not easy to find or get to.

[The post this was a response to]

Ngl, this was kinda a hard read not because I disagreed but just because it's so long and I have unmedicated ADHD. So if I seemed to have misunderstood you I apologize.

Regardless, yeah, I can definitely admit I was wrong to include this line;

"Also, the topic of Betty Boop's intended race gets a little silly regardless given that she was first conceptualized as an anthropomorphic poodle. While it's not exactly unheard of for the 1930s, I don't think they were really focusing on coding her as a specific race at that moment."

That was a stupid way to work in that she was originally a dog and if they were basing her off Helen Kane, she was definitely supposed to be white. Also, it's more accurate to say that typically when someone's "not intending to code a specific race" that really just means the character is white by default.

As for the thing about antisemitism and brownface, I admittedly just don't feel qualified to talk about it? So take everything I do say here with a grain of salt from the gentile cracker that I am.

(I hope I used "gentile" right, I have like one Jewish friend and he doesn't use a lot of the terminology)

I included the Jewish/German coding of Betty Boop in Minnie the Moocher because I did feel it was important information regarding Betty Boop's intended ethnicity, and that even if she wasn't Jewish herself it was important to note that her creators and actress were. Now that you point it out I can see how the black Betty Boop myth contributes to antisemitism.

Obviously I didn't see that Fleischer Studios officially recognized her as Jewish, and I would admittedly like a source for that. Not because I don't necessarily believe you, but I would just like to know for sure.

When I said that I think Betty Boop can work as any race, that was more of a personal philosophy than anything I got from Wikipedia. It's kinda like how I don't care about a black Ariel, if modern artists or cosplayers of color want to make their own portrayal of Betty Boop coming from a pride in their race I think that's all fine and dandy.

At the end of the day, Betty is a monochrome cartoon character, I sort of just don't care whether someone sees her as black or white. But people should really be talking about the Jewish stuff more.

Also I didn't even know about "Samoan Betty" before this, otherwise I would have included it somewhere. As you said, this is a rabbit hole and a lot of our information is just straight up missing. This stuff is really hard to research, especially with the floods of "Betty Boop is based off Esther Jones!" bullshit. Kinda why I stuck to Wikipedia as a primary source.

[lignes2frappe]

« THE CHRONIC » FÊTE SES 30 ANS : TOUTES LES RÉFÉRENCES DE L'ÉPOQUE EXPLIQUÉES

The Chronic ou le disque qui a fait basculer le rap dans l’ère de la musicalité.

Synthétiseurs, basses lourdes, instrumentation live… le 15 décembre 1992 marque un avant et un après en termes en production.

Et comme si ce n’était pas assez, le bon docteur Young a habillé son premier solo de toute une imagerie qui colle parfaitement à cette vibe nouvelle, transformant la ville de Los Angeles en antre du gangstérisme et de l’hédonisme.

L’un dans l’autre, The Chronic se révèle donc incroyablement facile d’accès tout en étant truffé de détails qui s’apprécient à chaque écoute un peu plus.

Largement de quoi donner envie de se replonger dans cette époque bénie, non ?

Les feuilles à rouler Zig-Zag

La ref’ ? La pochette de l’album qui imite le logo de la marque

En 1853, l’Empire français, le Royaume-Uni et le royaume de Sardaigne s’allient pour aller en découdre avec l’Empire Russe qu’ils soupçonnent de vouloir envahir l’Empire ottoman. Ainsi débute la guerre de Crimée qui se terminera trois ans plus tard.

Lors du siège de Sébastopol (1854-1855), une ville du sud-ouest de la péninsule de la Crimée, la légende raconte qu’un soldat français membre du régiment des zouaves (ces unités d’infanterie légère recrutées au sein de l’Empire colonial d’Afrique du Nord) s’assit pour fumer. Sur le point d’allumer sa pipe, cette dernière fut traversée par une balle ennemie.

Lui vint alors l’idée de récupérer son tabac et de le rouler dans une feuille de papier.

À la fin du siècle, deux frères originaires de Thonon-les-Bains, Jacques et Maurice Braunstein, perfectionnèrent le concept en mettant au point un papier à rouler spécialement conçu à cet effet dont les feuilles s’entrelaçaient entre elles – d’où le nom de la marque, d’où le logo qui rend hommage audit soldat.

Entreprise française jusqu’en 2000, Zig-Zag a depuis été revendu à un consortium américain.

Notez que la marque n’est name droppé qu’une petite fois de tout The Chronic, et qui plus est, non pas par Dr. Dre, mais pas RBX (« Now, get me a motherfuckin’ Zig-Zag and we’re straight » sur The Roach).

George Clinton

La ref’ ? Les samples de Fuck Wit Dre Day, Let Me Ride, The Roach et Bitches Ain’t Shit, les « Bow-wow-wow /yippie-yo-yippie-yay » de Snoop Doggy Dogg sur Fuck With Dre Day

Sans le leader des Parliament et des Funkadelic, c’est peu dire que The Chonic aurait sonné très (très) différemment.

Inventeur dans les années 70 du P-Funk (la contraction de Parliament et Funkadelic), ce dérivé du funk mélange de rock progressif et de soul enregistré sous acide, son nom apparaît à onze reprises dans les crédits – ne serait-ce que Fuck With Dre Day échantillonne cinq de ses morceaux !

L’histoire d’amour se poursuivra notamment avec les incroyables prod’ de Can’t C Me de 2Pac et Who Am I (What’s My Name)? de Snoop.

Tim Dog

La ref ? Le second couplet de Fuck With Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’) qui lui est entièrement dédié.

Rempli jusqu’à ras bord de menaces de relations homosexuelles non consenties à l’encontre du binôme Eazy-E/Jerry Heller et de Luke Skyywalker du 2 Live Crew, le second single de The Chronic n’en oublie pas de tirer à boulets rouges sur le new-yorkais Tim Dog.

Son tort ? Avoir un an plus tôt déclaré la guerre à toute la côte ouest avec son brûlot Fuck Compton dans lequel il accusait ses représentants de voler la vedette à la côte est de travestir « le vrai rap ».

Cette irrévérence lui vaut de se faire insulter dans les grandes largeurs par Snoop, tandis que sa mère se fait traiter de « gouinasse LGBT » (« ‘Frisco-dyke ») et accuser à demi-mot d’avoir le Sida…

Tim Dog répliquera ensuite avec Dog Baby et Bitch with a Perm, avant de tomber dans l’oubli.

Il est décédé en 2013.

La Chevrolet Impala 1964

La ref’ ? Le clip et les paroles de Let Me Ride (« As I groove in my four on D’s, hittin’ the switches », « Rollin’ in my six-four»…).

Née en 1958, la Chevy Impala est à l’origine destinée à un usage familial. Au fil des générations, ses lignes sont cependant redessinées pour lui donner une allure plus ronde et dynamique, attirant là un nouveau public.

De toutes les déclinaisons, c’est celle de 1964 qui devient rapidement la plus convoitée en raison de ses innombrables possibilités de customisation.

Niveau look, la carrosserie, les pneus (les fameux « D’s », alias les Dayton Tires) ou les jantes sont très facilement interchangeables. Niveau conduite, l’espace offert par le coffre permet d’installer un système de suspensions hydrauliques afin de modifier la hauteur de conduite via des commandes installées sur le tableau de bord (« hittin’ the switches »).

Notez toutefois que si la mode des lowriders a été popularisée par les gangsta rappeurs, tout comme leur style vestimentaire (bandanas, pantalon Dickies, chemises à carreaux…), ce sont leurs voisins chicanos qui ont initié le mouvement (eux parlent de « ranflas »).

Le parrain de la mafia John Gotti

La ref’ ? « Un coup de fil et mes renois arrivent comme les Gotti boys » dans Let Me Ride

Boss de la famille Gambino dans les années 80, il était tantôt surnommé le ‘Dapper Don’ pour la flamboyance de son style, tantôt le ‘Teflon Don’ pour son habileté à échapper aux mailles de la justice.

Adepte de l’adage « mieux vivre un an comme un lion que cent comme un agneau », il mettait un point d’honneur à parader dans les rues de New-York telle une célébrité.

Chevelure argentée, costumes croisés sur-mesure, chemises en soie, cravates à 400$… plus encore que la figure du dernier grand parrain, John Gotti est avec le temps devenu une figure de la pop culture.

Et tant pis si c’est précisément ce folklore autour de sa « persona » qui lui vaudra de finir ses jours dans une cellule de deux mètres sur trois.

Sa biographie, c’est ici.

Les émeutes de Los Angeles d’avril 1992

La ref’ ? Les extraits du documentaire Birth Of A Nation 4-29-92 qui entrecoupent The Day the Niggaz Took Over et Lil’ Ghetto Boy.

3 mars 1991. Rodney King, un automobiliste noir, est arrêté par quatre policiers blancs. Ivre, coupable d’excès de vitesse, de délit de fuite et de refus d’obtempérer, il est plaqué au sol et reçoit plus de 50 coups de matraques.

La scène est filmée par un habitant du quartier

Le 29 avril 1992, un jury de Los Angeles acquitte lesdits policiers.

Sitôt le verdict connu, les ghettos noirs et latinos de la ville s’embrasent. S’ensuivent six jours d’émeutes au cours desquels 63 personnes trouvent la mort, 2 383 sont blessées et 1 200 arrêtés.

En parallèle, plus de 2 000 commerces tenus par la communauté coréenne sont mis à sac.

Présent sur les lieux, Matthew McDaniel s’immerge en direct au sein de ce chaos sans autre moyen que sa caméra. Le résultat s’appelle Birth Of A Nation 4-29-92, un témoignage unique en son genre.

Bien que The Chronic ne soit pas engagé pour un sou, en 2012, McDaniel louait l’album pour son réalisme.

« The Chronic est une archive audio. Certes, il y a une grosse part de créativité et de divertissement, et certains peuvent penser que c’est mal de faire ça, mais c’est de l’art, de la poésie. The Chronic permet de s’immerger en plein cœur des émeutes, de les ressentir au plus près. »

The D.O.C.

La ref’ ? « Like my nigga D.O.C., no one can do it better » dans Nuthin’ But a G Thang

Tracy Lynn Curry ou le seul rappeur à avoir enregistré un album produit de A à Z par Dr. Dre, No One Can Do It Better sorti en 1988 sur Ruthless Records.

Certifié platine, il n’a cependant pas le temps de savourer son succès : quelques mois plus tard, il est victime d’un accident de voiture qui lui broie les cordes vocales.

Sur son lit d’hôpital, son ancien garde du corps, un certain Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, le convainc alors de quitter Ruthless pour l’aider à fonder un label rien qu’à eux, Death Row Records.

Reconverti en ghostwriteur, The D.O.C. participe abondamment à l’écriture de The Chronic.

Auteur du couplet de Dr. Dre sur Nuthin’ But a G Thang, il ne résiste ainsi pas au plaisir de mentionner leur collaboration passée. Mieux, dans le clip, lorsque Dre prononce son nom, il apparaît à l’écran au même moment (le type avec la casquette blanche, NDLR).

La pornstar Mercedes Ashley

La ref’ ? Le passage ci-dessus du clip Nuthin’ But a G Thang

La fille qui tombe le haut malgré elle lors de la partie de volleyball, c’est elle (Latin Adultery 12, Putas mexicanas de la calle, Secret Bisexual Stories, Double Air Bags 10…).

Aujourd’hui âgée de 52 ans, Mercedes est toujours active dans le milieu, quand bien même elle a délaissé les plateaux de tournage pour se concentrer sur son site internet (vidéo à la demande, sexting, simulation au téléphone…).

PS : les plus nostalgiques peuvent la booker pour un enterrement de vie de garçon.

Le boxeur Evander Hollyfield

La ref’ ? « And that’s realer than Real-Deal Holyfield/And now you hookers and hoes know how I feel » dans Nuthin’ But a G Thang

Quatre ans avant de se faire dévorer l’oreille par Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, 30 ans, était déjà un boxeur de classe mondiale, détenteur des ceintures WBA, WBC et IBF chez les lourds.

Ironiquement, après avoir remporté 28 victoires de rang, il est défait pour la toute première fois le 13 décembre 1992, deux jours avant la sortie de The Chronic.

Donny Hataway

La ref’ ? Le refrain de Lil Ghetto Boy

Contrairement à une rengaine qui a la vie dure (et à des vidéos Youtube mal taguées), Nate Dogg n’est absolument pas l’auteur du refrain de Lil Ghetto Boy.

Inspiré du Little Ghetto Boy de 1972 Donny Hataway (le sample, plus le thème), le Lil Ghetto Boy de 1992 de Dr. Dre reprend en effet les vocaux d’Hataway.

Chanteur soul des seventies, il est resté dans le mémoire pour son timbre de voix chaud et profond, ses duos avec Roberta Flack et sa mort tragique dans un accès de folie à 33 ans à peine.

Sa trop courte carrière ne l’a néanmoins pas empêché d’influencer jusqu’à aujourd’hui encore quantité de chanteurs et chanteuses (Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, Anthony Hamilton, George Benson, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys…).

Lil ½ Dead

La ref’ ? « Je suis dans une cellule pour deux avec mon homie Lil 1/2 Dead » dans Lil Ghetto Boy

Second couteau de la scène West Coast des années 90, il est l’auteur de deux albums assez injustement passés sous le radar, l’excellent The Dead Has Arisen en 1994 et Steel on a Mission en 1996, qui tous deux poussent à fond la vibe G-funk (grosses sirènes, lyrics de gangbanger et lazy flow).

Lil ½ Dead disparaît ensuite complètement (la rumeur veut qu’il ait pris en grippe le gangsta rap), avant de revenir en 2012 avec un troisième opus intitulé Dead Serious.

Cousin de Snoop (et de ce fait cousin de Nate Dogg, RBX et Daz), il fût un temps où ce dernier le citait régulièrement dans ses lyrics (en 1999 sur Fuck You le Grand Iench’ racontait qu’il « posait sa teub sur la tête des bitches », en 2001 il le dédicaçait au côté de Shaquille O’Neal sur Hennesey N Buddah….).

The Mack

La ref’ ? L’intro de Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat qui reprend sur fond de Brother’s Gonna Work It Out de Willie Hutch un dialogue entre le personnage principal, Goldie, un maquereau, et son frère, Olinga, un militant noir nationaliste, qui tente de le convaincre de se mettre au service de sa communauté.

Film culte de la blaxploitation, The Mack de Michael Campus suit les pérégrinations de John ‘Goldie’ Mickens (Max Julien), un dealeur de seconde zone tout juste libéré de prison après avoir passé cinq ans à l’ombre.

Désireux de se refaire, il apprend les ficelles du proxénétisme (contrôler l’esprit, garder les filles fauchées…), et devient rapidement l’un des trafiquants de chair les plus en vue de sa ville.

Si tout ça se termine évidemment très mal, son ascension exerce néanmoins une forme de fascination, quand bien même son activité est l’une de plus répugnantes qui soit – lire à ce sujet Pimp, mémoires d’un maquereau d’Iceberg Slim.

R.E.P. Max Julien qui nous a quittés ce 1er janvier à 88 ans.

Le jeu télévisé The $20,000 Pyramid

La ref’ ? L’interlude The $20 Sack Pyramid où sont conviés Snoop et D.O.C.

Créé dans les années 70 aux États-Unis, il mettait en scène deux binômes où chacun devait faire deviner à son partenaire un mot sans le prononcer.

Très populaire, le concept a été ensuite décliné sur différentes chaînes avec à chaque fois des sommes à gagner de plus en plus importantes – la version actuelle diffusée depuis 2016 sur ABC offre jusqu’à 100 000 dollars de récompense.

[Notez que chez Dre il est question d’empocher un sac d’herbe et un coupon de 35 dollars à dépenser au marché de Compton.]

The $20,000 Pyramid a également été adapté dans nos contrées de 1991 à 2003. Rebaptisé Pyramide, le programme a dernièrement refait l’actualité pour son supposé racisme lorsqu’ont ressurgi des images d’archives où l’une des présentatrices étaient la cible de blagues sur sa couleur de peau.

Le pistolet mitrailleur MAC-10

La ref’ ? « And I’m strapped with a semi-tone milli-ten Mac » dans Lyrical Gang Bang

New-York 1997, Scarface, Commando, Robocop, Le Syndicat du crime 2, Boyz N the Hood, El Mariachi, No Country for Old Men… pour peu que vous ayez laissé traîner un œil distrait sur l’un de ces films, vous êtes forcément tombé dessus.

Star des écrans depuis sa commercialisation en 1964, le Military Armament Corporation Modèle 10 (son nom complet) ne doit toutefois pas être confondu avec le Uzi.

Déjà parce que contrairement à son cousin israélien, le MAC-10 est made in USA, et n’est donc à ce titre pas utilisé exclusivement par les méchants.

Plus sobre dans son design, il est également plus compact, plus léger, tire des cartouches de plus gros calibre, et ce, en plus grande quantité à la minute.

Clairement, Vincent Vega n’avait aucune chance de s’en sortir face à Bruce Willis dans Pulp Fiction.

Kris Kross

La ref’ ? « Not from Kris Kross but they call me Mac Daddy » sur Deez Nuts

Un an avant Dr. Dre, les rois des charts s’appelaient Mac Daddy et Daddy Mac.

Découverts par Jermaine Dupri dans un centre commercial, les deux mini emcees s’imposent en quelques mois à peine comme le plus gros groupe de rap du moment : un tube explosif (Jump), un premier album écoulé à quatre millions d’exemplaires (Totally Krossed Out), un jeu vidéo sur Mega Drive (Kris Kross: Make My Video), la première partie du Dangerous World Tour de Michael Jackson…

On vous raconte tout dans notre épisode dédié de la série Ce jour où.

La marijuana

La ref’ ? « Cannabis Sativa or in the heart of L.A. known as the chronic » sur The Roach

Impossible de conclure ce papier sans mentionner l’herbe verte, et plus particulièrement cette variété mythique qu’est la chronic.

Enfin, pas si mythique que ça puisqu’il s’agit en réalité de l’hydroponic, une herbe somme toute banale cultivée en intérieur.

Initié aux joies du calumet de la paix par Snoop peu de temps avant l’enregistrement de l’album, Dre a tout simplement repris le surnom que le Grand Chien lui donnait, « hydroCHRONIC », pour titrer son opus.

LE THREAD TWITTER

Article publié initialement le 21 décembre 2022 sur Booska-p.com.

[spectrumtonki]

Shut in rating

With moderate production values, the film is technically polished with Paul Denham Austerbeery's vivid production designs that are realistically captured by Yves Belanger's efficient cinematography. Unfortunately, with a poorly etched character, he does not have much to offer, in terms of performance. With his innocently bewildered looks, he has a magnetic screen presence. Jacob Tremblay, after featuring in the Oscar-nominated role in the psychological drama "Room", plays yet another emotionally troubled child. She is ably supported by the rest of the team.Ĭharlie Heaton as Mary's stepson Stephen and Oliver Platt are both perfunctory.Īlex Braunstein as Mary's patient Aaron and David Cubitt as his father who makes romantic overtures to Mary are wasted with limited screen time. She does the best she can, but with a weak script, there is little, she or any other actor, can do. Naomi Watts, stuck in a pool of sad B-grade films, as Mary, is engaging and appealing as always. With all ingredients of the horror genre like a large house in a rural area set in a snow-clad winter and with characters endlessly searching for things in the dark along with nightmare sequences and a few cheap, lazy jump-scares, the script by Christina Hodson is lurid and unconvincing. And, director Farren Blackburn offers more to this, making the story far-fetched. He assures her that she is suffering from Parasomnia. What follows is Mary's nightmares and troubled vision.īelieving her house to be haunted, she contacts her mentor, Dr Bennett Wilson (Oliver Platt) with whom she communicates via skype. But, before she can return him to his caretaker, Tom disappears. She lives in a large, rural house with her teenage stepson Stephen (Charlie Heaton) who has been paralyzed neck down, after an accident and with no chance of an improvement.įeeding and bathing the motionless young man, Mary lives a solitary life till one of her young patients, the nine-year-old Tom (Jacob Tremblay) unexpectedly turns up at her door, in fact, in her car, one cold winter night. The narrative revolves around Mary Portman (Naomi Watts), a clinical psychologist specialising in troubled children. While it delivers its moderately effective jump-scares, it completely ignores the story's looming, daunting psychological and emotional ramifications. For, despite a fairly reasonable cast, this film is an astonishingly hollow thriller. To digest "Shut In", you may have to shut out your powers of reasoning. Unfortunately, director Farren Blackburn's latest film "Shut In" offers nothing to ruminate. Horror films leave an indelible mark on its audience when, they are ground-breaking, edgy, deep and engaging - either by performance, story, direction or photography - and they resonate long after the first viewing. Film: "Shut In" Director: Farren Blackburn Cast: Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt, Charlie Heaton, Jacob Tremblay, David Cubitt, Clementine Poidatz and Alex Braunstein Rating: *1/2

[inneedofyourdemons]

Okay so at the end of Paper Girls, they said it’s the team adult Tiff (Quilkin Institute) is part of with Dr. Braunstein that made the war possible and that the girls needed to tell Dr. Quilkin what they’ve seen to help stop it. So, if the Quilkin institute was established in 2019, does that mean that’s where Mac and KJ got sent?

In the comics, it was 2171 (iirc) but that would be long after Tiff’s death and long after the invention of time travel.

[tidespodcast]

Season 2 begins November 30th.

Winifred Eurus: Hey, uh, hi? This is Fred. Fred Eurus. Dr. Eurus. That’s - that’s me. Ahem. Um. I came here to discover an alien ecosystem, to gather information and catalog and quantify it. Maybe I thought it could tell me something about how life works, how it begins and ends, ebbs and flows. Then I got stranded on a strange and distant shore and I think I am further from understanding, than I was initially.

Robert Montague: Uh, I’m sorry, what’s that? Come in? You’re, you’re, uh, you’re breaking up, it almost sounded like you were gonna say you were, uh, you were concerned about me?

Eurus: Or maybe I am just more aware of my limitations.

Victor Stevens: Dammit Fred!

Eurus: After a year on the Stribog, I had begun to doubt intelligence existed anywhere in the universe.

Montague: [sniff] What’s that smell . . . ? . . . Oh CRAP!

Melissa Wang: I don’t know what you mean by that, or even if it’s a compliment or a criticism.

Ricardo Martinez: Why does the suggestion upset you?

Stevens: [Upset] What makes you think I’m upset!?!

Eurus: I think it’s real. I can see it, I can touch it. It’s actually there.

Dee Erickson: You’re bored so you, what? Float around until you feel sick instead?

Marian Braunstein: [Laughs] I sort of like the weightlessness.

Eurus: The problem is I really want it to be real. I don’t want it to be a mistake or an illusion -

Erickson: Maybe - maybe you should take me sometime. When we get back to earth?

Eurus: Even if there is intelligence and society here, is what I’m measuring the important part, or just a byproduct of it?

Montague: After that their behavior begins to degrade and become . . . unpredictable.

Ed Ricketts:

There’s some sort of oily residue all over the floor. And broken glass.

Eurus: We can’t handle that responsibility. We aren’t worthy of it. All we do is stomp around, making everything we touch just a little bit shittier. Whatever you are or will become, you deserve better than us.

Ricketts: Sometimes you have to take care of yourself, not just for yourself.

Eurus: Oh, come on Captain, you know me better than that.

Wang: Honestly you are just that easy to read, Dr. Eurus.

Eurus: The front has a central opening surrounded by a ring of five eyes the size of dinner plates.

Erickson: I think I might have a real explanation. If anyone’s interested.

Eurus: We’ve entered the cave . . . Oh shit. This is gonna be interesting, isn’t it?

Ayla Taylor (producer): Tides returns for season 2 November 30th, 2020.

Eurus: Why am I constantly getting stranded places? Like what is up with that?

[corporationsarepeople]

President Trump avoided serving in the Vietnam War largely due to a 1968 diagnosis of bone spurs, two years after he had been declared fit for military service and after four education deferments. Now, the daughters of a podiatrist in Queens tell The New York Times that their late father often spoke of helping Trump avoid Vietnam as a favor to Trump's father, Fred Trump, the podiatrist's landlord. The podiatrist, Dr. Larry Braunstein, died in 2007 and no paper records have been found to support the claim, but his role in helping Donald Trump get a military exemption "was family lore," said daughter Dr. Elysa Braunstein, 56. "It was something we would always discuss."

[selfpressexpress]

Alternative anti Covid protocols

Dr. Zelenko Protocol (99% survival rate for high-risk patients) https://vladimirzelenkomd.com He is nominated for the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. https://vladimirzelenkomd.com/ Dr. Braunstein's protocol has been removed by the US FTC https: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/warning-letters/covid-19-letter_to_dr._brownsteins_holistic_medicine.pdf ... but from this document you can understand what this doctor recommends, and I am attaching an excerpt with his recommendations from The British Medical Journal. Professor David Richardson is quite correct to emphasise the importance of nutrition as a means of treating and even curing infections caused by Covid-19 https: https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1327/rr-2 Treatment protocol of the Swiss policy research https://swprs.org/on-the-treatment-of-covid-19/ Preventive protection against viruses from Anthony William I downloaded this free document for myself, personally it suits me best https://www.medicalmedium.info/free-report-downloads/VIRUS-PROTECTION.pdf Deleted Dr. Mercola's file titled "Essential Nutrition for Protection" https://www.mercola.com/ Looking on Israel where 80% people are vaccinated, excluding teenagers that makes around 90% of vaccinated adults and still this country has one of the highest cases of infected people. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/israel They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them. A Solzhenitsyn.

[brokehorrorfan]

15 Things We Learned from the Jigsaw Commentary

Jigsaw - the eighth entry in the wildly-successful Saw franchise - introduces new blood (pun intended) to the series while retaining its signature elements. Perhaps a bit too beholden to the past, the film's attempt to appeal to both longtime fans and newcomers ultimately fails to fully satisfy either crowd. It delivers the sadistic traps and clever twists for which the Saw movies are known, but it does more to muddle the surprisingly intricate mythology than expand upon it.

With the previous installments churned out annually for seven years, viewer fatigue quickly set in. Jigsaw arrives after seven years of dormancy, which gave the creative team ample time for development. I was curious to gain insight into that process, and producers Peter Block, Mark Burg, and Oren Koules deliver just that on the audio commentary that accompanies the film's home video release.

Here are 15 things I learned from the Jigsaw commentary track. Spoilers follow, so don’t read on until after you’ve seen the movie.

1. The film opens with a revamped version of Charlie Clouser's instantly-recognizable Saw theme. The composer was given the freedom to rework the music with something he never had much of the previous films: time. This is the first of many examples of the producers trying to inject new life into the established franchise. "One of our goals was to make it a Saw movie and not a Saw movie at the same time," explains Koules.

2. Josiah Black, who plays Edgar in the opening scene, was cast out of Vancouver, but the shoot took place in Toronto. Instead of telling anyone he didn't have a way of getting there, the actor and his new wife bought a car for $500 to make the cross-country drive. The vehicle died on the trip, so they had to buy a second one, which also broke down before they reached the destination.

3. The opening sequence - which consists of a chase scene and a rooftop standoff (filmed at an old Palmolive factory) - was originally scripted to be around 15 minutes. In the final film, it lasts a little over three minutes due to budgetary restraints. Block thinks it was for the best, as it's still exciting in its truncated form and gets to the Saw game faster.

4. The three principal actresses had their hair dyed for the production: Laura Vandervoort went from blonde to brunette; Brittany Allen went from brunette to blonde; and Hannah Emily Anderson went from strawberry blonde to redhead.

5. Mandela Van Peebles - the son of Mario Van Peebles and the grandson of Melvin Van Peebles - asked for his character, Mitch, not to be killed first. The producers agreed to avoid the horror movie cliche of the black character dying first.

6. A dead body prop was briefly left hanging from an overpass to shoot later. In the interim, a train want by, which prompted many of its passengers to call the police to report the presumed suicide. The police showed up, and the whole situation landed Jigsaw in the local papers.

7. Koules' daughter, Sam Koules, plays Melissa, the young daughter of Logan (Matt Passmore). The filmmakers were impressed with her arm in the scene in which she plays catch with Logan.

8. In their first meeting, directors Michael and Peter Spierig - newcomers to the franchise - expressed their desire to update the Billy puppet to put their own spin on the iconic prop. They ended up giving it glowing red eyes, which everyone agrees was effective.

9. Although he does not go into detail, Block notes that there is a distinction between the tape recorders that say "Play me" in red ink and in black ink throughout the franchise. They were careful to stay consistent with the new film, as it is important to who writes it.

10. Although the trap is well thought out, Block admits the scene in which Ryan's (Paul Braunstein) leg gets trapped doesn't quite work logistically. "If Ryan doesn't step there, his leg doesn't get caught, and he doesn't find [the tape recorder] by trying to get out, how do they ever get in the silo room? And the answer is: Ask Josh [Stolberg] and Pete [Goldfinger]," placing the blame on the writers with a laugh. "They screwed that up. We never understood it, but it works really well!"

11. For the tense sequence in which Mitch (Van Peebles) has to reach through trap wires to retrieve a tape recorder, the sound designer was asked to create a sound similar to the one in 127 Hours right before James Franco's character cuts into his arm.

12. The silo trap was originally going to fill with water, but it was deemed too similar to a trap from Saw V. Ants and maggots were also considered before ultimately deciding on grain, then adding sharp objects dropping at the end to elevate it. The actors were freestanding with a shoulder-height canopy covered with grain to give the illusion they were being buried.

13. Arabella Oz, daughter of TV's Dr. Oz, plays the lab technician who explains John Kramer's DNA match. The producers were impressed with how good she was in the small role, despite her lack of experience.

14. Block conceived the concept of Anna (Vandervoort) and Mitch (Van Peebles) spilling out of the silo. He was inspired by a scene in which characters tumble down a waterfall in one of his "all-time favorite guilty pleasure movies:" Romancing the Stone.

15. Although another Saw movie has not been confirmed, the producers tease potential ideas for future installments several times throughout the commentary track. Most notably, we could see more of Edgar (Black) and how he got drawn into the story that unfolds in Jigsaw.

If you're hungry for more information about Jigsaw after listening to the audio commentary, you'll be happy to learn that the 4K and Blu-ray releases include a feature-length documentary that delves even deeper into the making of the film, along with a featurette about props.

Jigsaw is available now on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on January 23 via Lionsgate.

[mironivanov]

Did a Queens Podiatrist Help Donald Trump Avoid Vietnam?

Dr. Larry Braunstein rented his office from the Trumps. Relatives say he was central to a diagnosis that got the 22-year-old Mr. Trump a medical exemption.

[theblotmag]

(via FRAUD, How Nasdaq's William Slattery, FINRA's Robert Colby Dupe FBI)

INVESTIGATIONS: HOW NASDAQ’S WILLIAM SLATTERY, FINRA’S ROBERT COLBY LIED TO THE FBI, DUPED THE GOVERNMENT

[armenianview]

Biolaboratory provokes unnecessary concern among the population of Armenia

In mid-May, representatives of the Armenian Eagles-United Armenia party showed determination and demanded that Prime Minister Nikola Pashinyan liquidate bio-laboratories modernized with US money. It should be done for the safety of the country's population, especially children. The designated liquidation period is two months.

There are no legal grounds for placing such objects, nevertheless the authorities give the opportunity to “play with fire” and ignore the situation for years because of material gain.

The provision by the Armenian leadership of the territory for conducting classified and dubious research is a serious mistake. In a pandemic, this became very clear, since the activities of biolaboratory did not become an obstacle to the large-scale spread of the virus. We can only expect a detailed report from management on the performance of institutions that no longer inspire confidence. We need information on how exactly this laboratory infrastructure conducts testing and combating COVID-19.

For more than 10 years, Armenia has been the subject of keen interest of US virologists and military biosafety experts. Of course, in such a situation, the Russian government expresses dissatisfaction as the infrastructure with dangerous biological potential is being formed at the borders of the Russian Federation. Next in line is China. Too improbable is Washington’s desire to protect the population of the South Caucasus from biological threats when they themselves cannot effectively resist them.

Meanwhile, the Armenian Foreign Ministry continues to declare that the laboratory staff consists only of Armenian citizens, the presence of foreign specialists in the laboratory is excluded.

According to the published data, this information is not true. Over a long period, biological laboratories in Yerevan and Gyumri have been integrated into projects under the US Armed Forces European Command (EUCOM) Cooperative biological engagement program (CBEP), as evidenced by official documents from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the United States Department of Defense Agency / DTRA).

According to reports, American virologist specialists involved in the implementation of these programs have repeatedly visited both the territory of Armenia and the biological objects themselves. Laboratory staff were also trained by Americans.

Dr. Tammy Beckham, worked for the DTRA Cooperative biological engagement program. In her resume, Beckham notes that DTRA was responsible for managing extensive research projects for the European Command (EUCOM) and Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US Armed Forces. From September 2017 to August 2018, she worked at facilities in Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Dr. Gavin Braunstein, Senior Research Advisor, DTRA Cooperative biological engagement program. Since 2009, four times visited Armenia. Lance Brooks, Head of DTRA Department, curator of DTRA programs implemented in Armenian biological laboratories. Visited Armenia four times. Dr. Carl Newman, CBEP Principal Researcher, visited the republic in 2018. Andrew Charles Webber, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biosafety. He participated in Pentagon projects, including through interaction with the American intelligence services. He visited Armenia twice. Elizabeth George, Head of Department at the US Department of Defense Military Threat Reduction Agency. Ph.D. She led the implementation of biological projects in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia. Visited the country 5 times.

Luke John Kluchko, Head of DTRA Program at the US Embassy in Ukraine. Visited Armenia in 2016.

Ian Watson, a specialist in virology, participated in projects under the auspices of the US Department of Defense and the presidential administration. He visited the republic in January 2020.

Thus, the interaction of biological laboratories located on Armenian territory with structural units of the US Department of Defense is completely opaque. While the majority of the population of the republic is kept away from this topic, which concerns us all, the threat will remain relevant.

[johnnymundano]

Shut In (2016)

Directed by Farren Blackburn

Screenplay by Christina Hodson

Music by Nathaniel Méchaly

Country: France, Canada

Running time: 91 minutes

CAST

Naomi Watts as Mary Portman

Oliver Platt as Dr. Bennett Wilson

Charlie Heaton as Stephen Portman

David Cubitt as Doug Hart

Jacob Tremblay as Tom Patterson

Clémentine Poidatz as Lucy

Crystal Balint as Grace Mitchell

Alex Braunstein as Aaron Hart

Peter Outerbridge as Richard Portman

Shut In is the kind of glossy, well-acted mainstream thriller I sometimes feel polite society would rather I waste my eyes on, rather than ancient, less than salubrious Italian chillers no one normal cares about. Of course when I do watch a glossy, well-acted mainstream thriller like Shut In I often find they are crap, and thus feel a lot better about watching a paraplegic Donald Pleasance solving crimes with a straight razor wielding chimp. Or whatever the hell was going on in Phenomena (1985). Fun Fact: When I first typed the title of this post it came out of my fingers as Shit In. Subconscious much?

If it was my cheeky little subconscious at work it would be quite apt as that’s what they call “psychology” and Shut In concerns Mary (Naomi Watts), a female child psychologist. Mary works from her isolated home since she also has to care for her step-son Stephen (Charlie Heaton), who is in a vegetative state following a car accident in which his father died. That’s a hard row to hoe, so Mary is herself receiving counselling from Dr. Wilson (Oliver Platt). Things may be starting to look up for poor Mary, as she is contemplatively flicking through care home brochures for Stephen while cautiously reciprocating amorous advances from burly Doug (David Cubitt). When Tom (Jacob Tremblay), a patient Mary has become attached to, goes missing Sarah begins hearing strange noises and dreaming strange dreams. As the days pass Mary starts to fear she is losing her mind, and as a snow storm closes the stage is set for a confrontation as predictable as it is silly.

If you want to enjoy the terribleness of Shut In for yourself you should stop reading there (or here, I guess) as I am going to SPOIL it by talking about how awful it is. Unfortunately it is impossible to get across quite how offensively dumb Shut In is without SPOILING it. Or at least, I’m not going to bother finding a way because, hey, life’s too short. And, let’s face it Shut In SPOILS itself by being awful. The set-up is good but, c’mon, who can’t see what’s coming?  In the interests of fairness I tried to hide it in the synopsis, but if you watch the movie it’s as predictable as the fact this sentence will end with a full stop. The whole movie is a kind of exercise in flop sweated desperation as it frogmarches its plot into the ridiculous convolutions required to make this insipid bullshittery “work”. And for all its huffing and puffing Shut in still doesn’t work. It’s not even that you can see what’s coming, a Gay Pride float in a Gay Pride Parade has more subtlety, it’s that it all makes no sense whatsoever. In comparison Body Double (1984) looks like a documentary. Shut In doesn’t just require you to suspend your disbelief, it requires you to hang it by the neck until dead.

Shut In is set in a world of idiots, where someone can be diagnosed as being in a vegetative state following a car smash, with the only check being that they haven’t moved much since they were admitted. Apparently nobody has done any tests on Stephen during the 6 months since the crash other than looking at him and deciding he hasn’t moved. Cunningly though, Stephen only moves when nobody is around. He just, you know, “knows” when nobody is around, and so has never been caught once in 6 months. He must be the only teenager in existence who has never been surprised by his parent when doing something he shouldn’t be doing. During those 6 months Mary has been taking care of Stephen’s every need; feeding, bathing and whatevering him. At no point during the 6 months of Mary pushing baby food into his mouth or sponging his Gentleman Jim in the bath has he once broken cover. As Stephen Charlie Heaton (from TV’s ‘80s nostalgia bath and merchandise generator Stranger Things) is okay, but he plays an impossible character. “Evil man-child with preternatural levels of self-control” would task anyone to imbue it with believability. He tries, bless him but ends up as just a common or garden movie nutter.  

Naomi Watts is fantastic, but Naomi Watts is always fantastic. Unfortunately for Naomi Watts being fantastic isn’t enough here. She’s like a solid core of believability around which a load of noisy, ridiculous bullshit revolves, constantly reminding you that Naomi Watts should be doing something better with her time. Maybe she took the role as some kind of audition tape, she does get to do a whole load of acting after all; doting mother, crazy lady, fierce protector and drug addled goofball. Because for Shut In’s plot to work (it doesn’t) Stephen has to slip her his pills which cause her to get way spacy. Okay,  I’m not a medical professional so maybe they do medicate shut-ins with the kind of drugs Stephen uses to put a crimp in Mary’s reality. Sure, it’s possible that shut-ins are basically doped up and tripping balls all the time in there, but I doubt it. if any medical professionals would like to take the time out of their busy schedule to defend the use of medication in Shut In, you know where to find me. Oh, and poor old lovable Oliver Platt plays a psychiatrist who provides face-time therapy before the script forces him to emulate the Scatman Crothers role in Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). At times, in fact, you can almost hear Shut In grunt with the effort to emulate The Shining, but all it does is make you want to watch The Shining rather than Shut In.

What’s worse is how nasty the (barely sub-) subtext of Shut  In is; it seems, intentionally or not, to be that as soon as they reach adolescence you should maybe give some serious thought to killing your kids before they kill you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie as fearful of children growing up. And I’ve seen Christine (1983) more than once. And, yeah, Stephen is Mary’s step-son not her birth son, but that’s obviously just pathetic cowardice on the scriptwriter’s part. It all gets a bit Oedipal in there towards the end, which would be supremely creepy if he was her natural son, and Shut In just isn’t that low class, thanks. It would have been better if Shut In had grasped the nettle and gone low, because supremely creepy is at least interesting. And the movie ends up being supremely creepy accidentally anyway, with its emphasis on kids being monsters once they won’t let you chuch their chubby cheeks anymore. The “feel good” ending is truly horrible. Mary ends up adopting the tiny, cute moppet Tom after killing her own son, Stephen. A smarter movie would have gone in hard on this nastiness and left you uncertain about whether she’ll be violently trading in Tom too once his balls drop. Basically, Shut In needed to be a lot nastier and far smarter, it needed someone like Brian de Palma to work. But there is no one else like Brian De Palma, and so Shut In doesn’t have Brian De Palma, and so it doesn’t work.

Seriously, Shut In is so bad it’s baffling. It looks like the kind of movie mums and dads like, it’s got a great cast, it’s civilly filmed and there’s an onus on suspense rather than gore. I’m not averse to that myself on occasion, but then I am a dad. But, Christ, the plot to this thing is so ridiculous it should star George Hilton and Edwige Fenech and come in a banana yellow blu-ray case, with a commentary track by Troy Howarth consisting of him just laughing for 91 minutes. 

[shirtrose7-blog]

Dr. Gifford-Jones: What can a psychiatrist tell us about Vitamin D ... - MPNnow.com

Winter’s coming, so how much vitamin D do we need? How much time do you have to spend in the sunlight to obtain adequate amounts? How does obesity affect the dosage? How many diseases can be prevented by adequate amounts of this vitamin? And what can a psychiatrist tell us about this vital vitamin?

Years ago I reported that Dr. Catharine Gordon, a professor of pediatrics at The Harvard Medical School, tested the vitamin D levels of teenagers 11 to 18 years of age. She found that 14 percent of these adolescents were deficient in vitamin D. Today about 30 percent of adults are low in D.

Dr. Glenn Braunstein, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, said her research was a wake-up call. It showed it’s not only the house bound, or the elderly in nursing homes, who are getting insufficient sunlight.

In the 19th century, large numbers of children suffered from rickets due to a lack of sunlight. To resolve this problem children with rickets were taken for long voyages on what was called ”Boston’s Floating Hospital” to expose them to the health benefits of sunshine.

Today we know that adequate amounts of vitamin D are needed in the bowel to absorb calcium and keep bones strong. Vitamin D also acts on bone cells to release calcium and maintain normal blood levels of this important mineral.

Can a lack of vitamin D protect against infection? You would expect to get this answer from an infectious disease expert, not a psychiatrist. But Dr. John Campbell, a U.S. psychiatrist, noted that when the 2005 flu epidemic struck the Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the infection spared those patients who were taking vitamin D!

Another researcher, Dr. Mitsuyoshi Urasima, Professor of Epidemiology, in Japan, reports in the American Journal of Nutrition, that patients given 1,200 IU of D were less likely to develop influenza than those not receiving it.

Dr. Jo Ann Manson, Professor of Medicine at The Harvard Medical School, reports strong evidence that high blood levels of vitamin D protect against colon cancer.

To get still another opinion I interviewed Dr. Andrew Saul, Editor-In-Chief of the Orthomolecular News Service, a world authority on vitamins. Saul says that colon cancer is clearly related to vitamin D deficiency. He adds that inadequate vitamin D levels are also associated with ovarian cancer. And that research by the National Library of Medicine reveals there are 300 papers on how vitamin D helps to fight prostate and breast cancer.

Dr. Michael Holick, at Boston University, an authority on vitamin D, believes vitamin D’s greatest strength is its role in fighting cancer. He says studies show that people living in higher latitudes who get less sun exposure have an increased risk of dying from almost all types of cancer, particularly breast, colon, prostate and skin cancer.

Since we’re approaching winter, I asked Dr. Saul about Seasonal Affective Disorder, a condition when people feel “psychologically down” during the winter months. Saul says that vitamin D acts as a mood stabilizer. He recommends vitamin D to fight this disorder.

In the book Saul authored with Dr. Abram Hoffer, “Orthomolecular Medicine For Everyone” he reports that a lack of vitamin D is also associated with psoriasis, which can be treated with topical vitamin D. And that a deficiency of D is also linked to diabetes, heart failure and hypertension.     

But don’t most of us receive enough vitamin D from the sun? We get some, but not as much as you think. It depends on where you live. For instance, if you live at a latitude above 35 degrees north which includes Boston, Philadelphia and all of Canada, vitamin D production from sunlight ceases from October to the end of February. Due to the angle of the sun’s rays you could stand outside naked all day and not receive enough sunshine to produce vitamin D!

What is the right dosage? The answer is not easy as there is some debate. Obese people need more vitamin D as fat holds onto it making it less available to the body. Dr. Saul claims 10,000 IU daily are safe. Others suggest a dosage of between 1,000, to 3,000 IU daily. So check with your own doctor.

Dr. Ken Walker (Gifford-Jones) is a graduate of the University of Toronto and The Harvard Medical School. He trained in general surgery at the Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University and in gynecology at Harvard. He has also been a general practitioner, ship’s surgeon and hotel doctor. See www.docgiff.com for past columns. For comments: info@docgiff.com.

Source: http://www.mpnnow.com/news/20181127/dr-gifford-jones-what-can-psychiatrist-tell-us-about-vitamin-d